C James

Considering what they changed it from (mental disorder) I guess it is progress. Of course, compared to some of the folks in my area, calling it a mental disorder is downright charitable. To quote my former State Representative, said while in office a couple of years ago: "The perversion that follows homosexuality is bestiality and then human sacrifice and cannibalism."

Me too!! It is genuinely addictive. I was bowled over by that, too! That was definitly a surprise, but, after thinking about it, I think there were hints all along. When Jacob moved in and Joanne saw him watching Valerie and Matt, she asked him which one. I think that implies that she knows that Jacob is Bi, not gay. however, I only made that connection after reading this chapter! Steve, this is one heck of a roller-coaster you have us on!! Thank you!!!

EMoe!!! Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Many happy returns, my friend!!! :king: :king: :king: :king: :king: :king: :king:

Ahhh! Now we know how DK manages to write so much! Simian assistance! This chapter was very interesting, and seemed like a bit of background for something big in the works. As a guess, once the Empire re-takes Calos, Garret has to go "underground". Hmmm, I wonder if those huge caves will play a role? That Bishop is definitly up to something. Buying those buildings sounds highly suspicious.

Thank you for the light-pollution map! I'm in one of the few black areas in the US, and at 7000ft, and I really notice that the night sky is "missing" whenever I go elsewhere. However, my view may not be that great: the weather forcast calls for partly-cloudy that night.

Shhhh!!! That was supposed to be a secret... I'll have you know that poor Emoe worked for many hours on that chapter, before he finally noticed that there were no words at all in the chapter. What? Me? A postaholic? Surely no one would ever beleive that a shy, quiet, and retiring forum lurker like myself could ever be a postaholic? As for the car... Well, Y'all will find out soon enough. Thank you!!! I really don't understand why everyone is so down on poor, sweet little Eric.

Congratulations Emoe!! You do realize, don't you, that I'll be calling you a postaholic from now on? My last two milestone posts in this thread were Aug 15th and Nov 6th, about 81 days apart. You made it between milestones in 44 days, so you are definitly a postaholic!! But Emoe, that can't be! I'm a lurker, and lurkers are defined by the fact that we never post!

Absolutly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! go to http://www.worldtimeserver.com/ and translate the time for your area. If you can, get away from city lights, but even if you can't the show should be spectacular. Let Leo Roar!!

I'd love to eat out tonight! Unfortunately it is a four hour drive, each way, to the nearest decent restaurants so I haven't eaten out since summer. The person below me lives even further from good restaurants than I do.

I can't wait for Ch 6!! I'm really hoping that Ty and Brian get together, BUT, although it has been alluded to it hasn't been said yet, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Thank you DarkShadow!

Very clever!! We still don't know much about Valerian, and I'm really curious about Nick now. Great job, Camy!! More please!!

And here I thoguht you were going to yell at me for giving away spoilers...

I love sparkling water! The person below me has a favorite sparkling water that they can almost never find in the stores.

James, it was an honor working with you, and I am very much looking foward to seeing more stories from you! Best wishes; CJ

Emoe, this makes me soooo tempted to predict that Florida will still exist tomorrow. Hmmm, well, you are right, with only one navigable waterway, there wasn't a lot of piracy in Arizona! But, as for being in the wrong state, I also love surfing which is also not an Arizona sport! I'll stick with predicting that the boarder incident is a set-up, the same in nature as the Soviets used to start the Winter War with Finland (yep, they claimed that Finland attacked the Soviet Union). Is the next chapter entitled "The Return of the Empire?"

Regurgulates?!?!! That's a new one! OK, I'll give another spoiler for the next chapter: it contains words.

You shall be receiving it in a few days. It has been difficult as I had to change a few things. :ranger: BTW, my post # and user# now match! But, you managed that feat long before I did... :wacko:

Well, I should think so! You, in my opinion, should have made the Aliens that killed Matt and Jacob a little more believable, and did you really have to blow up the Earth so darn early in the chapter?

Wich means we will not see anymore of him - how sad. ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!! I suppose my ability to predict wrongly is becoming widely known! :wacko: Yeah, very propably so. And so will the bishop start his work of undermining the beliefs of the Republic as righteous. Instead accusing the Republic to backstabbing the innocent and peaceloving Empire. I think the Bishop will play a role, certainly. My hunch is that this boarder incident will be used by the Empire to renew their war on the Republic. The Civil War just gives them too great a strategic opportunity to miss, even if they haven't allied with Leonev (though they may well have). But, I think I know who will come riding to Garret's rescue... Hint: they might be singing "yo-ho-ho and a bottle of Rum!".

It went over my head too, but I got it once I thoguht about it for a while. That was really clever IMHO, and avoided a cliche too.

The only thing I've done (I think) that is dependant upon the "wait" factor for full effectiveness is a few cliffhangers (mainly due to where I decided to break the chapters). However, a lot of authors use cliffhangers, so I feel OK doing that. I think (and hope) that reading it stright through will give a good effect. The reason I'm doing weekly posts is that I only have half a dozen (including what is posted) edited and ready to post. If I get further ahead I wil speed up the posting rate, but I need the buffer as delays may occur. Also, I am using the critisisim received to make changes to future chapters, so it is helping. At the moment, my beta reader hasn';t even seen chapter 6 (the seventh chapter due to the prologue) yet so I really can't speed up posting at the moment.

Now you see why Emoe has such a hard job!!! :ranger: I was concerned about the cliche aspect too. I probably shouldn't have used the term "best freinds" as they have only known each other a few months. I hope you will find it original, and I think the next few chapters will help in that regard. I can't tell you, becuase then Emoe would hurt me! Thanks!!! I make use of that technique in quite a few future chapters. As for Eric, what? do you mean you are expecting him to re-appear in the story? Well, I surely shouldn't give clues, like mentioning that the title of Chapter 3 is "Get the Rope..." so I won't.... Thanks Graeme!! uhoh. Well, I think you have a point there. The honest truth is that I put those freinds intros there instead of later for two reasons: So they weren't just "out of the blue" later on, and also to add some bulk to a very skinny chapter, and also to give a bit more background on why Chris felt he stood to lose everything if he was outed (and not all has been said on that, yet.). The good news is that I think that problem is (I hope) over, but please let me know if you still see in in Ch 3 or later. I should note here that although quite a few chapters are written, I can still change them prior to posting (or even after for minor things), so I can make immediate use (as well as future writing use) of criticisms. I didn't want this to be a story about their coming out or getting together, so what you are seeing right now is more of a stage-setting and character development section. I certainly agree that having the climax in chapter one or two would be a horrible idea!! Well, not unless I plan on having them sit around and watching the grass grow for the next 30 chapters... Thanks Birds!!!