C James

A tan colored goat with white patches?

Happy 23rd, Rekop!!!

I have a theory about that... It's kind of off-the-wall (what, a nutty theory from me? Who woulda thunk it?) I think that David and Oliver are the same person, a person with two seperate personalities. Hence, "the other side of me". It would certainly explain the aforementioned scene. It would also explain why Oliver was unsurprised to find David waiting behind the door in his room (a reflection in a mirror.) OK, I know there are differences in appearance mentioned (such as the scar) but I still have this hunch. BTW, this looks like a great story! I can't recall seeing Dom Luka write in the third person before, plus this seems far different in a lot of ways.

Trying to get to the 5 posts needed for the sneak peeks section? Me too! I've been trying for quite a while, but I'm lousy at math....

Type 1a supernova are indeed always white dwarf stars, with a binary companion from which they acquire mass, until they exceed the Chanrasekar limit. Interestingly, Type 1b and type 1c supernova are not, they are actually type II (core collapse) variants. The reason for this weird classification system, as far I as know, is that the classification system is based on spectral absorption lines (indicating concentrations, or lack thereof, of certain elements) and pre-dates the understanding of the mechanisms of the supernova types. Iron fusion would indeed be insufficient, as it uses more energy than it produces. If my (often faulty) memory serves, once a core becomes hot and dense enough for widespread iron fusion to occur, it sets of an accelerating cycle: the net loss of energy further decreases the equilibrium, allowing further contraction to occur. The contraction increases the temperature, causing more iron fusion and more energy loss, resulting in an ever accelerating rate of contraction. According to one theory (one I am fond of) once the inner core reaches the Chandraskar limit, it suddenly collapses, within seconds, dragging the surrounding core material with it. Once the neutron degeneracy limit is reached, it stops, and the rebounding material blows the outer layers of the star apart. Some energy would be derived from the sudden density wave causing a surge in fusion, but most of it would be from the rebound effect. I envy you your book collection!! I hope we don't get a chance to see a supernova at a much closer range. Anything under 1000 light years might not be pleasant. There is a type 1a candidate in HR 8210, about 140 light years out. I can't think of any other close candidates offhand. I hope you do get to retire to Australia and study the stars. There more than a few homes in my area (high mountains of Northern Arizona) that have telescope domes on them, as the night skys here are good for skywatching. I've been tying, unsuccessfully, to get to know a few armature astronomoers so I can have a look myself, but no luck so far.

Hmmmm? Perhaps you will be wearing a disguise, and thus trick the aforementioned upstanding GA member into aiding in your ongoing deception? Seriously though: Have fun, and have a great meal! Ummmmm, Buddha, by that standard, isn't almost EVERYONE here at GA a 65 year old Lesbian? Including you, (at least until until Monday?) Just kidding, Buddha... Enjoy your Ethiopian meal, too! I must admit, I'd never heard of Ethiopian food until Ch 23 of SOOTB, but now I'm determined to try it one of these days. I checked, and much to my surprise they do have them in Phoenix, the nearest large city to me (150 miles away).

OK, I'm a compulsive nit-picker, so I can't let this one (by the original article's writer) pass. "some"!?!?!?!? That's an impossible statement. A Type 1a supernova would, by definition, destroy the white dwarf that is causing the repeated explosions, ending the sequence. Thus, a type 1a supernova cannot be a recurrent phenomenon, as is implied above. The recurrent Novas being seen are definitely not supernovas. Incidentally, to give some reference for the scale of power involved in a type 1 supernova, a paperclip, converted entirely to energy (E=MC^2) would yield about 20 kilotons (the size of the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki). To get an idea of the scale of a type1 supernova, a good way is to estimate the amount of mass that is actually converted to energy. The mass is quite a bit larger than a paperclip: It's about ten times the mass of everything in Earth's solar system other than the sun. That's one very big bang. James, thanks for the articles! Even though I couldn't resist the urge to nit-pick, I really enjoyed them.

Ummmm... Given the Lesbian reference above, I have the same theory, but it's not about Vlista! (it's about a certain writer with a forum entitled "Stone Grotto".)

I can't wait to see your entry! LB, thank you! Yes, indeed I do. It's called "No Shirt? No Problem!" and I'll be starting a thread in the e-fiction discussion forum for it once it's online. What? You won't make the penultimate chapter of SOOTB a cliffhanger, and then put it on Hiatus for a year or two? (just kidding!) I'm looking forward to whatever you decide to write, be it WISYA or the new one.

A very interesting theory! It would also explain the animosity between Mr. Hayes and Cameron's Mom.

Kitty, do you perhaps mean Chapter 23? That's probably right. I was probably reading too much into Connor nibbling on Ben's neck. Connor also did tell Toby that he and Ben weren't together yet. Incidentally, the various opinions regarding who should be with whom at the end of the story remind me very much of Dom Luka's Desert Dropping, and the SRITE vs. LRITE debates. (maybe I should mention LGAITE's to keep Nick happy? ) IMHO, only when truly exceptional characters are created does a story provoke such strong feelings.

Sadly, many medical studies are equally statistically unsound. I've long been intrigued by twin studies. They IMHO offer the strongest argument for a genetic link to homosexuality (over 50% of male identical twins are homosexual if their twin is homosexual) There is IMHO no doubt that environment plays some role, so what I'm waiting for is a study of identical twins who were NOT raised together (such as ones adopted by different families at an early age). However, the fact that the correlation in sexuality is higher in identical vs. fraternal twins (only 20% of fraternal twins are homosexual if their fraternal twin brother is.) For adoptive brothers, the incidence rate is only 11%. Both the high incidence among identical twins and the stronger than average incidence among fraternal twins, to me, proves a genetic component to homosexuality. The correlation with adoptive sibling rates seems to leave no other conclusion than a genetic link, though some environmental factors do likely also apply. Personally, I don't believe that proof of a genetic cause for homosexuality will be of much help in the fight for gay acceptance. I hope I'm wrong, but I think the most likely result will be agitation from the Religious Right for a "cure", and a tendency to describe homosexuality as a genetic disease that can be "corrected". Either that, or people carrying the "gay gene", whether gay or not, may be relegated to second-class status, very much like the clones in DoH. This is why I see the "Dream of Humanity" as having many tie-ins with the struggle for gay rights. I think the individuality aspect plays into this very well indeed, due to the stereotyping of gays that we see today. Just my read on story themes... I may well be wrong.

ROFL!!!!!!!!! I'd say that's a fairly safe prediction... What can I say? I'm a predictaholic... With the story so new, though, it darn hard to see where it's going. That is an EXCELENT idea!! I usually have trouble getting into a story for the first chapter or two, so a memory-refresher is definitely in order! Thanks Bob! As for why I love speculation? That's hard to answer. I think I like it because it's one way of getting into a discussion of the storyline, but also because I often can't wait to see what happens next. From a writing point of view, I'm highly intrigued by how DK is writing this. So far, he hasn't gotten deeply into the technology. Many Sci-fi writers do (go into great detail and variety about gadgetry and technology), sometimes to good effect, but very often not. Instead, DK seems to be effectively painting a future setting with terminology.

Kevin, the previous posts said what I was thinking, but far better than I could have. I'm fairly new here (joined in February, as I recall), and I quickly became a fan of your posts. You are so upbeat and positive that you cheer me up even when I'm down. Thank you, Kevin, for all that you do, and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

I love your car! Sorry to hear that the job search is taking a while. That can be so frustrating (I've been in that situation myself, after returning to the US from overseas). Thanks for the link about the Taiwanese guy who was poisoned and then hospitalized against his will. That's horrifying. I'm well aware of the cultural Chinese reverence for Family, especially parents, but IMHO that guy is both courageous and justified. If they did indeed do that to him, they aren't family worthy of the term. I share your disappointment that no criminal charges ensued.

Altimexis, thank you for sharing that! If you are happy (and you certainly sound like it), I think that is wonderful! I especially like your last sentence; "Bottom line - love triumphs all." That's wonderful! Well, I'm a bit less cynical about "first love lasting" thanks to these two posts. I still think it's rare, but not as rare as I'd imagined. Thanks to both of you for sharing. My own opinion on SOOTB hasn't changed, though: I could see it going either way regarding Ryan and Connor. Only Buddha knows for sure.. Hopefully, this weekend (or soon thereafter) we get to see a new LB story, in the Summer Anthology. I'm very interested in seeing it, not just for the normal reasons, but to look at the style and contrast it to LB's other stories. One other thing I'm curious about... What exactly happened between Ben and Connor? LB artfully broke the chapter at that point, so we don't really know yet... Anyone have any opinions? Mine is that something physical happened. LB did weigh in on this, but didn't as I recall definitively state an answer. I suspect that we will find out for sure in Ch 24.

The discussions are fun. I originally started coming to GA for the stories, but now the forums are my favorite part. I've even been known to post in them occasionally myself... As for who does, and who does not bite, well, don't worry about it too much, the ones who bite usually don't bite too hard or too often.

There is now! Here is the link. BTW, for those that don't know what the connection is, here is a short explanation: DKstories (dkstories) wrote a story called "phone call", and let's just say that the news item referenced fits perfectly. I don't know how he does it.. (this is by no means the first time he's shown prescience).

Welcome, Adrien-Luc! I think you will love the forums here, especially if you are an Author! You might want to have a peek in the "writer's corner" forum, as there is a lot of very helpful info in the posts there. It's aimed more at online writers, but there would be a lot of interest there for a novelist, IMHO. Don't be shy! We have a great bunch of people here! Welcome to GA! C James

Hello Low Flyer! Congratulations on your first post, and Wecome! I think you are right on target with what you say above. That is roughly what I was thinking regarding Ryan, but you said it a lot better than I've managed to do. I really hope you will continue to post! Totally agreed on that! Personally, I like Maggie a lot, but she's not my favorite parent in the story: Tatyana (Cody's Mom) is. She is really great IMHO, but that might be because I like unconventional outlooks. No disrespect intended towards your other characters, but personally I find Cody and his mother to be my favorites in the story, and the unconventionality is a huge part of that. I added the bold for the last sentence as it's IMHO the most significant here: Indeed, life usually doesn't work like that. For one thing, people change, and that's especially true of teens. So, I'll ask a question of everyone here: How many are presently with the person who was their very first love? I'm betting that it's darn few if any. So, IMHO, Ryan and Connor may or may not work out in the end. Personally, I'd be happy however it turns out, though I'm enough of a romantic to want to see them each with somebody nice. HOGWASH! (I'd have used a stronger epithet if it was allowed!) Kitty is indeed a great editor, but she can't build from nothing! The reason you have people feeling so strongly about your characters is that they ARE dynamic, and hence individuals perceive facets of them that they either like or dislike. This is a truism of interpersonal relations, but it's darn rare in literature because most literary characters are not complex enough to provoke a complex (as opposed to a simple) visceral response. Yours are.

Once again thanks. Which one? I'll try to look for it. It's called "No Shirt? No Problem!" I'll be starting a thread for it in the story cafe the day the anthology goes online. Thanks... What? You expect reading comprehension from an insane goat? Seriously though, please do give it a try. It's a lot of fun.

So, does anyone have any predictions for Chapter 4?

Sorry for the goof on the title of your story, Nick. As for Ryan hitting Connor in the face, I thoguht I was the one with the over-active imagination? Interesting points! I think you may be on to something regarding Connor. I'm not sure I agree about Maggie, though, as she might not be as non-involved as it seems. The story is as seen through Connor's eyes, so if she's spending time with Toby, would we know? I certainly hope there are some repercussions over that kicked-in door, though. I tend to agree. My take on it was that Connor was ready to move on, and was tired of waiting. For a teenager, a month or two would IMHO seem like forever. Buddha's obsession with speedos is not only noted, but sincerely appreciated (and IMHO it needs to be encouraged!)

Yipes! Sorry you had to go through that, Kitty. A tad ungrateful? Cough-sputter-gasp! Understatement-of-the-century alert! Let's see... Maggie has been absent a lot, true. But other than that, she tried to protect and help Connor right from the start, took care of him, gave him his first real christmas, and took him into her family when he needed a home. I can understand why Connor might not be overly trusting of "mother figures", and is aware of his problems with "parental figures", but I hope he opens his eyes a little, at least occasionally. Just my two cent's worth. Definitely a VERY hot scene! I didn't think anything could match the "Cody in a Loincloth" scene, but this did IMHO. The Twins in Speedos was hot, too. My own feelings are that you do need some lighthearted and non-momentous scenes, otherwise all you have is angst and crisis. I loved this chapter for the balance at added, and I especially loved the water-park visit. Just my opinion. My read on that scene was that Derek was just teasing Connor. Ummmm, Nick, when exactly did Ryan beat up Connor? Oh, I think I remember now! It was between two of the many alien-invasion scenes in "What's the difference between you and me?"

I'll certainly join you in this most worthy cause!!! :2hands: Stop Goataphobia!!!!!!!!!!!!