C James

The navy only knows that something on Kookoburra is transmitting on that freq; they don't know what, or why. They think it's Trevor being sloppy. So, they sent of a complaining memo to the customs service. We can expect all to be well, assuming that government bureaucracy functions smoothly, efficiently, and quickly, over the holidays.

All we know for sure is that Basingstoke is landing, and also knows where Kookaburra is. But, what could go wrong?

Trevor sure has had some surprises. But, that final line... it's just a realization of something, and that something, well, it's something that needs realizing, and I think most everyone would agree it;s a good thing. So, it can't possibly be even close to a cliffy. Thanks! And yeah, Lisa just came face to face with the truth, and it hurt. A lot. I very nearly had "the penny drops" as the chapter title, but I don't think it's a widely understood term in the US (Is it? I'd love to here opinions from anyone on this) so I went with "click". So, our intrepid foursome are at last comparing notes, and are looking the right way. I wonder... will it be in time? I'm going to post the next chapter late of Christmas Eve, Arizona time, internet connections permitting. That way, it'll still be Christmas in Australia. But but but... It's not a cliffy!!! I think we all know just what Lisa realized... and that's a good thing, right? And, I'll post late Christmas Eve instead. Wildone!!!!!! There aren't any cliffhangers. The interactions were difficult to write, it's tricky to do scenes with a large group. But it was fun, and probably easier to do during the run up to Christmas than it would have been in, say, July. And Trevor sure did get a surprise. I've been looking forward to that scene ever since he first told Lisa, long ago, "I'm not stupid, Lisa" when she speculated that Jim and Dirk might be a couple. Trevor can be a touch oblivious at times. As for the cliffy accusations, shame on you!!! What overcame Lisa? Look at what was being talked about just beofre it. Basingstoke landing... We have no idea what he's up to, it might not be anythign bad. Maybe he just wants a nice place to spend the holidays? The clock is that one, also called a mariner's clock. It was in the final paragraph of chapter 48, The HAnd of Fate: (the one where Trevor had the uninvited guests, and ended up feeling kinda down and under pressure). She's remembering that bitter chill, and how they'd figured out that the pirates had hit the day they got engaged (lisa was on her way to get engaged, though she didn't know it, when she looked at the clock Trevor ha given her, and felt an icy chill). CJ

Krista, just go look at what Evil Steve hath wrought: he's trying to frame me and set me up for the cliffhanger crown!!

Precisely!! Therefor, we can safely say, with Albert Einstein's blessing, that anyone trying to certainly say that I'm eligible is not referring to reality. I like that!!

It's a conspiracy, I tell ya... they're out to get me!!

But but but... That wasn't a cliffhanger! The chapter ended with Trevor feeling kinda down and under a bit of pressure, but that's not a cliffhanger... Plus, Lugh is right; it wasn't posed in 2011, so it's not eligible. But there aren't any cliffhangers!!!! Actually, none of them did, so they are all unqualified!! Join the bandwagon! Cia for Queen of Cliffhangers!!!

Bill, I very much enjoyed this story. Thank you!!!!! One aspect that sticks in my mind though is the reverend Fred Phillips. He didn't get ill. That's incongruous, unless you think about it... and remember just how many big name homophobe "reverends" have been caught with rent boys, etc... Let's just say I'm not surprised in the least that reverend Phillips is immune. Well done!!!

Chapter 105: Click Four hours before dawn, Trevor was alone at the helm as Kookaburra cruised north. The summer air was warm on his mostly bare skin, and absently, he glanced ahead and to starboard, at the distant glow of Kalbarri’s lights. “I bring coffee,” Shane said quietly, padding out into the cockpit, two steaming mugs in hand. Trevor smiled, accepting the welcome brew. “You’re early; we’re over an hour from the approach.” Shane, who like Trevor was wearing just boardshorts in the w

Click is up. And, per our use of Australian Maths for the title numbering, we're at chapter AUD72 I'm pleased to announce that the chapter after this one, the Christmas (in the story) chapter, will, thanks to special efforts by my team, be posted in time for Christmas, which is Sunday and thus a bit early. As for the current chapter, Click, I think it's a fun one in many ways.

Totally agreed! It's high time to break the glass ceiling, and have a female sovereign of the malevolent precipices!! Totally agreed!! I agree so much that I'll even join in a chant of down with C James!!! Yes, Cia is very deserving of the crown... and I think this is her year! Ha! You use clifhangers... evil cliffhangers!!! (Though I don't use them myself, I know 'em when I see 'em!) In the case of a tie vote, the title and crown are shared... both win. So, maybe Mark & Cia could both be the reigning soverign of the malevolent precipices? This could be done... with some careful planning. Yes, shameful what they are trying to do to me, isn't it? And, of course, I'd never do such a thing myself...

Emoe!!! Ummm, I thought you'd come here to defend me??? The pitchfork crowd is indeed gathering.... they're out to frame me, again!!!!

ACK!!!! But Cia, I'm afraid you're mistaken; just do the math: 2010 - 2011 is -1, and 2010 + -1 is 2009, and 2011 - 2009 is, 2, so adding one more would equal three. Therefor, I am ineligible. And Mark... I so wanted you to keep that crown. I think it fit you very well.

I'm hemmed in by the title and past declarations; The story title means a circumnavigation of the Earth. ;-)

But but but... I'm innocent, I tell ya, innocent!!! It's all a conspiracy to frame me... E Tu, Sharon?? DadyDaveK; don't let them mislead you; I never use cliffhangers!! Krista... when I campaigned for you, I was only trying to be helpful . Turtleboy, what did I do wrong? Any string of sequential numbers is, by definition, a row. Is 23, 27, 29, a row? Yep. So, therefor, as long as the years are in numerical order, they are, by definition, in a row, and I am thus ineligible. Okay, everyone, just look at Wildone's first post in the thread... he actually admits to the nefarious practice of google-busting! Shameful!! Sneaky!!! It's no coincidence that if you google "king of evil cliffhangers" from anywhere on the planet, the #1 result is Wildone. He's evil, you know....

Yes, unquestionably, Wildone is the King of Evil Cliffhangers. Just ask google, because Wildone comes up as the #1 result, worldwide, for King of Evil Cliffhangers. Don't beleive me? Try it yourself. google king of evil cliffhangers He's also #3 for King of cliffhangers, though only two wikipedia entries on movie cliffhangers beat him. And yet, he tries to frame poor, innocent me???? And admits to google-busting, no less!!!! For shame!!!! BTW, for those unaware, google-busting is manipulating the results of google's search algorithm to come up with the results you want, for anyone's search. It's sneaky, nefarious, and only a malicious few can pull it off successfully, due to the computer skills needed. So, has Wildone admitted to being a hacker??? Hrmm, he's left us hanging again...

Ahh, methinks you need a dictionary. See? A row is a line of numbers or things. So, 2008, 2009, and 2010 are indeed and unquestionably a row, and thus, I am ineligible for the cliffhanger award. Wildone!!! Don't say that... Were Cia to hear these vile and slanderous allegations, she might believe them... Surely, you aren't serious that anyone has PM'd you with such claims? As if I'd ever do such things...

AAAAAACCCCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wildone... You've accused me of a behind the scenes campaign to help Cia win the award... I'm shocked, appalled, and flummoxed by this grievous libel!!! It is not fair, it is not right, and my good name must be cleared! Also, you imply that I am eligible this year... I'm not! Not only for the obvious reason (that Circumnavigation is entirely cliffhanger-free) but due to being subject to past wins... no one may win any award for three years in a row, and I won in 2007, 2008, and 2010, and am thus ineligible this year. Wildone... I am shocked, appalled, and absolutely stunned that you would do that, and at Christmas, no less? Have you no shame? Have you no sense of the Christmas spirit? How could you do this at Christmas... I can't imagine anything less Christmasy... Oh, the horror... oh, the humanity! Will no one defend me, and help me clear my good name? HElp???

I found a Christmas tree pic, from Australia! I'm also reminded, every time I look at the snow outisde, that Australians often celebrate Christmas with a beach picnic. That sure sounds good right now. And, on an utterly unrelated topic, is anyone else following the Fobos-Grunt mission? The names means "Phobos soil" in Russian, and it's a Russian mission to the largest Martian moon, Phobos, intended to bring a half pound of soil back to earth. Sadly, it won't happen. The probe didn't perform its escape burns after launch in November, and is in low earth orbit. The probe does not respond to commands. The Australians managed to get a ping response and maybe some telemetry frames, but that's it. Even if control is regained, the mission cannot happen; the window for the trans-mars burn is long passed. Fobos Grunt is quite large, and it holds upwards of 13 tons of highly toxic fuel as well (a type of hydrazine, very nasty stuff). If it freezes, that means some could survive reentry. It becomes very likely it would, if the tanks are titanium instead of aluminum as reported. It'll be widely covered in the press, for sure, starting very soon. The perigee is currently 123 miles (198km), too low for a stable orbit (you get a slight amount of drag at that altitude) so the orbit is decaying. Apogee is curently 169 miles (273KM). The apogee is lowering far more per day then the perigee (due to orbital mechanics, a velocity change on one side of an orbit primarily changes the paramiters of the opposite side, which is why you do a burn at perigee to change apogee, and visa versa). Current re-entry projections center on mid January, and Roscosmos said January 12th, plus or minus 7 days. Anyone feel like a pick-a-time pool? My own guess is Jan 6th, 4pm GMT, which is a bit earlier than the expert time frames I've seen. BTW, the one ground station to get any response at all from the spacecraft was an Australian site in Perth. They got a reply ping, plus possible telemetry frames, though that was a couple of weeks ago.

The Winter Anthology, "Aftermath", is up!!! Great turnout, and some very fine stories. I'd like to take this opportunity to express thanks to Graeme, our Anthology Coordinator, for putting this all together and keeping it going! Thanks also to Lugh, for his help on the tech side. And thanks to the Writer Support Team, Thanks also to the authors and their teams for participating. CJ

Happy Birthday, Jan!!!!!!!

Time to announce the upcoming chapter title, which is "Click". However, I'll go one better: I'll reveal the probably-unoriginal title of the following chapter (the Christmas one) as well: Christmas on the Farm. I'm really thrilled about this one; I've always wanted to do a chapter where it's both Christmas in the story and for us.

Yep, close to four chapter's worth coming in the next two weeks. Think of it as a Christmas present. One the downside, this basically obliterates my chapter buffer, so... I'll try to avoid it, but there might be a skipped week after the Christmas posting. I can give one assurance; the circumnavigation of Australia, if it happens, isn't the circumnavigation in the story title. That's a circumnavigation of the earth. Of course, it's always possible that it's just Trevor's head that completes it, but that's fulfill the title. Me? Play with emotions? Would I do such a thing as that? Billy (the guy there with Bidget) took George's car, tracking device and all. Maybe Basingstoke is just in the Christmas spirit? Okay, for the "Two miles above, soaring like a guardian angel on high," line, the two miles above means he's at roughly 10,500 feet, a nice, comfortable cruising altitude for a Beechcraft Debonaire. The Guardian Angle on high could mean he's keeping watch on them from on high, like we've seen him do before. Though, I suppose that it could be argued that Basingstoke isn't totally akin to an angel. Yep, but why to Miami? Thanks!!! Basingstoke, cause trouble? What sort of trouble could he possibly cause? http://www.gayauthors.org/forums//public/style_emoticons/default/innocent.gif What might that package be? There are clues to it, in prior chapters. http://www.gayauthors.org/forums//public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png True... though they have to figure out what it is first. http://www.gayauthors.org/forums//public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png One thing is certain; Basingstoke is a pro, and so he's very careful, but he also can't work on this job forever. Taking too long risks both the contract, and also exposes him to risk for longer. http://www.gayauthors.org/forums//public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png

Chapter 104: Heading North The next morning, Friday the 22nd, Trevor was the first up, and padded out in his boxers to attend the coffee maker. He’d just finished loading it when Joel, also in boxers, padded down the galley stairs. “Hi Trev,” he whispered, while grabbing a coffee cup, ready for the morning brew. Trevor grinned. “Shane’s still asleep. Lisa too?” he whispered. Joel nodded. “Yeah, that flight knocked us for a loop.” He paused, and then added, “Nowhere near as bad as what you

Heading North is up. We're still using Aussie Maths for chapter numbering, to enable me to keep my promise to keep the story under 100 chapters. (otherwise, I'd have to admit that I'm a long-winded blabbermouth who cannot count). Also, some story news; as we enter the final stretch, I ran into an issue with the upcoming chapters. Basically, I could either cut them where I felt they should be cut, to make chapters that IMHO work as a whole, or I could cut them to make standard sized chapters. So, I cut them where I felt they ought to be cut, resulting in approximately double-sized chapters, starting next week for two weeks. CJ