C James

Ummmm... hmmmm... I'll agree with that if, and only if, you mean anyone but me.

Why would Trevor stay down there for twenty minutes?? :wacko: Perhaps he likes it down there? He's always loved the sea. LoL! ****************** Okay, I hate to rain on everyone's parade, but... Think on this... Why has it been mentioned several times about Joel being the beneficiary of Trevor's insurance? Think on this as a possible scenario... Trevor continues his journey to the bottom of the sea (over 10000 feet where he's at...) Atlantis, stripped and partially submerged, drifts with the currents. Back in Florida, Trevor's anticipated arrival date in Australia passes... Lisa and Joel become worried. Eventually, a search is launched, and Atlantis's wreck found. With the insurance money, Joel has Atlantis repaired, and sails her home. From the Indian Ocean, he might as well keep heading east, and does so, completing the circumnavigation, ending the story. Then, a sequel! Circumnavigation II, the Search for Trevor. (okay, it's a bit of a rip off os Star Trek, The Search for Spock). One day, clues are found, identifying the place where Trevor went down. Joel launches a search, and eventually Trevor is located on the sea floor and hauled up, for a joyous reunion with Joel, Lisa, and Atlantis, and they all live happily ever after... well, except that Trevor is still dead, but who's counting?

For reasons unknown to me the subject of cliffhangers has been raised in this forum lately... so it got me to thinking; what's the most evil form of cliffhanger? The most obvious to me would be when an author leaves us with beloved character in grave danger of death at the end of a chapter, and then in the next chapter, resolves the cliffhanger by killing them! And, to compound the matter, makes a comment that it's not a cliffhanger, but mowing the readers down with a machine gun. Now, can anyone name an author (and in which story) who has done such an evil, evil cliffhanger? (no, not me! ) I'll give an additional clue; said author is very well known on GA, and often posts in this forum. Any guesses? :mace:

18?!?!?!? Chapter 18? but but but.. there were no cliffies in 18... and wasn't 18 last year, and thus ineligible? (I'm glad i'm not the only one who makes typos! ) But but but... I never use cliffhangers! And I'm not eligible for the voting in 2010!! ACK! No no no! I now have quotes, and know how to use them! (see my siggy for references!) This chapter had some interesting information on it. First is that Sanchez made contact with associates who made contact with Ali to look for Trevor's transponder. Now if we look at this actual paragraph: No where does it says the man with the binoculars was a Seychelles smuggler who made contact with a Somalian pirates. So we have a couple of scenarios which might bring attention to someone in the area. Could the man with the binoculars actually be law enforcement of some kind? It was mentioned that the Somalia boat was going to fish on some banks that belong to Madagascar that are seldom patrolled. If though they are alerted a Somalian boat is heading to them, they may be intercepted. Next could be that indeed the need for military intervention due to smuggling and pirating may have increased international presence in the area. Who knows may also be receiving Trevor's AIS and trying to hail him with no answer because he isn't on board. There's an innate instinct that can "feel" up in most cases, by reading physiological clues (including the inner ear). for example,the differing pressure on the sinuses (very apparent if one ends up face up under water!) To expriance this firsthand, just go into any pool or body of water that's deep enough, go a few feet under, and start tristinag and turning with your eyes closed. You can "sense" which way is up. I noticed this while surfing; after a wipeout, when you've been thrust deep, you're in churning water that often has a lot of sand, so you keep your eyes shut, but finding the surface is no problem. They'd taken the boom, too, and the electronics... and were getting busy with crowbars. Still though, you're right, they hadn't had long when the chapter ended. If Trevor stays down 20 minutes, nitrogen narcosis (the bends) would not bother him at all, because he'd be dead For a male, body fat below 5 or 6 % can be dangerous. Even a lean swimmer would often have more (but well under 10%). Fat content also varies by organ... for example, the human brain is about 60% fat! (though in my case, my brain varies from 110 to 120% fat...) Great ref on the diving chart and depth issues! ******************************** I guess it's time to release the title of chapter 50. It's a good thing it's not anything ominous, like "Crushed"... Oh, um, actually that is the title, but don't worry about it. Nothing bad ever happens in my stories.

Trevor is absent from the chapter.... But how much time has passed? Narrative timing is tricky. The narrator (unless using retrospective, which has to be shown as such) generally covers scenes in chronological order. There are exceptions, such as covering two related scenes together. Also, when scenes are occuring simultaniously in the story, the narratior might stick to one, or jump back and forth. In this case, what does it tell us? Okay, one scenario is that after we left Trevor, some time passed, and then we see Bridget and George for a few minutes, and then spend a couple of hours with Lisa and Joel, in which case hours have passed for Trevor. In that case, he should be nearly to the sea floor, ten thousand feet down, by now. Or, if Bridget and George's scene occurred during Trevor's little pirate problem, the narrator then jumped to that scene, and then to Lisa and Joel's scene, continuing it to the end, and could jump back to Trevor at any point after we last saw him, even moments later. Basically, we just don't know. Oh, BTW... Trevor's little pirate problem has been foreshadowed, in part, by the pirate emoticon :chris: that's been in every chapter announcement in the announcement forum, just like the :nuke: was in LTMP. Thank you Emoe!!! But remember, that's true of all my chapters.

I was wondering... did anyone notice some of the... complications, in chapter 49? Dirk and Jim are three days from being indicted, but on the bright side, that will be a tremendous relief to Bridget. Now, who is the key to clearing Jim and Dirk? Trevor. Also, we've seen what a mess it made for Dirk and Jim when the bomb went off, so if Trevor vanished forever, what would the assumption be? Lisa and Joel... They had their perfect day, and as Lisa said at the very end, it's just perfect... is there any danger of anything spoiling it forever? Such as finding out at some point that Trevor was horribly murdered that day? And, a note about chapter 50: we do find out how Trevor's plunge ends. ************** Welcome, Adventurous!!! Freediving deep does have some profound physiological effects, doesn't it? It's just a nice, relaxing interlude chapter. But but but... It was Ali, not me, who tossed Trevor overboard. And he did so at Sanchez's bidding, so I think it's only fair to blame Ali, or Sanchez.. or both. Alternatively, where was Trevor heading? Australia! So, we could always just blame Australia... Well, the Australian connection might be there just so we can blame Graeme for it. And me, evil? When have i ever done anything evil? Atlantis's speed was four knots... that means about a mile (just a bit over) every fifteen minutes. Good point on Ali... he would not want to be spotted alongside Atlantis. As a side note, which isn't mentioned in the story, there have been several pirate attacks on yachts in the Seychelles area. However, these began around 2006, so Trevor had every reason to think himself safe once he reached the Seychelles. He wouldn't have heard of the problem, so he felt quite safe. Also, the method the pirates used to approach (including the intercept with their skiff) is a common tactic.

Chapter 49, The Question, is up! Chapter 49 has posted early! Chapter 50 will post no later than midnight Monday, my time, thus resuming our normal weekly posting. Oh, BTW, one question I can answer, if anyone asks, is how narrative timing works. CJ

Wait! Okay, upon rereading HH5's post, he's saying 48 is a mystery, so I'm inclined to count that, and that makes HH5 the # 6 vote. Thank you, HH5 and the other 5 in the thread who have given us an early chapter 49! :worship: Chapter 49 will be online within 5 minutes. Update: Chapter 49 has been posted.

E Tu Emoe :blink: I'm shocked, shocked that you would thingk poor, innocent me capable of a cliffie? Okay, We have 5 confirmed posts of cliffhanger-free. all it takes sis one more, just ONE more, and 49 posts right away,. Now, Wildone listed the 5 that meet the criteria, but he DID NOT AGREE HIMSELF. Had he done so, chapter 49 would be posted by now! Therefore, the reason we are still HANGING on chapter 49 is Wildone! I therefore and hereby nominate Wildone for the 2010 King of Cliffhangers Award! :king: Come on, one more? Just one, and I'll post chapter 49 immediately. It's all ready to go, and it's a good one.

Yipes!!! Ummm.. but, ummmm... How could a minor nautical difficulty, resulting in a perhaps-ever-so-slightly-tense chapter ending (which admittedly includes a mystery, such as whether Trevor lives or dies) be a disruption?? Surely that's not my fault! If it's anyone's fault, wouldn't that be Ali? He's the one who threw Trevor overboard, not me! Ummm, Graeme, only two little problems... your way of getting chapter 49 would take much longer than getting just two more people to add posts to this thread, declaring 48 cliffhanger-free. (okay, that's one, and I cannot count...) That makes four! Thanks Jan!!! BTW, to Flipper: See? that's wasn't so hard, now was it? Okay, only two declarations of 48 being cliffhanger-free to go, and we'll get chapter 49 posted!

ACK! But... but... but... it's not blackmail! I'm offering to post chapter 49 early! Out of the goodness of my heart... And all I ask in return is for a few members to agree that there was no cliffhanger. :blink: So far, we have Hoskins and Benji agreeing. I'll make this very easy: if just four more members agree that there was no cliffhanger, I'll post chapter 49 of Circumnavigation immediately. AND, to sweeten the deal, if this occurs, chapter 50 will post on midnight Monday, resuming our regular weekly posting schedule a chapter ahead. Now, how could anyone complain at an offer like that? Oh, and Wildone... your vote would get us 25% of the way there. How about it? :2hands:

Thanks to my wonderful team, I'm in a position to make an offer: to post chapter 49 of Circumnavigation early. Would that help? It's almost ready (I'm formatting it into HTML now). In return, all I ask is that the forum posters here aree that 48 wasn't a cliffhanger, becuase we all know I'd never write a cliffhanger, right? As soon as we're in agreement, I'll post chapter 49, "The Question". See? I'm not evil.

There's some great comments in this thread! I'm very constrained as to what I can say at this point... but there are some things I can share. One of them is that we aren't at the end of the novel: it will run past 60 chapters. The second point I can raise is that this is not a dream, it cannot be. There are scenes with the pirates on Atlantis after Trevor is thrown overboard, and that's in the narration. The narrator cannot lie. The only dreaming Trevor was doing was before being prodded awake by the gun, and the narration says he woke up. So, this is very real, and not a dream or hallucination. I'm absolutely not a fan of miraculous, overshadowed saves... So, no sudden encounters with submarines, etc, and even if a Navy ship arrived on the scene right at the end of the chapter, there is no conceivable way for them to figure out what happened and find Trevor in time. I'm a big fan of foreshadowing, and hiding clues in the text. I'll even mention that, somewhere in the posts above, someone mentions something that is very, very important. Does Trevor live or die? I am not allowed to say, but I will say this; if he lives, it will be plausibly, and not some wild miracle. Now, I'm well-known for totally avoiding cliffhangers of any kind so this situation is basically a mystery (and Circumnavigation is part mystery). The mystery is, does Trevor live, or die? If he dies, how will the story unfold from here on out? And if he lives, how does he do so? I'll come back to the thread soon; there are some awesome posts above I want to reply to, but I'm being driven offline by a thunderstorm.

Thanks Bleu! Yep, Cory is about ready to kill them, especially if they say "honest" one more time. But as Jake says at the end, what could possibly go wrong? 0:) Yep, they made a decision without consulting Corey, who can be volatile at times. Wildone!!! How can this be a cliffie? As Jake says, "what could possibly go wrong?" Hello and welcome!!! Thanks! Yep, Jake is very much a mix, almost a contradiction in some ways. And good point, they have all grown. Jake is, in part, a story of growth and change.

Chapter 48, "The Hand of Fate" is up. Enjoy. :chris:

But but but... we all know a goat would never have anything to do with a cliff (or a cliffhanger), right?

Yes, I know the subject of cliffs is very much off-topic for this forum, but I had to share this link to the world's most spectacular cliffs. Anyway, I just wanted to post this scary stuff here, to remind y'all how lucky you are that there are no cliffs (or cliffhangers!) around here. Oh, and while I'm at it, here's a collection of spectacular sea cliffs. :chris:

ROFL! So you DID have a stratosphere model! I notice you are silent on the Wayne Newton posters issue. ********************************************************* Oh, and before I forget, here's a map of the route Trevor has planned. As you can see, there's a lot of empty ocean once he passes Rodrguez Island.

But what about all those tacky Las Vegas tourist souvenirs (like that Stratosphere model made out of casino chips) and Wayne Newton posters you decorated your office with? Thanks Slug! Before I forget, the title of Chapter 48 is "The Hand of Fate". Okay, it's coming up on that time of year again: the GA Readers Choice Awards, including the King of Cliffhanger Awards. Now, seeing as I'm ineligible for the 2010 voting (And also ineligible due to never using cliffhangers) I am thus completely impartial, and I thought it would be helpful to ponder our options before the campaign begins. There are many potential candidates. All that's required is that they have (or will) posted a chapter or story in the calendar year of 2010, that contains a cliffhanger. Any thoughts on whom to target... er, support?

What's that old saying? Las Vegas is the root of all Evil? Dirk and Jim running certainly won't help their case. And Lol... That's an interesting take on Steve... though for some reason, I was picturing him with a Canadian accent. The inconsistency is just bad wording on my part: Trevor was on a payphone, which was beeping as the call timed out, and he was replying to Jim's question about being able to contact him by saying that he'd be out of cell range once he was a few miles away. That is poorly worded though... I'll see if I can figure a way to fix it. The route... You have it almost completely right on the Mascarine Islands) the only difference is it's over 3300 miles for the leg from Rodreguez to Australia, not 2200. The Mascarine Islands (From west to east they are R

Chapter 47 has been posted. I almost called it a different title, but that would have been too much of a spoiler.

Good point on the horns... And when asked what my favirite drink is, I always reply "Free ones!" Trevor has no worries; he'll have most everything battened down before he sets out. It's a basic of good seamanship; make sure you aren't pummeled by your stuff if the sea gets bad. If one engine goes, that's one advantage of a catamaran; he has two. All you need to do on a cat with one engine is steer away from the "dead" side to compensate for the yaw. It's not efficient, but it works. He's also got the wind for his primary motive force. Well of course, a goat would never have anything to do with a cliff, we all know that... And yep, I started raising hell at an early age. LoL... And yes, my parent's knew about the drinking in shipboard bars, and they were fine with it, so long as I only had one per day. (My parents were from Europe, and so didn't have the American attitude towards alcohol). A typhoon at sea? Yipes. Not fun. I've been in 90mph winds in a ship not much smaller than the Connie (a smallish cruise ship) a couple of hundred miles south of the Falklands (east of Cape Horn) and it was a nightmare, because we had a following sea (they left it too late to turn into it). Did quite a bit of damage astern, too. And offering to get a seasick guy food? You're evil!

Hard cider is very common in the UK, and about like good beer or higher in alcohol content. Some is sweet, but my personal favorite is the cloudy, unfiltered "raw" hard cider served by some pubs in the UK. One of the nicknames for it is "rocket fuel". It comes in several forms, some sweet, others dry (not sweet). I prefer the dry. And Lol... I used to cross the Irish Sea a lot when i was visiting the UK, but in that case... the voyage was bad from the start. The wind was near hurricane force (carrying some rain that stung as it hit), coming right down the channel in Liverpool. The ferry had trouble right from the start: we pulled away from the dock, but the ferry couldn't turn (becuase of the force of the wind on the hull) and ended up being carried up the Mersey channel sideways for about a mile, until a tug came to our rescue and helped turn us. As soon as we were out of the river, it got very rough, and kept getting worse (wind and seas both) and we were heading almost straight into them. The ferry was already taking green water over the bow, and pitching like crazy. I could hear the vehickle tie-down chains clanking, and thuds from below, which scared the hell out of me. (I know what happens when a cargo breaks loose under those conditions... it can knock holes in the hull below the waterline, a great way to sink, and in thos conditions abandoning ship would have been fatal). There were only about two dozen passengers, and mostly they holed up in the lounge or cabins. Me? I sat there, drinking my cider and eating onion and cheese and sausage pasties (I don't get seasick.. at least, I never have yet) ,and the bartender seemed to be getting nervous as hell, cringing every time the bow dipped and we took a wave over it (the impact on the forward superstructure was noisy, and you could feel it). There was also quite a bit of water (not sure if it was rainwater or seawater) in the corridors and lounge, little rivulets on the floor. I was thinking by that point it would end badly for us, but drinking give me something to do. Also, drinking at sea is kind of a tradition for me. My first long sea voyage was at age 11, and in those days there was no drinking age at shipboard bars in international waters. So, at age 11, I was buying myself drinks at the bar (My favorites were snowballs, Singapore slings, and Tequila sunrises) with money I'd won in the casino, playing poker. (It's very easy for a young kid to clean up at poker... no one ever thinks they are bluffing). My family still teases me about that.

The last time I was in San Francisco was a lot of years ago, but I did ride the cable cars (tram cars). I can't remember what they were like for ride though. I've been in ski-gondola cable rides high in the mountains during windstorms, and that gets a bit worrying. I didn't try to stand though (there wasn't much room). I do a lot of 4-wheeling (offroad or rugged trail driving)and that will shake up the passengers and vehicle a lot. Hrmmm... The worst sea I've ever been in was on a small car ferry, crossing the Irish Sea one winter. The winds hit hurricane force, and the seas were massive; we were taking green water over the bow, and things were being thrown around by the motion (even though we were taking the seas head-on, there was still a lot of roll sometimes, to about 30 (guessing here) degrees each side, which is a lot!) Also, when the ferry took a big wave in the teeth, the bow would drop, and then as the wave hit you'd feel shuddering and deceleration as she buried her bow in the wave, and then the roar of the wave bashing the superstructure (I was in the bar, amidships, for most of this). Even some of the crew got seasick, and the journey took three times what was scheduled. It was one heck of a ride. But, there was a plus side; I was much too young to drink, even there (the drinking age is 18), but nobody was carding at the bar, so I had my fill of hard cider (an alcoholic drink, made from apples, which I love).

That's a very good point! I wouldn't have thought of that. I've been on subways a few times, and having to walk around while they are moving, stopping, starting, etc, is kind of similar in a way, especially if they have old, uneven tracks (such as some of the London subways do).