C James

Hrmmm! This explains much! I drove by that site around 2000 (I didn't go near it when i went to Pompeii in 2007), and I wasn't paying much attention (I had no idea it would be in a story) I don't remember the marina, but thought it was just I hadn't noticed it. To be honest I should have, but didn't, use the google earth feature that shows older sat photos. Ah, okay, I see it under construction in 2005. The next image shows it complete in 2007. I am hopeful that the piers (temporary, at least) were in place, at least partially, by August, 2006. Otherwise, I goofed, bigtime! However, this has taught me a lesson; when writing something about a prior time, be sure all items existed then! Otherwise, it's sort of like having a scene where Union soldiers, during the civil war, are standing around on the Mall in Washington, admiring the Lincoln Memorial...:wacko: Jim's special cigar? ROFL!!!!!!! Hrmmm, I have a theory! If Rob was on a boat, using a dock rented from a woman very much like Bridget, then it is quite possible that the boat is to do with the antagonist, and the antagonist of the story is none other than Rknapp himself! Rob, please don't hurt Trevor or Joel! Why is everyone assuming that Jim is going to Naples for something to do with Trevor? He might just have a hankering for some really, really good lasagna. And, um, the 20k? Maybe he likes really expensive restaurants? Rob raised some great points and questions. :2thumbs: One thing I can say for sure; there are a LOT of unanswered question in the story. Some will be answered very soon, others will take a while. Good point on the attorney-client privilege. I don't see why y'all are so sure there could be an antagonist in the story. Isn't it possible that I wrote a story where everything is all rainbows and unicorns, with nothing bad happening? What we do now know is that Jim didn't know what Dirk was hiding, and therefor wasn't a part of it. We have, however, firmly established that Jim likes pizza.

Yes, goats have balls. The male ones, at least... Steve, stuff like this keeps me on my toes, so please, don't stop! I'm glad you bought it up. Sometimes, I do make mistakes, such as Levies still being measured in inches in Europe. It bugged me when I did that, because I should have known that. I'm also delighted to have it pointed out, because it allowed me to correct it. Also, there have been times when someone has raised a detail in the thread and it's allowed me to clarify it in a coming chapter. Heh, I've wanted to kick myself a few times when writing this story, because of opportunities I've missed. I've driven literally right by Trevor's home marina in Fort Peirce (the bridge just a few yards north of it). I could have so easily stopped and walked around, took a few pics, etc. Same with Marina di Stabia, and a few other places yet to come. But I didn't know when I was there that it would be in one of my stories. Another issue I face; I'm lucky in that I've traveled a lot, but I certainly haven't been everywhere. Atlantis will go to at least a few places I've never been. Hrmm, I think I'll mention this after posting one of them; I'd love to see if I can convincingly write a place I've never been. And on the fiction issue... Before The Frog leads us into a veritable minefield here (which would qualify as a cliffhanger from him, no?) regarding whether or not Circumnavigation is fiction, have I ever said it was? I might, after all, just be writing the biography of Atlantis. CJ

Here's the map from the bottom of the chapter; The bay of Naples is called the gulf of napes on the map, but it's one and the same. It is indeed a spectacular area, and I highly recommend it. I'll only mention one thing though; don't go there thinking you'll get good pizza. If you want good pizza, go to Chicago or New York, not Italy. BTW, Wildone raised an issue I forgot to address; the fences at marinas. Some have gates at the top of the piers, others don't. Generally, you'll find gates more often on the piers with rental slips and not on the public pier (where we've seen Atlantis docking). But, it varies from place to place. The problem I have is that while I've been to Naples and Pompeii, I haven't been to Marina di Stabia except to drive by it once on my way south, and I barely remember doing it. I have no clue whether, or where, it has gates. So, I tried (and failed) to find photos, and so, I guessed regarding the public dock. (a gate won't show up on Google Earth in most cases) Similarly, I've had to guess on things like the aerial tramway price in Gibraltar; I've ridden it, but that was before 2006. I also can't remember for sure what I paid. The internet is great for finding a current price, but not what it was in July, 2006. So, I took my best guess. Usually, in a case like that, I'll leave it vague as to how much it cost, but when I have to specify it for plot reasons, I sometimes have no option but to take a good guess based on what bits i do know. What this means is that in a case like a pier in Marina Di Stabia, it might have a gate where I didn't show one. Some other details, like the layout inside the marina office, are also just guesses. I also tend to sweat it a bit on details, worrying I've missed something.

Huh? But.... hut... but... we all know that a goat would NEVER have ANYTHING to do with a cliff... right? Ahhem! We don't actually know that Jim's planned trip to Naples has anything to do with Trevor. In fact, I can show conclusively that there is a more likely explanation! Jim is clearly, and unarguably, shown as being fond of Pizza. Therefor, maybe he just had a hankering for a pizza in Naples? So, no cliffhanger!

Huh? Now who would ever think that sweet, innocent me could be devious in any way?

Why? Surely even the frog can see that this is not a cliffhanger? Great point on Trevor feeling alone; he's alone and on the run. But I think Joel and Lisa are letting him know he's not alone... but, as you say, will all that be undone if Joel goes home? Boys, beer, boats, Jim on the way.... What could possibly go wrong? Me? Throw a curve ball? Awsome pics, thanks!! As for Capri.... would it help if I mention that the title of chapter 19 is still being decided; it will either be "Preludes" or "Capri". It's written, the content won't change, only the title. Huh??? A cliff? Where?!?!?!

Would i do such a thing as that?

The character "Ben" from chapter 2 stirred up a lot of conversation in the chapter threads for "Circumnavigation"; a lof of you were curious about him, and what would come of him. Also, I've been wanting to find a way to say "thank you" to everyone who has participated in the story threads or e-mailed, or PM'd. The feedback, and fun, in the forum is my biggest incentive for posting stories, and without it, I wouldn't do it, so I've been searching for a way to express my thanks for quite a long time. I saw an opportunity to do both by writing a short story, "Ben" a short story set in the "Circumnavigation" universe, as a private "thank you" to those who have been participating in the Circumnavigation threads. (and I'm open to other ideas for future private thank-yous; maybe y'all pick a topic for me to write?) I compiled a list of chapter thread posters, PM'ers, and emailers. HOWEVER, it was messy and I am clumsy, so if I missed you, please give me a shout and let me know where you posted so I can rectify my goof and send you the story. Thanks again, CJ

Ahhem! I can assure you, and I can prove it; there are no vilains in any of my stories!! (And typos can be sooo handy at times! 0:) 0:) )

I forgot to mention that the Pompeii photos in chapter 17 were taken by me, and my route through Pompeii (including getting confronted by a worker) was the same as in the story. When I took them, I planned to use them in a story, I just had no idea which one. LoL. Sorry if the photos aren't too good; I had to process the heck out of them to get the file size down as far as I could, and the photo quality was bad to begin with; most of these photos started out as almost totally black... The reason? There I was in a photographer's dream location, and what did I do? I stupidly forget to check the settings on my digital camera!!! Duh!! I had the wrong darn setting on the dial, and so not only were they smaller filesize, but the exposure was way low... Only by fiddling with them in photoshop did I manage to salvage anything at all.

I'm shocked, shocked, I say, to see thoughts that there might be a vilain in this story! None of my stories have ever had a vilain. I'll 100% guarantee it. 0:) 0:)

I do wish people would weigh in on this one... I can say this much; there is more than one mystery here. They may not even be related... We'll find out more and more over the next few chapters... and we'll know it all many chapters before the end, though some will be obvious before others. The next chapter, BTW, is "Discoveries".

Great poll!!! I love it! Hrmmm... Interesting results, too! Thanks!!!!

The coming chapter is entitled 17.... oh, wait, that's the number.. the title is "Pompeii". (I'm confused, a normal condition for me...)

That's well said! I'm pretty much the same; things occur to me, and nag at me if I don't write them down. I'll start out by arguing with you: I think you're wrong. IMHO, quite a few of your later works exceed the originality of New Brother. I'll cite The Price of Friendship for one, and Heart of the Tree for another. I think several of your short stories certainly qualify as well. I'm by no means knocking New Brother, it's definitely original and well done, but I think you've surpassed it in that regard since. You are by far the best writer I know for originality, and even when you tackle a more standard subject, you throw in twists that are jaw dropping when you unveil them. (Price of Friendship comes immediately to mind). You forgot to mention of your biggest motivation: you just like writing cliffhangers. I've never been able to do poetry; well done to you for doing so, in a format I consider the most difficult of all. Huh?? You get sex? Hrmmm, I get imaginative death threats and people plotting my painful demise... ******* Hrmm, my own motivations are complicated, often differing, and to be honest, I don't understand them all that well myself in some cases. :wacko: Writing down ideas and plot outlines; that's a compulsion for me. Things just pop into my head, and nag at me for days until written down. Picking what to work on and write out in full is harder... Some of the ideas I have get tossed back into the pile because they aren't IMHO original, or are unrealistic in too many ways, etc. Some just plain stink, but I can't bring myself to delete them. I've got a directory full of such awful things. The ones that I feel might be worthwhile go in a different directory, and some of those end up getting picked. I'm not fully sure how I pick one to work on; it's usually just what I feel most compelled and interested to work on, though I often have no idea why. For me a big part of my motivation, and the one that gets me past writer's block and pushes me to write even on those occasions I don't really feel like it, is the forum and other forms of feedback, good or bad. Or just plain fun and silliness. I love it. Another reason I write is to learn; I'm always trying to improve, and by writing, I learn a lot about writing, and also whatever I'm writing about (due to research). And, I'll save the best for last: For me, one of the biggest joys of writing is working with my wonderful team; they are the best, and I think the world of each and every one of them.

I thought it might be fun to have a free-for-all discussion thread, on Rewards and Motivations. This is for both writers and GA members who post. What is your motivation? What compels you to either write and post stories online, or to be an active member of a board or forum such as GA?

I'd like to thank our anthology coordinator, Graeme, for doing an awesome job on the anthology (Which is a great deal of work.) Thanks also to Steph, for tech support! And thank you to our participating authors and their editors and betas, too. The anthology is online here; Enjoy!

Chapter 19 is up. And it contains a major, major revelation!

ROFL! I didn't notice that. But remember, I once typo'd it as "Circumcision" Trevor isn't a virgin; he had a boyfriend before, and they broke up, but that was only mentioned in passing, way back in chapter two. So, Trev has been "dry" for six months. Poor Trev! Suspense, me? Would I do such a thing as that? Choppy waters? In one of my stories? Surely not! What could possibly go wrong? We learn a great deal more over the next few chapters. The plotline on "Circumnavigation" is a bit odd, for a story that's part mystery: The current mysteries (there are several) are revealed in full long before the end. Trevor and Lisa are birthday twins; they were born on the same day and year. Way back in chapter one or two (I can't remember which) it's mentioned that Lisa's mom moved to France after divorcing her father, and gave Lisa a cold shoulder when Lisa went to visit. That's why Lisa has issues with France. Trevor and Lisa met... Hrmmm, even I can't remember if it was just before or just after Trevor lost his mother, and I wrote it <blush>. I'll go look.... Ah, it's in chapter one; they met in 4th grade, and though it doesn't say explicitly, that would make Trevor and Lisa about eleven, so it would be after Trevor lost his Mom. There's also this,

Congratulations, Your Majesty.

OOPS, I'm having major internet trouble, and I guess my earlier reply in this thread got eaten during a timeout, and I neglected to check., Sorry. First, the next chapter is called "Ignorance is Bliss" Nothing to worry about though... I mean, who doesn't like a little bliss? I had a lot of fun writing that chapter. Joel isn't exactly shy. BTW, in case anyone missed it, we now know what's in the divorce papers. There are times when Dirk can be his own worst enemy. The sunglasses didn't keep him incognito, but they probably did make Officer Gonzales even more suspicious. Poor Trevor; such temptation. Good point on Trevor having pictures around. We don't actually know if he does or not, because I've neglected to mention it. I'll make sure to add that detail in a coming chapter. Thanks for bringing that up. Who, me? 0:) Thanks!!! The forum is what I love the most; it's my main motivation for writing... actually, that's not true; the forum is my main motivation for posting stories, which is very different from writing. I'll always write, because stories nag at me when I don't, and writing is recreation for me. Getting chapters ready to post online though, is actual work. There's a great deal of work done by my team on the chapter text. There is also a fair amount of work involved on the HTML for the chapter page, layout, correcting formatting (For some darn reason, format coding errors sometimes develop when I transfer the text), plus with Circumnavigation there is a lot to do processing images and creating maps and routes. In short, writing is a compulsion for me, something I will always do. Preparing it to post online, on the other hand, is hard work, and a choice rather than a compulsion. This forum is my reward; I certainly wouldn't bother posting it if it wasn't for the forum and those who post here. My sincere thanks to you, and to all those who have participated in any of the chapter threads; you're the best.

What bothers me about stereotypes, more than anything, is the notion a few (thankfully, less and less) have that there is some "right" way to be gay. Said another way, it's the mindset that if you're gay, you're automatically X (X being some stereotypical concept.) One that particularly bugs me; gays and shopping. There is a stereotype that all gays love shopping, have great taste, etc. Baloney. Now, I mean no offense to any that do (And I'm the first to look up someone who does have great taste and loves shopping when I need advice on the issue, such as for a story) but it drives me up the wall when it's assumed all gays do. Probably becuase I am one who absolutely does not. I utterly loathe shopping, and do it only when I can't find an excuse to go do something more fun, like going to the dentist, or dropping a brick on my foot... When I need clothes, I combine it with a grocery trip to Walmart and get it over with as fast as possible. I've been dragged along on a day-long shopping trip in a city by a gay friend, once... I'll take a root canal any day. I'll also note that a heck of a lot of straight guys love to shop, so like almost all stereotypes, this one is false. I do like going into hardware stores sometimes, and when I'm overseas I do like going into stores to see the different things (not clothes though). So, this "Gays love to shop" stereotype drives me up the wall. And don't get me started on track lighting... I find it very useful, in my workshop. But in my house? Yuck. But that's just me. And that's my whole point; stereotypes are almost always wrong, on many levels. Are some people stereotypical? Sure, and that's fine. The problem is when everyone gets painted with the same brush. What people (gays very much included) need to learn is that gay (or bi, or lesbian, etc) is a sexual preference, and doesn't have a damn thing to do with anything else. For most aspects of life, it's no more relevant than the color of your eyes.

Thanks!!! The Panama is definitely the shortest route, but for an eastbound circumnavigation it can be tricky; the winds in the tropical south Pacific are dominated by the tradewinds, which come out of the east. On the other hand, further south, you have the westerlies. So, for a sailboat, it depends on the weather forecast. The Cape route is longer and rougher, but depending on the winds, might be the fastest and easiest. Trevor could plan to go either way, but wouldn't need to know for sure until after beginning to cross the Pacific.

This isn't the first rogue wave to hit a cruise ship. The Norwegian Dream got slammed by one off New York a few years ago, and there were injuries as high as deck 10 (!!!) but no deaths. They took the wave head-on; had it been a side hit like the one Wildone linked, it would have (due to the greater size) capsized the ship, and the death toll would have been in the thousands. The head-on aspect was luck; there was no time for them to maneuver bow-on. I've seen a rogue wave twice; Once, in the distance, about a hundred miles off the Falkland islands in a storm. The main body of the wave was about a quarter mile to starboard, and we were stern-on to the seas. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was enormous, about 50 foot. Had it hit, it would have done major damage. The other was a small one in California; I was surfing near Santa Barbra, in waves running six to eight feet. One started to build further out than the rest had, and I (and about 20 other guys who were on the line) paddled further out like mad to get out far enough to catch it. Most of us made it (those that didn't got to duck-dive under it, for the washing-machine ride, no big deal), and it was the wave of the day; 14 foot or so. And yes, I wiped out. I've surfed bigger, but not often and not much, but that's the only time I've seen such a freak wave on the surfline. They are rare, and it was a similar event that flooded the beach during a recent surfing contest (injuring a few spectators). Small rogues like that are rare, but more common than big ones at sea (which have sent many ships to the bottom). Here's a story on the Norwegian Dream's encounter.However, please note that the photo (of the Dream with massive bow damage) is NOT from that incident; it's from a few years prior, when the Dream collided with a freighter. The dead giveaway is the cargo containers in the bow; those were from the cargo ship, and would not have been created out of thin air by a rogue wave. The Dream collided with the freighter Ever Decent on near Dover, UK, in 1999, and also collided with a freighter in South America a few years later, but the picture is from the 1999 collision, regardless of what the press says. Here's the mis-reported picture. I'm absolutely positive on this; that's the damage it suffered in the 1999 collision, not one of its other collisions, and definitely not during the rogue wave. The QE2 encountered one in 1995, and the Queen MAry was hit broadside by one in WW!!, taking on a 52 degree list as a result. (the estimate was that 54 degrees was maximum recoverable list; she came within a hair of capsizing, and a modern cruise ship would not survive such a hit). During hurricanes and major storms, rogue waves can be in excess of 100 feet. That's the solid face of the wave. Here's what a 30 footer looks like when it hits a breakwater. It gives you an idea of the power these things have. As a general rule, they will not exceed one and a half times the "normal" waved in that particular instant in that area; more normally, they don't exceed much more than double. For example, if the waved are running four foot, you could get a rogue wave of 8, or maybe 10. Here's a chart of the Drauper wave, the first scientifically measured rogue wave, recorded on a North Sea oil platform. In chapter 5 of Circumnavigation, Trevor mentions rogue waves, and he sums them up fairly well; So, they are rare, but they do happen, and they are very dangerous. Okay, now for a pet peeve; when the story Wildone cites appeared on the news, guess what was missing? They neglected THE WEATHER! I checked as soon as I saw it, and found that the hit happened in a band of high winds and high seas. Further gripe, some of the "reporters" actually wondered if this was something to do with the pacific Tsunami triggered by the Chillian earthquake! Tsumamis, even big ones, are only inches high in deep water. They only build in shallow water (so if you're in a boat and a tsunami is coming, head out to sea.) Also, last time I checked, the Mediterranean wasn't in the Pacific. (maybe they moved it when I wasn't looking?) Okay, I've rambled long enough.