C James

Hi! I've been working on the website, and I've added "First to the Sun" under short stories, and also added a new page, one I've been working on for a while. This will be the first my team learns of it. What I've added is a Team page. Have a look, go to http://cjames.gayauthors.org/ and click on the "Team" button, on the lefthand nav bar.

Very well done, Mark! The line that was most evocative for me was the one about the lice... Skillfully done; with that one line you showed, clearly, the difference between life on the line and elsewhere.That one small detail spoke volumes, far beyond itself. What struck me the most was how strongly affected Jack was by the carnage of the Somme (as well he would be; it was the bloodiest of a very bloody war). The battle is at least the better part of a year in his past, yet it is still vivid. He's wounded, much as is Gabielle, for he shall never forget. Thanks for a great story, Mark! CJ

At least Eric is in a fairly safe place to have some tequila, except for the volcano, The Scar, and his armed henchmen.

Well, though I don't use cliffhangers myself, I know 'em when i see 'em! I'm wondering what Brandon will do. He likes Drew, but Drew's penchant for outing people is a bit of a problem. LoL. That brings up the possible sequel... how will Graeme write it? TPOF was 1st person from Rick's POV, but, for a story that centered on Brandon, would that work? So, I see several possibilities; 1st person from Rick's POV 1st person from Brandon (or perhaps Drew's) POV 2nd person (unlikly... not really suited for this genre IMHO) 3rd person 4th person. I did challenge Graeme to write this in 4th person, but I doubt he will do so.

Well, Jansen is on his way to see Eric, with Tequila. Okay, now, I can say what the big clue in chapter 37 was; the receipt for the storage unit in Jim's wallet. Yuri found it, and recognized it for what it is. Yuri and The Scar now know where the storage unit is. Of course, they are all distracted by the imminent eruption, which could come at any time. Well, as for the nefarious Mr. Graeme; the narrative does say that he has a prickly disposition. Think one scenario through... he's in very hot water as long as Helen has the bombs. On the other hand, if The Scar gets them while Helen is refusing to disclose their location... who would be the one in hot water then? Mr. Graeme, or Helen and Instinct? And Lol, yes, a goat transport. Actually, there are lots of goats on those islands, so it would be the most likely form of livestock truck. Besides, i couldn't resist. No cliffs here! And, ummm, could you please issue an Amphibious Declaration 0f Cliffhanger-free? Well, Graeme, I'm so please to hear that you would have preferred Graeme to be ROYAL name. Fortunatly, you have come to the right place! We'd be happy to help, right, everyone. How about King Graeme, King of Cliffhangers. I like the sound of that... So, what say ye all? Graeme for 2009 King of Cliffhangers!!! :king:

That is indeed a conundrum for Rick! Methinks he's got some explaining to do, lol. His parents will surely notice, once he starts dating, that he's dating females, so there are bound to be questions. LoL. He could say he's Bi, though. My take on the ending; I think it worked very well indeed. It wrapped up the story's core conflict (The Price of Friendship) and resolved that issue. So, once the core conflict is resolved, it is quite logical for the story to end, regardless of loose ends. That said, those loose ends do cry out for a sequel. Oh, and BTW, I will point out that Graeme left us with a CLIFFHANGER: Danishes were mentioned, right? But, so far left unsaid was what kind of danishes! Cheese? Blackberry? Prune? We just don't know! Therefor, I declare that this story ended with a CLIFFHANGER! CJ

Yep, the other "drunk writing" was "Three for Jake" (the first 3/4 of it, anyway), also a result of too much tequila. "First to the Sun" was written while drunk, but the idea stemmed from an e-mail I wrote months before, where I explained, in somewhat technical terms, how such a mission would work. I'll post that e-mail here. So, whilst drunk, I had the sudden idea of redrafting that old e-mail, adding the general and the janitor,and making it into a story, and did so, while still drunk. Some of the above made it into the story, but I chopped a lot of the math and tech. The innuendo wasn't planned, it just.. happened. I blame the tequila. LoL BTW, the title graphic was created from a NASA pic of the space station, to which I added the picture of the sun and the congressional seal.

Very well done indeed. The "monument" reference in the first paragraph made me think of a tombstone, and as the story continued I was wondering whose. The dream sequence had me wondering, because of a big clue; he took the pill and the effects began right away. For reality, that doesn't fit, but for a dream, is certainly does. The ending was indeed sad, but the moral, to me, overrides it. There can indeed be too much "living for today" with no thought of the future. Thank you, Jfalcon, for a wonderful story, made all the more poignant by its sad end.

Well, there is that... but they didn't know that, then, so it was all fun and camaraderie. BTW, I goofed on the chapter names in the last thread... the next chapter is 41, "Pushing the Limits", not 42, "Passion in the Dark". CJ

Great story, Linxie! I loved it. The mother's reaction did surprise me; but in life, people often act in unexpected ways. My favorite scene, of course was the shirtless skater, paid to be a distraction. That was fantastic. I loved the innovative way Scotty was encouraged to stay put in the apartment, too. Very well done, Linxie! CJ

Quite a roller-coaster ride! (and I mean that in a good way). Definitely leaves the reader wanting more. Always a good thing, IMHO. Well done!

Well done! When a story, particuarly a short story, is open to several interpretations, I like it. The role of the psychic; did she predict, or cause? Same for Andrews role, in a way. Thanks for the story!

The reveal took me by surprise. Very moving. Thanks, WL

Wow, thanks!!! I have to admit, I was nervous about this one... For one thing, as Talonrider alludes to, I was drunk when i wrote it. I'd been at a neighbor's birthday party, and had far too many tequila shots. I staggered home, and was about to send Graeme an e-mail, saying I was sorry, but I didn't have a story. (I was the one who suggested the theme for this anthology). This was after the document submission deadline, but before the HTML deadline. Somehow, I had an idea, related to a smart-ass e-mail I sent quite some time ago, and started typing. It took me an hour or two (When drunk, I have no sense of time) though I did go over it once sober, and polished it up (it badly needed it). Thanks to an incredibly fast response from my team, I made the deadline. (and Graeme came up with the blurb: "Pro is to Con as Congress is to Progress".) BTW, the filename for this story, when my team got it, was "dont drink and write". CJ

I just thought I'd mention that the next chapter will be posting on time, Tuesday. And, umm, isn't it nice, having all the old gang (Umm, except the dead ones) from LTMP staying at the resort together. Kind of a nice, friendly reunion?

I promise that Eric has some things coming to him... There, am I off the hook now? ACK! Now, now... I've heard of critics hitting below the belt, but this.... You mean castrating a mayor? Isn't that unusual, even in Texas? I think my feelings for most of our government congresscritters was summed up in "First to the Sun", a short story in the anthology.

Wow.. Wildone, this was a deeply moving story. I didn't realize it was autobiographical until almost the end (when I began to suspect, once I recalled your 2007 post). My thoughts on the dispatcher; had they showed up with no problems, I'd have considered that to be incongruous. My hunch is that you got pegged by a step-leader or positive streamer (I can't recall which is which, but I mean the ground discharge that often occurs in several locations away from the main channel of the stroke, a moment before the main stroke). You were indeed very lucky. Aside from the story itself, the other thing that I'd like to say is that this was very well written! Thank you for this story, Wildone, it's a great one. And BTW, I love the title, too. And BTW, is anyone amazed that I refrained from saying "shocking!"? I am

My sincere thanks to Graeme, Kevin, and Steph! Speaking as the former Anthology Coordinator, let me say that there is an enormous amount of behind the scenes work involved. The stories come in, and they have to be read, then any typos or other changes requested, then there's the HTML formatting, layouts, graphics, etc, etc, etc. Well done, and THANK YOU!!! CJ

All these comments about castrating me over a few perhaps-ever-so-slightly tense chapter endings... Well, please look to where this can lead!! http://www.boingboing.net/2002/08/06/third...ml#previouspost Here's more on his honor, Henry Clay III, the beer-guzzling goat who is Mayor of Lajitas, Texas. http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2227 He drinks 35 to 40 beers a day.

I'm right on the boarderline of what I can say here... <looks around nervously for the Echidna>. Okay, I think I can say what has been in the posted text;

Thanks Conner! IMHO, Eric has been shirted much to often. LoL Good point... Yuri has got to be wondering, especially after he became aware the Scar was ordering him to do two things at once. LoL But... Cliffhanger??? It's not a cliffhanger! I will confirm that there is a major clue to what's going on now and in 41, back in 37. You're warm, Wildone, very warm. Yep, given one Jetta, plus the possibility of The Scar and company "borrowing" it, we do have a slight problem, what with the volcanic situation and all. How long until it blows? Could be any minute now, according to the vulcanologists, or a couple of days, who knows? It's just "ever so slightly tense", as we say around this forum.

I'll definitely come back to this later (at work now), but for now, I just had to say SUPERB POST!

The General's initiative was poorly planned; he got overconfident. He's a genius in the tactical world, and wrongly assumed he could play in the political one too. He couldn't. Part of the problem was timing; the volcano made the press conference look like a cheap PR stunt or worse. The no-show of the bomb, combined with the nuclear detonation in Iran not yet being proven, well, those didn't help. The general didn't confess to the nuke. That's my fault; I covered his description of the mission as a summary, due to not wanting to repeat all that and bore the readers to tears. So, we don't see that part of his speech, and I do see how it could appear that he was admitting culpability for the nuclear blast. In fact, some of his statements are colored that way. That last part, BTW was intentional, for plot reasons. True that I'm not disfigured. As for the trying to lay hands on nukes... no comment.

Whoa! That one, I will argue. The General did NOT trigger any nuclear explosions. Per the text, he only found out about the nuke in Iran seconds before it went off. There was, at that point, no possible way to stop it. Therefor, I would say it's unfair to paint him as "triggering nuclear explosions to change his government's policy". Refineries? yep, he did, with hand grenades and cargo planes. But not nukes. He simply didn't do it. Felecia did, acting on The Scar's orders. Now... stupid to give the conference as he did? Arguable. I'd tend to say yes, at least to a degree. He should have at least confirmed that there was evidence of a nuclear detonation. I'd also say that going public, especially under the circumstances, might have been... unwise. A lot less politics. This chapter had to be as it is, though, to set the stage for what is to come. You're right; I'm not intentionally referring to our current political overlords. The administration in the story is fictional, and its behavior was plotted out before the election (actually, early in the primaries). The way I look at it is this; the story's world branched off from ours before the story time line began. The most recent "real world" event in either LTMP or CL, that I can recall, is a mention of 9/11, so the "branch off" could have occurred anytime after that. If not... I'd suggest staying out of Toowoomba. Conner, for you, I'll release the next two chapter titles. The next one is "Trapped", and the following one is "Passion in the Dark". The Echidna prevents me from mentioning why this is relevant... but I have a hunch you would approve.