C James

Ummm, I feel,,, hunted... Ahhh, errr, I think Vegas is not a good place to hide, for some reason... Ummmm, hmmm, I've got the walking pincushion and the raptor after me... Maybe the Grand Canyon would be a good hiding place.... Or, an old underground mine?

ERK!!! I've confirmed: he's on his way to the U.S, for real! Oh no!!! I need to hide... But where?? Echidnas are very poor climbers, so I shall take to the heights! (as unaccustomed as I am to vertical rock surfaces....) ACK!! What is a poor goat to do?? There goes my plan to take to the heights... Ummm, help??

Thanks Bondwriter! I did do a lot of poking fun at cliches and pop culture in FTL... I miss that, I'll have to do that again.

First Echidnas, now Raptors!! Yipes!! Now, now, I haven't changed my mind, I'll still post the photo, just not until next week.

No, no! Don't tell Graeme! Those spines are SHARP! Couldn't we all reach a happy compromise, and, ummm, Blame Shadowgod?

Photo coming, hopefully by tonight. I need to dig through the collection of photos I've taken. EDit: No photo this week; please see the last paragraph below! Photo coming. EDit: No photo this week; please see the last paragraph below! I think this was a bit early for such a judgment, but it seemed to me that it took a long time for the plot to actually take off. This impression could be caused by reading episodes that have come in after long waits this time. Bondwriter is quite right on some points; it is taking a while to get to the core of the plot. This was not intended. I originally envisioned CL as 12 chapters. I think it is fairly safe to say, due to me currently writing Ch 15, that it may exceed 12. In LTMP, it took until Ch 22 to discover who the Scar is, and how his plotline related to Instinct's. This time, we see Eric facilitating the General as he embarks on his mission ten chapters earlier. Also, the key to how the two plotlines eventually tie together is in chapter 12. It's a clue, and a fairly extensive one at that. The Iron Eagel reffered to above is a movie, with a supremely far-fetched plot. Trust me, no Iron-eagle in CL! (I've seen it; I consider it high comedy. Politics and feasibility aside, the technical aspects are hilarious! Firing a missile from a fighter that's on the ground, BUAHAHAHAHA!!! There's dozens of such howlers). I can't say what, exactly, but the plot I have is not like that. I think it's safe to say, don't expect things to happen as they might appear at the moment. Up to this point, I needed to show that Brandon and Chase's coming out had its drawbacks, and stresses. Nothing that major is ever without drawbacks, and I felt it was unreal to show otherwise. I also needed to set the stage in other ways, for other things. There's much that I can't say, due to it being spoilers, but yes, it took me longer to get to this point than I'd expected. Will things pick up from here on in? I think I can safely say that they do. And, OH CRAP!! I just checked chapter 12... Uhoh... um, no picture this week! What I was babbling about for the party location is in chapter 13, not 12! ERK, Umm, please forget that I said anything about a party location, okay? Oh, crap, if the Echidna finds out about this, I'm going to be bearing a striking resemblance to a sieve for sure!! Yipes!

A cliff? What cliff? You know that a goat would never have anything to do with a cliff. Eric and Helen do indeed have a competition. There will be fun to come in that regard. The General is at a disadvantage. He has no idea who The Scar is. The Scar is under no such limitation. Also, the General is counting on The Scar for the rescue mission. I can't say what's coming, or the Echidna will get me, but... hrmmm, I could possibly say there may possibly be future events that are not entirely on the dull side. (but Shhhh, don't let Graeme know I said that, ofr he might get me for leaking a spoiler!) Now, a question.... What did y'all think of the party location? Did I describe it ok, or should I post a photograph? Actually, I think I should post a photograph and see if y'all think I described it okay. I'll start digging through my photos.

ACK! Now, now, you wouldn't want to roast me! Do I, or do I not, write stories where everything is all sweetness and light, and nothing ever goes wrong? Or, not that I'd ever use a cliffhanger, let alone a huge one, but if I did, you might get that as the early chapter and thus have a longer wait? Seriously though, the next time I have a chapter ready a few days in advance, I'll send it to you and WL. BTW, should we have more contests? Was this one fun?

Evil and ominous forshadowing? Well, it is called forshadowing, after all, and we all know that shadowy things are synonymous with evil. But, there is no cliffhanger!!! We know the General cleared the wing safely, so he will therefor, without a doubt, be alive and well when he lands on the island. He can't not land on the island: Gravity works, and so therefor, he will arrive on the island. He will also do so alive and well: even if his parachute does not open, (and he has no reserve chute) he'll be fine when he first touches the ground. So, therefor, no cliffhanger! Maybe The Scar has turned over a new leaf, and will be a nice guy after all? Poor, misunderstood Scar...

I think that W.L. And Wildone were both very close in their guesses. I think the only fair thing to do here is give them both the prize of an early look at a coming chapter?

It's the largest thread on GA except for a few of the games threads, but there's a reason: The FTL thread grew quite large due to where it was when the story was underway. I wasn't hosted yet so it was in the Efic forum, and in that forum each story gets just one thread. So, instead of having chapter threads like LTMP and CL, it was all in one thread. Thanks Steve! More trivia: The largest chapter thread in this forum is, I think, for Chapter 37 of LTMP; 187. About a hundred were in the first 24 hours, possibly because the ending was, perhaps, ever-so-slightly.. tense. Thanks Tim! FTL was my first try at a serial, and i made loads of newbie mistakes, so I'm amazed that it's done so well in readership.

LoL!! Me and my typos. Chase is fond of drums mixed with hangovers. LoL! Good point. I was worried about that myself. The General's storyline is basically on hold until it's time for him to leave for the Cape Verde islands. For plot reasons, so is The Scar's. There wasn't really much going on that wouldn't have been filler in their regard, during couple of days around Jim's wedding. The events around Jim's wedding were originally planned to be one chapter in the outline, but it grew when i wrote it. That left The General's subplot high and dry until Ch 12. I didn't intend this, but it happened, and I couldn't see a way to fix it without filer, and I hate filler. One way around it would have been to delay the last planning scene with The General until Ch 11, and I should have done so (it would have still fit ok, timeline-wise) but by the time I'd realized the problem, I'd already posted the chapter it was in. Cliffhangers?!?!?! But I never use cliffhangers!!!

Eric, at the end, is still an enigma. It can be read either way; either he acts alturistically in some ways and saves the day, or, it was all self-serving. We'll find out for sure more in the sequel. As for Chris and Steve... I think I have them listed as being about the same height, about 6'. Both were descrinbed as having swimmer's builds (both are swimmers, too). However, i did try and keep the descriptions a little vauge; I like to let the reader fill in the details in their own mind. Too many times, as a reader, I've encountered overly-detailed descriptions of a characther's appearance that incles some detail I find unattractive. So, I try, within limits, to be a little vauge in some respects. I saw Eric as very scrawny, and both lighter and shorter than Steve or Chris. CJ

Eric does truly regret what he did. He badly hurt his brother, and nearly did far worse. The question is, will he associate his bad actions with tequila, or with the fact it was a guy he was making out with?

The amount of sex you see is rather misleading; There's only three actual scenes, but I do allude to or obliquely mention sex occuring many times, so Chris and Steve are indeed quite active (well, after they finally get together, anyway). I only write a sex scene if I feel that is is necesarry for thr storyline. Otherwise, I'll do something like: "Getting up the next morning, rested and sated,..." Sated meaning that they had sex. The reason for this is twofold: one is that I find it very difficult to write a really original sex scene, so I do it as rarely as I can get away with. It has to be at least somewhat original or I won't do it: what would be the point? Also, one thing I don't like in a story when I'm reading is lots of graphic sex scenes. So, I don';t put them in mine unless I have a major plot need to do so. In FTL, we had Chris and Steve's first time together, the "fire and Ice" scene where they got surrepititiously videotaped (and the details were clues later on) , and then one time in the back of Steve's car. Other than that, I handled it with allusion, back-references, etc. Dex was over 18, so he's responsible for the tower, but so are Chris and Steve; They all participated, and civil suits tend to go after the "Deep Pockets": whoever has the most $$$, not whoever is most at fault. They still had enough for college, though, just barely. As for the settlement from Thadious, That was looking good at the end of FTL, by the nature of such lawsuits, it would take time, Peidmont can't just settle; it would be too big a hit, and there are also legal consequences if they admit fault. The common practice for a defendant in such a case; drag it out as long as possible. What's their hurry to settle? BTW, I'm being vauge on the finances here; I have to; the events occur after the end of FTL, so they are in the sequel (still in its early stages, not yet posted) As for who is running what, and what shakes out financially, that's in the sequel. Eric was going to empty the accounts again, but didn't get a chance. CJ

ACK, WILDONE!! Now, ummm, remember, I was young and stupid, and it wasn't really a cliff.. it was just an unstable vertical surface. not even perfectly vertical, and it was only 60 or 70 feet... You know I wouldn't really have anything to do with a cliff, right?

I grew up in the area, so I do know it well. Actually, The fall from the cliff? I came rather close to doing that myself once. (YEah, I was dumb enough to try illegally climbing one of those unstable cliffs:)) Thanks for the feedback. That was a fun story to write. Ahhh, but we're talking coastal soCal here, whilst Shadowgod lives in the Los Angeles area, far from the sea.

I'll try for Monday night, but I'll be away all day monday.. So maybe I should have said we'll have the chapter by Tuesday, either monday night or Tuesday morning.

Any new contest entries? Any new ideas to help on the, ahh, Shadowgod issue? (if you don't want him to know, PM me).

Hmmm? Now what problems could Eric possibly have in the future, once the current situation with Brandon (and mabe Chase) is resolved? What could possibly go wrong? I dare not give a spoiler, or the Echidna will get me... but I can release the chapter title! It's "Morning Serenade" and will post Tuesday.

Thanks for reading and for the feedback, HH! Chris was indeed lucky in some ways. However, not so lucky in others. His boyfriend's younger brother was a bit of nuisance at times. Sorry to hear that you're going through a tough time. I hope things get better. Feel free to talk about it if you want; this forum has a lot of great people in it. Good point on Chris; I never did cover why he wanted to be a doctor, just that he does. He likes helping people, and he's had a hard time financially, so i figured it would be a good fit. This is one of the goofs I made: this was my first try at writing a novel, so it's rough in places, with parts like that that need fleshing out, and other parts that need trimming down. Thaddious got to see his church, his pride and joy, plus his wealth go literally up in flames. He also got to go to jail. Eric... Eric was.. complicated. Did he change in the end? yes, and no. Drugs made him worse than he would otherwise be, but drugs tend to amplify bad personality traits, not create them. He had some mitigating factors; he had Thaddious and the Sherif as his influences, but he continiously turned his back on the William's (Steve's parents). In the end, it was a mixed situation. He felt some remorse for what he'd done, and also realized, too late, what he'd lost. But those feelings were not strong enough for him to be seriously hurt. Some of the things he did at the end were genuine; for example, once he had the money he did stop to say goodby to Steve. He also took a risk trying to save Veronica. He's no saint, that's for sure, but he's not a total monster in my view. However, that might have just been a god day, too. The story was Chris's, so we can't see Eric's thoguhts. Steve didn't fall for Eric's story, not fully. He was skeptical, and thus unsurprised when Eric popped up on TV, fleecing the flock. I think it's high time I got back to work on the FTL sequel, which is in 3rd person, so we do get to see all the answers, in the end. He did indeed save the day, and go riding off into the sunset, with a suitcase full of cash. We'll see him again, soon. Well, yes, he saved himself, but you've always been so hard on poor, misunderstood Eric.

If he'd have done as you suggest, he'd have been laughed at or worse, because in their eyes he would not have won the fight. The biker had not yielded to him. Amongst bikers, Brandon either needs to make him yield, or unconscious, or dead. You don't, as a biker would say, take care of business with half-measures. Had Brandon done as you suggest, it would have, in the eyes of many of them, shown him to be weak, no resolve. He and Chase would still be at risk. Brandon hung around with bikers before joining Instinct, so he's aware of the basic dynamics. Of course, staying away from the bikers might have been the more prudent move after coming out. Now you';ve got me curious. My own understanding of bikers is far from complete, so maybe I'm overlooking something here. Tell ya what... next time I see one of my biker friends, I'll ask about this scenario (though minus the gay part: I'm not out to them) and see if they can think of a less violent course of action that would still work. The guys I have in mind are bikers, though not Hells Angels, but they run in those circles so I feel they'd be good ones to ask. I'd prefer to ask a real Hells Angel, but I don't know any anymore. I do however occasionally drink at a bar in Cleator (a town of about thirty people, a dirt road, and a ramshackle bar) where they sometimes hang out. I sometimes play pool with them (Bikers are GREAT pool players, by and large) and if I get the chance, I'll ask, but that likely won't be soon (more likely a month or two, as I don't go there often). I'd also only ask carefully; they don't take kindly to outsiders like me nosing around regarding the inner workings of their outfit. Personally, I feel that what Brandon did, and even what Jim suggested, as actually far more humane than what "Civilized society" does. Here's why: in "civilized society" you call the cops, and the attacker is locked away in a prison cell for years. In both cases (Jim';s plan or sending the guy to prison) the actual goal is to use the culprit to set an example, a warning to others and thus a deterrent. Personally, I'd much, much rather be on the receiving end of what even Jim suggests than be put in prison for years; the kind of injuries Jim was suggesting doing were not serious; a few broken fingers and some cuts and bruises (the threat to cripple him were for Bruno's ears, not actual instructions to Brandon). The biker would have had some of his fingers in splints for a few weeks, but other than that he'd have been fine in a couple of days. The same is not true in the "Civilized" way of locking him in a cage for years. Also, Bruno had just tired to kill or cripple Brandon via an ambush. Were I in Brandon's shoes, I'd have been furious, and surely done more than Brandon did. But Brandon is nicer than I am in that regard. Anyway, that's my take on it, but I have an admittedly odd way of looking at things. Bikers do indeed have a very rigid code, which one breaks at one's peril. They are very honorable, by their own standard. If an outsider treats them ok and shows them respect, they return it. (speaking in generalities here, of course). Some of them (by no means all) are into some very, very nasty stuff, and no, I'm not "Pro-biker" in that sense, and I certinaly don't agree with all that they do. but they are highly trustworthy and do have their good points. I'd never think twice about hiring a biker as an employee, and have done so in the past. They never let me down. So, on one hand, I find them honorable and trustworthy in the main. On the other hand, they can be dangerous and into some vile things. So, I do have mixed feeling in their regard. Also, there are many kinds of bikers. Hells Angels, frankly they can make me nervous at times. Heh.. One thing.. Occasionally, one of our local cowboys has a few drinks and gets it into his thick head to stroll into a bar where Bikers are and pick a fight to show how tough he is. That is not an advisable course of action, but it happens a few times a year. :wacko: Brandon did indeed find himself in a very limiting situation. He had few options, none of them good. I've taken some liberties with the biker club dynamics. For one thing, clubs are organized more on a business style; treasurers, vice presidents, an executive board, etc. One club I've encountered a couple of times even has a public relations officer. :wacko: However, for simplicity I streamlined things greatly in the story. I did intentionally keep Brandon's fight as "light" as I could figure out how to do, given the dynamics he was dealing with. I wanted to show that, no, even though they are being paid, all the bikers aren't going to just accept an out gay couple. I did and other things in the story to illustrate the fact that coming out, like anything, has its good points and bad. In too many gay stories, the protagonist finally comes out and everything is suddenly perfect. Life isn't like that and those kind of expectations lead to dashed hopes or worse. One other thing about the bikers regarding Chase and Brandon; given the outcome of the fight, they are now relatively safe from any kind of repeat.

Hrmmm... Well, do recall that the Shady 1 has already added himself to the story, by riding his motorcycle, hell-for-leather, like hell on wheels, in front of Eric (and thus causing Eric's motorcycle acquisition). So... Maybe he will re-encounter Eric, and wreak more of his Evil influences. He's already to blame for Eric being on a motorcycle, and any consequences that might wreak. OOPS! LOL! Back when the chapters were nearing their simultaneous release, I appealed for, and received, a special dispensation from our anti-spoiler Echida, Graeme, to go a little further... Shadowgod and I released the chapters, both entitled "when worlds collide", simultaneously. The whole thing was Shadowgod's idea, and I fully supported it. It was also great fun. Basically, what we did was have his character, Cody, from Dreams and Clipped Wings, in a scene with my characters. Shadowgod's chapter is focused more on Cody's point of view and mine on Instinct's, but the trick was to have each set of characters be logical and self-supporting in the other story. So, if you read LTMP and not DnCW, Cody still makes sense, and if you read DnCW and not LTMP, Instinct still makes sense. It was fun. I also learned something: writing someone else's character is HARD! For me anyway, it certainly is. I had to write Cody';s part in my LTMP chapter, and I didn't get him right. (Shadowgod fixed that, though.). It was quite a surprise; I'd never realized how much I depend on getting "in the head" of my characters, and I found I couldn't do it well with someone else's. I sure couldn't get the speech patterns right, either. In fanfiction, it's common to use another author's characters, but I don' think I could ever manage that. CJ

Good points. One thing though, how involved is Brandon with Eric? Brandon was about to say something to stop Eric when Eric's tounge intruded, lol. Brandon then tried to push Eric away, but Brandon has bruised ribs which are by that point hindering him, plus he bumped his head on a rock, distracting him a little. Eric is also his close friend, so he was a little slow in reacting, not wanting to hurt Eric at what he knows is a delicate state in Eric's life. And how far have they gone? We don't really know, yet. Thanks for bringing this up. I was hoping someone would. Okay, Brandon understands why Jim is having him take the fight to a conclusion. Bruno (the biker Brandon fought) staged a two-against one ambush on Brandon, AND used a chain. You don't do that if you just want to beat someone up. Remember also that part of the reason is to prevent a similar occurance from happening again. Chase is at risk too. There was another part of this, though. You mention finding some more civilized way. Like what? If we sit and think about it, I'm sure we could come up with something, given time. However, time is the key word there, and that's what I was trying to show; the difference between hindsight and having to make an instant decision. I think it's a bit much to expect Brandon to think of some other way out instantly, as he'd have to. I wanted to show that, because it's always been a pet peeve of mine that historians tend to analyze the decisions of commanders in a battle in a similar manner; expecting them to make a careful, difficult sequence of logical deductions when an instant snap decision was all that they had time for (that's always been a pet peeve of mine regarding the historical analysis of certain battles). I'll also note that in spite of having every reason to do as Jim asked, Brandon did not take it to that level. Jim told him to break fingers, mark up Bruno's face, etc. Brandon didn't do it. Hrmm, I think this means I need to explain things more in the narration when I'm trying to show something along those lines. CJ Absolutely. I happen to be one of 'em. LoL. Eric's "Tequila problem" is based on me, though I'm not affected to quite the degree he is.

Ahhh, but lest we forget: On Balckheart's (Blackheart being one of your many names) wild ride up a certain Honolulu mountain, while trying to catch Chris and Steve, there were two flanking bikers on Harleys. That, of course, was the first appearance of harleys, or motorcycles, in any of my stories, so of course it all traces back to you... (My sincere thanks to the person who PM'd me with this connection!) Oh, and Shadowyness, There are a great many california champaignes, Korbel for one. And the best Dijon mustard I've ever had is from Germany. Oh and W.L, I have no bootlegging connections, , but I have been to Wineries in Italy, about a year ago, and seen them doing exactly what I describe. This is quite common. CJ