ReaderPaul

I see the potential for possible misunderstandings. I hope I am wrong. But perhaps the guys could help Oliver find a boyfriend.

After some less-than-wonderful days at home, I finally am getting back to reading this story. I look forward to reading more and more.

R. Eric, I see you have already corrected the "Daniel" passages in this story to Joseph. One slight rabbit here-- When Potiphar's wife (using the King James Version [KJV] spelling of Potiphar) wanted Joseph to have sex with her ("Lie with me"), there are some who think that Potiphar was also known as Potipherah, the Priest of the Egyptian god On . Therefore, when when Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphnathpaaneah and assigned him Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On for a wife, according to those scholars, he ended up marrying Mrs. Potophar's daughter! I do not think, personally, that they were the same person. But I could be wrong. Referring to your comment above, having a lot of characters in a story is NOT wrong. Life has a lot of characters in it, and we usually survive.

Wonderful, James! Some of your best yet!

Okay, R. Eric. Good chapter, but if they are using a very similar holy book in Erik and Seth's universe as in ours, it was JOSEPH son of Jacob who told King Pharaoh about the dream of seven years of plenty and seven lean years. Joseph and Daniel BOTH interpreted dreams, but Daniel did it for 4 kings and Joseph for one kin, the baker, and the butler/food & wine taster for Pharaoh. I'm sure that within a few chapters we will learn Markum's part in this is. Since you are doing so well at Biblical references, will you bring in the Apocrypha? The story of Daniel and Susanna and the story of Bel and the Dragon and Daniel and Habakkuk in chapters 13 and 14 of Daniel are fascinating. Those are so-called Apocryphal chapters of the book of Daniel. Were you aware that the Apocrypha was originally translated into English as part of the King James Bible? (You probably did know that, but certain groups of Protestants suppressed the Apocrypha over the next 150 years or so.) Personal near-beef: Please use Lukus more in the story! (And also consider bringing Zeke and Gabe back into an active part of the story again.) And I am wondering who will learn to use magic next-- Thomas, Toby, Seth, or Beau!

Fascinating chapter, R. Eric. I think Bert is still missing a word or two of what you write/talk/whatever from time to time. I have a hunch the we will see more of Martha and Dara before this saga is over. I am not sure why I feel that way. Has Erik thought about healing Toby's ears?

I have enjoyed this story. I hope that sometime in the future a sequel might appear.

Oh, R. Eric, you have some really good stuff in this chapter! Examples: “What are you looking for?” Demetrius asked. “Truth! Answers?” “There may not be any,” Demetrius pointed out. “Maybe not,” I nodded. “I will promise this, we won’t find too many by not looking. I want to know and understand everything...."+ AND -- “People often forget who the Savior was friends with,” I chuckled. “He spent most of his times with tax collectors and lepers. They were below the acceptable line.” Excellent, R. Eric. I like how you work serious stuff into an interesting story.

Hopefully this new temporary crew will have been severely warned by those in charge of the show not to buck against the permanent crew and Edwin.

So Bert is your new speech-to-text program? Interesting chapter. Eric seems to be gaining some measure of control over his abilities.

I have to admit curiosity as to whether any of the crew are connected to the group which chased Edwin at that installation earlier. Either way, it will be a good story. Perhaps Edwin and Hunter and James should quietly ask the crew what other languages each one speaks. There might be a surprise or two.

Most of the ancient world think differently that do many persons today. At that time, rape was considered by most to end virginity. But many persons in today's world realize that virginity is given, not taken.

What a fascinating set of events! i really want to see where this goes from here.

Wow. The possibilities opened by this chapter are endless. Way to go, R. Eric.

Interesting. You know how to keep us guessing, Quokka/Preston.

It has not been established that, once through the rent in the dimensions of space/time, that the block creatures MUST remain within the field here on earth. It has been implied, but not firmly established. The original Mr. Ravishaw must have been very perceptive if he had established that the house and the field generated was acting as a refuge for the block creatures.

It could be that as well. I knew a family whose grandfather had an unusual last name -- He was the last of his name in the USA. He offered his grandson, the only son of the grandfather's only daughter -- his entire family fortune if the grandson would change his last name to match the grandfather. The boy refused, because he loved his father more than the sometimes manipulative and controlling grandfather.

My guess is -- she married a second or third cousin who had the same last name. I knew some music teachers from college who married each other and their last names were the same (for illustration, I will use the name Johnson). So his name, in the illustration, was John; hers was Jane. So her name became "Jane Johnson Johnson."

Well, we have Charles and Richard with their formal names. And Adrian would seem to be fairly obvious that his name is most likely Adrian. I know Kippy has been called Kip, Kipper, and Kippy -- According to my research, Kip is often used as a nickname for Kipling or Christopher or Kipper or Kyp or the old English place name Kipp. But it has also been used as a nickname for someone whose initials spell KIP, such as American model and actor Kevin Ian Pardue. It has been used as a nickname for the Kenyan first name Kipkoech, for the odd first names Kippernicus and Kipapotimus, and for some reason at times as a nickname for Kylie and Kathryn. Another common way someone gets the nickname Kip is from a sibling pronouncing a name wrongly. (Since Kippy has no siblings, that can't be it.) So, Geron, when do we find out Kippy's formal name?

So for Christmas, are the boys and Horace going to Twombly, Uncle Bob's, an undisclosed location near the North Pole, Engris, Roorapynta, somewhere else, or all six? This has been a great story, Geron.

Evidently Ricky has a connection to Charlie's split presence that is superior to Adrian and Kippy, since he could find Charlie and Kippy couldn't. Ricky must have split-follow, but cannot split his presence first. Which brings up another question, to be answered in a future story, Geron -- HOW MANY split presences at once can Charlie do? But what happened does answer another question I had. Charlie's split-presence can go to other universes. Therefore, he could visit Darry Hamlyn, Caleb/Cally Jameson, and Mike Hamlyn in the Doors universe when someone is not concentrating enough on the elf-door they are going through and they end up coming through the door from Earth into the huge room of doors where Difris is. The most likely candidates for that would be Ronja or Charlie or Horace or Ricky -- Or Ricky's little brother who somehow ends up on their Thanksgiving or Christmas adventure (Hint, hint). Geron, you cannot steal ideas from me. As I told you a long time back, I freely GIVE you the rights to use any idea I might suggest to you, whether suggested directly or indirectly or derived directly or indirectly from anything I say or post or email. My payment would be the resulting story to happily read. Paul

And you did a great job. I grew up in the fifties and sixties, when attention spans were longer. NBC would sometimes devote three hours to one political subject, calling it an "NBC White Paper." There was not cable television, podcasts, the internet, dozens of radio and tv programs, and as many distractions as there are now. Where I lived we could get ONE tv station, unless the weather was just right. My father and I read constantly in the evenings. So I learned to read long stretches at a time. In today's world, that is rarely feasible. I miss those days, but enjoy much of the connectivity the world has now. And I don't care if the chapters are of unequal length. I will read and enjoy the stories whether long chapters, short chapters, or a deluxe mixture! Thanks for the good writings!

Fascinating. I keep wondering if Charlie's "second self" will be involved in solving this. However, in such an environment, the second self might be in danger, given what little we do know about the house. Talking with Mrs. Ravishaw sounds like a good possibility. But will she talk to them?

Geron, I like it both ways. Long chapters, or spreading it out. On another site years ago, I read a story of about 11 chapters where the SHORTEST chapter was around 30,000 words; the longest was about 89,000 words, and most were in the 50-60,000 range. If the plot had not intrigued me so much, I would have given up in the first chapter. I have long since lost track of that story. Four chapters of about eleven or twelve thousand words each would have been great for this story! The only complaint I have so far? The chapters are a bit short. (And if that is the worst criticism I can some up with-- you are doing great!)

This was an interesting chapter. It's good to see Thomas featured a bit more. How many more chapters until the Puritans show up?