Geron Kees

Tossing out theories means you're thinking, @Flip-Flop! 😃

Depends on what you mean by plain! 😉

That's because you have ustric policy of punning for funning!

I do believe you're right!

Hey, if I was offered a nice orx steak, I'd give it a try. Just as long as I didn't have to go and catch it myself!

I can't confirm or deny your ideas! Well, at least in your first sentence. Your second one is right on the mark! 😁 I guess your favorite seafood restaurant is NOT in Nocksic Bay?

The steam turbines were silent, the ship moving forward on the wind. Above Jem, the great square-rigged panels - looking like one massive sail on each mast because of the lack of space between them - strained at the rigid elliptical carbon fiber yards, propelling Vespris forward. Because there was no rigging, each carbon fiber mast turned effortlessly upon deck and keel bearings, allowing for precise movement of the vessel, controlled by one man in the virtual sea enclosure within the ship's bri

If you look at the lead page for this story, I marked it as 'Magick #1'. That's to remind me there need to be more in the series! Thanks!

I hope it's as fun as you make it sound!

Thanks. I'd imagine any world that isn't our own would seem pretty amazing!

Didn't I see him once in a Vincent Price movie?

Happy to have you along again!

Charlie and friends will be back at Halloween, their very favorite holiday. I have other things I want to do, and found I was taking up too much of my writing time just writing about Charlie and company. But they'll be back, I'm certain!

The colonists here were supported by Earth long enough to become established. They could easily have reached a point where they could maintain most of their technology on their own. A cornerstone of interstellar colonization would be to quickly establish manufacturing on the scene to replace vital components as needed. But certain technologies require a fairly intricate or massive support base, and might not be so easily maintained far from home. It seems very likely people would simply revert to simpler measures to do the same thing. On the other hand, there are aspects of some advanced technologies that are marked by their endurance and overall simplicity of nature. Some tech will last a very long time without need of maintenance or replacement. Another thing to remember is that power sources would have been amply supplied from Earth to a world that was unable initially to provide its own. And, last to remember is that at this point in the future, while 500 years sounds like a long time to US, it is but three lifetimes to the colonists.

I hope so! 'Revenge is a dish best served cold'. But what do whales care about dessert?

And always happy to have company in my travels. Even the swankiest cruise ship on the seas would be dull if you were the only passenger aboard!

I won't get ahead of myself and reveal anything, as the story will tell you as we go along. My dad once told me, "Telling a great joke means NOT telegraphing the punchline first!"

It's not unreasonable to suspect the two may be part of one problem, but I agree that it is WAY too early to assume it is!

Master Terpin was a tall man, perhaps the tallest that Jem Hanlon had ever met. He was a good head taller than Jem's father, who was already a head taller than Jem himself, which made Master Terpin impressive, indeed. And, the man's height was not the only thing that was grand. His face had been weathered to a mask by sun and sea and simple age, to where he looked almost like a stone statue come alive, and a stern and demanding stone it was, too. His dark Master's uniform, old yet sturdy, its br

Jemya Hanlon was born on Benteen, a planet settled 500 years earlier from Old Earth. But the lines of communication with the mother world were broken after only 200 years, and the colonists have been on their own ever since. Jem was raised in the cold northern lands of New Australia, the only continent where the settlers have a foothold. The nearby town of Nocksic Bay is a seaport, where the ships sail forth to hunt the great orx, a staple seafood of the settlers. Jem has longed dreamed of going to sea, and now he has his chance. And he is just in time to encounter a new mystery, one that may change the settler’s lives forever!

I'll have to go back and look!

Al, it makes me suspicious when nice things start to happen to Peter! I'll assume this is the lull before the storm. Danbury going on the run was just stupid, and pretty much an admission of his own guilt. He couldn't have made a worse move. Be funny to find him and the family hiding out on Turner's ranch! They could get Carl's old man for harboring a fugitive from justice! I do love an author that likes to eat. This is the first story I've read in some time that makes me hungry in more than the usual way! Peter is a lucky guy! I'll be back a.s.a.p. for the rest of the meal!

Hmm. I'm really behind on this story! I'm not ready to write off Mitch. Something is going on with him we don't know about yet. It doesn't mean it will work out between him and Pete, but it ain't over yet. I'm happy Jimmy will be okay. It's hard for me to even imagine a parent willing to hurt his own kid, let alone try to kill him. I know it happens, but it's a despicable act. A man who thinks more about what people will think of him because of the way his son has turned out, rather than caring first and foremost for the well-being of the son, shouldn't be allowed to have kids. It must be terrifying to walk the world always worried about what other people think of you! Maturity can simply come with time, or it can be thrust upon you. Pete seems to be in the latter category. Good story, All. On to the next chapter!

Another excellent chapter. The guys learning their exam scores were good hardly seemed unexpected. I had already determined that neither of them were dum-dums. It's good to know that they can possibly go off to the same university together now, though. There's time. Hoss...he'll survive. He has too many good friends who understand what he is going through! As the court date looms, so does some anxiety. I wonder what Luke is thinking about to make Tony come clean? It will need to be something good in order to have that poor kid come out to his bovine, rood-wielding mumsy. I guess I'll have to come back to read some more?

Hmm. I did think at first that it might be Davo on the phone, but then I decided it was Tony. Now...? I think if it wasn't Matt that had 'messed up' Davo, he would have just said so. I also entertained the same idea that @weinerdog had, that Davo was intending to warn Matt about the paint job. But he would have said so to Matt before fighting with him, wouldn't he? Unless he and Matt went together to 'mess up' the real culprit! Clues, clues everywhere, and nothing fit to drink! Another great chapter. I'm happy that DJ and Dwayne made up. Figured they would, though. On what @Al Norris said, about taking two bites from the same turd, I am reminded of couples like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, who seemed to hate each other so much they loved it. 😁 It's that age-old conversation asked between two lovers who have split: "Oh, Henry, what happened to us? Why did we fail?" "I don't know Gladys, my love. It was probably my fault." "No, it was mine! "My love...it doesn't matter. Kiss me?" "Oh, Henry...you're so romantic!" "Just be quiet, my pet, and kiss me!" "Oh...ooh...mmmph...ouch! You did that on purpose!" "I did not!" "You did! You bit me, you swine!" "Ohhhh! Shit, NOW I remember!"