Will Hawkins

Speaking of Cairns: When our singing group, The Seattle Men's Chorus, was scheduled to appear there as a windup of our tour of OZ, we rather overfilled the Motel we were scheduled to stay at overnight. As a result, I, as a non-singing member (I was an Assistant Stage Manager) was asked to share a room with a young Aussie man in a portion of the Motel which was temporarily being used for employee accommodations. Our room was located on the far side of a swimming pool, well away from the normal tourist rooms. My roommate asked if I want to go swimming that evening and when I complained about not having swimwear with me, said, "No drama, Mate, we'll just go nuddy." Well, it was after dark, so I put my American shyness on the shelf for a moment and we had a great time splashing around in the warm water. At one time I was sitting on the edge of the pool to catch my breath and he swam up between my knees to service me. That was only the first time and we enjoyed a great closeness several times after retiring that night. (Remember, I was much younger then). The next morning he sent me off to take a shower while he packed my suitcase for the bus to the airport and the flight home. It wasn't until I arrived back in Seattle and unpacked my bag that I found the note, "You deserve this." tucked into the pocket of the wildly tropical patterned shirt that was the uniform for the Motel Staff he had sneaked into my luggage. It is now nearly fifty years later and I still treasure that shirt.

I see from your self-description information that you are Australian. I wonder if the mores of your country permit public nudity more easily than in some other English speaking lands. In my very brief visit to Sidney and the East Coast several years ago, I found a little more relaxed attitude toward partial nudity than I see in the US. I thought at the time, 'Hey, this is great - a land with lots of sunshine and bare bums to go with it!'

I am going to make a proposal, James, no, not of marriage nor even of long-distance computer sex, especially at my advanced age. If you are in any way reluctant to respond to it in the affirmative, just send me a raspberry and I will understand and not be upset. You are writing your chapters in English English and I assume you wish to continue that way. What I propose is some suggested Americanizations of your grammar if you wish to submit to crass 'other side of the pond' suggestions. Please keep it in mind that there is nothing wrong with British spelling. Hell, over the time I have been reading stories on GA, I have even been able to enjoy stories written by Australians and if that be true, a little bit of British is NO problem. The only reason I offer this "service" is to broaden your abilities. Are you interested, or not?

As a person who was recently confined for about 60 hours in a Brazilian clinic, I can well understand Dylan's reluctance to submit himself to the tender ministrations of the medical profession. In Brazil hospitalization is free and therefore used by anyone in need of help. This is, in general, a good thing because it means that if anyone needs medical help it is available. The only gripe I have about that service is that they have no idea about the reparative powers of a good night's sleep. No, I was not awakened every four hours by a nurse taking my vitals, but between screaming babies, a hysterical woman who required the presence of a security officer to quiet her down, and a group of old men in the next room arguing at the top of their voices, all speaking at the same time and discussing the politics of the country, sleep was impossible. Fortunately, my friends came and got me and I have now spent the last three days at home in the quiet of my own room recovering from the clinic experience!

The atmosphere in which these negotiations are taking place is quite tense. In my opinion, and the precautions in force are barely adequate. Those setting up the arrangements for the US side do not quite comprehend the intensity with which the Mormons fear and distrust those they hold to be non-believers. History tells us that the Mormons have been discriminated against ever since the genesis of their church and the hatred in which they hold these non-believers. Remember that they were chased out of several different areas of the US until they were permitted to settle in Utah as the government of that time considered the country so useless that the Mormons might as well have it. Something that many students of history forget is that the Great Salt Lake Valley was not even a part of the US at the time the Mormons arrived so 'the Saints' as they thought of themselves figured they could settle there in peace.

The first several paragraphs of this chapter express the fears I was speaking of in my review of the last chapter. Of course this time they were being expressed by a better author so the exposition was more complete and used more and better examples of the types of governments that result. I am constantly awed by the ability of this author to understand the machinations of contemporary politics. Now the only thing required is to get thousands more with his abilities to vote in the next Presidential Election and sweep the dross out of Washington.

Alright, I know this is fiction and very well written fiction at that, but I am concerned by one direction that the newly organized government od the US is moving. There have been in history literally hundreds of evangelically oriented governments from the time of the Greeks up through the Mormons of our own history. In not one case that I can recall were these governments able to meet all the needs of the people. To worship God is good for the human psyche, to adore Him blindly is not. I am sorry to see the American Post Nuclear Government moving in that direction, even in this fictional atmosphere. One nation, indivisible, under God seems to be the ideal compromise between self-serving idealogues and the laissez-faire system.

The Constitution of the United States of America is an almost mythical document. Over the 200+ years, it has been in effect, there have been only a minimum of changes, most of these reflecting societal changes. There can be no doubt that it needs updating today, but the premises of the original document are still effective. The incorporation of the amendments into the body of the document may be a good idea but should be approached with extreme caution. The document is good enough to require only minor tweaking but we must always keep in mind the desires of the drafters in that tweaking. Change is OK but minor change only to reflect different conditions, not wholesale political maneuvers that might be forced through by narrow-minded politicians.

One small question: why does the author persist in calling it the Continental Congress? At this point in the story the United States of America still exists, though, in a much-wounded condition, it would seem better to me politically and for the morale of the country to continue calling it the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America

a guest room, buy - a guest room, but

I am so hooked. A new vampire, a shape-shifting mountain lion and three kits -- what an interesting group.

I don-t know enough about the parties involved in this tale as yet to make an intelligent comment, I feel a little sorry for Dustin however. Sure, he has caused a lot of his problems for himself, but I can't help feeling sorry for the kicked underdog. A fascinating tale, however, I am sure to continue reading.

but no nothing like - but no, nothing like An interesting beginning to your story - a little bit confusing as to characterization, but perhaps my ability to interpret will even out as I become more familiar with them. Good start.

at his watched - at his watch

The arrival of beings from the stars is going to really upset the cozy life control that the priests have been maintaining for generations.

Even viewing this chain of dates as I am doing in seven-year bunches is getting more and more confusing. I can imagine the confusion that would reign in the mind of a Chris XX who was not even alive at some interval of septads in the past. By the way, the word I am using for these 7-year periods, septads, is driving my spell-checker crazy. It keeps telling me there is no such word. I have to ignore its confusion to be able to use that word in the discussion.

I have a feeling that, while this story is going to be interesting, it is also going to be confusing in its jumps in time. Please keep it in mind that at my current age of 85, I lived through each of the septads (seven-year periods) through which your story progresses, and will have to learn to substitute your impressions of the period for my memories. So, if my statements\comments\questions sound stupid or crazy, please make allowance for a defective memory.

where I come buy these - where I come by these Oe loses a mother and a baby sister who does not live long enough to draw a breath -- the other a baby brother of a scant nine years -- these two suffer in common loss. Very touching MrM. I am genuinely affected.

The developing relationship between Cedric and Adrien is beautiful and surely written by a man with a heart.

could perry Eros' shaft - parry ward off (a weapon or attack) with a countermove you will be staining, Monsieur - you will be staying, Monsieur my all to short of a stay - my all too short of a stay These errors are all homophones.

could perry Eros' shaft - parry ward off (a weapon or attack) with a countermove you will be staining, Monsieur - you will be staying, Monsieur my all to short of a stay - my all too short of a stay These errors are all homophones.

A glimpse of insight into the vicissitudes of English school life at various levels for a stranger across the pond. Wonderful story potential here.

Speaking of names, my name is William which, though Scots -Irish comes from the German Wil-helm which translates as strong helmet - my friends accuse me of a slight mistranslation when I tell them that. They tell me the correct translation is 'thick head', but I know enough German to realize that is just a joke - it translates back into the German as dummkopf and everybody knows what that means!

The only reason for making these suggestions at all is that some authors like to convert the individual chapters they write into a book format and book publishers are even snarkier than am I about corrections to the text. Just think of me as an ancient crabby troll who lives under the bridge that barefoot authors must cross on their way to book publication, nipping at their naked toes. I notice that the previous suggestion I made has already been incorporated into the chapter. That means to me that you are considering my suggestions as I intend them, as positive, a means to improve, not replace the creativity of the author. I am not a creative person!!! I am a nitpicker, just making suggestions for the author, who is the creative person, to incorporate or not as he sees fit!!! It is like making a birthday cake, the baker mixes the ingredients, chooses the oven temperature and timing and frosts the finished effort. All I do is add a candle here and there. Thank you for your acceptance. an extra off Grey's Anatomy - an extra on Grey's Anatomy

I recently did a little research on Vlad as he was mentioned in a story I was reading online and I found out he is not the horrible monster he was made out to be in the story by Bram Stoker. I guess that proves you can never trust an Irishman to write a story about a Romanian! He was not doing anything worse than the Turks he was fighting - the impaling that was going on was just the horrible way of warfare of that era. Laura was a fortunate choice of a name by your parents as it translates into 'a symbol of honor' and is frequently used as a name for a favorite child.