Graeme

As long as that concert isn't in Melbourne, I'm happy It certainly would wind things up, with no loose ends. I have to admit that I've considered that as an ending for stories several times -- a random, nuclear explosion to end the story. Simple. Direct. With a 'clean' (ignoring radioactivity) ending.

Pick an avatar that suits you. If that's a picture of a car, then go with it! There's no reason your avatar has to be "gay" -- mine certainly isn't. I've got a habit of choosing Australian images for avatars (and usually photos I've taken myself) because I like people to know I'm Australian. If you want to tell people you like cars, pick a car Your problem them moves to what sort of car fits you -- are you a Mini-Minor, a Rolls Royce, a Japanese import, an American muscle car, or something else?

Not really. It usually starts on the weekend....

My personal thoughts on how the plots interact is that The Scar is really an environmentalist, and he is concerned that much of Australia is in the middle of a drought. His plan is to use the nukes to dig a channel from the ocean into the middle of Australia to form the fabled inland sea that early explorers expected to find. This would change the weather patterns and alleviate the serious drought that is affecting the poor Aussies. The Scar contacts Helen and arranges for Instinct to hold a charity concert to help finance the endeavour, though he neglects to mention the part about the nukes. Instinct are a huge success in Australia and, after the inland sea funded by their endeavours is created, are given honorary citizenship and decide to move there permanently. Brandon and Chase settle down in Melbourne, and find that one of their new neighbours is a gay dad and end up being babysitters for his two boys....

Happy 18th Birthday, Ieshwar :king: :king: :king: :king: :king: I hope my favourite Mauritian(?) has a fantastic day on his coming of age.

You want people to vote for Shadowgod as using the most AND least number of cliffhangers? I'm sure you'll be pleased that when I last checked, I was winning one of the polls... the last one, to be precise. C James was the clear leader on the other two....

Umm... He was asking about stories on this site, not stories hosted elsewhere....

Based on the web cam we were watching, he was ... er... maybe I shouldn't say. I think that sort of detail may be against GA policy... I think it's definitely silly season, so I'm about to start a new poll in Shadowgod's forum.

I understand what James was trying to say -- I don't have "a" favourite, I have a set of favourites. I'll add my recommendation for Desert Dropping and the other Dom Luka stories. Living In Surreality by Shadowgod is another good read in the romance/relationship genre. Jake's Hand by rec and Working It Out by Don Hanratty are old classics. Too often we forget the old stories, and neither of these should be forgotten. The Rider's Pride by dkstories is a great story set in Anne McCaffery's Pern universe. I'm not going to try to list the rest -- there are too many in too many genres. If you just want to sample for a while, check out the Anthologies for a collection of very varied short stories. Happy reading!

Revenge is sweet I loved it.

My mission... er... task... er... meeting has been concluded and I'm now flying home. Dimitri is a nice chap -- just misunderstood. He's making a living in a post-Glasnost world, which isn't easy for such a caring and principled person

When duty calls, one must obey In a sign of my appreciation, I'll even stop campaigning against the malicious lies you've been spreading about Shadowgod for a few hours (it helps that I'm about to get on a plane and won't have much internet access for the day....) It looks like a literary trick to me. Building up the anticipation by stretching out the word. I can understand why they said it. They are in a bubble and so their understanding is imperfect. Some gays are promiscuous, and the ones they are likely to spend much time with (ie. those who travel with them) are likely to be more promiscuous than most, because it's hard to have a steady relationship when you're in a different town every week or so. What they have failed to appreciate is that they also show the same traits. Chase has mentioned one-night stands to them, apparently referring to his brothers' past sexual activities. From an outside eye, they would be considered to be promiscuous, even if not to the extent of having a revolving door on their bedroom.... I remember a conversation I had with a straight work colleague many years ago. He travelled a lot for work and he commented though he had never visited a prostitute, he could appreciate why some people did. When you don't have the stability to develop a relationship, casual sex starts to appeal. What I'm afraid of is what he's going to do with those bombs when they're finished The Australian government is seriously considering a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory, and I can't think of much worse than exploding a nuclear device in a nuclear waste dump (remember the comment about 10 years -- what if that means ten years of nuclear waste). As for the other possibility... I've only read one story where someone blew up Melbourne with a nuclear weapon. I really don't want to read another one Graeme

I think you'll find that Bondwriter is a Caprican....

OMG -- the Tomorrow People!!! I loved that show I was very disappointed when they stopped showing it in Australia

Er... Ayers Rock is Uluru. Ayers Rock was the name given by the European settlers, and Uluru is the name given by the local aborigines. The official name is now Uluru, though may people still know it as Ayers Rock.

I believe South Africa has 19 official languages....

Thanks for the link, BeaStKid! I'm not Anglican but I'm following this issue closely

I can point to many posts on the internet that say goats are evil, but that doesn't mean I believe them.... I don't automatically believe everything someone tells me

The person who put up the ad promised free delivery.....

I keep telling you -- everyone doesn't know it, because I don't know that you never use cliffhangers and I'm part of "everyone" -- at least I hope so....

Thanks, Steve! I'll wait until the start of silly season before I do that, though -- no need to start it too early

A possibility, but I don't think it's the sort of thing that would be appropriate in the Lounge. Shadowgod seems to be a nice person -- I think I'll ask him if I can put it up in his forum

Based on some private conversations, I was thinking of another poll -- who has the worst cliffhangers, Shadowgod, C James, or myself? My only problem is working out which forum to put the poll in....

It reminds me a prank some kids pulled at the high school my sister used to go to. For their graduation, they put an ad in the paper selling a "Large, multi-roomed building, set on spacious grounds". The school only found out about it when they started getting enquiries....

Bondwriter was actually asking about bets on who interrupts Brandon and Chase. I think it'll be Eric, but it really could be any of Jon, Eric and Helen. As for the location for the bomb assembly, it won't be Uluru -- too many tourists in the area. The prologue indicates that they have converted an optical lens-grinding factory, so that makes it most likely to be one of the major population centres of Australia. My best guess on that one would be either Sydney or Perth, with Darwin being a distant third. I picked those three as also being major ports -- they wouldn't want to transport the nuclear material too far.