Bondwriter

A brit boarding school story with elves? That's like, cuteness galore! Great story. Yes, it could be the beginning of a longer story; the whole late night / early morning time frame gives it a charm too. Thus, some mystery remains. Camy writes dialogues that allow the reader (well, me when I read, I don't know about you people) to hear the voices of the characters.

Seconded, I just couldn't picture Nevada, I had it taking place in Northern Minnesota. But the small town dynamics are about the same (with changes here and there in the details) in most of our western world, from my own little experience.

OK, I'll rephrase: I have said all I could say on the matter. As for your theory, it's a rather pleasant one to consider. Matt and Jacob both come from Planet Grypto, and they're on a mission to save Earth. Not much foreshadowing for this outcome either, but much, much better plot twist than an untimely demise.

At this point all has been said. I'm starting to know the said paragraphs inside and out, so I neither disagree with you nor can fully agree. I was just giving my first impressions as a reader. And my mama told me never to brutalize animals. And I love my mama. And I'm no l

This thread is, as the name says, to discuss Flight to Syracuse by Carl Holiday. This is a story about two college juniors who have to escape from the angry father of one of them. As this is only the beginning, there are still some facts that will have to be revealed to explain why these boys, Donny (the narrator) and David, his long-time friend that he's looked up to, do not take an easier route to solve their problems. There are lots of great dialogues, and the voice of the narrator carries some na

Good, but if this is the foreshadowing of some impending doom and that characters die without any further warning, I'll be sad. Very sad.

No, but these two paragraphs, in my opinion, were not dreamlike. It was a surreal scene, gripping his chest, constricting his lungs, squashing his diaphragm. He remembered this feeling. He had felt the sensation countless times in his life

How long will this "cure" urban legend spread by bigoted b*st*rds wreck the lives of fine people? The only result they get is to have people mentally self-castrated. Is there any serious research debunking such myths? Yeah, and what CJames says about how it could justify these sick camps make me puke. Any scandals have come out on possible abuse of kids in these jails for innocents?

OK, I eventually caught up with you guys. A really good read, I agreed with a lot of the above. What I like best are the adult characters revolving around the trio. And the characters. And the character development in general. And the vivid descriptions. And the dialogues. And the plot. Yeah. Could be someone else though. I had the same hunch. I'm afraid I'll disagree on this one. The first two paragraphs of the dream sequence just didn't work for me. You don't dream of childhood, or if you have dreams reminiscing of it, it's never as clear. It's either too detailed or too confused. Out of the fifteen chapters, it's the only spot I found needed some more work. I see the logic of the sequence in the narrative, and the ideas it's supposed to convey but it could be better. A dream should be confusing, but with more imagery.

What's this bleeding-heart liberal mumbo-jumbo? My slave labor exists only so that I make profits. They're being fed (lightly), have got shelter, and have 7 hours of rest a day. What else should they get? Wages? Thanks to Leviticus, I can get ludicrous income AND feel good about myself!

Yeah, the beauty of having been an empire. Then the list would be way too long.

He! He! That means that technically you become game again! I got the goat's mass e-mail offering you, but I'm wary of being able to make this a profitable deal. I read somewhere you don't eat much (good point), but at the moment I don't really see what I could get you to do. What does Leviticus say about how to make money out of your slaves? Were you referring to Andorra and the Channel Islands, CJames?

I don't mind the "fade to sex" stuff. It makes the few sex scenes this more powerful, and though I love reading erotica, this is not what CJames is after and what I expect from his story. Any people from the UK, Belgium, Germany, Luxemburg, Switzerland, Monte Carlo, Italy, Spain to bid for? I seem to understand Leviticus refers to neighboring nations...

Well, well, the plot thickens! A sudden Kevin/ Ryan alliance? Any ulterior motives on one of these two's mind? And the Austrian vice-president stepping into the action? Nice installment, Camy, this gets the story moving a little bit further with loads of humor! *scratches his head and wonders what could come up next*

OK, this is an official threat: if no one has picked up the story by Saturday, 12:00/ noon GMT, I'll go on with the story... Come on, it's easy at this point, you don't have to rake your brains. A half hour of fun just to keep the story going.

Gonna make it quick since this is the Bully's thread: I'm well aware of religion in the US, I lived with Full Gospel believers for a year in 1988, and I visited relatives for the holidays for three weeks (not religious), hence getting back into the mood of American religions through the media, the numerous churches, etc. And this is a very important topic all over the forum. I have nothing against religion in stories, but coming from a lay country where less than 5% of people go to church, it's always some kinf of shock. And raised as a Catholic and going to church, I was in a minority. Seems I love to belong to minorities. This being said, The Bully did bring me back to this small-town atmosphere I knew, with the high school (250 students grades 9-12 where I was), the lack of activities, not knowing if the football team (in our case, the hockey team) would have enough players to start training...

Man, Glomph, you have psychic powers or what? Do you also predict the lottery numbers? I'll wait to see if your next predictions come true, but they're quite likely to!

I read the whole story at once, so I guess I'll have to catch up with work this evening... Nice dialogues and relationships. I like the ellipsis and the moments DK chooses to depict to get the plot moving. The whole small-town atmosphere is well depicted, and brought me back to living in a small town in the Midwest. The characters are a nice blend, though Eddie and Daniel do not meet too many bigots in their immediate surroundings. As for the dad, I can't say I was surprised, for he picks up on Eddie being gay quite quickly, and his excessive reaction betrays his repressed feelings. I guess the genre/ site also induces some easy guessing. I must admit that had I read the story without knowing, the whole Eddie/ Daniel affair would have been a bit of a surprise, lees so the dad once you're told about how much his son is like him. And boy, I had never read so much about religion in contemporary fiction since I came to this site!

Uh... CJames, I was the one who said that the mount could have been some sexual innuendo. And from my knowledge of other European languages, the equine analogies exist in about all of them. Well, I won't ask for the title of next chapter, since you must have carefully scheduled its release in your marketing campaign, but it's the next piece of information I'm waiting for. Is this the inside humor? "Tsk, tsk," Veronica scolded, "how soon they forget. There is an immutable law of nature that has, as a requirement for true ditzyness, that a guy must be three things: Blond, and named Steve."

They also are pretty fond of barbecued caprine animals, if you really want to know. So, Jack revealed my first name, because my nick might have sounded stupid, or bring to life fantasies he's struggled with and repressed... Or maybe he's just an open sincere guy? For the French Canadian parts, I tend to trust him in using the colorful expressions of our Belle Province's cousins. And let's face it: he's not too bad with French.

The mount! DIY! Yup, I should have seen it coming. The sermon is nicely written, and Reverend Mike's antics can be easily visualized. (One point he could also make is about treating workers fairly, I found out looking in this antiquated set of laws) This is obviously an educational chapter, not only giving a different point of view on religion, but also explaining how to set up a mailbox. And Veronica's legal babble is hilarious. One little thing I might suggest: it comes to my mind because of this example, but this is a feeling I've had at other points. During the whole Speedo joke, we're given the set-up, how it comes down and Chris finds out as they pu their laundry in the washer. Then, though that's what would happen in reality, he repeats the whole thing to the audience; but yet it is fiction, couln't he just grunt some annoyed thing when his friends find out Steve pulled a prank on him? So THEY figure out so the story is not repeated, or not by the same person. Just a remark. Overall nice chapter. It feels we're in the middle of the story and bracing up for what comes next.

We all have our little problems, don't we? Didn't prevent to shyly, quietly post tons of messages... What about the contest?

Not really conveying great moral values, does it?

I remember having similar feelings towards my fellow-students. A lot of the idiots (as far as I know) got OK positions later in life. Success in high-school does not determine your success in life. Same with popularity. College is the real concern to end up with knowledge and skills. I think it's especially true in the U.S. And yeah, making (mildly) fun of students by letting out a few outrageous comments waiting for a reaction can be fun. Quite distressing when no one notices too. Then, you know you've got a lot of hard work to do...