falling into the story

Stopping reading now because of the ban on muslims. Fundamentalist Christians from Alberta Canada can be every bit as scary as a fundamentalist muslim. Out of billions of muslims on Earth and from the many in each of the selected countries where interviews were taking place you were unable to find any muslims with moderate and peaceful views. Ugh. Suddendly the URP is beginning to look like a society I would not want to live in. I would have been among those 2 deciding not to go.

I presume since the selection criteria includes a ban on illicit drug use, that Canadians who have consumed cannibis will be eligible since that drug is legal in that country. Also, whiles skills in sciences and engineering are undoubtedly useful, future space colonies will eventually also need musicians, artists, writers, philosophers - counsellors, anthropologists, etc. Otherwise the danger is that you are going to end up with a very masculine cohort of similarly thinking individuals - in brief a pretty monochrome society.

Hello, I feel that I have to give voice to my disappointment about the killing off of Mira. To me, Mira was some kind of supernatural curiosity - a puzzle to be understood. His relationship to Shay and how Shay created / liberated him was also an interesting story line that didn't seem to be fully explored. To me, the sum of the two parts was infinitely more interesting that any one of them or even the sum of each one of them considered in isolation. To my mind, the story has lost almost half of it's interest. It's true that an author has no obligation to provide readers with a happy ending. But on the other hand, as someone who reads on this site as a recreational activity after a hard day of work, I also have the freedom to decide to avoid stories that are depressing. Stories and films in which an endless line of key characters are killed off in macabre ways are not a new invention, although I must admitt, the setting and details in this story are quite unique. It's a personal choice, but I'll try to erase this chapter from my mind and consider that I've formally checked out as of the end of chapter 10.

I re-read this story once again. I absolutely love it - it's just such a pleasure to read. Thank you so much!!

So at this point I'm really debating whether or not to continue reading. Steven has broken so many rules of ethics and behaved in such a clearly unprofessional manner, that after reading this chapter, I'm really unable to have any further empathy for the character. I'll try chapter 3, but if his professional practise continues to be so gravely lacking, I think I'll check for other stories you may have written that don't involve medical professionals.

So the revelation of Trevor's mother leaves me feeling conflicted. Allowing a young boy to think that his mother was dead for 10 years - the grief, the lies, the loss of a parent in a child's formative years - seems to have been an enormous price to pay. And that price was paid primarily by an innocent young boy. In effect, his parents are tax evadors, who yes were swindled by Bridget, but nevertheless seemed to have loved material things more than they loved their own son. Right now they're not ranking too high on my list of favourite human beings.

Obviously evil Luke is playing the others like marionettes. But Derek is still making many bad choices and much of his current misery is partly his own fault. It doesn't help that his mother seems to have a strong current of homophobia in her personality and his father even more so. I hope he can resume contact with the psychologist as quickly as possible because changing will be a long slow process for him. I think that he will likely lose everything along the way - and while losing his arrogance would certainly be a welcome loss, he'll also probably lose the friendship of most of the decent and honourable people around him. This boy is still on a fast track for a prison or a pyschiatric hospital - it's painful to read - and I suppose that means that the writing is effrective even though the story is emotionally difficult to read..

I'm not sure I understand the utility of hiding the boat in this location. A determined assassin motivated by a rich pay, may be able to reach the north bank of the river using a Landrover or all terrain vehicle. Quick escape from this location would be impossible leaving the two boys as sitting ducks. I see that the police intend to remove them from the boat and that's probably for the better.

Sorry I'm bailing... Derek has evolved so litte over the chapters that I just can't take it anymore. It's like banging my head against the wall to read this character's thoughts. If we're lucky, he'll get run over by a bus in the next chapter and Charlie can live in peace.

Derek is such an obnoxious bigotted idiot that I don't give a damn about him. My concern is more for Charlie.

I'm sorry but this chapter for me was too much, - specifically the death scene at the party. For the most part, I think that in the real world, even the biggest mafia leaders generally arrange to have their executions committed in dark alleys or via a quick entrance and exit rather than in front of a crowd of colleagues / « friends». This scene seemed to me like something from the cinema. When the badguy's character is depicited as 100% black evil with no nuances, no subtlety, no scintilla of complex humanity, then I actually find him to be a little less interesting becoming almost a kind of cookie-cutter cardboard figure positioned on stage to advance the story. In this context, the violence becomes needlessly graphic and I just want to scroll rapidly through it. I don't need it in order to know that Sanchez is evil. And what interests me much more, is why he is this way and how he got to that point. In general, this is a very well written story. I will continue to read each chapter and look forward with anticipation to the next one. I realize that I'm in the minority on this point, but I thought it was important to offer you this viewpoint intended as constructive criticism. Thank you.

I too am happy that you found the time to write another chapter. I love this story and the chapter was interesting and a pleasure to read. I'm waiting anxiously for the next one. Thank you.

Another chapter containing a painful portrait of Derek who in addition to being sociopathically self-centered is turning out to be surprisingly stupid. Charlie and Travis need to get together and ditch Derek as quickly as possible. Rebecca can dump him too -- leaving him all alone to bask in his self-induced blind vanity and isolated idiocy.

I hope the story isn't just about over yet - he still has half of the world to travel. Maybe Shane is telling Trevor that he's straight because he seems so afraid of going into a relationship mainly due to the fact that in the past, everyone he has cared about has left him. They seem to be made for each other. Let's hope that the relationship continues to develop.

Sorry, but I just can not agree that Greg did the right thing or even a morally neutral thing. His motives are not strategic to win a war - if earth were to mount an attack it would not arrive for decades and that's more than enough time for politics on earth to change. Greg's motives seem to be based primarily in vengence and this is not a noble sentiment. Instead it spawns the endless tit-for-tat such as one sees in the middle east. Once you play with power like this, you can become delusional giving yourself the right to judge millions of persons you don't even know - truly frightening.

There are horrible possibilities that spring up when people switch identities. I hope that somehow Lisa's brain will pick up on something that might make her suspect Bridget, otherwise she and Joel are like lambs being sent to the butcher - they're at such a huge disadvantage. I hope they find a way to escape from her plan about the drugs. So I looked for hurricanes between Florida and the Bahamas that might stir up some evidence about the Arles in December 2006 and didn't find too much - so the reference still has me baffled. I'll just have to keep reading.

This chapter was really well written and interesting! I can't wait to read more. Thank you !!

This was a good chapter, but reading the script fo the telephone conversations makes me nervous because I presume that Bridget is listening in on it all. I hope thatt they find a way to protect themselves. There was an oblique reference to a storm a couple of chapters back. Now it looks like they'll stay in the bay until Friday - I wonder if there's a possibility they might be swept out to sea or if they'll face treacherous conditions as water piles south into the bay from the clockwise rotation of a cyclone? Are we allowed to post theories about upcoming chapters or are they considered illegal spoilers ?

Derek is such a detestable egocentric jerk. Charlie is understandably sad to lose a childhood friend, but in reality, Derek's ego is so huge that he's left no room for friends or any kind of meaningful social relationship in his life. In the longer run, Charlie will eventually come to say « good riddence. »

I think that the gun isn't necessary... The story will be more interesting if it's won by strategy rather than bullets. If Trevor has to make an emergency exit, I too hope it's with a compagnion. However one can't exactly « borrow » a boat the size of Kookaburra without getting into a lot of trouble - unless of course it belongs to family who agrees to let you use it. If Lisa and Joel start spinning lies about Tasmania only to have the Carnavon story break in the media a day later, they'll look like fools. I'm quite content... I don't ever want this story to end...

This is a great story. I too love the many sub-plots. I'm worried about Lisa and Joel and Bridget's plans for them. But why would she plant drugs in their suitcases? Logically, Trevor might go to the airport in Perth to meet them, but killing someone in an airport would be much more difficult / risky for the killer than shooting Trevor on an open road in a small town. And if Lisa and Joel were arrested, Trevor might go to the police station or to the court house / prison to see them and arrange for them to get a lawyer, but these would be improbable locations for an assasination attempt. I hope that the relationship between Shane and Trevor countinues to deepen and I'm also hoping that they get to travel around Western Australia. I'm looking forward to future chapters. Thank you.

I absolutely love this story. It keeps me reading faithfully and on the edge of my seat waiting for the next chapter. Congratulations! I also hope that despite his initial rough exterior and Ned's poor character reference, that Shane turns out to be a friend instead of a foe. Trevor could use a little help and a few friends right now. I also hope that Bridget starts making a few mistakes that tip off Lisa and Joel who will begin to suspect her. Right now she seems like a formidable sociopath who could do a lot of damage and not give a damn.