Mark Arbour

May 16, 1799 Cowes, England George Granger looked at the beautiful home John Nash had built for him as the shore boat was rowed toward the Isle of Wight. Granger had received several acres on the Isle of Wight as a gift from his father, and while it included the barony of Ryde, most of the property was around Cowes. Granger had a chance meeting with John Nash on the island some two years ago, and he’d commissioned Nash to build a summer house for him, a place where he could

I love stats!!! Awesome!!!

That sounds like a good plan.

For those of you who want to download 9.11, it is now in e-book format here.

I nap rarely.

I inspire Superman? Awesome! Thanks!

More than good! Thanks!

Thanks Nikki! I'm glad that you liked the relatively seamless transition. I don't think any of them have much to worry about with Tony, at least for right now. He's probably feeling very guilty, and happy just to go back to St. Louis and avoid all the inhabitants of Escorial and their issues.

I'm so glad. I've been accused, at times, of being unrealistic with my characters' actions (smirks). Matt is more emotional, and that's probably one of the issues Wade has with him.

You know, it's interesting in a narrated story that we get the narrator's perspective. We really don't know how much Matt has changed internally, since it's been a while since we've seen his thoughts.

Wade and Brad...because us older guys like to think that a hot young guy would find us attractive. :-) Matt chose to move back to Escorial because he wants to be with Wade, it's close to Stanford, and Frank and Isidore should be coming back from Lafayette shortly for the summer. No one wants to spend summers there.

We appreciate your support! Thanks!

YES!

Thanks Miles. I think that Matt and Wade started at very different places...the question is how close to each other's position they can get.

Sorry about that! Glad you found it!

I'm going to vote: Good.

Probably because I had issues getting the first chapter posted, and it didn't post until February 28, but it was listed in the queue for February 24.

Thanks so much for that link! The pictures were terrific. I guess I'm in a bitchy, contentious mood today, though, as I have some issues with the narrative that went with it. I'll vent below. Just don't take it personally; I'm directing my annoyance at the writer, not you. This is truly nonsense. This writer assumes that ships actively sought out battles with ONLY their own kind of ship, and that simply isn't true. The history of these wars is replete with examples of ships of the line capturing frigates, sloops, brigs, etc. The Royal Navy would hardly have kept the 64s in service just in case they should encounter one of their French counterparts. This is even more ridiculous. Navies of the Western World settled on the 74 gun two-decked design because it was deemed to be optimal. That did not mean that a 64 gun ship could not and did not engage 74 gun ships of the line. They were not that much less powerful, and you will find, in many of the major battles of this era, that a 64 gun ship of the line tackled a 74 (Think Agamemnon and Ca Ira). A Royal Navy captain who was in command of a 64, and evaded action with a French or Spanish 74, would have found himself court martialed, IMHO. Contained in this largely incomprehensible paragraph is the reason that the Admiralty razeed the ships. It was more economical to operate a powerful frigate (with 300 men) than a ship of the line (with 600), if the extra firepower of the ship of the line wasn't needed. This is the most absurd paragraph at all. This was war, it was not a game, and while codes of honor were important, that did not preclude a larger ship from capturing a smaller ship. Sure, the dream of every captain was to fight a battle with his opponent of equal strength, ship to ship, but that didn't mean it happened all that often. There were almost always some size discrepancies. And if this idiot's theory is true, then how terribly unchivalrous for a squadron to capture a single ship. I think that perhaps the writer is confusing general operations and conventions with those in force during a fleet action, in which case certain rules did theoretically apply. As we saw at St. Vincent and the Nile, frigates were supposed to be left alone unless they initiated combat.

He will? Really? Are you writing that chapter, because I sure as hell didn't.

Thanks Gene. Of course the trajectory is solid, and there will be no twists and no deviation from that path. :-)

Thank you, and you're welcome!

I think that the conversation with Matt and Will was bound to be volatile, but I give them kudos for not losing it, and for listening to each other. I agree with you about Robbie: I thought Will's explanation about how he would forgive Matt if only for Robbie was actually pretty touching.

Maarten, I am shocked, SHOCKED, that you would think someone else is being more mature than Will. ;-) In this situation, I think Will conducted himself well, and so did Matt. There was not, IMHO, a maturity disparity. And this reconciliation was very slow in coming (six months). That's a long time to have an issue with a family member in that situation. It just probably seemed that way since I jumped right into it in the second chapter.

You make some great observations here. To be honest, I can't tell you what happens to Wade and Matt because I haven't written it yet. But I can see how they both need their space, especially Wade, and I can see the reasons for that especially in light of their probably geographic separation. It's kind of a shame that Matt didn't have the same kind of epiphany he had with Will back when he was trying to salvage things with Wade in November.

Wade's not always the bottom. :-) I'd classify him as versatile.