Mark Arbour

Since you posted your review here, I'll post my reply: Thanks so much for the review! I guess this means I amused you like I was supposed to. J The thing about Zach is that we don’t know how much of his ‘changes’ is really a change, since we’ve only seen him from Gathan and Will’s perspective, when Will hated him. We also don’t know how much of any change is due to the trauma of 9-11 (that general feel good effect), or if in fact much of the problems Zach seems to have stem from a really intense sibling rivalry with Gathan. Any of those things is plausible. John and Marie don’t know about JJ, so John wouldn’t have completely understood why JJ acted the way he did, but based on the nightmare they’ve just been through, I’m betting John was willing to write it off as a weird aberration. And finally, the thing about business deals like this is that Brad and Stef are potentially making money off of those people who ignored all the financial warning signs in 1999-2000, and are still ignoring them, riding the wave all the way to the bottom. That doesn’t make them predatory, it means the other people were either unlucky or stupid.

Thanks so much for the review! I guess this means I amused you like I was supposed to. ☺ The thing about Zach is that we don’t know how much of his ‘changes’ is really a change, since we’ve only seen him from Gathan and Will’s perspective, when Will hated him. We also don’t know how much of any change is due to the trauma of 9-11 (that general feel good effect), or if in fact much of the problems Zach seems to have stem from a really intense sibling rivalry with Gathan. Any of those things is plausible. John and Marie don’t know about JJ, so John wouldn’t have completely understood why JJ acted the way he did, but based on the nightmare they’ve just been through, I’m betting John was willing to write it off as a weird aberration. And finally, the thing about business deals like this is that Brad and Stef are potentially making money off of those people who ignored all the financial warning signs in 1999-2000, and are still ignoring them, riding the wave all the way to the bottom. That doesn’t make them predatory, it means the other people were either unlucky or stupid.

September 29, 2001 Malibu, CA “You sure you don’t mind me sleeping here?” John asked. “No,” I said. “I like having you here.” I felt myself blushing, even as I said that. “Dude, Ryan and Shiloh remind me of Darius and Ella,” he said, making me chuckle. We’d hung out at the Santa Monica Pier with them tonight. “Will and Zach are almost as bad,” I grumbled. They’d been totally into each other, and while it proba

As a matter of fact I have been busy. There are two chapters of 9-11 in various stages of editing and betaing. You're not easy to amuse. I don't think I ever clarified that. He'll probably pop up with a magic specialty when I really need it. Meanwhile, he's running a winery (I almost typed that as whinery).

One thing wrong with your post: it's not already written.

That's a fascinating map. Based on the areas around me that are shaded, it seems pretty realistic. They're mostly country/redneck communities.

Granger is one of those lucky/unlucky gents who has already been well-rewarded, probably too well rewarded. I can't see that he'll get an advancement in the peerage until at least after his father does. And there's no naval promotion available to him either: he's much too junior to be given an appointment as commodore. The problem that the government will face is that if they heap inordinate rewards on Granger, it will arouse significant jealousy and discontent. Hasn't this latest voyage already earned him vast riches? Who is to say that someone else (another naval officer) given the same tool (Bacchante) couldn't have achieved that, or more? Think about those in our society today who get too famous and rich too quickly, and how the rest of the world longs for their destruction. Granger and his family will want to avoid that.

I don't disagree with your overall points, but I do think that this is a big problem in general: letting anecdotal evidence stand as the norm. And I'm not talking about this issue (and I'm sure as hell not disputing what B1ue is talking about), but taking personal experiences and generalizing them is part of what's wrong with our society. There's a reason for statistics, and for adequate sample sizes.

I think they just thought you were being bitchy. But to the topic at hand, I haven't really figured out what I'm going to do with this upcoming war. I think some things are terribly obvious. That JP will oppose it with every fiber in his body is a given, not just because of his past, but because even at the time, it was possible to discern that going into Iraq was sheer folly. I think that it's also an interesting twist that Stef and Brad are very tied up with a defense contractor, and that certainly presents some interesting storylines. And it is also quite probable that we will have interaction with men and women who go off to fight the war, whether they're major or minor characters, or new people we meet. I'm actually pretty happy with the set up going into this next CAP decade.

I think that if we were to dive into Caroline's psyche, we'd see a woman who totally internalizes her role as the guardian of George's interests. She's the kind of person to interpret that broadly, so she'd see his extramarital relationships with men as part of his overall happiness. She also undoubtedly carries an enormous amount of guilt over her own affair and the damage it caused to her and George (and possibly to her body, if those rumors are true, and she can't have more children), and to how miserable his homecoming was after St. Vincent. I can see her doing everything she can to make sure that this time, nothing messes that up. So as far as she knows, George is on his way home, and things are pretty hunky-dory. Then all of a sudden, she finds out that George is, at best, a prisoner. It is possible that he was killed in the battle, and possible that he was wounded. She doesn't know his fate. At the same time, she becomes aware that if he does make it home, he'll look to Calvert as one of the pillars of his happiness, and Calvert will reject him because he's got a new lover. Caroline doesn't care about Calvert's happiness, she cares about George. So once again, George will come home, and find that one of the people that he loves the most has betrayed and rejected him (as she sees it). She's pissed off at Calvert, but she's even more pissed off at herself.

Happy Birthday to one of my favorite people. I love you princess!

Thanks! I try to satisfy your needs, but it can be a daunting task at times. :-)

Thanks for the review! Yay! So many!

Thanks for the review Andy! I think that George will once again have a lot to deal with on his return home. If he had to deal with Calvert being in love with another, that would probably be pretty devastating. He didn't exactly handle the incident with Lieutenant Estabrook in a calm manner (at least not internally).

Thanks Ricky! I'm not sure if things have eased up, but I have managed to find some time to squeeze out a chapter here and there.

Thanks for the review! I'm glad you get the anguish George would feel not only over the loss of Bacchante, but over the uncertainty surrounding the fate of his crew. He will be sad to learn of Humphreys' death..no question about it. You won't have to wait that long for the next chapter.

A very good analogy, and I think you're right. Caroline really can't/won't impact Calvert's command of Santa Clarita, but she can influence where he's stationed. Thanks for the review!

Interesting hypothesis, but I think that Calvert is more stable than that. He's just looking for the man of his dreams who will love only him. In the CAP world, he may be more like Sam.

I think some of us see Granger's relationship with Calvert that way, but I don't think Granger does. Winkler mused that Granger was happiest when he was with Calvert (at the beginning of the voyage). If you think about it, Calvert is one of the top four people in Granger's pantheon of lovers (with Caroline, Cavendish and Chartley).

Thanks for the review! I don't think Winkler would be violent, but the fact that he knows is interesting, and one would expect it to have an impact on how he treats Calvert and Gatling.

You're right in that the emotions of the moment (finding out George was captured) definitely fueled her reaction!

I think that if George came home and ran into Calvert, and Calvert told him that he loved another so much that he wouldn't fuck George, that George would be pretty devastated. Remember how he was with Travers and Robey? I don't think he could handle being second-fiddle to someone else with Calvert and maintaining their close friendship. At least not immediately.

I don't think Caroline's being childish, I think she's fighting to protect her husband. She's worried that George will even make it home, and if he does, the last thing she'll want him to endure is emotional trauma. She's probably remembering how hard that was for him the last time he came home.

Ethan isn't upset about the money, he's upset about giving up the goal.

Thanks! Caroline doesn't want to hurt Calvert or Gatling, she wants to protect George, so I don't see her plotting to cause them pain and suffering.