Mark Arbour

No site is perfect, and it is obvious to all of us that this is a time of pretty intense transition here. The theme of this topic is that this site is arbitrary and autocratic. I think that while we can all sit around and levy judgment on either Jacob or GA, the fact that this topic is still here, and it's still open, tends to decry that whole line of reasoning. In other words, if Myr and Co. were as arbitrary and nasty as you think they are, why is your topic still here, and not deleted or locked?

Thanks. This one was uber-romantic.

Thanks so much! You ever watch those American Mafia movies? It's kind of like that to me. If you want to shoot me, shoot me, but don't go after my family. Kids and wives are off limits. In the same vein, negging my personal rep...well I'm totally cool with that. But negging stories, that's like shooting kids.

Happy to help out!

What got me thinking of her was, in addition to Destiny's Child moderate success at that point, Beyonce starred in Carmen: Hip Hopera (not exactly a stellar show) in 2001, so I figured she'd be filming that in 2000, and sucking up to Robbie wouldn't be a bad idea. I think that says less about Will's arrogance than on the tightness of their relationship. At a wedding, you want the people who are most important to you standing up for you, and he certainly fits that bill. He knows it, and Brad knows it. But he got there in the end.

Chapter 61 is now up! This is the "wedding" ceremony. I hope you like the way I wrote it. And thanks for the reviews!

February 14, 2000 “I’ll never get this right,” I bitched. “You look really good,” Robbie said lovingly. “Fuck!” I yelled, as I screwed up tying my bow tie for the third time in a row. “Let me do it for you,” Robbie said. He stood behind me and looked in the mirror as he worked. Seeing his handsome face next to mine, feeling his body pressed up behind me, and watching his fingers fly skillfully as he tied my tie for me all but erased my crankiness. When he was finished he

Thanks! Some people are more fun to write dialog for than others. At the top of my list: Stef and Tonto.

Thanks Ricky. This one ends soon...but I've got the next one rolling around in my brain.

Actually, and this is stunning...Mann ended up being appointed as one of the Lords of the Admiralty in 1800.

Thanks. It was such a weird historical event, that I felt I had to work Granger into it.

Actually, you can do a search and find the real history behind this whole issue. Mann arbitrarily quit his station off Cadiz in July and just sailed home to England, in contravention of Admiralty orders and Jervis' orders. Langara escorted Richery out into the Atlantic, then left a force of Spanish ships with him to attack Newfoundland. Solano had overall command of that fleet. Langara himself returned to the Mediterranean, to Cartagena.

Chapter 41 has been posted. A little more action in this one!

August, 1796 “Look alive up there!” Granger shouted to the lookouts. He heard their mumbled ‘aye aye sirs’, acknowledging his unnecessary orders. Granger felt the tension in the ship as they waited in the dark for the sun to rise, and knew that most of the tension was emanating from him. As near as he could reckon, dawn should find them off the port of Cadiz, and that meant he’d probably emerge from the darkness in the midst of Mann’s squadron. He had hoped to pass

Actually, he started out with 25 and gave Claire 5. I don't recall him giving Ace any land.

Sometimes older guys can be even more fun. (Think: Staying power).

For those of you who "liked" Be Rad, you've probably gotten annoyed by all of the e-mails you've received telling you I've updated the story. This is what has happened: 1. I told you in the post above this that I updated the first 12 chapters. I'm not sure how this happened, but in reality, the new chapters weren't posted to GA Stories, so those of you who rushed back to see if anything was different were probably annoyed to find nothing of significance. I've fixed that, so if you decide to walk down memory lane and re-read this one, the first 12 are now posted correctly. 2. For the other chapters, I read through them, made a few fixes, little things, and reformatted them. An example of the little things I've fixed: I had Stef and Brad pressing their thumbs together in their blood brother sign, when it was, in fact, their fingers they pressed together. I've corrected that. 3. It's my intention to eventually go through this in more detail and refine the rest of the chapters as I have the first 12. If you see notifications in the future, that's what they'll be, but I'll let you know that too.

I'll try to post 41 soon. It's got a lot more action.

You should have channeled Granger and given him a farewell blow job.

Thanks Ivy. That's how I see it too. I think if we were to back up and look at what happened, a lot of the initial problems seemed similar to what you would have expected from them as young adults. Now, they're more mature, and they appreciate each other more.

I'm so glad you like it, especially since you're ex-RN. I love this era, and in fact it was the Hornblower series that first got me into it. I was 12 at the time, and read "Beat to Quarters." I spent hours poring over books, looking at pictures, and trying to visualize what life must have been like. I'm planning to follow George through as long as he lives, or as long as I have stamina. I don't always get the chapters out quickly, they tend to sprint and drift, but I do my best. We should be finished up with this one shortly, then I'll plan out the next one. It will take place in 1797(mostly), and I'll try to get as many of the exciting events of that year worked in. I think the most research I've done was on The Wardroom, and the occupation of Toulon. There is much written from a military perspective (Napoleon has that impact) but not much from the naval point of view. The next few chapters were also a lot to work out. Thanks Ricky! It's you guys that keep me going!

I'm glad you like it...I do too. I've revised the first 12 chapters of this story. More to do later.

I can totally see that!

Thanks. I mean, if someone doesn't like me, go ahead and neg my posts. If you really hate my stories, don't read them, but if you do, and hate them, well, I guess a neg is important. But don't neg my writing because you don't like me. You hate me, and I call you an evil bitch, and strangely enough, we both take that as a compliment. Thanks! I'm glad you're helping out the newer/lesser known authors. When I see those pluses on new stories, I usually read them. I don't have a lot of spare time, so by doing that, you help me focus on the stories that are really impacting the members.

Sometimes Mark makes mistakes.