Mark Arbour

Thank you so much for your kind thoughts! We'll be seeing a bit of Hornblower here in the first part of the story. If you haven't read The Hornblower books (by CS Forester) I highly recommend that you do. They are excellent. A lesser-known addition to the Hornblower story was a "biography" written by C. Northcote Parkinson: The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower. He attempts to fill in some of the blanks in Hornblower's career with his own fictional additions.

I think they're actually from 1982. Size 12. Nice guess. :-)

Thanks for the great feedback! I had so much fun tying Hornblower into the prior story, I decided that would be a fun way to start out this story.

Thank you all so much for your kind words, and your welcome back. It feels good to be writing again!

That's right. Very similar!

The prologue and first chapter of Northern Exposure, the newest story in the Bridgemont series, has been posted. Enjoy!

May, 1800 HMS Ville de Paris Off the coast of Brest, France George Granger paced the deck of the monstrous ship of the line, enjoying having the leeward side to himself, which was a rarity on the crowded flagship. As custom dictated, the senior officer on deck was entitled to pace leeward side, so if Captain Grey or Captain Troubridge had been on deck, he would have had to relinquish that side of the deck to them. It went without

July, 1800 HMS Ville de Paris Off the coast of Brest, France George Granger read the letter that had been delivered to him from the Inshore Squadron, then took the note and went in to see his irascible admiral. He arrived to find St. Vincent dictating a particularly unpleasant letter to the Portsmouth dockyard, bemoaning the poor quality of construction that had allowed Ville de Paris’s stern windows to be smashed in by that wave b

George Granger has been separated from his command, and how finds himself in limbo, waiting for Valiant to return. In the meantime, the Admiralty has found other things for him to do. Little does Granger know that when his ship finally does return, he'll be given an entirely different challenge, one that will take him to entirely new waters.

One of the characteristic things about the preppy look is that it is largely timeless. Those same topsiders can last for years and never go out of fashion (at least in certain circles). I think the quintessential guide remains "The Official Preppy Handbook," by Lisa Birnbach.

Just an FYI, for my long-suffering Bridgemont fans: The next story, Northern Exposure, will begin posting on August 1.

Just an update for those of you who are interested...I have posted HMS Valiant in ebook format here on GA.

Well, once again I missed an important holiday. Not feeling very patriotic this year, and while I'll avoid politics in this forum, you all know why. I've been doing great, health wise, but I have a massive project that I'm working on this summer. Ironically enough, that's helped my writing, because it's a good procrastination tool. I'm unwilling to post any chapters to Black Widow, or for the new Bridgemont book (which is in the works, by the way), until I have enough chapters to keep going for a bit. I'm calling that five at this point. So I'm hoping I can get to that point by fall. Thank you all so much for your patience, and for your very nice thoughts and words along the way. Things seem so bright now compared to where they were a year ago.

Northern Exposure

Thank you so much for your kind comments! This story was a lot of work, and it remains my favorite.

August 31, 2003 The Dalby Ranch Brad The Dalbys were Methodists, so that religion provided the basic structure of the memorial for Buzz, but there had been a few modern additions tacked on. It was being held in the same ring where Will had ironically won his bet with Preston, and I assumed that was because it was air-conditioned, or at least it was today. I was glad for that, because although it was hot, although not too humid, we were all dressed in suits. The extra laye

I'm so glad you are enjoying the story!

Spot on, as usual.

Thank Kitt. I really don't think the Dalbys have the muscle to be a huge problem to the Schluter-Crampton clan, but then again, you never know.

Why thank you! This story has been a challenge because of how to sequence the sewing together of said strings, but it's coming together.

We really don't have enough info to know if Maria has any ties (still) to the Dalby family, but based on her reception there, I'm guessing she doesn't

I'll try to make it entertaining. :-)

Thanks. I don't think Will or any of them have to worry too much about the people on the ranch, which, no doubt, annoys the people on the ranch. :-)

Thanks so much! As I've said many times, Will is my male incarnation of Tonto. Wilful, caring, but not perfect.

Chapter Forty-Six April 4, 1800 Portland Place “Thank you, Cheevers,” Caroline said, dismissing him so they were alone. “This is hideous,” Granger pronounced with disdain. He was so repulsed; he almost spat the words out. Arrayed around the room, taking up virtually every available shelf, table top, or other platform, were commemorative items celebrating Granger’s career. “I expected that you would think so, but I do not,” Caroline said firml