Colin Barrett: Blog

I don't think that these days there's anyone out there who puts much past what religious fanatics will do.
Really I don't mean to disparage religion, or belief in God. I have to acknowledge that I don't share either view. I'm not an atheist, but I'm agnostic in the sense that it's going to take more than anecdotal tales for me to overcome my skepticism and reach a level of faith that is by definition not contingent on rational thought processes. Even then, I still think based on historical data that organized religion is a creation of people rather than some artifact of divine intervention. Whatever its origins, though, pretty clearly structured religion has a remarkably strong grip on the minds of many, and can lead its adherents down some pretty bizarre, and not infrequently violent, paths; those who profess great belief in the teachings of Jesus, or Mohammed, or Buddha, and so on-none of whom preached a reliance on force as a means of spreading their word-seem to find a resort to torture and slaughter as their chosen means of compelling others to believe and act as they do.
Thus, I think my shooter in this chapter is a very realistic creation. A sad reflection of the human condition, to be sure, but both in the past and today it's all too frequently to be found in the very much non-fictional world in which we live.

I've always been a little surprised about the voting results here on SOL.
For the most part my stories have fared well. All of my longer ones have scores above 8, and I largely agree with their relative rankings, although I'm still a bit puzzled about why my only Clitorides award winner-Castaway-scored relatively low (8.09 currently). Several of them, though, took their time getting there. One started at 5.97 after the first chapter and kept rising steadily chapter by chapter until it finished off at just over 8. Another was still in the high 7s until the final chapter was posted, whereupon it jumped a full half point. I suppose a lot of readers withhold their votes until more of the story shows up, as seems fitting.
Which is why I'm a bit surprised at how high The Dolphin is currently scoring. You've already voted it near 8, and it's only just begun (well, comparatively). Thank you all very much. I'm more proud of this one than any of the others, and it's nice to see my favorite child so well received. I hope you continue to find it worth your approval as the story develops.
The current chapter begins to close the gap between the humans' and the dolphins' perceptions of events as they unfold. Which is, of course, the point-to determine how much that distance in perception can be spanned, and at what juncture the two species' innate differences render the gap unbridgeable. That's where my story is headed.

Minacou is now headed in the right direction. You know it's in the cards for her to find Kitik pretty quick, since this is a story and that's obviously a big point. Meanwhile, Jason has the roving eye you'd expect of a kid in a tropical setting. Since Maggie's been trying so hard to turn him off, it isn't surprising that he's settled on an alternative target once it became available. The setup is now about finished and we're headed firmly into the meat of the story.

Pretty much done with the setup, getting to the heart of the story now. Thanks much to readers for your patience, my stories tend to start off slowly, but I like to take my time and do it right.

Still setting up the story. The setup goes on for several more chapters to introduce the characters and the story line.
A lot of what I've written reflects my personal experiences visiting the Florida keys back in the 1960s and `70s. The motel, in particular, while not identical to any one place, is similar to places I visited then. Of course, the keys were recently pretty badly devastated by a hurricane, but it was the first to make a square hit there in quite a long time. And the area will, I'm sure, make a recovery quickly.