LastCallAgain: Blog

I've received several emails regarding the score of the story, mostly with a theme of "I gave you a 10, but it didn't change the score!"

While I really appreciate the votes and the feedback, I'm actually quite happy with the 7.1x that A&tA has held for several weeks. I'm well aware of several style and plotting issues that I need to improve on, all of which will be addressed in my future work and possibly in rewrites some time in the future.

I'm not doing this for a score, I'm doing it for myself as a hobby and I will continue to do it as long as I continue to receive positive feedback.

For those of you who are vexed by the site's scoring, here is the webmaster's FAQ page on the scoring algorithm
algorithm:
http://storiesonline.net/help.php?cmd=getAnswer&id=8

For those of you who have caught the small handful of typos that got past TeNderLoin and UnaPrincipessa, I have a punchlist and will fix everything at once after the whole story is up. In the meantime, as I have stated previously, I am plugging away at A&tA part 2 (with a real antagonist!) as well as my much more raunchy "50 shades" parody.

Also keep in mind, dear reader, that I can't respond if your messaging is set to 'Anonymous.'

As always... Thanks for reading!

I debated extensively with myself over the use of "What's Love Got to Do With It?" as both the chapter intro and Eddie's parody. I considered using "Photograph" by Def Leppard as the chapter intro, and even re-wrote parts of Chapters 5 and 7 to add the birthday party photo... but under scrutiny, the lyrics of "Photograph" don't mean as much in the context of the story. In the end it was too good to pass up; "What's Love" matched the mood of the chapter, it was the #1 hit in the summer of 1984 and, to be honest, I don't think I could have done better with another song for the parody.

Useless trivia: Cyrano de Bergerac was a real person, somewhat famous in his own time as a wordsmith and swordsman, and did have a 'rather large nose' -- but not as ridiculously large as depicted in the play and movies. José Ferrer won a Tony award for his portrayal on stage as well as the Best Actor Oscar for the 1950 film.
The (colorized) insult scene is on YouTube: http://youtu.be/QEacXeAbHpQ …also see the 1987 re-imagining with Steve Martin at http://youtu.be/ODFSF8MNTSs

This week on Adam and the Ants:

We spent a few minutes putting away tools, then Mr. M asked me to pull some storage crates out from under the bench and sweep out the sawdust and cobwebs. I pulled out the crates and Mr. M started knocking off dust and cobwebs with a whisk broom. I started to reach under the bench with the broom, and a movement in the shadows caught my eye. When I realized what it was, I stopped cold.

Ants!

A half dozen black carpenter ants, just like the ones I had captured for my ant farm, were milling around in the corner by the bench's leg. I cast a quick glance behind me. Mr. M was still whisking dust off the crates and hadn't noticed anything- yet. I turned my attention back to the ants, wondering if I should tell Mr. M about them or not. If I didn't tell him, they could damage his home. If I told him, he would want to kill them. Ordinarily, that would be the easy choice to make. But Mr. M might ask me to help with the extermination- and these ants were likely related to the ones in my room, the ones which were a constant source of peace and calm over the last two stressful months.

"You guys shouldn't be here," I mumbled under my breath. "It's not safe for you here." One ant broke from the group, turning toward me and coming out a few tiny ant steps into the light. It looked up at me, twitching its antennae in- defiance?

I'm out of town the rest of the week, heading to NOLA for some pre-Mardi Gras festivities. Chapter 8 is queued for posting Thursday. Hopefully I've gotten the formatting issues straightened out!

This week's song is What's Love Got To do With It by Tina Turner. The Adam and the Ants 'soundtrack' is available for free listening on Spotify at http://bit.ly/13U48s1

UPDATE: Found a copuple of typos and formatting glitches, which are now fixed.

For whatever reason, Chapters 7-9 gave me a serious case of writer's block and even when they were done they took a lot of rewriting. I knew exactly what I wanted to happen, but I just couldn't make the words come out. It probably didn't help that the rest of the story had already been written. I already knew exactly what was going to transpire, so perhaps my motivation was diminished? I only hope the quality of my writing didn't suffer along with it.

The Adam and the Ants 'soundtrack' is available for free listening on Spotify at http://bit.ly/13U48s1

This week on Adam and the Ants:

What would Bugs Bunny do?

The answer came to me in a flash. Bugs would flummox him with backhanded flattery, insulting him while making him see it as a compliment. Could I pull it off? If he twigged, I might end up looking less like Bugs and more like Wile E. Coyote after an encounter with a 16-ton weight!

"So, Grasshopper," Miller leaned forward while he talked so I had to crane my neck to keep eye contact. "You had something you wanted to say?" I could feel every eye within a hundred yards staring at the two of us.

"Um, just, you know," I stammered, "Just… Well… You keep calling me Grasshopper, and I still don't understand why, and it got kind of old." Bugs Bunny's backhanded flattery, it seems, had gone right out the window the moment I opened my mouth.

Miller's cheeks and ears reddened and his grin became a scowl. "I'll call you whatever I want to. And let me tell you what's getting old, Grasshopper," he hissed. He leaned down until our noses were almost touching. "What's getting old is all you pissants forgetting who's in charge around here! Maybe it's time somebody gave you all a reminder?" He accentuated the last bit by cracking his knuckles.

This is the part where I get flattened like Wile E. Coyote, I thought....

This week's songs are Friend or Foe by Adam and the Ants and Run to You by Bryan Adams.
The Adam and the Ants 'soundtrack' is available for free listening on Spotify at http://bit.ly/13U48s1