Well, Chapter 9 in now uploaded and in the queue for Saturday posting. I hope there isn't anything fatal that happens when Laz takes the site down tomorrow for his maintenance. Something I learned when I had to purchase a new computer recently is how far behind the times I am on computers now. They don't put cup holders in them as standard any longer. (Hush, I know that's a CD drive, I'm just being facetious.) Nor are VGA outputs - I had to buy a new monitor, too.
I think everyone would agree my story qualifies as science fiction as opposed to fantasy. The SCIENCE portion of that is a real pain in the butt to research. Cal's dad was the rocket scientist. I can only imagine how it was pre-internet days. I remember reading in a book from RAH how it took him a week and multiple trips to the library to make sure the computations were right for ONE LINE in one of his juveniles. He could have simply faked it, but he wanted it to be right. Speaking of being right - this chapter has an interesting law discussion. Before the legal beagles get on my case about something being wrong, make sure you READ the relevant section, and then RE-READ it. ESPECIALLY what Earl says. My definitions and explanations are correct. (While I don't have a JD, I do have a Master's in Criminology - which is a misunderstood degree program by a LOT of people. I studied ALL aspects of civil and criminal law, not just the Criminal Justice program that police need. That included sociology and psychology as well as the history and basis of common and constitutional law.)
AITA? Laz has given us assorted features regarding comments on our stories. One is to delete comments, and I haven't used that. The other two are to block readers from commenting on A story, or to block the reader from commenting on ANY of your stories. I finally reached that point of where I was was tired of thumping a deceased equine regarding one reader's continual whining - I'm not going to name him here, because it's pretty obvious if you've actually read the comments of this and my last novel in this series who it is - that I finally said I'm done. Begone with you! No more comments from you about this topic!
One of my editors sent me this note: Ya know... After all this build up, and waiting... THIS HAD BETTER BE ONE HELL OF A BATTLE... and Cal had BETTER survive!!!
My reply was: So, you’re saying I shouldn’t just say:
Shiva left his spaceship. I waited patiently.
________
Well, that was fun, I thought five minutes later.
HIS reply was: PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One last thought from me. I mentioned before I wrote a story for the Valentine's Day Contest. Everyone can see how many times a story has been downloaded on the New Stories page and scrolling down far enough, even clicking over to page two at this point. So you can click on the stories and read most of it, but the only people who can vote on a story are those who actually pay for membership here. As the author, I CAN see the number of votes and what the score is for my story on my stats page. I almost wish I couldn't. Ouch! At least it's doing better than any of the last 300 Mat Twassel 'stories'.