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Lady in Red

PotomacBob 🚫

Although I've seen much praise for "Lady in Red" in this forum, I'm struggling to get through Book 1.
I believe in Superman and The Lone Ranger, so I can suspend belief and buy into the superheroics of Steve - even though he doesn't wear tights and a cape. What bothers me is the constant praise of Steve from the female characters - the girls and the mother. And do ALL his deeds need to be superheroic? Even Superman rescued a cat from a tree.
Can somebody convince me that I should continue to read this story - I've read about 20 chapters.

awnlee jawking 🚫

IMO it continues very much in the same vein, with the author escalating to preserve interest.

AJ

Keet 🚫

I quit halfway through book 2. There's a limit to how much "Murica!" a non-American can stomach. I get that stories are fiction and you can get certain levels of "unbelievable" in a story. When it gets to to the point of being ridiculous there's not much story left.

awnlee jawking 🚫

Speaking as a Devil's Advocate, I believe 'Lady in Red' is one of the few books to have actually sold a copy when stolen and posted on Amazon.

AJ

Wheezer 🚫

@PotomacBob

so I can suspend belief and buy into the superheroics of Steve

Suspended? It needs hanged, cut down and the corpse desecrated. I read it for a while, but got tired of the drawn out time between updates.

Safe_Bet 🚫

I've read them all and thoroughly enjoyed them.

I don't see the need to "suspend" your "beliefs" any more than you would when reading about hot teenage girls drooling over the prospect of having sex with some random middle-aged guy or having sex with a witch or vampire, like some of the stories you guys have written. LOL

Replies:   Tw0Cr0ws
Tw0Cr0ws 🚫

@Safe_Bet

hot teenage girls drooling over the prospect of having sex with a witch or vampire, like some of the stories you guys have written.

Well, the witches and vampires usually can use mind control so they can get sex at will.

LonelyDad 🚫

I have thoroughly read all of the stories written so far, many times. I know it is over the top, but it is still enjoyable. To me it's like when you are acting on stage. You are taught to over emote and over act so the audience can see what they are supposed to see. We are just a closer audience, so we see some of the over emoting and over acting. It's kind of like those 30s Canadian Mounty movies, or the ones with the Perils of Pauline and Tess Trueheart. There was a series of stories about someone who was 'The All American Boy', that's Steve. I am usually an immersion reader, but I will admit that I don't always find myself immersing as far with these stories. It's just fun seeing what HardDaysKnight comes up with next.

Replies:   Harddaysknight
Harddaysknight 🚫

@LonelyDad

I have to agree. It is pure escapist entertainment, but a lot of fun. Luckily, no one has to read anything they chose not to read, but I do thank those that do read and enjoy the story. SOL is a strange place with all kinds of people having sex with kids, animals, and adults of the same sex. Some people like that and it is available to them. There are those that enjoy reading about a world where good things happen to good people, and women always look great. I have no reason to lobby for the story. It is doing well with those that do read it and that is more than I had dared hope. I get email every day referencing the story. I enjoy that as well. Thanks for discussing my story. It is appreciated. It all helps increase views and that is all I ask.

tucson 🚫

I have enjoyed every chapter of LIR and wait for the next chapter. We all need an unbelievable story now and then Tucson

stilesm 🚫

@PotomacBob

To me Steve is the embodiment of what most people want a man to be. He was raised with a strong moral compass and ethics. He was taught to help those in need as well as appreciate more than the physical macho parts of being a male. While I haven't read them, I would imagine he is a close match for many male leads in a Romance Novel. I consider his story inspiring, I am not the person he is portrayed as, but he does inspire me to try harder to be a better man in all aspects of my life.

darrok 🚫

@PotomacBob

Personally, I see Steve as Gary Sue and just laugh. The whole story becomes a satirical comedy about overdramatic acting and fawning idiocy.

So, the key, at least for me, is to consider it satire and laugh about it.

pj 🚫

Think Dudley Do right with a cock and balls.
Same vein as JRyter's more outer subjects but he has dripping women who cut to the chase.
I too quit and told the writer the same thing. I thought I said it nicely but he sent back a flame and told me to shove my opinion.
Some people say they want feedback but really don't.
Did not tell him he should rewrite the characters ... as some had told me.

i_like2_sail2 🚫

I enjoyed LIR. I would just like to know if and when it will ever be finished

Anomandaris 🚫

I dropped it. Just... too OTT. I finished the first book back in the day, but have not been able to move forward with it.

Jim S 🚫

@PotomacBob

Like I said in my review of LIR3, the only way to get through it is to consider it a fantasy without the goblins and wizards. Otherwise, it is waaaaay over-the-top.

i_like2_sail2 🚫

@PotomacBob

I enjoyed the comical heroic story. the one thing that did irk me was what you pointed out. The constant praise and "I love you" the characters tossed around at Gwen and Steve. But It does not matter I dont think the autor is ever going to finish book 3. I think he is running out of ideas and does not now how to conclude it. he is tossing in knealing at football games and political shit. books 2 and 3 seem to have gone downhill since one. but that is all just my opinion and opinions as you know are like assholes everyone has one

Nulaak83 🚫

That's not really a "toss in" considering the main character is both a veteran and a professional football player it would be fairly relevant to the story/character. There are political conditions around the world strewn through the entire book so not sure why that one got to you. The "religion of peace's" philosophy/real world actions are referenced throughout all of the books as well.

muyoso 🚫

I think LIR suffers not only from the completely over the top reverence that other characters have for the main character but also in the unnatural and forced dialogue. Referring to the MC's by their accomplishments all of which have been named by the community is just cringe worthy. I had to stop reading during the first book as it was clear that the MC was going to be a superman type with no real adversity and that it was going to be 3 books of fawning praise for his achievements.

ystokes 🚫

I really enjoy the story, in fact I am reading it again right now. Yes he over does it with the praise but I just skip over it.

Harddaysknight at the beginning even warns readers it will be over the top.

The only complaint I had of the story was leaving a chapter as a cliffhanger and then having to wait months or even over a year for the next chapter.

shiloh1 🚫

Who wants to read a boring story. So we're looking for a story that couldn't possibly be true but still enjoyed. I for one loved it.

Replies:   bk69
bk69 🚫

@shiloh1

All fiction requires suspension of disbelief on the part of the reader. Good stories don't continually need more and more suspension of disbelief. Poorly written stories keep adding more implausible events (by the rules of the story universe that the reader has already accepted) or characters taking actions contrary to their defined norms (the 'brain tumor' justification for this is a bit of cliche) tends to strain suspension of disbelief.

Consider'The Martian'. Once you accept in the beginning that a wind storm in a super thin atmosphere can apply thousands of times as much force as it possibly could, and accept that NASA would ever do anything beyond near earth operations within the coming century without being bogged down by its own bureaucracy, and that astronauts would put up with a douchecanoe like Marky Mark for long enough to reach mars and then spend some time on planet, everything else (especially leaving him behind on the planet) follows with very little further strain.

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@PotomacBob

I find the constant repetition, in great detail, of the same material very off putting. So is the constant 'I'm not good enough for them' by the lead characters. I did manage to finish the first book, but I found it very hard to slog through it. If I was editing it about 20 to 30 percent of the wordage would go simply by replacing the regular recounting of past events in full detail with a basic 'they recounted their past events to ...'

Replies:   bk69
bk69 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

So you're saying it's similar to Morgan's 'Kathy' stories? (They were entertaining, but the constant retelling of the same stories, and endlessly heaping praise on one character or another (and then having various characters' imaginary friend actually turn out to both exist and control reality AND be prone to a lot of the same behavior as some of those characters when it comes to the praise thing)...) Yeah, it was sometimes a question whether to continue or give up...but sometimes it was entertaining enough to tolerate a lot.

Replies:   rustyken  DerAndy
rustyken 🚫

@bk69

Yeah, it was sometimes a question whether to continue or give up...but sometimes it was entertaining enough to tolerate a lot.

I agree that Morgan's stories were entertaining the first time through, but rereading was a struggle.

DerAndy 🚫

@bk69

Those are difficult for me to get through, too. The first time reading the first few books I didn't really notice it, but now it's overpowering. So I now read a few chapters every few weeks or months to see how the story continues before it gets too much again. I have other problems with those as well (every lesbian is always evil, but girls kiss all the time because it's love and they are definitely not lesbians - do what now?).

It's unfortunate that I have such problems with them, because the basic story is interesting.

Replies:   bk69
bk69 🚫

@DerAndy

every lesbian is always evil,

True.

Bisexual ladies, however, are the best.

erotistotle 🚫

I find it amusing that this thread is still going a year and a half after the original posting. Harddaysnight explicitly states that the LIR trilogy is an over-the-top fantasy. A reader expecting something different is perplexing.
SOL has many (a majority?) of stories in which female breasts defy gravity, male appendages set horses to weeping with envy, the women and wives dazzlingly beautiful, and the handsome virile men are SAS, SEAL, Ranger types who can shoot all day and go all night, sometimes simultaneously. Oppositely, there are the wimps and cucks who seem to have a following. I simply don't read those genres, despite the adherents and proponents of each, but that's called free choice.
The popularity of the Bond, Bruce Lee, Batman, Superman, assorted Marvel, DC Comic heroes, and the action/adventure fantasies of Arnold and Jeremy, as unbelievable as LIR, should be proof that sometimes pure escapism is what we're looking to read. And, how can we forget our friendly Hobbits for belief suspension? Given the current state of world affairs, escapism is perhaps an occasional coping necessity.
Keep writing HDN, you have an appreciative audience for LIR when escapism calls. The principal's Congressional testimony was worth the price of admission and a scene I'd like to see in the real world of nasty partisan politics.

LonelyDad 🚫

erotistotle

Aw I read your response, I was forcefully reminded of E.E. 'Doc' Smith's The Grey Lensman series, especially with the female protagonist becoming the first female Grey Lensman. When I was younger I eagerly devoured them all, but it's been over a decade since I have last looked at any of the books.

I think part of the author's delay in continuing the series is in figuring out how the son is supposed to be better than his father, without going any further over the top than he already has. Not that I wouldn't still read them.

Replies:   erotistotle
erotistotle 🚫

@LonelyDad

The "Doc" Smith stories are a great example of escapist story telling. They were a staple of my youth as well. I'm sure with the segue into science fiction, HDN will have fun with the son's adventures.
If I read a politician's autobiography and am surprised by misrepresentation, embellishments and outright lies, shame on me. If an author tells me they have written an over-the-top escapist fantasy, I believe them.
I'm reminded of Garrison Keller's opening monologue on The Prairie Home Companion's Welcome to Lake Wobegon, "where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." I'm not expecting reality but storytelling.
HDN is a good writer with active imagination. Many of his other contributions are worth the read and, damn, they're free.

Replies:   PotomacBob
PotomacBob 🚫

@erotistotle

and all the children are above average.

What's wrong with that. All the people on SOL are above average.

Replies:   bk69  awnlee jawking
bk69 🚫

@PotomacBob

All the people on SOL are above average.

No, there's quite a few subhumans on SOL.

Replies:   awnlee jawking
awnlee jawking 🚫

@bk69

No, there's quite a few subhumans on SOL.

Me! Me! Me!

I've got some Neanderthal genes (excluding the ones for art and music, obviously). Therefore I'm subhuman.

AJ

awnlee jawking 🚫

@PotomacBob

All the people on SOL are above average.

The average person is dead. Most people on SOL are still alive ;-)

AJ

karactr 🚫

I'm a white Southern male, so, obviously, me too.

I never got into E.E "Doc" Smith when I was younger. My escapes were Tarzan, Gor and Donaldson's "Thomas Covenant". Throw in Jack Chalker and Harrison and Le'Quin and Stashoff and DeCamp...

Hell, I read a lot. Misspent youth.

Replies:   LonelyDad
LonelyDad 🚫
Updated:

@karactr

Throw in Jack Chalker and Harrison and Le'Quin

"Midnight at the Well of Souls" was my first Chalker, after that I hunted down the rest of the first series. I also loved the EarthSea stories by Le Guin.

Those and the Lensman stories were my intro into SciFi, along with Heinlein. Then I found the Vorkosigan stories, and have never looked back since then.

Replies:   bk69  rustyken
bk69 🚫

@LonelyDad

IIRC, Asimov (specifically the Foundation novels) was what got me into SF. I'd already been reading fantasy (a friend's older brother forgot his copy of Fellowship of the Ring at my home, so I started off well).

Replies:   PotomacBob  erotistotle
PotomacBob 🚫

@bk69

bk69
12/5/2020, 10:35:57 AM

@LonelyDad

IIRC, Asimov (specifically the Foundation novels) was what got me into SF. I'd already been reading fantasy (a friend's older brother forgot his copy of Fellowship of the Ring at my home, so I started off well).

Asimov wrote a great number of books, not all of them science fiction. His goal was to pass John Creasy, who wrote more than 600 novels using a variety of pen names, all of them mysteries. I don't know how many he wrote, though I know it was more than 400. He never caught up with Creasy.

erotistotle 🚫
Updated:

@bk69

IIRC, Asimov (specifically the Foundation novels) was what got me into SF.

Asimov, Heinlien, LeQuin, Hubbard (pre-Scientology), and Astounding Science Fiction and Galaxy Science Fiction magazines were all foundational to the aptly named Golden Age of Science Fiction. Along with these, the classics of Stevenson, Melville, Conrad, Dickens, etc., were central to my youthful reading.

Then I made a serious mistake. I read JD MacDonald and was off to the races. I was going to live on a houseboat in South Florida like my hero, Travis McGee - Salvage Consultant, make lots of money, meet beautiful women, and get laid a lot.

Well... I did visit Disney World once. Does that count?

Replies:   richardshagrin
richardshagrin 🚫

@erotistotle

I did visit Disney World once. Does that count?

I don't think Disney World, Epcot, etc. are in South Florida. What I saw on-line indicates Disney wanted Central Florida.

Replies:   erotistotle
erotistotle 🚫
Updated:

@richardshagrin

What I saw on-line indicates Disney wanted Central Florida.

I know Disney is in the Orlando area. Unfortunately, it's the closest I came to being near the stomping grounds of a hero of my adolescence. And to my "shagrin," I did not live on a house boat. I will not discuss my luck (or lack of same) with beautiful ladies.

rustyken 🚫

@LonelyDad

"Midnight at the Well of Souls" was my first Chalker,"

The first story I read of his was "Soul Rider" then "Dancing with the Gods". The first I have read several times and would like to find in an eBook format as my paper backs are falling apart.

ystokes 🚫

One of my best days was in Jr. High when our English teacher took the class to the library and told us to look around and pick any book we liked. I picked a book from Andre Norton's Witch World novel. Thus grew my love of reading.

LonelyDad 🚫

IIRC Asimov is the only author with a book in each Dewey Decimal section. In order to make that goal he had to write a book about writing all the other books to get into that final section. A true polymath.

Replies:   richardshagrin
richardshagrin 🚫

@LonelyDad

polymath

Not Math, poly biochemistry.

"Isaac Asimov - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org ' wiki ' Isaac_Asimov
Isaac Asimov (/ˈæzΙͺmΙ’v/; c. January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. He was known for his works of science fiction and popular science. Asimov was a prolific writer who wrote or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards."

Replies:   LonelyDad
LonelyDad 🚫

@richardshagrin

Not Math, poly biochemistry.

polβ€’yβ€’math (ˈpΙ’l iˌmæθ)

n.
a person of great learning in several fields of study

Random House College Dictionary

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