Forum: Story Recommendations

I've kind of gotten to that point with another popular story on here. The plot does keep advancing little by little, but there's just so much repetition and the same sex scenes that have happened hundreds of times that don't add much to the story anymore.

I have that problem with quite a few 'epic' stories.

But rarely with B.O.B's work.

B.O.B IS Beating Off Bob, aka Lubrican for those who don't know.

It's been 7 years on LiR and I'm still interested in it, I just wish HDK would focus on that one and finish it instead of a short chapter or two a year coming out at this point, especially since there's been teasers in the last two books about the story continuing with the kids.

It's been 7 years on LiR and I'm still interested in it

That's a long time to spend on the Long Island Railroad.

Ha, TSM wasn't even the one I was referring to, but now that I think about it I have been skipping through the sex scenes on it for some time since they've become pretty repetitive and don't really add anything unique to the plot anymore. The paring down of the sex scenes as the story went on is one of the reasons I was actually able to continue enjoying Deja Vu Ascendency. The beginning of it was very heavy on the sex scenes, but after awhile the author seemed to realize he had a better story to tell than just rewriting the same sex scene for the 50th time with one or two minor changes.

Thank you!

I can't see him going the route of each individual progenitor fighting solo.

Based on what's been said about the progenitors, it would be very much against the grain for them to work together on anything.

They fight together on the Astral Plane and it would make sense for them to band together eventually since John represents an existential threat to them all.

They fight together on the Astral Plane

Those aren't really progenitors they are the spirits of dead progenitors under the direct control of the boss creature on the Astral Plane. However, the boss creature can't control living progenitors in John's part of the galaxy.

The boss creature might be able to push them into a mass attack on John, but as soon as they arrive in John's territory, any cooperation will break down very quickly.

Based on what Tefler has written about the progenitor battles in the past though they typically last centuries or millenia. I'd think after one or two of them attacking solo and being wiped out in months or days, it would force them to go against the grain/their own nature and cooperate. Similarly he's kind of foreshadowed with the change in his father's attitude after their meeting that at some point during John's big progenitor battle his father is going to wind up showing up and helping.

I'd think after one or two of them attacking solo and being wiped out in months or days, it would force them to go against the grain/their own nature and cooperate.

I don't think that Xar'aziuth would be willing to risk a mass attack. Once they are in John's part of the galaxy and protected from Xar'aziuth's control by the shroud, some of them, particularly some of the younger progenitors might turn around and side with John.

Similarly he's kind of foreshadowed with the change in his father's attitude after their meeting that at some point during John's big progenitor battle his father is going to wind up showing up and helping.

With only one dreadnaught and no thralls, his father isn't likely to be of any help even if he did show up.

If I were writing it, I'd go for a feminist solution to the other progenitors - Alyssa adjusts the thrall matriarchs to have free will, as she did with Jessica Blake. So the other progenitors are powerless unless they do what their matriarchs tell them.

That would kill the whole idea behind the progenitors. Better to throw in a few female progenitors if you wanted to go that way but it would require some changes in the beginning of the story.

Who created the progenitors and why? A chapter number would be helpful - not asking for a lot, am I!

I don't recall the exact chapter number OTMH, but it was from the confrontation with his father. They went into the Astral to an astral data fortress created by a race from before the progenitors. The boss creature on the astral plane is/was a member of that race. He created the progenitors.

ETA: I looked it up. Chapter 121 pages 6-8 The bulk of the explanation is on page 7.

chapter 122:
"Zar-azyuth?" Rachel asked, frowning at the unfamiliar pronunciation. "That's the name of the ancient Leviathan you confronted in the Astral Plane?"
"Yes, that's right ... the Progenitors all work for him," John replied, staring at his empty glass. "He dates back to the very first spacefaring civilisation ... called the Kyth'faren. They were incredibly advanced and after mastering all the sciences, they started to focus on developing psychic abilities. Everything was going great, until Xar'aziuth found out that he could get stronger by consuming people's souls. His name actually means 'The Devourer' and he kept devouring his own species until he eventually drove them to extinction. He created the Progenitors to keep the carnage going ... then sat back in the Astral Plane and watched the galaxy burn for millions of years. Trillions of people have been massacred since then ... and he's been feeding off the slaughter, getting stronger all the time."