Don't have time at the mo for an extended reply, but here goes....

Hmm, I'm wondering which television show this is...  care to enlighten
me?  We don't get things like the Fox network over here in Britian <sigh>

The show he was referring to was Sliders, where the main character 
invents a device that takes him (and a group of his friends) 'sliding' 
from alternate universe to alternate universe. Fox co-sponsored the 
recent Dr. Who movie, you probably knew; and Fox was supposedly looking 
at a series based on the movie. One popular rumor was that the Dr. Who 
series was being considered for the Sliders spot in the schedule, and 
that it came down to a choice between the two shows. I don't know how 
much truth I'd attach to these rumors, though.

Ah, I've seen Sliders.  I hadn't heard of it until a couple of months ago, but 
I know what you're talking about now.  Thanks for clearing it up anyway.

I actually started off the Books saga with an episode called "Prologue",
which detailed this entire part with the bookshop.  In fact, the adventure
game I'm writing has the first section in it as well, including running up
the staircase and jumping through the portal.

Any thought about releasing that one?

Yep.  Thing is, I got as far as starting off the first book Ian finds himself 
in, but couldn't get very far with the plot.  And I started it over a year ago 
too.  Sheesh.  Well, I'll consider working on it from time to time, but I'll 
try and get "Boomers and Youmas" out of the way first.

Sanctuary?  Bloody Deckers?  Um... care to enlighten me again...
<sigh>  Sorry 'bout this....

No problem. :) Sanctuary is the setting for the Thieves' World 
anthologies by Robert Asprin; pretty dark and cynical, home to many 
back-alley ambushes. Though they don't always turn out as expected... The 
Bloody Deckers are a street gang from the Phil Foglio/Nick Polatta book 
_Illegal Aliens_ (a light piece of fluff, but I thought it was fun). They 
get picked up by an alien ship as test subjects for the 'Galactic 
Federation Entrance Exam'... which naturally horrifies the U.N. first 
contact team. Until it turns out the aliens are Not Quite What They 
Seem...

Hmm... should be worth checking out, if I ever see them...  Thanks!

Hmmm. Well, like Windir said, it is a plausible explanation for his being 
able to understand them, and vice-versa. But I still think it goes on too 
long, and goes further than it really needs to on the explanation. The 
more you belabor the point about what it does that it wasn't supposed to 
do, the more you damage the suspension of disbelief. This is one of those 
things that the reader usually *wants* to believe in... so, as long as 
you make it vaguely plausible (or sufficiently funny/clever), they'll let 
it slide on by -- a bit of verbal sleight-of-hand. But the more you try 
to explain something that really can't be logically explained, the more 
you draw readers' attention to it. Peter David did a really nice 
explanation of this kind of thing in his "But I Digress..." column one 
time; it's collected in the book by the same name, and I highly recommend 
it.

In this case, you might just try something like "...so he decided to take 
a flyer on a Babel Fish. To his surprise, it worked exactly as 
advertised; he could now understand anything said to him in any form of 
language. In fact, it worked even better than advertised -- it let other 
people understand *him*, and let him understand spoken language without 
any brainwaves behind it. He shrugged. Maybe someday, he'd figure out 
why. Unfortunately, one freebee he *didn't* get was written language; it 
was still so many squiggles to him."

Okay.  I'll go with that.  Although I'm a little against using other people's 
extended paragraph submissions (does that sound right?), I'll take it if I 
can't think of anything better.  Thanks all the same.

 

Little part of the story, Windir.  But changed anyway.  Thanks for the
comments; I want to relieve as much confusion as possible.

Um, no, that wasn't what he meant. Oops. When you say "There is xxx," 
you're seperating out 'xxx' to say something about it: "There is a little 
part of the instructions *that I didn't tell you*," or "There is a little 
part of this red, beautiful apple, obtained at great cost by a roving 
band of adventurers, *that is rotten*." You say there is a part of this 
story involving Genom and the Stingrays... but you don't say what part, 
or why you seperated it out.

Right, I see.  That problem should also be corrected by the aforementioned 
change.  I think.  Um, I'll check.

Lyra: Poor guy. Just keeps getting caught in the middle. 

Yeah.  I'm probably the only author on the FFML who could be
plausibly revenged by his own character ^_^

Well, in the revengefic I did, I got revenged by both a group of authors, 
*and* the unholy trio...

Ite.  Authors (revenging ones, that is) are bad news, definitely.

Windir: From small acorns do mighty oaks grow...

Lyra: Except he's a rather large nut, isn't he?

Who is, Lyra?  And what do you mean by a large nut anyhow....

Lyra: Quincy, of course. If you don't think he's nuttier than a 
fruitcake... heck, he could be put away for meglomania, if nothing else.

Hmm...  I dunno.  Megalomania, yeah, I'll agree with that.  Fact is, is that 
he's very sane.  Almost too sane, in fact.  I don't know, but Klatchian Coffee 
springs to mind.... ^_^

Oh, and I don't think putting him away would help.  One of the most memorable 
moments in a Discworld novel was the time Vetinari was trapped in his own 
dungeon.  Well... not exactly "trapped"....  You get what I mean...

Frito: Um... I din't mean it, Windy... <Small voice> uh-oh...

Windir: Boot to the head! <He attempts the kick, skids on the spilled 
pop, misses... and kicks Lyra's tub of popcorn over into her lap.

Um, where'd this "Boot to the head" come from anyway....  this isn't
the first place I've seen it....

The original was from a comedy sketch, called "Tai Kwan Leap," by a small 
group... I believe they were called the Frantics. (It's on the Dr. 
Demento anniversary CD set, I believe.) Typical clueless yutz comes to 
martial arts training because he want to learn to beat things up, and 
whines about this 'stupid mystic junk.' Said yutz gets quickly disabused 
of his notions...

Right.  Thanks for the info.

Windir: "Affected," I believe.

Ack!  Spelling mistake!!!  Oh no!!!

Well, there's "affected," a passive term, meaning 'acted upon by an 
outside force'; then there's "effected," an active term, meaning 'causing 
something to occur.' Thus: "He effected repairs on the drive system 
affected by the ion storm." ^_^

Yeah, and the worst part is is that I already knew that... <shakes head sadly>

If I ever replace "lose" with "loose", I'm gonna kill myself.

Frito: Ya said it, baby! I mean, comeon! Ya got an M-16 tank ta wear, and 
dese schmoes ain't got a clue!

An M-16, huh?  Well, if ya wanna go in there with just a rifle, Frito, be
my guest.  Now me, on the other hand, I wouldn't even go in there if you
gave me an M1....  course, if we're gonna get technical, I suppose I'd agree
to co-pilot a F19 (as if you'd really think I'd be crazy enough to pilot
it...)

Anyhow, something tells me that modern 20th Century weaponry, while cool,
won't quite be as useful against a boomer....

Wasn't this Linna talking to Priss, and Linna being nervous at going into 
the gang district? In other words, a Knight Saber, capable of taking out 
multiple boomers in a firefight, being nervous about going into a 
district inhabited by gangs that could barely scratch the paint on one of 
those boomers? Or, to put it another way: If you were a gang leader, 
would *you* want to mess with the Sabers? Just seems kinda funny, you 
know?

Um, that wasn't what I was debating.  The fact was, as soon as I saw M-16 tank, 
I decided I'd look it up.  Couldn't find it.  Period.  Turns out that the only 
M-16 there is, is the rifle.  And _that_ was what I was on about.

Frito: BOOM! Boom boom boom! He he he...

Lyra: Oh, you're ready for another chant of the B5 mantra?

Frito: Erp... <Sheepish look> Uh-uh, I'll be good. Promise.

B5 mantra?  I know loadsa mantras (being an Ultima fan helps), but
B5 is a new one on me.  What's it do?

Oh. Babylon 5 reference. Frito's giving a quote by Lt. Commander Susan 
Ivanova, to an ambassador who's pestering her, in the episode "A Voice in 
the Wilderness." The B5 mantra is from the same episode, Ivanova speaking 
to a shuttle crew that's just pulled a particularly stupid stunt <in a 
delightfully dry tone>: "And just one more thing. On the trip back, I'd 
like you to take the time to learn the Babylon 5 mantra. Ivanova is 
always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova's 
recommendations. Ivanova is God. And if this ever happens again, Ivanova 
will personally rip your lungs out! Babylon Control out. <Sigh> 
Civillians. <Looking up> Just kidding about the God part. No offense." 
You can check it out, if you like; *you* have Babylon 5 available on 
videotape in the UK. |<

Ah.  Well, a couple of my friends are Babylon 5 fans, so I'll go ask them.  
They frequently lend and borrow the tapes anyway....

Windir: Another Maalox moment, I believe.

Lyra: Or another tally on the OSQ.

Windir: OSQ?

Frito begins snickering.

Lyra: <Blushing> The "Oh, sh*t" quotient.

Windir: Ah. <Wisely decides to say nothing further.>

Lyra: <Still blushing> Nicely done, anyway. Good scene.

Thanks.  Maalox, huh?  What's that?

A popular antacid in the U.S.; I had the impression they were sold 
more-or-less worldwide. The tag of a series of Maalox commercials was 
"It's another Maalox moment."

Well, I certainly haven't seen _those_ commercials....  but maybe they can be 
found in Britain...  if I see any, I'll let you know.

 

However, I'm not gonna say a word on where he turns up yet....

Sometimes mysteries can be fun. Sometimes they can be infuriating. Be 
sure you know where yours falls on the spectrum. ;>

Well, since you'll find out once the entirety of Part 2 is complete, there 
isn't that much of a mystery.  And I hardly think it's infuriating... yet.

 

Lyra: Another manufactured plot device?

Frito: Aw, it's just anodder gimmick.

Lyra: Cute one, though. 

<sigh>  Well, the pistol does need recharging sometime, and I thought it
a little unfair for Ian to give it the same restraints as the now broken
ShieldGen... in other words, I needed an alternative to the old 5000 AAA
batteries required.

True... but this has both practical and narratical problems. :) From a 
practical standpoint... I wonder if it would be possible to fit such a 
recharge mechanism into the pistol without making it too bulky to be 
convenient. From a story standpoint... it's just a little too convenient. 
:) Seriously, it's enough to interrupt a fight briefly, but not enough to 
be more than a minor hassle -- doesn't really satisfy either point of 
view. ;)

Well, it was either that or the lightning conductor ^_^

"Come, Eigor, I have an experiment to perform!" ^_^

How about a little portable generator -- something he can pull out of the 
backpack, so it's not a show-stopper, but enough inconvenience that it's 
not just a minor delay the author can pull out of the hat.

Right, okay.  That sounds good.  Of course, it'll be incompatible with the 
ShieldGen, or at least, it'll be very _hard_ to recharge the ShieldGen using 
it.  Anyway, very good idea, and loadsa thanks for that idea!

 Ever so carefully, hoping not to break any stalemate that might be in
force, he put his gun away.  He thought he could hear the senshi whispering
fiercly to each other.  He turned, a little faster than he really wanted
to, and started making for the nearest exit.  The words "Dark Kingdom" and
"Youma" drifted to him from the girls, as well as the strange paranoid
feeling of furtive glances being directed at him.  He started walking
faster.  Not running, at least, not yet.  He'd learnt that lesson the hard
way; running brings attention.  He remembered reading a very good book that
had something about that.  Something about the time to run was when someone
said....
 "Hey, you!"
 /Oh yeah, that was it./
 Ian ran.

Windir: With a herd of crazed sumo wrestlers in pursuit, no doubt.

I really haveta borrow "Interesting Times" again sometime....
...I take it you have by now realised that Ian suffers from a severe
Rincewind complex?  ^_^

Hmmm. Not quite. Rincewind runs a lot more. And a lot further. ;>

Okay, granted.  Rincewind also doesn't have a pulse-laser pistol with which to 
fight back with.

Although both Ian and Rincewind have the same problem with luck....

Frito: Windy, is dere somethin' wrong with your eyes or somethin'? Those 
are some bodacious babes!

Uh, Frito, there's one thing you gotta understand.  It's canon.  When
there's one man, and a whole load of women, and the women are chasing
the man, the man doesn't stop.  Ever.

Until they're caught, anyway. :) Hmmm, let's see... Godai/Kyoko... no, 
that supports. Hmmm. Tenchi/the harem? Inconclusive... nuts. <wry g>

Heh ^_^

 

Oh, yeah, did I mention that Ian didn't care much for the Sailor Senshi?
And the fact that they are about fourteen years old at the time?  A little
underaged even for you, eh Frito?

Otaku canon: Male fanboys will see even young teenaged girls as mature, 
when presented in the appropriate sailor fuku. ^_^ And as far as Frito's 
concerned, *every* male *should* be attracted to pretty girls. <grin, 
duck thrown custard pie, run!>

Ah....  oookay.  <walks away quietly>

"Da next part", as you say, is currently half-finished, and unfortunately
has remained that way for about a month.  However, I am restarting work on
it.  What has really been taking my time is the adventure game I was
writing based on the Books saga.  Haven't got around to the cat-killing
puzzle yet, but it's coming along.

Frito: <Twirling a bolo> Ya better not be thinkin' of doin' no 
cat-abusin', here. We got *ways* of dealin' with dat!

It's only one cat.  And you have to kill it nine times.  The cat's in 
Discworld, and is subject to certain restrictions in killing it.  Everything 
you do to kill it has to be associated with famous sayings: Like, "the room's 
too small to swing a cat in," or "There's more ways to kill a cat than drowning 
her in cream."  It's only done once in the game, and the idea involved such a 
complicated puzzle (including the last way of killing it: Shroedinger's Cat), 
that I just felt I had to put it in.

Besides, the cat's name is Tennessee.  (Inside joke)

<wonders how long Elmyra will be able to delay the inevitable until
he can complete the next chapter>

Lyra: Not very long. We've got a Ryo-oki doll we can use when the time is 
right. <grins nastily>

Ryo-oki...  hmm...  um, remind me, using a test dummy please, what one of those 
actually does?

Actually, it may be a little while until I can send any more fanfics.
Since the aforementioned problems with the Pentium, the only computer
available at home doesn't have a modem, and the college technician won't
let me send large E-mails (anything more than 20k....)

So, be prepared to wait a while.  Those who can't wait can try David
Kogan, but to discourage this, I'm not giving away his e-mail address
here, and whether he gives it to you or not is another matter.  To
discourage this even further, I'm not telling him about this either.
But, if you're still interested in the half-finished part he's got....

Oh, I'll be patient. But consider this... incentive.. for getting your 
system fixed. :)

Right.  Don't worry, Part 2 should be finished by the time I can send it.  I 
hope.  Oh my.

                                          Terence Fergusson
                                       -- Stranded in an Anime-free College
                                       -- And writing for his life ^_^
 
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It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems
just with potatoes.
                      -- Life, the Universe and Everything
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