Ah, Chris Davies sent me a lovely little note (he's so good at these
things) and as usual, I printed it out and put it on my fridge for all to see.

On Fri, 6 Mar 1998, Neigas Omod wrote:

	It's all in the mind, you know....

[*several blinks*
That's it? It was all in the mind?!

The quote is from "The Goon Show" (a radio program from the 1950's that
starred Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Harry Seacombe and Michael Bentine).
 The quote was often tagged on at the end of every show to point out to
listeners that everything they have experienced really only occurred
because they imagined it that way.

And since much of UID 19 and 20 occurs within the mind, I thought it was
appropriate.

	You miss the point.  What the author is in effect saying is that,
since these are fictional characters, it is silly to get worked up about
horrible things that happen to them at the whim of an uncaring author.

Fictional characters, yes.  Uncaring....  I'm not sure you understood MY
point, Chris.  But then, you do get a little worked up about these things.

	To which I give the following reply to Mr. "Dark Day".

	You're not Hideaki Anno.

Yeah, last I heard, he was making a live-action movie a long way from here.

	You're not Michael Moorcock.

I'm not???  Oh jeez....  Gotta stop taking those pills.  ^_^

	And you're not even much of an Australian Anti-Monarchist demagogue.
You were completely unable to avoid demonizing the British avatars in your
story.

Now THERE is something you got out of this story all by yourself, Chris.

	And what you failed to understand about my apology, earlier, was
this:  "The essence of fandom is love."  Not just love for each other, but
love for the subject of fandom.  I realize that you're completely unable to
understand something like love for a fictional character, but that's your
failing.  Not ours.

Oh, honestly Chris.  Do you think I treat the SM characters with anything
less than the contempt that Naoko Takeuchi did in her manga?  And do you
really think I'm so utterly devoid of care about them?  Why are we arguing
this point, anyway?

Another thing that can kill off a fanfic is a rigid canonical mindset.  It
is called Asperger Syndrome, bordering on high functioning Autism.  And if
you think I don't understand these disorders, Chris, then you're in for a
surprise.

	Come back when you can stop ripping off Evangelion and the Eternal
Champion stories.

Since I haven't seen Evangelion to the end (and am not really interested in
doing so, knowing how things turn out) and have never experienced the
wonders of the Eternal Champion, I guess you can say I neither know nor care.

	Or don't.  I don't really care either way.

Ah well....  Nice to know your opinions, Chris, if nothing else.  They make
for amusing light reading at the best of times.

DDFA