The Old Hack

I love the way Pandora looks in the last panel.

Good jokes often have at least some basis in reality Steven Brust has experimented with this. In his excellent book Taltos (book four in the series about Vladimir Taltos the assassin) he writes no less than three interweaving stories that all take place at different times and all come together seamlessly at the end. The movie Short Cuts presents a series of short films that all tie together in the end. It is actually a time honoured device to start a story in media res (you enter in the middle of an action sequence) and then only later learn how it all began. In fact, that is the beginning of A New Hope. I also recall several episodes of NCIS which open with one or more protagonists in dire trouble and the rest of the team trying to work out where they are and how it happened. Mind you, as with all other story devices it may be done well or badly. Done well it adds challenge and zest to the entertainment. Done badly it is just a mess.

I know, I know. That's why I am stretching a point and am opening the book after that one with part six. *sigh*

You strictly speaking don't need an earthquake for that. All you need is a cat. Or two, like my own dearly departed fur-covered troublemakers. Hm. I wonder if felines intensify the scale logarithmically, too? So one cat can create a force 1 catastrophe, two of them force 10, three of them force 100...

As a writer, I find Dan's commentary intensely irritating. He is jumping the gun. First of all, to have part two right after part one is no more than pandering to the audience's expectations. One needs to be more bold! I usually don't have my prologue until at least in the middle of part eleven, and in my next planned book I am killing off my protagonist in part three (which comes immediately after part seven, which is the one I traditionally open my books with.)

This one?

I have happily moderated the weather thread and have managed to not worry too much about the occasional hurricane or sharknado. If we are going to need a permanent earthquake thread, I am going to be worried.

AWESOME! Looking forward to seeing the game and hearing the songs!

The Moderator: When a thread has been inactive for ten days to two weeks, it is time to let it rest in peace. Please do not necropost. Posts commenting on old topics like these belong in the speculation threads in the general forum. ~tOH.

Edward, the reason it sounds bad is because it IS bad. That hole of yours is deep enough. Stop digging.

Nonetheless. Take care down there and make sure the family mummies are stored someplace dry.

I am very sorry to hear. I hope all your friends and relatives are safe and that you will get to the bottom of this. Be safe, old friend.

With one key difference. In "Airplane" it was intentional. Miller's All-Star Batman & Robin was just a mess. *sigh*

I was up very, very late that night watching TV. In spite of only being three years old. Nothing could have kept me from watching that moment. I went to sleep soon after but it was really, truly magical for me.

Making threats might get you on another list, and possibly glared suspiciously at. So mind the trade off!

Given what I have seen proposed as serious theories in this place... easily.

As long as it doesn't turn into Frank Miller time. Good Lord what a fubar he managed to create in his All-Star Batman & Robin. Newspapers that printed a kidnapping story that happened after they went to print. Milk cartons listing a boy as missing who didn't go missing till days later. Batman and Robin driving around in the Batmobile arguing for SIXTEEN HOURS just driving from the circus to the Batcave. And the time issues were just a small part of what made the whole monumental mess so awful.

Hm. Yes. I first read that as 'if it was done secretly, it would be hard to trace this many years after the fact', but the papers themselves? That's a bit odd. That can be an awful lot of people. I am rather amused by the fact that if anyone made a that deep background clearance check of me they would have to include Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

The Moderator: Being routinely insulting to other people and/or creators may fly in other fora you frequent. It does not do so here. I recommend you read the posting FAQ. One warning point. ~tOH.

Days like that can be depressing. I hope you'll feel better soon and that your meds will get back on the job. Give my regards to Mrs. Prof and the kitties!

People can use slang if they like. My primary concern is comprehension, not policing diction or style. I have from time to time used slang myself, depending on the situation and the context. There are some kinds of slang that I consider extremely repellent and refuse to use, but that is my personal taste and not a specific judgment of it.

Jerry said Diane was Susan's sister. He never said she was her twin.

Sod you, 2016.

Big talk from the Pharaoh who had several hundred YARDS of steles turn up missing. Not to mention other monument inscriptions and tomb decorations. I never did get how you survived Hachupsetgate.

By now I am convinced that the whole Diane/Susan being twins setup is a huge Dan troll that he has spent more than a decade setting up because he wanted to annoy fans who like to grow epileptic trees. I move that we create a new trope based on this: Troll of God.