Date: 31 Aug 2009 18:21 Title: Insiders
Really fantastic vibes from from this segment. Sam is a riot - a living energy bomb with lots of fun attitude and brand of honesty. Love her irreverent tour of the ship - telling them all too bluntly what was what and waht was not. We also get a very clear picture of small vessel the Molly Magee is. By and by love the name for it - where did that come from?
And during all of the fun exchanges and ship information we have the mysterious figures giving away very little about themselves. Interesting characters with Sam's reaction all the better. Cool stuff.
Author's Response: Sam is so much fun to write it's criminal. The Molly Magee really is a tiny thing. It'd be a lot like being in a sub. As for the name, I started rolling things around, saying them out loud. One of our dogs is named Molly, and one of my best friends when I was growing up had the last name McGehee. The two locked together in my head, rolled off the tongue nicely, and with a tweak of spelling, there it was. We haven't seen the last of our mysterious figures. I can promise that. I'm really glad you enjoyed this chapter. It has been the most fun to write so far.
Date: 28 Aug 2009 18:04 Title: Doesn't Play Well With Others
Sucks to be Sledge, getting his ass kicked and going to jail for it. And that paramedic is quite the feisty one. I wonder if she'll take him up on the offer, or if she'll need some extra convincing.
Author's Response: Sometimes you win one, sometimes you lose one. Sledge has seen his share of both. As for the feisty Ms. Edwards, only time will tell!
[Report This]Date: 28 Aug 2009 08:50 Title: Doesn't Play Well With Others
Sweet. Been there, done that. It read really true. You gotta stay on this. I am sucked in and ensnared.
Author's Response: I've been there and done that, too, though not from Sledge's side of things. It's an environment I'm really familiar with, which is probably why this particular chapter came a bit easier than the others. I'm glad I have you hooked and hope I can continue to deliver the goods! Thanks for the great review!
Date: 28 Aug 2009 08:42 Title: Insiders
Cool. Totally transition but cool. Where in this radiation hell does Adonis grow up? Some protected arcology?
Author's Response: Johannsen is a bit of a mystery at the moment, isn't he? Answers will be forthcoming in time, at least a few. Wouldn't want to spoil anything!
[Report This]Date: 28 Aug 2009 05:39 Title: Change of Scenery
Neat. This doesn't read like Trek-but it does read like a book I'd like to own.
Author's Response: Wow, that's a really awesome complement! Thank you so much!
Date: 27 Aug 2009 11:22 Title: Change of Scenery
Again, keeping it still very dark and gritty. As I've come to expect, the tone is consistent and detail wonderfully done to paint a picture in my mind. You ick the neat little touches that make it work and enliven the page.
Your characters introduced here have some witty dialogue but it is different to the previous chapter suited to them. And it is a mix of aggro, tension and other stuff fuelling the interactions. And a great way to introduce the characters too.
So we now have our security personnel. Sometimes tells me they aren't exactly stellar types but the tyes you'd want if you find yourself in a corner. Good stuff.
Author's Response: Although I can't usually listen to music and write, this time I threw some techno on in the background, and it put the club in my head. I originally intended for the pair to be Aussies, but they rather quickly set me straight. I don't know if you ever saw "Grindhouse", but there's a Kiwi stunt woman who played a character in "Deathproof", the second movie in the double feature, named Zoe Bell. She projects such a great attitude and is very natural with her acting. She helped give me some inspiration for Diane, not in looks, but overall attitude and feel. They both have some screws loose, clearly, but yeah, if they have your back, they have your back all the way. I'm glad you enjoyed, and thanks again for the review!
Date: 27 Aug 2009 03:43 Title: Insiders
The Molly Magee and her crew have sort of a Firefly/Serenity vibe going on. I like it. Definitely different for Trek, and lots of fun.
Author's Response: It's almost impossible not to come off with a bit of a Joss vibe with grittier space sci-fi. Firefly was just so amazing. I'm glad you're having fun with it, because I am, too, even though pushy Sam made me get a chapter of this out before OO. Thanks for reading!
Date: 27 Aug 2009 03:42 Title: Change of Scenery
I loved this chapter. Diane and Ian have a good thing going here -- trust, friendship, sex appeal. She's crazy, though -- it was bad enough the way she teased the killer, but then LEAVING the club and walking into an alley? She was really lucky McLeod had her back.
Author's Response: She definitely has at least one screw loose. There was a method to her madness, though. She wanted the killer to do something bad enough that they could arrest and hold him right then instead of just hauling him in for questioning and having to hope that a search warrant would turn up something incriminating at his place.
I'm glad you liked their chemistry. They surprised me with it, but it flowed really naturally, so I went with it. I didn't know they had that sort of relationship until they showed it to me. I intended it to be a straight friendship/working partnership, no complications. Shows what I know.
Date: 26 Aug 2009 01:24 Title: Winning Bid
Now, this is something different. I like these rougher-edged characters and I'm interested to see where you take them. Extra points for use of the word Guido, which always gets a snicker out of me.
Author's Response: Guido makes me laugh, too, and makes me think of the MYTH books by Robert Asprin, the characters Guido and Nunzio. I'm glad you're enjoying. I'm having fun with them. It's a change of pace from how I usually write. Thanks for the review!
Date: 25 Aug 2009 20:44 Title: Winning Bid
This is so far from Trek right now-but I like the atmosphere you set up. I hope you plan to stay with this.
Author's Response: I definitely plan to stick with it. A lot of Trek characters have made reference to how bad things were shortly after WWIII, so I wanted to run with that. I'm glad you like it, and thanks for the review!
Date: 25 Aug 2009 10:58 Title: Winning Bid
How refreshingly gritty and raw and dirty and grimy this all is. A great start with quick introductions to the characters and the world in which it is set. A quick overview or introduction that promises a lot in terms of style, characters, dialogue and wit. This humour is typical of the smart answers and banter:
“You ready for some new co-workers?”
“You fired Stryker?” Her eyes lit with her delighted grin.
“I should,” he said, refusing to allow his dark mood to return so soon, “but no. Much better than that.”
“You killed Stryker,” she said
I like the premise and the early days of space exploration/travel - but done for profit it seems more so than idea of discovering new things. Now I'm eager to learn what all is invloved in this world that you conveyed so clearly in the opening paragraphs.
No need for this to be made into a movie i saw that scene clearly in my head, your way of writing makes me easily visualise and imagine the world. I guess it suits my reading style.
Now I'm interested to see what their ship will look like; the technology involved, the political situation after the fall out of WWIII, the new recruits, and whatever complications you're going to throw our way.
Great opening chapter. Well done.
Author's Response: I knew this would never work post Starfleet, so I set it a few years before the first warp flight and first contact, when Earth was in a transitional phase from for-profit based space travel and colonization to exploration and the higher ideals. As much as I love more modern Trek, it's hard for me to get myself into that groove for writing. Sam is a fun character. She was one of the first to show herself for this new venture. While I'm not a fan of any character ever serving as just comic relief, I have a feeling a lot of the humor that comes out of this will be hers, intentional or otherwise.
One of my biggest worries was not being able to paint things how I saw them. I've been able to use a bit of descriptive shorthand with the canon characters since most people know who they are and even what they look like, plus what DS9 and Terok Nor look like. This is a whole new ball of wax from scratch. I'm really glad you could "see" it. In your Kestrel series, you do such an amazing job of showing the ship, that it's almost a character in and of itself. Since the Molly Magee is so small, it won't have the same scope, but I do plan on tucking in some fun details for tech lovers. I'm glad you enjoyed!