A place to discuss the first chapter that DD's put up for subscribers and donors, and everybody else can stay spoiler-free.

And may I just say: "Blue Harvest"--BWAH HA HA HA!!!!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: kli6,

What a great chapter. I am so excited for the next one. I'm guessing that this chapter is setting us up for Rhiow and Urruah to go their separate ways or Rhiow is going to die. My guess is for soem reason Urruah is going to have to take over as team leader. Also, I loved the dragging the world gate with teeth.

quote:

Originally posted by kli6:
And may I just say: "Blue Harvest"--BWAH HA HA HA!!!!!

Blue Harvest? Hawubbawho?

*Googles*

Oh.

Diane, you're evil. :-)

So, is Siff'hah on loan to the New York team, or did she switch teams after To Visit the Queen?

Excellent chapter, really whetted my appetite for more. Love the whole concept of a movie crew disguising moving the World Gate *giggles* Can you imagine the conversation?

Cop: How ya doin' that?
Movie crew: Magic
Cop: Aww, c'mon, you can tell me!
Movie crew: No, really, it's all magic!
Cop: OK, OK, trade secret, I get it! *sulks*

BRILLIANT! I love it I'm looking forward to the rest

Rhiow does seem a bit thoughtful about other things... like Urruah leading and that. I wonder why. If she does die off, I think I'll cry, she's an awesome character.

*hugs DD* Can't wait for more

Alla

quote:

Originally posted by alla:
Rhiow does seem a bit thoughtful about other things... like Urruah leading and that. I wonder why. If she does die off, I think I'll cry, she's an awesome character.

Remember, she's not on her ninth life yet. :-)

Yes, great fun to read! I had pastrami for lunch in honor of our protagonists :-)

Hmm, and, come to think of it, tuna for dinner. Maybe I'm part cat. Or part... hmm, does Ith like tuna?

The blog mentioned pointing out unclarities on the forums, so I'll volunteer a couple lines I had to look twice at:

"Midtown Manhattan, in particular, is quieter then than at almost any other time except when it’s snowed" - I first read the contraction as "when it is snowed" which seemed like an uncharacteristic use of the slang adjective "snowed" that didn't match any meaning I could think of for it. Took me maybe 20 seconds to get "it has".

"ffhilm- that strange twelve-frames-per-second artform" - I know from video-capturing some old VHS-recorded cartoons that animation is often 12 frames per second, but I think live action film is recorded at 24 (non-interlaced) frames and shown that way in a projector, before pulldown to 30 non-interlaced frames or 60 interlaced fields for home viewing.

"and Rhiow had been torn between disciplining him, which could have been problematic, and letting him get the job done without destroying half of Manhattan" - this one strikes me like Bilbo's farewell toast - I can't quite convince myself if it comes out right or not :-) I think it says that either she *does* discipline him and cause problems, or he *doesn't* destroy half the city. Taken literally, the second choice seems best, though perhaps one half or the other gets destroyed either way? I'm a little lost :-)

"Is the socket ready! Rhiow said" - just checking that that's supposed to be a ! and not a ?

Anyway, the continuing chapters are going to be a lot of fun to look forward to over the next few months!

quote:

Originally posted by Ardub:
... "ffhilm- that strange twelve-frames-per-second artform" ...

Yeah, I had an e-mail in to DD about that the day it went up. I figure I was probably the 26th person to mention it. The for-public-consumption version has been corrected to "twenty-four-frames-per-second."

quote:

Originally posted by Ardub:
"ffhilm- that strange twelve-frames-per-second artform" - I know from video-capturing some old VHS-recorded cartoons that animation is often 12 frames per second, but I think live action film is recorded at 24 (non-interlaced) frames and shown that way in a projector, before pulldown to 30 non-interlaced frames or 60 interlaced fields for home viewing

...or, of course, 25fps in 50Hz countries. Converting to 30fps from 24fps is just so much easier than converting to 25fps...

What I am wondering is - will the Penn team be involved further on, and how? And if, and how, the worldgate that they moved will be involved? Will it be?
What do you all think?

Snort. Such a SoCal thing to shrug off a 4.3 as "just a little one" while the out-of-towners go bananas in the aftershocks. [grin]. Also glad that DD knows about the L.A. subway system. It's relatively new, so I wasn't sure she'd have been aware.

quote:

Originally posted by kli6:
Snort. Such a SoCal thing to shrug off a 4.3 as "just a little one" while the out-of-towners go bananas in the aftershocks. [grin].

Snort indeed. I didn't get any warmups before the 6.8 that hit up here 5 years ago. :-)

----

So, the Grand Central gates have been there for hundreds of years _and_ from the depths of time?

Took me a couple of reads before I properly parsed "out of pride" -- maybe it should be hyphenated?

"no sooner has one gate THAT it hauls off"

Is this before or after WaW? This "threat from outside" doesn't sound like WaW's, but...

Well, see, that's the difference between Southern California and Northern California (and Oregon and Washington). When you guys up North get a quake, it tends to be big and rare, not like down here (I think we just had a tremor this morning. I was woken up--then again, it could've been sonic booms from the nearby marine air station. I'm never sure). Hence Aufwi's comments about how you don't have to worry about the intensity so much as the travel distance.

When I was in school in Berkeley, I once got dumped out of bed by a quake, and some of my books fell off the shelves (and that was a little routine one, nothing like Loma Prieta). It freaked me out, because quakes back home in San Diego rarely had a large vertical movement like that.

The worst one I remember down here was a while back--woke me up at 2am, and it lasted for roughly 30 seconds, which is nearly forever for a quake. And it was very gentle, and rolling, and I realized it was probably not in San Diego, and whoever got the epicenter, was seeing a ton of damage.

Turned out to be L.A. Thankfully, it happened at 2 in the morning, when there wasn't much traffic to speak of, and a lot of the bridge and highway retrofitting had apparently worked.

This makes me wish I'd gone to last year's WorldCon. Not that I'm going to this year's either, but last year's was in a city with firm foundations.

Was I the only one who kept feeling hungry while reading chapter 2 ?

I had to read "out of pride" twice, too.

I like the fact Rhiow still misses Susan.

The Grand Central gates are "rooted in the depths of time" - remember Downside? It doesn't mean that they've been there for more than mere hundreds of years . (Not like certain gates, that are four to five thousand years old....) I don't think that's an error.

i haven't read this series!! *waiiiiiil* YET.

...and isn't WorldCon in Tokyo in 2007?

Seems to me there're quite a few People who could turn out to be... unwelcome... in this book, one way or another. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

Yes, but I wasn't considering Los Angeles, this year's locale, to have firm foundations either. See, I was just reading this chapter of a book where a 4.3 earth tremor is shrugged off by the natives, but not the visitors, and ...

... oh, you've read it too? Ok.

Plus I looked up 2432022.873981; it's 1:58:52 21 July 1946, assuming that DST applied there and then. I suppose it makes sense, as cats are active at night.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Peter Murray,

I have to admit that I was a little surprised to learn that something from Outside was considered worse than the LP. And, of course, one is left wondering just *which* Outsider is suspected -- whether it'll be something already well known in the genre, something relatively obscure, or someThing entirely new.

Cthulhu fthaghn!

;-)

quote:

Originally posted by Lazy Leopard:
...and isn't WorldCon in Tokyo in 2007?...

Yokohama. But yes, also earthquake country. You can tell when people tend to build with wood and low to the ground, vs. building high with bricks.

quote:

Originally posted by Peter Murray:
...I looked up 2432022.873981; it's 1:58:52 21 July 1946, assuming that DST applied there and then. I suppose it makes sense, as cats are active at night....

Thanks for doing that. I wouldn't have had a clue it was a 2am happening. I have a feeling everybody's going to get exhausted at some point in the story.

And I just realized. 1946. I wonder if DD chose that year specifically so she wouldn't have to deal with WWII specifics?

quote:

Originally posted by Selden:
...one is left wondering just *which* Outsider is suspected -- whether it'll be something already well known in the genre, something relatively obscure, or someThing entirely new. ... Cthulhu fthaghn!....

Please no, not the Elder Gods!!! Actually, I kind of like that idea.

quote:

Originally posted by kli6:
Yokohama.

Oops! I obviously wasn't paying attention at Interaction!

quote:

But yes, also earthquake country. You can tell when people tend to build with wood and low to the ground, vs. building high with bricks.

Indeed. My grandmother's first fiance was killed in the 1923 Tokya-Yokohama earthquake.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lazy Leopard,