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A Matter of Appearances by Lindelea	9 Review(s)
cookiefleck	Reviewed Chapter: 34 on 9/1/2006
Yes, I have read rabidsamfan. Sam is my favorite character and I am partial to h/c but enjoy it all. Thank you for the recs and I will gladly check out your other stories. Maybe one of these days I will jump in and write; I have written fanfic but not (yet) in this fandom. Have a great weekend. Author Reply: Well, I have a little Sam h/c in "Truth", and more in "At the End of His Rope" though that one features mostly Pippin. Still Sam falls very ill of a fever in "Rope" and also has a chance to shine during a Shire emergency. Well, if you do jump in and write, drop me a line. I'm always interested in what a new author has to say, often bringing a fresh viewpoint.

cookiefleck	Reviewed Chapter: 34 on 8/30/2006
Loved your clever and devious Sam in this chapter. (And I just love Sam, period, so am glad you wrote a bit more of him than usual into the story.) Thanks! Author Reply: Nice to meet you! Have you read anything by Rabidsamfan? She writes a wonderful Sam. And I've had a bit of fun with him in the past, too, in stories like "Frogs" and "All's Well That Ends Well" and "Truth" and "To See Justice Done". (The latter is where I give him a great deal of the credit for Aragorn sparing Beregond. Hmmm. Wonder what JRRT would have made of that.) He is such an interesting character! Anyhow, thanks for stopping by.

Pearl Took	Reviewed Chapter: 34 on 8/30/2006
Sorry I'm late getting to this chapter, I missed the notice somehow :-( Justice indeed. Though it always has amazed me that even in such places the crimes still get committed - always the hope of not getting caught I suppose. I'll admit that I've aways been a bit uncomfy with proved, known tortourous murderers being "peacefully" put to sleep after they gleefully inflicted such angony on their victims. Or simply incarcerated in a modern American prison, which while not the most pleasant of places, isn't really all that bad. But, there is always the fact that no matter what is done to the criminal, it will never bring back the ones they destroyed. What a mess evil always causes and leaves in its wake. Author Reply: Aw, well, thanks for stopping by anyhow. Sometimes I don't get notices, and sometimes I don't even get reviews until I read them on site! (But then it's always a pleasant surprise to discover one, sort of like having an unexpected gem winking at me.) I have a morbid fascination with justice, I think, which is one reason EF can tempt me into writing this sort of fare. Lawyers in the family, and oh my, the stories they can tell... Yup, evil is. But Good wins in the end, you know.

demeter d	Reviewed Chapter: 34 on 8/30/2006
Greetings, Lindelea. Real Life has required me to cut down on reading time. I just got this new, but have skipped chapters. the last i read was Farry's rescue and the young ruffian's repentant death. i will have to catch up. I just had to camment on this, tho. We know that our Sam is too good-hearted to really do such things. But I have heard of too many real bad guys who think that every one thinks as they do. I am sure that these two you have drawn for us would believe that Sam would do that. They were certainly intending too. I hope that Sam's tale helps them think, at least a little, about how they have been treating their victims. Well written. And, from what I have heard and read, only too real, in history and even now. Author Reply: Ah, that Real Life. I understand. I had several months of no reading and almost no writing time, and I'm sure that when the summer break ends I'm going to have to cut back again. But for this last week of summer, I'm indulging myself. Whew. So glad you took the time to drop by. You're right. Too real. It's why I stopped reading "true crime" and murder mysteries. Even gave up such mild fare as Agatha Christie for months, though I have revisited one or two of her books this summer.

Bodkin	Reviewed Chapter: 34 on 8/30/2006
I reckon it's not bad for Tolly to know that a swift death is much kinder than some of the things that could be done to those two. And, actually, since Red is definitely ... disturbed ... it's probably the best outcome for him anyway, as he could never be readjusted to normal life. Then, Brawny has had plenty of chances - and chosen to be part of Porky's team. And, in many ways, this is a very mild torment for those who marked Farry up like a side of beef. Come on, though! Stop doing a Sam on the poor reader! Have Pippin and Merry reached the bridge yet? Have the hands / athelas of the King done their job yet? Has Ferdi remembered that Farry is in the hands of villains? Author Reply: Stop "doing a Sam"? There's one I haven't heard before. Y'know, perhaps it is better for Tolly to know a little something about Men's punishments, especially after he had pity on those two earlier men. (Wonder what their story was? One of them was a good talker, at least, if he was able to convince a suspicious Took.) Disturbed. Such a gentle term to describe someone like Red. I'm glad I'm not one of those writers who keeps letting the nutcase get away, for sequel material. (Have been reading the Sharpe series. The nutcase keeps getting "killed"--at least Sharpe and the reader are meant to think so, to hope so, and then he comes back in a later book to haunt Sharpe.) Author Reply: p.s. just one more thing being juggled: What is Ferdi going to name his little lass? Especially now that he can't say anything? It's all in the next chapter or two, pending time to type it in. Thanks!

MaidenofValinor	Reviewed Chapter: 34 on 8/29/2006
Eeeww. The bit about the tongue creeped me out. I can't help but chuckle at the mean-ness of what Sam's doing. Torture them, buddy. They deserve it. Author Reply: Sorry about that. In truth, the whole concept creeped me out. However, I am assured by my historical consultant that such punishments were meted out in past times. I certainly hope they aren't used in present times. But people even today do pretty barbaric things. Whew. I'm glad to be getting back to lighter topics soon! But I'm glad you can chuckle in the middle of all the nastiness. Who'd've thought that Sam had it in him? Thanks!

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 34 on 8/29/2006
Oh, yes! Talking about it is plenty sufficient, I think. And Sam knows it--I'm rather glad it's Sam doing the talking, rather than Rangers. We tend to think of Sam as an old softy, but in reality, he was nothing of the sort--he'd never have survived to do what he did otherwise. And any pity he might have felt for these two would die a-borning, knowing they'd had more than one chance to turn themselves around, yet did not. An excellent touch to make the more tortuous penalties those which were meted out in the East--very right! I'm glad you went in that direction. Those two ruffians are pretty hard of heart, and it's not going to occur to them that maybe it's nothing but talk, because after all, it's the kind of thing they do to others--especially Red. Poor Tolly, though. While Pippin might be glad to know the monsters had to suffer through this conversation, I'm not sure he'd be happy to know that Tolly had to listen to it. Author Reply: Talking about it is very sufficient. I just can't imagine the Rangers being so, um, uncivilized. Although something in me wants them to stoop to a little trickery of their own, to add to the ruffians' misery, just a bit. I'm sure that they detest child-stealing as much as the lords of the Easterlings and Far Harad (where I didn't write it, but I imagined the lords staking out a condemned man over an anthill, or in the desert, or something similar). shiver I watched too many scarey movies in my wasted youth. Thanks for your wise and considered advice! (Do you think the Rangers might make the ruffians think...?) I think Tolly was intended to listen to the conversation. He did, after all, let two Men go, earlier, who had penetrated the Bounds of the Shire for whatever reason--if they'd made it all the way to Tookland, their motives were highly suspect. The hobbits cannot afford to be soft-hearted. (Most of the time, anyhow.) The Rangers, hopefully, can tell the difference between a wanderer who lost his way from someone deliberately violating the Edict.

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 34 on 8/29/2006
The imagination is a worse torture than what is done to the body. Sam is being very wicked, and he knows it. But I suspect it will in the end make it easier for these two, who will face a swift death after all, and not have THAT to look forward to over days of pain. And I don't blame Tolly, either for the retching or the insistence on hearing it all to the end. Will see you probably the week of the fifth, I think. Author Reply: Sam is indeed being wicked. He's not just your average garden-variety hobbit; he's been tempered in the fiery furnace. He is not cruel by nature, but I can see him taking it on himself to make sure the ruffians get a little extra punishment, for Farry and Pippin's sake. Looking forward to seeing you! (I hope!)

harrowcat	Reviewed Chapter: 34 on 8/29/2006
Woah Lindelea! I think the warning is very justified. I am not sure how a gentle soul like yourself is writing this stuff but it IS very fitting to the story. I am glad that I haven't had breakfast yet. But at least I finally got online to read it. My internet connection is playing up, darn it! Author Reply: Well, thank you for the compliment. "Gentle soul" is very much how I think of myself (or even "timid", LOL), most of the time. I have a few "bad influences" in my life, one of them the Birthday Person, who delights in reading graphic murder mysteries and real-life murder novelizations, as well as horror (such as Stephen King), and sometimes talks about her latest find over coffee. I suppose it is only to be expected from someone who majored in Medieval Torture at University. O excuse me, for she'll correct me if she reads this: The major was in Medieval Studies. All the reading and papers to write were torture. (Or so she likes to say...) Sorry to hear about your Internet connection. We have a very slow dialup, and sometimes have trouble connecting, and staying connected, so I sympathise.

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