News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
| About Us News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
|
| The Tenth Walker by Lindelea | 10 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 107 on 1/10/2022 |
| And now it is time for Gandalf to show forth the control he has over his principle element. Have been working hard, and too often without sufficient rest. Lady Morwen is in need of repair, and I couldn't get a rental a couple weeks ago. However, transportation is no longer a problem. Time for writing is too often fleeting as soon as it is glimpsed. Hopefully something will be posted soon. Love to the family and your Panda. Author Reply: It was so good to see you! We have eaten up all the fruit and nuts, which were lovely, rather like a taste of sunshine in the winter gloom. Do you suppose hobbits give dried fruit and nuts as winter presents? It seems quite reasonable to do so. (Although last week was uncharacteristically sunny and mild. In fact, one of the not-so-wee hobbits came back for a visit and remarked on missing the usual grey skies and rain, which stayed away throughout the entire visit and only came back after we hugged goodbye.) I am glad you found time for writing. Your latest chapter is perfect, full of your usual casual-seeming details that bring the scene to life and wonderful characterisations. | |
| Tari | Reviewed Chapter: 107 on 12/9/2021 |
| "Sun kicks off her bedcovers and makes her way across the sky, and sometimes it seems as if she is running races, like a frisky colt, and at other times as if she can crawl no faster than a snail on a leaf." I love it. Hehehe. It's very cold and possibly snowy where I am. Author Reply: We had a white Christmas this year, very unusual for us! (Usually, our snow hits at Thanksgiving or after New Year's, and Christmas is rainy instead.) But I have been watching news reports of snow, and remembering living in the Snow Belt, where winter was rather refreshing with the first storm, but rather wearing on a body as it lasted... and lasted... and lasted... I hope this finds you warm and snug. | |
| KathyG | Reviewed Chapter: 107 on 11/20/2021 |
| Hopefully, it won't take you long to finish editing the dissertation! Then you can get back to working on your own story and reading ours. And thanks. I'm glad to know our story hasn't fallen into the Mary-Sue trap. BTW, it's not so much that LOTR doesn't exist--in our story, it does, just as it does in real life--as it is that none of the modern-day characters have ever read any of Tolkien's books. Likewise, while they have seen bits of scenes from the Peter Jackson movies while channel-surfing, they've never watched the movies, either. Not the Peter Jackson movies, and not the earlier animated movies, either. The elder McClouds have never been into fantasy, you see. Science fiction, yes, at least on Steve's part, but never works of fantasy, and the only fantasy that the children have read and watched before this happened have been Disney movies and The Wizard of Oz. (Maybe Alice in Wonderland, too; I haven't decided about that. They have watched the Disney movie by that name; I just haven't decided if they've also read the book or the other one, Through the Looking-Glass.) If any of the children dreamed of going to a magic fairyland, it was probably Kaylee, and she probably dreamed of going to Oz. As I said more than once, I feel that the story of the modern-day young woman who's a fan of Tolkien has been pretty much done to death by now, and I wanted something different. Since I love children anyway, I wanted to see a story written in which a family of children--and their puppy--found themselves in Middle-earth. And I felt that it would work better if they had never read the books or seen the movies. Alas, no one else appeared to be interested in writing such a story, so I ended up having to write it myself. Or co-write it, rather; I needed a co-author to do the story justice, and I could think of no one better to do the job than Dreamflower, so I asked her to write the story with me. It's such a shame that Boz4PM has completely dropped out of the fandom, and isn't even receiving reviews of her stories anymore! I would have liked to know what she thought of my story. But unless she returns to the Tolkien fandom, that's never going to happen now. | |
| KathyG | Reviewed Chapter: 107 on 11/19/2021 |
| Thanks. I'm glad to say that my mother is much better now. However, since we've got some catching up to do in writing our chapters, Dreamflower and I have decided to wait until January to resume posting them. Hey, Lindelea, do you still keep in touch with Boz4PM? If you do, any chance you could persuade her to come pay our story a visit, mine and Dreamflower's? Author Reply: I'm sorry to say that I lost track of Boz4PM during the years I was away from fanfic. Oddly enough, I only returned for the sake of comfort-reading when the Covid-19 lockdown hit and derailed life and all its distractions. I was so blessed to see SoA still up and running, and I am deeply grateful to the mods who are keeping it going. Just a thought that occurred to me as I was pondering your story... I think something that makes it not-Mary Sueish is the fact that the modern-day characters lived in a world where LOTR didn't exist, so they don't know all about the characters and everything that is supposed to happen. Boz4PM's character did happen to know the story, but Boz handled it very well, including the character's worry that revealing her "special knowledge" might change the outcome, as well as not writing Halbarad as a love interest for the modern-day character, but rather, something of a protector and mentor. Author Reply: p.s. I'm glad your mother is much better. I have had another dissertation dumped in my lap, with a very short fuse. Editing pays for the groceries, but the deadlines wreak havoc with my fanfic habit. Author Reply: Sorry to spam you. I should have said, "I am very grateful to the mods who are keeping it going and the authors who posted so much rich, deep reading, along with those who keep posting new material now." Which, of course, includes you and Dreamflower. I will hope to catch up on all the chapters I've missed during holiday breaks (surely graduate students take holiday breaks from their writing?), and I certainly look forward to seeing new chapters in January. Please convey my warmest regards to Dreamflower. The wee hobbits are all grown up now, but they still talk about that care package she sent them when we were immersed in medieval history studies. | |
| Tari | Reviewed Chapter: 107 on 11/16/2021 |
| "the Sun kicks off her bedcovers and makes her way across the sky, and sometimes it seems as if she is running races, like a frisky colt, and at other times as if she can crawl no faster than a snail on a leaf." I absolutely love your description of the sun. I have finally caught up with my reading and wait patiently for the next chapter. (We had our fist snow yesterday.) Author Reply: Ah, yes, the weather has turned much chillier here (frost warning last night not far away from us), which is conducive to writing more about Caradhras, I must say. I am hoping (fingers crossed) to get more writing in. I rather overloaded with work the past few months, but I have cut back my work schedule a bit, or tried to, anyhow, so we'll see if I can resist the siren call of biting off more than I can chew... Thanks so much for the words of encouragement! | |
| KathyG | Reviewed Chapter: 107 on 10/9/2021 |
| Since I've already reviewed this chapter (and am looking forward to reading your next one!), this is not another review, but a reference to the story Dreamflower and I are writing, which you've been reviewing. I'd post this as a reply to one of your reviews there, except you can't respond to my post there as you can here. I know that you read Boz4PM's stories, "Don't Panic" and "Now Panic," while she was posting them, and that you were quite impressed with the level of realism she inserted into those stories. I think we would all agree that she did a most effective job of not making Penny a Mary Sue! Penny's reactions were doubtless what any real-life person's reactions would be, if such an event were to happen in real life. And the conditions she had to endure were certainly realistic. It certainly didn't help that she found herself out in the middle of nowhere, without any of the landmarks that would have told her where she was! Not to mention being bare-footed and in her pajamas?! Ugh, no way! [shudders] I'm just curious to know: how successful, up to this point, have Dreamflower and I been in keeping our O.C.'s from becoming Mary Sues? Of course, unlike Penny, the McClouds know little about Tolkien's works when they first enter Middle-earth, and it helps them that their entry point is Rivendell, not somewhere out in the wilderness. But how are we doing in that respect? Are our characters Mary-Suish, despite our efforts, or have we been at all successful in making their reactions and their circumstances real? Author Reply: I have not had the impression that they were Mary-Suish, actually. I will think about this some more and try to formulate my thoughts a bit more coherently. Author Reply: p.s. I just read the announcement having to do with the hiatus and wanted to send my best to you and your mum. | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 107 on 8/29/2021 |
| Being able to wear a warm,snuggly robe the last few days still seems weird after June's heat, doesn't it? Now, for Olorin to demonstrate his and Narya's affinity for fire! Will becoming down this Tuesday. See you then. Author Reply: Wonderful! Looking forward to seeing you! I am so looking forward to autumn. You should have heard me cheering the grey skies yesterday. Bring on the rain and snuggling with the overlarge puppy and a blanket and a good book. (((hugs))) | |
| Sue | Reviewed Chapter: 107 on 8/13/2021 |
| Welcome back! Its nice to think of snow in this oppressively hot weather. Dear dear Bill. Great heart indeed! Author Reply: Thank you! I am on a deadline at work, but just as soon as I finish this project, I'll type in the next chapter and post it. I appreciate your staying with me through these fits and starts! (And you've got something there. In our former non-air-conditioned house, I used to read Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter every August as a sort of mental break from the heat. Oddly enough, that book starts out with a description of Pa and Laura haying on a sweltering summer day...) | |
| KathyG | Reviewed Chapter: 107 on 8/11/2021 |
| Good thing we know how this ends, huh? In the next chapter, Gandalf will save the day! Meanwhile, they're all having a very rough time in that frigid cold and relentless snow. Author Reply: It sure is a good thing! Y'know, that's one reason why on my original stories I always have to write the ending before I can proceed. I have to know that there's a good ending! (Alas, poor Bill... the middle, as the Professor set it up, is not at all pleasant to contemplate. Sigh. I keep looking forward to that reunion with his Sam in Bree. But with the short attention span of a pony, it is taking some time to get to that point!) Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. Please give my best regards to DF. Author Reply: p.s. I am quite looking forward to having some breathing room to indulge my fanfic reading habits again, but it will have to wait as I just now got swamped with work again for the next few days. Ai! (as I seem to recall Legolas saying at one point) At least it pays the grocery bills... I don't know how many chapters behind I am in the Unexpected Adventure (as well as a number of other stories I was in the middle of reading when RL got crazy busy here), but I am really looking forward to catching up again! | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 107 on 8/10/2021 |
| We're having a heatwave as well, and I don't mind reading about snow! I continue to delight in your descriptions of Merry, such as... the more-frozen-than-merry hobbit... ! Author Reply: Stay safe! Over 100 died in a recent heat wave here. There was a bad mistake in the city’s help line, so no one was monitoring the phones over the weekend when the high temps began, even though the media was telling people to dial 222 to get a ride to a cooling center. Many here don’t have air conditioning and couldn’t cope with temps over 115. But I heard that people have been working hard to protect the vulnerable in later heat waves this summer. ((Hugs)) Thanks for stopping to leave a good word. | |