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Thain  by Lindelea 3 Review(s)
Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: 14 on 11/1/2004
Now what will he do? I hope either help is on the way or that he and the dogs come up with a new plan of action. Maybe some of Merry's swimming lessons will come in handy? This must be a very big ewe! Can't wait for more of this. I hope that Pippin can save her without drowning himself.

Author Reply: Well, we certainly cannot drown Pippin! That would be a terrible thing to do, what with the Quest ahead of him and all! No, there's just going to have to be some other outcome, definitely...

Thanks for commenting!

BeruthielReviewed Chapter: 14 on 11/1/2004
Aaaahhhhh!!!!!!!!!

What were you thinking?! You can't stop here! Nasty, wicked cliffhanger!!

Need I say I am sitting on the edge of my chair, biting my nails, waiting impatiently for the next Pippin update?

I do hope your research is finished. Not sure how long I can wait without going mad (assuming I haven't already *g*).

Is there more Pip-angst coming up? All this running around, wet and cold, can't be good for him. And what about the ewe that's due to lamb? And what will the old shepherd think of this? Will Paladin hear about it? I can just imagine his reaction, ranting and raving about his good-for-nothing son's hopeless irresponsibility (completely ignoring Pip's efforts to find the sheep, and his good behaviour up to now). Will this have any effect on when Pip gets to go home? And . . .

Okay, shutting up now. Note for next time: no more sugar before reading new chapters.

Update soon! (Please, please, VERY soon!)

Author Reply: Sorry about that, especially when updates have been so few and far between. It was a nassty, viciousss bout with writer's block, more than a month when the words wouldn't flow and the Muse remained stubbornly silent. The only way I could keep posting was because "Glisters" was already written to the end, in draft, and all I had to do was type in the chapters and do a little revising, but no real writing.

How pitiable Paladin is! Everyone thinks the worst of him. (Grew up with a critical father, myself. Came home once with a report card that was mostly A's and he pointed to one of the grades and said, "What's this 'B' here?" He didn't mean it that way, but so often that's how things seemed to go. I can feel for Pippin, but I can also feel for Paladin, too, trapped in his own father's critical upbringing.)

However, the next half-chapter of "Pippin" is already written and going nicely, and the next half-chapter of "Bucca" is written and just needs finishing before posting, so things are looking up. As long as the Muse doesn't depart for Hawaii anytime this week you ought to see updates soon.

And yes, the "sheepish" research is for the moment complete, and I am turning my attention to surgery and shoulders and such.

Thanks.

Connie B.Reviewed Chapter: 14 on 11/1/2004
Oh, this is not good! I mean the events, not the writing. You always write well. Please say you have another chapter coming soon.

I love the vision of Pippin as a shepherd. He is so loving and protective that it just seems to fit his personality. I still think his father is rather cold-hearted, but at least Pippin is with a good family and is finding he has a value to others.

Thanks.

Connie B.

Author Reply: I think Pippin-as-Thain has a lot to do with Pippin-as-shepherd. Was discussing his father the other day with someone, and it's interesting... his father is something of a control freak, which I think pushes buttons amongst readers who've dealt with such in real life. When in control of the farm, Paladin managed, for the most part, but when put in control of the entire Shire (or at least Tookland) I think he blew a gasket at having to be responsible for so very much, and having so very much really beyond his control.

I don't see him so much as cold-hearted as not able to express his feelings. In "Knitting Socks", I think, someone says of Paladin that he's not able to really love anything but his wife, but I do think he loves his children. He just doesn't know how to express that love, and he sees compliance as an expression of love *from* his family, such that when they express independence he's threatened and "unloved", or at least feels that way. Eglantine knows how to "manage" him; so many of her suggestions are couched in a way that makes him think it was his idea in the first place, and her whole-hearted agreement (for of course it was really *her* idea!) bolsters him.

My goodness, where did all *that* analysis come from???

Thanks for commenting!

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