News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
| About Us News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
|
| All's Fair by Inkling | 67 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Ariel | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 5/22/2005 |
| Use of the paper wasp as a form of natural pest control is accurate too…and they really do chew up the worms and feed them to their young! Who’d a thought…? Actually, the use of biological controls is well documented as a practice and goes back into prehistory. Those old farmers knew their stuff! Today we employ biological controls on all sorts of non-native invasive pests. If you had to deal with the gypsy moth in the 80's you will notice that you don't (so much) any more. That is a biological control success story. The moths were an asian import so we had to import the predators for it - in this case a fungus and a bacterium - both from its native range. We do this all the time in forestry. Right now, the pest we are trying to control is the hemlock wooly adelgid - though the little bugs we are trying to breed to eat them are proving a challenge. They really are so selective they will ONLY eat hemlock wooly adelgid and so we have to raise a lot of the pest to raise the bugs! LOL! Thanks for all your hard work and attention to detail on this story - it shows and it is appreciated! Author Reply: Those old farmers knew their stuff! Yes, they did! Things really went downhill after the Industrial Revolution, IMO... and so we have to raise a lot of the pest to raise the bugs! LOL! LOL is right!! There's a certain bizarre logic at work there... | |
| Andrea | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 5/21/2005 |
| Merry looked at him, wide-eyed. "Did you adopt me?" he asked. Frodo smiled. "Yes, I suppose you could say that." I just loved this conversation! It's really a shame that Frodo never had children. He would have been a wonderful father. Don't worry about the New World crop. I think the pumpkins fit in perfectly well along with the potatoes and the pipeweed. Though, pipeweed at Brandy Hall, "’Twasn’t natural!" ;-) Author Reply: Thanks Andrea…that was one of those conversations that just sort of wrote itself (I wish it would happen more often!). And yes, wouldn’t he have been a great father? Wise, kind, gentle…sigh. As for the pipeweed, guess that was just one anachronism too many for the “powers that be”… Poor Rory just didn’t heed the signs! (See my reply to Ariel below for more on this…) | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 5/20/2005 |
| Bless dear Merry. Love the letter, the choice, the writing. Very well presented and thoughtful. Author Reply: Thank you, Larner! I’m glad you appreciated the thought behind it, as you’re such a thoughtful writer yourself. | |
| Ariel | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 5/20/2005 |
| I just KNEW it was going to hit those tobacco plants! Yes, I know corn and pumpkins are New World crops…but since Tolkien didn’t worry about the presence of tobacco and potatoes in Middle Earth, I’m not going to worry either! ROTFLMAO! Considering my area of expertise, this little 'problem' with Tolks always made me giggle. I think you are right not to worry about it. Tolks was no ecologist, just an astute observer, and M-e's ecology has all the earmarks of 1930's Britian, where non-native, invasive species were pretty common. Heck, he even wrote a locomotive into his fic if you recall. If Tolks wasn't getting his panties in a bunch about the ecology, I don't see why others should get terribly bent out of shape when people write fireflies into a fic. Author Reply: he even wrote a locomotive into his fic if you recall Yes, LOL! That’s about an invasive a species as you can get! ;) However, you’ll be glad to know that the tobacco diseases and pests are carefully researched (hey, even anachronisms deserve to be accurately presented!). I fell in love with all the odd and yet, somehow, very hobbity names (spotted wilt, black shank) and wanted to use as many as possible. The number of afflictions—10—was quite deliberate: the same as the number of plagues to strike Egypt in the Bible! Use of the paper wasp as a form of natural pest control is accurate too…and they really do chew up the worms and feed them to their young! Who’d a thought…? Thanks Ariel! | |
| Andrea | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 5/15/2005 |
| Bilbo's letter took me completely by surprise! Like Frodo I had absolutely forgotten about the first letter. You're right! This is a "real" decision and it was not easy for Frodo. Finally the love for his uncle and the fear for his wellbeing has succeeded. I would never have expected any other decision from Frodo. As you remarked, in all stories about Bilbo making Frodo his heir, I've read so far, he was always unhappy at Brandy Hall. And so the decision was easy. But your new approach seems much more real to me. I hope, Merry will be found soon! Author Reply: Thanks Andrea, I’m glad you thought Frodo’s decision was true to his character. I felt that within the context of this story, the only thing that would persuade him to go was believing that Bilbo was in trouble and needed him (since that’s the kind of noble, selfless hobbit he is, even at this young age). | |
| Ariel | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 5/13/2005 |
| Awww! Poor Merry! Frodo's going to feel guilty, no question, but I hope he finds the little bugger! And I hope Merry doesn't end up feeling like he drove his cousin away! *munches popcorn* Do continue! Author Reply: Thanks Ariel! We're getting into the home strech, so be sure to save some popcorn for the last few chapters... Author Reply: Er, that should be "stretch"! | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/7/2005 |
| Oh, you CAN'T do that to my Frodo! Poor, poor lad! Author Reply: Well, at least he got a good kiss in before the rude interruption! Thanks Larner. | |
| Breon Briarwood | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/6/2005 |
| Oh, that horrid, nasty Coronel! He just can't stand the thought of not being the one the girl wants! I'm sure Frodo's probably going to get punished to within an inch of his life so I'm glad he got at least one kiss beforehand. *hugs Frodo* *kicks Coronel in the jools* "Take that you jealous,interfering, no good ol' mumblemumblemumble....." Author Reply: So now he’s got you mumbling, LOL! Hoo boy, Coronel is certainly making a lot of enemies…and deservedly so, the stinker! But at least for the moment Frodo’s happy, and even Coronel can’t take that away from him… Thanks Breon! | |
| estelnalissi | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/6/2005 |
| A chapter of this charming story a week, just like the weekly 25 cent allowance I got when I was little, only bettter! Author Reply: LOL! I’m honored to know that my chapters are anticipated like a weekly allowance! In our house the allowance was sporadic, but every Tuesday night was “ice cream night,” and you can bet we all looked forward to THAT! Thanks Estelnalissi…and if you send me any more reviews, can you tell me what your name means? Hope…something, but I’ve no idea what! | |
| Andrea | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/6/2005 |
| Yay, the first kiss - that's what I've been waiting for! But it was rudely interrupted by Hortensia - that's such a shame. After all, Hyacinth has clearly shown that her sympathy belongs to Frodo, not to Coronel! So, Coronel wanted Hortensia to find him with Hyacinth? Why? What was he up to? I just don't understand that guy! Well, we'll see. Even if Hortensia tells old Rory about the incident, I don't think he'll be angry. He will understand. As we've seen before, he has a lot in common with Frodo! Author Reply: Yes, that kiss was a long time coming…hopefully it was worth waiting for! As for Coronel, knowing that he was now out of favor with Hyacinth and which way her sympathies had turned, he was trying to disrupt what he (correctly) suspected might be happening in the garden… You'll hear what Rory has to say about it in the next chapter. Thanks for your review! | |