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Rutabaga

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Posts posted by Rutabaga

  1. When I saw the posting of Revelations II, I decided to go back and read Revelations (I) first. I wasn't sure if I had read it before but quickly realized that I had. No problem -- it's a great story with a lot of drama. Now I have read the opening chapter of Revelations II and I'm looking forward to seeing how these guys make out after being required to grow up so quickly.

    R

  2. Another "pick from the past" that well deserved to be revisited.

    I feel very blessed not to have had a big sister -- only younger brothers. My dad had two older sisters, and he said that growing up it was like having three mothers, always critical of whatever he wore or said or did.

    Anyway, nice work.

    R

  3. I'm not sure whether it's customary to recognize a "Pick from the Past" here, nor whether the way to do it is by resurrecting the original thread for the story . . . but I just wanted to say that I enjoyed "Middle School" just as much this time around. Actually, while I'm pretty sure I read it the first time around, enough time had passed that it seemed new to me (again) this time, which is even better. A charming story with a terrific finale.

    R

  4. Cole, you bastard, you've got everyone hooked again. Two people on the run, each for reasons unknown to the other. A single adult guy and an apparent runaway teenager with trouble chasing him. And the adult guy works for a mysterious "subagency" doing clandestine work worthy of Mr. Phelps.

    Nah, nothing interesting there. :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy:

    R

  5. Originally I wrote the French lines in English but put them in italic's to denote the difference. Ken over at the Readers Ranch liked the story and used the translator in Word to change it to French. I think he was right, it works better in French, but I've also been scolded by some French speakers because the translation could use some work. Oops, what can I say, I took German in school.

    Thank you, Cynus, and everyone else for taking the time to give it a read. I wrote this piece specifically to compete against your Summer Smiles in the Readers Ranch Summer Story Contest so I'm really glad you enjoyed it!

    Yeah, there are some pretty significant boo-boos in the French. I should have realized that something like Google Translate was at work. It was very easy to tell what was being conveyed, and frankly, if someone spoke to a native French speaker with those sentences, the French speaker would understand perfectly what was being conveyed. So no harm done. So what if the verb souhaiter means "wish" in the sense of "I wish you a happy birthday," they would get that you meant "wish" as in "do you wish to get a cup of coffee?" even though it would be more conventional to say something like "tu veux un café?" or "voudriez-vous un café?"

    In any case, a very sweet story that makes me want to go back to Paris (although perhaps not in the heat of summer).

    R

  6. A belated shout-out to Cole Parker and this terrific and well-crafted story. I don't mind the absence of sex either.

    This may sound strange, but for me the highlight was the dramatic scene in the father's office with the two sons, where Alex was expecting Perry to get in trouble and instead Alex got blown out of the water. I had to go and re-read that scene a time or two because I found it uplifting.

    Oh, and the picture that goes with this story probably ranks as the best story picture on the whole site. What an adorable kid.

    All the best,

    R

  7. A very engaging story -- like others, I kept waiting for the next update. I could so see myself in the main character . . . I was a very stubborn kid and could totally picture myself being convinced of my guilt and resisting any effort to get past that.

    The twist at the end concerning the origin of the fire was totally unexpected and made for quite a dramatic moment. I wondered initially whether the next-to-last chapter was actually the last chapter, because it ended at a plausible ending point. But I'm glad there was another one.

    More, please. :icon_thumright:

    R

  8. Here are some screen captures from my Blackberry. As displayed on a regular computer, the screens shown are more than twice as tall and wide as the actual Blackberry display.

    Confessional:

    FixmoScreenshot1409068095152_zps1155d431

    Reference AD story for comparison:

    FixmoScreenshot1409068160569_zpseeaa3daf

    They are both usable for me -- just thought I would let you know what I'm seeing.

    R

  9. Here are some comparison screen shots.

    Black and White Thieves:

    BW-Thieves_zps71451610.jpg

    Confessional:

    Confessional_zps50d8361f.jpg

    Ashes of Fate (reference AD format):

    Ashes_zpsef827243.jpg

    The "Confessional" formatting is much more reader-friendly on my laptop (where these screen captures were taken).

    I am going to see if I can do screen caps on my Blackberry, where the problem was most acute.

    Thank you for such a quick response!

    R

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