Another Summer in Georgia

[Joe]

Another wonderful story begins with a thud.  The thud of a ne'er do well onto the bosom of his Mother Earth for the folly of stepping out a perfectly good airplane at altitude not to mention sundry other high crimes and misdemeanors.  I thoroughly enjoyed these characters the first time around and I'm glad the author has relented and granted us a sequel. 

[Nigel Gordon]

I am just enjoying this, will leave comments till the end.

[Rutabaga]

It's the age-old dilemma . . . start reading now, and wait with frustration for each installment, or hold off even starting the story until it's fully posted, and then read it at one sitting.  

For now I'm holding off, but that's because I'm so ridiculously busy with other things.  We'll see how long I can hold out.

 

R

[Benji]

[Benji]

Just now, Benji said:

Sounds like Colton is being trained to be able to deal with situations and protect his BF. Jim already sees his potential. Great Chapter!

[Cole Parker]

Thanks, Benji.

 

C

[dude]

Welcome, Benji!

 

Mike

[ChrisR]

Ooooh! Shaken, not heard! All tweens should be so resourceful and self reliant. Another great chapter in the not-so-quiet life of the deep South.

[Merkin]

Dang! This wonderfully entertaining tale by Cole Parker reaches its end.  “Another Summer In Georgia” provides us with an enormously satisfying sequel to its first part, and shows us extraordinary development in the relationship between Colt and Jim, while Jarrod emerges as a significant character in his own right.  I can barely wait to read what will happen in the next part of this series.

[Cole Parker]

Next part.  Ha ha ha ha ha.

But thanks for the kind words, James.

C

[Nigel Gordon]

Well it's come to an end. Just have to hope we hear more about the boys in the future. I am sure they are going to have an eventful life one way or another. 

Sequels are hard to do and more often than not don't work. This one did and I throughly enjoyed it. Thanks Cole.

 

[Cole Parker]

Thank you, Nigel.  Looking forward to your next one.

C

[Nigel Gordon]

4 hours ago, Cole Parker said:

Thank you, Nigel.  Looking forward to your next one.

C

May be a long wait. Tied down in a lot or research. Learning that writing a linked series of novel where the key novel is set around real events gives rise to all sorts of problems.

[ChrisR]

Nigel - Never let reality get in the way of a good story! :)

[Cole Parker]

I agree with Chris R.  I just finished reading Terry Practchett's Dodger, which is based on various truths in London back in the mid-1800s.  He tries to keep the story authentic as to the people and aspects of the times, yet mixes fiction into the souffle.  He explains at the end some of the liberties he took with fact to make the story come alive.  In other words, just like Chris R stated, he didn't let reality get in the way of a good story.

C  

[Nigel Gordon]

Cole, the absolute facts stated in Dodger are correct. Pratchett did a lot of research to make sure he got the details right. Even the positioning of the sewers is correct for the period when it is set. Pratchett is following the same rule that Ian Fleming set out. Whenever you have a checkable fact make sure it is right, then when you make a fictional statement it will be believed.

I met Fleming on a couple of occasions and he always emphasised getting the facts right. Once they were in place you could mix in fiction to your hearts content.

[Cole Parker]

Except Pratchett did say in his end notes that when he had to change an absolute fact to fit his story, he did so.  As he was writing fiction, I see nothing wrong with that approach.

C

[Merkin]

I think it may depend upon the extent to which you ring changes to the facts, and how “public” these facts are.  If you tweak a fact or two for a better fit for your plot I think most readers will go along with it, especially if you take the time to alert them to the altered reality before or after your tale is told.  Too big of a twist and you are writing fantasy, and should announce your work as such. 

Most of our stories are “private” in the sense that they concern and affect individuals within small settings, and so we give free rein to our imaginations as writers, since nothing that we are relating will change the course of history. 

[Cole Parker]

Changing what Dodger did -- assuming he's a fictional character, even if he isn't in this story -- certainly won't have any impact on the course of history, as this story was set about 200 years ago.  Many of the side characters were real, but they are long dead, and in any case were made sympathetic characters.  No, I don't think course of history was desecrated or subverted by the excursions into the imagination of Mr. Pratchett.

 

But it's an interesting topic with no rules, I'd guess.  When and how much can you change reality.  When writing fiction, it seems to me there are no limits.  If you're trying to write a historic novel, then there's some reason to keep things more of less factual, but the working word here is 'novel'.

C

[Rutabaga]

So, as it turns out I did wait until everything was posted before reading the story -- but that was primarily because I was just too busy to try it any sooner!  I actually was surprised to come back to the AD home page and see "Final" next to the title.  Yippee!

So . . . great new episode.  A further sequel, I suspect, would have to involve Colt as an adult, perhaps having followed in Jim's footsteps.  Perhaps Jim has perished at the hands of some bad guys, and Colt sets out to avenge that.  Not sure how Jerrod would fit in to that sort of scenario -- that would create some tension and prevent Colt from having the kind of independence that Jim had.

I could also imagine some surprises from previously unknown (to Colt) members of Jim's family coming forward in this scenario.

I was particularly impressed by the clever technique of using a narrative by Jim over the cell phone to set out events happening outside Colt's presence as part of Colt's first-person narrative.  Way better than having Jim tell Colt later.

I laughed at Fitz's romantic encounter.

Cheers,

R

 

[Cole Parker]

Thanks. root vegetable!  I really had fun writing this one.  Doubt there'll be a followup, but it's good to know people want one.  If I did, then yeah, Colt would be older.  But I'm frying other fish at this time.

 

But what I'd really like is more stories being sent in to Mike.  And you guys are the ones to do it.  You're great writers, and not writing!  Let's get with it, huh?  Borrow a few hours from your busy schedules and write a story.  If I can do it, you guys certainly can.  We need to keep this site active, and the only ones we can truly count on is ourselves.

C