Driver - a new story!

[Camy]

I'm a big fan of Driver (Driver 9). His stories (Falling Off A Log, Sudden Storm, The Quarry, Plan A - D) were the first well written fiction I stumbled upon when I came on-line.

Last week I checked www.storiesbydriver.net/ and found he has a brand new story called: 'Anything We Want - Paul'

which is up to chapter 15, and has a big thumbs up from me.

'A Horse Named Phil' is also continuing, and is now up to chapter 15, too.

Camy

[Cole Parker]

Both are excellent. I just wish he'd post faster!

C

[Tanuki Racoon]

Both are excellent. I just wish he'd post faster!

He's busy. Be patient. I know, it's hard.

[Trab]

I know, it's hard.

Now really, WBMS, how would YOU know the state of it? I'm sure I've got the shutter closed on my iCam.

You know what's frustrating? Not having enough time to live, read, proof, and acquire money. I can't even think of how it must be for those of you unlucky enough to be in a relationship? Wherever do you find the time to do fun stuff, like read Driver's stories?

[Cole Parker]

I can't even think of how it must be for those of you unlucky enough to be in a relationship.

Um, Trab. Most people who are in a relationship feel happy about that fact. If they weren't, they'd get out of it.

"Unlucky enough to be in a relationship" is a rather dismal way to look at it. Ask Colin and Des if you want another opinion on this.

C

[Trab]

Geez. For an author, you sure don't recognize facetiousness well, do you?

[Cole Parker]

Trab, you've suggested I've got a dab of AS in my system. I think you're right. I tend to be too literal at times. After I posted that, I started to wonder if you wrote it with your tongue firmly implanted in your cheek.

C

[Tanuki Racoon]

I started to wonder if you wrote it with your tongue firmly implanted in your cheek.

Well his tongue was firmly implanted SOMEWHERE....

[Cole Parker]

I just KNEW we could count on you, Wibby!

C

[DesDownunder]

Um, Trab. Most people who are in a relationship feel happy about that fact. If they weren't, they'd get out of it.

"Unlucky enough to be in a relationship" is a rather dismal way to look at it. Ask Colin and Des if you want another opinion on this.

C

House, car, cats, Loving B/f, Yep -the full catastrophe!*

*(With apologies to Zorba the Greek.)

[Camy]

Chapter 16 of 'Anything We Want - Paul' has been released, and WOW does it take off!

I'm in awe.

[colinian]

Chapter 16 of 'Anything We Want - Paul' has been released, and WOW does it take off!

I'm in awe.

Finally! (The last couple of chapters haven't had much action.)

Colin

[Tanuki Racoon]

Finally! (The last couple of chapters haven't had much action.)

Driver doesn't worry about action as much as he does characters and their interactions. At least that's how I see it.

[Camy]

Chapter 17 has just been released!

[The Pecman]

Chapter 16 of 'Anything We Want - Paul' has been released, and WOW does it take off!

I dunno. I read it, and it's not bad, but the author lost me when he said the kidnappers were asking for $100,000,000.

Good god -- if even Paul McCartney were kidnapped, the criminals couldn't get away with asking for that kinda money.

If they had said $5,000,000 or $10,000,000, I could accept that. But nobody, not Rupert Murdoch, not Bill Gates, not Steve Jobs, has got the wherewithal to get $100M cash in 24 hours. Do you have any idea how big a box it would take to hold a million $100 bills (the largest U.S. denomination)? And a wire transfer is equally problematic, because the criminals would have to be at a the level of a James Bond "Blofeld" to pull it off.

If one detail like this jumps out at me, it's enough to put the story off, no matter how well it's told. I also think the kidnappers should ask for Euros rather than dollars, because the U.S. economy sucks so much.

Ten million Euros, transferred to an account in Antigua or something like that... that I'll buy. Or if the rich guy has an art collection, maybe a couple of Picassos worth $10,000,000, or super-valuable jewelry -- that would work.

[DesDownunder]

I'm enjoying the story 'Anything We Want - Paul' as a wishful fantasy.

I'm finding it increasingly difficult to relate to the characters unless I accept that it is a fantasy. So I don't particularly care about the amount of the ransom.

It seems to me to be a way to let the reader know how rich Paul and his father is, in the story, and that alone is starting to alienate me. It is so easy to not worry about having money when you aren't going to run out of it.

[Camy]

The key word is 'story'. If you suspend disbelief and throw verisimilitude out of the window, then $100M or $10M is really neither here nor there.

I'm enjoying it, anyway.

[DesDownunder]

The key word is 'story'. If you suspend disbelief and throw verisimilitude out of the window, then $100M or $10M is really neither here nor there.

I'm enjoying it, anyway.

verisimilitude

Yes that's the word.

It wouldn't matter to me if it was $10M or $100M, I'd give it all away if we could have one day where everybody loved everyone else.

[The Pecman]

The key word is 'story'. If you suspend disbelief and throw verisimilitude out of the window, then $100M or $10M is really neither here nor there.

Ah, that must be my problem. If one major issue sticks out like a sore thumb in a story, the author's going to lose me as a reader, no matter how well it's done.

I can suspend disbelief to a point. Hell, I'm practically Agent Mulder when it comes to the philosophy of "I want to believe." I have no problem dealing with fantasy and science fiction stories, on the order of Lost, Harry Potter, and many other classics.

But those stories made sense and established their own logic. They followed their own rules for their worlds, even though the same rules wouldn't necessarily work for the real world, and those stories worked just fine on many different levels.

But a hundred million clams for a ransom? No way. I know several millionaires personally, and that kinda money just ain't realistic.

[Trab]

Don't you think that going on and on and on about the monetary amount of the ransom is rather pointless? You've established that it has completely destroyed any chance of this story providing you pleasure. Just stop reading it, and go on with life, and let others enjoy it.

[Camy]

Actually, I think he may have meant Zimbabwean Dollars, in which case: 3,500 US Dollar = 107,891,194 Zimbabwe Dollars. Perfect! And 7M left over for snacks.

Better?

[Cole Parker]

Hey, come on, guys. You're in the middle of a story, are picking out a detail, and then censuring the writing becasue of that detail before he's had a chance to explain it. That's not fair. Let the story move foreward, and then, if you can't buy the explanation, that's the time to gripe.

+ + + + + + Spoiler alert for those yet to read chapter 17 + + + + + +

He goes on to talk about having told a prospective kidnapper that 100 million was chicken feed to them. So that becomes a less outrageous demand. We don' t know the sophistication of the kidnappers at this point; if they're stupid, they might not realize that amount of money isn't avaialbe at a moment's notice, that rich people don't have their money in cash. I think yoiu have to let this play out a little before saying it's unreasonable. I thought it was a crazy about to ask for too, on first reading it, and then learned they have 3 billion bucks. 100 million becomes less amazing if you have 3 billion.

It's possible after this all comes together, you'll still have objections, but Driver has proven to be a very good, grounded writier in the past. I for one am not going to say this is silly without knowing more, seeing where it's going. This story needed some conflict, and here it is. I'm really itching for the next installment.

C

[Camy]

Hey, come on, guys.

Guys? Plural?

Me? I'm loving it, and don't want to be tarred (or indeed coled)with any misguided pluralising [sic]. Thank you very much.

[DesDownunder]

Guys? Plural?

Me? I'm loving it, and don't want to be tarred (or indeed coled)with any misguided pluralising [sic]. Thank you very much.

Guys?

I like guys.

[Camy]

Guys?

I like guys.

You do? Hmm. Upon research I think that maybe, just maybe, you're a Bonobo in disguise

Bonobo males frequently engage in various forms of male-male genital sex (frot). One form has two males hang from a tree limb face-to-face while "penis fencing" Frot may also occur where two males rub their penises together while in missionary position. A special form of frot called "rump rubbing" occurs to express reconciliation between two males after a conflict, where they stand back-to-back and rub their scrotal sacs together.