3,401

(213 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Kdot wrote:

Clarinet enacts the screams of man-eating apes.

The Calgary Stampede has an attraction called Man Eating Chicken. Guess what's inside the tent?

3,402

(213 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

What is a Mar and why does it eat the word 'everyone''?

3,403

(1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Been finding quite a few curses are the same in Latin, give or take a suffix (e.g. stupidus).

3,404

(11 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Inline reviews alone are worth the price of admission.

3,405

(1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Janet (AJ) Reid wrote:

That said, hope this is the last manure that the universe are going to throw at you. Hang in there!

Janet, you potty mouth. I typed manure into Google Translate and got shitus. Okay, I'm kidding, but it would funny if it did. I use excrementum instead. I've also begun making up some, including bastardus. Notice how disguising it in Latin makes the original English curse completely unknown. tongue

A very wholesome book.

3,406

(213 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

njc wrote:

A small (groundhog meat) correction on that Standardese quote: A =type derived by a derived type definition= may be further derived if the derived type is used as parent type in another derived type definition.

Reads like C++.

3,407

(1 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Never mind. Found it by clicking on it from within my Reviews page.

Thanks
Dirk

Sol, I'm having trouble with a review I started on Kdot's book, VQF. I'm relatively sure I submitted it. The site says I started a review, but clicking on the word Draft doesn't take me to it, and clicking to leave an inline review takes me to a completely new review. How do I get tp the existing one?

Thanks
Dirk

Kdot wrote:

Per K. Don't clarify. =simplify=. You've got a lot of mobile targets. Keep killing them like Game of Thrones until we're at the edge of our seats swearing at you that if you kill another we'll hate you as we buy the next book

Although I do kill a few secondary characters (Kdot's influence), my dead characters are mostly redshirts. I hate killing my favorite characters, and Caligula just became one of my favs. I had originally planned to kill him by taking a blast meant for Apollo, but that ending doesn't really fit with the new Caligula. Ah, the possibilities...

3,410

(1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

I started making up the Roman curses. It's so much easier. Bastard? Bastardus! Thus, Caligula becomes Little Bastardus. As Kdot said, Latin makes everything sounds cool: bacon - porcus flavius. Don't tell him, but I actually looked it up, thinking it might be real. tongue

3,411

(213 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Stab them with dirks.

Sorry, I'm just looking for a cameo. :-)

3,412

(30 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Kdot probably has more spreadsheets to track your books than I do for my own. My spreadsheet has weird sh*t in it, though. One sheet is a table dedicated to calculating global population decline caused by Dr. Ess. That's how I found out it's virtually impossible to wipe out most of the human race, even with 85% sterility due to the vaccine. It is cool to see the weird population swings across 100 years.

3,413

(30 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

I've reached the 1/4 mark of The Lord of the Rings. It's impressive how many different ways Tolkien can describe a long journey through endless trees, grass, hills, rivers, and mountains. However, The Fellowship of the Ring is my favorite part of the series, which makes this the good part. Ugh. I need to get back to writing.

3,414

(30 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

You go girl! (I'm speaking to Lady Kay, of course.)

Shouldn't that be King Satan? Just kidding. Congratulations, Janet.

3,416

(30 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Ke wan eats Ke ajo for Ke breakfast.

3,417

(30 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Janet (AJ) Reid wrote:

Only thing I took away is that Amy is really looking out for the person who's initial is between J and L in the alphabet (as always, really nice of her!) and has found another hole for her tank to drive through. So, all and all, good? smile

Kay, just let Amy rewrite it for you. That's what I do:

He jumped up and lunged head-first into the line of fire, shooting as he moved. His close-range weapons fire burned through two of the invaders’ boarding suits, causing their chests to explode. “For the Realm!" the ensign howled as he targeted a third.

I think most of the above was all Amy, and I love the last line. Gives me goosebumps.

3,418

(30 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

amy s wrote:

Oh, the PLOTBUSTER has found another part to sink her teeth into. Kjuice nearly puts the talisman on Ingarth because she ports away from a poisoned meal and might die. She also has telepathy. Why has K-jam, the E-licker failed to mark his own DAUGHTER? Telepaths are owned by their lightbulbs. (Why would K let her walk around without a mark, waiting to be claimed by a random enemy?) (why was Ingarth able to read the K-steer at the poison banquet? A weak telepath couldn't bust through his electrostatic awesomeness. Kwaaaaan was barely able to do that and you are letting a kid get away with this?

Thank goodness I have my handy dandy decoder ring to figure out what you're trying to say...

Actually, it's worse for dual citizens. I had a US green card. Interesting thing about green cards is that the cards expire, but the status does not. Status is for life unless it's taken away or "abandoned" (live outside the US without visiting). I plan to abandon mine in hopes that the IRS will not tax me as if I were still a US resident, which they do by default. And heaven help you if you have more than $2M in assets when you leave the U.S. They'll tax you there, too, even though that money has already been taxed when you earned it. I won't get hit with that, but I still need to itemize all of my assets on the exit return.

And now back to this thread's regularly scheduled programming...

Cross-border issues can be a nightmare. I used Turbotax for years and it was very easy. However, it never warned me that additional forms are required for "US persons" with foreign bank accounts. After 15 years of not filing the necessary forms, I discovered the penalties for not submitting them for years could have wiped me out financially. Had to hire a cross-border tax lawyer and redo just six years of returns. Then came even more forms for the same damn Canadian retirement accounts. New penalties vary from a minimum of $10K to 50% of the value of each foreign account.

For tax year 2016, I'll have to do an "exit" tax return, a resident tax return (for 27 days), a non-resident return (for the rest of 2016), and a Canadian tax return. Canada now demands the same disclosure of foreign bank accounts, which will include all my U.S. accounts. Because of US retirement and pension plans, I also believe I have the privilege of having to do a tax return for both countries for the rest of my life.

Make sure you do your online FATCA filing on time. That's the most important. Virtually the same information is required on form 8938, which you submit with your tax return. If you have foreign accounts (even if they're retirement accounts), you may also have to pay income tax on yearly gains in those accounts. I got away without it because of our tax treaty with the U.S., but your mileage may vary.

3,421

(4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

You could add a book number to each title (e,g., The Mirror Murders - Rhiannon Book 2). You can also put it into the book summary.

K. wrote:

No. Bears.

The government decided bears should be allowed more rights than tax payers. As a result, there's more bears. And they invite themselves to dinner.

Goodness, you're alive!

amy s wrote:

I just saw a documentary about the national park in Banff. Holy...moly...that place could be a movie set for my book. The Rocky Mountains in the distance, the flat plains in between the high-rising mountains, the meadows at the top of the skil lift, and the river running through and cutting the valleys in half....that place is PERFECT.

I believe you're referring to the view out my window. I can't afford Banff, so I have to settle for southeast Calgary and a telescope.

njc wrote:

In case I forgot to mention it, don't forget (H)Eliogabolus, Rome's drag queen emperor, who demanded that the Senate call him 'Empress'.  In Elegiacs.

The lead plumbing hard at work.

You're too cool for Queen Amy. There is no equal to the impact of Dr. Ess on the human race. The rise of the Julii will incorporate one of my best friends (and a darn good futurist) as Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus. The Professor invented interstellar travel (and maybe time travel) all while snorting bookworm spoor. And Lady Kay will have a recurring role as Caligula's highly inappropriate mother. Kay will also play a secret part in the story involving a lot of dead bodies (naturally).

I can't wait to write Caligula's chapter! Big surprise coming.