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Oops. I didn't realize you weren't the group, Amy. Welcome aboard! And thank you for the feedback. I asked a few others to weigh in, so I'll wait to see what they say before I finalize my caps rules.

Gracias.
Dirk

Also, here is the Celtic Woman version. Also fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqEW2KnsZdM

Dirk

I spent a lot of time in corners as a kid. I'm quite good at it.

In reality, we got spanked. No timeouts.

I turned out so well I have to write using a penname. :-)

Dirk

I'm glad you're feeling better, Tom. Health has me sidelined quite often too. Writing is my escape, although I can't often concentrate enough to write, so I just review and collect a bazillioin points.

Karen, whenever you want to start reviewing, please know that most of the early chapters are about two years old, and I knew a lot less about writing back then. I took some time near the end Act II to read a whole bunch of books on writing and to reread a lot of sci-fi from the perspective of an author. I was pleasantly surprised to see a recent Star Wars novel that uses a few pages of narration at the beginning of chapters where there's a new planet/setting/people to describe. No phony dialogue between MC and sidekick to do that. Seabrass would not approve. :-)

You'll also see epigraphs in my book that are probably similar to what you're going to do. Some of the old chapters use real quotes from history (e.g., from Albert Einstein and JFK). Eventually, I plan to replace all of those with made up information (e.g., news reports, confidential memos, blog posts, etc.) from within my universe set in the year 4017. I still have plenty of references to real human history for added realism to my story.

Thanks
Dirk

Thank you, Mike. I appreciate your insight, as always.

Dirk

You didn't address my question about legitimate authority, which I'm very curious about.

As I mentioned, Hitler (though a racist killer from the beginning) was, for a time, the elected authority of Germany. Was there anything Germans could have/should have done to topple him? When?

Thanks.
Dirk

Thank you, Mike.

Isn't Romans 13 superceded by the Ten Commandments (thou shalt not kill)? I would think they would be considered the most important laws from God, especially, as in this case, where there are inconsistencies in what the Bible says. Why execute someone when a cornerstone of the Bible says never to take a life?

Hitler was the legitimate authority of Germany before becoming dictator. People who followed his laws eventually found themselves in the hands of a dictator responsible for 60 million deaths, including both of my grandfathers.

Compare that to the 2001 U.S. election. A conservative-led Supreme Court decided an election in favor of George W. Bush rather than wait for a recount. The result was a war with Iraq in which as many as 1 million people died, all for non-existent weapons of mass destruction.

Does Romans 13 apply in the above cases? Who decides what is legitimate authority?

Dirk

I considered having an angry mob tear the emperor limb from limb when I killed him off, but felt it was more fun to melt him with acid.
Lady Kay needs an equally ludicrous death. After all, she's a special character. :-)

By the way, was it obvious that Bunny did her laughing fit on purpose to get the senior anchor role? I want to make sure that comes across.

Thanks
Dirk

What's a typewriter?

Amy, what's the name of the story. I can't it.

Dirk

My roommate is an actor and constantly watches action movies, many of them sci-fi. Of those I've watched with him, I never rated any of them higher than 3 out of 5. I grew up on Star Trek and Star Wars. The Empire Strikes Back is widely regarded as being the best SW film, and I agree. It had the most character development of any of them, while still loaded with action and tension to keep the pulse racing. George Lucas was seriously concerned it might be a financial disaster if people thought they were watching a Star Wars film with Kermit the Frog in it.

I've seen Pride & Prejudice with Keira Knightley more times than any other film. I'm usually not much for romance, but it's historical fiction, and I find it very relaxing when I'm stressed out. The characters have become old friends to me. Having seen it so often, I now look at all of the small details about the set or background characters that you normally don't notice. The movie was very much like Downton Abbey on steroids.

One of my book characters in the year 4017 has to name a new fundamental force of nature. He briefly considers calling it the Force, but decides that's not a good idea because there's already a 2000-year-old cult religion that worships something by the same name. :-)  I also give Pride & Prejudice an equally tongue-in-cheek nod.