Traffic seems to be slowing here, so I figured I'd stir things up a bit. Here's just a tiny fragment from an incomplete scene, but it should be entertaining.

-- Bob

"Misato-san... Misato." I shook my head, trying to clear it and
phrase this properly. "You are a smart, devastatingly sexy
woman. You and I share a lot of the same kind of background, and
we relate very well. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't attracted
to you. But I can't let our relationship go past a simple
friendship." I took her hand in mine. "Misato, I've told you
before. I'm married, and no matter how far I am from her, I
*will* be faithful."

The pitying look in her eyes surprised the hell out of me, but
not as much as the next thing she said. "Doug, it's very
admirable and very sweet of you to be so devoted to her after so
many years." Her voice was soft and gentle, the voice you use to
break bad news to a friend. "But you have to face facts... if
you and she haven't reunited by now, she *had* to have died in
Second Impact."

For a long, long moment I just stared at her, completely at a
loss for words following that... remarkable observation. Then I
smiled and said, "Misato, I'd like to tell you a very special
secret."

---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Hey, Bob?
Have you considered adding button links to the board and the Art page to the left hand coloumn? I was just scrolling through the page the other day and was thinking it would be nice if I didn't have to do that."I was an Otaku before those kids came along and changed the meaning of the word."

-- HM "Howling Mad" Wilson to more than one team-mate.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

I just sent it off 10 minutes ago.
99,000 words.
No bibliography.
A few things that I wanted to add, I simply didn't have the time left to write.
And I made an error in my word count earlier this evening, and didn't discover it until 10 PM. I read a "7" as a "1" when punching numbers into my calculator. Unfortunately, it was in the "thousands" place. I had to cut 7,000 extra words before I could call the thing done. Look forward to a lot of supplementary material on the website once the book comes out.
Now I sleep. Then I work, then I go to my parents' house to assemble a bed. Then I'll get around to answering my backlog of messages here.
That is all.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Ever read "Doc Sidhe" and "Sidhe Devil" by Aaron Allston? Now that would be an interesting step to say the least! If you haven't read these, I urge you to take a look at the first one online at Baen books. They made the entire first novel "Doc Sidhe" downloadable or readable online for free at their website. You can download "Doc Sdihe" here or read it online in html format here. It's a great story, and Doug would have an absolute BLAST in the Fair world!
-Logan
----------
Legolas - Obviously an Elvish word meaning "Gatling Gun".
----------

I was reading a thread elsewhere on the board about quotes, and someone mentioned Doug having Bugs Bunny as sort of a personal totem. That got me to thinking about what songs there might be about Bugs, or any of the other Warner Brothers characters. I found four - all performed by Mel Blanc as far as I can tell - that look like must-haves for Doug, even if they didn't provide powers. Lyrics for all four can be found at the link given below.
1) I'm Glad That I'm Bugs Bunny: Unfortunately, the only one that I couldn't find the actual song to listen to. Creates a Bugs simulacrum...or turns Doug INTO Bugs (complete with Toon-style powers) for the duration?
2) Daffy Duck Rhapsody: Two immediate possibilies - either it creates a Daffy simulacrum that draws the fire of anyone around (regardless of how much they'd rather shoot at Doug, they HAVE to shoot at the duck), or else it causes everyone to aim at Doug, even those people on his side. Obviously, the first is the preferred interpretation...
3) I Taut I Taw a Puddy Tat: This might create a sort of danger sense. For the duration, no one can sneak up on Doug without him spotting them. Of course, it could also make him bright yellow while it's in effect, but there's always costs, right?
4) Yosemite Sam: Creates guns for a stun effect, since guns loaded with gumdrops would probably not do TOO much damage. Though jelly traveling at Mach 1 could still hurt, I suppose. Alternatively, if Doug already HAS a gun, it might make him unable to miss anything he shoots at while the song is playing.
I wish I could find a copy of the song for Bugs. The other three can be found here, along with a lot of other interesting looking things.

Dave Menard sent me a new DW image, which I've just posted up on the DW gallery page. Go check it out!

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Dave Menard sent me a new DW image, which I've just posted up on the DW gallery page. Go check it out!

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

If you've read anything over in the "Other Game Writing" forum, you'll know that I try to sneak an in-joke into every book I write. Some I get away with, some the editor spots and nukes. I hadn't come up one for Shifters, as odd as that might sound.
Until this weekend.
I'm not going to describe it, except to say it's not a DW reference, but many of the people here will recognize it and get it if/when they see it. And I have a playtester to thank, who insisted, "You have to explain how to do X!" (Where X is something that would give away the joke if I said what it was.)
Anyway... just wanted to give you advance warning.
(Edit: Proper forum attribution.)

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Okay, I liked Jack McKinney's Robotech books--I did.
But, c'mon, you know that they made Robotech a lot better than it was. Look at all the Robotech fanfic out there, a lot of it is based on the McKinney books. Not the actual series.
And frankly there is just no comparison between Macross and Robotech.
mostly because the songs are better.
Okay, let's get to the brass tacks:
Macross is better than Robotech: macross saga. Dubbing was awful. Especially the songs. Good god, the SONGS! Everyone knows that "To be in love" is only to be used in the defense of the Wedge from hordes of hateful frat boys, that's it!
Macross Plus versus Robotech: Southern Cross--is this even a fair fight? No; okay, how about Macross II, the redheaded stepchild of Macross who is not acknowledged as an official part of the timeline--. . . while I despised Macross II, it's still better than Southern Cross. I mean, jesus, they had to cobble together a story with more holes than . . . than . . . than Macross II to get it to hobble through to Mospeada.
Macross 7 versus Robotech: Mospeada--okay, since i've never seen mospeada, i'll bow out.
But, out of the first two, it blows away the competition!

Oh, Kami-Sama, forgive me!
MACROSS
or
GUNDAM.
[Murmur sobs incoherently as he reaches new depths of anime geekiness for many, many minutes]
I'm not sure if you'd consider either series to be a "live franchise", even though Gundam is pumping out Gundam Seed and Macross has out the incredibly beautiful, fantastically animated Macross Zero (the anime that makes Wildstorm's Robotech look even worse in comparison). One series is an alt.uni, not set in the Universal Century, and the other is a prequel.
I suggest, for Macross, that you put it in in the Macross 7 era, an era that is done and finished and has the added bonus of having a pop group save the universe with the power of music.
As for Gundam . . . hell, set it whenever. Maybe he could hit Quess and Hathaway during Char's Counterattack. Cripes, they were annoying, especially Quess (little spoiled jailbait that she was--ooh, she deserved to die).
So, Macross 7--c'mon. I can see it now; Doug hitting Basara when he's too into his "Shut up, I'm being a surly artiste" mode and having a few beers with Ray and getting yelled at by the Mayor.