Chapter Seven is up .

Things are getting complicated. Don't take my word for it, read!!!!

Indeed they are...

The chapter was worth the wait!!

Another great chapter. Everyone seems to be trying to work things out. Joe is about to take a big step.

Great chapter! But it does raise questions!!!

Brandon and Damon... Brandon sure comes across as having feelings for Damon. Damon, however, seems oblivious. That wrestling.. I thought for sure something was going to happen.

Great to see Joe coming to terms with things, working his way through. I like his uncle Greg a lot too. I also like the fact that Joe has a nice, safe vehicle, not a two-wheeled death machine like Jacob! I do hope Cody is allowed to be similarly sensible in vehicle choices!

And, um, here we have ANOTHER chapter where Cody's money from Eric isn't mentioned... I can only conclude that Shadowgod stole it! Poor Cody!!

Great to see Matt, Jacob, and Val together again!

I particularly loved Jacob's thought on Julie, about liking her better when she doesn't speak. LOL!

I'll have more thoughts later, including on the double-whammy cliffhangers (two, in one chapter!).

Great chapter!

I picked up on the same thing. Hopefully Damon will open his eyes which happen to be focused upon Cody. I don't think Cody really knows what he wants. I also thought it was interesting to have Jacob and Matt appear. I wonder when they'll find out who Joe's roommate is. That should be an interesting turn of events.

You know, at the end of the chapter when you say "thanks to C James and Graeme for beta reading and advice", what you really mean is: "thanks to C James and Graeme for constantly making me write increasingly evil cliffhangers in our ever-ongoing game of one-upmanship"... right?

Seriously, that was a good chapter, but full of oh-so-many cliffhangers! Damon and Brandon. Joe and Cody. Cody's brother Benjamin. Cody being at the same place as Julie, Matt, Valerie and Jacob. What's a poor reader to think other than that you torture deliberately as a sort of exercise in masochism?

There wasn't an evil cliffhanger in that chapter. Are their unresolved issues? Of course there are. That is part of plot development. Had it actually been an evil cliffhanger, it would be something emotional that leaves you thinking, "What the f**k?" Seriously, his evil cliffhangers are few but enormous with their impact.

Another good one was Uncle Greg thinking he would still give Joe the advice he saught, even though he didn't quite understand what the problem was yet.

Well here is my comments:

The opening scene with Brandon and Damon was HOT!! Damon must be totally head over heels for Cody to not see and hear what Brandon was telling him. It kind of seems that Brandon has been struggling with his feelings for Damon for much longer than Joe has been for Cody. Has Damon been this blind all along? Brandon had fallen in love instantly since grade two....hello, who could miss that one?

The second scene with Val, Jacob, Matt and Julie kind of made me see Julie in a bit different light. Yes her comments maybe weren't appropriate to Jacob and Matt, but what Val mentioned and was followed up with Julie's dialog kind of made look a little deeper at her actions, and maybe had some sympathy for her. Val mentioned that she had noticed changes in Julie over the last year then Julie started mentioning how she felt that Cody was hitting on her boyfriend. Could Julie be scared of losing Joe? Could she be acting out because she knows that she would lose in a battle between her and Cody for Joe? I think Julie is terrified of the future and scared of being alone so she is acting out, drowning her self doubts with alcohol and random sex. Sad isn't it?

The third scene of Cody in the Palace of Fine Arts makes me wonder what is going on with Cody? Why and what did he want to call his brother about? Why did his mother answer the phone in a 'frantic' voice hopping it was Benjamin. Has he ran away from home to visit the big bro in San Fran? I think this scene is where CJ pulled the cliffhangers from. One, notice Cody is at the same park that Val, Julie, Matt and Jacob are soon about to arrive at. Two, what was the significance of the phone call?

Finally we have Joe who is really beginning to understand his feelings for Cody. Obviously his Uncle is the person that Joe can confide in and be honest with and not fear backlash. I imagine Uncle Greg is to Joe what Saul is to Cody. Hopefully he can help Joe the way it seems that Saul is helping Cody.

Last thing I want to comment on is how once again Shadowgod gave us a great example of how he uses a scene or background to reinforce an idea. Not sure if it is symbolism, but it kind of jumped out at me. Joe arrives to find Greg using a hand plane to shape, mold or smooth out the boat that he is working out. Then Joe wonders if the plane could smooth out his current problems. Maybe I'm nuts, but that just seemed so well written and emphasized the turmoil that Joe was feeling, and what he was looking for.

Great chapter Steve and thanks .

Steve #2


P.S. hey, just where is the cash from Eric????

Oh I agree, it might turn into a love triangle, and hopefully Damon will go what he truly wants with Brandon or Cody, might be better as friends. I still want joe with Cody, or maybe open up that he might be into guys then just cody.

Sure it will be quite a secene with Jakob and Cody meeting again.

I was wondering, since the Epilogue of LiS has Matt and Jacob in the future with child, it probably means that Cody and Jacob don't get back together.

I do wonder though, what will happen at the park. It should prove interesting considering Cody's confession to Saul about his feelings about Jacob, and also the feelings that were brought to the surface when Cody called Jacob out of the blue to warn him about the PI hired by Matt's dad.

Any guesses on if they will meet, and what will happen if they do?

I will guess that it will be a friendly reunion where Cody learns about and meets Matt and realizes that his chances of getting back with Jacob are over with. Then Cody will see Jacob's bike and they will ride off motorbike shopping for Cody to show him that there is no hard feelings .

Then again, Julie will be with them, and what will she have to say about Cody in front of the others

Is that possible?

Personally, I think you're right on, Steve. I couldn't agree more. Frankly, I don't care what literary tool His Shadowyness used, it worked extremely effectively. Having a mentor to smooth out the roughness is one of life's joys. I think the boat metaphor goes even further than that of course...even with a smooth bottom whoever's steering the boat had better be paying attention.

Conner

Hrmmm... I've been thinking... I think there's something about that park... San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts... It's name tugged on an old memory, so I'll go look it up.

AHHA!!! Well, for one thing, I've been there. I don't think I ever knew the name, but did know that it was from a world's fair (I was about ten at the time of my visit). Here's an article with some pictures.

Err, OK, it is from an exposition, not the world's fair, but when I saw it I was told it was from the world-s fair.

Ok, now, I think His Shadowyness is being very, very sneaky here, and picked this for a reason. That reason is the location.

It's in the Marina district, and just a couple of hundred feet from the bay (actually the bay entrance channel, just inland from the Golden Gate bridge). Now, why is the Marina distrct significant? BEcuase it was the hardest hit in the 1991 Loma Prietta quake! The ground there liquified, and buildings collapsed all over the area. It's a bad place to be in a quake.

What can we draw from the fact that Cody lives nearby? Why, that he lives in the Marina district!!!

Yep, ground zero for the big one, and the San Andreas found runs right through the area, and that section hasn't let go since the 1906 quake that destroyed much of San Francisco.

SAVE CODY!!!

And then we come to what I consider to be an enormous cliffhanger:



Benjamin is Cody's brother. What is going on? WHY is his mother panicked?

Hrmm.... Eric knows Cody lives in SF...



oh that yeah, not answering THAT question

Will it be answered in Chapter 8?

CJ, Cj, cj.....

When will you ever learn.

All this talk about an earthquake and saving Cody, really .

Since the two stories I am assuming are taking place relatively at the same time (there didn't appear to be much of a time lapse between LTMP and CLiff), we just found out from your story that it is in the future. Since there was a refernce that a project was scrapped 'back in 2008'.

Now, since it must be in 2009 are later for the current story, and I know for fact that the 'Big One' will happen on November 6, 2008 ( I know this because I read it on the Internet, and if it's on the internet, it must be true ). This means that Cody has survived the earthquake safe and sound.

No worries about Cody's well being.

Quit trying to stir things up

Steve

Yes, but with all your impending disasters, it's not safe for Eric to go anywhere near the bay area!!



There is a bit of a time lapse... Dreams & Cliffed Wings is taking pace basically day be day. In Cody's world, the Instinct Concert in SF is just a couple of weeks in his past. In Changing Lanes, it's the better part of a year. The timelines should sync up again around Chapter 45 of Dreams and Cliffed Wings.

And yes, Wildone, just look at Ch 7! Shadowgod is CLEARLY laying the groundwork for one of his LiS 26 magnitude mega-cliffhangers! Remember how he led up to it in LiS? Well, he's laying the groundwork again.

DnCW 7 had multiple cliffhangers. Not LiS 26 scale, granted, but he's just starting to get warmed up. I think he'd got something purely evil planned.

SAVE CODY, before it's too late!!!

..........Well, I saw earthquake all over this one, early on! mBut Cody & Eric seem safre, as long as he gets the check.

Speaking of the cheque, CJ, the 'it's in the mail' excuse is getting a little long, don't you think?

I don't know... His Shadowyness is always plotting some form of evil to hurl at his characters...



TOTALLY agreed! I can confirm that Eric sent it, so where is it? Did His Shadowyness steal it before Cody got it???

you know, CJ, LA can just as easily have an earthquake as SF. hmmm... where is Instinct again?


it's been, like, a week (in DnCW time), not the few weeks that CJ claims!

Steph is right on both counts! Instinct is indeed in danger, while in Los Angeles, from one of Shadowgod's earthquakes.

And you're right, it is about a week in DnCW timeline...

Hrmmm, still, if Shadowgod hasn't stolen that check, it should be there by now...
CJ

In the interests of saving Cody, I've sent him an air ticket to fly him to Australia. I've arranged accommodation in Toowoomba, Queensland for him, on the basis that that is a nice, safe, quiet place where nothing bad could go wrong.

After all, the USA isn't safe for someone like Cody. We all know about dangerous cliff-dwelling goats that habitat the Arizona district of the USA, and that's only a short distance (at least it seems that way from here) to San Francisco.

Aren't you forgetting that Toowoomba, Queensland has been nuked in the LTMP/CL/D&CW universe?

Check the timeline. The answer is ... not yet

.....Great chapter Steve, tying things up nicely on the other characters, laying the foundation up for Julies silent exit. Joe coming to terms, not the greatest surprise, it was nice to know that he knew where to go for advice when he was troubled. However Cody's situation was totally left in the dark, the moody Cody playing solitaire in the park. The only clue, the panicked greeting from his mother, tends to give credence that Benjamin has disappeared from his families home. Perhaps in quest of Cody, otherwise a sly cliffhanger on the fate of Cody. Giving a bit, but not enough of Cody's whereabouts in the chapter, I feel an impending doom desending in the next chapter. BTW where's the F***ing vcheck??

hrmmm what was it you said in that PM? .... Hang in there

I can assure at least one of those questions will be answered in 8

Which by the way is named Migratory Patterns. how well that name fits, well that will be seen soon.

Yay i actually announced a chapter name in advance!

That means I'm about to get what I need.

Hrmmm? Announcing chapter names in advance? I would say that this means you are evil, but somehow, I have this sneaky feeling that it might backfire...

At the risk of suffering the Echidna's wrath, I'll give a small spoiler for Dreams and Cliffed Wings 8, Migratory Patterns. (Being a beta reader for his Shadowyness has it's perks..): It is a really good chapter. Superb. Well worth the wait.

maybe you can teach an old goat new tricks!

You are such a bad influence on Steve. You announce the name of the chapter every week.

....Ahem!, maybe you should have titled it the : 'Silence of the Check'

what does that have to do with flight?

....'Flight' nothing, overdue check plenty.....Btw you did leave Cody in the dark in the last chapter!! That is so very close to cliffhanging if I ever saw!! Again, btw, it took me a couple of weeks before I was able to read your cliffhanger, sorry about the delay.

Lol no problems, better for you as it wont seem such a long wait for eight.

.........So true, that damn PC problem I was experiencing at work, the 'no longer show thing' kept me backlogged for weeks.

found a good proxy server I trust

ROFL!! Yes, I think His Shadowyness may have stolen the check.

Aren't you supposed to be gone?!?

However, I will admit--and no one even thought to bring it up--Bound with Wax, Bound with Thread is a little foretelling...

......Just as I suspected the goats long awaited vacation has started, rumors have it that he plans to go thru San Francisco. I expect Cody maybe in danger, well probably the whole city, if he still has one of those earthquake producing bombs on him. Vacation hell! The goat is just mixing business with pleasure. Steve, I've warned you!

Yeah, I may have to read it again.