C James has released Chapter 4 of Changing Lanes, Islands in the Sea.

I have the unpleasant feeling the "contact", an "unnamed man" who won't tell his name and who got deaf because of a recent explosion could be some old acquaintance... At first I wondered whether it was Yuri, but could BOTH Yuri and the Scar have survived?

As for Eric, he's going through lots of efforts to set up a party he's likely to ruin by drinking too much tequila...

Great job CJ!


And speaking from experience, I've never ruined a party by drinking too much tequila (i'm standin up for the Eric's lol)

Eric

I have to say great chapter. I love the way everything is developing so far. I think the paparazi are gonna get what they deserve.

Great chapter cj

I do think it might be the scar. Maybe some other russian guy but the explosion part, also might be a thug that was with him.

I have to agree. It was a good chapter. I do believe that the paparazzo learned a valuable lesson.

Thanks!!

BTW, I just wanted to clear up one small thing.. The contact has a Russian accent. The Scar wasn't russian. Dimitri was, but Dimitri is dead. The Scar, if alive, would also be missing an arm at the very least. The contact isn't. The contact isn't The Scar.

Señor Frog's Mexican Cantina? Have you actually been there, CJ? If you have, I'm jealous. If it's just something from your research, then great! Thanks for giving lowly amphibians some notice.

Enjoyed this chapter. The plots are shaping up nicely. I hope that General Bradson hasn't fallen among cutthroat thieves.

I hope Eric is safe on a two-wheeled death trap.

You beat me to the punch. I was going to say something about that. There was no mention of a missing arm or an artificial one. Then again, you do like to try and mislead us a bit.

It was good to see the paparazzi get something this time round. But I don't think we've quite seen the last of them yet.

Well, the general is either unrealistically naive (unlikely), or has allowed his fear for his son's life to seriously cloud his judgment (much more likely). At first, you set it up so it seemed like he had a solid plan, but now it seems like he's going off half-cocked like some amateur, making stupid mistakes and making himself extremely vulnerable.

Why do I get the feeling that Chase and Brandon's bachelor party is going to happen right next door to a clandestine mercenary training facility? "Near Africa", indeed. At least we have a setup for a big showdown...

Great chapter CJ!



That was my first thought when I heard the "location" too.

I know this is Eric's story, but I can't help missing Chase and Brandon.

I noticed the "near Africa" location. If any of the Instinct crew see General Bradson, it could be devastating for someone.

........sigh, can't comment as of yet, will read chapter tomorrow as I e-mailed it back to me at work (SLOW Days)

I know I like brandon a lot

Helen might be hurt, somehow I think Brandon would help get the son back if it came to that.

..............a man in superb physical condition, and whom the General thought altogether incongruously young to be in need of the hearing aid that bedecked his left ear. The General guessed that the aid was some sort of bug detector and in that, he was half-right. The man’s hearing had been damaged in an explosion some months before, and he’d made a virtue of necessity by building a bug detector that transmitted on a frequency picked to make his hearing aid buzz. Does sound like Yuri, doesn't it? And yes the goat resurrected Helen, why not Scar also? His death was just to easy and fast for me. "You’ve also gone soft. You’d be a liability, nothing but deadweight. Besides, you’re Air Force; what the hell do you think you know about being a groundpounder?” Ah, the goat remembers the ill-advised sentry's at Tulleride.

The question remains, if the Scar is still alive and running the operation of a mercenary base, will he allow the operation to go forward? Or will some 'honor' make him complete the contract 1st? Will his revenge extend to the General? Or will he bide his time using the General to seek his 'justice'.

Well, not that we were under assault, but speaking for the Kevin's, I've made quite a few parties more fun by drinking too much tequila



That's what I was thinking too.





I also noticed that it seemed as though this gentleman was too young. I would suspect then that it was Jerry's contact and not Jerry himself.

I can't wait to see what develops next!


-Kevin

I have a question regarding the paparazzi.

Paparazzi is a plural term, meaning more than one. The singular is Paparazzo. In LTMP, I used "Papparazzi" as both singular and plural, as this is how people in the industry refer to them. "I had a damn paparazzi on my front lawn!"

In the dialog, this is quite okay, but in a third-person narration, should I have done this (in the narration)? I did it mainly for simplicity, but it is an inaccurate usage.

So, my question is, should I go back and fix in in the posted chapters of Changing Lanes (and maybe LTMP)? If I shift over to using the correct terms in the narration, I'd IMHO need to do so consistently, which would mean changing the posted chapters. I can do this easily with Changing Lanes as there aren't many chapters.

Please let me know what you think.
CJ

While technically paparazzo (I found dictionary references that say paparazzo is the term, with paparazzi being the plural term) may be the singular, in common English usage, you'll probably find that paparazzi is both singular and plural. It's not correct, given the Italian derivation of the term, but it's what people recognise.

I wouldn't be concerned. You could change it to be correct, and hence educate we dumb masses that didn't realise there's a different term for the singular, but that's up to you

CJ, I think "paparazzi" is acceptable for singular as well as plural in English. It's not an English word; plurals are not formed in English as they are in Italian. If you start writing in Italian, you would be wrong.

Nice chapter, as always...

It was the regognition issue that made me take that route initially. I already, per necessity, had to do a lot of "educating" in LTMP (such as related to the technology) so I figured enough was probably already too much. LoL!



If I start writing in Italian, there would be far more problems than that. ! LoL! Thanks...

Oh, BTW, yes, Senior Frogs is real. And yes, I've been there (to the one in Grand Cayman). To be honest, I didn't find the food that good, but it was a unique name so it found its way into the story (besides, i knew it would catch the eye our you, our resident amphibian!)

I know i'm coming in a bit late to the question about the paparazzi, but i've always seen the word used in both the singular form and the plural form (and to reference, see TMZ.com)

As always CJ, amazing job with the chapter and can't wait for more

Good Chapter CJ and love the build up as always, you got an interesting rescue storyline building up.

I liked this chapter and am looking forward to the next one. The paparazzi thing is a small issue if it is one at all. I like paparazo when you meen only one. It is a little clearer to me but I'm the sort of person who gets anoyed when someone calls radii radiuses.

Its to bad the contact is not the Scar. I was hoping someone would rebuild him as some sort of bionic Darth Vader type. I'm pretty sure CJ has the technical skill by now. After building an atomic bomb, could building a cyborg really be that hard?

Actually, it is not impossible with today's prosthetic limbs and plastic surgery to reconstruct scar into anyone. It would be a funny twist if Scar is some one newly introduced into the mix. The manager of the strip club, a contact of the mercs, or some one brand new. We know the guy loves disguises so why not? Beware!

That would not work for this particular series. It is not science fiction. It is adventure. There's no reason to have something like that in this story, since it is only two years in the future. In all likelihood, there will not be cyborgs any time soon.

One thing i've learned... beware of goats bringing in suspicious characters.... especially of the ones who happen to be 'dead.' Remember how CJ said Scar was dead, he didn't mention Jerry or any other persona, so would it be possible that Jerry/Scar is still alive and coming back with a vengence? Only the tequila loving goat knows.

Oh, I do believe The Scar is dead, but I think he did something before he died that is going to make life difficult. I think the answer has to do their father.