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My husband and I refer to them collectively or individually as "sportsball."  :rolleyes:

 

I haven't heard anyone mention that they aren't able to follow the sports information. On the contrary, Graeme spends a lot of time during the story making sure all the Australian football details are explained to readers who aren't familiar with the sport. The thing some readers, myself included, have had a little trouble with is the very large number of characters. It can be challenging keeping them all straight, especially in the first book. However, Graeme has provided a very helpful dramatis personae as the prologue to the first book. I referred to it a lot, and still do occasionally when minor characters turn up. I found it especially helpful to keep track of who lived with whom as a way to remember which was which. 

When it comes to sports in stories , I hardly understand the plays that are going on, so I just go with the flow of the game. 

 

As for the many characters, I shouldn't have to much problem with that. :) After I familiarize myself with them, I am usually pretty good at keeping track of who's who. But I know the Dramatis Personae will come in handy.

Edited by Drew Espinosa
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It was deliberate as a tribute to ken84050 who passed away last week. I found out yesterday. He helped with the editing of the first six chapters of Leopards Leap before he became too sick to continue. :(

 

He was also the one who went through Leopard Spots and worked out the dates for each chapter. I later went back and updated that story with those dates to help those who wanted to search for particular chapters based on the dates in the story.

 

R.I.P. Ken...

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That's so sad. :,(

You chose a great chapter to remember him by, full of excitement and tension, including the sad story of Kevin. I want to :hug: him too.

 

I'll be back to review the chapters, must go to work soon.

 

Sorry for your loss, Graeme. :hug:

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I just stopped by to see if there was an explanation for the extra chapter posting. Graeme, I am so sorry for your loss. I enjoyed Ken's occasional posts and was surprised and impressed when he offered to date the chapters after I suggested it, and that he actually managed to do it. :)

 

Thanks for the extra chapter. It will make a very welcome distraction from today's tasks (which include proofreading >200 pages of regulation). :/

 

:hug:

Edited by impunity
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Since the event was mentioned in an earlier chapter, here's the 2016 AFL Players' Association video for IDAHOT (International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia). It also features two of the people mentioned in chapter 48 of Leopard Spots - Brendon Goddard and Jason Tuazon-McCheyne.

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Alex goes overboard with the teasing, but he and Tony are still good friends. As for age, Alex is at best a year older than Ty and Deon (he's a second year university student, so he's probably twenty). Ethan is a bit older.

 

Twenty is old enough to respect your friend's feelings and not behave like an annoying twat. In all the time we have known the Leopards and their circle of friends, Alex is the only person who hasn't improved at all or shown any sign of taking anything seriously. Fair enough if he was running around with teens or people as silly and selfish as himself.

But I guess my main objection may be that nice, considerate guys like Ethan and Tony are wasting their time on him - assuming that they have already tried to tell Alex his behavior is hurtful, tiresome and always takes it a step too far. If they haven't and think he's cute the way he is, well who am I to complain. I can simply do my best to ignore him.

Edited by Timothy M.
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Twenty is old enough to respect your friend's feelings and not behave like an annoying twat. In all the time we have known the Leopards and their circle of friends, Alex is the only person who hasn't improved at all or shown any sign of taking anything seriously. Fair enough if he was running around with teens or people as silly and selfish as himself.

But I guess my main objection may be that nice, considerate guys like Ethan and Tony are wasting their time on him - assuming that they have already tried to tell Alex his behavior is hurtful, tiresome and always takes it a step too far. If they haven't and think he's cute the way he is, well who am I to complain. I can simply do my best to ignore him.

I agree; Alex is the one who really deserves to be called "brat." I'm not sure I dislike him as much as Tim does, but I probably wouldn't choose to hang out with anyone who behaved as he does. His threatening the club's security guard was particularly irritating, and embarrassing to Jim who is very protective of his reputation.

 

On the other hand, he provides a good bit of comic relief so, while I might not want him as a friend, he does serve a valuable role in the story. :)

Edited by impunity
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I meant to say something about Stuart's motivations in my review. I'd initially thought he was essentially blackmailing Roscoe into being his"boyfriend" for the sex. Now it seems he was really keen on Ross's potential AFL status, which is a bit counter-intuitive. It's one thing to have a professional-sports-player boyfriend as a status symbol, but not that useful if you have to keep the relationship a secret. :unsure:

Edited by impunity
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I meant to say something about Stuart's motivations in my review. I'd initially thought he was essentially blackmailing Roscoe into being his"boyfriend" for the sex. Now or seems he was really keen on Ross's potential AFL status, which is a bit counter-intuitive. It's one thing to have a professional-sports-player boyfriend as a status symbol, but not that useful if you have to keep the relationship a secret. :unsure:

Do you believe Stuart would be capable of keeping it a secret? 0:)

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Do you believe Stuart would be capable of keeping it a secret? 0:)

I actually thought about this before you asked and started adding to my post above but was having a hard time expressing it. I'll give it another go now.

 

If Stuart's motivation really was status, he'd be in a catch-22 situation. He'd have a status boyfriend whom he couldn't tell anyone about. And if he ever told, he'd be dumped by Ross in an instant because there'd be no reason for Ross to stay with him. :/

 

Addendum: I think his only real motive for telling intentionally would be revenge if Ross refused to date him. As long they stayed together, I think Ross would be more afraid of carelessness.

Edited by impunity
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Do you believe Stuart would be capable of keeping it a secret? 0:)

 

He would keep it a secret if he wanted to 'date' Ross the AFL player and he belived Ross about having to stay in the closet to be drafted. He may not respect Ross wanting to stay in the closet afterwards.

 

I don't think he realizes Ross is only spending time with him because he feels he has to. He would be surprised to be dumped the moment he outs Ross. The question is whether Ross will dare to tell Stuart to fuck off now or he'll wait till after the draft.

 

What Ross hasn't considered is he may need to tell the club which drafts him, because they would be utterly pissed about being caught unware by the headlines if Stuart outs Ross as revenge for being dumped.

 

 

 

I think Ross should do his best to become friends with the Leopards and impress Julia, because he would benefit from being picked by them rather than going directly to an AFL club. And they'll need a new forward. ;) 

 

 

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I don't think he realizes Ross is only spending time with him because he feels he has to. He would be surprised to be dumped the moment he outs Ross. The question is whether Ross will dare to tell Stuart to fuck off now or he'll wait till after the draft.

I think he is fully aware that he had manipulated Ross into dating him. And that keeping Ross's secret is the only way to keep Ross.

 

From chapter 4:

 

“You’ll be my boyfriend, won’t you? You don’t have anyone else, and you don’t want anyone else to know. I can make you really happy, Roscoe. I’ll keep your secret, and you can be my lover.”

He pretty much lays out the terms of the transaction there, that he is buying himself a "boyfriend" with his silence.

 

I am hoping the dumping happens sooner rather than later. Unless the brat effected it already. :unsure: I guess we'll see in two weeks. :yes:

Edited by impunity
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I think he is fully aware that he had manipulated Ross into dating him. And that keeping Ross's secret is the only way to keep Ross.

 

Yeah, I agree, but I don't think he knows Ross already dislikes him and wants to stop seeing him. Stuart thinks they are both on board with their deal and benefits from it.

 

PS Ross got an unexpected benefit in having Ty, Jim and Tony on his side from now on. Finally, someone he can trust and talk to. :D

Edited by Timothy M.
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Sigh, a Leopard-less Saturday leaves me in a bit of a funk. :( However, having run out of chapters on my PPC story due to foolishly posting every Sunday, I can suddenly appreciate your clever strategy.

If you're keeping to your bi-weekly (or is twice a month bi-monthly?) posting, maybe I should start posting my story on alternate weekends? That way I'll have reviews to cheer me up after the no Leopards depression. :lol:

 

btw I look forward to Dave explaining to Charlie how the combine went. I hope he focuses on Julie's approval and her comments about the recruiters rather than the Roach's hints about knowing stuff. :pinch:

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I would like to post every week, but I'm not getting ahead at the moment. It's taking me between two and three weeks to write a chapter, so my backlog is slowly disappearing. Admittedly, I had a good day today and wrote most of a chapter in one day, but it's not finished and work commitments may mean I might be able to do so until next weekend, which isn't allowing me to build up a buffer.

 

Sorry. :(

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I would like to post every week, but I'm not getting ahead at the moment. It's taking me between two and three weeks to write a chapter, so my backlog is slowly disappearing. Admittedly, I had a good day today and wrote most of a chapter in one day, but it's not finished and work commitments may mean I might be able to do so until next weekend, which isn't allowing me to build up a buffer.

 

Sorry. :(

I'm just happy you're posting on a schedule. Thanks for keeping up with it despite your work demands. :hug:

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