It's not exactly sci-fi, but close enough for this fan. House of the Dragon Season 2 is expected to air on June 16th on HBO after a two year absence, and I, for one, couldn't be more excited to see what unfolds as the legendary (in Jon Snow's time) Dance of the Dragons is about to unfold--the unprecedented bloody, and fiery!-- war between members of House Targaryen and their dragons.
In Jon Snow's time in Game of Thrones, this battle is but a piece of history, though a very large piece. It's not until near the end of the Game of Thrones series that we discover--quite to this fan's complete shock--that Jon is, indeed, of Targaryen blood and the true heir to the Targaryen throne. And that puts both him and the only known heir (not to mention his lover--and his aunt) Daenyris Targaryen on very shaky ground. Going back in time to explore this era and this war is probably something every true Game of Thrones fan is excited to explore.
Here's a brief trailer to House of the Dragon Season 2.
For those who want "More, Please!" here's a much longer fan commentary that is every bit as hooky and more forthcoming with details. I need to add a caveat there will be spoilers, but most of this history is already known to some degree of detail from the Game of Thrones series anyway, which happens generations later. Enjoy! (About 13 minutes in length.)
Not yet a fan? If you think you'd love an Epic Fantasy that even a sci-fi devotee relishes, you might want to check out this series -- or actually series of series. But be warned, it's an HBO production so no holds are barred. It's extremely violent, sometimes disturbing and has many sex sequences of every persuasion, but if you can handle the dark side (or fast forward through those scenes), it's a completely fascinating world with amazing complex characters, spectacular spectacles, jaw-dropping scenery and exquisitely drawn history. It has the depth of world-building that every sci-fi author or fan should absolutely savor. This is no comic book kingdom.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, if you celebrate, and one that wasn't impacted too terribly by any of the early winter weather that swept through the country. I'd also like to offer my sincere sympathy to anyone affected by the senseless attacks over this long weekend.
I'm going to stray from my usual SFR topic this week to give a few thoughts on the conclusion of Game of Thrones, now that I've had many months to process the ending. When the original finale for the series was aired earlier this year, I was one of the millions of fans who felt absolutely let down and depressed by how it all concluded. I was also one of those fans who said I'd never watch the series again, because what was the point?
If you want a recap of my angst, I poured it into these blogs:
Well, as I mentioned, I did end up watching it again. And even once more, after more time had lapsed.
And I think I may have found the point I originally missed. Several of them, actually.
But let's backtrack. In my recent marathon RE-rewatch of most of the episodes (some weren't available), it was enthralling to take another look at this world and relive the long journey from beginning to end. There was SO much I missed in the first viewing/s. Foreshadowing abounded. There were hints galore. Important prophecies ran rampant. And with them there were a few key "looking back scenes" to help connect the dots. It was all there, had I been paying attention to the details and subtle clues and not the drama unfolding on the screen.
Everything up until the Battle of Winterfell (2 or 3 episodes from the end) was, and probably always will be, one of the greatest fiction stories that I've ever experienced. And now that I've viewed it in it's entirety again, I had a chance to look at the closing events in a different way.
Here are my thoughts.
DANGER: SPOILERS AHEAD
If you're that person on the planet who never saw the end of Game of Thrones that aired earlier this year, and still plan to --- STOP READING HERE!
So what disappointed me the first time around?
And what was the point that I probably missed?
The Disappointment:
After all his struggles, trials revelations and prophecies, Jon Snow did not ascend to the Iron Throne to rule the Seven Kingdoms.
The Missed Point:
The Starks rule the world!
Jon's younger brother, Bran, is the new king of the sevensix kingdoms based at King's Landing in the South. His sister, Sansa, is Queen of the North--now again a separate and independent kingdom--er, queendom--as it had been "for thousands of years" and she's at home in Winterfell, where this story began many years before.
And Jon has become the King of the Far North as well as King of the Wildlings in the huge, frozen land beyond the broken Wall after stating--multiple times--that's where he truly wanted to be. He's reunited with Ghost, his great white direwolf and will reign without threat of the White Walker Army of the Dead, who have been annihilated by a force that Jon was instrumental in raising. He has forever earned the gratitude and respect of the Wildings and probably all of Westeros (though perhaps not the Unsullied), and as both an honorable Stark and sane Targaryen, and he'll have no challengers to this throne.
And as for his other surviving sibling, his younger sister Arya the Night King Slayer (see what I did there), is off on a voyage to discover new lands.
The Starks went from being hunted, destitute and homeless to practically ruling the entire planet. I guess I can live with that.
The Disappointment:
Jon didn't have his HEA with dragon-riding Daenerys Targaryen. In fact, he murdered her.
The Missed Point:
Repeatedly throughout the series it was stated that every time a Targaryen was born it was a coin toss if they'd be mad or sane. Dany's father was insane and horribly cruel, and though she always professed that she wasn't like him, in the end the acorn didn't fall far from the oak tree. The story didn't just foreshadow Daenerys turn to madness, it turned huge spotlights on the inevitability. Daenerys flipped out and Jon had no choice but to act to end her reign of terror before it truly began so he could spare the entire world the fate of being ruled by a terrible tyrant. Of course this also conveniently took care of the small issues (*ahem*) that Jon was, in fact, a Targaryen and a fairy tale ending with Dany would means that he'd be having a love affair with and most probably marrying his aunt. (Oh sure, the audience was fine with it BEFORE his true identity was revealed. *coughcough*) I now have to concede that I'm not sure this could have worked with any other outcome after Dany went off the deep end.
The Disappointment:
After a shot at happiness with Brienne of Tarth (make that Ser Brienne of Tarth, since being knighted before the Battle of Winterfell by Jaime) he did an about face and returned to his evil, wicked, mean & nasty sister Cersei. In his attempt to protect and rescue her from the aftermath of her own prideful, deadly decisions that brought down her monarchy, they were both killed. Not by an enemy, but squashed by the collapsing Red Keep--flattened like the beetles their mentally-challenged cousin would smash with rocks. (That was some distant foreshadowing from one of the very first episodes!)
The Missed Point:
Jaime probably wouldn't have survived in this new world for long. He was the brother of the hated Queen Cersei and a Lannister to boot. Since his legendary skill as a sword master was lost when he lost his hand (for defending Brienne of Tarth, no less), he would have had a very short life expectancy. Maybe only a few days. This way he died being "valiant" and Brienne had the opportunity to finish his record of heroic deeds in the Book of Knights (officially titled The Book of Brothers) for all posterity. Probably a better end than being dropped in the mud--and his legend with him--by the first Kingslayer-hater who happened along. And the completion of his record of honor was a final act of love on the part of Brienne.
I'll leave it at those three main points for now. When GoT originally aired the finale, I felt pretty crushed and heartsick at the outcome. But with time, I've been able to see things in a new light. Though it wasn't the perfect ending fans hoped for, I think most will also agree there could be no "perfect" ending for this vastly complex, multi-generational tale.
I will admit there is one aspect to the story that will always haunt me, and it's that Catelyn Stark never learned that Jon Snow was not her spouse's bastard. She died believing that Jon was Ned's son, the product of a liaison between her spouse and some unknown woman. She could never know of Ned's promise to his dying sister, Lyanna, to protect the identity of her newborn son--the true heir to the Iron Throne. I like to think that somehow Cat learned the truth from the great beyond and also realized why Ned could never reveal the secret of Jon's true identity.
Have a great week.
The images associated with Game of Thrones used in this blog were purchased from DepositPhotos and are intended for editorial use only.
I'm still in a bit of shell shock--sword shock?--over last night's episode of Game of Thrones. Holy Mother of Dragons, was that intense! But wow! Just wow.
I'm glad it was 80 minutes instead of the usual 50-ish, but even with that extra half an hour the episode flew by. All-in-all it was the perfect amount of time to generate all the feels--dread, amazement, horror, sheer terror, intense suspense and that final HELL YEAH!--without letting it turn into an endless grind of swinging blades and splattering blood.
I'm sure there will be a lot of hurrahing and whinging (to quote a character) in the next few days. So let me just offer a few thoughts--in as non-spoilery a format as possible.
I loved all the tense preparation and waiting for the hammer to fall, as well as the moments during the battle when things started to look hopeful--right before they turned very, very bad.
I love the final blow and who delivered it. It was unexpected (which I loved) and spontaneous, but really--it was THAT MOMENT! The one where you jump up and yell. And it made every kind of sense for the character who landed it, and for the weapon of choice, when all things are considered. Think about the history of how that weapon factored in and how it was used in the end game, and I think you'll see what I mean.
By the way. Nice move, __________!
There was one scene that was very reminiscent of Kylo Ren's attempt to take out Luke Skywalker--with the forces of good and evil reversed. Unlike Luke's scene, the outcome wasn't quite so unexpected. For me, it was sort of a "Yeah, I've been here before" moment. All that was missing was someone brushing soot off their shoulder.
As anticipated, the death count was high--and I seriously doubt we have the full tally yet--and I'm going to miss some of these characters. And a few entire armies. They helped make this series what it was, and what it has become. We knew this battle was going to take a toll on the cast, and it certainly did that.
As a viewer I literally feel like I've been through a war with them, which speaks to how artfully everything unfolded. But I was but a bystander in my cozy recliner. The actors and cast had no such comforts and had to be borderline superhumans to pull this off. The conditions they overcame to film these scenes speak to their dedication to the excellence that is GoT. Here's a great article if you'd like to get the behind the scenes story on what it took to film The Battle of Winterfell: Entertainment Weekly: GoT Inside the Brutal Battle to Make Season 8
But even though the Battle of Winterfell is done, as one character remarked it won't be the last battle. Things have not yet been tied up with a bright, shiny bow. There's a whole lot of questions yet to be answered and conflicts yet to be resolved, or ended permanently.
I expect these next three episodes are going to be mesmerizing. I hope the Game of Thrones connections can pull off the ending to top all endings. I realize that's an impossible dream. You just can't please all of the people, all of the time. But I hope I'm one of the happy campers.
Yet when it's all said and done, I'm going to be sad. This has been such a fantastic series and I'm going to miss those GoT Sunday Nights terribly.
Game of Thrones has added some phrases to popular culture that will probably be around as long as the 40-year reign of the popular Star Wars lines.
Winter is Coming
The North remembers.
Blood and fire.
The night is dark and full of terrors.
What is dead may never die.
A Lannister always pays their debts.
The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.
Stick 'em with the pointy end.
Not today.
And then there's the iconic theme and opening dioramas that change with the events of each season. It's now probably one of the most recognized scores of all times, with the possible exception of Star Wars.
But just like a great novel, all good things must come to a close and that end is getting near. I think Game of Thrones raised the standard for Fantasy on the small screen the way The Expanse did for Science Fiction. Both series introduced compelling characters, awe-inspiring sets, conflicting personal and political commitments, and sky-high stakes with a threat that could wipe out humanity.
Hopefully there will be a lot of great fare going forward that will strive to meet the same standards. The good news is there may already be a GoT spin-off or two in the works. Well played, HBO. Because the fans remember.
So this year will see the end of two great epics, one that dominated the big screen and lasted for a big chunk of our lifetimes (or even predated us), and another that became a major icon on the small screen inside of a decade but with the help of a series of books that created a ready-made fandom.
2019 will be the year the Star Wars and GoT sagas both come to a conclusion.
Does that mean there won't be other stories set in these "universes?" No, I expect there will be many spin-offs whether in print or other media. But it does mean that the primary anchor serial that introduced and established these worlds for a legion of fans will reach the end of their central stories.
My thoughts.
I'm not a big Fantasy fan. It took me several viewings to finally get into Lord of the Rings, but once it "took" it rebooted my desire to write and eventually led me to finally getting published. I'd turned away from that goal in the late 1990s, but one lonely Halloween Eve circa 2006 when I first saw the three films presented back-to-back on television, Lord of the Rings became solely responsible for reigniting my creative imagination. For that reason, the saga will now forever hold a special place in my heart.
It's epic ending and the triumph of good over evil was heartfelt and satisfying--though I did find it a bit drawn out. But even when things were darkest, we always knew deep down that Aragorn would regain his crown, that Frodo would complete his mission to destroy the One Ring. Those were the only acceptable outcomes after following the Fellowship of the Ring members through so many agonizing trials.
And, of course, the LotR memes will be with us forever.
But Game of Thrones is very different sort of epic fantasy. I was engrossed in the series right from the very start. The characters, the politics, the landscapes, the great rise of "Ice" and "Fire" toward a cataclysmic conflict that might determine the fate of all people in this world. The stakes are sky high. Like Lord of the Rings, the goal is not just winning a war, it's avoiding potential annihilation.
But throughout the series, the "Game" was played with the loss of many key character--both loved and hated. That element of surprise--and sometimes horrified shock--was what made this series so engrossing. The story arc is revealed through many POVs. There is no central character who must survive in order for the story to be told. All bets are off on who will win the Game of Thrones or if there will be any winners at all.
But now not just winter is coming, the end is in sight. I'll be sorry to see GoT conclude after so many years of waiting for each season to start, and then holding my breath with huge anticipation between each episode. As I'm doing right now in the final season. (And I still say the clock runs faster when GoT is on. Those were some of the shortest hours of my life!)
I really don't want to see this series conclude, but as the saying goes "All good things must come to an end." We know from experience that it's better to have solid closure on a story well told than to let a series linger on too long and lose its way, along with much of what made it special to begin with.
So maybe it's best to say goodbye. At least there's still a series of hefty novels I can read to revisit the story in much more detail, and apparently, with a few different twists.
But that said, I certainly hope they have an ending planned that will satisfy the millions of loyal viewers. Please, please don't let it end badly. Please show us that great struggle and hardship will finally pay off for these characters who we've come to love--warts, blade and burn scars and all.
I'll also be sorry-glad that Star Wars will finally see its conclusion this December, nearly 20 years after George Lucas originally planned to wrap the third trilogy (originally around the year 2000 according to past statements), and I'm glad that it's finally drawing to that close. Good, bad or indifferent, the Star Wars saga couldn't remain an open ended question indefinitely. And now it won't.
Think what pop culture would have lacked without stormtroopers, Luke Skywalker and the Millennium Falcon all these years? Without the iconic sidekicks R2D2, C3PO and Chewbacca. Without The Force and hyperdrive? Star Wars was a 1977 summer sleeper originally predicted not to do well at the box office that instead smashed all expectations and left an indelible imprint on our culture for all time.
This tale has spanned generations, as has its audience and the actors that play the characters. Maybe that's how it was always meant to be. The mature Luke, Leia and Han certainly worked well within the framework of the final story arc (though the loss of Carrie Fisher was a terrible blow), and while I do sometimes wonder about all those "missing years" I think The Force Awakens filled in the blank years with reasonable clarity. Four decades of missing story line does leave a gap, but it also lead to one kickass phrase that I love, and that also resonates in my own work:
Every generation has a legend.
In case you missed the official Star Wars trailer for Episode IX, take a look.
If you missed it, you can also read Greta van der Rol's blog last Wednesday on the Star Wars end game here: The Rise of Skywalker...hmmmm
And after over 40 years of waiting to see this epic grand finale unfold, I'm joining Greta in that silent chant: Please don't suck!
After all this time, I couldn't bear to have my love affair with Star Wars end with a broken heart.
On a recent mini-vacation (from hell!), I happened to wander into a Barnes and Noble in Las Cruces, New Mexico--yes, Virginia, brick and mortar bookstores do still exist!--and while perusing the SFF books I found a copy of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones, which is actually the first title in the hefty A Song of Fire and Ice series on which the HBO television show is based.
I hesitated about buying it. Briefly. And then I snapped it up. After all, I was in dire need of some good reading material. And Game of Thrones had to be a pretty great read. No brainer.
So while a dozen workman hammered, shouted, stomped about, swore, and rippppppped off the old surface of the roof they were repairing on the Hotel Encanto right outside my window! (I told you it was a vacation from hell)I found some relief from all the aggravating commotion between those pages.
Image property of Bantam Books/
Penguin Random House
I'd never read one of Martin's books before, in spite of the fact he's also a well known -- and local -- SciFi author, and I was immediately taken with his voice and style. His genius of vocabulary isn't the impressive words he uses, it's how he chooses the perfect words and threads those words together like a lush Winterfell tapestry. His descriptions are so smooth, so artistically crafted, so incredibly fluid that the prose melted right off the page and only the images remained.
And what images!
Sweeping, ice-crested mountains, ancient spring-warmed castles, solid, snorting black destriers, and people. Real people, cloaked in mud or finery, swearing, joking, grunting personalities set in a vivid world of history, fortune, legend and hardship, and with personal stories that inter-meshed and braided like an elaborate Celtic knot.
In other words, reader heaven.
In a workshop I once took, an instructor said that when you tell a story you should try to make your words invisible on the page. The words shouldn't be what your reader sees, only the visions they paint in the mind. I've always taken that advice to heart and I found Martin's prose the ultimate example.
Having watched the entire HBO series these books were based on became both a blessing and a curse. It's a curse because I already had sharp, visual pictures of the characters imprinted in my mind and some of the descriptions really didn't fit the portrayal I'd come to know. None of that was insurmountable, but it took some will to mentally edit familiar faces or features to match the characters as they were created.
But the blessings were manyfold. Knowing a good part of the story that lies ahead (even though I realize some of it will deviate from the books), I could see Martin's true genius at work. Such artistic, subtle foreshadowing, so many tiny clues and cues hidden in the text! My mouth literally dropped open at the underlying revelations hidden just beneath the cover of those carefully clever words, and at the exact dialogue the characters would later utter on the screen revealed in its full context in print. Wow! I thought. Did Martin have the entire cast of intricate characters and future story arc all laid out in his head as he was writing his initial chapters? It seems he must have. Or at least a functioning skeleton as fleshed out as any White Walker.
But for me, this was the greatest epiphany of all.
I was surprised to find the copyright date on Game of Thrones as 1996. 1996! Well over 20 years ago! That's about the time I started my career in military support, about the same time our house was built. And over that long course of time, Martin wrote four more volumes as hefty as Game of Thrones. Four more novels from 1996 to 2011. Just four novels in fifteen long years. That's an average of nearly four years per novel. The last, published in 2011, was A Dance With Dragons. It took him six years to write that one. He is still working on the sixth book in the series, The Winds of Winter. It's been seven years to date.
Images are property of Bantam Books/Penguin Random House
This reinforced what I've always believed. Good writing takes time. Exceptional storytelling takes longer. And this was some of the most amazing storytelling I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Even mundane passages had the power to hold me spellbound.
In a poll posted with the article, there was a breakdown of those who responded:
18.10% said he should set a realistic release date and stick to it.
12.07% demanded he give updates.
25.17% said he doesn't owe his fans anything, but they're still allowed to be upset with him.
27.24% said he owed fans a great book, no matter how long it took
17.41% said he doesn't owe anyone anything.
You know what? I'm in Martin's corner on this one. I think it should always take as long to finish a novel as the author decides it needs to take. Kicking out novels in rapid succession may satisfy fans, but it probably doesn't allow for the time and attention an author may require to fully construct a great story.
Yet having that time is a reality that may only be available to two groups of writers -- the very famous, successful ones...and the persnickety indies.
I'm glad to count myself in at least one of those groups. :)
Before I launch on my usual blog, I wanted to take a moment to talk about the victims of Hurricane Harvey and the tropical storms that were spawned during these past twelve days.
Many, many people have had their lives turned upside down, lost friends, relatives, livestock, homes, treasured pets, transportation and belongings. Some may have no home to return to. Some may have no job to return to. Some will never be able to resume their lives as they once were before the storm hit.
I am deeply saddened by this tragedy. I believe it has touched every person in our country--and possibly even our world--in some way, either via direct family or friend connections, or the emotional and economic impact it left in its wake.
Here's to all the first responders who worked to a state of exhaustion to help--to our brave police officers, firefighters, National Guard members, paramedics, doctors, nurses, rescue workers, shelter workers, neighbors and strangers who pitched in to help.
Here's to those who helped senior citizens to safety from flooded nursing homes. Here's to the man who found the lost dog clinging to a guard rail in rising water and rescued her. Here's to the ranchers and farmers who banded together to save horses, cattle and livestock in spite of the danger to their own lives and limbs.
And on a personal note, here's to the midwife neighbor who helped our friends' daughter safely give birth when she couldn't get to a hospital and no ambulance could reach her. Here's to our cousins who were forced to abandon their home in Sugarland while the waters continued to rise.
I know many of my friends and internet contacts also had friends and family in harm's way. I invite you to share those stories in comments.
In the coming weeks I'll be thinking a lot about this event, and sending prayers, well-wishes and donations in hopes it will help our world get just a little more right again. We're a nation of survivors who reach out to each other in times of need, and that's never more apparent that when we face a cataclysm like the one we've just endured.
Farewell to Summer
Holeeee cow. It's Labor Day? How did that happen?
The sun rising on the last day of
August 2017, reflected in the
window of my home office.
Honestly, I'm not ready to say farewell to Summer, yet. I could swear we were celebrating the 4th of July just last weekend. It seems the older I get, the faster time goes streaking by.
When I was a kid, summer break seemed to last foreverrrr. Which was, of course, a very good thing. It's not that I didn't enjoy school, but I loved swimming, skiing, boating, grabbing an ice cream cone and hanging out with my friends so much more.
If I still lived in Michigan, this is about the time depression would set in, because after Labor Day all my summer friends would leave their resort homes and go back to the cities down south. It would start to turn colder, the leaves would change, then brown and fall to the ground, and the grey drizzlies would set in.
We'd sometimes have snow by October, and the ice would start forming on the lake not long after. In short, my world would transform from a bright, busy beach to a cold, isolated tundra. Or so it seemed to me.
I don't get as depressed about summer ending anymore, because now that I live in New Mexico we have these lonnnnng, glorious Falls with some of the best weather of the year. And there are so many fun events going on. There's our big State Fair in September, several wine and Oktober fests, concerts, art fairs, and the International Balloon Fiesta in October. And of course, in my writing life, we'll have the huge launch of Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2 on October 10th! Squeee.
Here, many other outdoor events can stretch into early December beneath bright blue skies and warm Autumn sun. That's not to say we may not get an early snow or two, but the snow generally melts an hour or two after the sun rises, so it's not here for long. Just long enough to tap us on the shoulder and remind us what's next.
Sorry, couldn't resist such a perfect segue into...
Game of Thrones Wrap: Cliffhangers Extraordinaire!
The season finale of Game of Thrones aired last Sunday, but not without giving us several drop-mouth moments of awe and amazement. The episode was titled "The Dragon and the Wolf," so the hint that it was focused on Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow was clear--she, the Dragon Queen and he, the King of the North--but it still managed to pack a wallop when the true meaning behind the title became clear. Whoa! (If you watched, youknowwhatI'mtalkinabout!)
It's also clear that Daenerys advantage of her utterly terrifying and devastating dragons as weapons of war has just been put into serious question.
And though Queen Cersei is as cold and calculating as she ever was and though she can still twist the dagger deep into someone's gut as she smiles, she can also shock and awe us all by some of the things she doesn't do.
There were some delightful moments of old friends and old rivals meeting again--and exchanging some classic dialogue. But there were also plenty of chills, surprises, OMGs, and WTFs!
For the next season of GoT, there's good news and bad news. The good news is it's rumored that the six episodes will be feature-film length! The bad news is they may be aired as late as 2019 and this will comprise the final season of the highly addictive Game of Thrones saga. SOB!
The worse news of all is that some miscreant has leaked the secrets of the finale season. No, thank you. I don't like those kind of spoilers. I want GoT to continue to surprise me in all its fun, fabulous, terrible ways. And when it's done...
Well, that is going to be a sad day indeed. I think the only thing that will allay my deep sense of gloom will be to pick up George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire Series and experience it all again as it was originally told.
Thank Heaven for books!
Trial by Internet? No Thanks, I'll Pass.
Something happened last weekend that deeply troubles me. A famous author supposedly made a statement against diversity and it went viral.
Please note the purposeful placement of the word "supposedly" in that last sentence.
If this author did speak out against diversity I cannot--and will not--support her, but first I'd like to know exactly what she DID say. The problem is the discussion played out on a private loop, but the reaction to that discussion spilled out onto social media. That's extremely problematic for me and here's why. No one would quote this author directly, claiming they were prohibited because the statement was made in said private loop. But yet, the same witnesses seemed to have no problem paraphrasing her words or making leading statements about what she said in subsequent social media comments. It went viral when others, who were not part of the discussion and did not read the author's actual words reacted to other peoples' opinions and conjecture and drew their own conclusions from these opinions, then spread their reactions of disapproval or outrage on the internet. Mob mentality is a dangerous thing, and mob mentality on the internet is downright toxic. "She implied" does not equal "She said: [quote]." And the scary thing is, anyone can fall victim to this Trial by Internet trend. Imagine if next time it was you? So I'm going to wait until such time--if ever--the exact discussion is made public in the original context before I'll draw my conclusions about the author's intent. Until then, I'll keep an open mind. Just sayin'.
Have a great week, and for those who are still recovering from the devastation of the hurricane and tropical storms, I hope the coming days bring you rest, recovery and peace of mind that your life will soon be returning to order. My thoughts, prayers and good wishes to you all.
