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Messages - flying peach

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DF Spoilers / Re: Who should Harry marry
« on: October 14, 2020, 02:13:01 AM »
Your right, Molly does deserve better than to be stuck in Winter not able to be with the man she loves. That's why a relationship between Harry and Molly will start to happen soon and love that blossoms between them will break her free. ;D

"The hottest romance began in the coldest of places"....should be a byline for a bodice ripper authored by Bob.

I'm also on Team Molly.

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DF Spoilers / words starting with br-
« on: October 08, 2020, 01:19:51 AM »
So, Ebenezer and Mab are discussing Harry and "She nodded to Ebenezar and said, “Br—”

Butcher, Jim. Battle Ground (Dresden Files) (p. 49). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

My current wag is that she was going to call him brother. This would give an additional reason Harry's mother was called Margaret Lefay and why Kinkaid told Harry that he was as human as Harry was.

Edit: Even though from the story so far it appears that Mab is much older then Ebenezer (so I'm not sure how that would workout) but it's still my guess.

Edit 2: It also explains why in (Winter Knight?) the Summer crone told Harry that the Winter crone liked him. It would also explain why no mention has been made of Ebenezer's wife, Harry's grandmother. Surely at some point  Harry would be like "tell me about grandma." Maybe (this is kind of out there) Eb has the blackstaff because he took it from grandma when he split.
 

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It was, however a freely given act of love to someone in great pain.

Molly may be better then Harry deserves.

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Two things: one, the entire body of criminal and civil law regarding sexual harassment disagrees with you.

Harry never sexually harassed her (he never made unwanted and/or consistent sexual comments or advances towards her).

In addition, there are federal statutes and regulations (and case law from multiple appellate Courts interpreting the federal statutes and regulations) addressing sexual harassment plus fifty states with fifty sets of criminal laws, civil statutes, and case law interpreting those laws. A blanket statement that the entire body of law both criminal and civil disagrees with the op is simply untrue.

Even if she was an adult, Harry has a duty of care towards her as her teacher. He should not have led her into danger.


He was her teacher; but, more importantly he was her master. The master-servant relationship comes with a whole host of duties towards the apprentice including teaching the apprentice the master's craft. Wizarding is an inherently dangerous profession (witness the number of wardens that died in the vampire wars); and, especially under Harry fighting supernatural powers in defense of humanity is an important part of the profession.

The series suggests that up until Changes, Harry spent too much time trying to protect Molly during her apprenticeship. For instance, he taught her shielding with snowballs instead of baseballs. ( Harry was trained with baseballs thrown at him, Harry's warden boss ex-girlfriend was trained with rocks thrown at her; and, Harry's fairy godmother [if I remember correctly] explicitly told Harry that he had been too soft in training Molly).

Two things:...Two, Harry had agreed to be Molly's master.  That means he had absolute duty to keep her alive and to keep her from turning into a warlock. He threw both aside in letting her come. It doesn't matter if she wanted to or not. What she wanted to was repeatedly break the laws of magic, it was his moral duty to override that desire. Same thing with going to C. I.

He did not owe her an absolute duty to keep her alive and to keep her from turning into a warlock. For instance, if she practiced black magic then it would have been his duty to turn himself and Molly into the White Council for execution. He accepted the responsibility (risking execution) to supervise, control, and train Molly; but, by the nature of the punishment (his and Molly's execution) it's fairly explicit that he didn't owe her an absolute duty to keep her alive.


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DF Spoilers / Re: Wormwood
« on: January 08, 2019, 07:07:38 AM »
  Here is something a little more interesting further down in that article, bolding mine

Mighty prince?  Could that mean Starborn as in Harry?

Another name for Mab in the Dresden verse is the queen of air and darkness. So maybe Harry is the power of the air.

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DF Spoilers / Re: Wormwood
« on: January 07, 2019, 04:43:05 AM »
I have no idea but did find this in the Wikipedia entry.

In addition to the Revelations stuff, Artemisia is a kind of decorative plant used in much of the US and Europe. One kind of Artemisia nicknamed "wormwood" is used to make absinthe. An alcoholic drink that tastes similar to anise (sort of black licorice flavored if you haven't had anise). People used to say that it was hallucinogenic. Apparently,  it's currently legal in the US (as of 2007 according to wikipedia).

One additional interesting aside to the revelations stuff is that Chernobyl (and because lots of people seem younger then me these days: Chernobyl is a nuclear power plant in the Ukranian part of the former USSR that had a melt down) is claimed by many to also translate into wormwood.

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DF Spoilers / Re: Has this been up on Amazon for long?
« on: October 08, 2018, 04:18:16 PM »
The word insult implies some form of suffering.

The first googled internet definition which provides the explicit definition of insult as a noun is "a disrespectful or scornfully abusive remark or action." Offhand, I can't think of an instance of 'insult' as being used to imply suffering. Although, the definition did reference injury to the body as a use of 'insult.'

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DF Spoilers / Re: Has this been up on Amazon for long?
« on: October 07, 2018, 05:57:20 AM »
The idea of not finishing a series, or in the series being delayed, as an insult to the reader is interesting.  But I'm not sure if the idea is really rational.
I'm rewriting stuff I've written before in other posts, but in essence there is an implied promise that if a reader buys into the series that the author will make a good faith effort to finish the series. This isn't always possible for various reasons and this is ok. Certainly, it wasn't required for Robert Jordan to spend the last of his life outlining the WOT series, but I'm certainly glad he did. But when an author really doesn't appear to make an effort to finish a series then yeah that is an insult to the fan, because it broke the trust that the fan placed in the author to make an effort to finish a series.

In the days before kindle, books might have blurbs on the cover or maybe in an advertisement in the back that might say something like "the first in an exciting new trilogy by 1980's fantasy author." Why would any reader buy the first book in a trilogy if there was never going to be a third book? The answer is that the reader wouldn't. There is always an implied promise that there will be an effort to finish the trilogy or else fans wouldn't buy trilogies until all the works are written.
 
Fraud, as defined by the first internet definition from google is: "wrongful...deception intended to result in financial or personal gain." In the case of the author not finishing a series just because, the wrongful deception was that the author would make an attempt to finish the series and the financial gain was the sale of the book. I excluded the legal bits of the definition, because I have no interest in typing a long legal analysis. If an author commits a fraud, in common parlance, on the fan then yeah that's an insult.

I doubt that anyone will suffer in any real sense because the series is delayed.
Who said anything about severe physical or mental anguish?

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DF Spoilers / Re: Has this been up on Amazon for long?
« on: October 06, 2018, 10:53:26 AM »
That post has been going up in relation to Dresden Files for years. The flip side of that post is just like the author isn't our bitch we aren't their bitch either.

I started reading George Martin's books before the HBO's series came out. I then quit reading them because it took too long between books and I didn't remember what happened in the books that I hadn't read for years. So George Martin wasn't my bitch, and I wasn't his either, and as a consequence I'll never buy another one of his books again. Not angry, just lost interest and don't care enough to reread the series. Similarly, I thought Patrick Rothfuss' books were ok but not great. I don't know what all the fuss was about. I might read the last book when it comes out, but I doubt it. I didn't like his books enough to reread them for the third book. If the third book had of come out years ago I probably would of bought it.

The marketplace punishes authors for not publishing books for years. Even rereading Neil gaiman's post, yeah the author isn't the reader's slave but how many years have to pass before the wait between books is an insult to the fans?

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DF Spoilers / Re: Has this been up on Amazon for long?
« on: October 03, 2018, 10:49:59 AM »
Today in this vein, I read a blog post of something Neal Gaimen said, "George R.R. Martin is not your bitch".

Of course George Martin isn't our bitch. He's HBO's bitch. It's entirely possible that after the HBO series finale, that most people that started as fans of the book series won't care how the book series ends.

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DF Books / Re: Alternatives While We Wait
« on: September 09, 2018, 04:34:15 AM »
I just finished 5 ebooks that are the free type with kindle unlimited that's the Montague and Strong series. Worth a try if you have kindle unlimited. It has good and bad things about it, but I liked it. The character references that wizard in Chicago (meaning Harry Dresden) but he also references a wizardly type in Saint Louis in the same sentence. Anyone know who that is?

Anyway, the main character is cursed to immortality by Shiva, has a time stopping sigil on his wrist that causes a dominatrix librarian dressed lady luck to appear and slap him around a bit, a pet hellhound, and is best friend's with a mage who he operates a detective agency with.


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DF Books / Re: Alternatives While We Wait
« on: July 31, 2018, 04:33:20 AM »
Not a book, but if you have the metv channel Kolchak the nightstalker.

There's an article on the interwebz where Butcher describes whistling the Kolchak theme after a creepy experience, so I know he's familiar with it.

I've watched about six episodes and I think a lot of the episodes has a piece that corresponds to possible minor inspirations for the Dresden files.

It's B grade fun, so it won't be everyone's cup of tea.

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DF Spoilers / Re: Dear Jim
« on: April 21, 2018, 02:06:27 AM »
flying peach,

Here's my difficulty with your position "owed" implies a legal obligation.  I just don't see that.  We were given a book that is part of a series.  We paid for the book and read the book with full knowledge of the fact that is a part of a series.  There is no guarantee the series will ever be complete.  There is no obligation by the author to complete the series.  That might make the writer who chooses to hang up his pen and become a... blacksmith a bit of a jerk but there is nothing we can do about that other than kvetch that it was not fair that we didn't get the "whole story". 

My problem is that when people claim they are "owed" something by a writer they really don't know what they are talking about.  When you buy a book, you get the book that you bought, and nothing more.  There is no legally binding promise to finish the full story.

I wasn't planning on posting here again in this thread (I edited this to add in this thread), but if someone writes a thoughtful response it deserves a response. In fact, I feel like I OWE it to you. ;) Har, har, har.

It's been a long week and this will be a bit stream of consciousness so if you''ll tolerate me I'll set forth my position.

Owed isn't strictly limited to a legal obligation. It infers an obligation, whether of a legal nature or not. For instance, a person can owe a responsibility or duty (if you have a legal background and a happy contrarian streak right not you are thinking "but what about legally imposed duties and contractual duties" and my response is "I'm excluding the legal theory"). It's even possible to "owe it to yourself" as well as "owe it to your children." Or think about the common phrases of "owe an apology," or "owe an explanation" or even the phrase "owe common courtesy."

I believe that as a matter of courtesy a writer of a trilogy or series owes the reader a responsibility to make a reasonable effort to finish the trilogy or series. The following events would be a noninclusive list of things that I would consider being valid reasons for the writer to give up on a series: the publisher decided not to continue the series, the writer got sick, the writer had things come up in his personal life and wasn't in the right of state of mind to write anymore, or the writer couldn't feed himself with the money he was earning and couldn't write anymore. 

If Jim never finishes the series because he had stuff come up, that's cool. He seems like a nice guy and I think he probably would have made a reasonable effort to finish the series. I'll be disappointed, but it won't be the first writer I had fade out on a series.


No actually that's just how I communicate, are you currently attacking me???

I wasn't trying to attack you. I rewrote several things and deleted several things in an effort to make sure that it was a disagreement rather than a personal attack. I'll continue to make an effort to respectfully disagree.

I was stating pretty pure facts there Bub.

What facts are you referring to?

I was relating my personal opinion regarding not just this but all bandwagon auctioning and pointing out, that the original 'attack on Jim for not caring was backed by real fan's knowing that's not what's going.

I don't know what this means.

If you are saying that the op said that Jim doesn't care about his fans and that you believe Jim cares about his fans, then I have no argument with that. Jim seems like a nice guy. I don't believe it correlates with the portion of your post I originally quoted though. 

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DF Spoilers / Re: Dear Jim
« on: April 19, 2018, 05:50:27 PM »
Na A. I didn't 'attack' fyi. if I had it would be against the precepts and the mods would have said something
B. second, I can be a fan without following his methodology. Gene Roddenberry was a helluva nice guy... who kept a lawyer on a leash to release like a pitbull. Gene never stopped that from happening despite his own outstanding nature. "looks left" "looks right" oh look, nobodies running to stop me here either.

I don't really care about the moderator's definition of attack. The question is: was that portion of your comment emotionally charged and designed to elicit a negative emotional response from the op? If so, it was an attack.

As for Gene Roddenberry's lawyer that was his lawyer. His lawyer was literally paid to do stuff and a good lawyer tells his client to blame everything on the lawyer when talking to people.

I was just hoping that this forum could stay civil until a new book came out that would allow me to toss out wags in a friendly manner in what used to be a friendly board.

If you see it differently than so be it. No board is perfect, but maybe the op was right that the board isn't what it used to be.  :(

I'm sure I'll check the board again in a few months, until then later.


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DF Spoilers / Re: Dear Jim
« on: April 19, 2018, 04:38:49 PM »
Don’t obfuscate this. JB has given up on us. It is what it is. The bs anthologies are nothing more than an (poor) attempt to keep readers happy. Write a novel if you care so much about your fans. I show up to work everyday just like you.

Treat the series as having ended with Changes. It was a great book with a great fight scene and wrapped up a lot of threads. Maybe in twenty years you can check if Jim ever finished the series (not attacking Jim, it's an ambitious series he may not finish it in his lifetime).

His personal life is none of my business and I've said that before on this board. Where many fans get lost is that when our lives go to sh@t we don't get to not work. We show up and put in our time or we starve (or our children starve, or we are unable to make child support, or the house gets foreclosed, etc.) Our feels don't matter.

On the other hand, it's also important to remember that none of us know Jim, we just like reading his books. So, let me compare him to Kurt Cobain or Hemingway. Would nagging Cobain or Hemingway about their next project speed things up? Well no, because they really didn't need to get that far ahead with their planning. Just let it go, he's a stranger to us. 

You are not owed a book by Jim Butcher.  If he chooses to take up his eponymous  trade and never write again you have no claim for anything from Jim Butcher.  I want to read Peace Talks as much as any other fan but guess what... life happens.

I've seen it posted before that Jim Butcher doesn't owe us anything. I disagree. When standalone books are written absolutely nothing is owed. Implicit in every trilogy is the belief that there will be a third book. If the third book doesn't get written there is no point in reading the first two books. It wasted the readers time defrauded the reader out of money and time and left the reader hanging with no resolution.

The early books were standalone novels. Once he left the case mysteries set up (really since Changes and his books that I preferred) it became more like a trilogy or long series.

Imagine if you get to the last book of the Harry Potter series and it doesn't get written just because the author decided that she didn't want to, had plenty of money, and didn't owe the fans anything. Well, it's pretty clear that in such a circumstance the writer is a jerk.

In contrast, it would have been unfortunate to the reader, but completely understandable for Robert Jordan to not have spent the last part of his life outlining the wheel of time series.

YOU Sir, are NOT fanatical and you don't deserve the title..... Even i don't give a damn about Bandwagon 'fans' so idc if Jim does certainly, just saying..
If you are a Jim Butcher fan then you've seen him write/speak about how much he hates fans attacking each other over Peace Talks Release Date. It's possible to disagree without personal attacks.




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