D'Artagnon

I said from the first that I thought you must be kin to D'Artagnon. After chapter 7, I was quite sure we needed to do a search of both your families to find the connection. I mean, a door creaks open in a dark room while another door is being pounded, and then oh BTW end of chapter. Then, you follow that with Toby swimming with Taki on his back about to give out and there's a light . . . BAM! end of chapter.
Gives a break, Please!!! LOL
Oh, and everything that D'Artagnon said I agree with.
Keep it up! 

Whoa!  Dude, that's so not right!
I'm not going to drop any spoilers, but that's messed up!  Not fair!  Not Cool!    Creepy, snarly, WRONG!  and I loved it very much.
Now I'm really looking forward to what happens next.

Whoa!  Dude, that's so not right!
I'm not going to drop any spoilers, but that's messed up!  Not fair!  Not Cool!    Creepy, snarly, WRONG!  and I loved it very much.
Now I'm really looking forward to what happens next.

Thank you for your kind words @D'Artagnon.  I'm really chuffed that the story is keeping your attention and that you're enjoying it.
I have to admit that I really enjoyed writing the chapters actually set in Hammerhead Cove.  Writing under the guise of "pulp" lets me layer on the atomsphere really thick - so I'll be sitting and giggling as I type while coming up with the most unpleasent and creepy things I think I can get away with.  The ones that fit the story anyway. 
Your assertion that Hammerhead Cove could be parts New England Towns and San Francisco from a bygone age are quite correct.  I looked into Whaling towns in New England during the 18th-19th C and sketched out what I thought they might be like if crossed with SF (due to the location of the Island) and then just left to rot in the intervening years.  So, well spotted Sir. 
I actually dreamed about that fountain, naked boy, hands coming out of the water, lacivious faces and all.  I don't remember the context of the dream it appeared in, only that I woke up while staring at it and needed to pee. ha. 
Again.  Thank you for taking the time to read and comment.  It means a lot to me. 

And I thought the previous chapter was ominous!  What has poor Takeru gotten himself into?  Certainly looks like the sorts of things a kid in love will do for the object of his affection, even to the point of ignoring spooky, even obvious signs of danger.  Hammerhead Cove sounds like a place taken from where it should be and dropped somewhere else.  It has elements of New England or San Fransisco from a bygone age dropped into the Pacific and then let to go instead of kept up.
And then the shop keeper lady, and the fishmongers... *shudder*
It seems the mysteries are about to have several answers come to... well, can't really call it light, now can we?  But I'm guessing that more questions will be raised as answers start to turn up.
And that fountain across from the church (minus it's spire cross) was highly disturbing.  If such is the fate of those at the school, one wonders what poor Toby has had to call his home, much less his life.  If that Ms. Myercough is the nurse, the boys at that home/school would have more warmth from an ice cube.  I fear that the headmistress, as yet unseen, is an even colder fish than the nurse.  I have the feeling Taki is about to realize just how far over his head he is.
And Poppa John's presence on the road to Hammerhead Cove... What can we read into that based on his conversation with Toby, earlier. 
Now i have to wait for the next installment....
Fantastic imagery and sensory overload.  Very engrossing read.  This and the previous chapters have been my favorite so far.  I am anticipating that the next one will join these last two in that category.  Well done!  Carry on!

This news saddens me greatly.  I did not know Jamie as well as I would have liked.  I did have some private correspondence with him and was hoping to help him develop his writing.  He had a keen insight into the mind of wounded children, having survived similar wounds himself.  He also was a person who I thought had great promise at storytelling.  It was a joy for me to see his own forays into the fantasy writing genre, and I really wanted to see where his vision went.  It was a shock and blow to me when he left the Castle, and when Tigerpaw choose to leave as well, in support of the young man who for all intents and purposes was his son.
So it pains me deeply to hear of Jamie's sudden turn of bad health and how quickly the cancer took him.  Having worked with cancer patients in the past, I know it can be unpredictable at times, the things that push the disease.  How it spreads.  How easy a diagnosis of one type may mask another type also present.  I do not know the details of Jamie's case, nor do I profess to be able to diagnose such.  I can only hope that his pain was minimal and his passing, while tremendously sad, was not drawn out.
Rest in peace, Jamie.  We all mourn you.  And we, those who read and enjoyed your story, who honor your life and your Dad's literary gift to us all, will miss you.  We also grieve with Tigerpaw, who is as always a gentleman, a kind soul, and one of the most compassionate persons I've heard of.  We respect your decision, sir, and we hope that more people will read your story and learn of the remarkable young man you saved from a life few of us could ever imagine surviving.  You are not alone, Tigerpaw.
Peace, Jamie.  You will be missed.

Very much enjoyed this first chapter!  Merlin's a bit of a tool huh? haha.  I like him already.
I get the feelilng that Just because I'm up to date with Summer stories I will now need to start the Fall before continuing on with this as I'm sure there a refs made here that I missed.  Kinda like seeing a sign post, knowing it's a sign post but not recognising the name of the turn off. 
Anyway, a great first chapter, loved the Chess game!  Looking forward to more (once I've caught up with the other stories).

Haunting and disturbing at the same time.  I think we've all been to this place, but you found the poetry to crystalize it for us all.  I'm a little weepy thinking of this poem Shane.  Thank you for sharing with us all.

Laughing and crying. Joking and lying, These are memories of our past.
Your here then your gone. Love comes and goes. Nothing you say ever last.
Cold winter nights. Stalking the cold floor waiting for a call that never comes.
I'm sorry. So sorry that I'm not quite good enough.
I'm sorry. So sorry and I'm done at last, I've had enough.
 
 
Lost in a quiet room thats packed with rejection. One single voice in the night.
I pound on the grey walls. Why can't you see me? Why is my love not enough?
I'm sorry, Oh so sorry. I can't stand the pain and the lose.
I'm sorry. Oh so sorry . Nothing I say is enough.
 
Pictures of sunsets. Down by the river. A kiss in the quiet moonlight.
Sweet words of longing. Promises are broken. Memories of love so very hot.
I'm sorry. So sorry. Why can't I be good enough.
I'm sorry. Oh so sorry. No more pain, I've had enough.
 
Teardrops and heartache. I hide in the dark. Love comes and love will go.
I've lost that sweet spark. Memories of screaming. Memories I hide in the sand
No more bright sunny days. Lost in the rain.. I run from your very swift hand.
I run from the pain. I run from the madness. I hold it all in vain.
 
I'm sorry. So sorry. Your my earth and my depression. I see nothing but rejection.
I'm so sorry. So so sorry. I can't be the one to love you. I can't hold you and protect you.
I'm so sorry Oh so sorry. Your my sun and all my freedom. Your my summer and my autumn.
I'm sorry. So so sorry. Your the music to my life song. What is right and what I think is wrong.
Your my end and my beginning. From the start and when I'm finished. Your the cream that's in my coffee. Your what is sweet and what is salty.
 

Ominous.  Weather, bad dreams, Poppa Johns tea.  The grass, the forest, the road.  Taki's father unsure what he's finding in the heavens.  Toby's absence.  Even the difference between the brothers Irvine.  it is building to something.
There is only one thing that baffled me.  You used a term in describing Hammerhead Cove that I'd never encountered before, Tombola.  Every reference I found to this spoke to either a type of Bingo game with numbers drawn from a tumbler, marked off on a sheet with tokens, or to what I guess is a pub on the River Wear, on the north-eastern British coast.  I "think" i know what you mean, but I am not certain.  It is a very exotic sounding and resonating word, and in my brain it puts up an image of perhaps uneven ground, lifting here and there in rocky spots, shot through with wild grasses, like at the foot of steep, rolling hills.  Like things had once been above, had long ago tumbled down, and nature tried to reclaim the space, growing tough, rough, strident green things around the fallen material.
Lol, can you tell I've been working on stories?
I love where this is going.  Taki is not only showing us more about the people and places of Halpin Hope, but he's showing us the intricacies of his own heart and mind.  I feel he's at that precipice between the simplicity of his young teen years to a sense that things outside his small, insular world are important.  And not just to himself, but that things in other places link with his world, and back to the world beyond.  I think he's also beginning to see that his family, his town, his home, everything he's known, has kept him safe from some things, but it's also kept him from seeing some things.  He's opening his eyes.
And in all of this, one question keeps coming to my mind.  What has become of Toby?
Oh, and one other thing has come to my mind.  Names usually have strong meanings for me in what I write, and I have found other writers feel the same.  The reference to the fort put me to thinking about the island itself.  If it takes five hours to walk from Hammerhead Cove to Halpin Hope (or at least the road to the observatory), it's a big island.  Two towns, the pot farm, the two separate forests, the lagoon, the observatory, the fort, the mango plantation... This small island is either a lot bigger than I at first thought or it is packed with stuff around the coastline with a very rugged interior.  I feel that it is probably a combination of the two.  Anyways, my question is in two parts:
We know that the main town, one that apparently gets tourists from the mainland, is called Halpin Hope.  Is that the name of the island as well?  Also, kinda cool that the two towns mentioned on the island both have "H" names and both have assonating four-letter second parts to their names (Hope and Cove).
Secondly, does this island exist in our humdrum reality, given a new name in your story?  I have done that for my Canterbury stories, renaming my family's home town of Haverhill, Massachusetts, espcially after discovering the literary history of that city.  Just wondering if there is a place you drew inspiration from.
Anyways, keep going.  There is a very involving story building here.  We are all waiting so see what's next.

You are right to have a healthy fear of hammerhead sharks.  They're mean, nasty buggers.
Luke Halpin was an early crush of mine as well.  When I was very young, my father was stationed in Roosevelt Rhodes Naval Station in Puerto Rico, just outside the city of Ceiba, not far from the capitol of San Juan.  We only got one local TV station that played English programing about half the time, other than the AFR station on base.  So we got limited contact with regular pop culture.  Flipper was one of the few shows we got that was relatively recent.  The running joke among the adults was that we had time traveled 5 years into the past.  And who couldn't fall in love with a mostly shirtless guy named Sandy who had his own dolphin?
I keep telling myself that I will post a simplified map of Canterbury one day.  I have rough ideas of where the characters live.  In some cases, more than rough.  A few are addresses I know for different reasons.  Some are just places with a certain look and feel.   The castle over the lake does exist, just as described in Coupe.  The Y and the pizza shop also exist, although the Y i describe was gutted by fire and rebuilt.  It looks totally different than I remember.  The stone bridge (Basillier Bridge) on Main Street is also there, actually named after a distant cousin of mine who was the first boy from the town killed in Viet Nam..  The Watch or Watching Rocks is a formation that does exist, but I moved it from a couple miles east.  It was so cool to see the first time that I had to include it.  I just thought it would be far too far to make young Maxy walk just to get to his "thinking place" on foot.

Woah... lots going on there @D'Artagnon. Hahaha.
I'm glad that you're enjoying the story so far.
So, of the questions you've asked that I can answer, that give nothing away (); 'tombola' looks like it's been corrected from my spell check and I've missed it (damn it!).  The correct term in tombolo which is a small island connected by a strip of land to the main island.  Your thoughts are correct concerning my choice of the word.  As Doyler explained to Kibu in his brief history lesson back in "Welcome to Halpin Hope" the two seperate earthquakes that the island had suffered descimanted much of what was once the thriving whaling town of Hammerhead Cove, leaving only the thin spit of land that is the tombolo's neck and the portion of the town that makes the mainland.  The etymology of the word is Italian and derives from the Latin tumulus (mound).  I focused in on using tombolo to describe it because it sounds so much tumble (which is what most of the town has done over the years).
The choices of names hold personal connotations. A young me was 'awakened' one Sunday morning in 1995 when I first saw a re-run of Flipper on TV.  Yes!  Luke Halpin was my first love. hahaha.  And I still have a great deal of love for the show.  Even now when playing Sim City or when creating my own first city in Civilization the name of the town is always Halpin Hope.  (I also love alitteration an awful amount).  Some of the other names on the island tie into this affection for Flipper.  The Ricks Observatory is named for the character's surname on the show and Norden Hill for Tommy Norden who played his littlle brother Bud.  The two H towns are not coincidental (again my alliteration affection), because of it's geographical appearance and because the words Hope and Cove conjuore very different connotations.  I also have a healthy fear of sharks - particularly Hammerheads.  haha.
The Island itself was left unnamed by the first settlers (for a reason) but for the purposes of the regular folks of Halpin Hope it's always just been the towns name that they use when they refer to the island.  The size and shape is based on a slighty larger version of Stewart Island New Zealand, using some of the geographical components of the Big Island of Hawaii.  And you're correct that most of the island's interior is too rugged, filled as it is with forrest covered hills and the occasional lagoon, so pretty much everything is crammed around the coast.  (I'd upload the awful awful awful map I've drawn to keep everything straight in my head but there are still secrets to come).  Essentially I've picked up Stewart Island and dropped it into the ocean 160 miles South East of San Francisco while giving it Hawaii's geology, flora and fauna.  What's going on on that island of mine I wouldn't want to inflict on a real place.
Again, thank you for taking the time to read, I genuinely mean it when I say that comments and the such are much appreciated.

Ominous.  Weather, bad dreams, Poppa Johns tea.  The grass, the forest, the road.  Taki's father unsure what he's finding in the heavens.  Toby's absence.  Even the difference between the brothers Irvine.  it is building to something.
There is only one thing that baffled me.  You used a term in describing Hammerhead Cove that I'd never encountered before, Tombola.  Every reference I found to this spoke to either a type of Bingo game with numbers drawn from a tumbler, marked off on a sheet with tokens, or to what I guess is a pub on the River Wear, on the north-eastern British coast.  I "think" i know what you mean, but I am not certain.  It is a very exotic sounding and resonating word, and in my brain it puts up an image of perhaps uneven ground, lifting here and there in rocky spots, shot through with wild grasses, like at the foot of steep, rolling hills.  Like things had once been above, had long ago tumbled down, and nature tried to reclaim the space, growing tough, rough, strident green things around the fallen material.
Lol, can you tell I've been working on stories?
I love where this is going.  Taki is not only showing us more about the people and places of Halpin Hope, but he's showing us the intricacies of his own heart and mind.  I feel he's at that precipice between the simplicity of his young teen years to a sense that things outside his small, insular world are important.  And not just to himself, but that things in other places link with his world, and back to the world beyond.  I think he's also beginning to see that his family, his town, his home, everything he's known, has kept him safe from some things, but it's also kept him from seeing some things.  He's opening his eyes.
And in all of this, one question keeps coming to my mind.  What has become of Toby?
Oh, and one other thing has come to my mind.  Names usually have strong meanings for me in what I write, and I have found other writers feel the same.  The reference to the fort put me to thinking about the island itself.  If it takes five hours to walk from Hammerhead Cove to Halpin Hope (or at least the road to the observatory), it's a big island.  Two towns, the pot farm, the two separate forests, the lagoon, the observatory, the fort, the mango plantation... This small island is either a lot bigger than I at first thought or it is packed with stuff around the coastline with a very rugged interior.  I feel that it is probably a combination of the two.  Anyways, my question is in two parts:
We know that the main town, one that apparently gets tourists from the mainland, is called Halpin Hope.  Is that the name of the island as well?  Also, kinda cool that the two towns mentioned on the island both have "H" names and both have assonating four-letter second parts to their names (Hope and Cove).
Secondly, does this island exist in our humdrum reality, given a new name in your story?  I have done that for my Canterbury stories, renaming my family's home town of Haverhill, Massachusetts, espcially after discovering the literary history of that city.  Just wondering if there is a place you drew inspiration from.
Anyways, keep going.  There is a very involving story building here.  We are all waiting so see what's next.

Such a sweet talker you is!

After much cranium shrinkage (the water was cold, i swear!  Don't judge!), and having to replace a car battery that was spitting acid like trying to feed a 18 month old (aren't nieces so cute when they're dirty... at other peoples houses), I have discovered enough brain left to make appropriate replies.
Al... find some grits, call them mine and kiss them.  so there.  (nuhhhh!)
Ellio - thanks.  I hope to have a few new chapters of Riposte out soon.  I'm nearly done with a whole bunch of them at once so there will be new stuff soon.  As for the other stories, they are coming along in fits and starts.  That's the trouble when new ideas spark in your head all the time.  You wind up with more than one project always wanting your attention.
More to come.  Watch this space.
No seriously.  Watch this space.  it's lack of movement will distract you while i panic and scamper about getting things closer to done.

After much cranium shrinkage (the water was cold, i swear!  Don't judge!), and having to replace a car battery that was spitting acid like trying to feed a 18 month old (aren't nieces so cute when they're dirty... at other peoples houses), I have discovered enough brain left to make appropriate replies.
Al... find some grits, call them mine and kiss them.  so there.  (nuhhhh!)
Ellio - thanks.  I hope to have a few new chapters of Riposte out soon.  I'm nearly done with a whole bunch of them at once so there will be new stuff soon.  As for the other stories, they are coming along in fits and starts.  That's the trouble when new ideas spark in your head all the time.  You wind up with more than one project always wanting your attention.
More to come.  Watch this space.
No seriously.  Watch this space.  it's lack of movement will distract you while i panic and scamper about getting things closer to done.

Wow!
That's some write-up Ellio. That should make D'Artagnon's head swell, if anything will!!
 

I'm up to date!  Woot (and all that).  I really am loving this story.  The switch between the two seperate voices is a great way to get the "whole" story.  I've read as suggested, flipping from changeling to werewolf and can't imagine reading it any other way.  It's great to see all the characters come together, especially nice to see frankenboy and the super soldier again.  The interplay between the woofers and the fairies is sweet and feels very real - I'm particularly enamoured with the Juan/Nick dynamic.  (Jeez Nick is so cool )  Of the new additions Magnus is a charmer huh? haha. 
Of the story itself - it's been quite the ride so far.  Robby dealing with the loss of his parents felt very real and despite knowing that there were chapters ahead I really thought that he might take take his own life.  Man Korbesh is despicable. (Great Villainy by the way - even more so than in his first appearance back in Coupe). The mysteries of the boys in the hotel and JJ has certainly got me hooked on that story line and feels darker? grittier? than the Changeling threat.  Congrats (I guess?) are in order for creating truly vile specimens of humanity (even though we now know that they're not quite human).  And Rolf's funeral was a heartbreaker.  I was reading that on a bus and welling up.  Not good for the super masculine public image I've been cultivating with my fellow commuters.
That it is still in progress is both very exciting and super annoying. hahaha. I'm really looking forward to reading more.  Guess that I'll need to nip into your new story now.  At least I'll be able to comment on a current one. 
You asked about our feelings regarding the fencing terms.  None of it means a thing to me but is well explained and lends a sense of urgency and indeed artistry to the fight sequences so keep them in I would say.
Excellent work D'Artagnon.

I was reading the thread about the Ashes of Fate series of books, where the question was posed as to whether or not anyone was reading it, after three books and no comments.

It prompted me to read chapter one of book one, no offence to the author, because it was well written, but I stopped halfway through when it started talking about werewolves and other creatures. It’s a whole universe, you’re either into it or not.

This got me thinking about a reader poll on preferred story genres. I don’t know if that’s possible, but it could be really interesting. It would need to allow readers to vote an order of preference, because people will like more than one story type. There is no need to get too sophisticated,  although you could include sub-genres like in fantasy, where you might have, vampires, werewolves, altered reality etc. I mention that possibility only because that is where I started - how many readers like werewolf stories? 

 

This is scheduled for only four more chapters, although you never know.  But... as with most things I write, it's usually never short.

Thank you very much @Jay & @D'Artagnon.once again you've both been very kind.
I won't pretend it hasn't been tricky trying to make Taki go from a raging bag of hormones who'll jerk off in meadows and with his twin brother and well... with anyone anywhere to someone who could maybe very possibly perhaps become something akin to a romantic lead.  Five chapters is a quick turnaround... hahaha.  Those questions might be just be the baited hooks @Jeikor was talking about.  One might be a baited harpoon!
 

Oh my!  More than just a moment of physical thrills exploring both of their particular teenage kinks.  I get the feeling that there are feelings being caught here, despite Toby's sense of foreboding about returning to the "home."  Taki seems to be in seventh heaven.  That sense of wonder and affection between them seems to be getting deeper, but what are the factors swelling around them.  What does the Order do to wayward boys who stay out overnight?  What really is going on with Pappa John?  And does the discovery at the observatory have anything to do with anything? (Taki's dad is a genuine nerd!)  Love it, waiting for more.  Great job!

This is scheduled for only four more chapters, although you never know.  But... as with most things I write, it's usually never short.

To hit both of your posts in one reply, Jeikor...
Believe it or not, this story has been in the works for the better part of 10 years.  So all the connections here aren't new or made to "fit" with other stories.  There is a plan.  A long, deep, rather convoluted plan, but a plan does exist.  And Meryl/Ralphy/Merlyn's connection to his daughter, her husband, their time traveling back to this time, and even the birth of Merlyn's "eldest grandson" seems to be a thing.  And technically, yes, this takes place about 6 to 8 weeks ahead of Robby's parents' deaths.  Fox has been a figure in the area for a while, even going so far as to take on the mantle of his/her grandfather as the Merrimack Cat Burglar.  The meeting of four principles of different types within the Merrimack Valley's supernatural community (and hints of vampires!) and then the knowledge of at least a fifth (in the form of Merlyn/Ralphy) indicates that there's been things going on for a long time.
Although it did raise several questions in my own mind, as far as plot points.  Being around along as Andy Fox has, surely there were times he could have taken action against Stamos.  You'd think that something might have happened in all that time, that he might have discovered who Stamos was hiding as.  Andy has said that he withheld action on his own part because he saw Stamos had children in his care.  Must have driven our Fox crazy, that internal conflict.
Andy's relationship to Yoseph also does explain a little about how he knew what to do when Tom was at death's door.  Andy is a very complex character.  Often he keeps things to himself to protect others.  Sometimes he keeps things to himself to keep leverage.  When I first designed this character, I had in mind a Robin type.  Trained as a spy, keeping to the shadows, striking from darkness and fading back into them.  Someone who has patience, attention to details, a need for secrecy, and driven by their own demons, sense of honor and intensity.  Someone with a lot of internal conflicts, but propelled by a need they themselves can't always explain.
Similar to Michael.  Although in Mike's case, its a matter of keeping all that internal pressure behind a cheerful outlook.  He's witty, wise, well to know.  Mike keeps his fascade light, boyant, politically deceptive.  He also has his demons, dark secrets and emotions to cover.
So all of this is well before the events of Lost Boys and Educating Max.  And it happens just as Coupe and Last Place are basically happening.  Hopefully it does shed some light on all the stories, and cast some shade as well.  For you see, the closer you get to the light, the longer and darker the shadows grow behind you.
But that is another story.
 

The beginning of one historical epoch is not necessarily the end of another.  Often there is an overlap, a period of transition.  While a lot of what goes on in Canterbury is behind the scenes, there's still more that's behind the scenes of even that unseen world.  Some answers, some further mysteries and explanations that only make things less clear... all of this and the growing importance of Barnie's Burger Barn... This isn't Camelot; this is the 5th Age, and it begins...   now!
 
Hey Marc!  'Sup!