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Features Writer
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OP
Features Writer
Joined: Jun 2003
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Joined: Apr 2007
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Boards Chief Administrator Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Boards Chief Administrator Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 9,066 Likes: 31 |
Great part, Shayne. Loved the waitress bits and Lois seeing the youtube-video was just hilarious.
Michael
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,797 |
I commented on the other boards, and I'm afraid I'm just going to copy my comment from over there into this thread: This must be one of the most original and fascinating LnC fanfics ever. I can't remember that the comparatively "idyllic" world of LnC has ever been contrasted with today's creeping sense of paranoia to such chilling effect. Another way of putting it is that this story reminds us of the innocence of the 1990s that we have lost today. Interestingly, I think that a part of this change may have to do with how we view the roles of villains. In the world of LnC, almost all evil springs directly from a few evil individuals and their cronies. It almost always seems possible to contain the evil that the villains represent if you can only take the worst of the villains down. In today's world, we now know that evil is bigger than a few individuals. Interestingly, President Bush may have been one of the staunchest believers in the LnC take of the world, with its idea of evil as emanating from a few individuals. When the towers fell in New York, President Bush believed that one of the chief instigators of this evil was Saddam Hussein of Iraq, and starting a war against Iraq and removing Saddam Hussein would therefore make America safe for the future. President Bush started the war against Iraq in February(?) 2003, and declared victory in that war in May the same year. Saddam Hussein was captured on December 13, also in 2003. He was executed on December 30, 2006. If all the woes that we associate with the Iraq war as well as with militant Islamism and terrorism had been caused by Saddam Hussein himself, then all those problems would have been solved when Saddam was captured and executed. But that is not the case at all. Militant Islamism has grown stronger in many Muslim countries since 2003, the Iraq war goes on with no end in sight, and according to http://icasualties.org/oif an American soldier was killed in Iraq by one of those infamous IEDs as recently as April 18, 2008. In the real world, then, evil is bigger than individuals. Sometimes it is enough to stop just one man (or woman) to make bad things stop, but often, so often, someone else just takes over from the person who was brought down and keeps the bad things going. One of the things I have appreciated so much about this story is that it has had no discernible villain, only diffuse, faceless evil. To me, that makes the story so much more realistic and so much more chilling. I realize, of course, that ultimately you may show us that the "time storm" causing havoc in your story may indeed have been caused by a villain, for example Tempus. I would find that a bit disappointing, but on the other hand it would make sense. And possibly, just possibly, capturing Tempus might do to the time storm what capturing Saddam Hussein didn't do to militant Islamism and terrorism: make it go away. Completely fascinating as always, Shayne! Ann
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
Joined: Sep 2006
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Lane and Kent are on the job, it seems.  Staring at the rows of computers around him, Clark felt a little lost. He’d had a computer back at the Planet, of course, but he’d mostly used it for word processing and the occasional game of solitaire. They certainly hadn’t been connected into any sort of world wide network of computers, although he’d at least heard of the concept back home. I'm wondering if Lois and Clark are going to slip some ideas in Mr. Olsen's ear: YouTube, Google, social networking sites, the iPod, etc. etc.  Or maybe they'll decide to just let things happen in their own time. It would be hard to go back to 1993 and the way things were then... Lois rolled her eyes. “Superman is married to Lois Lane. You are just a guy from somewhere else who happens to share the name. Let’s stay focused.”
Of course he was interested. If she’d gone to another world and discovered that people had been telling stories about someone with her name for the past sixty years or more, she’d have been interested too. Ah, it finally sinks in. I guess there wasn't enough in that one comic to really bring it home to Clark. I would have expected Lois to say they both just happened to have the same names. I wonder if it will occur to Clark to ask at some point why on Earth her parents named her Lois Lane, given the Superman legend. Most Lois and Clark stories just have the revelation of Lois realizing Clark is Superman. This one also has the revelation of Lois realizing she is Lois Lane. Even though she already knows she is the counterpart of a Lois Lane who lived in Clark's Metropolis, it still hasn't sunk in. Perhaps it was all those pictures of men and women together playing Clark Kent and Lois Lane. In every iteration of the story it seemed that Lois Lane was the love of Clark Kent’s life. This is deliciously recursive. 
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Feb 2006
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At last the next chapter!  At the top of the page, a cursor blinked on a blank line, with a button next to it saying “Search web.”
Hesitantly, he typed in the word “Superman.” When I read this, I just imagined him coming across lcficmbs or lcfanfic - and perhaps this story! I would also like to see him browsing the nfic section...   “How’s it going?” Lois asked, glancing at the screen.
It showed the iconic comic book cover of her counterpart sobbing, holding Superman dead.
“It says we’re married,” he said, looking a little stunned. I still have that comic! And he is giving his secret away pretty much by saying `we´. He is already seeing himself as Superman or he wouldn´t say it that way. He was very still and Lois realized that she had put her hand on his shoulder. The waitress behind the bar was scowling even more broadly. Lois considered taking her hand away and then defiantly left it.
As though it was any of the girl’s business who she chose to touch. Oh yes. And of course that´s the only reason for you to touch him, Lois... They named Perry White. They had Jimmy Olsen as some sort of flunky instead of as a computer magnate, and as far as Clark knew, Lex Luthor was just a wealthy businessman.
Of course, there had been rumors… Good for Clark to have some information about Lex Luthor. Once his suspicions are raised, he will start to investigate what Luthor does... and hopefully Luthor will find out too late and go 
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Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Dec 2005
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The crab thing is worrying - that's a big hole in time! I just hope Clark can fix things.
Marcus L. Rowland
Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Jan 2004
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Criminy! I had never thought about trying to use a computer that's 6 yrs. from the future. He's barely even heard of the internet.
I liked the peak into Clark's psyche. He's aware that he's aware of Lois' smell, but he doesn't know what to do about it.
I just wish they had gotten farther on their internet search. Do you know how many storms there are worldwide on a daily basis? It doesn't narrow down the search parameters by much.
Interesting, as always.
Elisabeth
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,797 |
Most Lois and Clark stories just have the revelation of Lois realizing Clark is Superman. This one also has the revelation of Lois realizing she is Lois Lane. Debbie, I love that observation! Ann
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Nov 2003
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And ofcourse the cell-phone video was grainy. Still Lois is not weak in her observation skills 
If she had to move heaven and Earth, perhaps come back to haunt Perry and explain the story after they'd killed her, she would do it.
Waking a Miracle by Aria
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Jan 2007
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Nice chapter, Shayne. Like others, I enjoyed the interactions of the waitress and Clark and the references to YouTube were great. I'd never seen the dramatic prairie dog before and it was too funny.  The variations were nice too (Star Wars, 007, etc.). It showed the iconic comic book cover of her counterpart sobbing, holding Superman dead.
“It says we’re married,” he said, looking a little stunned.
Lois rolled her eyes. “Superman is married to Lois Lane. You are just a guy from somewhere else who happens to share the name. Let’s stay focused.” I think someone already quoted it, but this is great. Very telling that the picture is of Superman and Lois Lane, yet Clark say's 'we'. That together with the rescue video and there should be some kernal of belief starting to grow inside Lois. Knowing Lois, she'll find herself dangling over the jaws of death and she'll suggest some way to escape using Clark's powers. After all, she's just as familiar (maybe more so) as Clark with what he can do with all his extras. “What about giant scorpions?” Clark asked. “Do you have those?”
“How big?” Lois asked.
Clark turned the monitor slightly toward Lois.
Her eyes widened and she leaned forward.
There was a picture of a smiling man and woman standing beside a segmented monstrosity hanging from its tail. This reminded me of Giant Spider Crabs which I believe are *our* world's biggest crustacean. Interesting twist that the birds didn't come from Clark's world. Can't wait to read more. BJ
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 263 |
Come on Lois! The flying man is a not a hoax!
I suppose she's still using her logical frame to explain everything. That's okay, that just means that Clark's going to have to slip up and do something *amazing* in her presence.
Great chapter, Shayne. Anxiety mixed in with humor throughout. It is quite worrying that things are slipping through from other worlds- esp things (including diseases) that are supposed to be extinct. And of course I had to go to YouTube and check out the prairie dog. That was simply hilarious.
Can't wait to see what all our favorite duo gets into while playing 'Fugitive.' Come back soon!
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