Thanks for the further comments everyone has made. I'd like to respond to a couple of concerns some FoLCs have raised, and let me quote Rona (for no other reason than she's the most recent one to post).
I did have a couple of quirks about the story, both pertaining to Clark. First, I feel as if the reader did not get the chance to see him mourning the loss of his Lois, although I can see how evil Lois would make it a little easier for him to move on.
I don't like to tell my readers how to feel about the stressful situations in which I place my characters. Everyone needs a chance to react at his or her own pace and in his or her own way. If I had
shown Clark grieving over Lois more than I did (which wasn't that much, I admit), then I would have been directing the readers' thoughts and reactions. I don't want to do that. I know that there are a number of very good L&C stories which do just that, but I generally don't because that's not my voice. That doesn't make it right or wrong or the best way or the worst way, just my way.
Second was that I at one time got the impression that Perry was restraining Clark from hitting/shaking/something Lois. Perhaps this was just a mistake on how I read it, but if it was not, I feel that is a little out of character for Clark, no matter how distraught he is.
Perry didn't actually hold Clark back (like he could've stopped Superman from doing anything), but he did remind Clark that physically reacting to Lois' deeds wasn't the right thing to do. I think you're referring to the huge story Lois stole from Clark, and that's another item where I chose to show Clark's reaction to Lois' perfidy (I love that word; I rarely get to use it in a sentence) without slowing down the narrative with the details of Clark's mental processes. If he had actually struck Lois,
that would definitely have been seriously out of character. But almost doing something isn't the same as following through and really doing it. Clark wasn't going to hit Lois, although she had certainly provoked him to anger.
Others have also slammed Clark in this story for "giving up on Lois" so easily. Easily? It took almost a year of her evil deeds for Clark to let go of the Lois of his memory. And up until the incident with the Marines, Clark was ready and willing to step in and defend her even when she claimed she neither wanted nor needed any defense.
And Lois didn't get "thrown away" in this story or treated as "expendable." She was the victim of her own idiotic plan, along with Superman's idiotic willingness to implement it. It failed - and it cost her dearly, not to mention all the ripple impacts on the lives of others around her.
My thought about Lois' plan, after some lengthy consideration, is that she was being selfish. She loved Clark and didn't want him to be hurt by the loss of his parents. That's good. But she apparently either didn't consider all the potential ripple effects of her plan's failure or - worse - ignored them. Her only thought was for Clark's comfort, and I don't think that should have been uppermost in her mind at that time. Justice and right should have held sway.
They were both to blame for this outcome. They were both at fault. And dozens suffered.
Again, thanks for the feedback. And let me thank those who've sent me private messages about the story. I appreciate both the content and the tone of all the responses here. Even though "The Cold Shoulder" provoked some pretty strong responses, I never felt personally insulted or flamed by anything posted in this thread. Thank you all for your restraint in responding to something so thought-provoking.
