Updates and Hilarity

So obviously we are off the schedule!

The plan to be able to get some work done by February is obviously bust. That’s because about a day after my last post, we had a nice little round of lay-offs, and then another, and now I’m doing the work of two people and getting buried in additional work.

The good news is that I’m pretty much done with the next chapter of OSABC and the Cerberus Files: Humanity about the SA military. I just need to clean them up this weekend.

I also got a set of absolutely hilarious reviews from some attention whore on FF.net who thinks I or anyone else gives a single flying fuck about his opinions.

I refuse to listen to anyone who has nothing to say. I will pay attention to those comments that have a modicum of intellectual underpinning.  So I’ll address the few things he brought up that he clearly misunderstood.

1) Shepard is lesbian:  Shepard spent her youth being sexually abused by males. She is bi-sexual and probably was that way at birth, but the events she went through in her early life shaped her as well. I am fully aware that rape does not one make someone a lesbian. However, it will make a person with bisexual tendencies more likely to pursue female rather than male relationships.

2) Hilarious lack of information on the military:  I’m a functional paranoid and they let me in. The military (especially in times of war and when recruiting is low) has very low standards for entry. That’s why we have so many issues today with rape, abuses, drug abuse, etc.  As to the PT part, there are women TODAY who can do that workout, you idiot.

3) Rape charges: Shepard was (and is) dysfunctional on several levels. Psychologically speaking she was trying to perform role based reclamation, which is unhealthy but hardly unusual for victims of abuse.

I remain amused at the number of people thinking the fact that they can hold an opinion means anyone else is entitled to bother to listen to it, especially when it’s riddled with racist, sexist, bigoted overtones.

And of course, he/she/it calls me out on Christianity, basically saying I can’t be a Christian if I don’t act like the fucking Westboro Baptist Church.

Moar delays

I’ve made progress on all three stories, but nothing ready to publish. Work continues to be nightmarish, as contracts we put on hold for end of year now have to be brought online. Since this is my first year at Blue Cross, I wasn’t expecting a second rush.

Also, my mother’s had some eye surgery needed, so I’ve been tied up with that.

That being said I should have some progress to show this month, at least on OSABC.

Not dead, just recovering

End of year for the insurance industry was beyond fucked up this time around, due to both Obamacare’s changes to regulations and the fact that both people and businesses waited until the last minute to do things.

Normally end of year crap wraps up in the first week, but it’s January 18th and I’m still pulling 11 to 14 hour work days. Obviously I haven’t had much time to write and get my head together.

This is not a hiatus, just a slow down due to work. The notes for the next chapter are pretty much complete, I just have to sit down and write it.  I’m afraid I don’t have a good ETA on when the next chapter will come out at this time, but I’m HOPING to get something done this weekend. We’ll see.

Erin is working on a second painting, and the third will be along shortly after that.

Sara Shepard painting complete!

SaraShepard_portrait1_blkhairFINAL_small

The completed portrait of Sara Shepard.  Click for fullsize image.

I am very impressed with this work, myself.This is the first of a bunch of works I’ve commissioned to illustrate what I’ve been writing. The artist in question is Erin Asplund, who can be found at www.upallnightstudio.com.

Now, here is a question.

Once I’m done with OSABC I , I will be having a hardbound copy created. If there is any interest from anyone else about having a copy, I’d like to know about it. I haven’t decided how to do it, yet, but  I am thinking that if anyone wants it, I’d go back, edit it up and polish it, include some notes and designs that never made it to the final draft, include some of the background notes, that sort of thing.

 

Let me know if it’s a stupid idea.

Poll Results – Batarians and Quarians in the lead.

What race should the Cerberus Files cover after the turians?
1 Batarians
4  26%
2 Quarians
4  26%
3 Volus
3  20%
4 Krogan
3  20%
5 Hanar
1  6%
6 Elcor
0  0%
7 Vorcha
0

Some moar updates

Updates to both Cerberus Files.

The turian sections are taking longer than expected, simply because when I fix one potential problem or issue, three more pop up. Once I get past the history and culture part, the rest is downhill, though. The military section will be fun to write.

Not sure if I should do elcor, volus, or hanar after the turians. Or batarians. I’ll put that as a poll, I think.

On Shitty Negative Reviews

I have no problem with negative reviews, as long as they have substance.

By ‘substance’, I mean that if you dislike something, it should be explainable why you dislike it. There are those who disliked the changes to Feros because it took away the choice from Shepard’s hands. There are those who dislike Tali’s portrayal as weak or as too childish in the earlier parts of the story.

I’ve gotten some hella bad reviews on my Naruto stories, and those fans do not take shit from anyone. But they listed out exactly why they felt I was in the wrong (sometimes in PM using references to the manga or Shonen Jump magazine interviews) and I could do little but agree with their opinion as having validity, even if I disagreed.

Substance, not flame, makes a useful review.

There have been guest reviews who left very little but a negative comment or a pointless one, which usually doesn’t bother me. As a rule, I ignore guest reviews. You can’t respond to them except in an authors note, which I find tacky and space consuming. If they’re not taking 45 seconds to bother to register, then they’re either someone who’s paranoid of being tracked or don’t care enough to bother, and neither attitude really grabs me enough to give a shit of what they think.

But there are some, like the jackass who left me an invective laden rant about murdering canon, that get under my skin. I’ve just had another example of this sort of thing in a review on the STG Sara Shepard piece from a guest. I won’t bother printing it up or ranting about the sheer idiot nature of the review.

I will say that if you’re going to insult someone’s work without leaving a single useful piece of information, please have the goddamned decency not to put in bullshit like “don’t take it too harshly”.  Given the name he put in the review, it’s the same jackass who sent me the “canon defilement” review (or they use the EXACT same RandomReader tag). If it is the same person,  please go read the reviews for Chapter 73 of OSABC and go eat a can of shut the fuck up.

STG Report : Shepard is up

Based on the poll results, I have your early Christmas present ready.   Some of the stuff that would have gone into the Commissar report will end up in the Cerberus Files: Humanity instead.

Thank god no one picked Reapers. That would have been heug spoilers.

What should the next STG Investigative Report be about?
1 Shepard
5  45%
2 Commissars
3  27%
3 Shadow Broker
2  18%
4 Collectors
1  9%
5 Reapers
0  0%
Unique Voters: 11