I have to say, I'm not one for using abbreviations. Half the time I can't figure them out and I've been known to skip entire threads if there are too many abbreviations in there.
On the subject of cell phones (or mobiles as they're known Over Here) whenever I send a message, I type it out fully. I never use abbreviations and I always use correct punctuation. My friends think It's strange but I like to think I'm dong my bit to keep the English language alive.

I have to say, I'm not one for using abbreviations. Half the time I can't figure them out and I've been known to skip entire threads if there are too many abbreviations in there.
On the subject of cell phones (or mobiles as they're known Over Here) whenever I send a message, I type it out fully. I never use abbreviations and I always use correct punctuation. My friends think It's strange but I like to think I'm dong my bit to keep the English language alive.

I agree with you, Paul. The English language: it's yours, keep it clean! Plus, I'm not the fastest typist in the world, but I'm fast enough that it's actually easier for me to type out a whole phrase than pause and figure out an abbreviation.

... it's actually easier for me to type out a whole phrase than pause and figure out an abbreviation.

I'm with you there. And it's the same for reading them too. I have a friend whose texts are written entirely in gibberish... er, I mean abbreviations. It takes me forever to read them.:confused:

Well, I just finished Harbingers and to say the least my heart was hurting at the end of it. I knew that Gia was going to lose the baby, but after being with her and Jack all these months, I felt like an aunt or something. So losing little Emma hurt. I wanted to rail at F. Paul and the Allies and call them all kinds of foul names and go get a good stiff shot of whiskey or whisky, however it is being spelt these days...but I didn't. I am not much of a cusser...darn it...and I am no drinker....dang it...Mark can attest to them both. So I had to settle for giving Mark a hug and then come on here and VENT!!! :-) So I guess it takes a great wriiter to activly get people all riled up over a book. It looks like the Man has done it again. ;-) Keri

[SIZE="3"]Keri, if you think I sit here and dispassionately write those scenes, think again. They're tough on me too. But there are no battles without casualties or collateral damage.[/SIZE]

F. Paul, I never thought for one second that these scenes are easy on you, how could it be, you are more bonded with these characters that anybody else on the planet. I am sure it is even tougher on you than on your readers. That is why some of us(you) are great writers and some of us are just great readers. I hope you didn't take what I wrote as a criticism against you or your writing in anyway. I just needed to vent because I had just finished the book and was emotional about the whole thing. You are an awesome, talented writer and I am so thankful you wrote that little Interlude at Duane's for us to discover you. *huggs* :-) Keri

[SIZE="3"]Just wanted you to know that I share your pain.[/SIZE]

I wonder how the big Reset Button in the sky felt about it?

I think it was in INFERNAL that I first realised the RJ series had no new surprises for me. [spoiler]The contrived way that the Compendium of Srem contradicted itself just enough times to move the 'un-moveable' mark around all the characters until it ended up on the main supporting character was farcical. [/spoiler]

I was really looking forward to Jack [spoiler]disappering at the end of the book. I was so excited at the paradigm shift in the series as Jack would have to battle his way out of hell in the next book.[/spoiler] But then la-di-da he's ok, all the main characters and power realtionships thoroughly restored to the same state they were in at the beginning of the novel.

It's like any other franchised serial fiction - comic books, Star Trek. . . I knew that Jack would never become Citizen Jack and I was not in the least surprised that the baby died.

There's too much good business in the RJ franchise to mess with the winning formula at this stage of the game.

No More Coincidences. Reminds me of final parts of The Dark Tower series when Stephen King wrote [spoiler]himself into the story so as he could deliver deus ex machina without even having to think of a clever way to do it ---- like writing [/spoiler]a rule that says IT'S OKAY TO CHEAT and then acting like butter wouldn't melt when he cheated.

You can almost hear the authors of serial fiction thinking to themselves when they write these sorts of things, "That'll speed up how many of these books I can churn out!"

[SIZE="3"]Keri, if you think I sit here and dispassionately write those scenes, think again. They're tough on me too. But there are no battles without casualties or collateral damage.[/SIZE]

Hmmm...title of the next Jack novel?--COLLATERAL DAMAGE?