Chapter 3, 35: Storm Is Coming

What's the point in having a statutory holiday in the middle of summer? Obviously, it's to remind you that you've already blown through half of vacation. Or three-quarters of it, in college.

Chapter 3, 34: Where Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong

I do not feel skeevy writing about this at all. Really.

Chapter 3, 33: Comic Book Role Models

 The Second Light of Luathon is a 10d6 Area of Effect attack. Which I really should remember if I ever write these characters up.

  

Chapter 3, 32: Stakeout, Takedown

Supposedly, tree planters are on the block all day, because they are highly motivated, highly fit workers making good money on piece rate. In reality, it turns out to be impossible to get twenty pickers into three trucks in less than about forty-five minutes.

Chapter 3, 31: Round That Ancient Wreck

A little late because I'm on vacation time! And badly formatted because I'm posting from my ultrabook. Oh, well, I'll fix it Monday. Or Tuesday. Tuesday's good.

Chapter 3, 30, Ancient Jurisdiction

Dancing on the table should be in the curriculum of a good summer camp. Though maybe the counsellors should wait 'till after lights out to teach it.

Chapter 3, 29: Treehouse

"Hierophant." Not just a word to put in the title of high level druids in First Edition Dungeons & Dragons. Was any of that stuff ever play tested?

Chapter 3, 28: Eight Times

Cookie time!

Chapter 3, 27, Set Your Feet Upon the Path

Mandaarian is a cool name for an alien race, because it sounds like it might be a real word, and tells you everything you need to know about them. They've got a mandate, and that mandate is to keep you from doing all the stuff you want to do. Trust me. You'll thank me when you're older.

Chapter 3, 26 Coming Out

It's best to acknowledge your sources.

Chapter 3, 25: Derelict

Yes, it does.

Chapter 3, 24: Treasure

Not only is the lyric, "There's a shark in the water," but Google Search will automatically correct the mistake that Dora makes.

Chapter 3, 23: My Talent Is

Anyone can like Ke$ha and Michael Buble, but you have a better chance of pulling it off in polka dots.

Chapter 3, 22: Yellow Fever

Did you ever have the experience of not liking something that no-one else seems to like, and yet it's popular enough to be on the McDonald's menu? Never mind, here's an Internet recipe for a McDonald's griddlecake. Some people like them so much.

Chapter 3, 21: Charmed, I’m Sure

Cratons are usually a lot bigger.

3, 20, Concert in the Park

I know, I know. Lucas meant it as a call back to Empire Strikes Back. It's just a really bad call back.

Chapter 3, 19: Horseplay

Paladin class.

Chapter 3, 18: A Hole in the Ground

Giap's is a Vietnamese name!

Chapter 3, 17: And That’s Why They’re Called “Secret Identities”

Dangling from a ledge always works for Clark Kent.

Chapter 3, 16: Upstairs, Downstairs

Back in the Seventies. That was when music was good and choreography was amateur. 

Chapter 3, 15: On It Like Red On Red Stuff

I'm not making this whole Elvis thing up. Even if you can't seem them from street level any more.

Chapter 3, 14: Skunked

It's a thing. Who knew?

Chapter 3, 13: Blackness in the Forest

Bushwacking.

Chapter 3, 12: Light in the Forest

It's apparently hideous oversimplification to say that an Ice Age started 70,000 years ago. And even if we are oversimplifying, it might have happened 78,000 years ago. But if we are oversimplifying, it may have been particularly severe in Africa, where our ancestors kept all their stuff, and because it may have coincided with the rise of "complex human behaviour."

Of course, in the Champions Universe, we also have to fit in a few thousand years of Totally-Not-The-Forgotten-Realms-RPG-Setting Turakian Age goodness.

Weirdly, this time, cutting-and-pasting into Blogger has preserved my paragraph indents, which I prefer as a means of indicating, uhm, paragraphs to line breaks. So that's today's formatting choice. Tune in next week for the next installment of "Computer illiterate struggles with HTML default settings!"

Chapter 3, 11: “Girl on Fire” Would Totally be a Copyright Violation

Something like this. All I know about this stuff is from girl watching.

Chapter 3, 10: Enemies Weeping, Being Crushed, You Know, That Kind of Stuff

Malva.

Chapter 3, 9: I Don’t Care What Anyone Says, I Know Trouble When I See It

Here.

Chapter 3, 8: Paradise Valley

Malaria can be endemic to cattle, as well as people.

Chapter 3, 7: Happy Campers

Googling "Ridiculous Male Fashions 2013" is not going to get old any time soon.

Chapter 3, 7: Wayfarers All!

It's a reference to Wind in the Willows.

Chapter 3, 6: The Kid

Ann-Margaret: "What's your name, handsome stranger?"
Arnold Schwarzenegger: "Handsome Stranger."
Ann-Margaret: "That's a strange name."
Arnold: "My mother said I was named after my father."
Ann-Margaret: "What was his name?"
Arnold: "We don't know."*


*(1,2)

Chapter 3, 5: Cat Got Your Tongue

Denim is trail fashion.

Chapter 3, 4: A Whole New World

Camp at camp!

Chapter 3, 3: Pirates Don’t Need Rescuing!

Pirates come in a variety of flavours.

Chapter 3, 2: The Horses

Hong-Kong style (stuffed) French toast. I think I missed my chance to try them when I was young and skinny.

Book 3, Golden Summer: Prologue

First comes spring, then comes summer, then comes...

3, 1: What Has Gone Before

To review.

Chris and Charlotte Versus the World: Epilogue

Writing about time travel is hard.

Chapter 2, 50: Mindfulness Over Pastries

Pacing. It's hard. This whole writing a book thing is hard, but pacing is the thing that seems most obviously hard.

Chapter 2, 49: Sweet with Tea

Technically, you should drink tea with your meal to aid digestion, and not just afterwards, with the fortune cookie. Usually, though, I have milk with Chinese food, because I'm a silly Westerner.

Chapter 2, 48: Build a Better

Do you remember swing dancing? I remember swing dancing. From the last recession. Honestly, if it's swing dancing versus Gangnam style, I like this recession better.

Chapter 2, 47: Double Mean Girl

One mask comes off.

Chapter 2, 46: Masked Ball

Obviously I'm looking for royalties.

Chapter 2, 45: Planted

Vaster than empires and more slow.

Chapter 2, 44: Two of Eight: Right Perception, Right Action

We live in a post-religious age, but I think that some subtle religious symbolism is still okay in fiction. That was subtle, right?

Chapter 2, 43: Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

In the sweet by and by

Chapter 2, 42: Time And Again

A stitch in time?

Chapter 2, 41: He is Old Crow

Everybody eavesdrops.

Chapter 2, 40: Light in the Darkness

In a garden in Lythrum, one small secret to light them all.