Stealing Time

[Ortho the Frank]

Thumbs-up? Thumbs-down? Questions? Comments? Critiques? Put it here!

[kf6eml]

Great first chapter. Can't wait to buy the book.....

[puddley]

I want the book! I want the book!

[Ortho the Frank]

Hmm... Doc Angus, Yorick, and GRIPE seem to be pretty popular on this site. Should we, perhaps, post "Mind Out of Time", GRIPE's origin story, on the site as well?

Chris, what do you think? It's already been published, so does that mean we can't post it here? Maybe your agent will know?

[kf6eml]

Perhaps you could have a free section of the website, as it is now, and a premium section where people pay a monthly fee ($.99 or whatever,) where new fiction would be posted. A year subscription ($11.88) would entitle the user to download some of CS's books in e-book format. (Either 4 - 6 old titles or maybe 2 - 3 new titles, additional titles at regular price)

I know I'd sign up for that. Maybe spread word to all of his old students and colleagues....

As for designing the site, I know a guy...
If you think the idea has merit, I can ask him for a quote on such a setup: Design, maintenance, hosting, etc. Whether you use him or not, it will at least give a general idea of the investment that would be necessary.

I wonder, though; How much longer will Dear Author continue writing? Will he and his wife and cats retire and enjoy their golden years on some island in the Caribbean, being fed mai-tais and peeled grapes by the scantily-clad local damsels, or will the pen, clutched in his cold, dead hands, still twitch in scribbling motions even as they nail the lid shut?

If he's planning to hang up the pen and head for white sands and blue waters, then an investment in such a site may not be worthwhile, unless the younger Stasheff is planning to step in and continue (or perhaps start) the family tradition.
(Would he be continuing a tradition if he's carrying on in the family business, or would he be starting a tradition by virtue of his being the first to take over something his father started? Discuss.)

[kf6eml]

Nice cameo in the second chapter - I think Sir Arthur would have approved

So, is this book going public soon? Really. I want to buy it. (I'd even pay a premium for an autographed first edition...)

[kf6eml]

Chapter three moves briskly and the author does very well with allowing the 1950s agent to speak plainly while not neglecting the Victorian woman's point-of-view. A less skilled author would leave you with a case of mental whiplash with such a tactic.

Of course, with the detailed development of her character, now I am expecting her to be central to a real thriller of a story...

[cstasheff]

I'm glad you understood the reference to the tall gent with the stocky sidekick, kf6eml. I take it you've read a fair amount of the Homes canon? I THINK I've read them all, plus several pastiches, but I'd love to find a new one. As to GRIPE, Ada is certainly a central character, the one who comes up with money=making merchaqndising tie-ins such as traqcking down first editions -- on scrolls. I'll eventuaqlly be coming up with MY version of how the fire started in the Library of Alexsandria. I finished the book once, but can no longer find the manuscript -- no editor interest. Just as well -- I'm thinking of making it aq stroger plot instead of the string of short stories you'll be sweeing here.l
Thnks for the encouragement!

[kf6eml]

I've read "A Study in Scarlet, the Sign of the Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles" but it's been such a long time that I'm about due to re-read them. I don't remember if I've read any of the short stories.

[Ortho the Frank]

Oh, but you must! That's the only way you'll find out who Irene Adler is!