Primal With A Side Of FABULOUS page 127

[spughy]

Gay Panda, I just wanted to say that I love this thread very much and you are awesome (or at least you write yourself as if you are, which is pretty much the same thing) and I will buy your e-book because I love sci-fi and I fully agree with you that it has to be character-driven, not gadget- or science-driven. (In the harangue against a Certain Author, did you mean Asimov? Cause I would agree with that too. I feel bad saying it, but it's true, his characters are very dull. Excusable with the robot ones, perhaps.)

I hope Primal Coach Kitty enjoys her bacon and the rest of the time her kitty motor runs. Give her lots of cuddles (if she likes that sort of thing).

[Gay Panda]

It wasn't Asimov I meant, but he's a good example (and didn't he say it himself during his life?) He wrote characters straight from the writers' stock trunk, there to prop up some interesting science. Lady Friend is more patient with that, but Gay Panda wants to look at the science or magical elements through the eyes of someone to whom I can relate, not a cipher. It's just a personal preference.

One of my favorite shows growing up was Star Trek: The Next Generation. I loved the gadgets but what brought me back every week were the people. I couldn't get into DS9 because I found the characters flatter, and that got in the way of enjoying the science.

[ottercat]

Gay Panda wants to look at the science or magical elements through the eyes of someone to whom I can relate, not a cipher. It's just a personal preference.

I totally agree, background is background, writing has to be about story, and story comes from characters. As much as I "like" sci-fi, I stopped reading indiscriminately in high school because a lot of the writing is just BAD. My favorites are fantasy, I guess: Lord of the Rings and my current obsession with Song of Ice and Fire. Got another George R. R. Martin book for xmas which is more sci-fi so I'm looking forward to getting into that. And reading your book, I can't wait!

[Sigi]

It would be nice if *someone*, one day, might perhaps post a little list of highly recommended SF authors and/or fave recent books.

Just someone ... anyone ... [hint, hint].


Oh, and 'scuse my technological ignorance, but I am not a Kindler or a Nooker or a Koboer. Would your e-book only be available for reading on such specialist devices, or could anyone with a 'putey download and read it onscreen?

Big hugs to Kitty. Hope you still have lots of time and good cuddles together.

[PixieKitten]

Ottercat, If you're into Lord of the Rings, you might like The Dwarves and it's sequel The Dwarf War by Markus Heitz. I bought them the other day as my Grandad had given me a book token, and it's fantastic! I'm still on the first one as apparently I'm not allowed to hide away for a couple of days and just read, and have been interrupted by baby bunny training and trips to see the boyfriend, but I'm really loving it so far!

Panda, it's lovely to hear that PC Kitty is on the mend!! And I'm with Sigi on the 'prely download and read it onscreen' question, as I can't afford a kindle or any such device xD

[Lilyheart]

Ottercat, If you're into Lord of the Rings, you might like The Dwarves and it's sequel The Dwarf War by Markus Heitz. I bought them the other day as my Grandad had given me a book token, and it's fantastic! I'm still on the first one as apparently I'm not allowed to hide away for a couple of days and just read, and have been interrupted by baby bunny training and trips to see the boyfriend, but I'm really loving it so far!

Yes yes! I bought The Dwarves in an airport once when I had a looooong wait and I LOVE THAT BOOK. I can totally understand the need to hide away on that one.

I enjoy Dennis McKiernan's books as well.

[NOMnomNOM]

OMG i finished reading 127 pages! i truly have enjoyed this journal and hope it keeps going. I'm a lurker, but decided to actually register so i can post on this thread. I've been eating primal for a little over 2 weeks promptly after reading about it for 6 months. Gay Panda, thanks for all of your stories. I can't wait until your eBook release ... that is, if you're willing to share the title.

[MikkiB]

Has the younger generation forgotten Heinlein?? Loved loved loved his books growing up, and got a completely different perspective on love and marriage than they teach in Ohio

Panda, I'll buy your book. I'm a SciFi and fantasy junkie, and I already know that I like your writing

[Redflame]

I am not a SciFi junkie, but I would buy the book anyway..... In fact earlier when someone posted 'SF' I was thinking ..sugar free??????

I'm such a dork sometimes

[Gay Panda]

PART ONE: Gay Panda used to teach a student who weighed over 100 pounds. He was five years old.

If you have a five-year-old or know some five-year-olds, your jaw has likely hit the floor. If you don’t, then the online CDC growth charts for boys show that most will weigh between thirty and fifty pounds. This boy was, according to Gay Panda’s lauded math skills, in the ten zillionth percentile for weight. There was no medical condition to cause this.

He was drowning in blubber, which hung off his arms and stomach, bloated his cheeks and puffed his fingers to sausages. During a fire drill he held my hand, and I could feel nothing but sponginess. When he ran at recess, his face flushed a brilliant sunset hue, and he broke out in sweat. I was afraid that he was going to have a heart attack playing chase. He could not even get off the floor when he lay down on his back, and he flopped about like a beached whale on the alphabet rug. I was a human crowbar hefting his side so that he could scrabble at the rug for purchase and roll himself over.

Appalled that a five-year-old child could have reached this state, I was horrified thinking of what school was going to be like once he left the special education transitional kindergarten. He was such a nice boy, compassionate and mannerly, with an engaging personality once you got past his initial shyness. Gay Panda is shy, too, and just made Lego spaceships and Play-doh boogers next to him until he figured out that Gay Panda is a dork and safe for conversation. The world was going to be horrid to this sweet and sensitive kid, and his specific problems that landed him in my classroom were not so extreme that he was going to be oblivious to it like some of the other students I taught.

I opened his lunchbox expecting to see it packed with Twinkies, but the contents were no viler than what was in the slimmer children’s boxes: a Lunchable, a violently shaded GoGurt, and an apple. Other days he had a sandwich, an orange, and a giant cookie. The portions were often greater than what everyone else had, but he outweighed them by an enormous amount and would naturally need more. He ran around at recess just like they did, his energy level that of any five-year-old, but his weight only climbed.

The nurse called home and spoke to his mother to talk about nutrition. She tried to make his lunches healthier after that, but it had no impact on his weight. Healthier was, of course, whole grain bread instead of white, lots and lots of fruit, and skim milk. He lost nothing over the course of the school year, and moved on into the savage world of regular grade school.