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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on May 11, 2018 19:03:04 GMT -5
I don't really mind. The numbers might not feel right after so long of calling them that, but whatever.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on May 31, 2018 0:39:58 GMT -5
Did the Baleros latest post edit help tug? Sorry if I ended awkwardly the first time; let me know if you can work with this now
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jun 5, 2018 0:00:27 GMT -5
I wouldn't mind doing a really beautiful LM in future, with a lot of symbolism, heart, and soul. Maybe a murder in a church that gets Gunnarson thinking of the Holy Ones... would be nice...
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jun 5, 2018 11:09:01 GMT -5
We really need to get all the ideas organized somewhere; maybe a separate thread for the mour re developed ones so we don't have to dig
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jun 5, 2018 18:28:15 GMT -5
I wouldn't mind doing a really beautiful LM in future, with a lot of symbolism, heart, and soul. Maybe a murder in a church that gets Gunnarson thinking of the Holy Ones... would be nice... Proposed title: Revelations.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jun 8, 2018 14:25:58 GMT -5
What was that one I had in mind? Eh, I'll summarize it for now and get the other stuff later-
Proposed Title: Shattered Bonds
When a woman named Abigail and her young daughter come to Gunnarson asking for his aid in finding her husband, Gunnarson is shocked to see that not only does she have strong evidence that her husband is his good friend, James Hartley, but Hartley also has a daughter he never met due to the war.
Gunnarson' hatred of bigamy, due to his strong Christian faith, proves stronger than his friendship with Hartley as he finds himself investigating the truth into the most unlikely of suspects... his friend Hartley.
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Post by Toz76 on Jun 8, 2018 15:33:01 GMT -5
Ooh holy crap I'm sold!! Let's do it asap.
But... how do you not know who your husband is? Was the daughter born out of wedlock or something?
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jun 8, 2018 15:48:11 GMT -5
Btw- I think we should finish Baleros and Titanic first; in due time though
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jun 20, 2018 22:01:00 GMT -5
Please note that due to unforeseen circumstances, the case that was intended to be LM 16 has been delayed. We apologize for any confusion
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 21, 2018 23:41:03 GMT -5
Adolf Gunnarson was enjoying his work at Koket of Sweden. It had been a long time since he had a case, but was less bothered by this now; he was in good company and enjoying his work. After all, cooking was his second favorite thing to do; especially cooking his native Sweden's cuisine. He had become good friends with fellow chefs Lucas, Liam, Oscar, Hugo and Adam, and the rest of the staff he got along with splendidly. It was also wonderful to be able to hold a conversation in his native Swedish again.
One of his favorite things to do towards the end of nights was to come out and greet the last seating of customers, and personally ask them how they enjoyed their meals. But one night in particular, there was a rather familiar guest. Gunnarson saw Cricket dining in the restaurant, but she wasn't with Hartley. With her was the large, imposing man that was her father. Mr. Earnest had returned from his holiday, and that meant Cricket had to return home, lest Mr. Earnest get suspicious. After all, Hartley was still under restraining order from Cricket, and if they were seen together by her father even once, Hartley would go to prison.
"I'm going to the lavatory Philippa; tell the waiter I shall settle the bill as soon as I return" Mr. Earnest said as he got up and went. Gunnarson took this brief window to go talk to her.
"I didn't expect to see you here" Gunnarson said.
"Oh, Gunnarson, thank goodness! I was hoping you would be here tonight" she said before standing up and whispering to him. "Father is getting suspicious; I remember Hartley telling me about your new job before I had to return to London, and thank goodness he did. I have a very urgent message for you" Cricket said, quickly eyeing the bathroom before looking at Gunnarson again. "I need you to pass along a message to Hartley" she whispered.
"What?" Gunnarson asked.
"Under absolutely no circumstances can he come to London. Father is hiring several private investigators to keep an eye on him" she began.
"Are you sure!?" Gunnarson exclaimed in shock
"Yes, there are half a dozen at last count. Their sole purpose is to follow him, and if we're seen together, they will get the evidence, and have him arrested. Please, you must let him know- do not come to London, under any circumstances. It's the only way..."
"I understand. He will know to stay in Scotland"' Gunnarson replied.
"Thank you; I would tell him myself but father has tapped the phones to ensure we never call each other, and he personally inspects all outgoing mail" she explained.
"He will be fine, don't worry" Gunnarson assured. Then both looked towards the lavatory door.
"He's almost done; you'd better head back to the kitchen before he notices you; he still doesn't trust you" she warned.
"All right; good night Cricket, and best of luck" Gunnarson said before turning around and going to the kitchen. He later watched them leave, and after the restaurant was closed for the night, he returned home and went to the telephone to call his friend. "Hartley must know this straight away; his very freedom is on the line" Gunnarson thought to himself as he began dialing Hartley's number. But before he could finish dialing the number, he heard a knock at the door. Confused, he went to see who it was... and a young woman was waiting on the other side.
"Can I help you?" The Swede asked.
"Yes; I'm looking for Adolf Gunnarson. I am in need of his services" she explained. Gunnarson smiled at the prospect of his first case in some time
"You've come to the right apartment ma'am. How can I help you, miss..."
"Please, just call me Abigail. I will get straight to the point- I need you to find my husband; he's been missing for years and I think he only recently turned up" she explained.
"My God... what happened that you lost your husband for so long?" Gunnarson asked, shocked.
"Well, the two of us were high school sweet hearts. We were going to get married and raise a family together but... but then the war broke out. Things were fine for a few months, but then he decided to enlist. As a promise to me that he would return, we got married and... ahem, enjoyed a honeymoon before he left. But... but he never came back" she said tearfully.
"Could he have died?" Gunnarson asked.
"I thought so to, but then a miracle happened. I've been keeping an eye on the papers and some time ago, I read that he was seen at court testifying in a murder trial... the one you had been caught up in when you supposedly murdered your neighbor" she explained as she began taking some articles out of a bag.
"Your husband showed up at that trial? Well, I didn't really show up until the end, long story, but I should be able to help. Is there anything that can help me identify him?"
"Oh you should be able to recognize him no problem... he's the one who proved you were innocent" she said, continuing to pull out some papers and others pieces.
"Testify to my innocence?" Gunnarson said, confused. Then he realized something. "Wait a minute... what's your full name?" Gunnarson asked.
"Oh, terribly sorry. It's Hartley. Mrs. Abigail Hartley. And I need you to find my husband, James Hartley" she explained. Then Gunnarson saw some of the articles she had produced- newspaper clippings from the court case that depicted Hartley both testifying at the end... and the aftermath when he was shot in the leg. Playing it cool, Gunnarson looked over the pictures. "Well ma'am, Hartley is a common name around here... are you sure this is your husband?" Gunnarson asked.
"Oh absolutely. And I know that there are con artists out there who claim to be relatives who are looking for someone but actually have darker motives, but I want you to trust me, so here is the proof that I am indeed who I say I am" she explained. Producing her Identification card, she proved she was genuinely who she was. Then she pulled out the marriage certificate... and Gunnarson recognized Hartley's signature immediately. Finally, she produced photographs of the two of them... while in high school, as adults, their wedding... and finally, Hartley in uniform with Abigail before he had set off for the war. But then came the surprise he did not expect.
"Mommy; is the nice man going to find Daddy?" a young girl said, poking her head through the door of Gunnarson's apartment. Gunnarson looked at her... and he could not deny what he was seeing. In this little girl, he saw both Abigail's wavy hair and fair skin... and Hartley's eyes and brown hair.
"Ellen, wait outside; Mommy will be finished soon" she assured before the little girl went back into the hallway.
"You'll have to forgive her; she's normally so well behaved but she is understandably outside of her comfort zone now" she explained. "But won't James be so happy to hear that he is a father" she said happily.
Gunnarson had been shocked until now of what was happening before him. He could not believe it at all. The shock was great for the devoutly Christian Gunnarson as he realized the awful sin Hartley had committed. "I never thought you would be a bigamist... and Cricket... at least she is living with her father right now... it is better the news be broken to her gently later. My God, what a mess this is" he thought to himself. Then he turned to Abigail, "I shall find your husband by the end of the week. Just be warned... some things may be shocking... to both of us" he explained.
"I just want my husband home safe and sound, please" Abigail said, finally beginning to sound hopeful. The two exchanged goodbyes, then Gunnarson made a phone call to his employer at Koket of Sweden
"Yes sir; personal troubles just came up, I will need to be out for a couple days. Thank you for understanding sir" Gunnarson said before hanging up.
The next day, Gunnarson was at the Train Station. "The earliest express train to Scotland please" he began as he went to get his ticket. "I'm coming for you Hartley" he thought to himself.
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jul 22, 2018 1:26:34 GMT -5
Hartley wiped his brow. So many things were whirling around in his head he could barely stand. At that very moment, the telephone rang. Exhaling heavily to clear himself, he picked up the receiver.
"Oh hullo again," said a voice.
"Excuse me, who is this?" Hartley asked.
"Just The Man your old detective friend decided would be fun to riddle with lead. Listen, I heard about your 'marital troubles' and-"
"What the devil is this?" Hartley snapped.
"-and I just wanted to send you my condolences," The Man said sarcastically. "Wasn't enough you had to ruin the life of one woman, but to take on two more plus a child... I'm impressed. Hope you get everything sorted out, man, best of luck. We'll meet up again, some place, some way, one day..."
Hartley was about to respond, but the line went dead.
"Good lord," he thought to himself, "I don't know what his deal is. Frankly, I don't really care. I met him only once and that was, what, five years ago? Heck, we didn't even meet for two minutes. I don't know how he knows me, but the fact is that I don't know him, and to me he's just a nutcase who tried to kill me and failed... speaking of which shouldn't he be dead after being shot four times?"
His mind continued to muse. In perspective, though, what was he getting so worked up over? This "Man" was nothing more than a blip in his past, a weirdo who came into his life for but a moment then never came back. Though there was something about the voice...
But Hartley had no more time to mull this over; he had more pressing matters to attend to.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 22, 2018 2:13:19 GMT -5
After some thought, here's what I feel on the whole Swedish thing-
In keeping with the language policy, all Swedish lines will need translations: this is so all readers do not get lost over the meaning of the line
For example- In LM 3 Gunnarson says two complete sentences in Swedish towards the end. Given that we don't know how many readers here speak Swedish a translation would be quite useful.
Also- going forward; I think we need to use discretion on when to insert it because:
Online translators are problematic
The whole Swedish speaking wasnt really wasn't a thing until LM 8 or so; so is t it a bit confusing to have some volumes with it and others not?
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jul 22, 2018 2:53:39 GMT -5
There are many authors I've read over the years who insert foreign languages into books. It isn't as big a deal as you're making it out to be.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 22, 2018 11:54:55 GMT -5
Sorry; was really tired last night.
Now that I'm awake- yes, I agree it's not a big deal; the translations are more... I guess we could call them being fair; after all we don't want the meaning lost, do we?
.....
More importantly what direction do we want LM 16 to go in and... how does Hartley get this information to write about it in a book?
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 22, 2018 12:13:10 GMT -5
Update: replied; I think I figured it out.
hopefullt this direction and framing device will give the help we need to propel the story
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jul 22, 2018 12:31:21 GMT -5
Hmm, I would take that part out honestly. This is one of those books where I donโt think we should have an explicit author. Otherwise I like your reply.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 22, 2018 12:34:56 GMT -5
It's well established that Hartley writes the series; to be honest if we don't have something along those lines the suspense of disbelief will be compromised
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jul 22, 2018 13:21:22 GMT -5
It wouldnโt though. Sometimes one needs to utilize an all-knowing narrator. Moby-Dick did that; there are plenty of things Ishmael shouldnโt have been able to know, and yet he did. When I read a story, I donโt care about how a narrator got the information, I just wanna read a good story. Having that lengthy thing about how Hartley got the information for the book would hinder that.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 22, 2018 13:36:48 GMT -5
I think it improves the narrative actually; because what's great about LM is how the books also exist in-universe so these little touches show how far Hartley is willing to go to pursue the truth. so let's be fair and let the others break the tie
Tug- Toz; does Hartley's message stay or go?
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Post by Biblically Accurate Angel on Jul 22, 2018 13:43:37 GMT -5
In the meantime, the focus of this book is The Man himself, so if I tackle him for the most part and you tackle the police, we should be good.
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