L.B.: Otherwise innocuous

Left Behind, pp. 397-399

The authors, yet again, subtly point out that Buck and Rayford have opposite impressions of how their recent "interview" went. And by "subtly" there, I'm thinking of the way that Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford subtly expressed her disapproval of wire coat hangers.

Here's the last bit from Buck's point of view:

It would be fun someday to tell Rayford Steele how much that otherwise innocuous interview had meant to him. But Buck assumed Steele had already figured that out. That was probably why Steele had seemed so passionate.

And then we switch back to Rayford and read that he "felt he was a failure" based on that same interview. For those keeping score at home, this is the eighth consecutive transition between protagonists to make this exact same point. And in between those transitions, the pilot and the reporter have spent most of the past 13 pages brooding on this same thing --

Rayford was privately frustrated. ... Buck sat without interrupting. ... Buck was desperate to maintain his composure. ... Rayford was certain he was not getting through. ... Buck did not trust himself to respond with coherence. ... Chloe was crying. ... Rayford was profoundly disappointed with Chloe's [response]. ... Rayford was convinced Williams was merely being polite. ... "Your dad is a pretty impressive guy." ... Buck did not sleep well. ... Buck assumed Steele had already figured that out. ... So far Rayford felt he was a failure. ...

Uncle! Please, make the bad men stop. Thirteen pages of this relentless pounding doesn't just make an impression on readers, it makes a contusion.

One also wonders what Buck meant by "this otherwise innocuous interview." It was a 90-minute, uninterrupted monologue informing him that: A) he is a sinner, damned to Hell; and B) the world is coming to an unspeakably violent end and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it. How is any of that "otherwise innocuous"? It's the End of the World -- literally. Buck here seems to be supplying the answer to the old joke: But besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play? "It was otherwise innocuous."

As Rayford continues his sanctified sulking, we learn that he, too, is a bit unclear on the concept of the apocalypse:

If this signaled the soon beginning of the tribulation period predicted in the Bible, and Rayford had no doubt that it did, he wondered if there would be any joy in it.

What part of "tribulation" does he not understand? I suppose Rayford's just trying to accentuate the positive, to find the silver lining in "great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world." He just prefers to look at the seven bowls of divine wrath as half-full. (Or I suppose, in this case, half-empty would be the more optimistic view.) The next seven years will be marked by unprecedented, convulsive, global calamities. The population of the earth will be enslaved to a tyrant and inexorably, painfully whittled down to a scant remnant which will itself be swept away in a final conflagration. One way or another -- through famine, pestilence, war, fire, flood, earthquake or poison -- every man, woman, beast, bird, fish and plant will die.

"He wondered if there would be any joy in it." Short answer: No.

We get another full page of Rayford's self-flagellation over "his performance during the interview with Cameron Williams," during which we're told that, "From the depths of his soul Rayford wanted to be more productive ... to bring more people to Christ." Take a moment to savor the ghastly use of the word "productive" there, and appreciate that all of the reasons why that's so very much the wrong word are the same reasons the authors seem to have thought it was the right one.

The magazine interview had been an incredible opportunity, but in his gut he felt it had not come off well. ... Rayford believed he had seen the last of Cameron Williams. He wouldn't be calling Bruce Barnes, and Rayford's quotes would never see the pages of Global Weekly.

Because the important thing isn't to spread the gospel or to warn the world of its impending doom. The important thing is to get quoted and get your name in print.

Rayford mopes about for another full page. He had heard Chloe crying herself to sleep, but he's convinced they were tears of embarrassment over her father the fanatic. (After spending this entire chapter totally misreading every signal from his daughter, it would have been nice to see Mr. Perceptive begin to question his utter confidence that he always knows exactly what women are thinking and what they would say to him if he allowed them to speak, but of course this doesn't occur to him either.)

He prays for a sign, for "encouragement ... I need to know I haven't turned her off forever." Two paragraphs later, Chloe "embraced him tight and long, pressing her cheek against his chest."

Such little quotidian signs of the presence of a responsive God become a regular part of the rest of these books. This is a staple of Christian Brand fiction, but the authors don't seem to have considered how strange it is in the context of this story. "Please, God, give me some small sign," makes sense in some Jeanette Oke or Grace Livingston Hill story, but here, after God has directly incinerated the Russo-Ethiopian air fleet and then whisked away some 2 billion people in the twinkling of an eye, it seems a bit odd that the believers in Left Behind would find these smaller gestures so much more compelling as evidence of divine intervention.*

This comes up again in the following section, after Chloe receives her own equally ambiguous and unimpressive answer to prayer. "I just told God I needed a little more," she says. More, that is, than just her father's earnest pleading. Chloe also acknowledges that the Trip and Die guys might be a hint of some divine activity. "There's no other explanation** for those two guys in Jerusalem, is there, except that they have to be the two witnesses talked about in the Bible?" she says. It doesn't occur to her, or to the authors, that The Event or what Buck called "the Israel miracle" might also be regarded as signs from God. Like her father, she doesn't find such flashy phenomenon as persuasive as she does the "little more" gestures, the supposedly miraculous answers to prayer, such as a hug from a family member or a stalker's reminding you that you're never alone.

The impression such scenes give is something like if Moses had interrupted God's engraving of the stone tablets on Mt. Sinai and said, "I'm thinking of a number between one and ten ..."

That's symptomatic of a larger problem pervading the rest of this series, following the conversion of our various protagonists. The authors follow the conventions of much Christian Brand fiction, presenting their heroes as models of Christian living their readers ought to emulate. Except that none of their readers is living in this same wholly disconnected context. This tribulation period is, according to the authors themselves, a unique, parenthetical span of history -- a distinct and separate "dispensation." It is wholly unprecedented and nothing about it is to serve as a precedent for anything else (just like Bush v. Gore). The authors vacillate between emphasizing that differentness and forgetting about it entirely. It's the apocalypse, but it's otherwise innocuous.

Better writers can still find a way, even in such an alien context, to allow readers to relate to characters in such a story.*** But in the hands of LaHaye and Jenkins, this becomes a story of people who are not like us in a world that is not like ours, overseen by a god that is not like God.

While receiving the answer-to-prayer hug from his daughter, Rayford wonders if this would be the right time to press her again about converting to the Church of The Antichrist and All. But then:

... he felt deeply impressed of God, as if the Lord were speaking directly to his spirit, Patience. Let her be. Let her be.

"Though she may be parted," the Lord might have added, "there is still a chance that she may see."

What's interesting here is that after 15 pages of Rayford being wholly misled by what he felt "in his gut," we see him now getting a feeling in his gut that he interprets as "the Lord ... speaking directly to his spirit." How can he be sure this is, indeed, the voice of the Holy Spirit and not, rather, "an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato"? Rayford's visceral approach to spiritual discernment seems prone to misinterpretation.

Here's the Christian Brand novel I'd like to see. Start with this very scene -- the apparent voice of the Lord reassuring the anxious parent to "Let her be, let her be." Then have the daughter walk out the door and get hit by the Hypothetical Bus. And then what happens?

- - - - - - - - - - - -

* This reminds me a bit of the story of Gideon, who played endless games with fleece while remaining unimpressed by repeated face-to-face conversations with the angel of the Lord. But unlike our heroes in LB, Gideon was supposed to seem timid and obtuse. (The tone for the story is set when the angel, finding Gideon cowering in a winepress, calls him "mighty warrior." You have to like any story that includes angelic sarcasm.)

** Chloe, Buck and the authors all seem to think the answer to this question is No, but of course there are dozens of other possible explanations for "those two guys in Jerusalem." They might, in fact, be acting like the two witnesses from the Bible because they'd read that passage in the Bible. That actually happens a lot. The two witnesses in our story might be Moses and Elijah returned to this mortal coil, but they might also be the reincarnations of John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton. We can't discount any alternative theories until they actually start belching fire.

*** One obvious way to go about that would be to explore how the inescapable suffering and death of the apocalypse is really just a concentrated version of the unknown-but-very-limited amount of time that each of us has before also encountering inescapable death. After all, every man, woman, beast, bird, fish and plant on earth is going to die, just probably not during the same seven-year span. That's not something our premillennial dispensationalist authors are interested in exploring, though, since the whole point of believing the PMD nonsense is to be able to reassure yourself that you're never going to die -- that you will escape death by being "raptured." (How that experience is any different, for the rapturee, from meeting your maker in the twinkling of an eye courtesy of a gunshot or railway accident is unclear, but this is something PMDs have trained themselves not to think about.)

In any case, The Meaning of Life in the Face of Death might be fertile thematic ground for a real novel, but it won't do for a Christian Brand novel, which must always be about How to Live Like a Good Christian.**** For a character living during the exceptional Great Tribulation, the matter of How to Live Like a Good Christian is likely to be incomparably different from what it means for a reader who is not. That makes the theme of these books, almost by definition, irrelevant to the lives of the people reading them.

**** The fact that these are perceived to be unrelated themes tells you everything you need to know about Christian Brand novels.

Comments

[Tonio]

Just a gentle suggestion.

No problem. I only wanted the Amazon link so I could read more about the book.

[damnedyankee]

Good name for a situation comedy set in a 19th-century asylum for fallen women, from the creators of "Hogan's Heroes."

I'd watch this.

[Armando]

"Though she may be parted," the Lord might have added, "there is still a chance that she may see."

Yes, but will there be an answer?"

Goo-goo-gah-joob. Makes about as much sense as anything in these books!

[mike timonin]

mmack has broken me with his pastiche, and thus wins something. An internet? Is that the standard prize?

Also, praline is Kit Whitfield? I'll have to pick that up at the library next time I'm there. (Sorry, praline, I rarely buy books unless forced to for classes. No space to store them, mostly.)

[Dash]

No problem. I only wanted the Amazon link so I could read more about the book.

Oops! I didn't mean to come across heavy-handed. Sorry.

I was just in my local independent bookstore picking up a book or two six and there was an awkward moment when I handed over my credit card. My amazon.com credit card. My very nice bookseller gave me a funny look, and all I could think of to say was, "Dude! You don't SELL ergonomic keyboards or Stash tea!"

So I feel I owe independent booksellers a plug.

[Jeff Weskamp]

"...the whole point of believing the PMD nonsense is to be able to reassure yourself that you're never going to die -- that you will escape death by being "raptured." (How that experience is any different, for the rapturee, from meeting your maker in the twinkling of an eye courtesy of a gunshot or railway accident is unclear, but this is something PMDs have trained themselves not to think about.)" -- Fred

In the second Left Behind book, Rayford marries a woman named Amanda. The fact that he is allowed to remarry (Bruce Barnes peforms the wedding with no objections) is proof that, technically, being raptured is the same as dying. The idea of Rayford still being "married" is never brought up. So obviously, Rayford's marital bond has been severed under the "'til death do us part" clause.

""Please, God, give me some small sign," makes sense in some Jeanette Oke or Grace Livingston Hill story, but here, after God has directly incinerated the Russo-Ethiopian air fleet and then whisked away some 2 billion people in the twinkling of an eye, it seems a bit odd that the believers in Left Behind would find these smaller gestures so much more compelling as evidence of divine intervention." -- Fred

It would be like a character in a Dungeons & Dragons novel (where wizards cast fireballs, conjure monsters, shape-shift, and teleport to distant places) being shocked at someone magically changing the color of their clothing. The Tribulation Dispensation, as described in PMD, is a time when our world is transformed into something akin to a Dungeons & Dragons gameworld being operated by a sadistic Dungeon Master under the influence of LSD.

[Gabriel]

"Please, make the bad men stop. Thirteen pages of this relentless pounding "

------

Reading this line, within the context of the last few Left Behind descriptions ("Oh my dear captain!") conjured forth a very different image that I presume what the 13 pages actually contained.

[Elmo]

Take a moment to savor the ghastly use of the word "productive" there, and appreciate that all of the reasons why that's so very much the wrong word are the same reasons the authors seem to have thought it was the right one.

It fits with the way that so many of the LaHaye/Falwell crowd seem to be keeping score -- I've saved 15 souls today. How many did you save? -- as if each one counts for extra credit in the Heaven Sweepstakes.

[hapax]

The Tribulation Dispensation, as described in PMD, is a time when our world is transformed into something akin to a Dungeons & Dragons gameworld being operated by a sadistic Dungeon Master under the influence of LSD.

"Rakshasas fall. Everyone dies."

[sophia8]

"Would someone please post an Amazon link for Praline's book?"
Here's the Amazon.co.uk link (The UK and US editions have different titles.)

[Froborr]

The PMD Jesus actually eats the souls being saved for him, and he's always hungry.

Also, he comes from space.

That's right. PMDs worship Galactus.

Real Jesus could take him, though. He'd use his eyebeams.

[aunursa]

But in the hands of LaHaye and Jenkins, this becomes a story of people who are not like us in a world that is not like ours, overseen by a god that is not like God.

Ironically the initial purpose of Left Behind was to depict for people like us how the Biblical prophecies from the Book of Revelation might come about in a world like ours.

[Chris]

Or Statler and Waldorf finally snapped.

I would so pay money to see Muppets Left Behind.

[aunursa]

Froborr: The PMD Jesus actually eats the souls being saved for him, and he's always hungry.

Reminds me of: The Onion article on the death of Mother Teresa.

Also the Star Trek Voyager episode Coda.

[Bugmaster]

mmack, your lyrics are both funny and horrifying at the same time. Well done, sir, well done.

I have Praline's book on my desk, but I haven't had time to read it yet, so no spoliers !

[Tonio]

I would so pay money to see Muppets Left Behind.

Kermit and Scooter would be Rayford and Buck. Gonzo would be Nicolae. Miss Piggy could be both Chloe and Hattie.

[Tonio]

And Dr. Bunsen Honeydew would be a straw man atheist in the scene where God says, "How about this, Mr. Scientist!"

[cjmr's husband]

Sorry, Bunsen Honeydew has to be the Greatest Scientist in the World.

[Vermic]

I remember a very old Letterman bit involving a book called The Muppets All Die and Go to Hell: "Yes, sometimes life doesn't seem fair, does it?"

[Jeff]

The population of the earth will be enslaved to a tyrant

George Washington?

"I just told God I needed a little more," she says

Aaaaaaand we're back to the guy on the roof of his house during a flood.

The impression such scenes give is something like if Moses had interrupted God's engraving of the stone tablets on Mt. Sinai and said, "I'm thinking of a number between one and ten ..."

GOD: "Thou shalt not steal"

Moses: "Damn, he's good!"

====================================

Either I read that somewhere, saw it on a documentary, or made it up out of nowhere. I'm really not sure which.

You didn't make it up, because I'd heard or read it too. I found that this origin is used in The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, so we have at least one "official" source.

================================

re Praline's novel: Though if you could rewrite the ending so they all live happily ever after, my imagination would appreciate it.

I'm glad she didn't. I don't want to get too spoilery, but I'm glad that the characters have to [a] want the "happy ending" and [b] work hard to achieve it. As much as I want them to "live happily ever after",I think it been cheesy and lame to have such an ending.

===========================

Good name for a situation comedy set in a 19th-century asylum for fallen women, from the creators of "Hogan's Heroes."

I'd watch too, especially if it was on HBO (the B is for Boobies!).

==========================

I would so pay money to see Muppets Left Behind.

Kermit is Buck (he's played a reporter), Hamlet Hogthrob is Ray, Gonzo is Nicki, Miss Piggy is Chloe (Hamlet's daughter, loved by Buck!), ??Cordelia?? as Hattie??. Not sure where to put Fozzie, Rowlf and Animal, though.

[mmack]

Tonio: Bunsen Honeydew has to play Chaim Rosenzweig.

"Welcome to Muppet Labs, where the future is being made today! My assistant Beaker and I have invented a wonderous elixir guaranteed to turn any surface into a lush garden! Beaker, carefully bring that container over here, and DON'T DROP IT!"

"memememememe"

SPLASH! (Beaker drops the formula on himself)

"MEMEMEMEME!"

(A GIGANTIC stalk of corn sprouts from Beaker's forehead)

"See folks, it really works!"

[cjmr's husband]

Fozzie for Bruce Barnes.....

[cjmr's husband]

Animal is tough. There just aren't enough characters in LB that run around shouting WO-MAN! WO-MAN! WO-MAN! no matter how much Rayford thinks he is...

Would Janice make a good Hattie? Would she make a better MetaHattie?

[Tyro]

How about Janis as Chloe?

[cjmr's husband]

*runs over cast list again*

Actually, the best fit for Rayford is Sam The American Eagle. He's pompous, he's the moral leader of the group, and beneath those fine feathers, he is totally NAKED.

[Jeff]

How about Janis as Chloe?

Miss Piggy is better. She's Hamlet's (Ray's) daughter and Kermit's (Buck's) girlfriend.

I think Animal as Bruce. If you've ever seen the James Coburn ep where Animal discovers meditation (excuse me, MED! IT! AY! TION!), you could see Bruce getting excited at all the wrong times (REV! IL! AY! TION!).

[Jeff]

Why does everyone forget "Pigggggggs Innnnnnnn Spaaaaaaaaace?" Hamlet was the braindead commander who was "supposed" to be good-looking. Sam is L&J, looking in from the wings.

[cjmr's husband]

You're right. That frees fozzie up for Steve Plank.

Unfortunately, none of the main characters will ever be anywhere near Statler and Waldorf, who are prophesying in Jerusalem...

[Tonio]

Bunsen Honeydew has to play Chaim Rosenzweig.

I must have missed Fred's dissection regarding Rosensweig's significance in L&J's belief system From the Wikipedia description, the character appears to be a straw man/wish fulfiller for the authors' beliefs about secular Jews. He's a stubborn man of science who is extremely skeptical about God and who takes his Israeli heritage likely. In the later books he apparently converts to Christianity, presumably the PMD version.

[Tonio]

Hamlet was the braindead commander who was "supposed" to be good-looking.

Was this intended to lampoon Shatner? After all, he was a ham actor. (ducks to avoid flying tomatoes.)

[histrogeek]

"In the later books he apparently converts to Christianity, presumably the PMD version."
Tonio, in LB World there is no other version of Christianity.
On the Muppet LB, Sam would be a good Rayford. Fozzie or Kermit should be Buck. Janice or Piggy for Hattie. Chloe, I'm not so sure about her, ingenues weren't real big in Muppet land. I know the temptation is to have Piggy be Chloe, but Piggy is WAY too sexual and confident to be Chloe.
Gonzo or Hamlet for Nicolae. Bunsen Honeydew for Chaim. Swedish Cheif for Bruce Barnes (because nothing he says makes any sense).

[Lax Tool]

I'd say Sam as Pres. Fitzhugh, but Fitzhugh seem to be in more of the good ol' boy Clinton/W mold.

[jamoche]

If we can have any Muppet, give Elmo a sex change and turn him into Chloe. Guy Smiley as Buck, Kermit as the reader/Fred, watching with that crumpled-up expression he gets when things are just too weird for words.

[Chris]

Kermit and Scooter would be Rayford and Buck.

I can see Kermit as Buck, but the only muppet I can see as Rayford is Sam the Eagle.

And, of course, Gonzo as Carpathia.

[syfr]

Link Heartthrob, not Hamlet Heartthrob!

[Spalanzani]

histrogeek: "Swedish Cheif for Bruce Barnes (because nothing he says makes any sense)."

I think he should play Barnes' former boss, that pastor(?) who made the "In Case of Rapture" video. That way when Rayford and Chloe watch it in order to get a full explanation of what's happening, they get a video of the Swedish Cheif talking gibberish.

[Jeff]

Hamlet was the braindead commander who was "supposed" to be good-looking.
Was this intended to lampoon Shatner? After all, he was a ham actor. (ducks to avoid flying tomatoes.)

Absolutely!

Link Heartthrob, not Hamlet Heartthrob!

I think it was (and Wiki agrees) Hogthrob, but it was Link. Hamlet was a character I made up for a WorldCon Masquerade (where I got a stuffed Kermit signed by his Creator). A friend made a fantastic "Pigs in Space" costume, I had a felt-covered paper cup for a snout, and a cravat with a chop-stick attached to one end. I moved the end of the cravat around menacingly and called it my "Tie Fighter"! (A good Muppet costume deserves a lame pun, after all!)

[Jeff]

Miss Piggy is an ACTress (and she'll karate chop you if you disagree) and so can play any part (at least in her imagination). I suppose we could have Piggy as Meta-Chloe and Meta-Piggy as Chloe.

[arghous]

She embraced him tight and long, pressing her cheek against his chest. "Dear God," she thought, "I just need a little more."

He looked down on the top of her head. How he wanted to tell her about the Good News of Christ, that there was still a way for her to avoid the temptations of this world, such as innocuous cookie sharing. That she could still find joy in tribulation. However, deep in his gut he knew God wanted him to learn Patience. More than the impression of her cheek in his chest, he felt the impression of God in his spirit. Patience. Let her be. Let her be.

Slowly, she pulled back, releasing him, yet continuing to look into his eyes as if beseeching him. "More...?," she hoped.

After a long, silent moment, she reluctantly turned toward the door. She picked up her suitcase and headed out. Her ears barely noticed the echoing of her shoes on the floor, or the sqeak of the door hinges, or the traffic outside, as she was straining to hear his voice once more.

Yet through all this, he said nothing. Patience. Let her be. Let her be, quoth God to his spirit.

As she reached the curb, she looked back one last time. He had moved to the doorway, his eyes still following her, yet flashing as if he had something he needed to say.

She stepped off the curb, looking back all the time. Patience. Let her be. Let her... The bus that ripped her soul from her body didn't notice a thing.

He stood at the door, shocked. He knew her soul was not now in line to rest in the bosom of Abraham (sheesh, Lazarus, let other people have a chance, already!), but was only now starting to feel the heat of thirst on her tongue. And he knew that when God finally got around to it in seven years or so, that she'd be feeling a lot worse than that.

"Praise God!," he thought. "By the end of eternity thinking about the loss of my daughter, I'll have a pretty good idea of what Patience is all about. Halleluja!"

[aunursa]

Tonio: I must have missed Fred's dissection regarding Rosensweig's significance in L&J's belief system From the Wikipedia description, the character appears to be a straw man/wish fulfiller for the authors' beliefs about secular Jews.

Correct. In the Left Behind universe, there are only three kinds of Jews: Orthodox zealots, secular deists, and Jewish converts to Christianity. There are no Jews who actually have any knowledge of Jewish or Christian theology.

[practicallyevil]

He prays for a sign, for "encouragement ... I need to know I haven't turned her off forever." Two paragraphs later, Chloe "embraced him tight and long, pressing her cheek against his chest."

Does it strike anybody as odd that God tends to sends most of his signs to people with really low standards?

[Jeff]

Over at Kung Fu Monkey, John Rogers challenged his readers to come up with 15 hours of programming from what's available on DVD. I may have stretched a bit, but here's my entry:

2 Hours per night, plus an extra hour... hmmmmm... (Imagine LOTS of episodes for all shows)

Comedy??? Tonight

Sports Night
Buffalo Bill
Vicar of Dibley
Alas Smith and Jones

Far Out, Man

DS9
Firefly

He's a who, wha, huh?

Nowhere Man
Now and Again

Moving Pictures

Boondocks
Simpsons
Atomic Chicken
Star Trek: The Animated Series

A Shepard Unto Her Flock

Moonlighting
Cybil

Secret Agent is Not a Number

Secret Agent
The Prisoner

I Spy, MI Spy, We All Spy

I Spy
MI-5

Additional Hour:

Tracy Ullman Show
The Jane Lane Show (Spin-off of Daria)

[Chris]

Asking God for "a small sign" is also fairly... something... when you know that God is actually sitting by watching every man, woman, child, beast, bird, fish and microorganism die.

[stinger]

Funny you should mention Grace Livingston Hill. I just inherited a dozen titles from an elderly aunt, and have nearly finished reading through them. I had read several others many years ago, and don't remember them as being quite so heavy on the Magic Words and religion in general. Perhaps, because I leant more so that way myself back then, I just didn't notice/wasn't repelled. But I wonder if there is a chance that the Tyndale House editions (which I am now reading) were edited in the '80s to add some of that.

[cjmr]

But I wonder if there is a chance that the Tyndale House editions (which I am now reading) were edited in the '80s to add some of that.

It's possible. I have some old (possibly first run) editions of GLH from my great-grandmother. If we have any titles in common I'd be happy to run a comparison with you.

[cjmr's husband]

15 hours of programming from what's available on DVD

This is a challenge? When the english language contains the three words "Doctor" and "Who" and "Marathon"???

[Jeff]

This is a challenge? When the english language contains the three words "Doctor" and "Who" and "Marathon"???

1) It's a 15 hour week. (It should have been done as 5 3-hour blocks, but I was already well underway when I realized that.)

2) It should be something that other people might want to see [snark!]

(I noticed no-one posted Babylon 5 on their list. This made me very happy.)

[Ember Keelty]

Cjmr's husband is a man after my own heart. Be quiet, Jeff.

[stinger]

Thanks, cjmr. I've thrown most of them away upon completion -- I didn't remember them as being as weak, even for the romance genre, as they are. And they are stuffed with religious language that I thought didn't come in until Hal Lindsay et al.

I've read and tossed Because of Stephen, Amorelle, The Girl of the Woods, Head of the House, Kerry, More than Conqueror, The Patch of Blue, maybe one other. For now I'm keeping Crimson Roses, The Best Man, and Ariel Custer, if you have those to compare.

Just started A Girl to Come Home To, and the last on my shelf is All Through the Night. I wish I could remember the one or two titles that I actually enjoyed in my youth -- perhaps The Street of the City or The Substitute Guest? At any rate, they weren't among the ones I recently acquired.

[stinger]

Hopefully it's a sign my tastes have matured in 30-odd years!