Back of the Envelope

This may seem like a simple, self-focused Wired opinion piece, but it's important:

The e-mail generated by that essay [on whether it's e-mail or email] was overwhelming. It split about 50-50 for and against, and the tone swung dramatically, too, from adulatory to just plain snarky. I remember one in particular: "Why is it," wondered the writer, "that copy editors are always the most long-winded sons of bitches in any organization?" My reply to him (and I replied to as many as I could) was direct: "Because we're paid to be. That's why."

The following morning there was an apologetic response from him waiting in my mail queue. He was chastened, not because I wasn't a long-winded SOB on this occasion, but because I had answered him, one human being to another. He hadn't expected that. He thought he was writing into the ether. By answering him, I was no longer a faceless wall of sound. For him, at least, I now lived and breathed.

We enjoyed some clever banter until each of us gradually wearied of it and drifted off to other things, but it hammered home a lesson I've never forgotten: In a world where technology theoretically binds us closer together, it's more important than ever to really talk with the other person.

Although technically, e-mail (with or without a hyphen) and its even faster cousins, IM and text messaging, make communicating across time and distance a breeze, it's still the quality of the communication that counts. In the case of my irritable reader, our e-mail hookup worked because both of us were willing to make it work.

This I agree with whole-heartedly. It's way too easy to take the person on the other end of an e-mail or online conversation as an anonymous nobody, and that's unhealthy. The author goes on from there, and I haven't had a chance to digest the rest and decide whether I agree or not, but remember in the next flamewar that the person on the other end is a real human person.

Update: I changed the title to more accurately reflect the content.

A woman finally responded to all the complaining guys e-mailing the Corner the other day, and said simply that the complaints go both ways:

Men are getting off the hook way to easy; lots of the flaws that have been pointed out in the character of single women are just as easily applied to the single men out there. The truth of the matter is men and women in my age group have grown up in a very confused time where men and women's roles and expectations are not clearly defined. From what I read in the Corner, we have the feminist movement to thank. In fact I can confidently say that 5 men I have dated steadily/seriously (6 mos or longer) have flat out told me they don't ever plan to get married. Oh, with the exception of the guy who said he wouldn't get married until he was 40 at least, then only to someone much younger because he of course wants children.

There's another article on National Review's website which goes a bit more into this aspect of it, explaining what the Marriage Conspiracy is all about:

Having been through a painful divorce myself, I agree with Armstrong that there’s something terribly wrong with our marriage culture. There is a conspiracy of sorts — but it’s not the one Armstrong suggests. She is certainly right that people don’t know what to expect when they marry. And society does encourage newly engaged women to focus on their wedding day and honeymoon rather than on marriage itself. Where Armstrong’s article falls short, however, is in how she defines the conspiracy.
[...]
The real conspiracy — though I don’t believe the neglect is sinister, and thus perhaps “conspiracy” isn’t the word — is the silence about how hard marriage is. Not only does being married involve sacrifice that is sometimes overwhelming; it is also not, as we are taught, about being in love. It’s much more about practicality and usefulness than we wish it were.

Armstrong is wise to point out that women spend far too much time planning elaborate weddings and honeymoons. But rather than offer women concrete advice for what they should really be focusing on, she simply warns them about not giving up too much of themselves. This isn’t enough — for many women, it’s not even relevant, since they may not be pleasers by nature, as Armstrong apparently is, or was. What women should be doing during their engagements, instead of planning big parties, is talking with their fiancés about money, children, religion, sex, work, and the expectations they have of one another with respect to the division of labor in the household. As for the mental preparation, the single most important thing to understand is that love is not enough.
[...]
Modern women understand that marriage involves making sacrifices; they just don’t want to make them. They have a keen awareness that, as wives, they’re supposed to take care of their own needs throughout the journey. And lest they forget, they have plenty of women’s magazines to remind them. What may indeed be revelatory for today’s women is that they’re not the only individuals who make sacrifices in marriage. Men do as well.

Trying to find the right balance between giving to others and giving to ourselves is a tough thing. Many men have dreams of their own that are either put on the back burner or completely forgotten because of their responsibility to provide for their families. Take my husband, for instance. He is a writer, just as I am. Yet he cannot pursue his passion, because it is not generally the type of work that supports a family. I do not have this same burden. As a wife and full-time mother of two, I am able to pursue a writing career precisely because of my husband’s sacrifices. It is his financial contribution from a job that is not his first choice that allows me to do what I want with my life. Why do sacrifices like his so often go unexamined?

We would do better as a society to discuss the sacrifices involved in marriage on the part of both men and women. I agree that women are more susceptible to losing themselves in marriage due to their inherently giving nature. To warn against this is fine. But to belabor this point does a disservice to young women. Men could complain if they wanted to, but they don’t. Perhaps there’s something we can learn from their silence.

There's more, and it's worth reading. Obviously, overly high expectations aren't the only problem.

This article by Jonah Goldberg seems depressingly correct:

The West is surely indebted to Protestantism. But the idea that liberal secularism was born from it steals a few bases. Protestantism lent itself to being a state religion even more than Catholicism did. And while Christianity has long recognized the distinction between secular and religious authority, the reality is that secularism rests on a foundation of blood, not theology. The Reformation inaugurated an era of relentless religious wars. French Catholics slaughtered Protestant French Huguenots. Calvinists and Lutherans beat the stuffing out of each other. The bloodshed continued until, as British historian Herbert Butterfield put it, religious tolerance became “the last policy that remained when it had proved impossible to go on fighting any longer.” Secular tolerance, in other words, defined the terms of cease-fire.

Now, obviously, as a Protestant evangelical Christian, I think the Reformation was a good thing. While the Pope made a good argument about the need for Classical thought in Christianity in his much maligned speech (and while sympathetic, I'm not completely convinced by that argument), I think the Church in Luther's time had strayed far from the right path and needed correction. After all, I believe that Christianity is at its core a true religion, and thus anything that makes its doctrine and practice more pure makes it more true. That said, purity is not something to be sought at any cost. While a worthwhile goal, it needs to be sought in humility, acknowledging that there is much that I do not know, and even when I know for a certainty, I should be teaching the truth in love. My goal is not to force anyone to believe anything, but to convince them, and to be willing to learn where I am mistaken.

As Jonah's Jewish, I don't expect him to agree that Christianity needs to be pure, so it's understandable that he's more interested in the practical results of the Reformation. Likewise, I'm less concerned with Islam's purity than the practical effects of what Muslim believes. So is it hypocritical for me to believe that Christianity should be more pure, while I'm all for Islam being less pure? Well, from my perspective, it makes perfect sense, as simply put, I believe Christianity is true and Islam is false.

Here the Pope and I agree, as is clear in this column by Michael Ledeen:

The combination of this crackpot toleration with a general contempt for religion made it difficult for us to comprehend the nature of the current war. Everyone from W. on down has been at great pains to assure us and themselves that we have no basic conflict with Islam, that our battle is with some lunatics who say falsely that they speak in the name of Islam. So we feel quite uncomfortable when the pope — quite deliberately — poses a question about Islam itself: Is it capable of responding to reason, or is it, as he put it, completely transcendent, beyond the reach of man, and hence unchallengeable by man under any circumstances?

It’s a big question, not easily reduced to newspeak like “did the pope anticipate the reaction?” Or “did the pope go too far?” That sort of banter is embarrassingly silly. Of course the pope anticipated the reaction, he’s one of the smartest and most learned men in the world, and he’s spent a lot of time studying Islam. He wanted to draw a line. He is not prepared to extend total, blind toleration to people who use violence in the name of faith, and he’s challenging the Muslims to answer the real questions. That quotation he chose — the one that asks, Is there anything positive that has emerged from the expansion of the domain of Islam? — wasn’t generated at random. He picked it quite wittingly. Of course he knows that, for several centuries, Islam conserved the wisdom of the West, the same “Greek” wisdom he invoked as the indispensable partner of Christian faith. He’s defying the Muslims to admit that, because he knows that the jihadis don’t want to hear about it, and that an open debate about it may undermine the sway of so many dogmatic mosques, schools, TV stations, and Internet sites.

Simply put, Christians are called to Evangelize. If I believe that Islam is wrong, then it is my duty to convince Muslims of this. As a Christian, I am not just opposed to radical Islam or fundamentalist Islam or Islamic fascism. I am opposed to Islam itself. Most Christians would just as soon shirk this responsibility. Calling on people to repent and convert doesn't come easily. It's never easy to evangelize, and even moreso with people who respond violently when you do so. That doesn't make it any less a Christian responsibility.

Having said that, here's what I don't believe it is my, or anyone else's responsibility, to do. I should not be trying to outlaw Islam, or to force people to convert, or ridiculing Muslims. I believe it's possible to respect Muslims, and even their beliefs, while opposing those beliefs. I'm not trying to force them to change their beliefs, but to convince them through reasoned arguments.

And this is not America's responsibility. It's not something our government or our military should be trying to do. They need to, and do, oppose the radical, violent ideology of Islamic fascism, trying to encourage more moderate versions of Islam. That is indeed what they should be doing. It is not up to them, but up to us, the Christian community, to oppose Islam itself, to say that it is false and force it to defend itself. I think it is highly unlikely that Islam will be destroyed in this confrontation, but there are several possible beneficial results:

1. It will win Muslim believers to Christianity. This is a real, and in a spiritual sense, the most important benefit.


2. It will force Muslim scholars to defend their faith, and encourage in them a more reasoned, and hopefully more moderate faith.


3. When forced to acknowledge other beliefs within their society, it will hopefully require Muslim countries to adopt a more tolerant attitude towards other religions, and finally acknowledge the freedom to conversion.

Are these benefits likely to happen? In the short term, no. If the reaction to the Pope's speech is any indicator, the immediate response will be close-mindedness and violence. That does not make it any less worthwhile. While most Muslim leaders probably don't agree, I believe that Islam has to move past this. If it doesn't, it will implode. If belief needs to be enforced by the sword, it will collapse the same way Communism did the moment the sword-arm shows any weakness. Applying pressure only accelerates this.

There's a discussion going on about the Ally McBeal Syndrome at the Corner. It started with this post by John Derbyshire:

Just had a conversation with a friend whose office assistant (in NY City) is female, 34 years old, smart, straight, and quite strikingly good-looking. I asked him why she isn't married. He: "She says she can't find a man. There are no men, she says." Me: "In New York City? Come on." He: "That's what she says. 'There are no men.' My daughter's the same. [His daughter is 35.] No men, there are no men to marry."

[Derb] What's going on here? Isn't half the population men? No wonder our demography is cratering.

Now obviously this isn't literally true. There are men in New York, after all. I know some single guys there who are actively seeking--young, well-educated, and reasonably attractive (admittedly, I'm not really qualified to judge this aspect well). This makes me wonder if perhaps these women don't suffer from a lack of men so much as an excess of expectations. Most of the men who e-mailed the Corner seem to agree, some more impolitic than others. This one, though, happened to strike a chord with me:

I suspect that when the smart, attractive 34-year-old woman says 'I can't find a man' she means she can't find a man who is up to her standards. I also suspect those standards are pretty high. Just check out some of the profiles on yahoo.com to see what I'm talking about.

I started looking through those a few years ago after my wife died and I couldn't believe the exacting specifications most of these women had for a mate. I was excluded from at least 75 percent of them just by the height requirement. I'm [unimpressive height] and 5'9" seemed to be the minimum. I soon figured out that finding a woman willing to marry a [fifty-plus]-year-old man with an adopted [preteen]-year-old granddaughter was going to be an exercise in futility if I went the domestic route.

I'm not fifty-plus, and I don't have a granddaughter, adopted or not, but I am short--an unimpressive 5'4". I've also been losing my hair since I was twenty-five, and I'm slightly overweight. So physically, I'm no great shakes. I'm politically conservative too, which wouldn't necessarily be a disadvantage if I didn't live in Boston. But other than that, I think I'm a pretty good catch. I'm smart enough. I have a PhD in Electrical Engineering from MIT, which sounds impressive until you realize that PhDs are a dime a dozen in Boston. I have a good job which pays well, and while it's intense in spurts, I'm not a workaholic. I'm also a writer who, while not yet published, is pretty confident he'll get there, so my intelligence is not pure mathematics. While fairly introverted, I've learned to be outgoing when I have to. I'm considerate and concerned about others, if a bit absentminded, and I'll go considerable distances for my friends. I'm a theologically sound Evangelical Christian, knowledgeable and articulate about what I believe and why, and serious about serving God and others. Which should, in theory, be a big plus in certain environments.

I have some good female friends, whom I get along with well, but as far as I can tell, none of them have looked at me twice. It's possible I'm missing some subtle signals, but as I'm pretty good at recognizing interest when it's directed at other guys, it would have to be pretty subtle. (Or, I suppose, I could just be blind when it's directed my way.)

Now, that said, I haven't tried that hard either... or more precisely, I haven't been prolific with my interest. Some guys will hit on any girl they meet, then when rejected move on to the next person before the night is out. Me, I have to get to know someone and then carefully consider whether we're compatible before I ask her out. I'm not saying I'm in love by this point or anything, just that I've decided it's worth a try. It's disappointing when the woman doesn't agree, but I can handle it and move on. I'm not asking a new woman out every week, however.

This leaves me to wonder whether the women are the only ones with expectations which are too high. If I take so long to decide that someone is a possible match, am I missing other opportunities along the way? Might I have set my sights too high? After all, if we both set such impossible standards, what are the chances that you'll meet the standards of the person who actually manages to meet yours?

I'm cautious about lowering my standards, though. Both my sisters are now divorced, and I'm determined not to do the same. But the things that lead to a happy marriage are not necessarily the same things we set up as standards for a mate. It's important to be able to tell the difference.

Sluggy Freelance — Pete goes on a brief hiatus while he reworks the Oasis storyline, giving us "a zombie haiku set in a fantasy setting over the course of three days." Fortunately, he recovers well enough to make fun of his haiku. Now, can we please get back to Torg and Riff?

Day by Day — The Pope's criticism of Islam, Hugo Chavez at the UN, Murtha as House Majority Leader, and Jan's imagination all receive some love. Well, some more than others, of course.

Scary Go Round — Poor Erin! She's all depressed now that the Boy and Esther have gotten together. Don't worry, Erin. There are plenty of other guys out there. I'd be happy to date you, except that you live in England, you're only in high school, and you're technically imaginary, but other than that! Anyway, Amy and Shelley manage to fill her with comfort food, but there's a problem when she accidentally drinks the super strenght potion.

College Roomies from Hell!!! — Mike goes looking for Marsha, but April finds him first. You know, if you have to have a stalker, you could do worse than April. Fortunately, Marsha looks good again, and April's reaction is something like a vampire to garlic.

Dominic Deegan — Bumper and Stunt have begun to execute a plan. Bumper isn't as fed up with Stunt as he's pretending, and he's using the apparent falling out to get on Dominic's good side.

Schlock Mercenary — The plan is proceeding apace. Kevyn's built some armored suits for the boarding party, and they seem to work well. Just as we're getting into the story, though, Howard reminds us that it's a flashback and shows Kevyn dying. Drat, that's a downer. It's a good thing there are two of them.

The next story comes from Stephen W. Doc selected the first part of this story as one of his favorites from the past year.

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Flame of the Heavens (Part Two) (Part One)
by Stephen W of Project Paradox
The next 2,851 words of a 5,897 word story in progress rated PG.

Alderin travels onward, with a zombie's mad ramblings as his only clue: "Seek the flame of the heavens in the heart of ice."

[This well-written fantasy epic is intriguing. -DSC]

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The next story is the latest from Sheya Joie's The Child:

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Part 3, Chapter 30 of The Child (The beginning)
by Sheya Joie of Tales by Sheya
The latest 2,661 words of a 157,625 word novel-in-progress rated PG-13.

In which Beatriz is rescued as last, so you'd think Walker would be happy about that...

[Sheya's The Child is the longest-running continuing story in the Carnival, dating back to SBC 4. She's done a great job of keeping the story going the whole time. -DSC]

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For our fourth story, Doc Rampage continues the tale of Rolf and Zantar.

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A Guilding of Lillis, Scene 6 (To the beginning)
by Dave Gudeman of Doc Rampage
The next 1,975 words of a story in progress rated PG.

Zantar and Rolf find the missing children. Will they be able to rescue the darling little tykes before goblin dinner-time?

[Doc tells an exciting tale with great humor. Of course, having heroes who aren't really heroic livens things up quite a bit. -DSC]

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The next story in our LIVE Storyblogging Carnival is from Goemagog.

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The Tortoise and the Cat
by Goemagog at this space for sublet
A 700 word brief story rated PG.

Rather short, with mild violence and chelonian magic.

[Goemagog's always ready to provide a slightly weird and very short story (although recently they've tended toward very weird and slightly short). -DSC]

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Once again, for the LIVE Storyblogging Carnival, we're posting stories throughout the day. The next story is my own, the second part of The History of the Domini.

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The History of the Domini: Part II (Read the whole thing)
by Donald S. Crankshaw of Back of the Envelope
The next 597 words of a 1,440 word short story rated PG-13.

The Domini and their fellowed escaped slaves flee the wrath of the Malwer.

[It's my own story, and as a rule I don't say much about those. -DSC]

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Doc Rampage was wondering what in the world I meant by a LIVE Storyblogging Carnival, if perhaps I'd put up posts all throughout the day. I didn't feel like explaining Roman numerals to him (again!), so I decided to just go with his suggestion. Rather than a single post, I'm putting up a post for each story. This will hopefully hide the fact that there weren't that many entries this time. For our first story, we have the beginning of Mark Rayner's pirate epic:

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Cheese Pyrates: Curse of the Black Cheddar (part one)
by Mark Rayner of the skwib
The first 500 words of a story in progress rated PG-13.

The opening salvo of a new chapter in the life of Jim Quinn, who's quest for revenge takes him to dark places.

[Mark always writes with humor and aplomb, and this is no exception. -DSC]

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I don't have anything substantive to post, but I've noticed a few things around the net worth pointing out, so I thought I'd share.

Daily Lit — I noticed this one on Evangelical Outpost. Want to read a great book, but feel like you don't have the time? What if you could read just a little bit each day? Sounds like a good idea, but it takes a lot of discipline. So how about if it's spoon-fed to you via e-mail each day? That could work, and Daily Lit does just that. There's plenty of classics available (they're not covered by copyrights anymore, after all), from Darwin's The Origin of the Species to Dante's The Divine Comedy. I'm currently reading War and Peace. It'll take nearly two years to do so, but I will get it done.

The Face on Mars — From Slashdot. You've all seen the photos of the mysterious face on Mars taken by the Viking 1 Orbiter. Now that ESA's Mars Express has mapped it out with a stereo camera, you can see what it really looks like. It turns out that it doesn't look much like a face at all in the proper lighting, so you can put those conspiracy theories to rest... just kidding! As you well know, no amount of evidence can put a good conspiracy theory to rest.

Royal Society Archives — From John Derbyshire in The Corner. Want to know what the hot topics of the scientific world were in 1665? Now the entire archives of the Royal Society are online, dating all the way back to the beginning in 1665, and they're available for free until December. I'd download everything from the first hundred years or so if they made it easy, but they've cleverly avoided that. Getting an individual article isn't hard, but it'll take forever to get them all.

The Rest of the Story: The rest of The History of the Domini can be found here.

This is the second part of Randall Aurelius's unpublished draft of The History of the Domini. Randall's work may seem brief to those familiar with the lengthy works of the Philosophers, but this is a result of his deliberate care rather than a lack thereof. Rumors and legends concerning the early days of the Domini were plentiful when Randall first wrote this history. Randall forswore writing the more unreliable stories, and did his best to only relate what was solidly known or at least reasonably surmised. It is only due to his great care that his work came as close to an accurate recounting as it did.

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The History of the Domini
by Randall Aurelius

Part II: The Exodus

The Shades and the other slaves who had joined them were far from unified. The Shades themselves were divided. Their structure as a loose network of independent cells had protected them from the Malwer’s ferocious hunt, but left them with no hierarchy or leadership. There was fierce infighting, especially between those who had participated in the Malwer-hunting, and those who believed it to be as bad as anything the Malwer had done. Many wanted to fight against the Malwer and free all the humans from their grasp, while others thought that those who had now escaped should flee beyond the reach of their former masters. The mundane humans overwhelmingly wanted to flee.

In the end, the Shades split. About half remained behind to fight, joined by a few humans who hated their Malwer masters worse than the Shades. The remaining quarter led the vast majority of the humans to try to find a land far from the Malwer’s rule. They headed north, to warmer climes.

If the Shades expected the people to be grateful, there were sorely mistaken. Most of the former slaves blamed the Shades for the situation they were in, and they all feared their power. They shunned the Shades, and even the Shades’ own families wanted nothing to do with brothers, sons, and husbands who had been inducted. They were wise to do so, since, while the people were too afraid of the Shades to threaten them directly, they harassed and in some cases even harmed their families. The Shades soon discovered that they had as much need to protect their identities from their fellow humans as from the Malwer. The fear and resentment of the Shades even extended to those with the ability to learn, once it was discovered that there were many untrained humans among the exiles.

The Shades made several decisions during this time that has continued to shape the Order to this day. Only young men were taken to be trained, lest they take fathers and husbands from their families. They were taken in secret, so that there would be no reprisals against their families, and they were required to make a clean break with their old lives, as any contact put their acquaintances at risk. Not all the young men were willing, but they understood that once it was discovered they had the ability, they were outcasts. Finally, women were not taken. There were fewer women than men among the escaped slaves, and the Shades realized that the long-term survival of the independent humans would require children. They also worried that if they recruited women with the ability, they might deplete the number of boys with it in future generations. It should also be remembered that in these ancient days that the egalitarian impulses which are rare outside of the Philosophers even now was practically unheard of. The Shades saw themselves as warriors, and they did not believe that women were suited for their task.

Eventually, the independent humans moved beyond the reach of the Malwer Sovereignty, and settled in a land to the west of it, likely where the Novar Empire is now. Information trickled to them from the Shades and the humans who had remained behind to fight. While these warriors had been wholly unsuccessful in a direct assault, they still managed to cause difficulty for the Malwer, and to assist many among the remaining slaves who wished to escape. Meanwhile, the exodus of slaves had triggered internal turmoil among the Malwer, and the infighting would keep them occupied for years to come.

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This is the latest 597 words of a 1,440 word short story in progress.

Sorry that I'm late putting this up. I was going to find another host, but I waited too long, so I'll have to do it myself. So yes, I'll be hosting the next Storyblogging Carnival here at Back of the Envelope.

If you use your blog to share your fiction, then the Storyblogging Carnival is what you're looking for. Here we host any and all forms of storytelling in blog format. If you're curious about what this looks like, have a look at some examples of previous storyblogging carnivals. The next Storyblogging Carnival will be the fifty-fourth, which means we're pronounceable again. It will be going up September 25th.

If you'd like to participate, please e-mail your story submissions to me at dscrank-at-alum-dot-mit-dot-edu (or post in my comments), including the following information:

• Name of your blog
• URL of your blog
• Title of the story
• URL for the blog entry where the story is posted
• (OPTIONAL) Author's name
• (OPTIONAL) A suggested rating for adult content (G, PG, PG-13, R)
• A word count
• A short blurb describing the story

The post may be of any age, from a week old to years old. The submission deadline is 11:59 PM Eastern time on Saturday, September 23rd. More detailed information follows (same as always):

1. The story or excerpt submitted must be posted on-line as a blog entry, and while fiction is preferred, non-fiction storytelling is acceptable.
2. The story can be any length, but the Carnival will list them in order of length, from shortest to longest, and include a word count for each one.
3. You may either send a complete story, a story in progress, or a lengthy excerpt. You should indicate the word count for both the excerpt and the complete story in the submission, and you should say how the reader can find more of the story in the post itself.
4. If the story spans multiple posts, each post should contain a link to the beginning of the story, and a link to the next post. You may submit the whole story, the first post, or, if you've previously submitted earlier posts to the Carnival, the next post which you have not submitted. Please indicate the length of the entire story, as well as the portion which you are submitting.
5. The host has sole discretion to decide whether the story will be included or not, or whether to indicate that the story has pornographic or graphically violent content. The ratings for the story will be decided by the host. I expect I'll be pretty lenient on that sort of thing, but I have some limits, and others may draw the line elsewhere. Aside from noting potentially offensive content, while I may say nice things about stories I like, I won't be panning anyone's work. I expect other hosts to be similarly polite.
6. The story may be the blogger's own or posted with permission, but if it is not his own work he should gain permission from the author before submitting to the Carnival.

If you'd like to be added to the e-mail list, please let me know. Finally, I appreciate folks promoting the carnival on their own blogs, and I'm always looking for bloggers willing to host future carnivals.

Sluggy Freelance — Finally, we're back to Torg and Riff. Bun-bun's come through with the information on Oasis, and forwards it to the two, who go to the orphanage from which Oasis was adopted when she was six. However, she wasn't a normal little girl when she started, coming from someplace called Orsin-something Research. What's interesting about this story is that Torg is being the responsible one, while Riff is the one acting like he's on crazy-stupid gas or something. You don't think he was hit by it or something?

Day by Day — The Democrats' reaction to "The Path to 9/11" gets some attention, as does their beliefs about Bush and the War on Terror. But don't think Chris doesn't have time to take Colin Powell to task, or complain about conditions in Guatanamo. He ain't singing the same tune as the Lefties, though.

Scary Go Round — Esther and the Boy are reunited, and track down Tim and Riley. They give the cell phone to Riley, who promptly smashes it. She doesn't seem to want Tim to go back, does she?

College Roomies from Hell!!! — Mike's dad walks in on him and Dave in bed. Which is exactly what Dave expected. Dad's come to invite Mike to a party. He's thoroughly convinced Mike is gay, which is what Mike wants, so it's a good thing neither of them realized that Blue was under the bed, isn't it?

Dominic Deegan — Pam's eager to give Dominic and Luna a free house. Dang, how do I save a city and get a free house out of it? Meanwhile, Bumper and Stunt had a falling out, and Bumper gets an invite to dinner with Dominic, Luna, Gregory, and Pam.

Schlock Mercenary — Captain Tagon's having trouble putting the assault plans together, what with his officers busy babysitting the troops. While Tagon's putting the plan together, Thurl has acquired a superfreighter to hide the ship inside, and a sponsor to reduce costs.

I asked my readers, along with current and former Storyblogging Carnival participants, to send me their favorite stories for the past year. Unfortunately, I didn't get very many responses, but there were a couple. For the most part, the recommendations came without comment, so I added a little description so you know what they're about.

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Sheya Joie of Tales by Sheya recommends Ink Magic at Doc Rampage. Dave Gudeman's tale of demons, tattoos, and dark matter is certainly deserving of the recognition.

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Dave himself, aka Doc Ramapge, has compiled a sizeable list of stories deserving recognition:

Celestaine at Books by Kai mixes sci-fi and magic.

Adventure at Perrero gives a writer a second chance at life.

Amelia Earhart's Blog tells the story of Earheart's last years.

Satin is one of Andrew Ian Dodge's one hundred word stories, and in Doc's opinion, the best.

Flame of the Heavens at Project Paradox. I didn't read this one myself, but it looks like an interesting fantasy story, and apparently Doc liked it.


Culture Shock at Caveman Joe. They travelled a long way through space to meet the odd aliens who looked so similar despite their lack of both fur and tails.

All of the Thag stories from the Skwib (which Doc thinks should be spelled(squib)). Pre-history was never this familiar.

Bob and the Circus is one of Goemagog's (at this space for sublet) longer stories. Bob happens to be a tree.

Pentecost at Fwd: Thoughts is a retelling of the second chapter of Acts.

Kidney Failure at Creativity Dies tells a rather depressing tale of drug use.

The Child at Tales by Sheya. Religious allegory or a good story disguised as religious allegory? You decide.

The Diary at Stealth Fiction is as good an argument as I've ever seen not to read strange books.

The Peace Moonbeam Chronicles at Peace Moonbeam. According to Doc, they "are all funny as heck."

Finally, Doc also thinks that Quest for the Sacred Crystal deserves mention as a user-directed novel.

Or maybe not so finally. Doc also sent me a long e-mail he thought should be added to the Reader's Favorites post. I'll post it as written, despite its blush-inducing nature.

It doesn't seem fair to me that Donald Crankshaw, a very talented writer, one of the most reliable entrants (up till the last few months), and the founder of the Carnival should have to do the aniversaries, so I've asked him to append this note to the Anniversary Carnival. Donald obviously can't talk about how good his own contribution has been, so I'll do it. He has done two things that deserve special mention (and a poem that doesn't deserve special mention so I'm going to pass sliently over it :-). First, his short novel, Fire is a tremendous fantasy epic set in a pseudo-Roman setting. I always look forward to the various additions to this story such as The History of the Domini: Part I and Interlude from Fire. Donald also contributed another good novella, Eyes in the Shadow. Frankly, although the story and charcters were very engaging, I never felt that Donald pulled off a sufficient level of creepiness for a horror novel. But as amply shown by Coming Home, the Prologue to The Eyes of the Shadow, he has finally found his inner Poe.

Finally, I'd like to thank Donald for all of the hard work he has put into the Storyblogging Carnival. He must end up hosting half of them or more, and hosting a Carnival is not a trivial amount of work. So, thanks, Donald, and congratulations on your second aniversary.

And the rest of you should be volunteering to host more often. I would host more often, but I'm too busy...

Thanks, Doc. Hopefully, I'll have some more stuff in the near future.

Old Post: Here is last year's Carnival of Storyblogging Carnivals.

Last year, I put together a post linking to all the carnivals, and in the process recovered one which had been lost to the ethers. Today, I'm doing the same for all the carnivals during the second year. Once again, I'll point out that I do have a page dedicated to the carnivals here, but as I noted then, it doesn't hold the full twenty-six for the previous year, much less the year before that. So this post will serve as the one which links to them all.

Storyblogging Carnival XXVII at Back of the Envelope
This is the first anniversary edition, hosted by myself. We had ten entries, mostly from our regulars, with one or two special treats. The Carnival itself was only a small part of our First Anniversary festivities.

Storyblogging Carnival XXVIII at Tales of Tadeusz
The second carnival of the second year had thirteen entries, as many as we've ever seen.

Storyblogging Carnival XXIX at Tales by Sheya
Sheya hosts the next carnival, again with thirteen entries. For some reason, thirteen seems to be our limit at this point.

Storyblogging Carnival XXX at Back of the Envelope
This is the carnival all those Google searches for "XXX stories" wind up at. The searchers are no doubt disappointed that this is one of the less racy carnivals, with only two stories getting an R rating and not a single NC-17. It had ten entries.

Stoyblogging Carnival XXXI at Back of the Envelope
Another one at Back of the Envelope, and again ten entries. It feels like we're settling into a rhythm, getting 10-13 entries each time. We're going pretty strong, it seems.

Stoyblogging Carnival XXXII at The Skwib
I believe this was Mark's first time hosting the Storyblogging Carnival. He divided the nine entries between fiction, non-fiction, and audio. Overall, it was very nicely done--neat and no-nonsense.

Storyblogging Carnival XXXIII at Tales by Sheya
And just as I'm convinced that we'll never have more than thirteen entries, along comes one with fourteen. Have we finally broken past unlucky thirteen? Will we continue to grow and grow and grow? In a word, "No."

Storyblogging Carnival XXXIV at Back of the Envelope
A week before Christmas, and we still have nine entries. Not bad at all. Kind of light on the Christmas stories, considering, but they aren't completely absent.

Storyblogging Carnival XXXV at Quibbles-n-Bits
And from nine down to five, our smallest ever. Well, it is the Christmas Holiday, so I suppose it happens.

Stoyblogging Carnival XXXVI at Doc Rampage
Doc hosts with eleven stories, and it looks like we've recovered from the Christmas vacation slump.

Storyblogging Carnival XXXVII at Back of the Envelope
Nine stories, thanks to successful whining on my part. I especially like Doc's emotionally true one.

Stoyblogging Carnival XXXVIII at Tales by Sheya
Sheya hosts seven stories, including five which are the latest parts of continuing stories. Continuing stories have become a staple of the Carnival, for reasons which are obvious when you think about them. I just haven't had a chance to do so yet.

Storyblogging Carnival XXXIX at Doc Rampage
Twelve entries this time, and I finally wrap up Fire, leaving me with no idea what to post next.

Stoyblogging Carnival XL at DesertLight Journal
This is the first carnival where I didn't have an entry of my own. I was very sad about this, but after submitting a story (or a chapter of one) every two weeks for thirty-nine weeks, I guess I can be cut a little slack. There were five entries in this one.

Stoyblogging Carnival XLI at Zeroth Order Approximation
Seven entries, and the first time hosting by Ben, I believe. Having missed my first Carnival, it was relatively easy for me to miss my second.

Storyblogging Carnival XLII at Quibbles-n-Bits
Twelve stories this time, and as it's the Passover edition, Josh guarantees that they're 100% kosher.

Stoyblogging Carnival XLIII at Cagey Mind
Eight stories this time, during Cagey Mind's first turn hosting.

Stoyblogging Carnival XLIV at Back of the Envelope
This was one of the rare carnivals you could pronounce, and let's face it, xliv is just fun to say. There were five stories, most of them really short, so the total wordcount was 5,005 words, less than some of the longer entries in most carnivals. On the other hand, one of Goemagog's stories finally broke the 1,000 word mark, so not everyone's writing was getting shorter.

Storyblogging Carnival XLV at Back of the Envelope
While xlv isn't as pronounceable, there were twice the number of entires as the previous carnival (that's, uh, two times five, carry the one, ten entries), and 140% more words.

Storyblogging Carnival XLVI at Back of the Envelope
My third hosting in a row, with eight entries, although the intro says seven--I must have miscounted. I also mispelled rather as 'rahter', so I'm wondering what was up with me that day. On the bright side, I had an entry myself, the first in the long while. Don't get too excited though: it's poetry.

Storyblogging Carnival XLVII at Doc Rampage
Doc hosts with ten entries. As usual, he has trouble with the Roman numerals.

Stoyblogging Carnival XLVIII at Our Adventurous Song
Hosted by the Blog for the e-zine Sone and Foe, I expected there to be a lot of interest in this one, but there were only five entries in the end: tying for the shortest one. The Fourth of July weekend just seems to be lacking in storyblogging. However, I did submit a story to this one, a prologue for Eyes. I also noticed that the host, Jeremiah, had been confused by Doc's Roman numeral confusion, so I figured I'd better host the next one before it got any worse.

Storyblogging Carnival XLIX at Back of the Envelope
Six entries this time. I'm beginning to think July and August are just slow months for Storyblogging. However, xlix is still pronounceable.

Stoyblogging Carnival L at Back of the Envelope
The cool thing about using Roman numerals is that every once in a while you go back down to single digits. Of course, Doc challenged my use of Roman numerals, accusing me of just making L up. He got me so confused I had to check just to make sure. In any case, there were seven entries this time.

Stoyblogging Carnival LI at Doc Rampage
Doc hosts number fifty-one, claiming that he has four stories, but I count five.

Stoyblogging Carnival LII at Fringeblog
Seven stories this time, with Jeremiah taking the helm after a long absence.

This is it, Storyblogging Carnival LIII, the second anniversary. Unfortunately, it occurs on the fifth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. This coincidence is a grim reminder that while we write stories about fictional worlds, we still live in the real one, where the tragedies and heartache are real and the victory of good and the redemption of evil aren't always so clear. Nevertheless, I make no apology for writing fiction, even on this day. Fiction is more than escape. The stories we tell are about the world as we believe it really is. A writer sees purpose in the world, and his story is weighted with it. Writers, whether they believe it themselves or not, make it possible to believe that no tragedy is truly meaningless, that even the worst events shape a grander story. One that I, at least, believe has a hopeful ending.

For our second anniversary, we have a number of writers returning after being away for a while. They've saved some wonderful tales for us. In addition to the carnival itself, I plan to do a couple of other posts this week, one being a Carnival of Storyblogging Carnivals, like I did last year, and one being reader-submitted favorites from the past year's Carnivals. I've seen a few nominations so far, but not many, so I'm still looking for more. Please send them to me so I can put the post together Tuesday night.

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Thag Go Grunka Gathering
by Mark Rayner of The Skwib
A 391 word brief story rated PG-13.

Thag and the Thunka Grunkas join all of the other Grunka clans at their big gathering, where the religious debates continue, and one of the other clans invents a new drink.

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A Poodle Tale
by Madeleine Begun Kane of Mad Kane's Humor Blog
A 560 word brief story rated PG.

"I read recently that elegant dog garb and pricey canine day-care are 'in' these days. Frankly, I was pleased to learn this. For until I acquired this seemingly frivolous bit of information, I was seriously concerned about my parents."

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Ghost in the Machine
by Postmodern Sass of Postmodernes Sprachspielen
A 607 word brief story rated PG.

A story about how my dead mother is haunting me.

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Names
by Tom Harrison of Monday Evening
A 634 word brief story rated PG.

A young man joins the army.

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Part I of The History of the Domini
by Donald S. Crankshaw of Back of the Envelope
The first 843 words of a continuing short story rated PG-13.

"This previously unpublished work is an excerpt from an early draft of Randall Aurelius's History of the Domini."

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Clear Passage, Part 2 of Chapter 2 of Celestaine (To the beginning)
by Kai of Books by Kai
The next 1,479 words of a story in progress rated PG-13.

Aine Harper isn't anyone to mess with--and neither is the order she represents.

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Deepsouthend
by Andrew Ian Dodge of Dodgeblogium
A 1,799 word short story rated PG.

"The Sage sat at his desk chuckling as he wrote down his latest encounter with his lifelong enemy and its efforts to infiltrate humanity. A veteran of the fight against the Great Old Ones and their minions; it was rather rare that he found anything amusing related to his task. But this one just had a tinge of typically British humour about it."

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A Guilding of Lillis, Scene 5 (To the beginning)
by Dave Gudeman of Doc Rampage
The next 1,803 words of a story in progress rated PG.

Rolf and Zantar find the goblin cave. They also find some goblins.

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Part III, Chapter 29 of The Child (To the beginning)
by Sheya Joie of Tales by Sheya
The latest 3,337 words of a 154,964 word novel rated PG.

More fighting, and the return of the fried-headed demon!

[Sheya is back! It's been a while. -DSC]

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If you'd like to take part in a future carnival, please contact me. I am also looking for hosts. Other carnivals can be found here.

The Storyblogging Carnival can be found at The Truth Laid Bear's ÜberCarnival.

As promised, I've added a new comic to the Update, and sadly, removed General Protection Fault. I still love GPF, but it's gone down to three times a week and is currently on hiatus, so I need new blood for the Update. Instead, Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire will be joining the roll. Just back from its own hiatus, Dominic Deegan is a fantasy comic with a sharp sense of humor and strong moral grounding. It's stories are complex and engaging, and really beyond doing justice to them here. Suffice it to say that you should go read it from the beginning. I'll be updating the sidebar accordingly tonight.

Sluggy Freelance — Oasis's flashbacks are beginning to shake her faith in her love for Torg, but brainwashing quickly sets in. Kareen wants her and her sensei gone for good, but it looks like her concern over the police is unwarranted, as they seem to be protecting her... unless it's something more sinister. Never fear, the press is here to dig it up, or at least get tossed into jail for trying.

Day by Day — As I suspected, the car crash was a bait and switch, and as I did not suspect, so was the pregnancy. That's disappointing, although now it seems Jan's decided she wants kids. There's still some time for some Capitol Hill madness, mocking the democrats for their alarm over the 9/11 film.

Scary Go Round — Uh-oh. The police are aiming to stop the commandeered trailer, and The Boy and Esther are forced to swim for it. The Boy at least has found "safety," assuming that crazy green man is safe.

College Roomies from Hell!!! — Just two comics this week, but Dave seems to be hiding something from Mike in his bed. That cocunut drink seems like it's too easy, doesn't it? Where is Blue?

Dominic Deegan — Stunt and Bumper are in Barthis. For those who don't know, these two thieves have a history with Dominic, generally being outwitted by the Seer at every turn, although occasionally they've worked with him. Stunt wants to start a new crime ring in Barthis, while Bumper just wants to live a quiet life with his guilt over killing the despicable Amelia Sturtz. Meanwhile, Dominic and Luna are planning to buy a house together and move into Barthis.

Schlock Mercenary — Finally! We've reached the part of the flashback where Kevyn explains how he ended up on that planet in a loincloth in the first place. Apparently, they're trying to kill some pirates/insurgents, and they're disguising themselves as a freighter to do so.

Dave at Faith*in*Fiction is worried over the double standard between sex and violence in fiction, and particularly when it comes to Christian fiction. As I am not at all shy about violence in my fiction (see, especially, Fire, but Eyes isn't exactly pacifistic either), this is something I've thought about. I have a theory about the reason for this double-standard, and it's probably not what you think.

As a society, we have a much greater consensus on what constitutes acceptable violence than acceptable sexuality. Americans are as divided as ever on extramarital sex, homosexuality, and a host of other sexual practices. Sex in fiction is almost bound to offend someone, and whether the writer makes it clear the act is right or wrong, or just presents it without judgement, someone's going to protest. Violence is another matter. We have clear ideas on when violence is just and when it is not. It is, in general, not right to harm people, except in self-defense or to stop those who use unjust violence. Thus, when we read about a violent act in fiction, we immediately categorize it as right or wrong, and rarely worry that it will send the wrong message to impressionable young people, as that categorization is clear in the fiction as well. Of course, good fiction can blur the lines, and edgy movies do it as a matter of course, but none of them really attempt to shift the general consensus. Thus the violence is "safe," even when it is very ugly.

John Podhoretz thinks that Bush may be ready to use force against Iran:

George W. Bush just delivered what may be the most important speech of his presidency since he went before the United Nations on Sept. 12, 2002, and declared his intention to seek regime change in Iraq.

The time has come, the president all but said yesterday, to take the gloves off with Iran.

"The world's free nations will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon," he said flatly. He prefaced those words by saying that efforts were being made to find a diplomatic solution to the problem. Nonetheless, Bush has now said in the strongest sentence he has yet spoken on the matter that Iran will not go nuclear. He is unconditional about it.

Captain Ed takes a different view of the whole situation:

The White House and senior Republican leadership in Congress have little enthusiasm for a war resolution at this time targeting Iran, the New York Sun reports this morning. After a suggestion by William Kristol that such a piece of legislation would put more pressure on Teheran to comply with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, the Bush administration and Congress distanced themselves from any such talk...

At best, such a resolution would be a big bluff, providing authority for little more than air strikes that might damage Iran's nuclear program but would also likely turn their population against us. And the last thing we need in that region is to issue more empty threats.

The political situation in Iran is far different than it was in Iraq, and there is much greater hope that an internal movement could collapse the mullahcracy. Ahmadinejad and the Guardian Council do not exercise the same kind of oppression that Saddam Hussein did on Iraqis. The Iranians would not stand for it, and the mullahs have to tread carefully to maintain their power, which is why they stage elections for the Assembly and the presidency, even though they retain veto power over all that either do. (They may have forgotten this, as my post below notes.)

If the US could help Iranian democracy activists gain momentum, especially starting with the trade unions and university professors, the Iranians themselves could overthrow the mullahcracy and replace it with a much more rational government. Iran's history is not one of radicalism, with the exception of the last thirty years, but of educated, Western-looking sophisticates. They may not replace the mullahs with a carbon-copy Western democracy, but any rational form of representative government will make a huge difference.

How do I feel about this? While, like Captain Ed, I long for an internal revolution that overthrows the mullahs, I just don't know whether that will happen quickly enough. I'm worried that a nuclear weapon will be in Hezbollah's or Hamas's or even al Qaeda's hands before that can happen, and airstrikes to set back Iran's nuclear program by a couple of years is starting to sound like a good idea. If Iran's population is truly looking for a liberal democracy, they won't change their minds because we knock out such a dire threat.

A friend of mine challenged me to take a nerd test in order to make herself feel better. I'm not sure whether the fact I tied with her accomplishes that, but we're both rather nerdy:

Additionally, it said, "High-Level Nerd. You are definitely MIT material, apply now!!!" Been there, done that, got the diploma.

I'm not sure why she feels embarrassed about this. We both have PhDs from MIT. It'd frankly be embarassing if we scored below 75%.

This previously unpublished work is an excerpt from an early draft of Randall Aurelius's History of the Domini. Revelations which occurred a few short years later invalidated much of what Aurelius had written, and cast a new light on the rest. This work is more than a historical curiosity, however. It reveals the inner workings of the Ordo Dominorum's self-image at the time, what they understood of their origins and their purpose, even if much of it was vague legend rather than complete fact. Thus, it helps us to understand their motivations and the reasons they behaved the way they did during the recent crisis. It would be wise of us to take that into account before we pass judgement on them.

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The History of the Domini
by Randall Aurelius

Part I: The Malwer

Any history of the Domini must begin with the Malwer. Unfortunately, so little is known about the Malwer that every history of the Domini is, of necessity, incomplete. Nevertheless, I will endeavor to record what is known of our origins, and hope that someday the blanks may be filled.

Who, or what, the Malwer were is the great mystery of our origins. Today, the uninitiated refer to them as demons, but in the days of our enslavement we considered them gods. At a time before humans had any magic, every Malwer was gifted with it. It came to them as naturally as breathing, and they viewed their magic as the proof of their right to rule mankind.

Our tradition calls the first human to discover magic Saul. This is almost certainly not his name, and his identity is as much a mystery as how he discovered magic. Human magic only comes through training: to this date there is no verified case of any human developing this ability spontaneously or through his own meditation. It is as ludicrous as gnats forming spontaneously from dust or frogs from mud (a belief still held by many of the superstitious Novari). Many have speculated that Saul must have been taught, either by a renegade Malwer or, more plausibly, by one of the Amaranthine, although this was centuries before they revealed themselves to the rest of the human race.

Whatever the source of his power, Saul knew that magic might be the key to humanity’s freedom. However, he also knew that he did not have the ability to challenge the Malwer on his own, so he could not risk discovery by the Malwer. Saul was most likely a field slave, with little enough contact with the Malwer to avoid their suspicion. Even so, he proceeded with the greatest of caution. He found others with untrained magical ability and taught them, all the while keeping his identity hidden from his students as much as anyone else, wrapping himself in an encompassing robe every time he met with them. He knew that if any one of them were discovered, the only chance he and the rest of his students would have for survival was anonymity. His students did the same, perhaps hiding their identities even from one another. Eventually, his students grew knowledgeable enough to train students of their own, maintaining the practice of keeping their identities hidden from their own students.

The teaching spread throughout the Malwer lands, and somehow they avoided discovery for several generations, most likely because they confined themselves to teaching fellow field slaves, who had little Malwer supervision, and because they did nothing but teach and learn. While the masters continued to keep the students from discovering their own identities, some cells allowed the students to know each others’ identities. This became the only means for cells to contact one another once age claimed the former master of the current cell leaders. Even so, after a few generations, the secrecy had taken its toll and most cells had no contact with anyone removed by a generation or two. It is not clear whether the teachings were confined to men deliberately at first: it may simply have been that there were more men than women among the field slaves. It is certain that those learning magic were exclusively male by the time they took the next step, perhaps for the same reason that all soldiers are men.

It was unlikely a concerted decision, as it has already been noted that most cells had contact with only a few others. But at some point the cells began acting against the Malwer. Rather than a head-to-head war, a cell would track down and kill an individual Malwer, generally one against they held some particular grudge. Other cells, hearing of the rumors, began to do the same, and soon the Malwer found themselves being hunted and killed by an elusive enemy they could not identify. When they were spotted, by either Malwer or human, hidden in their all-concealing voluminous robes and no doubt further obscured by magical illusion, they appeared as shapeless black shadows. Thus they earned the name Shades.

For a while, the Malwer feared the Shades, and whispered that they were ghosts or demons, but no conspiracy can continue forever, and eventually the Shades were found out. At the realization that the Shades were humans with magic, fear and fury alike swept through the Malwer, and a hunt began to find the Shades and exterminate them. As an extra dead slave here or there did not concern them, they did not burden themselves with proof that a human was indeed a Shade before executing him. This hunt forced the Shades to flee. Many innocent humans fled with them, fearing the Malwer who had turned on them, although many blamed the Shades for bringing this oppression on top of them. For the first time, Shades gathered together in large numbers to fight the Malwer openly, joined by desperate humans. Thus the rebellion had begun.

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This is the first 843 words of a continuing story. There will be more.

This next Storyblogging Carnival will be our second anniversary. We've been going continuously for two years now. I wish I could say we're going stronger than ever, but we've been in a bit of a slump recently, partly because I haven't devoted the time to the carnival that it deserves. I won't promise to turn it around, but I'm going to put some effort into this upcoming one. But I'll need your help. First, if you have any stories you'd like to share, be sure to send me the proper information, and I'll include it in the next carnival. If you don't have a story, you could always write one in the next week. Second, if you have a favorite story which has appeared in the carnival during the last year, please let me know. I'd like to make a "Best of" post for this year, and I want to use other people's opinions rather than my own. Last year's Storyblogging Carnivals (or at least links to them) can be found here.

If you do have a story you'd like to submit, please e-mail your entries to me at dscrank-at-alum-dot-mit-dot-edu (or post in my comments), including the following information:

• Name of your blog
• URL of your blog
• Title of the story
• URL for the blog entry where the story is posted
• (OPTIONAL) Author's name
• (OPTIONAL) A suggested rating for adult content (G, PG, PG-13, R)
• A word count
• A short blurb describing the story

The post may be of any age, from a week old to years old. The submission deadline is 11:59 PM Eastern time on Saturday, September 9th. More detailed information follows (same as always):

1. The story or excerpt submitted must be posted on-line as a blog entry, and while fiction is preferred, non-fiction storytelling is acceptable.
2. The story can be any length, but the Carnival will list them in order of length, from shortest to longest, and include a word count for each one.
3. You may either send a complete story, a story in progress, or a lengthy excerpt. You should indicate the word count for both the excerpt and the complete story in the submission, and you should say how the reader can find more of the story in the post itself.
4. If the story spans multiple posts, each post should contain a link to the beginning of the story, and a link to the next post. You may submit the whole story, the first post, or, if you've previously submitted earlier posts to the Carnival, the next post which you have not submitted. Please indicate the length of the entire story, as well as the portion which you are submitting.
5. The host has sole discretion to decide whether the story will be included or not, or whether to indicate that the story has pornographic or graphically violent content. The ratings for the story will be decided by the host. I expect I'll be pretty lenient on that sort of thing, but I have some limits, and others may draw the line elsewhere. Aside from noting potentially offensive content, while I may say nice things about stories I like, I won't be panning anyone's work. I expect other hosts to be similarly polite.
6. The story may be the blogger's own or posted with permission, but if it is not his own work he should gain permission from the author before submitting to the Carnival.

If you'd like to be added to the e-mail list, please let me know. Finally, I appreciate folks promoting the carnival on their own blogs, and I'm always looking for bloggers willing to host future carnivals.

Sluggy Freelance — Oasis's sensei takes her outside for a little training. She's able to perform difficult feats of dexterity without a problem, and none of her difficult life seems to phase her: except for Torg. She doesn't remember why she loves him, and she's beginning to question it.

Day by Day — It looks like Jan is pregnant, and once Damon gives his full support, she decides she wants the baby. Everything's going great--until there's an accident. I think it's a bait and switch, but it's real drama from Day by Day, so I'm happy. It's beginning to look more like a webcomic these days.

Scary Go Round — And the boat is sailing down the river (which used to be a road) to the town where Tim's hiding. Back in town, Shelley's debonaire thief has stolen the formula. I just wished I knew what she's planning to do with it.

College Roomies from Hell!!! — Roger's stuck trying to explain to Diana why he had sex with Margaret, and he makes the mistake of bringing up that Di's a prostitute, so she really doesn't have room to complain. Uh-oh. Over at the manor, it's clear that the Dragon's planning to brainwash somebody, but she doesn't intend to let Harry brainwash Mike. The two options are Dave and April, I guess. And, ah, Dave's happy, prompting a cold day in Hell. That's a pretty heavy-handed suggestion that the Dragon's going after Dave.

General Protection Fault — The Gamester calls in Todd to help deal with the situation in the alternate universe while he deals with the real threat. Meanwhile, the Greys are victorious, right before the slime molds arrive.

Schlock Mercenary — Kevyn is having a near death experience, and Petey's in it--confirming once again his god-complex. Since he's unacceptable to Kevyn's subconscious, the cartoonist shows up instead. Sounds like fun.

Mario Loyola makes the argument that Israel came out on top in the ceasefire with Hezbollah deal, even if mostly by accident. The general consensus of everyone except Olmert (the Israeli Prime Minister) is that Israel messed up the war, losing out on a golden opportunity to cripple Hezbollah by lashing out blindly. I guess I have to give more credit to all the complaints about Israel's "disproportionate response" than I did before, although it was less "disproportionate" than "poorly aimed." Of course, even a poorly aimed response can have some benefits, as Loyola notes:

Despite appearances, things are shaping up in some ways quite favorably for Israel — insofar as this is possible. Israel may not have much ground truth to show for its military efforts in south Lebanon, but it did make a very important point, or rather two: Namely, that it will destroy half of Lebanon in the blink of an eye before it will permit Lebanon to be used as a missile platform to terrorize Israelis, and that it will blow right through anybody that Hezbollah tries to use as a human shield.

In effect, Israel has transcended its image problem. Agree with Israel or disagree with it, everybody now knows that if Hezbollah uses you as a human shield, you are dead. This creates a huge disincentive to being used as human shields—at least for Europeans, who are generally happy with the abundant supply of virgins (etc.) right here on planet Earth and feel no need to go seeking them anyplace else.

A rather cold analysis, but a useful one. Our enemies' tactics are based on their high estimation of our humane behavior. They may accuse us of murdering women and children, but if they really believed that, they wouldn't be hiding behind them. Israel has made it clear that there is a limit to how far that strategy can take you. They know that they will be accused of killing innocents no matter how careful they are, so they are free to pursue their military objectives without regard for how it plays on TV. Although I don't commend that attitude (you don't avoid killing civilians just to avoid the press's condemnation), it is nevertheless satisfying to see Hezbollah's own strategy working against them. The modern West's paranoia of civilian casualties is often unhealthy anyway, making it impossible to wage war to the full extent and thus dragging out the fighting, and ultimately resulting in greater civilian casualties.

Mario has a bit more to say about how the new UN force is larger and more effective than the previous one, and he concludes with

The most immediate effect of a robust European-led presence may indeed be to chill Hezbollah activity in south Lebanon. The current ceasefire could turn out to be a lasting interregnum. But with our without the fighting, one thing is increasingly clear. In seeking deviously to outsmart the Israelis and the Americans, Jacques Chirac and Kofi Annan may have outsmarted themselves.

Read the whole thing.