The Gone, Away, and Returned Thread II

Today I spoke by telephone with the much revered Evening Star, a.k.a. Badger Burkitt. He remains the leader of Trail Life USA, a Christian Boy Scouts alternative which faithfully looks out for the safety of boys who participate. He tells me that he also runs an online service called Word Weavers, to encourage creative writing.
 
Something like seven years ago, a longtime buddy of mine in Illinois joined this community. He used the forum-name "Sculpted Thought," because he IS a sculptor. He eventually dropped out: not because he had anything against T.D.L., but because the struggle to support his wife and children required ALL of his time and attention. By now he is in decent shape financially, but he STILL can't spare any time to resume activity here.

He assures me, though, that he does read the Chronicles aloud to his children.

Most of his sculptures are abstract, but many of them contain deliberate Christian symbolism. Here's a peek at his work:

www.salembarker.com

Salem Barker | Fine Art Sculptures

Salem Barker Fine Art Sculptures. Fine art contemporary sculptures in wood, stone, and bronze. South Beloit, IL. 815.378.6594
www.salembarker.com www.salembarker.com
 
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Hello to anyone looking. Copperfox here. My laptop died, and the new one has no memory of my accesses. But with Wood Nymph's capable help, so far I have restored my access to my email AND HERE.

My start-over process is rapidly convincing me that Google is INFINITELY MORE USER-FRIENDLY as a search engine than Microsoft Edge.
 
I hope that the few remaining active Dancing Lawn members remember Dayhawk, who created the character of Kimberly Tisdale to be the true love of Alipang Dumagat Havens. After quite a few years, I have just lately learned something awesome: she has become an M.D. in North Carolina!
 
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The very fact that John the Badger took the trouble to post here is heartening for me. His creative ideas have not enjoyed as much attention as they deserve; this is _particularly_ true of Byron on Wells.

I need to say here that, in a fashion very similar to my own self-indulgent crossovers in "Spacebullies," I seek to carry Byron on Wells forward _precisely_ by linking it with other concepts. As I have discussed with E-Star, a Narnian world continuing _after_ "The Last Battle" could sit alongside a "Lord of the Rings" after Sauron perishes.
 
Once I wrote a short story for TDL about a little girl who was hit by a random bullet during an urban gun battle. And while she was in a coma, having a nightmare from which she couldn't wake, Aslan appeared to her and told her there is a place she could seek refuge until her body healed enough to waken. The New Narnia could serve as just such a place for just such a contingency.
 
If anyone here has followed my stories of "Planet Punksteema," you will know that, after its creation, it long was isolated from all other story worlds. I imagine that the real God arranged for the English, Spanish and Japanese languages, with others, to be known by the humans and other sapient beings there, >and< He ensured that His gospel would be known there.

Punksteema's rotation is faster than Earth's, causing its day to be shorter by two hours. The centrifugal force drives most water to the equator, so there's just one ocean encircling the whole planet, with one big southern continent and one big northern continent. The southern continent was more proactive than the northern continent in the matter of raising forces to combat magical evils; for instance, I depicted a version of "Witchers" there.

When I last wrote anything set on Punksteema, I depicted the most ominous villain on the planet, a sort of undead being named Jaheg- Jorod, getting what he deserved at the hands of a dark-skinned paladin called Ronald of Goliad. This being done, Ronald retired to raise a family. Staying in touch with Ronald is a fair-skinned fellow paladin called Wyatt Hickok. At an earlier time, Wyatt had been in a near-death state after being attacked magically. He was cured by a good-aligned magical being called the Colorless Quetzalcoatl; but the extreme nature of the death spell required the Quetzalcoatl to work slowly when countering it. Once fully revived, Wyatt was reunited with his battle- brother. Upon Ronald's retirement, Wyatt assumed leadership of their heroic order, which is called The Order of Sir Edgar Pal-LEN-din (make of this what you will).

The destruction of Jaheg-Jorod so profoundly improved the spiritual atmosphere on this isolated world, that the isolation could begin to be relaxed. First to be released from the isolation was the Colorless Quetzalcoatl-- because, with evil forces being greatly weakened, he was no longer needed there. Permitted to leave Punksteema, the righteous winged serpent went forth AND BECAME A CHARACTER CONTROLLED BY EVENING STAR. As for Punksteema's future, some beings from outside now can >enter< that solar system. EveningStar has first dibs on this option; if he so chooses, he can depict one or more of his Narnia-based creatures having adventures on Punksteema.
 
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Just today, I exchanged messages with Hannah Lombar \ Gentle Voice, who lives in Florida. (Oddly enough, she lives within a few hours' drive of where Geralyn Rodgers lives, although neither one has ever spoken \ communicated with the other.) On Hannah's behalf, I checked whether her account even still exists here. It does.
 
I am currently working on a radio-style drama for TDL and am just waiting to get the last bits of audio owed me from another forum member. To put it mildly, it's the most complicated single work ever posted here and getting the specialized equipment I needed to do it justice actually cost actual money...actually. To the tune of about $300. But hey, at least that's an up-front cost, and when I begin redoing some older works with the care they need for "Cair Paravel Studios" you'll benefit from them greatly.

It's really surprising what lengths one must go to in order to make audio sound like you're listening in to real life. Such as walking through the house with a plastic bag and a bowl of water. Or hugging a bundle of rubberized cloth to simulate a fond embrace. Or slowing down the clinking of a large keyring to give the effect of rattling chains.

It also helps that Lady Badger (my wife IRL) and I both play several instruments, and that I interned with Viacom (Comcast for you younger folks) doing online editing and multitrack recording.

The virtual studio I use is a hoss. I remember in the olden days saying "How much to up the RAM to a whole MEGABYTE?" (Answer, additional $150.00). My current virtual studio has 32 gigabytes of RAM and hard drive space measured in terrabytes.
 
Thomas Adams, remembered here as Sir Tom the Dragon Knight, lives in Durant, Oklahoma, not far from Texas. I once visited him there in connection with a costume-play group called The Valiant Few, which has a presence on YouTube. Tom's versatile martial-arts achievements have gained for him the nickname of Red Dragon. He is currently affiliated with the Texoma Martial Arts association.
 
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