I have posted both Chapters 15 and 16 of DARK SHADOWS: THE LABYRINTH OF SOULS this evening for your perusal. I finished Chapter 15 last night and wrote Chapter 16 at lunchtime today (it's short). Hope these will hold you over until the next round; not sure how much I'm going to be able to get finished next week, and then I'll be gone for just over a week. So... savor.

Here's the links:

NEW!
Chapter 15: http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey/labyrinth15.htm

NEW!
Chapter 16: http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey/labyrinth16.htm

And if you want to go back a few chapters to refresh your memory, these are still on the server:

Chapter 12: http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey/labyrinth12.htm

Chapter 13: http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey/labyrinth13.htm

Chapter 14: http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey/labyrinth14.htm

I have now also inserted links at the end of each chapter to take you to the next succeeding one.

Comments always welcome. Please enjoy!

[shadow=navy,left,300]--Mark[/shadow]

Hey MB, Midnite,

The logo shifting from negative to positive image is an interesting effect, but it's not worth the extra 10-15 seconds per topic that it takes to load. It's really killing my ability to go through topics at a reasonable pace. Is it just me?

Anyway, I vote to go back to one that allows faster browsing. This is waaaaay too much of a time sink.

--Mark

Here's a first:

I happened to find the following on the Web; apparently it's a class schedule for Vermont University:

<<ENGLISH 1106: ANALYTICAL READING AND WRITING
TOPIC: THE BYRONIC VAMPIRE IN LITERATURE AND FILM
SPRING 2002
MR. MANN

TEXTS:
Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice.
The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories - Ed. Alan Ryan.
Byron's Poetry - Ed. Frank D. McConnell.
Dreams of the Dark - Stephen Mark Rainey and Elizabeth Massie.

FILMS:
Bram Stoker's Dracula
House of Dark Shadows
Interview with the Vampire

COURSE FOCUS:
The short stories, poems, films, and novels we will focus on all deal with the vampire in one way or another. Why is this fictional creature so perennially fascinating? How has the literary figure of the Byronic hero influenced many depictions of the undead? How have authors and filmmakers used it as a metaphor for human interactions? How similar is the fictional vampire to its folkloric antecedents? Why has the vampire metamorphosed from a hideous monster to a romantic hero? This course will concentrate on research and class discussions in an attempt to answer some of these questions. In doing so, we will learn more about analytical reading and writing, intertextuality, and our own culture.>>

What I'd give to have been able to listen in on that class. Far as I know, it's the only time something I've written has been part of a college course.

[shadow=black,left,300]--Mark[/shadow]

Here y'all go... Chapter 13 of DARK SHADOWS: THE LABYRINTH OF SOULS. I was gone over the weekend, so I didn't get to write any, but I made up for it the last coupla days. Been crankin' hard.

As always: to access any previous chapters, just go to one of these links and, in your browser address window, rubout the final number after /labyrinth and insert the chapter number you want (i.e., /labyrinth01, labyrinth02, labyrinth03, etc.)

NEW! Chapter 13
http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey/labyrinth13.htm

Chapter 12
http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey/labyrinth12.htm

Chapter 11
http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey/labyrinth11.htm

Please enjoy!

[shadow=purple,left,300]--Mark[/shadow]

For a couple of days, I was able to access the archives fine, and in fact posted there. But now I'm getting an error trying to access the archives that reads:

>>We're sorry, but AOL, Compuserve and MSN users cannot access this archive using Microsoft Internet Explorer within AOL or CS.

Please start IE separately from AOL, CS or MSN, go to http://www.dsboards.com, and you'll see that you're already logged (because you've already logged in using IE in AOL, CS or MSN). Close IE in AOL, CS or MSN, and then, using the separate version of IE, return to the archive by using one of the five links in the Members' Gateway.

This might seem inconvenient at first, but it's actually a better way to view items posted in the archive because AOL and CS convert Web site images to their own ART format before displaying them - often degrading them in the process. By using IE separately from AOL or CS, you'll be able to see the archive's content the way we've intended.

For MSN users, it's an archive security issue.<<

However, I'm not using AOL, CS, or MSN. I'm just coming straight in on IE 6.0. Cleared cache. Wazzup?

[shadow=black,left,300]--Mark[/shadow]

Hey Midnite, MB,

Is it just me, or is there a problem with the boards slowing to a crawl? The last two days, it's taking longer and longer to access them, and as of this writing, it takes about two minutes for a topic to open once selected. Earlier today, the boards never opened at all; when I tried to log in, the screen just hung there until I gave up.

Same problem on two different computers in different locations.

A trace route doesn't seem to indicate a particular problem, although there are packet losses at hop 17:



[shadow=navy,left,300]--Mark[/shadow]

Yup, that's right...Chapter 9 of DARK SHADOWS: THE LABYRINTH OF SOULS is now posted for your approval.

NEW! Chapter 9
http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey/labyrinth09.htm

Chapter 8
http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey/labyrinth08.htm

Chapter 7
http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey/labyrinth07.htm

Trivia note: One of the secondary characters in my WWII novel, BLUE DEVIL ISLAND, is named Collins (and he's from Maine); there's an oblique reference in this chapter that could connect the two, if one were so inclined to make the leap.

Enjoy.

[shadow=purple,left,300]--Mark[/shadow]