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Appointment in Avalon...

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Dear Juliet I know Monsterpalooza'a next week and so, I guess, do you. So after some thought I'm just going to write a kind and thoughtful "puff-piece." Actually, an idea... Avalon became part of the Drusillaverse by accident and instinct. Dru was on the plane to London with Xander in Redemption , terrified of flying, so he tried to comfort her: Her eyes were still uncertain but he looked steadily into them. “But I worry, love,” she said.   “I’m not human.   I can never be human, and you might find someone else one day.   Someone who can give you children and walk with you in the light.” He knew the tears would be coming soon, but he could feel her hand warming in  his as that lovely calm connection built up between them.   He didn’t want to be anywhere else. He folded down the bunk opposite and lay on it so they could see each other. “Never,” he said firmly.   “Never.” “Will we meet in Avalon, love?” “Yes.” That last line just "rolled off the ...
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Sarah's Hill...

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Dear Juliet This quote from Leon Uris' Battle Cry just occurred to me, and I'm not quite sure why: Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter, home from the hill... I'm not suggesting you join the Marines, I'm thinking about Monsterpalooza. I realise I've already suggested exactly what to do and the rest, with my love, is up to you. I could go off into endless pretentious literary analogies, build this into some fearful ordeal and make a mountain out of a molehill, but I think the truth is that it's all actually quite simple. Always was, too. If there is a God, I think He still loves you and wants to make it easy for you. So just have a brief word with James, hope he enjoys the Quartet and see if wackiness ensues. I have a great faith in him, and in you. And in general, what's difficult or problematic about mentioning or discussing a fourteen year old book with your name on the cover? Nothing, absolutely nothing! My copyright, too. Free and cle...
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I'll Stay With You

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Dear Juliet That title's perhaps the most important thing you need to hear. I know Monsterpalooza's getting closer. I've felt a bit like Matt Damon's Martian myself over the past six months, trekking across a metaphorical desert (admittedly by way of Covent Garden and Leicester Square) but internally a bit like this , all to stay in contact with you. Lucky you got the one guy who was quite used to being like this, as long as you were singing down the wire. And making contact, setting it up, it was a bit like this . Using AI instead of hexadecimals, adapting the blog to try and get through to hypervigilant you and no one else . So we did. By decreasing the number of keywords so no one else (probably) would look . In a way, we hacked the Mars Rover. Then I wrote the absolution. One draft. Perfect. I asked AI what might happen when I sent it out, but Blogger has no GPS. I've never known where the statistical responses are coming from. So we sent it out. And waited. As...
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Home From Mars...

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Dear Juliet I fear I'm dancing in the dark. I'm not even quite sure if you're really out there. Pretty sure, but not quite. So I'm going to have faith. Faith that it's you, and that you're listening. I don't know if you went to Long Beach and saw the Queen Mary , although I hope you did, and while I think I understand your situation I also know I may be wrong. But I do know Monsterpalooza is soon, so I thought of three things: Yeah, I'd have a word with James Marsters behind the scenes, and take Aqaba . Then my subconscious decided to have its say, and this scene from The Martian popped into my head . Mark Watney's talking to a class after he escaped the virtual certainty of death on Mars, and that's what he says. That at some point, everything's going to go south and you're going to say: this is it. This is how I end . Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work. That's all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solv...
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Saving the Universe!

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Dear Juliet I just have to step out and save the Universe, or rather tend to a few old folk in Shifnal, but I'll come back and write to you tonight. Had a thought. Hope you're okay. Love, James
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Seen the Queen?

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Dear Juliet It's late, and I've only got time/brain for a short one, but I hope you maybe had a good day at Long Beach with the Queen ? Love, James
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Darla's From Devon?

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Dear Juliet Found this church in Bridgnorth while I was trying to find a customer! Bits of St. Leonard's date from the 12th century , but most of it got blown up during the English Civil War because Roundhead troops used it as an ammunition store. A cannonball fired by Cavaliers scored a direct hit in 1646 and it wasn't fully restored until Victorian times. Although St. Leonard's wasn't directly involved, it also looks like purges of Puritans in and around Bridgnorth and elsewhere (mainly East Anglia and the West Country) forced many Dissenters and Nonconformists to flee to New England between ca. 1630-1680. So for all I know, Darla may have been a Salopian although it's far more likely she was from Suffolk or Devon... It seems there were only four Shropshire children on board the Mayflower  itself, but the reason why they were there derives from an obscure scandalous family feud involving a local squire. This Guardian article explains it in more depth than I ca...
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