10 [Report This]Date: August 01, 2009 10:14 am Title: Rain
NEJ, this is my favorite story of yours. It's just beautiful. I always find myself going back to reread it. I figured it's about time I let you know how much I love this. :)
Date: July 30, 2009 07:07 am Title: Rain
NEJ, I'm so glad you referenced this in the forum. I vaguely remember reading it many moons ago but, amazingly, didn't review. I love the mood you created in this piece. The intimacy of a thunderstorm is the perfect backdrop for this conversation, tension leading to hope. Great job.
Date: June 16, 2008 01:04 am Title: Rain
Well done. I loved the writing.
Author's Response: Thank you very much!
Date: February 07, 2007 11:10 pm Title: Rain
This is dazzling. The atmosphere you created completely swept me away. Well done!
Author's Response: Thank you!
Date: February 07, 2007 05:58 pm Title: Rain
Wow!! Just Wow! That was fabulous. I've really missed you and your writing. This was a real treat.
Author's Response: Glad to be able to 'treat' you. Thanks!
Date: February 06, 2007 06:22 am Title: Rain
This was lovely :) Oh, and not to mention that Heart of Darkness is my favorite book... you win! Glad that you're back!
Author's Response: Wasn't gone that long! :) Unable to resist this fanfic addiction. Glad you liked the story, DF.
Date: February 06, 2007 05:58 am Title: Rain
So - you're back! First of all, let me boldly ask a selfish question. Are you planning to repost "Flavors"? ;-)
Yeah, yeah, so back to this piece. I love the whole background tone - the storm, him seeing her only in reflections, the parallels to Conrad. And this: Is she getting sneaky, or is he no longer attuned to her? He doesn't want the answer to either of those questions to be yes. And this: He feels a small but sharp pain where his heart used to be. And of course, their gentle coming together and Jim's relief and joy at the end. Awesome.
Author's Response: Par5, thanks for asking, but I've retired from smut/erotica. I doubt I'll be posting or reposting anything rated M or higher.
Author's Response:
Further clarification/response: People either know why I can no longer post as neverenoughjam and remain 'anonymous', or they don't, and this is not the place to go into it. Suffice to say that I can no longer post anything on the Net that I don't want my mother reading, and "Flavors" does not fall into that category. Sorry.
I was hoping that Jim's relief and joy would come through like that. Glad to see that it worked. Thanks very much for your comments, Par5!
Date: February 05, 2007 09:46 pm Title: Rain
Seriously? Rock ON!
This was so beautifully written. You do a lot with a few words. The ending is understated and perfect.
Author's Response: Thanks very much, shan. Understated is hard, since I tend towards purple prose. :) Thanks!
10 [Report This]Date: February 05, 2007 08:53 pm Title: Rain
Wow. You really have a gift for imagery.
Author's Response: Thank you!
10 [Report This]Date: February 05, 2007 08:31 pm Title: Rain
I'm sure you already know how wonderful this is, so this is just a comment say that we all know it, too :)
My favorite part was this: He sees her hand, millimeters away from the ripple of water on the other side of the glass. It is easily one of the favorite descriptive lines that I have ever read.
Author's Response: Wow! Thanks! That line was added during the final edit, and I wasn't sure it would work. Good to know you liked it!
Date: February 05, 2007 08:18 pm Title: Rain
I've missed your fic!
Author's Response: Thanks! I've missed writing it.
10 [Report This]Date: February 05, 2007 08:15 pm Title: Rain
beautifully written! loved it!
almost didn't read, but then i saw who the author was, and of course, i did a little dance...
I LOVE AND MISSED YOU NEJ!!
Author's Response: Thanks for the dance, StarShine. :) I'm glad you enjoyed the story. Thanks for the encouragement!
10 [Report This]Date: February 05, 2007 06:58 pm Title: Rain
Oh this is just so painfully lovely. Really. Welcome back, dear one. :-)
Author's Response: Oh, my! Thanks, Moxie! I'm glad you enjoyed this.
Date: February 05, 2007 06:15 pm Title: Rain
JOSEEEEEEEEEEPH COONNNNRAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDD!!!
I'm so sorry. Honestly, I am. It's just that in college I did a group project on Heart of Darkness (*ACK*) and it was a mock jury trial where we actually had Conrad on the stand and...god, it was hilarious, so now I can't think of Joseph Conrad and not have a giggling fit.
but aside from that, I really like the Jim that you've presented here. I can feel just the utter despair, and the fact that he's actually looking to finally get out of DM is something that it's touched on often (though I really wish it was).
Thanks so much for this.
cheers.
--Lex
Author's Response: Thanks, Lex. Yeah, this took me back to college lit courses, too. My secret fear was that my old English professor would read it and I'd get this stern critique from him on imagery and simile...but the chances he watches "The Office" are very slim. :) Thanks for the feedback!
10 [Report This]Date: February 05, 2007 05:38 pm Title: Rain
This is so, so gorgeous, and descriptive, and full of tension (and the way it's mirrored by the storm outside, just oh, oh), and honesty, and the whole tone of it is so enthralling and... oh gosh. My vocabulary always deserts me when I come across stories like this. So beautiful. I love the line about ashes and soot in his throat and how Pam's 'yes' is a fragile breath of a word, floating and the way he wants her to go away even though he really doesn't. Oh man. Wow, wow, wow.
Such a great job. Thank you so much for this.
Author's Response: Thank you for so comprehensive a review! I am delighted you liked it. I wasn't sure but what the mirroring of the scene with the weather wouldn't be a tad cliche; glad to know it worked for you!
Date: February 05, 2007 05:09 pm Title: Rain
This is beautiful. I hate Conrad, but this piece actually makes me want to try Lord Jim again.
Author's Response: Well, Lord Jim is all about second chances and redemption, so why not give it a shot? :D Thanks for the review!
Date: February 05, 2007 05:06 pm Title: Rain
Excellent. I'm giving you a 10, but only because I can't give you a 17/10
Author's Response: LOL! Thanks, HCT!
Date: February 05, 2007 04:14 pm Title: Rain
First, welcome back. Seriously, you have been missed.
Second, I think this may be your best yet...a balm to this old English major's (okay, Comp Lit, same diff) heart. Conrad? Rain? Something to sink my teeth into!
Too many compelling, touching, moving moments/lines to pick just a few, but here goes (a few):
She's still standing in the doorway, one hand on the jamb. Uncertain, halfway gone. As always nowadays.
He turns back to the window. He can wait her out. He's the world expert at waiting this woman out.
His disillusionment, bitterness, resign...oh, painful. And so true.
"You wish what?" Keeping his voice low. It somehow feels right in this darkness full of the sound of falling water.
Light flickers on her face, filtered through the running water on the windowpane. She looks as if she's standing at the bottom of the sea.
Poetry, darlin'.
"Young hearts are unforgiving..."
Never liked Conrad more. And the best line of all:
"Done."
I love that Pam is reading, I love that Jim is literate (my personal backstory for Jim requires he be a big reader)...love that she won't give up here, love that he's transformed from his melancholy, fed-up malaise to the guy that just loves her again. It's so complicated at the start of the story and so achingly simple in the end. Such a well structured, well written piece. Wonderful, just wonderful.
Author's Response:
First: thank you. I've missed you guys.
Second: best yet? Really? Wow.
Thanks for the in-depth feedback, colette. I always love to see your responses to what I write. And I love how you characterize Jim as "the guy that just loves her". Yeah, that's the simple truth I was trying to dig out of all these elaborate metaphors; as usual, you hit it right on the head. Thanks for your insight!
Date: February 05, 2007 04:04 pm Title: Rain
He's the world expert at waiting this woman out.
Ouch. Jim's pain is so raw, so real here. He's truly given up hope, but he still can't be free of her. She is, after all, the only one who can give him peace, just as he is the only one who can give her absolution. True to form, you let them resolve everything without having "the talk" as it is too often seen, and as always it feels uncomfortably real. Love it. Good, good to see something from you.
Author's Response: Uncomfortably real--what a grand compliment! I am flattered. I wasn't sure, from a strictly ethical point of view, that Pam really needs absolution from Jim, but from an emotional point of view it made sense to me. Also, this story is operating on more than one level. :) So thanks very much for reading and responding!
Date: February 05, 2007 03:59 pm Title: Rain
Really great imagery. Love the storm and the darkness.
Author's Response: Thank you! My writing teacher always used to tell me that the weather should match the mood. It would sure have been harder to write this scene if Jim was looking out on a bright April morning.
Date: February 05, 2007 03:37 pm Title: Rain
I registered just so I could tell you how happy I am to see a story from you on this site again. I miss reading your stories, and this one definitely didn't dissapoint. Your words bring such amazing imagery. I hope to read more from you again very soon.
Author's Response: Wow. Thank you so much. I am much flattered. Yes, there will definitely be more fiction from me.
Date: February 05, 2007 03:23 pm Title: Rain
This was brilliant. Such beautiful imagery. I could actually feel Jim's anger and pain. I loved this line - "There is too much in his throat for him to speak -- the ashes of hope, the soot of despair" Loved this.
Author's Response: Thanks! My throat still gets dry reading that line.
10 [Report This]Date: February 05, 2007 03:21 pm Title: Rain
Is it awfully immature that I squeed when I saw your screen-name pop up in my inbox? Is it inappropriate to write that I've missed reading your stuff *so* much?
I've never read Joseph Conrad (high school English in Quebec is more along the lines of "The Little Engine that Could"), but the atmosphere of this fic was so conclusive to a reconciliation. A storm? Perfect. And loved how it all started out with dark!Jim and ended with "...joy and awe are just too large in him to be contained."
Author's Response: Who am I to tell you you are immature or inappropriate? I'm flattered by your response, LM. This story was begging for an audience, and I am just selfish enough to oblige. I am glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading!
Date: February 05, 2007 03:12 pm Title: Rain
Wow! Dark, edgy, literate, redemptive - I really don't have words, but just had to leave a review so you'd know how amazing this is.
Author's Response: Thank you! Redemption definitely drove this story.
Date: February 05, 2007 03:09 pm Title: Rain
wow I haven't read Conrad in years. I think I really only liked The Secret Sharer. I tried to get into Heart Of Darkness, but couldn't. But, a good story, I like the... well, if I was a lit major instead of a science major, i could think of the approriate term, but i like the way you connected the two and stuff like that.
Wow, my English teachers would be rolling over in their grave (that is... ya know, if they were dead)
Author's Response: I just hope MY English lit teacher never sees it. :) He'd be...aghast. Anyway, I am glad you enjoyed the story, EH. Thanks for reviewing!