johnsmith posted a comment on Sunday 12th December 2010 10:25pm for Death Takes No Holidays - draft plus outlines

i was wondering when you planned on finishing death takes no holidays? as im not really a fan of the outlined version :P. i was kind of confused by the fact that you got 2 more chapters in after this, without actually finishing this one. im also confused as to why you havent been updating it since September of last year? did you get tired of writing it, or did you abandon it?

Mortsedes posted a comment on Friday 16th July 2010 3:46pm for Death Takes No Holidays - draft plus outlines

Is there any particular reason that the author decided to leave parts of this chapter as bulletpoints? I almost gave up reading this fic because of it.

brad posted a comment on Friday 28th August 2009 9:49pm for Death Takes No Holidays - draft plus outlines

Now that the end of this epic has been announced I've been loathing finishing it. I think my subconscious has kept on putting it off. It took me weeks/months before I read the previous chapter ... which I haven't reviewed yet. I'll re-read it again before doing so.

I/we really do appreciate your doing this, Adam (it's Adam, right?). So many questions to answer!! What Hermione discovers to help Harry (although part of that is referenced in this instalment). How it all goes down in the end. Whether Ron survives. How his vision of his death manifests (I still reckon/hope that he 'saw' a doppleganger of some sort perish rather than himself). How Harry and Hermione end up fitting - or not - in wizarding society; that was a story arc that Mike seemed to raise relatively recently, in part 3.

And dear Luna!! Such a wonderful character, the way Mike wrote her, I want so much for her to be 'healed', to find out what her problem is at Hogwarts, for her to be accorded respect and find love. She's proven to be such a sterling friend to the Trio in this novel of Mike's, I want to see that recognised. I was very pleased when Hermione started to appreciate her friendship more.

This is a wonderful - and loooong - novel, which I've re-read at least once, but its "re-reading value" will go up by an order of magnitude when we have an idea of how it ends. I know Mike published an epilogue a few years ago; I deliberately didn't go anywhere near it, for fear of being spoiled. If I could have worked out a way to print it without seeing a single word I could have.

(Darn. I've just realised I could have asked for someone to e-mail it to me; I could have left it in my IN box, unopened. :-))

Well, I hope that you'll come across that epilogue eventually amongst all those boxes of notes.

I greatly enjoyed reading this chapter. Mike's style of writing, particularly the semi-formal mode of dialogue that seems to be characteristic of this work, is unique in my (gawd, close to 6 years I think!) fan fiction reading experience. The dialogue is written with an ... elegance ... that I find really satisfying to read. Plus it adds to the impression that this Harry is just that much smarter than the one we were given in canon; something I'm convinced is necessary for a first-class fanfic. As well as mandatory for any boy who hopes to be the partner of Hermione Granger. :-)

Well, Harry's speech in YoR is usually a cut above canon or other fanfics, but his encounter with the goblins and his chat with Fliptrask in this chapter!! Priceless. I felt like I was listening to a chess game. Loved it. And seeing noble!Harry in this story, friend of the (downtrodden) goblins, was always pleasing. Interesting, though, the reservation here that not *all* goblins could be trusted. Nothing was ever simple in this story, was it?

The whole McIlvaine thing and the revelation of 'old magic' was fascinating, and the history of the Hogwarts Founders as detailed and precise as one would expect of Mike.

> "I can only say that she was very excited, and I suspect that the ritual had something to do with your survival."

BINGO!!!

I was *SO* pleased to read that. At least we get one part of one of the outstanding questions of this epic answered, hurrah!! Adam, I don't know if you have been a part of this crazy HP fandom thing, but we fans were debating how Lily Potter managed to protect Harry for *years*, urged on partly by the author's deliberate teasing and suggestions that she had a clever 'grand plan' that would finally make sense of it all.

Sadly, she did not; nothing close to it. If you've ever heard Mike or others rage about Rowling's inadequacies, her incompetence, her inability in particular to properly finish what she started ... it's all true. Really. In 2005 she tried to explain how Lily's 'sacrifice' worked, and it's all a sloppy mish-mash of wishful crossed-fingers thinking from a writer who just couldn't, in the end, handle the fine detail necessary to give proper closure to what she'd started. The interview is here:

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/interviews/jkr1

It's at the bottom of the page. There are several arguments that tear her tenuous and flimsy premise - on which the entire series depends! - to threads, but I won't go into them here, I don't want to bore you too much. Adam? You still here? :-)

Anyway, it really was wonderful to (FINALLY!!!! Grrrr) get a handle on how Harry survived in Mike's world, using 'old magic' wards from the Compact families, fuelled somehow by Lily's motherly love/sacrifice? Good stuff.

The other really great line in this chapter was this:

> "There is a power within you bursting to be released ... Proper rites of betrothal and bonding can release or enhance abilities ..."

Another reason why I've so enjoyed and admired this story is because I've been hooked into Harry's trials in trying to investigate and use his powers. I enjoy a story with a heroic Harry who is a cut above his peers (in both power and nobilty), but in this tale it's been bloody frustrating, frankly, as he's struggled to get a grasp on what he can do. This paragraph by Madam McIlvaine really got me wondering what Mike was going to write ... the idea of Harry and Hermione finally consummating their love would have been awesome enough, when penned by Mike - I mean, how many hundreds of thousands of words have been written leading up to that moment? Hermione's support of Harry, and, particularly in part 3, his statements of support for her, have been the bedrock of this story and has fuelled its emotional cusps - but to have Harry's power somehow 'released' when they do finally get together ... well, I'm not sure I would have survived my perusal of that particular chapter. What Mike did to me with Intermezzo was bad enough, and that wouldn't have been anything compared with the double-bunger (that might be an Australian idiom, but I think you'll gather its meaning) that I think Mike might have been planning, given this revelation.

Cho died! Lavender died!! Damn. :-( Now I'm getting nervous about Ron ...

Thank you again for helping to finalise this story. As always I hope the best for Mike; please pass on my best wishes. Cheers.

Wolfric posted a comment on Monday 13th July 2009 4:28am for Death Takes No Holidays - draft plus outlines

I appreciate your work in compiling and releasing the remaining work of your uncle and I hope he will recover as much as possible. Thanks. W.

mwinter posted a comment on Wednesday 8th July 2009 1:18pm for Death Takes No Holidays - draft plus outlines

We are praying for him. This was a good idea of where things are going.

Dracolych69 posted a comment on Tuesday 7th July 2009 3:59am for Death Takes No Holidays - draft plus outlines

Hope these new treatments work better than the last. Just from the notes, this looks to be an excellent chapter. Looking forward to seeing it fleshed out.

Poirot posted a comment on Monday 6th July 2009 10:45pm for Death Takes No Holidays - draft plus outlines

I am very glad you updated as this story is a favorite of mine. My best to Mike, I hope his treatments are going well.

Patches posted a comment on Monday 6th July 2009 6:33pm for Death Takes No Holidays - draft plus outlines

Very good. It is difficult to take over for someone else. You have done a great job. I look foward to more of this story. Thank you for making the effort of continuing this story for Mike. I am keeping him in my prayers and I pray for him, his family and friends. May God Bless you all. pms

Full_Pensieve replied:

Hey just want to make sure everybody gets what Mike asked me to do. The stuff I put up yesterday was all written by Mike. I'm going through the stuff he already wrote and his notes and I hope putting it together so it makes sense. I couldn't take over his writing, he's too good at it. I have everything in time order now but he has to look through the next chunk of notes before I do anything else. Not sure when he has the time. He's back to work believe it or not, but only half time. He got bored, LOL. Just please, nobody should think I'm taking over for Mike. That's not the deal. Thx, AMP

Anansii posted a comment on Monday 6th July 2009 3:41pm for Death Takes No Holidays - draft plus outlines

Thank you and Mike for continuing this, even if it is of necessity mostly outline. Give him my best - I'll be praying for his recovery.

Cu posted a comment on Monday 6th July 2009 10:30am for Death Takes No Holidays - draft plus outlines

Thanks to both of you for taking the effort of tidying up and sharing these notes, it is much appreciated.

Wow, Mike adds yet another plot point to his already convoluted story, well after the half-million word mark: any editor would have his work cut out for him with this tale. I wonder how was he planning to tie everything up and how long would have taken him, it seems a monumental project in magnitude.

Anyhow, please bring Mike my best wishes for a full and speedy recovery. Beat that sucker, FP!

Ken Warner posted a comment on Sunday 5th July 2009 9:23pm for Death Takes No Holidays - draft plus outlines

I would like to see the rapprochement between Harry and Hermione, as well as a formal agreement between them and the Compact families and the Goblins which would crush the stronghold of the DEs,which has to be the Unspeakables.

This story has fascinated me for years, since it was originally interrupted at the Great Hunt. I hope that the muse and RL will allow you to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion.
warmest regards

brad posted a comment on Sunday 5th July 2009 7:21pm for Death Takes No Holidays - draft plus outlines

I intend to read and review later, but just thought I'd pop in to ask - did you tick the box or whatever is necessary to send out e-mail alerts about this update?

Because I came across this new chapter largely by accident; whereas normally I'd expect an e-mail message notifying me that a new chapter had been uploaded. Cheers.

(And thank you very much for collating Mike's notes; it will truly add value to his body of work to have some sense of 'completion' to it. I know a couple of years ago he posted an epilogue but I was too chicken to glance at it, I didn't want to spoil myself. :-))

Bedrup posted a comment on Sunday 5th July 2009 4:54pm for Death Takes No Holidays - draft plus outlines

Thank you for the work you are doing.

Logan_MacLeod posted a comment on Sunday 5th July 2009 1:33pm for Death Takes No Holidays - draft plus outlines

That red like a police report. That was cool