At 22:55 4/3/97, Sean Connor wrote:

This story copyright 1996 - James A Bateman

It is now 1997.

D'oh!

series of staccato pops, like tiny explosions, and an odor convinced

                                                       ^^^^

odour. I realise that this is not a misspelling, but rather the
American English variant. But, since you use British English
spellings elsewhere, it is probably best to stay consistent.

D'oh!

"Akane's was violent towards boys before I met her.  Used to be that

  ^^^^^^^

Akane

D'oh!

"Akane has quite a temper, and Ranma has a knock for setting it off.

                                            ^^^^^

Knack, I do believe.

D'oh!  (Can you say "Macro"? ^_^)

story?"  Ranma nodded.  "Well, he sent it off to Shogikukan.  They

I don't know if this is a typo or if it's intentional, but it is
spelled Shogakukan.

^_^  This one WAS deliberate!

Laying one  across each grave, Ryouga murmured a short prayer and

           ^^

Unnecessary double-space. (Don't ask me what made me notice that; I
really don't know myself. :)

D'oh!

[BOO-HOO... Sniff...] Finally... [HONK... BWAAAAHHHH...]

(Half an hour later...)

Ok... I'm OK now... I think...

(!)  ooopsie....

If you have read this far, Zen thanks you for your patience and your
persistence.

You're welcome. But who's going to pay for the water damage? :)

uhm... insurance? O_o   ^_^

Well, this wasn't pretty, but I suppose it had to be said. To tell
the truth, the profusion of 'Akane gets Ranma; everyone lives
happily ever after' fics was starting to make me nauseous.

nod.  Zen too, but then, Zen love Ucchan.  ^_^   Zen is *horribly* biased.

One little thing: From the Author's Notes in Between a Rock...

Eeeeep!

"Ranma-chan" is used in the narrative to refer to Ranma's female
form.  NO ONE in Zen's fics uses it as a means of addressing Ranma
except for Happousai.  When another character refers to Ranma, they
always say Ranma, they always address her as Ranma, Ranma refers to
herself as Ranma.  Only the narrator uses Ranma-chan.  If you catch
Zen in an error here, please point it out.  Thanks.

Here, not even the narrator uses "Ranma-chan". Any particular reason
why not?

Yes, actually.  The tone of this piece was meant to be dark, so Zen relied
on the personal pronouns, and descriptors (eg Red hair) to indicate Ranma's
current form... the -chan suffix is a little too light-hearted for this
piece.  Zen will go back to it for Winding Road's second episode.

Well, I think I'll go read some Orwell to lighten up the mood.

^_^

Thanks for reading, and taking the time to comment!  And thanks for the
error-check!  Those pesky typos are hell to find oneself!

- Sean Connor (connor@meena.cc.uregina.ca)

Zen no Itan-sha