All Comments on 'The Shack: A Parable of Wolves'

Nitpick: Read Shameless. Dmitri survived Piotr's shot. Dmitri is killed by Grease, the rest of his men died in the SHACK at Monster's hands.

For those questioning the patronymic last name, Ivanoviets is a legitimate Ukrainian name meaning the same as Ivanov. Russian speakers would hear Ivanoviets as Ivanovich.

I just cannot read a story about Russians and not be angered and hate. The, Putin's name came up and I nearly puked.

As usual a great story well told by an expert

Found in FinalStand “Life As A New Hire” Chapter 40 written 05/28/15:

“In a rare comment, Temujin informed the international press that he believed I was still alive. Why did he believe that? If I wasn't, they would have been able to spot the pile of dead enemy around me and my 'boon companion' (go Aya!) from orbit. Until they discovered this carnal pit from Hell, I was surely still alive.”

^Is this reference to bodies being seen from orbit a writers meme, an uncredited borrowing of a line, or something channeled in a dream?

If I could I would give this story six stars and of course all the rest are fives. I have loved all of your story telling and style. The depth is better than most published anywhere.

Unlike many I have no problems with your logic to keep everything in LW though you definitely have ruined the scoring for every typical LW story.

Not erotica, but a terrific story just the same. A bit like finding a diamond amongst the coal in the cellar. I have to wonder why Todd isn't writing for pay somewhere.

Amazing that this tale could be woven in so well with the other stories from the shack. This story while not as intriguing as the others, did tie up some loose ends.

Just in case anyone was a little confused when the PLA was mentioned...that is the People's Liberation Army which is the main military force for the People's Republic of China (PRC). That's the official name for the country we all refer to as China, just like the United States of America is the official name of the country we refer to as USA or the US.

Notice it's the PEOPLE's Liberation Army and the PEOPLE's Republic of China. That's good ole fashioned communism right there. In this case, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), that rules China.

Damn! Very evocative writing.

You mention Peter and the Wolf - next second I'm hearing it in my head.

To echo another commentor - a patronymic is not a family name. Piotr Ivanovich only means Peter Son of Ivan, but not in the same way that a name like Johnson in English. Still requires a last name. Formal conversation uses the first name and patronymic and not the family name so...

Also, PLA is the Palestine Liberation Army which is the military part of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Heh, to continue with likbez from earlier comments, for those who didn't get the joke about terrorist camp ending... Russia is (kinda-sorta-complicated) "allied" with People's Republic of China... USA is allied with Republic of China (ROC, which most people know as "Taiwan"), both of which claim to be the "Real" China. You can google the full geopolitical complexities yourself, but the point is that ROC and PRC military would be about as unlikely to do a joint operation - or cooperate on anything at all - as North and South Korea armies. Though, the world of geopolitics has seen stranger bedfellows occasionally, in all fairness.

/

Also, I can confirm that the author definitely got the spirit of russian folk tale to work, as he tried. Good show, chap!

/

Regarding the connotations of the Russian saying, it's a bit complicated, in large part because it has very little estableshed sourcing. But according to Dal's classical book, it was clustered in "will, freedom and compulsion" section of his dictionary, which means that the original connotation **at least as he gathered it**, was of being compelled - willingly or unwillingly - to become a wolf if thrown into a wolf environment. BUT, there were also secondary saying wordings that also implied "being unhappy like a wolf", as the author hinted.

Fantastic story I've read several times before!

5

Superb. 55 Stars.

From anonymous commenter from about a year ago:

" Is this reference to bodies being seen from orbit a writers meme, an uncredited borrowing of a line, or something channeled in a dream?"

"So big it can be seen from orbit" is a common meme in every genre. It fits in the context of a pissed-off monster and probably most of the others (Needles?).

Not an expert, obviously, but the "feel' of the supposed Russian fairy tale seems right to me. Well done

Five stars.

JPB

A great fable for the girls. Fit very well with her life, but tweaked to make it ok for the young ones.