'JMS' would have more steady purchase on which to make his stand were he anywhere near as fine a writer.  As matters lie, he should be roundly ashamed of himself.

Yours was a gift, was it?

By placing the incomparable Mr. Vance first in your list, you have placed yourself forever in the upper echelons of my esteem.

I can listen to windbags postively for hours!

Jingoists!

Ah, I see the distinction I made was somewhat over-subtle.  I am often guilty of this.  Allow me to be almost insultingly blunt.  The first publication was a re-imagining of existing archetypes that produced new and highly original characters in a cunning plot that challenged the conventions of the narrative.  This…

Unusual and scandalous behaviour from one who professes to protect woman's rights!  I am certain it is only that you are proportioned as a dusky goddess blessed with supple lips wanton as dewy plums and eyes more arresting than poor doomed Medusa that you feel free to show such presumption.

Profanely but accurately
put.

The gentleman took existing heroic archetypes and made them into his own new and fascinating creations.  Messrs Gibbons and Moore are rightly proud of their accomplishment and do not wish to see it revisited.  Choosing to do so in the face of their protests is a display of callous disregard for the sentiments of the…

Agreed!  It flies in the face of the wishes of
the original creators. These upstarts should have had the good grace
at least to wait until Messrs Moore and Gibbons were dead.

Your statement reeks of injured pride.  These chambers are marked with the scars of battle.  They are not for the faint of heart!  If you are now so badly injured that you must weep openly of your wounds, pray retreat and tend your hurts so that you may return when you have recovered.  And if you are not so afflicted…

It was a thankfully brief look into the mind of a brittle intellect at once perplexed and fascinated by functions of the body, childhood humiliation, professional misfortune and flat, lifeless eyes.

It hardly seems worth the effort to express my horror anymore, but for the sake of tradition if nothing else:

Good sir: you appear to be arguing with yourself, or perhaps with one who, in the past, espoused the views which you equate to Mr…. Blarghgh.  When offering argument regarding the events of the past, do take care that you do not become mired in it as well.  The sands of time are treacherous terrain on which to stand.

Tsk.

Women of quality do not generally discuss their corsets in mixed company, although I will grant that there are exceptions.  This, however, is not one.

Hello Newman had gone too far, and had better watch her mouth.

We did not.

It sounds like a regressive pseduo-gothic fantasy for men, rather than women, and this from one who spends most of her time unconscious.

No, I believe you will find we English cause more mischief when we choose to venture abroad.