The Devil Fights Back
Viewing comments for Chapter 29 "The Devil Fights Back - Ch. 29"Challenges in the pharmaceutical field
18 total reviews
Comment from Michael Ludwinder
I really enjoyed this chapter. The scene with Johnny and the cat had me smiling. I loved how you captured Fran's warm side. The dialogue feels natural. I can feel the connection between the characters. The ending with Marie and her decision to take on a student was perfect. Keep it up!
reply by the author on 02-Feb-2025
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I really enjoyed this chapter. The scene with Johnny and the cat had me smiling. I loved how you captured Fran's warm side. The dialogue feels natural. I can feel the connection between the characters. The ending with Marie and her decision to take on a student was perfect. Keep it up!
Comment Written 02-Feb-2025
reply by the author on 02-Feb-2025
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Thanks very much, Michael. I particularly enjoyed writing this chapter for the positive vibes between characters. Some heavy stuff will be coming up soon, so this was kind of the calm before the storm.
Comment from Dopeless Hopefiend
I loved this. I also love your structure with the recap and character descriptions. It works well for someone like me who just came back and has not read the previous 28 chapters! Eternally grateful.
This is a great chapter with the shifting narrative between Fran's heartfelt gratitude and the light-hearted moment with the mischievous cat, and Marie's introspective journey toward self-improvement and connection. I laughed when her speech is undercut by that cat in christmas tree, really lightened the mood. Everything felt authentic and relatable.
Marie's reflection on her time with her grandson and the maturing bond with Julia and Brian wearms the heart. Her to decision to cut back on drinking and take on a student shows character grow. Her interaction with Cecil is charming, the playful banter at the end is a delightful touch, showcasing the potential for a meaningful mentor-student relationship.
One offers some closure while the other sets up new beginnings. The writing is engaging and the blend of lightheartedness and deeper themes made it stand out to me, and left me eager to see how all these relationships and personal journeys will evolve.
I will look back on some previous chapters in some down time for sure. Thank you for writing, and never stop ^.^
-D.H
reply by the author on 02-Feb-2025
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I loved this. I also love your structure with the recap and character descriptions. It works well for someone like me who just came back and has not read the previous 28 chapters! Eternally grateful.
This is a great chapter with the shifting narrative between Fran's heartfelt gratitude and the light-hearted moment with the mischievous cat, and Marie's introspective journey toward self-improvement and connection. I laughed when her speech is undercut by that cat in christmas tree, really lightened the mood. Everything felt authentic and relatable.
Marie's reflection on her time with her grandson and the maturing bond with Julia and Brian wearms the heart. Her to decision to cut back on drinking and take on a student shows character grow. Her interaction with Cecil is charming, the playful banter at the end is a delightful touch, showcasing the potential for a meaningful mentor-student relationship.
One offers some closure while the other sets up new beginnings. The writing is engaging and the blend of lightheartedness and deeper themes made it stand out to me, and left me eager to see how all these relationships and personal journeys will evolve.
I will look back on some previous chapters in some down time for sure. Thank you for writing, and never stop ^.^
-D.H
Comment Written 01-Feb-2025
reply by the author on 02-Feb-2025
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Thank you very much, D.H., for this most wonderful review. I very much appreciate your thorough analysis of the chapter and all its elements. It took me a while to develop this format for presenting each chapter, but it seems to work well. At my age, my memory is not as sharp as it once was, and I always appreciate recaps when I read or see them. Character lists are great, too, for the same reason.
The idea of the cat in the tree was precisely to lighten up an otherwise mundane or possibly boring part of the story. Glad you enjoyed that.
Although I didn't start out writing this story with too much thought to Marie's part in it or having her develop a relationship with the doorman (I'm a pantser), it just sort of developed that way and has become one of my favorite parts of the story.
The original concept of this story was more of an action/adventure tale that was a sequel to my previous novel Duel with the Devil, but as I got into the writing, the character development aspect became equally important to me.
The three main characters (Fran, Dana, and Marie) have all been in previous novels of mine, but not in a leading role. I've had a chance to develop their characters much more in this one.
Comment from T B Botts
Hello Jim,
well, another great chapter. Totally relatable. I don't understand the waffles and chicken thing. It just doesn't sound good to me at all, but then, I've never really cared for waffles, and if I'm going to eat fried chicken, I think I'd rather have mashed potatoes or potato salad or some such thing.
I love the way Marie is changing. Even the Grinch had a change of heart. Well done.
Have a blessed evening.
Tom
reply by the author on 01-Feb-2025
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Hello Jim,
well, another great chapter. Totally relatable. I don't understand the waffles and chicken thing. It just doesn't sound good to me at all, but then, I've never really cared for waffles, and if I'm going to eat fried chicken, I think I'd rather have mashed potatoes or potato salad or some such thing.
I love the way Marie is changing. Even the Grinch had a change of heart. Well done.
Have a blessed evening.
Tom
Comment Written 01-Feb-2025
reply by the author on 01-Feb-2025
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Thanks, Tom. That's one of my favorite breakfasts. I guess it helps to love waffles, though. With plenty of butter and syrup.
Maybe it won't take a few hundred more visits for Marie to become a decent person. She's definitely on her way.
Comment from Iza Deleanu
You are so right babies do seem to turn life arounds and make you become a better person. I am curious to see what will happen next with this person ready to change. Thank you for sharing and good luck with your writings.
reply by the author on 01-Feb-2025
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You are so right babies do seem to turn life arounds and make you become a better person. I am curious to see what will happen next with this person ready to change. Thank you for sharing and good luck with your writings.
Comment Written 31-Jan-2025
reply by the author on 01-Feb-2025
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Thanks very much, Iza. Marie has certainly come a long way from where she started at the beginning of the story. That baby has become a major factor in her transformation.
Comment from Ric Myworld
I'm guessing that the kitty might have been wanting some chicken and waffles too. I remember when I first starting eating them together at Roscoe's chicken and waffles in Los Angeles, long before anyone ever dreamed they might be good together. LOL. Thanks for sharing.
reply by the author on 31-Jan-2025
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I'm guessing that the kitty might have been wanting some chicken and waffles too. I remember when I first starting eating them together at Roscoe's chicken and waffles in Los Angeles, long before anyone ever dreamed they might be good together. LOL. Thanks for sharing.
Comment Written 31-Jan-2025
reply by the author on 31-Jan-2025
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Haha. Two of my favorite comfort foods too. Perfect combination.
Comment from Wendy G
A very well-written chapter, and how good it is to see Maria making a sincere effort, and actually showing goodness of heart towards Cedric, even a little ongoing joke with him.
On our news tonight there was talk of a new drug being approved for management of chronic pain which treats the pain differently from opioids and does not affect the brain. Of course I immediately thought of you. Are you in the loop with this drug and its development? Was its research and study a prompt for you or did your thoughts run parallel? How very amazing! (One of my sisters would be a good candidate for this when it is approved for use in Australia!) I looked it up!
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 30, 2025-- Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved JOURNAVXâ„¢ (suzetrigine), an oral, non-opioid, highly selective NaV1.8 pain signal inhibitor for the treatment of adults with moderate-to-severe acute pain. JOURNAVX is an effective, well-tolerated medicine without evidence of addictive potential indicated for use across all types of moderate-to-severe acute pain.
Very impressive, and what you have written could very well be the real back story.
Wendy
reply by the author on 31-Jan-2025
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A very well-written chapter, and how good it is to see Maria making a sincere effort, and actually showing goodness of heart towards Cedric, even a little ongoing joke with him.
On our news tonight there was talk of a new drug being approved for management of chronic pain which treats the pain differently from opioids and does not affect the brain. Of course I immediately thought of you. Are you in the loop with this drug and its development? Was its research and study a prompt for you or did your thoughts run parallel? How very amazing! (One of my sisters would be a good candidate for this when it is approved for use in Australia!) I looked it up!
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 30, 2025-- Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved JOURNAVXâ„¢ (suzetrigine), an oral, non-opioid, highly selective NaV1.8 pain signal inhibitor for the treatment of adults with moderate-to-severe acute pain. JOURNAVX is an effective, well-tolerated medicine without evidence of addictive potential indicated for use across all types of moderate-to-severe acute pain.
Very impressive, and what you have written could very well be the real back story.
Wendy
Comment Written 31-Jan-2025
reply by the author on 31-Jan-2025
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That's very interesting, Wendy. I had no idea about this specific drug. Before I wrote the first story, I did a little bit of research to see if drug companies were working on powerful, but non-addictive painkillers, and I found out that they were, but there were no real specifics about it. I had no idea what mechanism they would use to attack pain, and it was my own idea to use sodium channel blocking like lidocaine uses to be the mechanism. I don't know if Journavx uses this or some other mechanism, but it's great to find out that someone has found the answer.
Makes me wonder if they went through the same troubles Brian is currently going through in bringing it to market!
Thanks for your wonderful review and this news.
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Yes, I wondered that too. Or if Brian was one of your family doing the research and you made up a wonderful backstory. You are clearly very clever to have written about a solution you yourself thought of and then find others have done exactly or almost exactly what you wrote about!!
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Well, thank you for that. The same thing happened in the book What We See, the one about the device that reads text to the wearer of the glasses. That was totally my own invention, and after writing the story, my brother pointed out when he read it that he thought there actually was such a device. I researched and found out he was right, and it did exactly what Alan Phelps's did, almost to a T. It was invented in 2010, almost 25 years after Alan's invention, so he was way ahead of his time.
Maybe future golf simulators will do what the team in Saving Mr. Calvin came up with!
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I looked into this drug further, and indeed it does use sodium channel blocking. Unfortunately, it only works for acute pain, not chronic pain. Let's hope they're also working on something for that.
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Wow You are incredibly imaginative and inventive. Impressive indeed.
Comment from Carol Hillebrenner
Well, it looks as if the job is done on creating a great new pain-relieving drug and the plan is in place to damage the only free-living plants that can make the dangerous earlier form of the good drug. I didn't miss the spraying operation, did I?
reply by the author on 31-Jan-2025
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Well, it looks as if the job is done on creating a great new pain-relieving drug and the plan is in place to damage the only free-living plants that can make the dangerous earlier form of the good drug. I didn't miss the spraying operation, did I?
Comment Written 30-Jan-2025
reply by the author on 31-Jan-2025
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Nope, coming up soon in chapter 32. The plant is actually used in making Glyptophan (the good drug) too, so that's why it was important for Detry Pharmaceutical, who Brian has the licensing agreement with, to excavate several tons of the soil and plant the plant in their own greenhouses before spraying the island and changing the plants there forever.
Comment from lancellot
Another well written wholesome family scene, this one to start the new year for your characters, or from Fran and Marie's POVs. Marie is giving he idea of teaching a shot, at least to the doorman, and not charging either. Her heart has grown three sizes bigger.
reply by the author on 31-Jan-2025
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Another well written wholesome family scene, this one to start the new year for your characters, or from Fran and Marie's POVs. Marie is giving he idea of teaching a shot, at least to the doorman, and not charging either. Her heart has grown three sizes bigger.
Comment Written 30-Jan-2025
reply by the author on 31-Jan-2025
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Thanks, Lance. Maybe there's hope for the old Grinch yet.
I wonder if you've noticed any hints I've been dropping about Marie, and what they may mean for her? No one has mentioned anything to me about it. I just wonder if you've picked up anything yet.
Comment from Pam Lonsdale
Do you mean to say "laugh out load" as an indication of a Southern accent? I think you could do without it, because the first reaction might be "it should be spelled loud."
I'm so glad that Marie is ALSO healing the once-terrible relationship with Cedric, even though it's been warming over these weeks because of his great sense of humor and ability to forgive and forget.
Enjoyed the humorous moment when Fran said goodbye to those working on this special project.
I wonder if WE will learn how successful all the hard work was.
See you this weekend, Jim.
xo
reply by the author on 30-Jan-2025
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Do you mean to say "laugh out load" as an indication of a Southern accent? I think you could do without it, because the first reaction might be "it should be spelled loud."
I'm so glad that Marie is ALSO healing the once-terrible relationship with Cedric, even though it's been warming over these weeks because of his great sense of humor and ability to forgive and forget.
Enjoyed the humorous moment when Fran said goodbye to those working on this special project.
I wonder if WE will learn how successful all the hard work was.
See you this weekend, Jim.
xo
Comment Written 30-Jan-2025
reply by the author on 30-Jan-2025
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Thanks for your great review, Pam. No, that was purely a typo, and thanks for pointing it out.
Once again, you identified my favorite parts of this chapter. The scene with the cat was a sudden inspiration to liven up a rather mundane part of the story. And I love writing the interactions between Cedric and Marie. They seem to understand and appreciate each other.
We'll find out in the same fashion as the team will whether or not the spray operation was successful.
Comment from Cecilia A Heiskary
Jim,
What a wonderful chapter. I was surprised that Brian and his clan won't know if their effort worked or not.
It seems Marie is working on being a better person, but she has a long way to go.
Great job my friend
Cecilia
reply by the author on 31-Jan-2025
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Jim,
What a wonderful chapter. I was surprised that Brian and his clan won't know if their effort worked or not.
It seems Marie is working on being a better person, but she has a long way to go.
Great job my friend
Cecilia
Comment Written 30-Jan-2025
reply by the author on 31-Jan-2025
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They'll know eventually, just not right away. You're right about Marie. She still has a ways to go. Maybe a few hundred more trips down there will do the trick!
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Marie will get there
