Letters @~Any letters sent to me that aren't marked 'not for publication' @~and which deal with adventure-related matters will be @~considered for inclusion, maybe being edited in the process. ------------------------------------------------------------------ @~First a letter from Greg Lord who recently upgraded from the ST @~to the PC ... From Greg Lord, London Even with the fancy PC games I'm now enjoying I still miss a lot of my old ST games, & I'd quite like to get it repaired - I expect that'd be easier than trying to replace them with a load of old games for the PC. Do you know of any good ST repairers in the Central/South London areas? Or is there maybe some sort of ST emulator available for the PC? @~Can anyone help? I don't know of a disk ST emulator for the PC @~(though there were several that worked the other way) but I seem @~to remember someone mentioning a hardware Gemulator at some time. @~And the ST repair place I used was in Nottingham ... Sue ------------------------------------------------------------------ @~Now one from the SynTax Contributor of the Year... From Richard Hewison, Luton It was great to finally come top of the tree as SynTax Contributor of the year after five years of trying! Commiserations to James Judge who made that desperate sprint finish at the end! Hopefully we can all keep the contributions coming in next year. My sleeping wizard is now standing over (or should that be lying over?) my runners up figures from previous years. ----------------------------------------------------------------- @~... and one from the above-mentioned JJ ... From James Judge, Chidley Cross Dear Sue, Just a quick note to say thanks a lot for the Myth & Magic figurine. Yet again the figure was of top quality, as usual. This year it was called the Wrong Spell and showed a wizard gasping in horror, as he held a spell book over a crystal, upon which was a dragon wearing the king's crown. It nicely complements the rest of my growing collection (which now is eleven pieces!). Thanks again. Well done, too, to the rest of the winners - especially Richard/Roy who has provided many entertaining and informative pieces over the year. And to Alex - not only does he come third, he writes SynWin AND survives my often scathing comments about his fave game, DM. Keep up the good work Sue, SynTax is still getting better - eight years gone and another eighty to come!!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------- @~And now one from 4th prize winner, Jean Childs From Jean Childs, Bagshot Thank you, Sue, for the figurine. It's great, and I feel very honoured to receive it. It was good to see a woman's name amongst the top five contributors for once. At one point I was at the top, but not for long. (And they say woman are the ones for words). For the benefit of my fellow readers, I'll describe my figurine. It's an egg which opens and reveals three tiny dragons grouped around a jewel. I say the egg opens, but it's a bit more complicated than that. It has an uneven serrated opening just like a real cracked egg. It's great fun to show it to people and, having opened it, watch them try and close it together again. It stands on my cupboard next to Nogwidget. Alas poor Nogwidget. I don't expect to be high on the contributors list again. Apart from 'his' contributions, my own writing was often inspired by him. Since he 'left' I haven't written as much. Sue thought it would be of interest to some readers to explain how Nogwidget came about, so here goes. James Judge was partly to blame. He had been going on about the unlikely existence of dwarfs. I had written in with my opinion, and had also brought dragons into my article. I don't know why, except that I like them. Then one day while talking to Sue on the phone, she told me about the electric plug from her computer falling out of the socket in the wall. At first she didn't notice it and assumed the computer was on the blink. We laughed about it, but deep down in the evil depths of my brain something stirred. Sue really didn't know who Nogwidget's first letter was from. In his letter, he boasted about having pulled out the plug from Sue's computer. Sue half suspected me but wasn't sure as I had arranged for the letter to be posted away from my normal area thus producing an 'unknown to Sue' postmark. It would all have ended there but for the fact that I had a birthday due. My husband had read my letter (sorry I mean Nogwidget's letter) and also my subsequent article. He usually is at a loss as to knowing what to buy me for my birthdays, but while browsing he came across Nogwidget. He is really one of a limited edition of "Arangast the summer dragon" by Enchantica. But to us, with his arrogant look, he is Nogwidget. (Notice that I say 'is' and not 'was'). And so Nogwidget arrived. I have sent Sue a picture of him for the rogue's gallery. It's not a very good picture, photography was never one of my strong points. Sue tells me that some readers were surprised that Nogwidget's letters were written by a woman as his letters were usually chauvinistic. This was not an intentional method of deceiving readers as to his true identity. It's just the way he is. I think it's because the computer world always has been and still is male dominated. Helping me write this letter may be Nogwidget's last influence regarding SynTax. There always was the possibility of him making a come-back but he has become very paternal since I received my figurine of little dragons and pays little attention to me. In case anyone is interested in how he acquired his name, it is partly due to Noggin the Nog (some readers may remember him) and also due to me being a great fan of Jack Dee. @~So now you know! ... Sue - o -