gtgrouch posted a comment on Sunday 18th May 2014 12:49pm for The Fine Art of Negotiation

Always liked Neville - felt a kindred nature with him as a boy and respected the man he grew into. Go Neville!!

Aurilia posted a comment on Thursday 23rd July 2009 3:27am for The Fine Art of Negotiation

Wow. The more I read of this, the more impressed I become. I'm enjoying how you're taking the one- or two-dimensional 'filler' characters from the Potterverse's backgrounds and fleshing them out into three-dimensional literary people. I may have said this already (I don't really recall for sure), but... Bravo.

fyrecat posted a comment on Wednesday 24th December 2008 9:35am for The Fine Art of Negotiation

Hmmm... I guess I know what I'll be reading next! Look out 'Jungle,' here I come!

JBern replied:

You'll be getting more replies from me tomorrow when I go back through the rest of these.   Thanks again.   I do appreciate the time you take to review.~Jim

fyrecat posted a comment on Thursday 18th December 2008 5:04am for The Fine Art of Negotiation

I like it. It's really nice to see more of the lives of the background characters. This story seems more 'real' than any of the others I have read. Your characters are real people dealing with the situations that life has forced upon them.
This fic has the best characterizations of any I have read. Even real published and marketed books. I'm very impressed!

Thanks for sharing!

JBern replied:

I really wanted to do a "real" version of a wizarding war and try to make it Saving Private Ryan meets HP.   Bungle was my attempt at Indiana Jones meets HP.

runsamok posted a comment on Thursday 1st November 2007 11:34am for The Fine Art of Negotiation

Just wanted to stop by and say I'm enjoying the story. I'm enjoying it so far. I like seeing Voldemort's "rise" through his perspective and the conversation between Marietta and Terry.

By the way, it's "Sirius" not "Sirus". You might want to do a search and replace to correct his name. =)

JBern replied:

Yeah!   If you want to make me cringe make me read the early chapters.   I do need to go back and do house keeping on all the errors that have been pointed out to me, but I'd rather finish the story first.

Thanks~Jim

bobthepurple posted a comment on Tuesday 9th October 2007 10:24pm for The Fine Art of Negotiation

I would like to congratulate you on using minor characters that have not been elucidated in cannon in order to breath life into a different world for Harry Potter. Much better written than that James/Harry X Fleur piece.

JBern replied:

Thanks.   I'm glad you enjoy the story so much.   Chapter 40 is in progress and you should see it in the next week or so.

Regards,

Jim

Merle Corey posted a comment on Sunday 14th January 2007 6:12am for The Fine Art of Negotiation

Looking forward to Neville's reaction. It is true that reluctant Death Eaters are quite rare, and the discussion between Terry and Marietta was a gem. It is a good thing that you like things different from canon, as this means that perhaps Harry won't be a clueless idiot.

JBern replied:

Wow!   Thanks for all the reviews.   I have a bit of catching up after just posting chapter 29.   Part of the fun of writing this story is being able to take spare third and fourth tier characters like Terry and Marietta and really make something out of them.   Believe it or not Marietta was one of the original people I considered for the love interest.   I still may write that some day.~Jim

MrRobertsIII posted a comment on Tuesday 28th November 2006 3:18am for The Fine Art of Negotiation

I would run as well!
-Me too. Makes sense. Neville isn't stupid and his use of gillyweed went well with his character.

JBern replied:

Glad you liked it!   Sometimes discretion is the best idea.   Live to fight another day and all that!~Jim

Manatheron posted a comment on Wednesday 15th November 2006 7:42pm for The Fine Art of Negotiation

I've just got to make a quick comment here about the Mental imagery you painted for me. When you talked about Neville coming out of the lake I could Literally seea tall young man walkings slowly out of the water, the sunrise painting the lake and half of his body a deep blood red... It was a real 'Armageddon Now' Picture, so I want you know that you Did an excellent job, and that I Completely agree with the thought that he would run.

There is a time to fight, and a time to hide, and when you are Outnumbered with no hope of re-inforcements, and nothing in particular to save, you RUN.

JBern replied:

Thanks!   Did you actually mean Apocalypse Now?   Glad you are enjoying the story.   Neville will feature heavily later in the story.~Jim

Meteoricshipyards posted a comment on Wednesday 15th November 2006 9:45am for The Fine Art of Negotiation

Nice chapter. I thought Neville acted just right. Being Gryffindor doesn't mean fighting 8 death eaters by yourself.

The Marietta and Terry scene was nice too. Death eaters are too easy to make psychopaths. Well done.

And the dinner party with Bella was good.

Nice story. Well done.

Tom A.

PS. I'm in the middle of NaNoWriMo, so there probably won't be an update to my stuff until after November is over.

JBern replied:

Glad you liked it.   Good luck on your competition entry.   Glad you enjoyed some of the bit characters taking the stage.   Drop me an email if you need anything.~Jim

Aaran St Vines posted a comment on Monday 13th November 2006 10:41pm for The Fine Art of Negotiation

I highly prize clever and unique story lines, twists, and characterizations.

This tale delivers every few minutes.

Very impressive!

JBern replied:

As long as I don't just twist for the sake of twists.   If it starts to stray into that territory let me know.~Jim