This first chapter DEFINATELY got my attention! I like it much better than the first issue.

- Vanilla

Ah, shoot. :| When I was moving I forgot to send in my article.

I'm sorry. -flails- D:

I'm glad to see StP is still chugging right along, and I'm a little bit rueful about not having had anything to submit to this issue. It was a difficult topic, and major props are due to the contributing authors for wrangling with it. Hopefully I'll see you all in the next issue.

1) You make some good points about prosthetic limbs and you write a great article besides, Disturbly, but I feel like I point out a few ways to step around the 'realistic cannon-hand' problem. So, if anyone out there has a really cool prosthetic limb concept that they can't quite slip past reality, here are a few ways to do so:

Apply magic. If the limb is mostly convincing already, a little bit of magic will allow the reader to completely gloss over minor flaws in your logic. This is why mechanical prosthetics almost always work in steampunk, even when the relative technological level of the society is stuck somewhere in the advanced-Victorian.

Apply demons. Hey, it worked in Mononoke Hime, and it gives your character a great internal conflict with one of their limbs.

Apply bio-tech. Instead of going for a full-fledged artificial limb, create an organic limb with a few enhancements. It'll be much more acceptable in society (probably, unless you've got something like Blade Runner going), and you can cloak any physical impossibilities for the limb under a shroud of flesh.

2)Felicia13, kudos for providing me with the creepiest mental image ever. I tried to picture humans as "Like fish, only more snake-like" and had horrible visions of armless, faceless, tunnel-dwelling serpent-people. I may now have to work them into a story.

3) Witty as ever, Wolf.

4) You've expanded my understanding of Japanese, Bread. As I might have mentioned before, studying the language has done nothing towards making me good at it. I previously has no idea how to make 'umai' into its noun form.

Also, just an extra fact to add, the scientist who discovered the effect of monosodium glucamate claimed that he had discovered "the essence of deliciousness." Far be it from me to disagree. Doritos get exponentially tastier every time you eat a Dorito.

5) Deanna, your writing is both enthusiastic and sophisticated. Glad to have you on board this newsletter that I occasionally submit to when I'm not completely distracted or intimidated by the current topic or wrassling with my computer for the umpteenth time until it surrenders my internets back to me or just being generally long-winded.

Your article makes sense and it brings up one or two things that, as a guy, I hadn't realized before. On the other hand, being a guy, I couldn't read it and keep a straight face.

Anyways, thanks for contributing to StP. Hope you continue to do so in the future.

6) As for the next topic, nothing is springing straight to mind when I think about it, but it's pretty open ended. I'll do my best to formulate an article, and hopefully I'll see all you guys in the next issue.

-SC

Hey, Burnt Bread, does Alien Hand Syndrome really exist? And does it apply to raising your hand in the air?