> Finally, I think that it is possible to have characters swear without being explicit about it. Consider the following two sentences:
>
> "Oh, hell," he said, as the ship's engine began to power down.
>
> He swore suddenly as the ship's engine began to power down.
>
> I think either of these is equally effective (the second may even be MORE effective than the first), and even stronger profanities can often be more forcefully represented without explicitly stating them.

I think this is the best approach to take, too. I mean, oh... look at the Left Behind series. (Good books.) Some of the characters swear, but when they do, it's ALWAYS like the above. I still easily get the idea of what they're doing without actually having to read the explicit words. It works well.

Of course, in my own writing which is usually fantasy (or at least always has some kind of alternate language in it or something), I go the make-up-a-word-and-imply-it's-bad-but-don't-say-what-it-explicitly-means route. ;)

Sosi"working on a fantasy serial right now"qui