Middle of the week - to help you get over the hump, here are two great reviews of stories here on GayAuthors! First, Cia gives a very frank review of Life, by Promising Author Jian Sierra. Now, not all stories fully appeal to all reviewers - and while Cia loved the crafting of the story, as you will see, she had some reservations too. Our other review is by Comicfan, of Author Mark92's Another Fairy Story.

I love reviews like these in that they give me all of the background so I can see if I may enjoy the story, even if the reviewer had issues with it. And you know - if you have a different view, please be sure to leave a review for the author. The first review does make use of our "spoiler" feature - PLEASE do not click on show if you intend to read the story soon and don't want too much given away. I tend to read the story, then go back and see the spoiler

With that, ENJOY!

Reviewer: Cia
Status: Complete
Word Count: 7,839

Renee mentioned that she needed another Promising Author review so I told her to pick an author and a story and send it my way. This sometimes is a great way to find a new story, or author, you might enjoy. Of course, I've read most authors on the site but in this case I had never read Life before so I settled in to enjoy this short story of just under 8,000 words.

First, I like to check the story description and tags before I read something new. I don't want spoilers, but they give me a good idea usually of what is going to happen. Right off the bat I know that our main character will find out that he has cancer before he meets a love interest. That is a very tragic set of circumstances and the story does follow through with that. The story follows Paul and Matt's meeting, and shows how they come together as a couple; the climactic scene at the end is very emotional. However, I had several issues with the way the characters were portrayed and the plot proceeded that failed to bring it home for me.

This section explains my reservations, but as it includes quite a few spoilers, I've hidden it for those who would like to make their own minds up. My perceptions of the story are the basis of my review, but for someone else, this story might be just the bittersweet romance they are looking for, so I don't want to ruin that.

The story was obviously carefully crafted, but I had such a hard time with the character's interactions and relationship that I simply didn't connect with it. Part of that was the first person monologue style, I think. There were also some tense issues and dialogue punctuation errors, though those were minor overall and didn't detract much from the story, if I had been able to get into it and really connect to the emotions being shared.

So, while Life wasn't really to my taste, Jian clearly carefully crafted the story to showcase the character's story and emotions and in that he didn't fail. As shown by the two existing reviews, others really enjoyed the story and found it quite poignant. I'd love to discuss other's thoughts on the story in his discussion forum, so why not check it out today!

Reviewer: Comicfan
Status: Complete
Word Count: 10,211

Anyone who keeps track of me knows I am a bit bias when it comes to Mark. I’ve worked as beta and editor for many of his works. However, I am proud to say I am not the only person he works with. So when I found out that Mark hadn’t been reviewed by anyone yet, I couldn’t wait to bring some attention to his work.

This piece is the second that Mark has written concerning fairies around Pond Farm. His editor for this work is another known name here on GA, K.C.. Mark’s story here returns the reader once again to the world of fairies that live and breathe around Pond Farm. This time the focus is on a dark Fay named Gizmo Nightshade.

Gizmo made the mistake of trying to over throw the other dark fay and was instead thrown out himself. Flying along he soon finds Pond Farm and the fairies Apple and Teasel. Gizmo has decided he will take over the area as his new base of operations. All he needs is discover the where Queen Arwen, leader of the Pond Farm fairies is so he can overthrow her.

Gizmo decides the easiest way to get that information is by taking Apple hostage. Apple’s lover Teasel is a Guardian and isn’t going to take his lover being held hostage lightly. What will the end result of this encounter be? Is Apple always to be the victim or is he capable of more? What will the result be of Queen Arwen being challenged for her right to rule?

Mark weaves a marvelous tale of modern fairies in the English country side. His tale is both sweet and violent, keeping your interest from start to finish. Give this tale a read and leave him a comment as well. I hope you will enjoy it as much I did.