Well, after a longer haitus than usual, we're back! This is a long, long story by an author many of us have enjoyed for years. Have you read this classic story? It's a go to favorite of mine when I'm looking for that apocalyptic style OMG WHAAAAT story, even though I know exactly what's going to happen, I still love it. Give it a try, especially if you love a LONG read!
Length: 175,313
Description: Facing a life-changing medical procedure, 14 year old Shay approaches it with the
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25543022-kick-at-the-darkness
(Warning Spoilers ahead in my review)
There's something about Zombies that fascinates people to write social commentary in their story. I guess the idea of a group of mindless merciless beings that consume the flesh of normal human beings or worse converts them into one of them has a lot of application to things such as consumerism, human exploitation, political satire, and "mob mentality". I enjoy well written Zombie st
I have two rather large writing experiments that I've been running for a while now.
I have been running them at GA because I can access them directly and don't have to go through an intermediary to post or do hot online edits. These are highly experimental, and I'm trying a lot of new and different things. I'll share my findings here.
I had several goals that I wanted to achieve:
Get proficient with self-editing
Work on the process of outline => draft => revision
Like many kids my era, I collected albums, smoked a lot of weed and listened to music real loud. Unlike many of my contemporaries, I held on to my collection and treated it with great care. It sounds as good today as it did in the seventies.
Jackson Browne
The Pretender
LP
R
The Beatles
Abbey Road
LP
R
Foreigner
I have a bunch of CDs and I had to get them organized, so I'll know what I have and where they are. I'm working on my vinyl collection too but, it's a lot more work. I'm taking them out, cleaning them covering the outside in plastic and replacing the liners that need it with an after-market product. I wanted to have this list in a few different places. Anyway, gaze upon my works and despair. Yes- there are duplications (trade bait). Location is where they are. After getting this actually done I'
Brother [M] called at 1:44am this morning. Dad -- who would have turned 100 on Oct. 7th -- had been sliding a bit but not rapidly. We expected something soon - but not this soon.
He was hurting quite a bit last night so Hospice gave him what M called "a very tiny amount" of morphine just to knock the edge off the pain. Before he left they said his vital signs were really good. He hadn't been sleeping that well. The morphine allowed him to relax enough to go into a deep sleep and...just di
My husband and I had our first night out in over a year in a physically distanced, but indoor dining situation. We went to a spot we love - a little, intimate place with dark, burnt orangey walls, ferrous-stained concrete floors with these glorious cracks filled with rust, and of course a terrific menu.
The servers all wore masks, and all the patrons did too until served. Between courses we masked up again, and were all more than six feet apart from other tables. To add a bit of security, I
When the news you get, isn’t the news you want…
My Husband, Phil, gets regular injections to his eyes for complications from diabetes. (DME) Yes, it's as bad as it sounds. It's been happening for over three years now.
Two weeks ago He saw the doctor for His regular appointment. The doctor asked the staff to go ahead and scan both eyes, not just the left. It wasn’t good news. The swelling in that right eye was back. It’s been stable for two years; it’s just been the left eye being trea
Stravinsky Suite Italienne
Stravinsky is a name that scares off many people, maybe thinking Rite of Spring, or The Firebird with lots of dissonance and it’s not for them. Which is not just a shame (both those pieces are incredible experiences with a full orchestra in a concert hall) but simply wrong. Stravinsky was not just an exceptional composer - the greatest of the twentieth century? - but wide-ranging and versatile, composing in many styles during his life and perfectly capable of wri
Well, I have my old editor and I am writing again
Today, I present for those who enjoy short stories of 5K words or less, Never Ending Struggle
It's not a massive story with heavy plots or complex characters, it's just a straight forward slice of life story. I approach modern life and its issues with honest reflection in here.
I highlight facts people don't think about from the lower paying and grinding work of teaching assistants, known as Paraprofessionals. That stuff is quit
It's been a while since I last visited Blogland here at the ol' GA, so I might as well update you on how things are going in my little corner of the world.
First off, my service-connected disabilities were reevaluated by the VA. I'm no longer rated at 50% for Bipolar Disorder. I've been rerated at 70% for Schizoaffective Disorder Bipolar Type. The only reason I wasn't rated at 100% (the next level) was because I wasn't frequently hospitalized, had many suicide attempts, or homeless. Also, m
As it appears, there was very little interest in an old school Wilderness survival story, I've discontinued work on it. It will just go into my pile of abandon story ideas.
Even so, I have just updated my request for editor/beta reader based on a new concept:
Modern Romance Fiction editor/beta request thread
I got inspired by a question in my mind after reading a few more Romance gay stories: What happens next?
Then, I reflect on my own life and wonder, would I have ended up
The “Most Promising Newcomer” award - @CaJu
The “Hercule Poirot” award for Best Deduction Skills - @ReaderPaul
The “Sigmund Freud” award for Best Character Analysis Skills - @NimirRaj
The “Awesome” award for Best Distillation Skills - @chris191070
The “Ghandi” award for Patience - @Summerabbacat
The "Best Supporting Award" All those who registered their reaction to the story.
Phillip is 16 and new in town with his first job: working for the Y. With no friends and his Dad stuck in London (or was that Hong Kong or Singapore?), he resolves to make a few. One of the new fiends older brother Andy is known to be a real asshole and, he wants to have a talk to Phillip.
Horrible writing advice...
Heroes wear white. They ride on high white horses and have shiny plot armor. They are, of course, interesting because who wants to read about a bum, right? Heroes should be flawless role models because seeing them overcome their petty human experience is just plain boring.
Villains wear black. Their horses don't really like them. They don't get shiny plot armor because the writers guild demands it! They aren't very interesting because they're just plain old e
Words can’t express how proud I am of our daughter. Today, J.J. became a home owner!
This kid has worked her butt off saving to buy a house. As a Paramedic, she works very long hours. She works nights and weekends and sacrifices holidays. When other kids her age were out partying, she was dedicated to keeping our community safe.
J.J. did it all on her own!
Of course I’m nervous for her to leave the nest, but excited to see her grown. 😍
Comforting Touch Story #5 Hearth Keeper
It is now live
Some General Observations from this Author:
1. The series came out much better than I had ever imagined, I had originally conceived it as a one-off with Finding Warmth, but it just kept writing itself throughout December 2020.
2. I've learned a good deal about myself during the writing of this story, which, for those who know me, is about 60% factual and 40% fiction. It's a lot easier to write based on reality. I realized
The Fourth Story is now live in Comforting Touch series:
Relationships aren't fairy tales in real life and more often than not, there's a good amount of complications between even the most committed lovers. How you deal with it is what defines who you are and who your lover is in relation to issues and conflicts.
Maybe to some readers, what happened to Jason in Fanning Flames is off-putting, being given alcohol and drugs to make you more pliable for sexual intercourse is a comm
I swear if I hear one more person say that COVID is just the Flu, I might knock their teeth out!
I’ve had the Flu many times in my 47 years on this Earth and I this is NOTHING like the Flu.
I caught it 4 months ago. It was a brutal 10 days of high fevers, awful cough, chest/lung pain, whole body aches, ear infection, lose smell and taste, I even passed out a few times… I really thought I was going to die!
Mine was a heavy viral load, so I kept testing positive for 6 weeks. (Ne
The other evening a friend said to me; "The hard times are when I think about my vows to my husband. And that helps. We all have troubles, but we can be the constant in the lives of those we love. There's something sublime and wonderful about that."
He's right, of course. Being there for others, a partner or friend, is a wonderful feeling. Those vows we make when we marry are not just words to be said because 'that's what you do'. No. They are and should be words held in the highest regar
Well just to make it clear for people who do not know, I suffer from Congenital Glaucoma, I was born with bad eyesight, and am legally blind with very low vision. One thing I've learned as I read stories, there really isn't much diversity or representation of people with disabilities in various gay fiction genres. People like me exist throughout the world in various forms; for instance, my last boyfriend was deaf, but it very hard for me to find any kind of story that reflect that kind of relati
I hope you all enjoyed the first 47 chapters of Catering with Benefits. Up next is a short story (3 chapters) about Rani, the sister of Raj, one of the characters from Catering.
I call this story 'Mile High Benefits' and is the first of the short stories from my 'Side Salad' collection that will punctuate the ongoing story of 'Catering with Benefits. These short stories will feature characters that have appeared briefly in the main story.
Please enjoy this slight diversion. The main st
PRINCE ALBERT
This was part of the original chapter 25 - Catering with Benefits - But was abandoned.
Craig had no idea what Justin intended to do with the new piercing and, although he had accompanied him to the studio and supported him in the recovery stage, he would not buy him any jewellery for his dick so Justin bought his own. He had started his early serving duties as a bar tender and wanted to use that experience in this new career. So far all the party tricks h
So the next story in the Comforting Touch series is live now:
Fanning Flames
The story goes into areas I rarely explore in the past. It was an interesting exercise.
One area that people might have caught on from last story, I think the best way to describe my sex scenes in this story is with one word, Sensuality. Using your hands, your nose, and your tongue is just as important to the experience as any other area.
While Sexuality is what many people like to describe in both h
"Tenebrous"—meaning dark, shadowy, or obscure—is important in storytelling because it creates deep atmospheric tension, heightens mystery, and mirrors complex moral or emotional struggles.
Building Atmosphere:
Sets the mood: Physical darkness makes scenes feel heavy, oppressive, or frightening.
Engages the senses: Describing shadowy corners or dim hallways helps readers feel isolated and alert.
Crafts a distinct setting: Gothic castles, deep caves, and foggy alleys use shadow
Tenebrous means dark, gloomy, or obscure, and its history traces back through Middle English and Old French to classical Latin roots. The word derives from the Latin noun tenebrae, which means "darkness" or "shadows". Tenebrae led to the Latin adjective tenebrosus, meaning "dark" or "full of darkness". It passed into Old French as tenebros (11th century; Modern French ténébreux) before entering Middle English in the 15th century.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the ea
Just the facts:
SPREZZATURA Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
Sprezzatura translates to "studied nonchalance" or "effortless grace"—the art of making something difficult look completely easy and natural.
Key Aspects
Origin: Coined by Baldassare Castiglione in his 1528 book The Book of the Courtier to describe hiding hard work behind a mask of ease.
In Fashion: Means dressing with careless elegance, such as wearing an expensive suit with
That looked wrong to me but I couldn't quite place why at first. It turns out that it is incorrect. Astronomical Fall begins on the 22nd of September and Meteorological Fall begins on the 1st of September (this applies just like @Graeme says on the first day of the month that the Astronomical season date lands in wherever you live on the map).