Monday we started off with a review by Fozzie Bear of our Hosted Author Renee Steven's story Roving Dreams. As everyone should know, Renee is very special to us here as an extraordinary Co-GA Blog Organizer, but additionally, she is a fantastic author.
This was followed up by an interview of Andy021278 that Comicfan graciously did for us. It's always great getting a better in-depth look at our authors and community members.
So after getting to know Andy021278 better, we get to read his
Saturdays can be so many things to so many people. To some it is a chance to get that stuff done that you haven't had time (or have put off) during the week. Others it's a great time to just sit back and relax and forget about the stress of work and/or school. For us here at GA, it's a chance to look back into our past and bring you something from either an old Newsletter or an old Anthology. Today we're looking at a story from the 2007: The Road Not Taken Anthology. Enjoy!
The Key By Lugh
So once again, it's the end of the week, which is a perfect time to bring you a couple of new prompts by Comicfan. This way, you'll have the weekend to work on them before going back to work, school, etc. Don't forget to share what you come up with in the Writing Prompt Forum!
Prompt 162 – Creative Tag – The Friend Create the perfect best friend. Are they male or female? Are they really smart or super sarcastic? Do they try to keep you from making mistakes or do they hand you another $10 in
It's a fine line between being critical in an effort to help a writer, and going too far and just being very cutting in what you say. In a text medium, it's usually hard to hear the "voice" that the criticism is being given. I mean sometimes, the voice comes through loud and clear, like when your friend comes up to you in a new outfit and you're all "Oh no you didn't - girl, you is a hot mess!" (did everyone else hear that in Layfayette voice from True Blood?)
Anyways - Cia as always has som
So - after a great interview of Andy021278, what better than to read his review of Author Ricky's Blind Sensations? We also are treated with a review by Dark of Promising Author Comicfan's Mirror Tells the Truth. We hope you enjoy these reviews and check out the stories - I know I will!
Mirror Tells the Truth
By
Comicfan
Review by Dark Status: Complete Word Count: 5,057
Comicfan is one of our Promising Authors here on GA and currently has 28 stories to his name. Th
For someone who has only been a member since Oct 2011, Andy021278 has become a well-valued member of the community and especially helpful to those of use here at the GA News Blog. For a great in-depth look at who he is, here is an interview of him that Comicfan did for us. Enjoy!
Interview with Andy021278
by
Comicfan
You’ve been with GA since last October. What brought you to this website?
I read a lot on Nifty (in retrospect, probably far too much) and I came
Again, I love this job. I get to help shine a light on some fantastic writing, like this Roving Dreams, a story by Hosted Author Renee Stevens (or, I like to call her, Radiant Renee Stevens). Our thanks to guest reviewer Fozzie Bear for his great review of this fantastic story!
Roving Dreams
by
Renee Stevens
Reviewer: Fozzie Bear Status: Complete Word Count: 2562
Wocka, Wocka. This is your favorite fuzzy Fozzie Bear back again. Did you get my joke? Wock
We started our week looking at a delightful story by Hosted Author Libby Drew. Radiant Renee Stevens gave us a great review of Libby's Spark and sat8997 and Mark Arbour both chimed in with their praise for Libby's works.
Our Tuesday Toss up looked at heroes - specifically various readers from the perspective of two authors, FleetingRainbows and C James. The comments on this blog are as valuable as the entry itself, IMHO.
For our midweek Author's Showcase, we had a review of Promising Aut
By now - you know the drill... We gives youse two prompts - you writes... Dat easy!
Seriously though, thanks again to Comicfan for this week's prompts. We hope they intrigue you enough to try one or both - and please be sure to share with the community in our Writing Prompts forum.
Prompt 160 – Creative Tag – The dog You hadn’t noticed it at first but now you can’t ignore it. There is a dog following you. You see him when you take your run through the park. You’ve seen him when you go to
Here is the second part of the feature on Breaking Through that we started last Thursday. Great thanks to Radiant Renee Stevens for her compilation of this, as well as to podiumdavis for giving us the idea to do this kind of format in the first place. Enjoy!
Breaking Through: Part 2
compiled by
Renee Stevens
So, after the success of the tip suggested by podiumdavis, I decided to take another question to the authors on the site! We had a great response and once a
As we finish our first week of August, we decided to hit a bit of a dark Wednesday today. First we have a review of Promising Author Dark's Butterflies of Death, followed by a great review of Author Cehammock's Gaze. This review is by... (wait for it)... Dark! <cough - lame pun - so what>
So to get the bad pun out of your mind - go read. These reviews should hopefully inspire you to discover some great new fiction!
Butterflies of Death
By
Dark
Revie
Something a little different this week - Radiant Renee Stevens has complied a great little piece on thanks. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did...
Our Heroes
We love when we get messages from Members with things to go into the blog. Recently we received on such message from FleetingRainbows who strongly believes that Readers should not be overlooked, and we agree. Readers are what keeps a lot of the Authors on GA writing. So today, we are sharing a special Thank You from F
What a better way to start a week than with a great story. Hosted Author Libby Drew is one of our most talented authors with wonderful tales - here is a review of her short story Spark. Enjoy!
Spark
By
Libby Drew
Reviewer: Renee Stevens Status: Complete Word Count: 6,434
I have had Libby Drew on my “to read” list for quite a while, and today I decided why wait? I scrolled through her list of stories and one immediately jumped out at me. The description sounde
Well, our deadline for the big Novella Anthology "Secrets Can Kill" - has come and past. I can't wait until we all get to see what was submitted. I'm definitely looking forward to some new stories to read! AND - we have some new Anthology Announcements.
One of the joys of working on this daily GA News blog, is pulling out older stories that sometimes just don't get enough attention. We did that on Monday with Radiant Renee Stevens' review of Under the Mistletoe by Hosted Author DomLuka. This
Cia went searching through old newsletters in a quest for some Blast from the Past material. She came across this wonderful interview by Kevin (aka: AFriendlyFace) in an October 2006 newsletter. Hope you enjoy the interview as well as Cia's introduction and conclusion.
GA has inspired many readers to take the leap into writing, myself included! The writing information and programs found on the site have changed over the years, but that encouraging support has always been here. Check out thi
Did everyone catch the full moon last night? It's the first of two this month so the August 31 Full moon will be a "blue moon". Let's see what extra creativity hits us all this month.
To aid you, Comicfan has come up with two terriffic writing prompts. I hope you try one or both and share you efforts with the community in the Writing Prompts Forum.
Prompt 158 – Creative Cue – First Line “Momma always said there would be days like this.”
Prompt 159 – Creative Cue – List of Words Use t
We've got another fantastic two part tip, with part two coming next Thursday. We hope you enjoy, and thanks to all of the authors who participated, but special thanks to the Radiant Renee Stevens, for compiling this!
Breaking Through: Part 1
compiled by
Renee Stevens
So, after the success of the tip suggested by podiumdavis, I decided to take another question to the authors on the site! We had a great response and once again I have to break the responses up into
Yay - it's August and that means only two weeks until the kids go back to school! (hehehehhe) And in other Wednesday news, we've got two terrific reviews for you. Radiant Renee Stevens gives us a review of Promising Author Faust's Almost and Andy021278 gives us a great review of Author Ieshwar's Mind Games. Check out their reviews then hopefully check out one or both of these interesting stories!
Almost
By
Faust
Reviewer: Renee Stevens Status: Complete Word Count: 2,68
I'm happy to present a review of Hosted Author DomLuka's Under the Mistletoe. While many know of his longer stories, such as The Lo(n)g Way, Desert Dropping and The Ordinary Us, Dom has also done a number of short stories. Renee Stevens gives us a great review of Under the Mistletoe - and you should be sure to check out his The Spirit of James and my favorite, Valentines Day Goes to the Dog.
Under the Mistletoe
By
DomLuka
Reviewer: Renee Stevens Status: Complete
The deadline for our big Novella Anthology "Secrets Can Kill" - the deadline is July 31 (although if you need a few extra days, just contact Lugh in advance)
We started our week looking at Topher_Lydon's Carter's Army, his first story of his Carter series. Not only did we get a good look at the story that started his series, we also saw news that he is planning ANOTHER Carter book!
Our Toss-up Tuesday gave us an interview with the multi-talented Radiant Renee Stevens. She gives us some i
Looking back - 2004 seems so long ago but at the same time, seems so recent. Here is a review from Renee Stevens of a story we had in our very first anthology - Nick Cringle by Myr. Check it out!
Nick Cringle
By
Myr
Reviewer: Renee Stevens Anthology: 2004 Christmas Word Count: 5,676
I decided it would be a great idea to visit the very first anthology on Gay Authors. I was looking through the entries and noticed “Nick Cringle” by Myr. I remembered reading it a l
I know that many of you look forward to these Friday Prompt's, and we would hate to disappoint. Once again we bring you two prompts by the amazing Comicfan. Both of these look quite interesting and I might even try one out myself. Don't forget to share your prompt in the Writing Prompt Forum.
Prompt 156 – Creative Cue – Nightmare You haven’t been sleeping lately, In fact you have been having this really horrible nightmare nearly every night. The only problem is, you are pretty sure you haven
Thank you once again to K.C. for once again providing us with a tip for our Tip Thursday! Hope you enjoy KC's thoughts on Pen Names!
Pen Name
by
K.C.
Pen name or not to pen name…that is the question.
Do you have a pen name or pseudonym that you write under? If not do you really need one?
First, you need to think about where your stories will be posted. Are you posting only in an online forum or are you submitting to publishers, magazines or even entering writing
I miss the old days! When, I was a kid at summer camp. The only possible question or one of two likely answers to any sentence that had kindle / kindling or rekindle in it, was and/or were:
Q - Got a match?
A 1 - Yes.
A 2 - No.
(To this day I still carry a match/lighter, just in case?)
Just the facts:
REKINDLE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
REKINDLE Synonyms: 23 Similar and Opposite Words | Merriam-Webster Thesaurus
REKINDLES Synonyms: 23 Similar and Opposite Words | Merriam-Webster Thesaurus
REKINDLING Synonyms: 23 Similar and Opposite Words | Merriam-Webster Thesaurus
REKINDLED Synonyms: 24 Similar and Opposite Words | Merriam-Webster Thesaurus
KINDLE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The Forbidden Knowledge anthology is just about upon us...it will be fun to see how many of us guess just who our 'secret authors' are!
Here in Central Massachusetts, the center of the universe, we are experiencing high temps along with an outrageous humidity index; the combined effect will have "feel-like" temps hitting the triple digits...lasting through the Fourth of July!
I haven't put the AC in the window just yet; thanks to a bunch of mature trees and shading, the inside of the h
The concept of rekindle—the act of reviving a lost passion, a forgotten memory, or a dormant connection—is a powerful storytelling tool. It injects vital emotional stakes into a plot by forcing characters to confront their pasts, heal from trauma, or rediscover their core motivations, making the narrative deeply relatable and resonant.
Emotional Stakes and Character Arcs: Rekindling breathes life into stagnant or disillusioned characters. It acts as the bridge between a character's "before
Rekindle means to ignite or revive something (like a fire, passion, or relationship) anew. The word was formed in the late 16th century by combining the Latin derived prefix re- (meaning "again", "anew", or "back") with the verb kindle (meaning "to light a fire"). Initially, the word was used strictly in its literal sense of setting a physical fire back to life. However, its figurative use (to reawaken faded emotions, memories, or interests) has been popular since the late 1600s.
We've had timely rains this spring and June has not been too bad so far, but this coming week for my area is forecast to be toasty with temps 95F and above with heat indices in the triple digits through next weekend. The troubling part is that the overnight lows are to be near 80 F which doesn't provide much overnight cooling...AT least most of us have air conditioning and don't face what has happened in Europe this past week.