Blogs

Lily Savage is Missing

Last Wednesday morning (29th March), I was woken up by the radio news telling me that Paul O’Grady had suddenly and sadly died (1). It was a shock. Lying there, half asleep, I didn’t believe it, for a moment, but it was true. The tributes poured in for him, praising his work as a television presenter, chat show host and champion for Battersea Cats & Dogs Home (2). But I will always remember him as his alter ego, Lily Savage. When I moved to London, in the mid-eighties, Lily Savage

April 4, 2023

Sunday 2nd April 2023

I hated Sunday afternoons as a child. It was always the low point of the week, the afternoon when nothing really happened. It was those long hours between Sunday lunch and Sunday tea. My parents would go and garden, leaving me alone with the television. There were only three channels and none of them saved their best programs for Sunday afternoons. I watched a lot of old and often not very good films, black and white war films that were all about the glory of fighting, or equally black and white

April 2, 2023

Thursday 30th March

I’ve had problems with the bailiffs, or one particular bailiff company. It’s not what you think, I didn’t owe anyone any money but someone else, who I have never heard of, has been giving out our address as his own, someone who has never lived at our address. For ages I’ve returning letters for him as “Not known at this address.” The three weeks ago we received a hand delivered letter for him, with no return address on it and the envelope was open. Inside was a letter from a firm of bailiff

March 30, 2023

Wednesday 29th March 2023

On the grass, in front of our house, the crows and seagulls have fallen back into their usual cold war, after all staring at the lorry that came to emptying our rubbish bins. They stand around, glaring at each other, or attacking leftover fast-food wrappers, which the crows always seem better at. Every couple of days the cold war breaks down and they’ll start fighting over something or other, leaving behind the occasional feather on the grass. Before lockdown, the grass was dominated by pig

March 29, 2023

Tuesday 28th March 2023

Last Friday we had a day out. We went to the London Transport Museum Depot, out at Acton (West London), for one of its open days. It was an amazing experience. It is housed in an old London Transport depot and is full of all kinds of old equipment, trains and memorabilia from the London Underground. I have always been fascinated by the London Underground, ever since I moved to London. Taking a train across a city, that travelled only underground, was so new and different. Since then, I hav

March 28, 2023

Mirror in the sky, what is love?

Sunday blog time. I was asked this question a few days ago: “What one book do you love that you believe influenced your own writing the most?” That’s a seriously hard question, folks. How could any writer, who is most likely an avid reader, choose just one single book as the most influential in their life? There have been moments. Epiphanies. When I read something that, upon reflection, altered me. But pick one work above all others? That feels impossible. I can think of many ins

March 26, 2023

Fiction

Love on the Edge

A novel. Genre: romance, psychology, gay, bi-sexuality Setup: India

Sagar in Fiction

March 24, 2023

Review

'Syncopation' by Anna Zabo

Syncopation by Anna Zabo My rating: 4 out of 5 stars In music, syncopation is the idea of cross-beats, a rhythm that stands out against whatever else is going on. Yes, it can be a cause of musical conflict or tension, but syncopation is also an important part of the musical whole. Those different, independent beats often enhance whatever else is going on. They add strength. This is where we meet Ray van Zeller and Xavier Damos. Ray's band is going through tricky times. So is Xavie

northie in Review

March 19, 2023

Ode to Sunday

Wait, I can’t do poems. Let’s call it Stream of Consciousness Sunday. This week felt ten weeks long. Modern medicine is a wonder, but modern travel is torture, and I often use Sundays to consider all the different ways I could avoid airplanes for the rest of my life. Also, no surprise to anyone, the world is full of self-involved, self-righteous, ignorant individuals, which is also no modern phenomenon, as human nature has basically remained unchanged since the dawn of the species. C

Background of the Bad Dog

March 12, 2023

Memory

On August 24th of 2022, I went to what seemed to be a routine therapy appointment. I have complex PTSD stemming from, well, lots of places. This led to depression, anxiety, and an impossibly tricky minefield of things that would set me off for no reason. In fact, that same day, I had a panic attack, hearing metal bats hit softballs. This was new, as I had watched the summer of softball games in the employee league, and only on this day was it a problem. My therapist decided to do some EMDR

Kelevra in Background of the Bad Dog

March 3, 2023

writing tips

Part 3

Authenticity vs everyday life There are two camps of literature consumers: Those who practice escapism (fantasy and science fiction to the rescue) and those who prefer stories that seek a high order of reality and authenticity: Feelings—good ones as well as bad ones—, situations you can identify with, which you even already might have experienced. In the early days of filmmaking, there have been ideas now and then, that had the potential to be revolutionary. The idea, I want to talk ab

Zuri in writing tips

February 27, 2023

Review

'A Marvellous Light' by Freya Marske

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars This book contains magic, Edwardian society, arcane puzzles, soul-deep connections, and the British civil service. What a mix. And you know what? It works. It really works. Some reviewers complain there's not enough emphasis on the magic. For me, it's enough. Magic drives the plot, steers the action, and has sufficient internal logic to hold the story together. I don't want to be sitting through pages of lore or mechanics.

northie in Review

January 29, 2023

Writing

Moving Pictures

On a July evening, in 1991, three people are each caught in a moment of indecision, not knowing what the next right thing to do is. Helen has cooked a special, surprise meal for her husband, but he still hasn’t returned home. Paul has parked his car at the side of the road, but he doesn’t know where to drive to next. Craig is working late, but his mind isn’t on work. Moving Pictures is my newly published short story. It tells its story from the point-of-view of three different people,

Drew Payne in Writing

January 27, 2023

Wait, I wrote that? (Or, how 40 Souls to Keep began its life)

Happy Thursday to me! Thursday is the one weekday I have off. It’s dark, cold and rainy outside at the moment. Perfect for snuggling in front of the fire. With the dogs. Which is fine. I love a solid dose of unconditional adoration. Who develops ideas like I do, I sometimes wonder? When a story starts as nothing more than a concept, leaving you to flesh out everything else -- characters, POV, time period etc. Many of my writer friends focus on characters. They have the perfect

January 19, 2023

Book review

Book Review: The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie

This play opens with a startling image. In a sitting room, at night, a man lies dead in his wheelchair while standing over him is his wife holding the gun that killed him. Onto this scene stumbles a man, a stranger to this household. But instead of calling for the police, or even calling for help, the man, the unexpected guest of the play's title, starts to coach the woman in how to get away with the murder of her husband. Agatha Christie had an equally successful career as a playwright as

Drew Payne in Book review

January 14, 2023

Movies

Hollyweird Articulated

I used to have a love of movies. I have over 1500 DVDs/Blu-Rays/4K disks in my collection. I could be counted on to buy multiple movies a month. 2022 I bought 5 total new movies. I upgraded a handful of older things. This fellow, a published author, has articulated the problem rather nicely. As a gay guy, I rather prefer men. And Hollyweird can't even fake having those any more. It's a growing problem in books too, especially since 2015. I was rereading

Myr in Movies

January 14, 2023

To Sequel or Not to Sequel

Should I or shouldn’t I? This has always been a relatively easy question for me because I have the attention span of a kitten. Rarely have I felt my characters need more once I’m done with them. Of course, they could always have more adventures. I’m just ready to move on. Again, kitten on catnip. When I type “The End” (or “Finis” if I’m feeling bougie) and readers clamor for more, then I feel successful. Yet the idea of writing a sequel makes me twitchy. I’ve noticed that when authors do pr

January 9, 2023

writing tips

Intro

I originally wrote this blog post in German for another community, but I felt like I give it a try to translate and share it with you folks. This is the first post of a now three series which I’m intending to expand since now and then, I get new ideas or encounter other cases when writing or editing stories. I'm sorry if it appears to be a bit random, but I wrote it as the ideas came to my mind. Make sure, to also check out GayAuthor's writing resources! I'm sorry if the in

Zuri in writing tips

January 8, 2023

Our Writing Evolution

Does anyone revisit older, completed stories and update them? Not in the “A Starbucks venti used to cost $2.35 and now it’s $4.00 kind of way.” More in the, “I’ve become better at ‘show, don’t tell’ since I wrote this, so I’m going to rewrite this scene and improve it.” I’ve struggled with this since rereading some oldies of mine. In the end, I decided to leave well enough alone, even though some of what I wrote in the past makes me twitchy. I feel it’s a very personal decision, with no ri

January 1, 2023

Book review

Book Review: The Final Solution by Michael Chabon

It is wartime England and in a south coast village an old man watches a boy, with a brightly coloured parrot, walk along a train line. The boy is silent, a Jewish refugee from the horrors in Europe, while the parrot cannot keep quiet, happily speaking long sentences in German. The old man, who remains unnamed throughout the novel, is a famous “Consulting Detective” who has retired to the countryside to keep bees. This encounter with Linus Steinmen, the mute boy, draws the old man into his l

Drew Payne in Book review

January 1, 2023

Life Comes At You Fast... but that's okay, because I won't remember it.

I logged on to GA on Christmas Eve to show my kid which book I was posting. This happened: Him: I remember when you wrote this. My favorite part was that chapter when [spoiler]. Me: *stares blankly* Him: You seriously don’t remember writing that part? Me: Sort of? Yes? Him: Wild. Well, you are getting older. Me: Screw you, son. *checks to make sure my socks match* My point, I guess my question, actually, is… is it just me? Have any of you authors out there ever opened a