With great thanks, we give you LouisHarris' review of Promising Author WrathofMagneto's Slide, as well as Andy021278's review of The Other Foot, by Author Forty-Two. These reviews are fantastic and are such a help - if you have time to help us do a review of a GayAuthor's story, let me know! And once you've read the reviews, I hope it spurs you to check out these great stories.

Reviewer: LouisHarris
Status: Complete
Word Count: 4,113

The title caught my eye. That was the hook for me. SLIDE. Many connotations. I also thought that this work could have been taken from a larger piece.

The title, SLIDE, is used as a word to describe something that should be best forgotten. In this tale John, Alex's room mate, sets the lead character, Alex, up for a date. He has been hurt, and still relives the hurt through nightmares. John edges him on to go on a date even tho he doesn't want to. The depth of Alex's character that follows, is something we have all lived.

Alex is a rounded character in that he has a complex nature and complex motives. He's more like a real person because there are things about him the reader doesn't know, there are more facets to him than meets the eye, so the fascination of mystery remains throughout the story.

He is interesting because the reader doesn't know or cannot predict how he will behave or react in any given situation. One character I could mention like this is Sherlock Holmes. Having said this, it's important to note that fiction gives the writer the opportunity to place people in situations that will reveal their character and the brevity of the short story calls for simplicity in the rendering of a character and they will essentially be the same at the end of the story as they were in the beginning. Wrath has described Alex's behavior well rather than talking about him.

His character is shaped by experience and his destiny by his behavior. And because the character is more central to this story, Alex comes under close scrutiny.

“Sometimes you’ll be taken advantage of,” he continued. “That’s a given. When you put it all out on the line, there are those who will see that immediately and will try to exploit you. That’s when you have to let it slide, man. You have to face the fact that there are some things that aren't in your control. So you let them slide. If you don’t, and you keep dwelling on them, you’ll never be able to move on."

The mystery in this short story is the date itself. Will Alex be swept off his feet? Will he be disappointed? To find out, you'll have to read it yourself. I recommend you do. Slide is a great discourse in revealing character.

Reviewer: andy021278
Status: Complete
Word Count: 4,730

I have read other stories by Forty-Two, but this was my favourite of the three currently available on GA. “The Other Foot” is an interesting take on how straight and gay friends interact.

The story is the classic gay guy falls for his straight friend story, but with the unusual and brilliant twist that it was the gay guy who was open about his sexuality, whereas it was the straight guy who was in the proverbial closet.

Killian, who is straight, has had a number of gay friends over the years and his aunt is a lesbian who has been with the same person for twenty years. His dad, whose career is never actually explained, has been working to improve rights for gays. Killian has also attended a number of Pride events, so being around gays and gay culture is nothing new to him, which explains why he seamlessly fitted in with Joseph and his friends.

Sephie (Joseph) falls for Killian, and after making his feelings known, is both shocked and heartbroken to find out that not only is Killian straight, but he also has a girlfriend. Killian has never hidden the fact he is straight from Sephie and the others, but he has also never, in over a year, once openly expressed his sexual persuasions.

The story looks primarily at the effects this revelation has on their relationship, but just how will a heartbroken Sephie react? How far will Sephie go?

For a relatively short story, I was drawn in from the first word, and it was a really enjoyable read seeing Forty-Two’s take of how things could be when the boot is on “The Other Foot”. It is of the same quality as, but is distinctly different from, the authors other stories.