It's time to take a closer look at the story that was used for this month's Signature Background. If you haven't already, go download the background before the month is over! This month's feature is "Save or Sacrifice" by one of the first author's to be hosted on Gay Authors, having joined all the way back in 2003. Yep, that's right, "Save or Sacrifice" was written by none other than Comicality.

Reviewer: Cole Matthews
Status: Complete
Word Count: 44,301

Imagine this scenario. A closeted teenaged boy named Cory is an active member of his high school’s gay and lesbian support group. He’s been through all the initial emotions of discovering his sexuality. He has even formulated the steps other gay and lesbian students take towards exploring and engaging that part of their emotional lives. Cory is quite adept and experienced with meeting and having fun exercising his newly accepted sexual awareness.

A new boy enters the picture. His name is Ben, and Cory is paired with him as a kind of guide. Quickly they become best friends, inseparable. The two of them build on the connection they’ve found in each other. Their bond is strong.

That’s when it starts to go awry. Ben meets another teen, Chandler, and the two of them begin seeing each other, sometimes just the two of them, sometimes with Cory joining in on the fun. This scenario Comicality has created appears like many teen stories, until a moral dilemma arises.

This is a dilemma Cory can’t resolve, or at least doesn’t want to face.

‘Save or Sacrifice’ is the struggle we all face, one way or another, when negotiating the waters of love, betrayal, lust, and what we really want in our lives. Which is more important, passion or friendship? Is forgiveness possible when a wrong hurts another so deeply? What do we believe about the foundation of a relationship, whether it is that of a friend or a lover?

Fortunately, Comicality also gives these characters, and the reader, a mentor whose own experience gives us some of his wisdom. This kindly teacher tries to explain to Cory what he thinks may help when considering all affairs of the heart. For me this advice is the thesis of the entire story.

“But in reality, when you take away all the longing, and the sexual attraction, and the sleepless nights, and whole infatuated frenzy of being with them every second of the day…it’s what you’ve got LEFTOVER that really counts. Sometimes, what’s leftover is enough to be in love.”

And with that idea, Comicality pushes the characters, and the reader, to mull this idea. We are trapped by the moral question of what constitutes the basis of love and what truly endures within a deep friendship.

From time to time as you read the tale, you may want to lash out and scream they don’t get it. Friendship and romantic love can exist side by side, nurturing one another. Comicality doesn’t let you get away that easily. He delves deeper and challenges the characters to solve their central predicament. There are no easy paths or less painful answers. Resolution will only come when the heart is completely exposed, examined and rendered vulnerable.

Reading this story is an emotional experience that forces you to consider what matters. Don’t be afraid to dive into this pool. It’s an exploration you’ll find worthwhile.