Whilst Rob Colton is certainly good at what he does, I am not sure he, or anyone else on GA, can be compared to Asimov or Tolkien... that's like comparing a chocolate bar and a four course dinner and saying they fulfill the same function.

I didn't mean to compare them as writers. I only meant to imply that they in each their field set a certain standard - or maybe set up genre rules is a better description.

I like Rob Colton's werewolf stories very much. I do believe though, that when mentioning genre defining writing about werewolves on GA, Sasha Distan cannot be left out of the conversation. If anyone is unfamiliar with Born Wolf, my advice: immediately go read the story. It was an incredibly nuanced piece of writing, while at the same time setting down very defined parameters of the laws and social life of shifters—and what happens when you fall outside of the norm.

Timothy, you lay out a convincing reason to begin reading JohnAR's Meta.

You're quite right Ron and in fact Sasha is one of the writers I was thinking of when I talked about writers breaking away from the mold. Born Wolf is definitely one of my favorites in the way it sets up a credible shifter universe.

I love the work of John, Sasha and Rob. Very different stories and styles of writing. Fascinating that you can have such different takes on the same theme.

The first M/M shifter stories I read were Rob Colton's.  Then Sasha's.  They were a wonderful introduction to the genre.  Then, I found Meta.  I was/am fascinated by JAR's take on it.  I have been reading since the beginning and have a love/hate relationship with the cliffhangers that he uses, lol! While I am a pretty new member, I do highly recommend these stories.

While I have read the works of many authors here on GA; be it Rob Colton, Sasha Distan, Cia, Comicality, Mark Arbour and so many others that I won't list them all. I have to say it was after I had finished the second book of the Meta series and desperately waiting for the start of book three, that I decided to create an account on GA so that I could write reviews on JAR's storyline. Of course I am not one to be shocked by anything he writes and actually find it to be a representation of my preferences, but the style in which he writes and the wittiness of his story development make me come back to him every week. I have come to look upon it as a date with my tablet on Saturday morning after I awake to read the latest development in the story. His cliffhangers are both a torture and and a passion; his hint drops and story twists both offer a good challenge and allow your mind's eye and imagination to roam free. His promise of quite a few more books in the Meta series just add to the future potential for entertainment and tells me I won't be left hanging. I could go on about many more reasons why I love JAR's story, but I will just say: read the first few chapters of this story and make your own mind, but I am sure you will love it!

First, I would like to express my gratitude to all my ‘MetaReaders’ for their unwavering loyalty despite devilish cliff hangers, sadistic twists and the strange concoction of main characters; to the hosts of GA for creating such a fertile space even for off-the-beat stories like mine; and to an ever-diligent and insightful Tim, whose review and preference for blonds make me blush.

Meta is/was/will continue to be written to put a contrarian point of view into the world; where tall and masculine doesn’t have to be hairy, the strong doesn’t have to be top, the small doesn’t have to be helpless in need for a white (or dark) knight, the good isn’t always sweetly good and the bad has a valid reason for being bad; where ‘not talked about’ power dynamics manifest themselves conceptually and physically; and where true love – which we all seek – shows itself in many, often easily to miss disguises and sometimes in irritating ways – all off the ‘normal’ or ‘mainstream’ path.

Meta is not and isn’t supposed to be a ‘normal’ story; not a normal M/M romance with one soul mate forever, not a normal wereshifter story where the big alphas dominate the small helpless, not a normal fairy tale where evil and good are blatantly obvious, not a normal ‘gay’ story where all the gay characters are so lovy-dovy-cute and good and kind and adorable that my stomach starts to revolt. It is supposed to be out-of-the-box; and irritatingly so. This is one of the reasons why the characters – in many ways stereotypical (the nerd, the loyal enforcer, the uncaring parents, the scheming villain) – have needs and behaviors that don’t fit their stereotype at all (the nerd is bossy, the enforcer submissive, the uncaring parents chosen to shape something special, and villain … well that you shall read for yourself). None of them behaves ‘normally.’

For me ‘normal’ is boring; not unique, not special, not bringing the world further by discourse, but trying desperately to fit in – mostly at the expense of one’s true needs.

For all those (but mostly for myself) I wrote Meta and will write it to the bitter end (book 7). And for all others: feel free to diss it, feel free to challenge it … all of that is great. In the end I’m like Colt in that respect: all of that is better than being ignored.

In case you would like to continue this conversation feel free to drop me a mail (MetaWolf@gmx.com). When MetaWolf 4 (MetaBattles) will be published I will also open a new forum to enable maximum ranting.

JohnAR

Oh this is soooo going on my list .. im so there