Great review   This is one of the best stories on this site and well worth riding out the roller coaster that Adam puts us through.

I second this. Have read it through and through... Would do it again.

Ditto Val and Tara - Crosscurrents is one of the best stories I have ever read, online or from a book. It will make you laugh, cry, cry, and cry. Oh, did I mention it would make you cry? lol  (Maybe I just got too emotionally invested in Andy and Matt's story.)

Excellent review, Tyler! Now I want to read it all over again!!

I read the story over the span of some years as and when Adam posted, desperately waiting for the next fix! It was well worth the wait every time. And yes, the box of tissues were always handy. lol

Powerful, beyond belief. Someday, I will read it again, when I'm ready to be put through the wringer once more. For the most part, it is sadness personified, but that is not a complaint. An excellent review, Tyler. Cheers... Gary

This is by far and away my favorite novel-length story on GA. There are so many stories centered around jocks in gay literature, but in Cross Currents, the characters feel so authentic. There were times over my reading of Cross Currents where I wanted to punch Andy, hug Andy, cry for Andy, and fuck Andy. Never before in any story I've read (gay or mainstream) have I ever felt this way about a character. The fact that Andy comes off as so real (and is essentially actually real) makes you really able to feel with him throughout so much of the story. 

It is so worth the time to read, and you'll be an emotional wreck by the time its over (and I mean that as nothing but a pure compliment). 

Dude, for the love of God, PLEASE stop going back and tweaking Cross-Currents. It's a done story. It's finished. Let it stay there. It's not a perfect story but it's a damn good one that I think should finally get to rest. I get that you're a perfectionist but if you keep tweaking the story it'll never really be finished. Let it stand finished. It doesn't need to be continually tweaked with.

You should be proud buddy. You did well.

Thank you, Tyler. And thanks for the review.

Adam,

While I have yet to read your story ( I am quite intimidated by the "need for Kleenex boxes" and the "rollercoaster ride" ) nevertheless, I am sure it is a wonderful story as many here have pointed out.

Of course, I understand your self-critique, but I recall a saying regarding their works, that "artists are the toughest critics." I am sure countless artists, authors, and musicians have found 'faults' in their work... despite the fact that said works are treasured by many.

Yes, nothing is truly perfect, but it is those imperfections that (for me at least) make things all the more precious.

Best Regards,

Drew

Adam,

 

While I have yet to read your story ( I am quite intimidated by the "need for Kleenex boxes" and the "rollercoaster ride" ) nevertheless, I am sure it is a wonderful story as many here have pointed out.

 

Of course, I understand your self-critique, but I recall a saying regarding their works, that "artists are the toughest critics." I am sure countless artists, authors, and musicians have found 'faults' in their work... despite the fact that said works are treasured by many.

 

Yes, nothing is truly perfect, but it is those imperfections that (for me at least) make things all the more precious.

 

Best Regards,

Drew

I think you did a much better of saying what I was trying to say. Thanks.

Dude, for the love of God, PLEASE stop going back and tweaking Cross-Currents. It's a done story. It's finished. Let it stay there. It's not a perfect story but it's a damn good one that I think should finally get to rest. I get that you're a perfectionist but if you keep tweaking the story it'll never really be finished. Let it stand finished. It doesn't need to be continually tweaked with.

Jeremy's a long-time nemesis/e-friend of mine, so take this reply with just a little tongue in cheek, all.--

I'm gonna have to bag on you just a little, Jeremy, as punishment for your posting of this.

You know how sometimes you'd send me a review of a chapter of Crosscurrents two minutes after I'd posted it? And I'd complain, "If you're gonna speed-read my stuff, I don't want you as a reader."? Seriously, with all the work I did in each chapter and all I tried to put in each one, for you to digest it and render judgment in two minutes? And I'm supposed to take it seriously?

Similarly, I gotta say, regarding that comment of mine to which you just responded, what part of "Someday I may go back and fix them, but I have other fish to fry and other stories to tell FIRST" were you not able to comprehend?

The point of that section of the post was to acknowledge the validity of Tyler's criticism. That's all. The point was not to put everyone on notice that I won't be doing any more new writing while I immediately go into "perfect-it" mode on Crosscurrents.

And to react to that one sentence as if that were, uh, actually what it said instead of what you made up from whole cloth in that little head of yours is to have misread and completely not-understood the post.

Now that you've given it a second look, wouldn't you agree, Jeremy?

Now the real lesson to be learned, the real cautionary tales--and something I might have taken more to heart in a post like yours--are that 1) Stephen King didn't improve the first book in his Dark Tower series (The Gunslinger) when he revised it. Quite the opposite; and 2) Likewise, George Lucas's new and improved take on Star Wars is arguably not an improvement, but a, uh, a de-provement. lol

Those are points worth pondering. Not that I'm comparing myself those guys in their greatness. I'm comparing myself to those guys in their second-guessing-themselves-ness.

Love you, buddy.  ;-)