Overview

I really want to win the lottery.

I really want to see Anthony Schatteman's new film, "Young Hearts". The internet has been teasing us for almost a year, now! Heck, it might even be closer to two years! It's supposed to be released on December 18th, I think? Assuming that isn't more false information, of course. The media has been pretty conflicted about when and where it will be available. Speculation runs from Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix for streaming; a hard copy MIGHT be available from Strand Releasing, or possibly A24. See, it's hard to nail down anything solid, isn't it? It's soooo frustrating, but I really, really, REALLY want to see this film so bad! It looks soooo cute in the trailers, you know? But, there you have it: I want to see a foreign film ASAP. That's at the top of my list to Santa this year!

Whenever most of us are asked what we would like for Christmas (or whatever holiday or event you celebrate when gifts are exchanged), we typically choose the realistic items. Clothing, electronics, a vacation, something fun... Things that are not so selfish or just realistic. Sometimes, there are things that we may have in mind that we want but, it wouldn't be realistic to ask for. So the question this month: "What I 'REALLY' Want For Christmas" Let it be something selfish, or outlandish, maybe embarrassing, or maybe just something impossible. There's nothing wrong with having hopes or wants but, why keep it to yourself. I know I personally have plenty of things I'd love to ask for but then, where will I get all of my new socks from? Hehehe! What do you have on 'YOUR' list?

Late but still on time to have turkey before everyone else! That's how we roll! LOL! https://imagine-magazine.org/releases/volume-109/

Waitaminnit!! What's going on here?! Gavin Casalegno....got married?! WHUT THE ACTUAL F***?!! I mean, don't get me wrong; I'm happy for the dude and his wife. Congratulations, Gavin and Cheyanne! It's just, it's such a shock, you know? There's gotta be so many people, guys and girls alike, who are probably wishing it was them instead. I hope Mrs. Cheyanne Casalegno (neé King) realizes how lucky she truly is to have him. Congratulations, again, guys! I wish you lots of happiness!

Love it, we really should consider altering the featured artist sections of the magazine a little because I honestly have trouble getting everything else assembled as well as seeking out and researching facts about the artists we've always focused on. Too often, I feel like I have no idea what i'm going to do next. I started building a list of artists from this thread alone and it occurred to me that "Page Scrawler's Picks" could be the new title of it. Just sayin' I mean, I am kinda stealing your playlist And yes, Robert Levey was in issue 91 looking and sounding a little younger:

I want to post a final update to thank everyone for their kindness and for being a bit of a lifeline for someone who meant an awful lot to someone who meant an awful lot to us all. I miss Comicality worse than I ever could have expected and after decades of him always being out there and being Comicality, I don't think I could have ever anticipated how to handle saying goodbye to him; it still feels like that next post or email could come from him tomorrow, which is still hard to accept. Helping his mother at this time both gave me the opportunity to get to know someone in his life that he kind of sheltered from his online community and persona, for reasons that only he could explain, as well as show her how loved his son really was by so many. With each dispersement from this campaign, I got to witness first hand just how floored she was at how many people were affected positively by her son. But with the most recent dispersement, she feels that more would be too much. This is the text I received: "Hi Jeffrey, A quick note to let you know that I received the check yesterday. Thank all of you for your kindness. You guys have done more than enough, if any other funds come in, please give it to one of the other members of your writers’ guild. Since there is so much bad weather happening, I am sure some of the other members can use a helping hand. This would make me happy. I look forward to hearing from at your convenience. Take care and be safe, and again, thank you very much." So today I am disabling the campaigns ability to receive donations. For Comicality I want to thank each and every one of you for for making this positive impact in the life of the person who meant so much to him and for standing united with me as a "Shacker" which would have made him so proud. For him, I'll attempt to relay a hug and a thank you to each, and of course, one final "Seezya."

Robert Levey was already featured in Issue 91, I believe. But I like the way you think, Jeff. How about these little punks, instead?

A lovely cover by Cormac Thompson. @JeffsFort Also, here's a picture of Cormac sitting with Jacob Tremblay at summer camp in Washington.

A really quick update before going to bed. I just authorized my bank to cut and mail a check in the total of $750 to Comsie's Mom. I was able to leave her a voice mail to let her know to keep an eye on the mail as it's scheduled to arrive on October 31 The overall total from us all at this point is $4,015 which I know has absolutely floored her and covered nearly half of what needed to be paid out as final expenses. That just absolutely amazes me! If I could go door to door to thank each and every person, I would without a second thought. But, you know, work and all that stuff ::HUGZ::

I reacted sadly bc well frankly, this site is fictional and it’s associated with the BL site. I get why. But all we do here is fantasy entertainment. Ok sure you might see a cutie in real life and can’t help but ogle but let’s face it, most if not all of us wish we could do our teens over and we are simply daydreaming of what might’ve been had we made better decisions and had a better support system . Oh well

I'm gay.

I know that many people may opt out of answering this one because as we have seen with anything the Shack has done and done well, it would be rocking the boat. I don't blame those who don't answer this one but quite often, Comicality and now even I am pressed to sum up in a couple words what IMAGINE Magazine actually is. This time it was after being asked to take over the https://www.boywiki.org/en/Imagine_Magazine entry to get it caught up after Comsie's passing and to make it more accurate. That was when I saw that we are listed there as a resource for the boy love community even though we are so much more. Now to be clear, if I had to pick only one thing I want anyone to take away from this answer it should be that IMAGINE Magazine is anything but serious. Sure, we are serious about community, we are serious about how much we care about our friends, and we have all always been serious about supporting anyone who felt left out, alone, outcast, or even just hated who they are because of what others may say about them. That describes most people who have ever found shelter within The Shack Outback. Anyone who considers themselves a "Shacker" has either come from a bad situation or is in one. It is a community of outcasts founded by another outcast, and currently under the management of (you guessed it) even more outcasts. And we own that. That should be the answer, right? No, hardly. When I respond with "We are kind of a hybrid" I am pressed to slam IM into the square hole it doesn't quite fit into. Bringing us back to the multi-cultural community that set the tone for IMAGINE Magazine to be created in as nothing more than an inside joke. So to understand the Magazine, you need to understand the community. Comprised of mainly even more misfits and outcasts, we were all over the LGBTQ+ spectrum. All races, all religions, all ages... If you felt like you couldn't express yourself freely in your daily life, The Shack welcomed you with open arms. The only thing that would not be tolerated from it's members is being abusive to others. Which of course would be harshly criticized over the years, targeted often, and rarely be appreciated by outsiders. But as for who made up the populace of The Shack over the years, Gay men who hid who they were gay until they got old enough to feel cheated, young adults who were struggling with coming out and wanted a place to be themselves and to be loved for it, teens who saw the desires in the older members' stories that clearly showed a life that they wanted to make a reality somehow. Gay, straight, bi, trans... no one cared. It was the place where to fit in, you had to not be able to fit in. Even that wasn't perfect though as some would try to create barriers to classify sub groups in the community, often looking down on some. That was and looks like it will always be the case everywhere, not just online. Which is unfortunate. Even longer story short though, are we a gay/lesbian/trans/alt publication? Yes. Are we a coming of age publication? Yes. Are we focused on the talents and success of our younger members? Yup! We often live vicariously through many of them as well. Are we in support of the whole boy love community? To a certain degree yes, which also carries a stigma all of it's own. Do we condone the ideals of the whole boylove movement, the love part of it, yes. The abuse that follows acting on it? No. There's a difference between attraction/admiration and arguing that the general public should stop protecting their children. Some of us learned that lesson the absolute hardest way, but we did learn it. I mean. let's be realistic; for every person that would absolutely never harm a child to satisfy an attraction, there are just as many that would be entitled to hurt and take to get what they desire. So we can't in good conscience consider ourselves a boylove publication even though we do agree with the love part of that label. For many, the attraction is youth. Youth is lost when maturity is rushed and lives become complicated and confusing. Many of us experienced that as well and carry the damage done as adults. So to sum up: As one of the misfits from a 2+ decade old community that ended out steering a part of this oversized ship we call a magazine, I say we are still the inside joke for a community that took decades to be able to see sunlight through the smog that obscured us in the form of prejudice and persecution. IMAGINE is the ability to see beauty in everyone, admire talent in everyone, accept all for who they are right now, and be the support of a friend that any given one of us needs; while hopefully bringing the smile of a friend at the same time. We are IMAGINE and we intend to be that for those in our community who struggle to imagine on their own. Still need a category? Fine. "Human Interest"

I’m pan

Every once in a while I'll get hit with a question that to be honest, I need to think about before answering. To be honest, I don't think I've ever come up with the right answer to it either. "What is IMAGINE Magazine? What category does it fit into?" Because of course, we need to put labels all over everything and make it fit neatly into a category, right? ::groan:: That's our culture today. What are we? What is our demographic? Are we for gay people? Yes but not exclusively; I don't think. Are we here for gay teens? In part yeah, of course. Are we for the Boy Lover community? A part of us fits there too even if we don't push the ideals. But we do acknowledge it and in some ways can even relate to it. Gay, Trans, Bi, Agender, Cisgender, Pan, Poly... Why should there be a limit on who fits and who doesn't? When Comicality threw himself into his community, it was warts and all. And trust me he took some fairly harsh criticism for it at times. In the end, he wanted something that was all inclusive and would speak to the brunt of the Shack community on the topics that were the most focused on by it's members. Not all members were in 100% agreement but, what family agrees on everything anyway, seriously. So our question this month is this: "What Are We?" in your opinion? The next time I'm asked that question, I'd like to be able to answer for "all" of us if I can

It just sounded like you weren’t aware . Forgive me if you were.

Tragically Comicality passed away some months ago.

I really wished that he could have finished GFD, I really wanted to see where it goes. I have emailed him in the past and asked him questions of the ancient roots of his vampires. So far that part of history is vague at best, I asked him if I can write or explore that bit if its ok and thus my OC aelios. I just wished Comsie could look at my fanfic... I still wonder if he approves of it. I miss him everyday even when im busy writing for my story I always read up on Justin's story to help me. Exams have been hectic lately but i always find time reading the other GFD stories. I have always wondered what the prophecy and the vampire dawn means my OC Aelios is also finding the truth in my story ever since his creation in bronze age Greece.

I suppose, in a way, trying to divine where Comsie wanted to take GFD is a way of keeping him with me - trying to think about what he was thinking when he was writing it. I really appreciated his being in the Eternal Now of life. It was one of so many things that endeared me to him so and one of the things that made his passing so shocking to me. He was full of the moment and so full of life and promise. Jeff, I look forward to this issue. The Halloween ones are always my favorite. ❤️

I knew my posting was going to hit a few of us in the feels hard. Especially a few who, like you, were there at the beginning and have had the fortune to know him on a closer level. For that I am truly very sorry. That said, a lot of my story of life involves a lot of close loss. I am unfortunately, very familiar with grief. Loss affects me so much. It’s scarred and traumatized me. Mr.M & I have corresponded and as Comsi and I about writing a fictionalized version of my story. Sigh. I’m honestly scared at the idea. Petrified actually. Anyway before I get too off into the weeds, I wanted to sends empathetic hugs to you for your grief. It sounds you were the closest to him out of all of us. I also wanted to thank you for your answer. It makes total sense. I can totally see him having that mentality. There’s a few stories that I would like to see completed but they all tie in to the GFD. Thank you for this. The cover is hot.

That would be wonderful. I’ve not read that one. I hope it isn’t a premium story.

Boo!!! I scared ya, right? No, okay how bout this, I just posted the Halloween issue of IMAGINE! There, now I can see the fear in your eyes! LOL! https://imagine-magazine.org/releases/volume-108/

There of course is no definitive answer to your question but, I can tell you from having worked so closely with him for years right up to his passing, he didn't see it coming. That's so often the case with many of us as well. "There's always tomorrow" is always running in the back of all of our minds because unless you are told straight out that you are going to die, our brain rarely consider's that tomorrow could be the day. In a way I think that's fairly healthy. I mean, how would you live today if you are thinking, tomorrow isn't coming? Sure some people put solid plans into how their legacy is to be handled. They put time and effort into making sure their wishes will be handled once they are gone, and I can respect that. Others, live for today, get done what they can today, and the plan to do the same thing tomorrow. That's kind of satisfying each and every day knowing that you put in 100% of what you love into that one day and it's your plan to do it again tomorrow. Comsie very much lived in the moment, even right up to the end. And even though the frequency of his down days had increased, he never talked about his illness taking him and I think it's because he didn't actually seriously consider it. I spent a lot of time emailing, texting, and sitting on the phone with him and I can tell you, even I knew his illness may be worse than he was leading everyone to believe but never put much though into it taking him. He was still so full of life and even though he sounded a little more tired and a little older than I was used to, he always bounced back. I think we all take that for granted and I honestly think he was no exception. So he didn't pass on his plan, he didn't hand the torch over to anyone per se, but he left us with so many amazing memories and a huge pile of his words to keep us company and remind us of our good fortune to have had the opportunity to have such an amazing person touch our lives. An exaggeration? That's for each one of us to decide. I personally miss him so much. Every month when I need to take the lead in one of his projects, it both makes me grateful that he allowed me in to be able to do what I'm doing now but, it also reminds me that his presence is missed horribly because half of my enjoyment with the magazine was being able to work directly with him. Tonight I'm going to be launching his favorite issue of every year... Halloween. I had to have someone else do the cover because I just can't yet. Every year we collaborated on the Halloween cover and had so much fun doing it. One year I let someone else do one and I was lost which is why I decided to do the "Nightmare Before Christmas" cover in addition to Halloween to reclaim my one-on-one Comsie cover time. I had no clue it would be the very last one he would ever see. Kind of happy we got one last Halloween'ish' issue together. So, what I was saying before I got hung up in my own head, he didn't "finish" GFD because to him, it was going to go on forever. He didn't tell anyone his intended ending because maybe even he never wanted it to end. Those of us who loved his writing can always re-read and imagine where it would have gone next. Others could also be upset that there is no closure. Unfortunately, that's how life works. Even I was expecting him to come home and get right back up on the horse like he always did. How many of us can say that they put the work into finishing every single project we ever put our hands on? Spent time preparing for our own end? Will sacrifice our happiness today for what could possibly happen tomorrow. He did what he loved and allowed us along for the ride. For as long as he was able, he did what he loved for those who loved it and made every one of us feel welcome along for the ride. That was a life worth living and one I feel so fortunate to have had become a part of mine. Longer answer than I planned but, one that was probably going to land somewhere because so many have brought up the loss of the closure with his stories when to me, I lost a brother. An amazing friend. Someone I idolized for so long and treasured as extended family... I'd give up the endings to the stories that he did complete just to have him text or call again, without hesitation. ...and now, I have to launch a new issue. I'll post when it's ready. ::HUGZ::

I was just re-reading We Are Many and I may have found a clue in it as to what the ‘Vampire Dawn’ is supposed to be. It might be worth a read through again. I’ll be going over all his GFD stuff eventually. I had some ideas where things might go as I worked through the threads of his plots in his many GFD stories on my initial read through. It might be possible to cap the story off convincingly.

“But the question still remains, tell me why you chose to leave us in the dark.” this line speaks to me. It voices my wonder why Comsi didn’t make sure he finish GFD before he passed. Or, at least, give someone else his vision for the end and permission to finish it. Granted, I know it would probably weaken the greatness of what his Magnum Opus Gone From Daylight is if it were finished by someone else, and yes I understand he simply may have been too weak and sick to finish, or pass on his vision..I just can’t help but wonder what might’ve been. yes I know this song was written for artists who’ve passed recently within the last few years especially Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington but that’s the beauty of music. It’s always open to personal interpretation. This is one of Myles’s new releases. It is a masterful tune.