Overview

The happy endings happen when you're done torturing your characters through the beginnings and the middles.

Just remember that I love happy endings, more or less.

maybe not.

Your loss, perhaps?

not reading it

I hate to see the current book is ending. I am not looking forward to the downward slide of Travis and the impact that has on Will and the family. This "Kendo" sounds like a piece of excrement... Too bad that life really sucks so much of the time.

I hate to see the Freshman end, I am thankful for another book to feed my Arbour addiction!

I've decided that this is the theme song for "Palisades." I wanted something that actually sounds like it could have been a 2000's teen drama theme song without actually having been one. This fits that to a T. lol

Comparative newly, only been following MA since 2010 ( second longest relationship aside from family!), but 15+ years of amazing entertainment and interactions with people, some of whom seem to be as mad as me! Thanks!

I've been reading Mark's stories for years, both here on GA and before that on his Yahoo group which has long since folded and they have given me countless hours of reading enjoyment over the approximately 20 years I've been reading his output which I continue to find: AMAZING!

Am speechless 😶 Love the title 😜

Sounds delicious... What a holiday treat we will all get to enjoy.

Greetings loyal readers! The last chapter of Freshmen is Chapter 93, so the story is almost at an end. It's been a good run, and I have really enjoyed and appreciated your comments. That's the fuel that keeps me going. The next CAP book will be called Travisty. Here's the story description: When Travis Buck becomes famous for playing golden boy Jackson Pryce in the TV hit Palisades, the role begins to consume him. Off screen, he hides trauma, addiction, and a secret relationship with his best friend, Will Schluter — while his co-star Ken “Kendo” Dolan lures him deeper into self-destruction. As Travis’s real life mirrors Jackson’s unraveling, fame, love, and control collide. Forced into isolation to survive, he must decide whether to keep performing the perfect life everyone expects — or risk everything to be real. It will be published starting in December. Happy Holidays!

Updated timeline: CAP Timeline 1900?: Jack Crampton is born 1903: Gail “Tonto” Crampton is born, married to Barry Schluter. April 1925: Jim Crampton is born. May 27, 1925: Steven Schluter is born. 1936: Billy Schluter is born. June 20, 1936: J.P. Crampton is born, the result of an affair between Marie Crampton and Bill Hendrickson. December 17,1944: Steven Schluter dies in World War II. July 14, 1945: Stefan Schluter, the son of Steven Schluter, is born. November 12, 1945: Jeff Hayes is born. 1962-1963 School Year: J.P. Crampton begins teaching at Northwestern University. June 1962: Stefan Bordet Schluter arrives in Claremont to live with Gail Schluter. October 4, 1962: Brad Schluter is born. He is the adoptive son of Billy Schluter, and the biological son of Kevin Carmichael. Janice his mother leaves him with JP & Isidore, March 13, 1968, then commits suicide in SF. December 1962: Andre, JP's partner, is killed in action in Vietnam. March 6, 1963: Andre Charles Clerreault “Ace” is born to Isidore, having been fathered by J.P.'s lover Andre. March 1963: Robbie Hayes is born, the youngest of three children. He is the son of Frank and Brenda Hayes. April 10, 1963: Billy Schulter dies at sea on USS Thresher October 27, 1964: Clare and Billy Crampton are born. Clare is JP's biological daughter, and Billy is Jeff Hayes's biological son. 1968: J.P. Crampton begins teaching at Stanford. July 13, 1968: Jeff Hayes dies of an heroin overdose. March 8, 1969: Marcel is born. He is the biological son of Jeff Hayes, but is raised in France. April 24, 1980: Matt Carrswold is born. He is the biological son of Robbie Hayes, but is adopted by the Carrswold familyand grows up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. May 15, 1980: Wade Danfield is born. He becomes Matt Carrswold's boyfriend after meeting him on the hockey team at Stanford during the 1998-1999 school year. October 19, 1980: Billy dies in a car accident on the night of a party at Escorial. January 19, 1982: Darius Schluter is born. He is the son of Bitty Schluter and a random Persian man, but is raised by Brad, Robbie, and Jeanine. He has one biological half-brother, JJ, and one adopted brother, Will Schluter. July 25, 1982: Gathan Hayes is born. He was raised in Claremont, Ohio by his uncle and aunt, Wally and Clara Hayes. February 1983: Kristin Hendrickson is born. August 26, 1983: Ella Hayes, daughter of Richard Crampton, is born. May 30, 1985: Zach Hayes is born. 1985: J.P.'s lover Roger, and one-time lover Sam, both die of AIDS that year. December 7, 1985: Jeremy Schluter, aka J.J., is born. He is the biological son of Jim Crampton and Bitty Schluter, and has been raised in Malibu, CA with Brad, Robbie, and Jeanine. February 19, 1986: Marie Crampton, aka Maman, dies of natural causes. April 18, 1986: Marie Hobart, daughter of Jack and Clare Hobart, is born. April 20, 1986: Travis Buck is born. September 14, 1986: Will Schluter, son of Brad and Jeanine, is born. July 21, 1987: John Hobart, son of Jack and Clare Hobart, is born. 1990: Gail “Tonto” Schluter dies an old woman, warm in her bed surrounded by grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A death we should all hope to have. March 28, 1995: Greg Anders, Stefan's long-time companion, dies of a heart attack. August 4, 1995: Beatrice “Bitty” Schluter dies of a drug overdose. September 4, 1995: Ace's daughter, Courtney, is born. August 7, 1998: Robbie Hayes reunites with his long-lost son, Matt Carrswold. September 13, 2000: Madison Graves is born. September 14, 2000: Riley van den Boss Danfield is born. September 11, 2001: Robbie Hayes, as well as Jeanine and her partner Hank, die in the Towers. Senator Danfield dies at the Pentagon. March 24, 2003: Robert Edward van den Boss Carrswold is born. June 2003: Frederick Granger, son of Mary Ellen Danfield and Alex Granger, is born. December 25, 2004: Jackson Hobart, father of John and Marie Hobert, dies at about the age of 41. (40 if he somehow had a birthday in the last week of December, but unlikely.)

So many hours of pleasure. Read and re read. You have kept this historian, social worker, and trans Atlantic sailor well entertained and at times distracted from reality in such a grand way. Thank you so much for all you have done for us. Pax Ste

Maybe they could turn it into a tourist destination as a massive art installation. Think of it as like an urban vertical park with murals throughout.

Except of course for the annoying fact that it is/was a Chinese project. One of many failed/stalled Chinese projects in LA.

The Graffiti Towers of Los Angeles. It's a failed abandoned skyscraper project that has since become a canvas for "taggers" and a curiosity for urban exploration. Pretty amazing to think about the vast amount of money that was wasted on something that will never become what it was intended to be. Now it's just an empty billion dollar shell, but has somehow become a monument to the unrealized ambitions of the American dream...

Congrats, Mark! You've provided us with countless hours of reading pleasure.

Many many thanks you’re all the joy you’ve given us. My morning rituals aren’t complete until I check for a new Mark Arbour posting. And when a new post happens, it always gets read before the day can start.

Agreed!

It's an interesting time in your life. My grad school period was honestly the best two years of my life. I'd go back to 25 in a heartbeat in a way I wouldn't for 21.

Actually it’s about Wade and Matt healing after 9-11 and getting back together. But there’s definitely a journey into adulthood for both of them.

I mean, it's a Matt story where he kind of freaks out about graduating college and tries to hold on to his youth for just a little bit longer before surrendering to adulthood and his family with Wade.

Think capacitor.