Anthology 2026

[Luca E]

The Anthology 2026 got published, well half the stories, all as separate stories, not as a book, but anyway there was a thread with the list which I looked at. The anthology was there on the first page, now it's disappeared. I didn't have time to note all the titles and authors or save them or whatever you are supposed to do. It's kind of disappointing they have vanished from view and a shame for the authors who won't get their stories read, because how are you supposed to find them. Really you should have kept the home page link for longer, I mean the second tranch of stories haven't even been published!

[Mikiesboy]

1 hour ago, Luca E said:

The Anthology 2026 got published, well half the stories

I understand what you mean. Here is the link... but it took me a minute to find it. 

 

[Flip-Flop]

6 hours ago, Mikiesboy said:

I understand what you mean. Here is the link... but it took me a minute to find it. 

Thanks @Mikiesboy, for posting this link!  I also was searching  for it.  

[Valkyrie]

The Anthology blog can be found by searching under "blogs" or under "stories" by searching under "anthologies".  It was also linked to in this week's Weekly Wrap-Up on the front page.  I've added a banner announcement with the link to the blog, so it can be found there as well. 

[Mikiesboy]

43 minutes ago, Valkyrie said:

banner announcement

That's a great idea!

[Luca E]

For general info, which is personal, and may or may not be useful.

If I had a big event, Anthology 2026, I would give it at least equal coverage as the front page welcome asking if you want help finding stories. 

I use my phone to access the site and the front landing page contains: 

Weekly Wrap Up (Oct. 11 - Oct. 17)

By wildone in Gay Authors News

3 comments

I may be dating myself (not like that, geez ), but back in the days of Johnny Carson...

 

And the previously mentioned help to find stories. Now a plain banner has been added for the Anthology, which is good, but would it attract readers?

 

I admit the link, with blog page and large attractive banner is hidden in the Weekly Wrap Up. However, what I copied above is the first thing I see: 

I may be dating myself (not like that, geez ), but back in the days of Johnny Carson...

That is not anything I would click on, I don't even know what the guy is talking about! Perhaps, the website designer should give a little thought to what takes the prime space on the landing home page? My own thought is that it should not be Weekly Wrap Up.

I was looking for the Anthology and I'm not about to click all over the site to try to find it. I don't have the time or inclination to do that. In my opinion you are shooting yourselves in the foot, putting a lot of energy into an Anthology, or it may be something else in the future, but you bury it in the site and give prominence to something, Weekly Wrap Up, of little interest.

Okay, it's been addressed with the top banner link, but as an afterthought prompted by this thread and not as attractive as the blog link.

The question is about design and attracting readers. Weekly Wrap Up feels like some bizarre local parish newsletter, maybe move it somewhere else?

[Cia]

Myr is on extensive traveling for work, I'm dealing with kidney stones and having surgery tomorrow, and this came at not great timing. This sometimes has happened over the decades we've all dedicated to the site, and we have the highest level of access to create features on the site. Often there are announcements and links placed in multiple places during events. 2026 has been hard. Members can always follow the Site blogs or emails, use the category links in the Stories Archive, or favored webpages in their browsers if it is safe to do so.

Please remember that site staff are volunteers, none of us get paid to work here, and this is a labor of love for all of us. Unfortunately, life often does take precedence, regardless of what we might wish to be doing instead. Thank you for your patience and respectful feedback you offer suggestions and thoughts. We will always try to give members and readers what they need to enjoy GA and our awesome events! 

[Efmaer]

2 hours ago, Cia said:

 <snip> I'm dealing with kidney stones and having surgery tomorrow <snip>

I'm sorry to hear you are having issues. Best wishes for your surgery.  I know getting rid of the stones will make you feel a lot better even while you are dealing with having your body surgically invaded.

[Luca E]

It looks like you've released the rest of the stories, chapters, for the Unspoken Anthology 2026.

Without an announcement I stumbled across a couple of these stories. The link has disappeared from the site.

Honestly, it's a bit of a disaster the way you have handled publishing these stories, I feel sorry for the authors whose work is buried.

Question: are all the stories published now?

[Valkyrie]

5 hours ago, Luca E said:

It looks like you've released the rest of the stories, chapters, for the Unspoken Anthology 2026.

Without an announcement I stumbled across a couple of these stories. The link has disappeared from the site.

Honestly, it's a bit of a disaster the way you have handled publishing these stories, I feel sorry for the authors whose work is buried.

Question: are all the stories published now?

This is not the rest of the stories.  The Anthology publishes over several weeks.  The way we handle the anthology hasn't changed in the thirteen years I've been on this site, with the exception of releasing them in batches vs all at once. Without complaint, I might add.  I don't know what else you want from us. I forgot to feature the blog, which I will remedy now.  I'm also going to add the new blog to the banner announcement, which I was planning to do this morning anyway.  I already outlined ways to find the antho stories if you're so inclined.  As Cia stated, we're all volunteers with outside jobs, personal issues, and lives.  We can't please everyone, apparently.  

[chris191070]

1 hour ago, Valkyrie said:

This is not the rest of the stories.  The Anthology publishes over several weeks.  The way we handle the anthology hasn't changed in the thirteen years I've been on this site, with the exception of releasing them in batches vs all at once. Without complaint, I might add.  I don't know what else you want from us. I forgot to feature the blog, which I will remedy now.  I'm also going to add the new blog to the banner announcement, which I was planning to do this morning anyway.  I already outlined ways to find the antho stories if you're so inclined.  As Cia stated, we're all volunteers with outside jobs, personal issues, and lives.  We can't please everyone, apparently.  

@Valkyrie we are grateful to yourself and everyone else involved in putting together the anthology.

[Luca E]

It's not a question of pleasing me or anyone else. The "We've always done it this way." and "We are all volunteers." are what, excuses, justification, I don't know, I'm not trying to have an argument. 

Please consider this: an Anthology is a collection of stories on a theme, it's a book with multiple stories by different authors. The equivalent here would be to post a book titled Unspoken, list all the stories in the forward or prologue with links if possible to each story which is a chapter.

Readers can comment on the individual stories in the chapter comments and can review the overall book. That is an Anthology.

The fact you only have two contributions for Horizons makes that defunct. Apologies to the authors, but you can't make an anthology with two stories.

Individual stories can be upto 25k words and the Anthology chapter could have section divided as in the case of Myr's story. But individual stories should not exceed the size limit, should be complete and have an ending.

This is all pretty simply. It gets published, one book, promoted, read and commented. No problems with having the time, forgetting a promo banner link. It seems to me the way you've gone about things has created unnecessary work for yourselves when you don't have the time to give and the result is very messy.

If you think I'm wrong and you prefer the way you've always done it then ignore my comments, otherwise you might want to change things next year.

An anthology is: a published collection of shorter literary or artistic works—such as poems, short stories, plays, songs, or essays—grouped together into a single book or volume

 

[Aditus]

1 hour ago, Luca E said:

I'm not trying to have an argument.

You could have fooled me.

You present points that could be discussed, but your tone is not acceptable, in my opinion. This suggests your goal is not improvement, as you pretend, but discord.

[Krista]

It isn't GA's fault that some people don't take the time to learn the mechanics of the site, either. They're easily found, you just have to do a few more clicks. If people can't manage that, then there's not a lot that can be done. 

You can literally find the Anthology stories multiple different ways.

There's only so much coddling that can take place, come on now. 

Example: Filtering your Story search, you can list both themes and get the entire published list. Took all of two seconds. 

Edited October 22 by Krista

[Valkyrie]

It sounds like the issue is more that our Anthology doesn't fit your definition of an "Anthology".  Our anthology stories are all grouped together under the same theme.  Finding them is as exactly as Krista described.  I already said the Anthology hasn't finished posting, so there are more than 2 stories for Horizons.  I don't release final numbers until the final week of posting.  

What I meant when I said we handle the anthology the same way, is that the way we post has always been the same. The anthology is a fluid thing, and I have done quite a few site polls, threads, and blogs about what site readers and writers want.  The guidelines are adjusted every year based on constructive feedback and things we feel need changing.  

Calling this anthology "messy", and the fact that we have lives and demands outside of GA and are volunteers "excuses" is not the way to effect change.  A lot of site staff have gone through challenges this year that nobody should have to go through; yet, we've still kept the site open and running, and held all site events as scheduled.  If that's an excuse, well excuse me while I don't particularly care.  And excuse me while I go plan the next site event.  

[Efmaer]

1 hour ago, Valkyrie said:

 <snip> If that's an excuse, well excuse me while I don't particularly care.  <snip> 

Awesome way to express a desire for someone to go pack sand up their anal orifice without stating it baldly.

[Myr]

I'd like to remind everyone that this is not the place to be an asshole. If you want to be an asshole, there are plenty of places out on the internet to go do that.  

As mentioned above, I've been on the road for two weeks bouncing between far off places with layovers in stupid out of the way places to save a few bucks on tickets per company policy.  Needless to say, it's hard dealing with site related stuff on this travel laptop while dealing with 4 separate bot attacks on the site and 2 major software security patches.  I will finally be home tomorrow and will make some adjustments.  

In the meantime, have people had a chance to check out the stories?  

Quite easy to find:

You can find all the Unspoken Theme Stories in this Category:
https://gayauthors.org/stories/browse/category/208-2026-unspoken/

You can find all the Horizon Theme Stories in this Category:
https://gayauthors.org/stories/browse/category/209-2026-horizons/

[Enoch]

39 minutes ago, Myr said:

this is not the place to be an asshole.

I'm sorry @Myr but some people just can’t help being as contrary as a mule with their condescending ways. A few of these comments sound eerily like my old college professor — the kind who realizes they’re no longer relevant or doesn’t appreciate when someone tries to do something for the community without asking for a dime in return.

[wildone]

On 10/19/2026 at 1:20 AM, Luca E said:

That is not anything I would click on, I don't even know what the guy is talking about! Perhaps, the website designer should give a little thought to what takes the prime space on the landing home page? My own thought is that it should not be Weekly Wrap Up.

Thanks Luca for the thumbs up on the Weekly Wrap Up 👍

With a quick use of AI, which I know you like, it told me within seconds that the Weekly Wrap Up averages 13,800 and 14,500 views in a year. But I guess nobody cares, right  

Luca, I realize you didn't see what you wanted to see or find on the first click. I would say you have to usually click once or twice to get where you want on any webpage. IF YOU HAD clicked on the weekly wrap up that you probably ignore most weeks, not only was there a direct link to the anthology topic, but I also take the time when I list EVERY chapter/story/poem posted over the past seven days, I put a huge bolded **Complete** and **Anthology Entry** as well.  So one click would have inundated you with links to the the stories. 

I did hear you on somethings though, and I will discuss that with my co-volunteers, but until then, maybe lay off harsh critique of the people that do the huge amount of work to get the Anthology out. Val, Cia and Myr really don't need to be called to task on what you feel should be done. A private PM could have had much better results. We are always open to suggestions, but when they get lost in demeaning language, not fair!

Some might be questioning why I might not be seething and instead joking to a certain extent. I have a friend that has Aspergers, where he sees it as totally black or white, no in between. In no way am i suggesting or hinting you have that, just that I've learned from him that what he says might not come across as polite, but sometimes it helps to try to read between the lines   

Anyways, time to plan next weeks Wrap Up  

[CassieQ]

1 hour ago, wildone said:

Some might be questioning why I might not be seething and instead joking to a certain extent. I have a friend that has Aspergers, where he sees it as totally black or white, no in between. In no way am i suggesting or hinting you have that, just that I've learned from him that what he says might not come across as polite, but sometimes it helps to try to read between the lines   

Anyways, time to plan next weeks Wrap Up  

Dropping in to say that some of us are also autistic, and manage not to be assholes.  

[wildone]

1 hour ago, CassieQ said:

Dropping in to say that some of us are also autistic, and manage not to be assholes.