knotme Posted September 5, 2006 Posted September 5, 2006 Check out these two favorites of mine to keep the spirit of summer alive. I've collected the dry details at the bottom of this post, but first, here is why I love these gems and recommend them for the GA Story Archive. "The Luckiest Summer" finds Zach's safe, comfortable existence falling apart. Just as he shoots into adolescence, growing aware that he is different, his nuclear family comes unstuck, unable to offer needed support. After drifting into his first crush with an older neighbor, Zach is spared serious trouble partly by some well-timed luck, but mostly by the good fortune to be surrounded by adults who try to do right and mostly succeed. The author's keen eye and honest, clear narrative comes to life for me in the scenes between two girls and two boys. A heterosexual script is at work, Zach has a role to play, and he's blowing it. Zach is aware enough to be acutely uncomfortable, and I'm right there with him. Ouch! "Island Summer" presents us with an old way of life, struggling against modernity, oppressive, beautiful, brittle and vulnerable, with a sense of place and history beyond an outsider's grasp. Can an immigrant, no matter how well acclimated, ever really belong? If you're blessed to belong, what's it worth to you? What are you willing to give up to stay? Many of us can see these ideas play out around us. I see them around me in the crumbling shards of old Hawaii. "Island Summer" distills these ideas as only good fiction can do. Neither author wastes words. Take your time. Enjoy! The Luckiest Summer by Robin Eagleson, robineagleson@yahoo.com (no response recently) http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/luckiest-summer/ Modern: Teens Codes: M t mast no sex Completed Island Summer by Jack Rowan, email unknown (Jack_Rowan@hotmail.com is no longer in service) http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/beginnings/island-summer/ Modern: Coming Out Codes: M oral anal mast Completed
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