Cia

Reason why?

So today's blog leads to a double feature on the main forum page (have you read Graeme's story, Heart of the Tree? Check it out here, it's not forbidden!) but the theme of today's blog is there can be only one! That's right, which ONE character from the Secret Author Forbidden Knowledge stories have you read would you LOOOOOOVE to meet in real life? Share your favorite character to meet in a comment below (and why!). Seems simple, right? As with all discussions on GA, muahahahahaha! You guys always make things interesting I can't wait to find out more.

Thanks all! Since this has proved to be a very popular event and is relatively easy to plan for authors, I hope to keep doing it year after year, but we have to keep it fresh! That's why I've expanded the games this year. I wanted to give our speedy readers some new games and also hint around in various ways, but not give away too much for the members who take a bit more time or digest stories slower because life is busy or something comes up (we all know about that!) This way the Secret Author event isn't going too fast or too slow, and everyone gets to go at their own speed while enjoying the event. It makes me happy it seems we're walking the line just right so far. Next week there's a bit more of the usual sort of guessing/voting, and then reveals (because the evils of day-to-day work is coming for me!) so keep having fun at whatever pace you're going.

Two Truths & A Lie! So... we all know the theme of this year's Secret Author contest was Forbidden Knowledge. In order to "help" you figure out who wrote which story, I've asked authors to share 2 Truths & a Lie about their story writing process, the story itself, or... you know, stuff you should or shouldn't know. Will it help you? Maaaaybe. Let's get on with it, shall we? These are shared in no particular order, so have fun! Story Title: Undeliverable I wanted to write something different from my current stories, something more lived-in and introspective. That's what led me to the idea of present versus past. One title I seriously considered was 'You Won't Read This'. I scrapped it because I didn't want to jinx the story. The ending was the easiest part to write. I had the final scene in my head long before I wrote the opening sentence. Story Title: Gemma The entire story was written in under a week. The story was originally written in third person POV. The story was inspired by a YouTube video. Story Title: Subtle Signs Based on a true story. Written in less than an hour. Inspired by TikTok videos featuring men singing in bathroom stalls. Story Title: The Empty Library The story is inspired by a visit to Berlin as a student One of my hobbies is reading World War II historical books I love a good romance Story Title: Coffee With Supervision The concept originated from a television program in which the protagonist awoke beside a stranger. Having written the opening line, the narrative progressed naturally in a supernatural direction. This represents my first attempt at writing within the supernatural genre, and I found the experience of exploring a new style enjoyable. Story Title: Murder at 9th & Tom I firmly believe everyone and everything has some sort of way to tell their story. I love cats. I have never written about a murder before. Story Title: The Ledger I've always had a fascination with the Civil War and its ramifications. Also, a case of what-ifs: how history is a sequence of random events leading to life-changing encounters The most difficult issue in writing was dealing with the bisexuality of the main character and his fear of leaving his safe, comfortable existence. Story Title: Peeping Tom I love cats. I don't love cats. Animals are better than people. Story Title: No Official Reason I loved reading the boyband collection in the celebrity section on Nifty and wanted to try writing my own. I love the drama created by being closeted and wanted to weave it into the story. I have never written a romance story before without some speculative element involved, so I was determined to write one this time. Story Title: The Ivory Fig Ceremony I was hankering for for fig newtons. It was fig season. I was eating buckwheat crisps. Story Title: Wrong Window The story came from a song title I found randomly on Spotify The story came to me while listening to someone brag about a weird night. I was getting Pork dumplings and saw a fire escape in Hong Kong and thought that's a great setting. Story Title: Just The Facts, Man I remembered reading about this a few months before the secret author topic came out. ChatGPT didn’t like translating about a crime. https://www.history.co.uk/articles/the-greatest-mysteries-in-history ranks this as #1 on their list of history’s 19 greatest mysteries. Story Title: The Ledger of The Howling Void The story idea came to me whilst in the library at school This is my 100th story on GA I have a huge presence on GA and have written many genre of story using prompts. Story Title: Sweet Sour Paradox Logic While I was cooking sweet sour chicken got the idea with the sauce. I like mixing random leftovers to cook, so Caden did the same. Running through the Golden Gate park showed the best place for the boys to meet. Story Title: Unexpected Discovery The setting was an area I was familiar with in real life. The idea for the story evolved from a true story that I fictionalized. Part of the story was based on personal experience. All right... which are the truths? Which is the lie? Can you decide and do any of these little tidbits help reveal the author of the story(s) to you? Share your guesses below!

Hey, I thought that "Help...." was inspired. Set the tone right off.

Did you expect me to make things easy??? It's like you don't know me at all!

Who wants to play a game? For those who want to hit an easy button, check out the spoiler below. You'll find the list of attributions for the quotes in this list from the great stories from the our Secret Author Forbidden Knowledge category. Click the picture banner if you still need to read these great stories, catch up, or want to pair up the quotes yourself! Then come back to play the first of this week's games! Remember as you read, you're also trying to figure out which character you'd most like to meet for later voting. Now, ready to play? If you want a challenge, try to remember who said which quote below or find them on your own! Story Quotes "Help…" 'You didn't stop' “I am, in truth, right sorry.” “Now we have all the time in the world.” “If you were carrying something that large around, it would affect the way you walked.” “Come on up to my lair,” “Enough. Give me facts, not funerals.” "But I can tell you I don't have to give him a spanking about it.” Truths don't like to be locked away. "You were my monster," He dropped like a college kid’s laundry bag after a month away from home.” “I always knew!” "I've had dozens of girlfriends," “I don’t have any money to play poker,” “The ghost of the chicken is strong in that one.” Quote Attributions - Click below to open spoiler

Monday!

Always interesting to learn how other people decide how to read stories. Maybe it's just me, but I'm a list person. I go top to bottom. If I'm really feeling froggy, I go bottom to top. 😮🫢🫣😉 But is that how I share things? Or list the quotes in the first game soon to come? Nahhhh.... I'm far more evil than that. Plus I use randomizers because I hate being predictable. Did you think you could get me that way? HA! 😈

On the upside, the stories will stay live (and secret!) and the games will continue for the next 3-4 weeks, so everyone will have plenty of time to read!

It might have taken a bit, but the secret stories are going live today for readers to enjoy! What mysteries are being revealed, secrets are being shared, or forbidden truths are being uncovered? Well, you'll just have to read the stories to find out! Let's go over the name of the game, just in case we have a lot of newbies here... plus I have some extra fun twists to reveal! Read, comment, and review the Forbidden Knowledge stories posted by our Secret Author. Wonder who wrote them... because no one is telling! 🙊 Game 1: Connect the Quote: Can you name the character and story the quote came from? Pretty self-explanatory! Game 2: Guess the Authors: I hope to get input from all the participants this year with a fun twist of 2 Truths & A Lie to help readers out where authors share information about how they came up with their idea or wrote their story. Game 3: Favorite Character I Want to Meet (and poll): We'll have more than one poll this year. I want to have one topic where readers get to share the character they would most love to meet from all the stories they read (and why!!). I'll use those character names to then create a poll for voting to determine a winner of the most popular character to meet. Game 4: Favorite Story: Voting poll with a topic to share thoughts on your favorite stories with reader conversation. No choice is forbidden! Game 5: Author Reveal: Can you connect the right author to the right story? How many will you get right? So keep an eye out for blogs, topics, and more to post over the next few weeks. Don't worry, you will have plenty of time to read, comment, vote, and just all over have fun with this event. The only fun that's forbidden is revealing who the real author is before the end! So click on the banner above or the link below to begin your reading adventure! https://gayauthors.org/stories/browse/category/210-2026-forbidden-knowledge-secret-author/

That's what I usually do when I'm looking up stories or checking out different options from authors. I'll open the author's listing of stories and do a right click "open link in a new tab" on the story title so you can close that story and go right back to their author page and list of stories when you finish the one you were enjoying to find the next one that catches your fancy from their listing (because that tab is still sitting open).

Now, there has been some.... misinformation out there. 15th... 16th... what was the true date? Was someone trying to keep your favorite author from playing this game or you from knowing all the juicy details of the forbidden truths hidden in this year's entries by changing it up from blog post to blog post? I will admit nothing! Neither will the team! But since there MAY have been some confusion out there, I will accept late stories on the 16th if they come in while I *coughs* the Forbidden Author, works on formatting everything for the event. So get your guessers ready, your game faces on, and let the fun ALMOST begin. I know some of you late night Lucies out there YOU CAN get us a story!

I don't post the stories for a few days, so due to the mix up on a few blogs posted, I will accept Secret Author stories on the 16th if they come in that day as I work on formatting and the contests. Thanks,!!

Peanut butter & banana... Yum!! I like this in yogurt, in a wrap, smoothied, blended and frozen in coins for a cool down treat... Really, you can't go wrong any way you put them together!