Cia

I hope you have a great birthday, Sara!

Hi again SurgoSupra! Thank you so much for this lovely review. I enjoyed writing this story, though teen fiction isn't my favorite genre to write, these guys called to me. Dane and Tap are still two of my favs. I have a few other contemporary pieces as well, but I do a lot of paranormal/contemporary too. I hope you enjoy the rest of my stories and others here at GA!

Another summer birthday! I hope you had a lovely day, hun!

I'm so sorry, WL. I went through this last fall and it tore me up too; our pets are a part of our family and it hurts to lose them.

It would, but unfortunately life does not work that way. Not all authors are lifetime writers, or something came up-sometimes even the worst thing-and we lose members. It is just the world of internet fiction; no way around it, with this level of anonymity there are downsides. One of those is the way authors can just ... not come back.

I think it's a stupid policy. The Red Cross already tests every single unit of blood donated. Yes, there might be more positive results from men who have sex with men who donated than other groups, but is the cost of that testing truly increased that much by the tainted portion they would not be able to use compared to the clean supply they could have? I think their policies are exclusionary based on past data that should be reevaluated. It will be interesting to see if that happens in the near future to prevent the blood shortages the country periodically seems to face. And I've had to have two blood transfusions. I have to say, if they test it, I trust it no matter WHO it came from. As a recipient, I appreciated that someone's donation was saving me from having additional complications from the traumatic blood loss I'd suffered.

This is called a round robin. It has been done before, actually. You'd need to have someone in charge as the initial author. You can add more contributing authors to stories, but one person must be the lead author. I can't recall if only that author can add chapters, or if that author can add authors and the new authors can then add chapters as well. I know that Renee attempted one of these with some authors previously, but it fizzled due to time constraints. I'll ask her to chime in with what she remembers the system allows.

LOL, you're not the only one! I've had several people ask for more of this story. I'm thinking of using this as a prequel and writing a full story. I'm so glad you enjoyed the story. Aliens just have my attention lately, lol. Thank you very much for reading and reviewing, CW Prince.

Wow, this is an absolutely amazing review and I completely missed it! I hope you don't think I was just ignoring it, Louis! I must have gotten an alert and lost it in a bunch of them. You have some great points; I did strive to use some creative imagery in this story and really stretch my verb use. I will definitely keep an eye out and add was to my 'search and destroy' editing words to check for. Thank you so much!!

Happy Birthday Joe!!

Well it was meant to be funny.

Hmm... interesting beginning. You certainly added in quite a bit of intrigue about who Dice is and where they are going. Good hook. If I can make a suggestion, check out the last few comments in the dialogue punctuation topic pinned in the Writing forum. It has some info on using the em-dash and having correctly directioned quotation marks. Keep writing!

Oh, I'm more of a reader than watcher myself. I remember sex coming up in harlequins and such when I was 10, VC Andrews with her incest and When Heaven Fell by Barton really twigged me out on erotica when I was a kid. The first mm sex I read was, surprise surprise, a rape scene in Outlander by Gabaldon. I read that at 11. She balanced that out in later in the series with a positive gay figure in the stories, but it still colored my perceptions for years. Any not so straight women remember Annie on My Mind? I got a hold of a copy of that in the early 90s and that cemented my 'bi-ness' as a teen. For the most part, I wasn't too into reading sex, to be honest, so for a long time I didn't read much erotica at all. I will admit to watching porn, though mostly it makes me laugh. I'm more likely to critique style and sarcastically comment on fake dialogue than I am to actually 'enjoy' it. I don't know, I guess what I can imagine in my head is always more interesting than what I see. No one has butt pimples or wears white socks in my mind!

The twinkie ... what everyone needs, a little sofa foam!

Oh, but in the best way! Lol

Yep! I'm just going to get some personal info on the mysterious Rob for everyone first ... muahahahahahaha! I like to vary the information we share for the blog posts to keep everyone entertained, from author interview, to reader reviews, to favorite lines from the stories. Readers can then share their own thoughts and comments about the story, questions for the author, discuss with each other, etc... via comments on the blog on the Discussion day.

Check out this month's selection ... The Degan Incident by Rob Colton (formerly Robcub32). This science fiction story is one of my favorites and had a huge following. I really hope some of his fans come and comment here on the discussion day, July 29th. We'll be featuring an interview with Rob and some sneak peek info from his next work ... The Cassini Mission! Oh, and check out this great cover Rob had made! Click the cover to read the story now! Length: 58,679 Description: Lonely spaceport worker Devin McSmith meets Bastian Drago, an exotic and beastly alien from the planet Dega, and begins an adventure that takes him to the stars and beyond. A Reader Said: That cliffhanger was cruel and unusual punishment Rob!! I felt like I was at a buffet, starving and someone yanked my plate. Smooth though, real smooth.lol. Seems there's more to that Rando than just an old fling. I have a feeling the fur will fly. I especially enjoyed the description of the planet. I laughed out loud about the hover car lesson. Now, how I'm going to be able to wait till Friday for the next post is beyond me. Don't forget to come back for the Discussion Day: July 29th!

Well that's quite awesome! And omg do those actors look young! *cries*

Knowing what details to share, and how, is vital to creating a vivid scene that will engage readers. I was once told by a reader that they felt like they could step right into my story while reading. I think the key to what I try to do, to create that experience, is to offer up the details through the character's senses as often as possible. I'd describe a hail storm by telling how the freezing the ice pellets felt pounding on my MC's face, or describe the serenity of being underwater, the noise of the world above washed out by the sound of the waves dragging along the sand. Sight is the main sense, but touch, taste, scent, hearing, they can all come into play. As always, with writing, it is a balance to be found, but when you find the right one ... magic.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Please check out our reminder that political posts are not allowed in GA Forums Thank you, and now back to Can't Stop Reading Discussion Day for Reach, by Cassie Q! Has everyone read the story for this month? I hope so, because it was really good! Cassie's Reach is worth the effort to untangle the wicked weave of the twisted plot she wrote. Do you know arousal?" To make his intentions more clear, Chad stepped forward, trapping the teen against the wall and blatantly invading his personal space. ... So much of this story revolved around sex and procreation ... which totally ignored love. I love dystopian style stories, or ones where people are forced to struggle to live, but Cassie's story took a tack I don't see that often. I loved what she did with the scenes between Chad and Tibial in the beginning. It was a rough read though. So much of had me twisting inside, squirming in my chair. Grand passion, drama, love triangles ... babies! Then... the ending. Whew. I soooo needed that ending! Tibial's journey from awkward boy who only knew how to do what he was told to strong adult who went after what he wanted was a great transition. So, what were your thoughts on Cassie's story? P.S. A few notes. Don't forget to suggest a favorite story or author for next month's CSR! Anywhere from 20 to 90k stories, by any author group, are open for selection.

Welcome Ken! I hope you enjoy being a member at GA.

Well this works for more than just self-publishing, I would consider it advice for ANY ePublishing author. Even dead tree authors create websites and blogs for their fans. They might not manage it all themselves, but if you aren't a bestselling author, you will be. ePublishers expect authors to promote themselves too. They will help and have followers themselves if they are larger and put out quality works like some of the more well-known companies. However, an author's success does largely rest in their own hands. They need to know how to promote themselves in the vast library that is the internet. Other things Andy didn't mention that can be helpful are contacting review sites and providing ARC's in exchange for reviews to be posted on their site, Goodreads, Amazon, etc... Goodreads is also a site where it is immensely important to have a presence, though it doesn't have to be a daily thing. If you review the stories you read, you're likely to get people thanking you, following your reviews, or reviewing in return. There are also a lot of author, reader, genre niche yahoo groups that allow promotions on set days. In the end, knowing your market and making sure you have a presence there will help. I've only published 1 eBook with an ePublisher, and 1 on my own that was more of a promotional event, but I've had so much help and advice from fellow authors. Andy's suggestions are an excellent roadmap for new authors, so if you're looking to ePublish, please take his advice now. I can attest to how effective all his tips are.

This story has good potential. You have begun writing a new 'world' so it's intriguing to know where you are going with this. What kind of paranormal will the children be? Why didn't he know about them? Is his 'Urge' paranormal? Those are all questions I want answered, so I'll keep reading. I would suggest you get a beta, however. Some of your word and phrase choices are clunky and repetitive. There is a topic pinned in the Writer's Corner with a basic run down on dialogue punctuation; I would suggest you use it. I noticed several spots where you didn't have the correct punctuation and capitalization with your dialogue. Other than that, just keep writing.

Aislin doesn't let his disability get in his way. He's a successful business owner and has a great family. Could it stretch to include a new person, or maybe even two?

LOL. Well, you're quite welcome. I always enjoy new worlds too, and wish that I could write more. Thanks so much for reading aditus.