Cia

Happy Birthday Patrick!!!

I don't believe we can change that either, Myk. It all sort of ties in together. I cannot delete the author's response without also deleting the review from the reader though; so that isn't as easily removed and re-done.

Got it. This is where having questions come in early will be helpful. Please remember ... not all members can access GA all the time/every day. Some can't most of the time like Jian. If you have a question for him, please let me know ahead of time so Bleu and I can get them to him so he can still participate and answer what you might want to know! Thanks!

And how many mod issues will be be faced with where reviewers flame authors and then retract the reviews or change them? That happens on a lot of other fiction sites and is the reason why we have the reviews set that way; it removes that element from coming into play and creating a very large headache for the site staff. You have 2 options to circumvent having the issues you stated Pete. 1) Write your review in word and only post it when you're satisfied it is correct and complete. or 2) If you have a major gaffe or sent a blank/incomplete review by hitting the reply button on accident I'm more than willing to help members out by deleting their review so they can start over. Just send me a pm. I won't do this for every little mistaken typo, though. Also remember, reviews are not the only way to contact an author about their stories or writing in general; it is just the most convenient when you're reading. You can post a comment in their forum topic; most authors create those. You can also pm an author directly.

I don't have anything in progress that isn't an online serial story I'm waiting on updated. I've been focused on writing for the last day so I didn't read at all yesterday. Over the weekend I re-read Moon by Laurann Dohner, and Strength of the Pack by Kendall McKenna. I'm also in the midst of a judging for an online award contest so I read Star Wishes by Miss Martine Sunday night. Otherwise ... it's mostly just GA chapters and stories by new authors in the mod queue, though I make an exception for some other authors or beta jobs.

Yes! This is exactly what I wanted! Thanks guys. For those not commenting, you can also PM me questions if you don't want to pose them yourself! The authors might not all be able to participate on that day so if you want, you can send the questions to me early and I can include them in my initial blog post. As another alternative, readers can pose 'general' questions as well.

LOL Andy, Lugh! So ... if you want to do the question for author, what would your question be Jo Ann?

For May's Can't Stop Reading Book Club I decided to go an easy way out and pick short stories I know are site favorites since we were avoiding a novel. So, for this month we will be reading the past 3 year's Reader's Choice Best Anthology award winners! We'll have 4 stories, not 3, because the 2010 winners tied. I hope you enjoy reading one, or all, of these. HELP!!!: I'd love some feedback from participants for this month's discussion day. What would you like the format to be? More reviews? Thoughts on writing these stories from the authors? Include a question(s) posed by participants shared here to ask the authors, like a custom interview? Ask each reader to pick their favorite line from each story and why for the discussion day? 2010: A Chance Encounter by Jian Sierra (tie) (Contemporary Drama) Length: 6,729 Description: Due to their personal circumstances, Bill and Nate only had a day together. But as they get to know each other, something more than physical attraction developed. What happens when the day comes to an end? 2010: The Search for Pandora by Graeme (tie) (Sci-Fi) Length: 4,843 Description: Iswirl and Herk are searching for Herk's sister and they are down to their last lead. 2011: It Was A Holy Day by Lugh (Sci-Fi) Length: 16,493 Description: Prince Anarix is finally Bound. However, much to his father’s displeasure he cannot recall who that might be. Therefore, the King has given his only son until the moon turns to locate his mate or join the priesthood and forfeit the crown. 2012: A Friend In Need by Andy021278 (Contemporary Drama) Length: 3,812 Description: Michael has been through a lot, and his best friend Gavin has been there with him through it all. Michael now needs a kidney transplant. Just how far will Gavin go for Michael? With a little over 35k to read of varying styles, authors, and genres there should be something for everyone! I hope you enjoy these stories and are prepared to come back on May 27th for the discussion day. Don't forget to comment on my question; I want to keep this book club alive, please help me do so by making it interesting for everyone involved!

I don’t give an airborne copulation through a rotating pastry what they think. Freaking priceless. That line is absolutely awesome; I've never heard it before.

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13397771-built-4-it" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Built 4 It" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328332391m/13397771.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13397771-built-4-it">Built 4 It</a> by Daisy Harris<br/> My rating: 4 of 5 stars<br /><br /> Made 4 It was an interesting story. I hadn’t read any other story in The Love-Bot series, but this still made a lot of sense to me. I get that there might be nuances of the supporting characters from earlier stories that I missed but the general gist of the world the author created made sense.<br /><br />Ala Frankenstein … but not nearly as primitive, scientists have created a whole style of lab rat that are actually legal and called steins. The ethics of such a thing, and the lack of humanity required to bring people back to life and then experiment on them, was a disturbing theme. I found the character of the head doctor, Frith, to be particularly callous and cruel. <br /><br />What was interesting to me was the way that humans reverted so much to animalistic tendencies as steins. They would create pack structures, used touch and physical cues to communicate when speech was beyond them. The leader, Kee, was the biggest and strongest … and curiously, also the smartest of them all. Emotions rule the steins’ actions … and Kee has a serious amount of emotion for the reluctant lab assistant Ben, who hates his job. <br /><br />Throughout the story, Kee grows, Ben learns new things … and they both get something they wanted. In the end, their differences don’t seem to matter that much, even if society would condemn Kee and Ben for them. Their journey, sometimes together and sometimes apart, was good and I liked the romance but I found the philosophical questions brought on by this story almost more interesting than the story itself.<br /><br />It begs the reader to question if the potential for Kee's recovery of his 'self', based on the electrical impulses of the device in his head that brought him back, would be limited to him for some reason. If given better implants could all steins regain full intelligence? What does that mean legally? Should people be brought back from the dead and limited to a certain level of intelligence deliberately? Can they be people again with all the same rights as the conventionally living if given a chance and should they be given that chance?<br /> Could this be possible in OUR future? <br /><br /><br /> <br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5881541-alicia-nordwell">View all my reviews</a>

Well, Jay, welcome to the non-lurker side of things! I hope you enjoy all that GA has to offer.

Not gunna waste ma smart grayish stuffs on that there fix (AN: duh, totally good work that took, like obveeosly totes 4vr).I might never right no more. *snickers*

Ooh, science geekiness. This is cool! Thoughts are percolating for a story now... the best use for obscure information, that I can think of at least.

Please don't forget to nominate your favorite short stories for next month's selections or you'll end up with mine.

It’s that time again … CSR’s Discussion Day. This month we read Josh’s Blog by Carl Holiday. I hope you enjoyed the story; I can’t wait to see what thoughts readers had. Below is a review by yours truly where I shared my feelings on the story and Carl’s writing. Check out the info afterward about CSR in general too; I need your help! Yes yours! Quite the comment to be starting off a review with, right? Yet, this paragraph is in the first chapter of the story, Josh’s Blog, by Carl Holiday. I don’t often read teen fiction, because there are parts I just don’t want to get a mental image of, lol, or the authors just don’t give the characters that ‘teen truth’. In this story, I think the teen character of Josh actually epitomizes the true reality of a teenage boy, as much as I can remember from being a teenage girl at least. He’s embarrassed by his parents, he’s frank and somewhat crude and worries entirely too much about his appearance. He shows that same character trait all through the story, like a lot of his personal comments during his visit in the old folks rehab center of Shady Maples. Carl’s writing is pretty smooth, and he definitely has the characters down pat. I think, partly because of the format of this story, a series of blogs, that I wasn’t quite as able to connect with the supporting characters or feel the scene. I’m probably more of a traditionalist and like immersing myself in an actual narrative/dialogue style plot rather than this monologue style. Still, the story is creative … in ways I can’t even begin to go into. I’m sure many of the other CSR participants will highlight the many facets of the story, so suffice it to say we have some drama (in a teenage story, NO WAY!) and some comedy, and a whole lot of really good writing! Check it out for yourself, if you haven’t had a chance yet, but be aware if you read on to check out the comments that there will probably be spoilers ahead! So, I’m always asking for more input from you guys. I’d love to see what sort of features you’d like to have in the CSR Book club. We get a lot of review discussions through the comments, but I’d like to see if there are things you guys would like. Should I do questionnaires for you to consider when writing up your posts? Coffee or muffin recipes to share for my fav book discussion times so you guys can enjoy them to? Change up the club format somehow? I want CSR to be popular, so that means you guys have a lot of input and say in what we do. Use it! For May, I did get some feedback requesting a change previously I’m going to do for this month. Instead of featuring a novel, I’d like to feature (3) short stories. You can read one, you can read them all… but it’ll give us variety and options. If you have any ideas for things during the Discussion blog day for this, let me know! So, when you post, don’t forget to add your nominations for May’s CSR features … your favorite short stories!

Even keeping these thanks short... it's going to be long. Bear with me! Renee Stevens. No matter what, when it's important, she's there to help me. Site work, which I kinda suckered her into, beta reading, letting me vent whenever I need to or ramble on endlessly about plot ideas and paranormal mythos. Lugh. Cranky as he can be, lol, he also gets my ideas and helps me build on them and make them better. Comicfan. As busy as this man is, and he IS, he always has a kind word and offers to help when I really need someone to peek at a story. Cannd. A recent join to GA from off-site, she has a great mind for beta reading, anticipating and understanding plot progression and character portrayal. Her comments, reviews, and betas have improved my writing immensely. LJH. Louis has left me some amazing reviews. He's supportive of the authors on the site, and having personally received some of his excellent feedback, I truly appreciate his presence here on GA. Julie L. Hayes and M.A. Church. These two amazing authors have helped me with my writing, promotion, and marketing. I wouldn't have been nearly as successful in the last year if it weren't for them. John Colourfield and SidLove, both have helped me with special beta projects. Thank you! A big thank you to my readers, Bandage who comments on pretty much everything! Daddydavek, Daithi, avidreadr, lilansui, hillj69, clockworkprince ... and many many more. I wouldn't write if it weren't for you guys, and even when I fall apart and don't write for ages you don't hold it against me, which I truly appreciate. Thank you. On to my other teams... To the members of the mod and admin team I'm constantly pestering to do this or that, thanks for putting up with my bossiness! To the members of the WST, old and new ... thank you, thank you. I know I sometimes ask a lot, and having members stand up and agree to help out helps immensely. GA wouldn't be as amazing as it is if we didn't have so many great people here that give up their time and use their own special skills.

Hi Thorn, welcome to GA! I hope you will enjoy our writing community here. You are more than welcome to post; we love to see submissions from new authors. We do have some guidelines on posting, including some that were recently clarified about posting on GA and then epublishing, especially as it relates to removal of stories by site authors. I hate to see conflicts down the line, so please read the Author help topic in the site FAQ under the ? tab in the red menu bar. I approve all submissions by new authors and my PM box is always open if you have any questions; you can contact me through my profile. Again, welcome to the site!

Once again from yours truly... a look back at this week on Gay Authors! This week's blogs started with a review by Wicked Witch of The Rider's Pride by dkstories. This novel length story is a fanfiction of McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern stories. Dan did a great job creating a story in much the same manner of the original work; Wicked Witch called it a "superb piece of fanfiction". As a fan of the series since I was a girl, I have to agree! Wednesday brought something a little different; Myr shared a blog post on what the word free really means when it comes to GA. We heartily encourage members to support the site if they're able and to always remember that we strive to bring everyone the best experience on GA that we can, but sometimes we need a little support which can be done in various ways. Check out the blog, What Is Free?, for some suggestions on how to do that. Our resident prompt mastermind, Comicfan, brought us two new flash fiction prompts, a creative plot idea and a prompt where you feature a list of words. Let's see what authors can come up with for next week's featured response! Site Announcements: Don't forget April is Team Recognition Month! This chance to publicly thank your team is almost over! Please welcome K.C. as a Promising Author if you haven't already. Congrats again KC! Just Announced! Please welcome Michael9344 as our newest Promising Author! Anthology Announcements: Summer Anthology "Roll the Dice" - Due June 8th Summer Premium Content Anthology Event - (Paid Submission Call) 3 Themes! Due by June 15th. NEW READING: In Premium This Week: Empty Corners by Comicality By our Hosted Authors this week: In The Arms of An Angel by Nephylim Palouse by Rec 9.11 by Mark Arbour One Night by Cia Recovery by Nephylim Line of Sight by Renee Stevens Circumnavigation by CJames Harry Potter and the Destiny of Prophecies by dkstories Legacy by Altimexis By our Promising Authors this week: Blind Dates by FrenchCanadian Caught Behind the Shadows by Michael9344 The Road to the Future by JMH Pour Me Another by K.C. The Luxorian Fugitive by Mann Ramblings The Game They Played by Michael 9344 Scars - The things we bare by Comicfan That's it, whew! Our authors have been busy this week ... check out these, and more, under the Stories tab. Please remember to review if you like what you read!

I'm thinking maybe he means GA's changes toward making the site more tablet and touch screen friendly?

I know I shouldn't have found Davis and Luis' struggles to be amusing, but the way you wrote it, I wanted to facepalm for them half the time. LOL. The scene where Shelley took Luis' phone and messaged Davis was freaking hilarious, I could just see it. Good first chapter; I'd love to see these guys develop a relationship and get a HEA here, so I hope it doesn't take you too awful long to post more.

I've frozen milk before too. I just put it in muffin tins, freeze it, and pop them into a freezer container or bag. Each muffin tin is about a 1/2 cup. Frozen butter and cheese does work as well. The issue comes with getting those from where you are to where you will be. If you can't, then vegan recipes are definitely a good way to go. Powdered milk is gross to drink, I agree with Breeze, but if you are using it to bake or cook using herbs and spices can mask that. If you're looking to do protein rich foods, look to things like beans, nuts, hummus, couscous, peanut butter (huge protein boost, but lots of fats and oils, but has great shelf-life), oatmeal, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, brown rice... Men are supposed to have about 56 grams of protein a day. Check out this website to see the actual grams of things and then get creative googling dinner recipes/lunch recipes/baking recipes with... each ingredient.

Happy Monday! Please enjoy this week's story feature! The Rider's Pride by dkstories Reviewer: Wicked Witch Status: Complete Word Count: 107,446 The Rider's Pride is a story by dkstories; It is a superb piece of fanfiction set in the world of Pern, created with its own twists on the mythos of Anne McCaffrey's world. dkstories has some great works on GA but this is my favourite of them all. I fell in love with this story as soon as I began reading it; it carries you along on an adventure in an alien world, filled with love, tragedy, hope and emotion to a final crescendo that is in my opinion one of the most perfect and most emotional endings to a story I've yet read. The alienness of the society in which the dragon rider's find themselves needing to live in order to protect their world is strange to read of, but described in a way that you can really get a feel of it and it becomes very natural to read of. At least for me it left me wondering was it all worth it?; was the sacrifices they made worth so many lives in an endlessly repeating pattern, and were the ancients morally right to condemn so many people to this life style. It is an interesting question that I think made this story something more than just a tale and gave it a real depth. I sobbed my heart out at the ending to this story, it is quite an emotional read. In my opinion a story has hit the mark when it can make you feel an emotion, be it fear or intrigue, laughter or sadness or perhaps happiness, and The Rider's Pride did this in spades for me. Remember ... Read and Review!

It varies. I've seen authors stick to those 3 different ranges quite strictly and then play with them. Experimentation is vital so that authors try out all different formats. In the stories I'm actively writing I've included third person limited, but alternating between 2 characters, and a first person shifting to third person limited from my 2nd main character in some scenes, a third person limited single pov, and a first person alternating POV. The only thing I don't like to use is third person omniscient. I don't like it when authors use it for stories either. It can be confusing for the reader. It only works if the author ensures their characters are distinct from each other. I've noticed a distinct shift away from this format in recent years. Great post Fishie.

From Cia this week! So much going on on the site, so this will be a long one. Please bear with me and read on! There are a lot of announcements; we've been busy! Check out the special announcement below our look back at this week's blog posts! Monday's feature, To Move Forward by Randomness, a special look at how to people whose paths diverged in their past have met again ... and how they move forward. You can still check out the story here. Wednesday we hosted yet another wonderful tip from Libby Drew; this time it was all about Writing Groups. One of the focuses on GA's writing community goals is to bring authors together with people who can give them feedback on their writing. Libby's post shows the pros and cons that come from using any type of writing groups. Check it out! This week our lovely prompt guru, Comicfan, got a bit of a break this week when Renee's announcement for our yearly Poetry Anthology went live. Use the banner link below to read some great poems! Special Announcement: Premium Content Anthology Submission Call GA would like to announce our first ever Premium section short story anthology call for our site authors. We want you to write a short story for our Premium section that will be published in the summer of 2013. You can even submit more than one story if you’re really inspired. Check out the information below and get your creative juices flowing. Premium Short Story Series Guidelines: Submission Deadline: 06/15/2013 (The earlier the better) Length Range: 5k-25k Themes: ‘My day at the …’ Backstage Passes Wishing Well With your submission please include: Title, Prompt Chosen, Word Count, and Genre with your initial submission. Further information, such as the tags and a story description, will be requested if your story is chosen. Each story must be edited prior to submission. Please submit your stories in .docx, .doc, .rtf, formats via email to cia@gayauthors.org. A decision made within (2) weeks regarding acceptance into the anthology. Stories will be purchased for use by CDEJR, Web Services Inc for a flat fee based on length and quality. Purchase gives CDEJR Web Services Inc. the rights to publish the story in the Gay Author's Premium section with possible publication as an e-book anthology. Any distribution of the story by the author must be discussed and agreed upon with CDEJR Web Services Inc. Copyright remains with author. Site Announcements: April is Team Recognition Month - Authors, please be sure to recognize your Team members! There is a topic in the Lounge for everyone to post in if you care to do so publicly. April's Can't Stop Reading Book Club is featuring Josh's Blog by Hosted Author CarlHoliday. We hope you join many in the community and read this great story so you can join in our discussion which will be held on Monday, April 29th! Anthology Announcements: Now live! Check out some of the great poems submitted by authors on the theme: Whispers in the Dark. Summer Anthology "Roll the Dice" - Due June 8th *See Anthology forum for more info* NOW READING In Premium This Week: Binding by Lugh By Our Hosted Authors This Week: Palouse by Rec Harry Potter and the Destiny of Prophecies by dkstories The Second Shot: Senior Year by Andrew Q. Gordon 9.11 by Mark Arbour One Night by Cia In The Arms of an Angel by Nephylim Adverse Effects by Cia Odyssey by Mark Arbour Legacy by Altimexis By Our Promising Authors This Week: The Talents of the Fallen by JMH Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17304538-never-a-hero" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Never a Hero (Tucker Springs, #5)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359485180m/17304538.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17304538-never-a-hero">Never a Hero</a> Never a Hero is yet another installment set in the small town of Tucker Springs. This eBook, written by Marie Sexton, was full of a lot of angst regarding personal appearance and conditions, much like Dirty Laundry by Heidi Cullinan. <br /><br />Owen has a physical disability that created a lot of emotional blocks. He’s drawn to his new neighbor, though, despite misgivings on both their parts. A big part of Owen’s draw to Nick is his complete comfort with his disability … which makes sense since Nick’s sister has the same one! That was a tiny bit too convenient a plot device, but hey, it could happen. <br /><br />There are a lot of twists and turns in latest novel set in Tucker Springs. We got to see a lot of cameos by earlier couples, or parts of couples, like Seth. We also got a sneak peek at who I hope is coming up next. *fingers crossed* <br /><br />I think what impresses me the most about this series is that the authors have blended their styles so well that I would never guess that they were written by different people. They all seem to have a good balance of plot and action versus sex and emotional bonding. The couples all face obstacles, but nothing so dramatic that I can’t believe that these are ordinary people I could meet if I could just find this Tucker Springs on a map.<br /><br />All in all, a definite 4 star read. I didn’t give this 5 stars because of the somewhat contrived plot device and the clichéd ‘villian’ as it were. I’d have liked more depth to the wicked witch, as I’ll call her, to flesh out her character more, since she was such an integral part of the plot motivation. <br /> <br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5881541-alicia-nordwell">View all my reviews</a> This eBook will be available to purchase on May 13th!