Cia

Sounds like we have a lot of love for the story choice here! Hopefully you guys will all come back and share you thoughts on the story on the 28th.

October already! Really? Wow! This year is flying by, right? Well this month, for your reading enjoyment, we have a story about something any cowgirl or cowboy can appreciate ... Wrangler butts! Wrangler Butts by Reddirtwriter Length: 85,286 Description: Darrin has had a difficult time, but has resigned himself to academia and solitude. But his new office mate arrives, and he is Darrin's living wet dream. A dark haired masculine cowboy with a little bit of attitude, Mitch is going to shake up Darrin's life. But neither of them knows the highs, and lows, ahead of them. What a Reader Had to Say: I don't understand why there are not a ton of reviews here. This is such hot writing and so very good in all aspects. The story is riveting as are the sex scenes. I am blown away by it all. ~ Jaro_423 This story by Reddirtwriter comes with bonuses... sequels!! This first story in the Wrangler Butts series was just the beginning. If you love what you read, keep going and see what happens in the two following stories: Maverick Cattle Company and Growing Josh. That might be a bit much for a book club month, lol, but you are free to fall in love with the stories and keep reading. Our Discussion day will be October 28th, so get started reading now!

Orbital Decay by Allen Steele My rating: 4 of 5 stars I wanted to read this book because the description is so relevant to today. Set in 2016, we aren’t stuck with things like stone washed jeans and bulky cell phones that could double as exercise weights. Of course there are a lot of things that haven’t become as advanced as we are currently, but then again, authors don’t own crystal balls. Yet, this is a classic genre feeling book that drew me back to my first love of science-fiction with all its detail and actual science. Back in the 80s this story had to have felt futuristic, now it just feels … prophetic. Okay, we don’t have beam-jacks, and we’re not expanding into space at the rate humans are in Orbital Decay. But we still have so many aspects of governmental oversight, malfeasance, and denial. We have people who are frustrated with the constant deception who decide… enough! The political climate of the story is strangely familiar, unfortunately. I’m not a big fan of flashbacks, and in essence, this story is very much a giant flashback. It worked in the style written, though I did have some issues with some of the events being narrated by Sam that seemed more like the author than the character, hence the switching between first and third and characters. POV is a lot less fluid in today’s writing. Readers prefer to know who is speaking, and they can be sticklers to demand that authors don’t hop and spill things the POV character cannot know. I like the blue collar character focus. There are several characters that pop from the page, which is something I need when I read a dated book like Orbital Decay. I can overlook the dated technology and assumptions, if I’m drawn in enough by their personalities and interactions. All in all, I found this to be a solid read taking me back to my sci-fi reading roots. A definite 3.5 stars, and a recommend if you’re a fan of the genre already!

Happy Birthday, MJ!

Thanks Daithi! Yeah, unfortunately I did have to stop there. My flash group is only 500-1k in words each week and I've been posting 2 a week here. Unfortunately after this I'm down to 1k chapters for you guys too since you've caught up to my posting on my personal blog. Birch is a complex character and I definitely think Sayer is in for a wild ride. He may have grown up with Birch but there is a lot about him he doesn't know, especially after four years apart. Another chapter will be coming next week! Thanks so much for the review.

I've experienced a lot of anger issues in my past. I had a bad childhood, I'm bi, and I grew up with a bigot as a father. As a teen I got sent to a court mandated anger management program instead of being charged with assault. As silly as that whole situation was, at the time it happened, I was furious and things happened that shouldn't. With age comes a lot more perspective though and I know better ways to control myself than screaming or striking out. The anger management class didn't make a dent on me back then but the threat of a record did sort of similar to your threat of your grades slipping. I didn't want to screw up my future. I agree with a lot of the other comments made regarding finding some professional help, if only for the ability to be able to say whatever you need to say in a safe environment where you know it cannot be repeated and used to out you at any time. You sound like you have some issues beyond your sexuality as well, but just having that outlet might help both problems you're facing. Don't let the fear and anger win. Perhaps with help, you can find a way to take control of your actions, and reactions, because there will always be hatred to face. Reacting with violence doesn't change anyone's mind, not in real life. Good luck, dear.

Luckily, I have a whole ton of them here on GA! I hope you enjoy.

Birch is definitely unique. Thank you so much for the review. I love hearing from readers. More will be coming next week too!

Croll does have bad timing, LOL! Well, we'll just have to see if they get back to their ... interlude.

The feeling was familiar. Sayer simply had to touch Birch when he was bouncing everywhere and the nervous energy flowed right out. Sayer had no idea how Birch figured out that he’d been taking it on purpose, but if he didn’t mind …. “Are you sure?” The Darkling shrieked again, his hands waving, and more of the tulips around him grew larger and began snapping nightmarish jaws full of fangs. The guards were coordinating in their attack to hold it, but the creature broke free when two were felled

Hi StonyCreeker! Thank you so much for commenting; it means all the more for your rarity. Though, I have to say you gave me an excellent review so I hope that more stories will compel you to speak up in the future. The best compliment I ever receive is someone telling me they read my work more than once. I really do want to continue writing the story I began in Synchronicity. I am not sure if/when/what format it will take, but I intend to go back to it. Thank you again, so much, for the review.

So, for some reason the word triskaidekaphobia has been stuck in my head. No idea why the fear of the #13 has been lingering but maybe it'll become part of a story or something. But when I was researching it to remember what the hell it means (yes, the word was stuck in my head but not the meaning) I came across a word that I thought might first relate to math but instead it was: Graphophobia n. Fear of writing or handwriting. The origin of this word is Greek: grapho which means to write. Thank goodness we have a whole caboodle of authors not suffering from graphophobia!

This month's book club selection featured Accidents Happen by Comicfan. The story is a bit longer than our usual, but with 5 weeks to read it, I hope that everyone is ready to discuss! The most votes for our feature today was for an interview with Comicfan, so I hope you all enjoy learning a bit more about our resident prompt guru and Hosted author! First, the hard stuff! Who do you like best, Jerry or Tom? I’m always rooting for Jerry. Are you a person who makes their bed in the morning, or do you not see much point? I need a nice neat bed. I make it every day and clean those sheets too. Chocolate or Vanilla? Oh God, of course chocolate. (my kinda man! lol) What are you wearing? A pair of blue shorts and an old grey shirt with the front cover of Superman from issue number one on it. With a nickname like Comicfan, which comics are your favorite? From the comic strips it is comics like Peanuts, Ziggy, and Garfield. If you are talking comic books well it is more like Justice League, Teen Titans, Flash, and of course Wonder Woman. (Ahh, now the shirt makes sense, lol Makes me wonder though... is he wearing shorts in the US sense or the British, ) Let's talk a bit about writing! Do you have any writing rituals? I like to get into comfortable clothes, put in some nice music and start to write. I can’t create though in silence. I need to be comfortable and relaxed. Do your characters try to make like bunnies and create ever more convoluted plots for you? Or do you have to coax them out of your characters? Okay, most of the time the stories are convoluted enough. I mean I don’t have space ships landing in the middle of an everyday story, but there are enough problems swirling around them to keep the story interesting and moving along. I never have to coax them, although I have tried to gag them to keep them quiet every now and then. What sort of coffee would your characters order? Simple coffee, complicated soy-non-fat-extra-espresso-half-caff-nightmare? Most of my characters are pretty straight forward. Light and sweet would be the drink choice. I rarely have a diva amongst mine. Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members. I have a very close knit group of friends that I met in college. They have supported me and offered another set of eyes on some of my projects over the years. It is basically because of that support I felt comfortable enough with my own work to begin to look for outlets for it. Thus, I finally began posting on GA. If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor? I’ve been lucky to work with some really great people on the site. I am always open to learning from all of them, but I have worked most often with Renee Stevens. She has shown me a few things when writing. Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest? Considering I work on the prompts and help with the anthologies, I see a lot of new writers. Sometimes the prompts entice someone to finally venture forth and put out their first piece of writing here. I’ve enjoyed the works of Myiege, Joann, Kitt, and Never Surrender as they have all been active participants in the prompts. Hopefully people will read their work and encourage them to keep writing. What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment? Like anyone else you will have people love and hate your work. I don’t know if I am rare or not, but I do post an email for people to contact me if they wish to. Knowing that others will not see a comment offers the reviewer a sense of privacy and sometimes they take advantage. I’ve been told by one person after they read End in the Beginning for an anthology that I write sentimental crap, with unbelievable dialogue, and I should consider just leaving the work to those who could write. My response to that was The Escape of John Doe. It seemed to end the idea that I am just not able to write. I’ve also had someone write to me telling me that they enjoyed my stories and share them with their friends. Knowing my work is appreciated and shared makes writing them worth the rewrites, aggravation, and problems any writer faces when looking at a blank sheet of paper or screen. What inspired you to write Accidents Happen? Like the main character, Charlie, I was going through a lot of changes in my own life. I had just lost my mother the year before, while she was having heart surgery. My father’s health had taken a nose dive and I had just moved back to Long Island. I had found Gay Authors and been reading the works of many authors, but finally decided to I wanted to comment so I joined. After talking to some people in chat, I figured if I wanted to write again, this seemed to be a fairly supportive environment to do it. So I began to think consider the last time my life had gone through so many changes and realized it was just as I was getting out of college. Within just a few minutes Charlie was born and I then wrote out a character sheet for Charlie and all the main characters. Wasn’t much longer till it began to appear each week and while not perfect, at least it was well accepted by those here at GA. Whew! Comicfan answered a lot of questions. Thank you so much! I appreciate you letting us in and telling us more about yourself. Now let's share some of that feedback all authors love so much. If you enjoyed reading Accident's Happen, let him know. Share you thoughts, a review, or questions for Comicfan. If you haven't had a chance to read the story yet, check it out here. Options for October: In the Shadow of the Dragon Skeletons of the Future Marcus and the Slave Wrangler Butts Don't forget to vote for your reading choice!

I write, I beta/edit, I work on the site in many different capacities with a primary focus on supporting all our authors. I'm so busy doing all that I don't get nearly enough reading and reviewing time, unless it's for the mod queue, but I appreciate many stories ... once they're finished! LOL

My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’m a fan of Heidi Belleau. Her writing feels ‘real’. That, to me, is what contemporary fiction is all about. Most people aren’t perfect with ideal lives or living in squalor and on the brink of complete meltdown. Yet those extremes are very well represented in MM fiction. Heidi takes stories about the average man, or woman, and makes them interesting. Which leads me to Rob and Bobby. Okay, I’m not an online MMORPG fan. I’m not a game fan at all, but I love fantasy so I can understand the draw. With the advent of the online world, those fantasy worlds have exploded in popularity. They allow people an outlet to be who they want. Rob became Bobby. Both male names, but Bobby is the inner woman inside Rob’s body. She’s what he cannot be, sexy and outgoing, confident and casual. That’s not to say Rob is transsexual. I don’t know that you could put a label on his character. He likes things about looking and acting like a girl, and he likes things about looking and acting like a guy. Where all this slams together is when his personas become alive in real life. Bobby agrees to a video chat, and then Rob decides … why not at work? Unfortunately, his work isn’t a microcosm. It’s an interesting world, for sure, considering it’s an adult store called Rear Entrance, but people come and go. Some of those people are in Rob’s world too. Some good, some bad comes from that overlap. That leads me to Dylan, who Rob meets in Art class. Of course … Dylan had already met Bobby. It was so interesting that Dylan’s character didn’t act any different. He was interested in Rob, and made it very clear. A man stuck in a world not quite his own, as an adopted Inuit, Dylan knows about pre-conceived notions and how they can hurt a person. I absolutely loved the evolution of his character throughout the story in relation to Rob and Bobby. Telling how that evolution goes would be spoiling the story though. Let’s just say that not everyone is what they appear, and Rob is put through a wringer. He has to deal with all of his confusion and fear. Thankfully some of the cast from Apple Polisher returns to support him. Rob has a great network of people, and that’s an amazing aspect of this story. The characters. I can’t say enough about Heidi’s ability to create men and women I feel like I can walk up to on the street. I love the creativity involved in making so many characters and letting them drive the plot. If they were one iota less real, it wouldn’t work, but it so does. I cannot say enough about the Rear Entrance books and definitely recommend them to anyone who likes contemporary stories with real life thrown in. View all my reviews

I adore my Canon Rebel. I had it as a film camera and I kept with it when I switch to dslr. It's bottom of the market dslr at $500 for the basic set up but it suits me due to my lack of thousands to spend on myself, lol. I take a variety of shots, so I like the Rebel's versatility. I shoot in RAW and manually adjust my camera whenever possible for shots to avoid having to do as much after camera editing, but I can pick it up and just take shots if needed. I don't film, so I'm not familiar with that type of camera, lens, or accessories. Sorry!

I was born in Florida but mostly grew up in Washington, where I still live today. I grew up in a small town, like 600 people in town with outlying farms, small. I'd never go back there, simply because the opportunities for my kids are lessened by being in that type of environment. I now live in a suburb-ish area outside of a city, but even out here in the West our cities are pretty laid back and small. Certainly nothing like the East coast. Spending summers in Maryland as a teen taught me I didn't like the East coast. I don't like the culture, I don't like the city, I don't like the weather... I'm just a West coast gal at heart that needs nature, but likes having the city close at hand.

50 is not the end of the dating pool or anything, you know. My in-laws split and found new people in their late 50s. They are heteros, but still. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on Balance, Gene, this story triggers a lot of strong thoughtful reactions from many people.

“Feel like a soak? There are some submerged seats in the pool. The warm water will ease any lingering aches from your healing,” Sayer asked Birch. “I … um, I have a regular bathroom installed behind those trees.” “Oh thank god.” Birch’s wings rustled as he hurried away. His bare ass peeked as they fluttered with his breathing. Sayer groaned. The skin flashing between the white feathers was tantalizing. The grotto’s pool was warm. The water lapped at his skin, swirling against him and then away

That's awesome hun! Now... you can still only give 90% but only if you use that other 10% to keep writing for us!!

How about... Vagary (noun) vā-gə-rē means an erratic or unpredictable action, occurence, instance. It can also mean an idea that's capricious, whimsical, wild. The dictionary says the word source is latin from the word vagari: to roam which makes sense. You could see this word also as vagaries, which is plural. I used this word last night in chat and a member gagged, reading it totally wrong. LOL Stone weeps at the vagaries of time and nature.

I hope you had a great birthday, hun!

A fav word of mine... coiffure. Coiff/Coiffure: A hairstyle or way to do the hair. French word, of course, circa mid/late Renaissance era. I just like saying the word. It sounds elegant and reminds me of those days and times when going out in public didn't mean throwing on a ball cap or pulling your hair back into an elastic band. When appearance mattered. The first story I ever wrote had this word in it, before I learned not to use all the fancy words I know and like.