Renee Stevens

When you're not crafting stories or working, what else do you like to do to amuse yourself?

If you don't mind me asking, what is something that most people might be surprised to know about you?

Thanks for the mention! I know many authors that there's that one story that there's something that bothers them about it, mine is Puppy Love and Eternity. Do you have such a story and if so, what is it and what would you change?

Mark wasn’t sure what to say and was saved from answering by Trey. “Dad! I can’t believe you said that!” “What?” Gary looked at his son. “It’s the truth ain’t it? Unless you’re dating some other guy.” He turned his attention back to Mark and released his hand. “I can’t begin to tell you how relieved Diane and I were when he called and told us he wasn’t renewing his commitment.” Mark released the breath he’d been holding. “Glad I could help, Mr. Simpson.” “Bah, call me Gary.” Gary start

I think one of my favorite things about the GA News Blog is when we have the opportunity to get to know the many authors that can be found on the site. Today is one such day as Myiege came to me not to long ago and told me that they had interviewed one of our newest Hosted Authors, CassieQ. Myiege asked if I would be interested in the interview for use in the GA News Blog and I instantly said YES! Cassie has also agreed to hang out for a "Blog Chat" from 8pm-9pm Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday evening for anyone who has a question they would like to ask. If you can't be around during that time, no worries, you can still participate! Just leave your question in a comment on the blog and Cassie will still answer them! Hope you see lots of comments! Now, lets get to the interview!!! Interview with CassieQ Interviewer: Myiege Today, it is my pleasure to introduce one of GA's newest Hosted Authors, CassieQ! CassieQ has been with us since February of 2011 and has published 19 stories on GA and has written an impressive 417,060 words! Let's all give a warm welcome! First off, why don’t you tell us an origin story! When did you start writing, writing M/M? I've been writing ever since I can remember. I was a voracious reader growing up and, frustrated with finishing a book and not having any new material, I would try to continue the book where it left off, experimenting with different styles depending on who I was reading. (My V.C. Andrew's phase is particularly embarrassing). It wasn't until after college that I really started to write steadily and produce completed projects. I also started reading FAKE at the same time and found the online world of M/M romance. I liked reading it so much, that I finally decided to try writing some of my own. What do you regard as the best writing you’ve ever written? Why? It's hard for someone to judge his or her own work, but I would probably say Save Tonight. It was an important project to me and I remember really struggling with it. Once I finished it, I was really happy with it. After it was posted, I had a lot of feedback from people who said it moved them to tears and that the child in the story really resonated with them as a parent, which was amazing to me. I loved sharing that story with readers. Save Tonight was one of my favorites as well. For those of you readers who haven't read this touching story, it was part of the Summer Premium Anthology and can be found in the Premium Section! Changing gears a little, how long did it take you to finish the Not the Sun Trilogy? Approximately five years. That being said, I was also working my way through PTA school, moving and starting a new job, so there would be occasional dry spells where I wouldn't work on it at all. I think if I had written it now, where I have a slightly more consistent schedule, it might have taken less time. Speaking of Not the Sun, you had some trouble with plagiarism regarding this story, right? Mind telling us about the experience? What have you learned from it? The plagiarism of NTS is actually what brought me to GA in the first place. One of the moderators alerted me that a member had plagiarized my work and the work of several others. I remember being so angry that I actually hurt my shoulder after punching a piece of furniture. The moderator offered to remove the stories, but I didn't think that would be fair to the people reading them, so I joined the site soon after. Since then, I've been more aware of how plagiarism works in the online world, and how to be more aware and proactive about protecting myself. KC had a run in with a similar issue and gave some great advice in a previous blog issue as well. Do you have a favorite character? I like all of my characters (except Keith, he's a creep) but if I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be Brandon from NTS. He was just so much fun to write. Keith was definitely a creep. I don't think I've ever hated a character so strongly! I have noticed that in many of your stories, there always seems to be a prominent female presence. Tell us a bit about why. Well, it's not as common now as it was when I first started writing, but when I was reading M/M I noticed very little female characters unless they were a conflicting love interest or an enemy or just disappeared once the romance started. I like supporting characters, and I like seeing females in M/M stories outside of a romantic role but still as a valid character. Are you a pants-er or a planner? Totally a pantser. If I have a large project, I'll have an outline just to make sure I cover everything I need, but if I know every single detail of the story before I start writing, it loses a lot of the fun for me. One of my favorite things about writing is seeing what my characters are g oing to do once I let them loose to wreck some havoc Your current story, Geeks, seems to take a different route than some of your previous stories. It’s definitely more mainstream. Any reason why you decided to take the road…more traveled this time around? Geeks is the result of a request from my beta way back when I was working on The In Between . He likes more lighthearted fiction, so that is what Geeks turned out to be . I am actually more comfortable with heavy drama and a bit of angst, but this is the first time I've written a large project that doesn't contain too much dark material. That might make it more mainstream, I don't know. I just write the kind of things that I like to read. Are there any ‘up and comers’ you’d like to give a shout out to? As far as newer writers, I like my interviewer's work quite a lot, and I think Ron, Cole Matthews and totallyy all have good work. But I also like some of the more established writers, like Stellar and Renee Stevens. Aw! Thank you! I quite love your writing too Before we cut this loose, is there any advice you’d like to give to writers just starting out? I'm horrible at giving advice, but the main thing I would say is to read. Read, read, read, read, read. There is nothing that will help you write more than reading. Thanks for the enlightening interview! Readers, be sure to check out the plethora of stories by GA's own Hosted Author CassieQ! Thank you Myiege and Cassie for this wonderful interview! Don't forget, Cassie will be available on the blog Wednesday night at 8pm EST to answer questions that you might have. Also, I'm always looking for blog content, so if you want to do an interview, or have an idea for an article for the blog, send me a PM and let me know!

I can't believe it's already Sunday. I don't know about everybody else, but this week has just seemed to go by so quickly and it's hard to believe that January is almost over already. Lost happened this week in the Gay Authors News Blog, so lets have a little recap! On Monday Louis was kind enough to supply us with a review of "No Room In The Lodge" by Joann414. Based on the comments, many other readers also thoroughly enjoyed the story. If you haven't already checked out Louis' review, I suggest you do so. You might just find out that you'd like to add Jo Ann's story on your "To Read" list! Wednesday provided a bit of a sneak peek into a major feature in the upcoming Stories 2.0. Myr presented us with a look into what will be coming in the form of what is currently being called Story Awards. From the sounds of it, it should really streamline the awards process and will make it easier than ever for readers to nominate their favorite stories. If you haven't read it and are interested in seeing what some of Myr's future plans for Gay Authors are, then I strongly suggest you check out this latest Tech Post! Friday gave us two new prompts from our resident prompt guru, Comicfan. One of them was a picture prompt and the other consisted of a list of words. We've already had a couple people take up the prompts. Not only can you see what the prompts are, but you can get the links to read their responses, plus you can read the featured response, which was a rachelgephardt's response to Prompt #295. Anthology Announcements: 2014 Spring Anthology: Nature's Wrath - Due Mar 8th *Note: Deadline is for submission into GA Stories. Deadline for Submission to the Anthology Editing Team is March 5th* 2014 Summer Anthology: The Backup Plan - Due June 8th *Note: Deadline is for submission into GA Stories. Deadline for Submission to the Anthology Editing Team is June 5th* NEW READING In Premium this week: Boy Called Slave by Nephylim By our Hosted Authors this week: A prompt a week by comicfan Lost Inside by Cia Book 2 of Carthera Tales Prometheus Wakens by David McLeod The Secret Life Of Billy Chase 8 by Comicality Book 8 of The Secret Life Of Billy Chase Thwarted by Renee Stevens 9.11 by Mark Arbour Book 13 of Chronicles Of An Academic Predator (CAP) Standing In Shadows by Krista Recovery by Nephylim By our Sponsored Authors this week: Timber Pack Chronicles by Rob Colton, Book 1 of Timber Pack Chronicles Noah's New Plan by Rob Colton By our Promising Authors this week: Prompt Ramblings by Mann Ramblings MUSH! by Sasha Distan Born Wolf by Sasha Distan So Little Magic Left by Mann Ramblings Note: I have been asked to let everyone know that as part of the CSR Discussion, Totallyy has agreed to do a "Live Q&A" from 9pm - 10pm Eastern Standard Time on Monday. If you are unable to be online during that time, then you can post your questions in a comment on the CSR Discussion Blog. Also, if you have any questions or concerns about the blog, please feel free to send me a PM and I will do my best to address them. Thanks! Remember.... Read, Write... and REVIEW!!!!!

Happy Friday everyone! Hope everyone has had a great week so far. To help you finish off your week and get a great start on your weekend, we have two new prompts from the prompt guru, Comicfan! We'd love to see what you come up with, so don't forget to share your prompt responses in the Prompt Forum, you never know, your response might be shared next week! Prompt 296 – Creative Tag – Photo Use the following image to create a story Prompt 297 – Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following words in a story – garbage can, snake, sports car, cold drink, and an old pipe. We had takers on both prompts last week. It was tough to decide which prompt to feature, but in the end I decided to feature rachelgebhardt's response to Prompt #295: To read the rest, plus the other responses to Prompt #295, visit the thread! Wanna read the responses to Prompt #294? Click here! That's it for this week! Don't forget... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!

“You need coffee?” Trey held up the thermos Mark had dug out of a cupboard and filled before they’d left. “No thanks. I’m coffee’d out, any more of that and I’m going to have to stop alongside the road.” Mark was only half joking. He was definitely going to have to stop somewhere before they got to Trey’s parents, but he wasn’t desperate yet. Besides, he’d drunk so much coffee it was starting to make him jittery and he was nervous enough about meeting Trey’s family. “Sometimes I forget how

It's time to start a new week and you know what that means! It's time to feature a new story. This week we are featuring a story by someone that I'm sure many of you know, Joann414!!! Louis (LJH) absolutely loved her story "No Room in the Lodge" and came to me asking if he could do a review for the blog. Of course, I said YES!!! So here it is, I hope you enjoy it and decide to check out the story yourself! No Room in the Lodge By Joann414 Reviewer: LJH (Louis Harris) Status: Complete Word Count: 11,005 Limerence. It’s not used often in everyday speech, but, man-oh-man, what a magnificent word. It describes the emotional excitement of being in love. And this is what the author excels at in No Room in the Lodge. The story enables the reader to fly without wings to become immersed in a story that unfolds like a beautiful song and at the end, even the angels smile. A Christmas story that can be read at any time of the year, over and over again. Jeff and Dan Boyd. No two people could be more different. Jeff is a thirty-five and the owner of the lodge. Each winter he hires college kids, kids who need extra income for their spring semester. Dan is perky at twenty-one and he certainly needs the money. Dan has helped out at the lodge before, and has always had his own room. But, this year is different for one specific reason, he shares quarters with Jeff. At first, he doesn’t like the idea. He wants to be moved, but Jeff won’t let him get off that easily. There has to be an underlying reason. The reason is plain and simple: Dan is gay. But, Jeff knows. He doesn’t take on staff without doing a thorough background check on all the staff. He also knows that Dan is about to come into a lot of money. So why hire him? What would a story be without a confidant? Brant supplies wood to the lodge and is also Jeff’s friend; Jeff has spoken to him about Dan often in years past. So, here’s where they stand in a secret place, where Brant knows that Jeff is interested in Dan, but Dan has no idea that Jeff is also gay. Brant’s advice to Jeff is simple: "Don't let fear rule your heart." Here’s what happens when Jeff comes out to young Dan: Jeff cleared his throat. Gulping down half his drink and ignoring the widening of Dan's eyes at his action, he spat out. "I'm gay." "I'd say you were a liar if I couldn't hear the nervous tinkle of the ice against the sides of your glass." Dan reached and took the glass from Jeff, afraid he might spill it on his bed. "Are you ok? Why are you so nervous? It's not like you think I'm homophobic or anything. Remember? I'm gay too." he chuckled, trying to lighten the moment. Let’s go back to that word, limerence. The two share their experiences with each other. The thought of Dan with another man hurts Jeff. Terms of endearment; Dan calls Jeff, “old man”, and Jeff calls Dan, “kid”. They get up late in the mornings. Neither is shy about nudity in front of each other. They start to share the bathroom. They joke with each other. Dan knows just how Jeff likes his coffee. Knows his bed time and so on This is taken from: http://www.lovepanky...sh-or-limerence Limerence is always assumed to be the same as love, but it is actually very far from it. In love, you want to share the best moments of your life with someone special, but when you’re struck by limerence, all you want is this person’s attention. And so it is with Dan and Jeff. Until a man from Jeff’s past turns up at the lodge. The story is absolutely believable. The characters are definately not stereotypical. And it's a great departure from boy meets boy stories where the main characters are teenagers. Here, there is the angst of limerence. The knowledge that things could go one way - bad, or the other way - good, for these two characters. What I admire most about the structure of the plot, is that there are only four speaking roles, but it looks and feels much bigger than that. Now, all you need to do, is read No Room at the Lodge. It will inspire, it will bring sadness, and joy. But above all, it will make you want to find limerence. Thank you Jo Ann for this beautiful, clever story.

It's been another busy week here at Gay Authors! Before I get started with the Weekly Wrap Up, I have a couple of announcements to make. ANNOUNCEMENT: Myr is looking for volunteers for a User Interface Team. If you are interested in becoming more involved with Gay Authors, then this might be something you would be interested in. It is an open opportunity and could lead to further involvement on other GA teams. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, then please check out the forum thread. ANNOUNCEMENT: It's time for the Readers Choice Awards! Nominations for the 2013 Readers Choice Awards started on January 12th and will continue until 12:00 AM EST on February 2, 2014. For more information on how to nominate your favorite stories from 2013 and what makes a story eligible, check out the forum thread. This week was our first Hosted Week here at the GA News Blog. Mann Ramblings provided us a review on "Prophecy" by Hosted Author: Comicfan. Prophecy was one of the many stories from the 2013 Winter Anthology: Recipe For Disaster. This was a great review and one thing that it seemed everyone agreed on was that they wanted more of the story and hoped that Comicfan would decide to eventually continue the story. I did get a chuckle at the end of Mann's review and I'm sure you will too. Want to read the review? Check out Monday's blog entry! We continued the Hosted Week with an interview with Comicfan on his story Prophecy. I think my favorite answer during the interview was his reply to whether or not he was happy with the way the story turned out or if there were things he'd like to change. Curious as to why that's my favorite answer? I'll give you a hint, it directly correlates to the end of Mann's review from Monday! Check it out and it might just answer some questions you had about the story as well! Friday saw two new prompts from Comicfan. One was a new "first line" prompt and the other one had the tag of "the devil's deal". Both could provide some interesting stories and I'm curious to see who all will take up the prompts and who will be featured next week. This week, we featured a prompt response by Kitt. Anthology Announcements: 2014 Spring Anthology: Nature's Wrath - Due Mar 8th *Note: Deadline is for submission into GA Stories. Deadline for Submission to the Anthology Editing Team is March 5th* 2014 Summer Anthology: The Backup Plan - Due June 8th *Note: Deadline is for submission into GA Stories. Deadline for Submission to the Anthology Editing Team is June 5th* NEW READING In Premium this week: Boy Called Slave by Nephylim By our Hosted Authors this week: 9.11 by Mark Arbour Book 13 of Chronicles Of An Academic Predator (CAP) Adverse Effects by Cia Book 2 of Saving Caeorleia 0300 Book 3 by David McLeod Geeks by CassieQ A prompt a week by comicfan Lost Inside by Cia Book 2 of Carthera Tales Thwarted by Renee Stevens Odyssey by Mark Arbour Book 6 of Bridgemont "Waiting Outside The Lines" by Comicality Prometheus Wakens by David McLeod Recovery by Nephylim By our Sponsored Authors this week: Timber Pack Chronicles by Rob Colton, Book 1 of Timber Pack Chronicles Noah's New Plan by Rob Colton By our Promising Authors this week: What's in a Prompt by andy021278 Book 3 of GA Prompt Stories Born Wolf by Sasha Distan So Little Magic Left by Mann Ramblings Veil of Shadow by Stellar Book 2 of unnamed Side Note: I'm looking for reviewers for 8 specific stories. I have had one taker so far and have 7 stories left that I would like to have reviewed. If you are interested in reviewing one of these stories, please send me a PM. First come first pick! Remember.... Read, Write... and REVIEW!!!!!

Hope everyone has had a great week so far. To start your weekend off right, we're bringing you two new prompts supplied by our resident prompt guru, Comicfan. Don't forget to share your prompt responses in the Prompt Forum, you might just find yours being shared next week! Enjoy! Prompt 294 – Creative Tag – The Devil’s Deal Things haven’t been going well lately. In fact, things have been sort of a disaster. After another long day at your dead end job, you find a copy of Faust on your bookshelf from a college course you took. You think to yourself you would be willing to make a deal if it meant things would be better. No sooner do you think that when there is a knock at your door. Are you willing to make a deal with the devil and at what cost? Prompt 295 – Creative Tag – First Line “I think I finally have the answer.” It's always interesting to see what stories come from these prompts, and last week, Kitt decided to take on Prompt #292: Intrigued? You can finish reading Kitt's prompt response HERE! Curious as to who else chose to participate in the prompts from last week? Only one way to find out! Visit the threads: Prompt #292 and Prompt #293. As always.... Read, Write... REVIEW!!!

I hope everyone enjoyed Mann Ramblings review on "Prophecy" by Comicfan. Now it's time to continue our "Hosted Week" with an interview with Comicfan on his story "Prophecy". I know that many times we have questions we'd like to ask authors about their story, and I'm no different. Hopefully, some of these are questions that you had as well, and now you'll have your answer! ENJOY! Prophecy by Comicfan I know that some of your stories are based on fairy tales, is “Prophecy” based on anything and if not, how did you come up with the idea? The story just sort of came to me. I was toying with the idea of what kind of disaster could I come up with. I didn’t want to do something like a fire, but figured what if it was personal. The world of science fiction and fairy tales is one I like to play in, so I picked a popular idea of a child taken from his family and raised by another. It is something you see in authors from Terry Brooks to Joann Rowling. I just put my spin on the idea. How did you come up with the actual prophecy that you included at the end of the story? I wish I could say I wrote it first, but actually it was written so that there would be a sort of conclusion to the story. By giving the prophecy you get an idea of where the characters would eventually arrive. Who is your favorite character and what about that character stands out in your mind? Prophecy had two characters that came to mean a lot to me and for very different reasons. The first was Duncan. Right from the beginning you know he is a man who just wants to relax and forget the rest of the world. However, once Regent comes into his life you see how devoted he is as a father, willing to do anything to make sure his son is going to be safe and happy. The second character is Damian. He sort of made his own way into the story. He wasn’t planned but having a man who was living for twenty something years as a bear just made me chuckle. Is there any special meaning behind the names you used for the characters and if not, how do you come up with the names for your characters? Most of the names are just ones that seem to fit the characters I create. The only name that was done sort of as a joke was Regent. He is the future ruler of part of Fairie.However, his name suggests he is chosen to rule until the actual ruler is old enough to take over. I just liked the twist it gave him. What was your favorite part about writing “Prophecy”? Showing how different types of magic were used. From Marish willing to give her own life in the blood blessing on her son, to Duncan changing his house and creating a crib, to the mistake of Matty turning her brother into a bear. It is just showing how in this world, magic is constantly in use. What was the most challenging part about writing “Prophecy”? Getting Prophecy done at all. The damn idea came to me last minute and I was scrambling to get it done in time. This was literally a last minute entry. What made you choose a bear instead of some other animal? As a child I can remember a television show called Grizzly Adams. The man lived with a bear. So even outside of the idea of the gay male bear, it is something people are use to hearing. I think it would have been stranger if I made Damian into a deer or a beaver. God, could you imagine him as a beaver? Sorry, can’t keep a straight face on that one. Is there anything you wish you could change about the story or are you happy with it as is? Oh I know from those who left comments, many people would be happy if I took Prophecy and made it into a full blown story. However, I am happy with how it came out. Well, that's it for today's Wacky Wednesday! Hope you enjoyed reading what Comicfan had to say about writing "Prophecy" and if you haven't already read it, what are you waiting for!

Well see... None of the prompts were really jumping out at me... I saw that one and knew that I could incorporate it, though I really didn't want to and in the end, yes, I did decide that it would be quite ironic to have that reference in there so decided to go ahead with it.

LOL! I had to redeem her somehow, didn't I? Seriously, I love Jackie, even if she can be a little bit meddlesome at times. She's a great person at heart. I figured Mark's feeling like he was forgetting was something that would keep the story having that "real" feeling. I know I've done that soo many times and it never fails that we get where we're going and I have to buy something that I did indeed forget.

Thanks Suvitar! She does start to grow on you after a while, doesn't she? Sometimes I think that she is just very misunderstood, though I do have to admit that occasionally she takes it just a bit too far. Hope you enjoy the next chapter!

Thanks for the review! So, how'd you like how Trey just kind of dropped that little bomb on Mark? This could be an interesting visit...

The "out-laws" huh? I love it!!! And yes, he does have a bad case of the jitters, but he's pushing through. As for me having some evil surprise.... would I do that???

Thanks for the review Suvitar! Glad you enjoyed the chapter and yeah, they are rather relaxed together. Sometimes I think maybe too relaxed, lol. I think my favorite thing about these two is that they don't let things fester, though with the short time they have together before Trey leaves, having everything out in the open is the only way to go . As far as Trey's family, you and me both.

Thanks for the review Daddy Dave! Glad that you enjoyed the ending and that it was a good end of the day for ya! And I'm working on it

I think everyone is/was curious about what Trey's suggestion is regarding the entire situation with Mark and Jackie's suggestion for him. I had given him working part-time some thought but for reasons that will become clear later on, I decided against that. Hope you continue to enjoy, and thank you!!

I'm doing my best! Glad that you are enjoying the story Menace! Thanks for leaving a review!

Thanks for leaving a review LadyDe! I love knowing people are also following on my blog. I agree with you about him moving into his sister's place and agree that him and Trey are perfect for each other. Sorry it took so long to respond to this review, and I had planned to give out a chapter on Christmas Day, but due to my grandfather's death just days before Christmas, I was extremely unfocused and unable to write. Hopefully there won't be many delays in future chapters and I'll be updating weekly now that things have settled down. Hope you continue to enjoy the story!

And I will religiously try to keep em coming on a regular basis for you

Thanks for the review Daddy Dave! That was definitely one of my reservations with having him go to school, he's still not sure what he wants to do. Add in the finance situation and it sounds to me like a disaster waiting to happen. I definitely know what you mean about living with family after living on one's own... it's definitely hard to handle. I've done it and it was so not fun. I couldn't wait to get out of there and it strained the relationship for quite a while. Hope you continue to enjoy the story!

Thanks for the review Lisa. I can see from the reviews I've gotten over the idea of Mark living with Jackie everyone has a lot of reservations about her offer. The biggest idea behind him possibly staying with her was to save on the utilities, rent, and other bills, but also, knowing Mark, he wouldn't have gone for that. Regarding the school thing, I can understand the reservations with putting school off. I did and it took me forever to go back, and when I finally did, it didn't go well. Guess we'll just have to see how the story unfolds .