Renee Stevens

Love to see the eagerness! LOL... *pretends to think about it* nope, sorry... have to wait a little longer

To start off the weekly wrap up, please join us in congratulating GA's newest Hosted Author, Dolores Esteban! It's hard to believe it's already December but things have been busy as always. To start out our week, Cia announced the choice for the last CSR Book Club of 2013! The choice for this month is Bond's Unbroken. Bonds Unbroken is the first story in Cia's "Carthera Takeover" tales which currently consists of three stories. The discussion will take place on December 30th, so you'll have plenty of time to read this just under 38K story! We look forward to hearing from everyone at the discussion! Wednesday Dark provided us with our ever popular feature Ask An Author! We had some great questions asked to our participants this month, but if you want to know who they were and what their answers were you'll just have to check them out! Don't forget that Dark relies on members to keep this feature going. If you have a question that you'd like him to ask your favorite author, contact him via PM! Comicfan once again provided us with our weekly dose of prompts! This week you have the choice of two creative prompts. The first one gives you a list of words and the second you have to create a "wonderland". Want to know more? Go check it out and while you're there you can see what past prompt response Comicfan decided to feature! Anthology Announcements: Winter Anthology: DUE TODAY! 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* 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) Geeks by CassieQ Durch Ferne Welten und Zeiten by David McLeod Odyssey by Mark Arbour Book 6 of Bridgemont By our Sponsored Authors this week: Noah's New Plan by Rob Colton By our Promising Authors this week: Summer Camp by Sasha Distan Direct Confusion by Sasha Distan So Little Magic Left by Mann Ramblings Make sure to check back on Wednesday to provide feedback on a new promotion project! As always... Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

“So, are you nervous?” Jackie drizzled syrup over her waffles before passing it to Mark. “A little, but I keep telling myself it’s a good thing.” Mark drenched his pancakes and set the syrup aside. They’d been talking about the upcoming meeting with Trey’s parents. “Not that I disagree, but how so?” “Well, as much as I hope that nothing happens, if Trey got hurt while he’s gone, his parents are the ones who’d be notified.” Mark cut up his pancakes, took a bite, and tried to get his thoughts

Well, since it's already the 8th there.......

Ask an Author #11 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #10, we had questions for authors Iarwain, James Savik, and Mark92. In AtA #11, we hear from authors Adam Thomas, Ieshwar, Krista, and forum fiend methodwriter85. For their protection, the members who asked these questions shall remain nameless (unless they choose to reveal themselves). Please note that all author replies are copied as is, spelling errors and grammar eccentricities original to the individual. Today’s first author is Adam Thomas, but he chooses to be known on the site as an Editor first and author second. From the eastern side of the U.S., Adam leads a busy life, but still finds time to follow soccer and politics, and to poke around the forums here on GA. You can check out his gallery for pics of the mountains where he lives, and stop by his story, And the Rain Falls, to leave him some feedback. Let’s help him get unstuck with a little encouragement! To Adam Thomas: Are there any specific themes or personality types in your work? What are they? Is this on purpose or something you recognized after you started posting? In most of my wrok i've noticed that I tend to portray a sense of loss. I write a lot of stories around loss because it's something i've experienced a lot of within my life and because of that I try to take the emotions that I go through and portray them in the lives of my characters. I wouldn't say that I do this on purpose, only that it is what is easiest to write. It flows from me much more naturally than other emotions and topics. Today’s next author is Ieshwar. (and btw, that’s an “i” at the beginning -- I wonder how it’s pronounced?) 2013 will mark Ieshwar’s 7th year with GA and in all this time he’s finished high school and gone on to college, traveled to new and exciting places, and learned how to use his gaydar. He has also posted almost two dozen stories and poems across a variety of genres, such as the creepy horror story Hunter and the sweet 2009 anthology story Alkier. To Ieshwar: What is your favorite genre and why? As a writer and as a reader, I avoid restricting myself to one genre in particular but many times, I do find myself drawn to the romance genre. I started with romance stories and I still write romance stories. I guess it's because as a closeted gay guy, I get to live the life I would never be able to live in broad daylight through these stories. I can be whoever I want to be, I can be with whoever I want, I can be wherever I want. I live my fantasies, the life I would never have through these stories. Or maybe it's just the toll of the endless romance novels and Bollywood movies I have been through. Today’s final author is Hosted Author Krista. As “the Mean One,” Krista is one of the mods who has helped keep GA running the last few years; however, in 2013, Krista made a New Year’s resolution to write more and officially stepped down from many of her duties. I suppose I’m not the only one who will miss Krista smacking me around a little. With luck, it will all be worth it when she starts churning out more great stories! In truth, that’s not the only reason Krista backed off a bit, as she and her hubby have some new real-life responsibilities. They are learning to be parents with their brand new twins. Congratulations! Alas, there are no pictures yet, so you’ll have to haunt Krista’s blog for updates. Encouragement on the writing front should be directed to Standing in Shadows, where Krista has been keeping us readers dangling for nearly 3 years. C’mon, Krista, quit kissing those babies and write! To Krista: Do reviews or readers' comments (or lack of) affect your writing/story or your writing habits? The short answer would be, no. There are constructive critiques of my writing that I will always take into consideration. Some of it has helped me develop and some have been road blocks for me as well. Early on readers' comments and feedback was important to me, they are what fueled me or when lacking, had me questioning the story. In the beginning my writing was more for readers and less for me. Now I do most of my writing for myself when I'm feeling creative. Comments and feedback are always welcomed and appreciated, they just don't affect or hinder my motivation or change my stories from where they seem to be going. Some readers worry about that, whether or not their comments will completely unravel a story or author. A story should never deviate from where the author wants it to go based on what readers are saying. I live by that in my writing now. As a special feature in today’s post, say hello to MethodWriter. If you are active in the forums, chances are you’ve met him before. He’s also from the eastern coast of the U.S. where he enjoys the beach (isn’t it cold up there?). He’s also a big sports fan, as evident by the thread he posted for Funny Sport Reactions. Although not a “writer” per se, MethodWriter is a “manic poster” in the forums. He lurks and he posts and he keeps us all entertained. To MethodWriter: So, we know you don't wear the "author" label, nor do you post short stories or novels; however, GA readers have noticed frequent (some say nonstop day and night) posting from you on a variety of topics. Will you tell us about that? For example, how does your real life support your GA life? I've been an internet discussion board junkie since I was about 13, so there's that. I've also been online friends with Mark Arbour since he started writing the CAP Saga, as I became part of his beta reader team. Mark started calling me his "muse", of sorts, and he encouraged me to throw ideas at him to see what might be good enough to use. Things went from there. I have a lot of ideas and interests, and I enjoy sharing them. That’s it for now! For more info on these authors, go check out their stories, post in their forums, and/or catch them in chat! Coming next time: Cia, Riley Jericho, and Thomas Nealy. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark

Enjoy it Mann, but be forewarned, you won't be able to stop after the first one! lol... Every single time I start to read this series, I don't stop until I've read every story in the series, hehe..

I can definitely see what I can do, but I can't guarantee anything. The interviewee gets to pick the time as it has to be a time that they will be around. However, for anyone unable to be present at the time of the blog chat, they can post their questions earlier, they don't have to wait until the time of the actual blog chat if (as in your case) it's too late.

No, it wasn't announced prior to the blog going live. We generally don't give sneak peeks into the blog content because things can change up until the blog actually goes live, so we'd hate to announce it and then have to cancel it. The blog went live at 2am so it was up for the majority of the day of the blog chat and I did a couple of status updates pointing to the blog and announcing the blog chat.

Hope everybody had a great week and for those celebrating, hope you had a great holiday! It was another busy week this week at Gay Authors! Before we get into the recap of the week, a little reminder. The deadline for the 2013 Winter Anthology: Recipe for Disaster is fast approaching. The deadline of December 8th is for stories to be uploaded into GA Stories. Make sure to have your stories to me in plenty of time for the Anthology Editing Team to do a final proof read! Now, lets see about that recap! On Monday we hosted the CSR Discussion for the November book club choice "The House Always Wins" by Andr0gene! We featured a review of the story and readers shared their own thoughts, including some of their favorite scenes. If you haven't already chimed in with your thoughts, there's still time. We featured an Interview with Mann Ramblings for our Wednesday slot in the GA News Blog, but this time we did things just a little different. Not only did Mann answer the questions the interviewer asked, but he was kind enough to agree to participate in our FIRST EVER Blog Chat. Want to know more about Mann? Check out Wednesday's entry, he answered a lot of questions to help us get to know the Mann behind the stories! We ended the week in our usual way, with our Prompt Me feature. Comicfan provided us with a new set of prompts this week, including a first line prompt and a prompt about a birthday gift. Unfortunately we didn't have any takers last week so there was no featured prompt response, but hopefully next week you'll get to read someone's response to this week's prompts! Anthology Announcements: Winter Anthology: Recipe for Disaster - Due Dec 8th (Only a week away!) 2014 Spring Anthology: Nature's Wrath - Due Mar 8th NEW READING In Premium this week: Boy Called Slave by Nephylim Do Over by dkstories Book 1 of Do Over Series *reposting* By our Hosted Authors this week: 9.11 by Mark Arbour Book 13 of Chronicles Of An Academic Predator (CAP) Prometheus Wakens by David McLeod Durch Ferne Welten und Zeiten by David McLeod Standing In Shadows by Krista Thwarted by Renee Stevens By our Sponsored Authors this week: Noah's New Plan by Rob Colton By our Promising Authors this week: Summer Camp by Sasha Distan Direct Confusion by Sasha Distan Veil of Shadow by Stellar Book 2 of unnamed So Little Magic Left by Mann Ramblings As always... Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

Thank you for letting me know James. I've created both topics in the Writing Prompt Forum.

Thank you Mann for agreeing to be interviewed and especially for agreeing to hang out for a while to answer some questions from your readers!

While I know that technically time is up, maybe you'll still get to this... What do you do when you're not spending your time writing? What else do you do for enjoyment?

I think all authors have a favorite story that they have written, I know I certainly do. What story of yours would you say is your favorite and what do you think makes it stand out more than your others?

Don't forget you can leave your questions ahead of time if you can't be around to take part in the actual blog chat!!!

I know some of your favorite things we feature in the blogs are interviews with our many authors here at GA! Today, we’re bringing you an interview Myiege did with Promising Author: Mann Ramblings. Mann joined GA in September of 2012 and since then has posted 8 stories with a total of 470 reviews and over a quarter of a million words! I’d like to thank both Myiege and Mann for taking the time to provide us with this wonderful interview! On top of that, Mann Ramblings has agreed to go one step further. At the end of this interview, we are opening up the interview to the members of Gay Authors! Members will be able to post their own questions to Mann in the comments and he will answer. Further, while you can post your questions at any point during the day, Mann has agreed to personally be available between the hours of 7pm and 8 pm EST to participate in a blog chat. What this means is during that hour, you will get much quicker responses to your questions! We hope to see lots of member participation. Please keep in mind all the regular forum rules regarding content will still apply. What does Mann Ramblings have to say about the Blog Chat? Lets see... Now, onto the interview! Interview with Mann Ramblings Interviewer: Myiege When and why did you start writing? When did it become more than just a ‘hobby’? What is Mann Ramblings’s ‘origin’ story? I wanted to write and draw my own graphic novels when I was younger. In college I majored for a while with art and creative writing and started a few stories but never finished anything. A few years ago (A long time later) I found the Nifty archive and from there found Literotica and found the niche I wanted to write inside of. I just decided to give it a shot. Your story, Little Man, was the first story you posted on GA, right? Where did you get the inspiration for it? Why did you want to write it? Was it hard to actually hit that ‘submit story’ button? Little Man was that first M/M story I wrote period. I just wanted to write something. It started as something else entirely and when I decided to create the backstory is somehow morphed into what it is now. I used my own college experiences to help shape the characters and the story just sort of happened. I took a while before I felt comfortable enough to post. I finally got the push from another M/M author, NightTempest to make the plunge. She directed me to GA as a more nurturing atmosphere for a fledgling writer. I was incredibly nervous, but the results were better than I ever expected. You write in a lot of different genres; sci-fi, contemporary, and a little bit of modern fantasy! What would you say is your favorite genre to write in? I find the genre to make for a great setting but I try not to let it drive the story. Sci-fi has been really fun because you get to form your own world within the confines of plausible (perhaps) reality. I'm not particular for any genre other than M/M. Hopefully I get to try them all. What goes into your writing process and how do you find ‘the zone’? I jot down lots of random notes (typically at work, LOL) and eventually write an outline of the entire story so I have a specific direction. I'm not great with writing spontaneously and letting the story take you where it will. Oh no. I need more control over it then that. I envy the authors who can work that way. Then I just try to carve out a niche in time to do the work when I can. Your boys in Ship Logs of the Santa Claus series are all very…distinct. Rough and tumble guys who all happen to shun the…erm, fairer sex. What inspired you to write the crew in this way? The crew of the Santa Claus are basically various aspects of the kind of men I want to read about. I sometimes feel there aren't enough stories with masculine men in them that aren't just porn. I always dreamed of visiting places where there weren't anyone there except gay men who could enjoy each other's company, so I made the crew to reflect that. And only Captain Danverse shuns women, the rest go along because he's in charge. I may expand on his background in a future story. How would you say your writing has evolved since coming onto GA and sharing your tales with the rest of us internet fiends? I'd say I'm feeling more confident if nothing else. The idea of writing a novel length story is a lot less scarier than it used to be. And I can finish what I started! I keep getting reviews that tell me how my writing keeps getting better. That's such a nice feeling. What inspires you? Anything and everything. Inspirations often come in flashes for me and I rarely remember where they came from. So Little Magic Left started from one of Comicfan's Friday writing prompts and has turned into something huge! After So Little Magic Left, do you have any plan for future works? Could you maybe tell us a bit? I'm working on my December anthology piece which is in beta-reading/edit mode as of this moment. Then I plan on finishing the last chapters of SLML so I can open my time up to start planning the next installment of the Santa Claus crew. Last words? Advice? A confession? “You kids get off my lawn!”? I don't have much advice because I still often feel like an amateur no matter what anyone says. But outside of that, I would say if you have something in your head, write it. There are a number of people on GA who would be happy to help you iron out the bugs. Accept constructive criticism the way it's intended, to help make the story better. That's it for the interview portion of today's Wacky Wednesday. Don't forget to post your questions to Mann, and don't forget, he'll be available on the blog from 7pm-8pm EST to answer your questions as you ask them!

The knock-knock part... ROFL... Classic...

Chips sounds like a good comfort food to me! Though I don't know as I've ever had a tomato sauce flavored or paprika flavored chip... Sounds interesting. As far as meeting the parents, yeah, I don't envy him. That should be an interesting thing. Especially knowing that it's going to be a rough time for Trey's parents as it is, add in having to share him with someone new... that could be very interesting indeed...

Definitely agree that it's difficult news. Knowing that it is coming is hard enough, knowing that it is coming sooner than planned is even harder. The worst part is that it does happen. Deployments get moved up and families have to deal with, there's no other choice. There is definitely a lot of mental training that goes into being a soldier, but I agree that not enough is spent on when they return. It seems like a lot of time returning soldiers have to jump through hoops to get the support and help that they need and that to me is just not right. Thanks for reading Yettie, as always I enjoy hearing your thoughts on the chapter!

Ahhh, but that's the catch isn't it, the not knowing. They already know that Trey is going to be deployed and have known that since shortly after they met. Aren't you glad that you were able to read ahead so that you didn't have to keep guessing? lol... And I NEVER leave things up in the air

LOL. It's it great when we can chuckle at ourselves? And aren't you glad that you can read ahead and not have to wait for the next chapter? Though, you are getting caught up fairly quickly and are fast approaching to where you'll be waiting for the weekly post ... And yes, you are right, it is definitely something that we all do. I know I did that shortly after I first met my hubby. I'm glad that you are still enjoying the story and that you can identify with the characters! That definitely means that I have done my job! Thanks Yettie!

I agree that sometimes we can definitely overthink. As far as if that's military code for "Let's Date" is there such a thing? lol. I think there's a lot of things that can make one wonder, and as you pointed out, especially when something seems to be out of the norm. Guess you'll just have to keep reading to see what happens! Thanks for the reviews Yettie!

LOL, I so would have hated to be in Trey's shoes. The closest I have been and it was actually my current hubby was when we fell asleep when I was living at my parents house after my divorce. He snuck out of the basement at 5 am and literally ran smack dab into my dad... Talk about awkward and boy did I hear about that...

Yep, at least that's getting to know each other better for these two. How that would work out for everybody I couldn't say. The shower scene just seemed to work, besides, the visual of water cascading down bare chests is just oh so yummy!

I'm so glad that you're enjoying it. This was one story that I definitely worried about and not just because of the shortness of the chapters. Usually all my stories go through my team, but because of the way this is being written, this one hasn't. As for Mark and him having a touch of a man crush going on, yeah, maybe a little bit. LOL.

Yes, it does take all types to make the world tick, but I could never stand to be around ones that seemed to think the world revolved around them, which is how Ted was. And agreed on the sister and the match making, lol. As for the whiskey and the chasers, I wouldn't really know as I don't like whiskey or beer, so I'll just take your word on that one. As for Trey... *giggles* you'll just have to keep reading to find out