Renee Stevens

Thanks for the review Carlos. Each chapter came from a prompt and I know they are short, but that's the life with this story since all chapters had to remain under 1K. I try to remember to include the prompt in each story, but sometimes I forget. I will try to go back in and see which ones I forgot to include the prompt and add them into the story notes. Thank you for pointing that out.

Stubborn is a good way to describe Jackie, as well as a couple of other things, that will become even more apparent later on. As far as the interrogation later on, well, that could prove to be very interesting. Thanks for reading, and for reviewing.

Me too Wayne. Wasn't sure I wanted to jump into the sex aspect of the story so quickly, but sometimes things just seem right. Guess we'll see where it takes these guys. Thanks for reviewing.

LOL... Totally agree Lisa, can't let them be all lonely in that shower. Glad you enjoyed the chapter and thank you for the review!

Mark wrapped his arms around Trey and rolled so that he pinned the younger man to the mattress beneath them. He didn’t understand what had gotten into Trey but he wasn’t about to let the other man hurt himself by going too fast. Mark wasn’t going to reject him, but he would control the pace. Mark felt Trey’s erection, hard against him, and deepened the kiss as he rocked his hips, rubbing his cock against Trey’s. He felt a thrill shoot through him as Trey moaned beneath him. Mark lifted his hea

REMINDER - The Polls for the 2014 Anthology Themes are now open, so don't forget to get your votes in before they close on Wednesday, October 9th!!! REMINDER - Don't forget to come back this Monday, October 7th, to find out what the October CSR Book Club pick will be! On Monday, as part of the CSR Book Club Discussion we featured a wonderful interview with Comicfan, the author of the very popular story and September CSR Book Club Pick: Accidents Happen! If you haven't already joined in on the discussion, go join in! For those trying to get over the midweek hump, we had our monthly treat of Ask An Author! This week featured authors were dkstories, FleetingRainbows, and Layla. Go check out their answers to questions asked by the readership here at GA. Don't forget, if you have a question that you've been wanting to ask your favorite author, send a PM to Dark and it could be featured in a future edition of Ask An Author! And finally, one of the highlights of everyone's week! Once again, Comicfan brought us a couple of new prompts to play with in this weeks Prompt Me! The weekly prompts are a great way to get your mind working and some wonderful stories have come from the prompts! So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: 2014 Anthology Theme Voting - Polls close October 9th Winter Anthology: Recipe for Disaster - Due Dec 8th NEW READING In Premium this week: The Cassini Mission by Rob Colton, Book 2 of Galactic Conspiracies Do Over by dkstories, Book 1 of Do Over Series (reposting) By our Hosted Authors this week: In The Arms of an Angel by Nephylim Book 1 of Wednesday Briefs Recovery by Nephylim Take Flight by Cia Adverse Effects by Cia Book 2 of Saving Caeorleia 9.11 by Mark Arbour, Book 13 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) Arthur in Eblis by David McLeod By our Promising Authors this week: So Little Magic Left by Mann Ramblings Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

Mark pushed open the door of Kerplunked, his gaze immediately searching the crowd for Trey. He hadn’t seen the other man since the previous Sunday and had been looking forward to tonight ever since they had talked on Wednesday. He’d felt much better once Trey had explained he’d been on a training exercise and that’s why they hadn’t been able to connect. Not seeing Trey, he glanced at his watch and shrugged. He was a little bit early but had waited as long as he could. He moved to the bar to wa

I have to say that while I'm not going to name any names (with my luck I'd forget one) I had a lot of help getting this anthology out. With everything going on in my life in recent months, I couldn't have done it without them! So thank you to everyone who helped with getting the anthology ready to go. It was appreciated more than you know!

No, there won't be any prompts this week. We typically hijack the prompts on Anthology release weeks so that the anthology gets as much attention as possible.

If you're in the US, or at least anywhere that it's still Thursday, I'm betting you're going "Wait a minute, it's not Friday yet!" Well, you're right, but after much thought, I decided I really didn't want to release the anthology on Friday the 13th. Well, at least, not everywhere! So, without further ado, the anthology had been released. We had a lot of interest in the theme of Pandora's box, to be more precise, 22 authors decided to take up the challenge. Mixed in with the Anthology Veterans are a few Anthology Newbies, so lets make all of them feel welcomed and don't forget to review what you read to let the authors know what you thought about their work! What are you waiting for? Get reading!!! A Favor from a Friend Percy A Fine Can of Worms Kitt Apartment 3C K.C. BADBADGETSWORSE thebrinkoftime Broken Boy Ieshwar Dual Edged Hope Cia For Earth is Full of Evils Persinette Home Grown Sasha Distan Hope Bumblebees and Roses I Am Fine totallyy Lunch Box comicfan More Than We Bargained For Bill W Rise of the Serpent Celethiel Statuary CassieQ The Diary advocatus diaboli The Pyxides andy021278 The Wardrobe aditus Til The World Ends Sabat Under the Sun Dolores Esteban What's Inside Ron Wifed carringtonrj Also, while we're on the subject of the anthologies, don't forget to make your suggestions for the themes for next year! The topic closes September 13th at 11:59 US Mountain Time!!! 2014 Anthology Theme Suggestions

Thanks Daithi! Glad you enjoyed the story and I know that the chapters are short, but I have to keep within the 1K limits!

Thanks Lisa! I know the chapters are short, since I'm only allowed 1K a week. I thought about combining two weeks of writing into one, but in the end I decided against it. Glad you are enjoying the story.

Thanks Daithi! Defnitely couldn't have his night end on a bad note, could I? That wouldn't have been any fun.

Thank you JoAnn. I've had a lot of fun on this story so far.

Mark stepped out of the shower; wrapping a towel around his waist he headed to his bedroom and had just pulled on a pair of sweats when someone knocked on his door. Hoping it was Trey, he rushed out of his bedroom but before he could get to the door it opened and Jackie stuck her head in. “Ready or not, here I come.” Her gaze focused on him and she stepped inside and shut the door. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” “Nope, nothing at all.” He tried to keep his disappointment hidden. Thre

Thank you everyone :hug:... As an update, it's over... Grandma passed away at 1:30 this morning, at home like she wished.

As an update to my reflections blog... It has been confirmed that my grandmother is terminal. Honestly, it is expected, but suspecting and being faced with that reality are two different things. She has been told that she is terminal and chances are, even as stubborn as she is, she will quit fighting to stay with us. This is evidenced by her most recent decision. She has changed her living will so that she now has a DNR and nothing will be done to prolong life. Anything, including antibiotics, are only to be done to make her comfortable. Honestly, this is probably the best course of action for her as she has been in continuous pain since this all started back at the beginning of July. The doctors have given her 2-3 weeks, but that was BEFORE they realized that the infection that last required surgery has once again emerged. The reality is, we will probably lose her within the next week or so. My mom suspects that she will hang on long enough for her other children to get here to say their goodbyes and then let go. Not that we haven't been wrong before, but with the new living will and with her current condition... Well, I will leave the rest of that thought unsaid. As far as the title of this blog, I apologize in advance if I am short with anyone in the coming days. My emotions are completely out of whack. So much in such a short amount of time and I honestly do not know which way is up. All I ask is that if I am short with you, please do not take it personally as it most likely was not intentional. Also, a thank you to all of you who have listened to my rants and been there as I've dealt with all the crap lately. It is appreciated more than you know. Hugs ~Renee

Thanks everyone, and yes Cia, boycotting 2013 (at least the majority of it and only if we include December 2012) sounds like a great idea! I am hanging in there and the biggest reason I posted this blog was so more to explain why I haven't been around as much lately and haven't really been "myself" in recent months. I have been, to say the least, distracted. Hugs to all!

I have done a lot of thinking lately about the things that have happened over the last year or so. It hasn't even been a full year, though with everything that has gone on, it sure feels like it should have been well over a year. Now, let me make it perfectly clear, this blog entry isn't meant to be a "poor me" blog entry. I hope it doesn't come out that way, but if it does, I apologize in advance. A lot of what I am sharing has been shared in more detail in some of my previous blog entries over the last little while, but since a lot of this has been an ongoing thing, I feel the need to update. The downhill slope seemed to have started at the beginning of December when we found out that my brother had been diagnosed with cancer. It was an agonizing wait as we were told first one thing and then another. First we were told something that didn't sound too bad, then something that could be a for sure death sentence, and then we were finally told that he had stage 4 Leukemia. Luckily, it proved to be very treatable. Several rounds of chemotherapy, several rounds of tests and blood work, a few multi-day/week hospital stays, and nine months later I'm happy to say he is cancer free. For now. There is no guarantee that it won't come back, and it is a fear that we will always live with, but for now we still have him with us and that is something we are certainly grateful for. Back in March, we almost lost our niece during childbirth. Our doctors here are truly idiots (trust me on this one, there are so many horror stories that if me and hubby ever have kids, we're going elsewhere for pre-natal care and delivery). It was touch and go for nearly 4 days but in the end, both our niece and great-niece made it through. In the midst of my brother's cancer scare, I had my own health issues. In March I found out that I had Keratoconus. Basically a eye issue that means I have to wear hard contacts or face a cornea transplant in the far distant future. Only problem, I have issue upon issue with the stupid contacts and still can't hardly wear them for more than a few hours a day. But, overall that's a fairly minor thing. In April I had the passing out issue that resulted in me being diagnosed as pre-diabetic. Though the results were close enough to being type 2 diabetic that they may as well have said I was diabetic. Needless to say that was a scare that my family didn't need at the time. Eating healthy is a very hard thing for me, as I've never been good at eating on a regular basis, but I'm trying and I'm at least doing better. In July, I had an issue while I was out camping with my family at the lake. It is suspected that I had a partial-complex seizure. On top of the other issues, this was a set-back that I really didn't need. Especially as it really limits what I can do as I can't do any long-distance driving and even a drive to the next town (a ten minute drive) is questionable. For months prior to all of this, I was also suffering from constant migraines, at least a couple of times a week, that were so bad I literally couldn't function because I couldn't see. (I had really bad aura migraines where my vision goes all wonky). Anyways, I got put back on anti-seizure meds which have the plus side of being anti-migraine meds as well. Since then, no migraines and no problems that we know of. What brought on all of this thinking? I went to see my grandma the other day. I did a blog post about her not to long ago. She had undergone surgery in July, just days after being diagnosed with cancer. I only found out the other day that it was a stage 4, fast growing cancer. She survived the surgery but three weeks later was still in the hospital. Then, she got an infection that required another surgery that they weren't sure she'd survive. The choices were surgery or to make her comfortable, the doctors advice (what he would do if it was his mother) was to make her comfortable. Grandma was lucid that day (one of the very rare moments she wasn't hallucinating) and SHE decided she wanted the surgery. Well, she survived the surgery and is currently in a rehabilitation place. As I said, I went to visit her the other day. My Aunt was there when I arrived and told me I picked a good day to visit as she was having a good day. If that was a good day, I don't want to know what a bad day was. I found out later that it being a good day meant that she actually was making sense and wasn't warning you to move before the elephants that were in her room stepped on you. (ie. hallucinations). Well, in the couple of days since my visit, I guess she has taken another downturn according to the phone call I received from my mom. It is a constant roller coaster of emotion with my family lately. It's like one day we're getting a sliver of hope and the next we're preparing ourselves to say good-bye and honestly it is emotionally exhausting. Also, I was absolutely furious after my visit when I found out that one of my cousins, who lives five minutes from the rehab facility has not even been to see our grandmother. Apparently her mom has told her that she just can't handle seeing her. Don't get me wrong, it's hard to see her like that, but out of all of my cousins, I am the emotional one. I always have been, always will be. It was hard, but the one thing is, I will be the one who won't have the regret that I didn't go see her and honestly, I feel sorry for my cousin because she is the one who will have to live with her decision. My other grandmother is also having some issues at the moment, but we haven't heard back on what her test results are, so I'm not entirely sure what is going on with that at the moment. To add into all of this, my husband's grandmother passed away. To be fair, this was a grandmother that he has been estranged from for years and years, so he's not close with her at all. In the over seven years that we have been together, I have met her two, maybe three times, and that's only been in the last six months or so. The only real reason that we're even going to the service is in support of his dad. After we talked about it, he decided that he does need to go to the service to be there for his dad, no matter his feelings for his grandma. What gets me is that as of right now, none of his siblings are going. I guess I'm just the type that regardless of their feelings for her, they should go to show their support of their dad, to let him know that they are there for him. All in all, it's been a rough less than a year. I won't say there hasn't been any pluses. All of the issues that the family has gone through have actually managed to bring our family closer together. My husband and I went on a vacation and after a short stay at Mt. Rushmore, we went and spent a few days with my brother in Wisconsin. I hadn't actually seen him in probably five years, so it was good to get to go and spend some quality time with him. While I know that things are likely to get worse before they get better, especially with my one grandmother, I can only hope that things start to get better soon. Until then, what can I do but take things one day at a time and doing what I can to stay sane. That does include writing when I can keep my focus to do so and I hope to be able to get back to work on my unfinished stuff soon because it is driving me insane to know that I have some projects that have been on hold for so long!!!!

It's a term of endearment that he uses for both me and Cia, lol. When he doesn't use that for us is when we worry. Anyways... Happy Birthday Cia!!! Hope you have a great one!!!

“If you like planes so much, why didn’t you join the military as a pilot?” Mark stood next to Trey as they studied one of the fighter planes from World War II. They’d had a good morning so far, the only really awkward moment, other than when Jackie was at his apartment, had been when they were trying to decide what to do for the day. Trey had suggested paintball, laser tag, or airsoft war games. Mark hadn’t been able to suppress his shudder at that point and had quickly shot those ideas down.

Thank you everyone, I appreciate all the thoughts and prayers. Grandma did make it out of the surgery and is still hanging in there. Though she is still far from being out of the woods, she is fighting to stay with us. When my cousin picked up her girls today she said when she went and saw grandma she was pretty delusional but did at least know who she was, so that was a bit promising. Again, thank you everyone, I appreciate all the kind words. ~Renee

First off, let me say that the title of this blog says it all.... CANCER SUCKS!!!! If I never know someone else who has cancer, it will be WAY TOO SOON!!!! On July 8th, my grandmother was told she had cancer, only they didn't know what kind or even exactly where it was. This came right on top of the news that the chemotherapy worked and my brother was currently cancer free (despite one five day stint in the hospital after getting an infection of some sort). My grandmother was then told that they were going to have to essentially do exploratory surgery to try and remove the cancer tissue. She underwent surgery on July 11th, which ended up being a complete hysterectomy (the cancer tissue was completely surrounding her ovaries as well as some other areas from what I understand) and they also removed her gallbladder for reasons that were never fully explained to me. They believed that they got the majority of the cancer tissue and while there was most likely some microscopic cancer cells remaining, they were fairly confident that those would be able to be taken care of with chemotherapy which they would start the following month. The doctors had originally said that grandma would be able to return home approximately a week after surgery. Three weeks later and grandma was still in the hospital and not doing well. Her lucid times were few and far between. She had no recollection of the fact that she had spent the last three weeks in the hospital. She would have conversations with people that were about things from the past that she believed were from the present and would get extremely argumentative and borderline verbally abusive if anyone tried to correct her. When she did try to hold a conversation, it was like she was trying to hold four conversations at once, with the same person. All in all, very confusing for not only her, but the person she would be talking to. Essentially she has been in a downward spiral for the last three weeks but they couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. I was sitting here Tuesday night when my mom's truck pulled up outside. I knew something had happened because my mom should have been at work two hours earlier. She had gotten a call from her sisters. Grandma was even worse. They finally figured out that she had an edema (spelling?) caused by an infection (not sure exactly what kind of infection). What I do know is that whatever the infection was, it apparently starts in the pelvic region, moves to the chest cavity, and then moves to the brain. By the time it was figured out what was going on, it had reached both of her lungs, that they knew of. They were uncertain as to whether or not it had reached her brain. The solution, another surgery. The dilemma, another surgery could kill her. The bigger dilemma, without the surgery, she'd die. My mom rushed down there. They met with the doctors and found out everything they could. What all was discussed I do not know. What I do know is that one of the questions they asked one of the main doctors, out of earshot of grandma, was that if it was his mother in her condition, would he elect to have the surgery done. He told them no. With the shape grandma is in, he told them he thought the best thing for her was for them to make her as comfortable as they could and to let her go. A very hard decision to make. Grandma, from what my mom has told me, was having a lucid moment. Before they could make the decision, she made it for them. She elected to have the surgery. The last I talked to my mom, Grandma had made it out of the four hour surgery. They hadn't seen her yet and didn't know exactly how she was doing and she certainly isn't out of the woods. Her chances of coming through this are still very slim. For all I know at the moment, we could have already lost her. I've never been overly close to my grandma, not like I am with my Dad's mom, but she is still my grandma and I do love her and I don't know what we're going to do if we lose her. Between everything with my grandma, the fact that my brother is back in the hospital, and my own health issues, my focus is shot. I've been trying to hold it together as I've had four girls visiting me this week and I can't completely fall apart. They don't know how dire things are and I have to try and keep it that way, at least for two more days. I'm trying, but it's hard. I've got promotions set up for this entire month and luckily I have them already done and ready to go out, so at least if the worst happens, that's pretty much taken care of, but as far as writing new content.... that's pretty much a no go for the moment. I appreciate everyone's patience and I'm sorry for everyone that has been waiting on chapters from me. I can probably still post chapters of Thwarted as I have a few of those waiting in the wings that I can still post every other week, but those might even go by the wayside for a bit. I'm really really hoping that life settles down soon, because I honestly don't think I can take another year like the last one. ~Renee

I won't agree or disagree with you, all I will say is that... If it is smut... It's smut with a damn good plot!

Oh criminy, I remember all the arguments we had with him, but hey, it's posted and obviously everyone is enjoying it So in the end, that's all that counts!!!!