Canuk

Back to more traditional Rigby! Nothing like a good lecture on the evils of modern society over coffee! Makes it so much easier to step out and become part of the machine every morning😆😆😆😍 The point you make about charities giving to "people I dont like" is the very reason I think basing a society on personal philanthropy is both anti social and a way to reiforce prejudice. While I admire much of what the Gates foundation does with its rather large stash, but imagine (and I know he doesnt, but allow me to hang myself here for a minute) that he disliked gay people and so would not look at anything to do with Hiv, Aids, STIs, etc. Would this be , oh! Well, his money he can do with it what he likes, or is there /should there be an ethical obligation to spend money on areas of greatest priority? (Which may or may not be STIs). I have no problem with wealthy people donating and getting a reward so so doing, but they should not be allowed to pick and choose where the money goes. If its good enough for taxpayers money to be allocated on the basis of an election every x years, why not philanthropists? Now Frankie, i think people who see that land as "ripe for development" will pressure local councils to make that land very expensive for Frankie to hold, even with the $50m stash, he's going to have to be very strategic to keep it. I disagree re gold. To me thats wasted opportunity. Yes banks are rapacious, immoral, unethical animals with many issues, but $50m is enough for the tail to wag the dog, particularly if you pick you own advisers. $50m is also enough to "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen"; advisers are only human... Fine, enough with the lazy clichés! I am worried about Prosperos statement re Wills. Does this mean he has rapacious rellies in the wings? They could cause trouble Thanks, enjoying this!

Fine, I have suspended my sense of doom, for the moment.... The play sounds interesting. Your writing does make me feel I am being gently guided in a direction of your choosing.... Looking forward to the stories continuation....

You spin an amazing tale! Sylvan is in a difficult situation. I do hope he takes up the boys offer and gets help. Frankies school is interesting. Not sure how a play featuring naked pupils will go down. We did "Lord of the Flies" manymany years ago at the school I attended. Whilewe wore body stockings for that last act, there was criticism we were "naked". Of course we had a great time! I suspect Fankie is going to need to get back to some clean air open spaces rugged hills and forests at some point. Enjoying this, although, as usual, I read your stories with a sense of impending doom...😆😍

You know our author only too well. In the gospel (trans:story) according to @Rigby Taylor, There is no happiness without pain, suffering, misadventure and deprivation!😆 Even if the heaven, sky and earth are about to combust, I am glad our hero has found some one who will help, without trading his body, mind or soul. I hope, albeit faintly, that all continues on this path of happiness and enlightenment.😯🤗😇

Southern Tasmania is not my idea of heaven (I was born there, so some idea of how bloody cold and wet it is, also the magnificence of the forests, the coast, and lakes), but he seems to have survived. Hopefully the ranger will be able to start him on the path back to his true love.

Brought back memories of when I naively took "financial advice" from a bank. While I didn't end up bankrupt, it was bloody close. When I asked about the "advice" after we had sold up, I was told that the adviser "had to look after the interests of the bank". I supposedly wasn't told this at the time "as it may have affected my decision making". Iam glad australia has tight gun laws otherwise he would have been dead and i would be about to be released from gaol! I do hope Frankie gets something out of this. At least enough to start again. Different chapter. Interesting tale. Thanks

I hope this is rock bottom...if not, losing his house will be the least of hiis problems, he'll lose his family.

Ingenio does not seem quite as wise as he thinks he is. Bright kid, loveable even, but.... I think trouble brews...

I think Frankie is only a slight exhaduration of many students. I on the other hand was the complete opposite, find out exactly what the teacher wanted, give it to them, then do what i wanted to further my own education! Another interesting beginning to a great story.

The problem both of you ( @Timothy M. and @Rigby Taylor ) are addressing is communication. So many straight couples seem to have trouble talking to their partner, someone who they love dearly, but who they make assumptions about but never discuss real issues. Not that gay couple are immune rom the same issue, but somehow it seems easier for intimate ss couples to talk than it is in opposite sex couples. Socially I think this reverses. So many conversations I have had in non-intimate male groups are beyond boring; sport, sexual achievements, work (stupid bosses) or the sexual/athletic prowess of their sons, princess like behaviour of daughters. In mixed groups conversation tends to be far more mixed and interesting. The effect is multiplied in work places. A workplace of str8 men only is nightmare-ish! All women is just as bad. The best offices I have managed have been a mix of gay blokes, straight women and the token str8 bloke!! As for the thought @Rigby Taylor, that you may have ANY negative thoughts about women based on your characters, never ever crossed my mind! I am astounded that you would have even thought this was an issue....😂😆😍

Computers and the aged; you do highlight a huge issue. And while hopefully anyone under say 65 now probably spent enough time on computers to use them as they age for basic stuff. Older than that and for many its a foreign world. Enjoying the read. Thanks

Ember is his own worst enemy; at some point you just have to let the past go and look at the facts of the present. As for Pix, I can see why he is an asset in a children's ward. While children's doctors tend to have a better bedside manner that adults' doctors, they are still "the doctor". Pix would be the sort of nurse that distracts you from there here and now of whatever the child is going through. Great chapter. Thanks

WHO'S JONI MITCHELL!, [he passes out from embarrassment] Fellow GA readers, not all Australians are so differently focused as our beloved author. Trust me on this!

Well that went south very quickly! I hope Carlos or his mother saw what happened. I was wondering about the piercings at their age, but bit of a moot point now....

Well, you proved me wrong, there was no last minute hitch. I am glad. The vengful part of me would have like to hear some of the mages squirm, plead and cry with self pity, but hey! Cant have everything.... Thanks, great read, the entire cycle. Just remind me not to get on your bad side🙂😍

Great chapter. The balance of the conversations between the boys, the game, the dance then the images all really well done. Thanks.

And I thought I was slow on the uptake! I know its hard as a single dad, but at some point you have to put youself out there.... Enjoying the slow torture of the story! Brings back memories of my time as a not quite as instant single gay dad (30 years ago!) Thanks.

Reading this suddenly The Weather Girls, "Its Raining Men" popped into my head... The pressure our heros are under is immense. "You dont get this powerful by being stupid"; never a truer sentence.... just hope they can hold it together. One thing does concern me; ch 11 seems early for a "happy ending", so I feel there will be more chaos, before culmination and success... or have you just made me unconsciously move to the dark side where history is a down ward spiral ? 😉😆

It was probably a fairly even battle between nature and "sapiens" until the industrial revolution. And somehow we just never learned those lessons that would have come so easily to previous generations. I am not talking how we treated each other; thats been pretty apalling from day 1. Somehow around 1780-1820, we started to smack the hell out of mother nature. She tolerated us for a while, but I think we have taken her to her limit. Not sure it will take 1000 years for her to get back on top. Great story, thanks...

Great chapter. While I sense that our heros have something special in mind four days from now (what, I cannot imagine, guessing what may sprout forth from the deepest darkest bends and twists of the labyrinth this is our authors mind is only for the innocently courageous), I know there will be drama on the way. I sincerely hope that now that Domino and his Calista have been reunited that they will be among the saved. The description of Domina seemed to come directly from low brow straight porn from the 50s (or so I have been told about low brow porn, never having indulged, myself!) For all their power, the Mages seem remarkably stupid. Fear as leadership tool tends to have a short life span... I am enjoying this, see what a simple soul I am as a reader? All I need is a hint of hope that the good guys come out on top,😆

The contast between Oasis and "outside" ( for want of a better term) is amazing. The sheer effort and inhumanity requited to keep Oasis, just seems unimaginable, when there is a simpler alternative. But I suppose "simple" has never been a human aim, has it? Very enjoyable,particulary as we get a glimpse of nature away from the Oasis....

Interesting development! I can't believe the Mages don't know about these people, hopefully their (re)discovery won't result in their extermination... And @Timothy M., if you expect to get a straight answer from our author, you are setting yourself up to be disappointed. I suspect @Rigby Taylor was a politician in a former life, his answers to questions are as usually enlightening as any half decent politician's!

When things look easy and straightforward. ..worry! I am sure our heros plans will work. Let me restate; i am VERY sure our heros plans will work.... Make it so, author, make it so.... please?😯

THIS COMMENT HAS BEEN DELETED AS IT WAS NOTHING LIKE THE COMMENT I THOUGHT I HAD SUBMITTED. As Sojourn has said below and in a PM the comment was unfair and nonsensical. I did write a detailed comment, but most likely due to my technical skill I screwed up. I only became aware that things had gone wrong some 48 hours later. I apologised to Sojourn in a PM, but as he rightly pointed out, Nathan is owed a more public apology. Nathan, I sincerely apologise for my offence. In my original comment there was no citicism of you or Sojourn. Regards A

@Dodger, re Alan Turing, he should be the poster boy for how societies rules can fuck up the most brilliant brains. We, for some bizarre reason back in the 1970s studied him at school and even in that comparatively unenlightened era, we as innocent and ignorant school boys realised the world had persecuted and then lost one of the great minds of the 20th C. When I saw the film, I literally bawled for both him and what we had lost.