Andrew Q Gordon

Since Nephy gave me the shout out, I will say that Hostage is one of my all time favorite so I'd highly recommend that. Antya Sunday wrote Shane and Trey which is college HS- to Freshman year in college that was good too. Nephy mentioned Night Owl, and while I agree Indiana Summer is my favorite of his work, Lovers Blind was also very very good and it is complete. Two more that are good but not yet complete are Perfect Pitch by Intune and Stronger than Lions by Sean Halford And lest I forget the undisputed Queen of Cliffhangers- and a personal favorite of mine - Cia wrote Escaping the Pain, also a high school age story and very good in my opinion. One other thing you could try is to do a search with the tags you like, the search function here works really well so it would be helpful. Hope that was helpful Andy PS - the story Nephy was referencing of mine is Second Shot.

Tom, Thanks. In any sci-fi/fantasy 'world' the need to world build is great. In a short story like this the tricky part for me is to not get bogged down in world building yet convey enough of the world to give the reader a feel for the setting the MC character's take place. Telg is 'feared' but more as Fenzu than father, and I think Harlin knows his father loves him, which is why disappointing Telg hurts Harlin so much. Thanks for reading and taking the time to review it. Andy

Wow, for someone who doesn't leave reviews much, that was quite detailed. Thank you for that. In the fuller story - i.e. the novel length version I have envisioned, Stefren IS a jerk when he arrives. He's a prince and he acts like a Prince of Gillium would act at court. Around Harlin - at least at first, he lets his guard down and sheds his court persona, but then he 'learns' Harlin is just acting like they're friends and he puts back on his court face, despite being miserable himself. Harlin is not a perfect teenager, in someways, I don't see him as a teenager except in age. He is "Touched by the Twins" the Gods of their world and is a warrior first, a son second and when there is time - which is not often - he is a kid. Devotion to Fenzu is indoctrinated by his training, devotion to his father - Telg - is out of love - to him, Telg is the ideal man/warrior/parent. He knows what it means to be disavowed for not living up to expectations and that hurt/wound colors his reaction to Telg. Fortunately for Harlin, Telg really truly loves his son and does not take advantage of his devotion. If anything, Telg is as devoted to Harlin as Harlin is to him. Whew, long answer, but I thought the long review warranted it. If you want further insight, I left more details on the "Cold Rain" topic in my forum. Thanks again. - - Andy

What or who are you trying to hide?

Welcome Star, If you have questions, ask. People are always willing to help. Couple quick things: You need 5 posts to get 'Author Status' so you'll need a couple more. The Writer's corner forum has lots of information and ways to get help. Use it as it really is helpful. Anything else, just ask. Andy

My actions seem fishy? Let me see, for no reason you voted for me, so I returned the favor, stating I was voting for you because you voted for me. Hmm, sounds more like you're trying to deflect attention from your own actions. Next as for my statement about Adam, it was, is, a valid point for everyone to consider. He does something weird - i.e. voting for himself - and from that folks decided he was the mafia? Please, IF he was, he wouldn't encourage others to vote for him because then he'd be gone. IF he was mafia, he would know the other Mafia members and he could NOT be killed at night so encouraging folks to vote him off is counter to all wisdom. In fact, it would certainly raise the ire of those who were Mafia because the last thing they would want to do is lose a member. Now, my comments were intended for the townies to think this through. Your attempts to cast aspersions on myself or Adam, seems highly suspicious as you are trying to suggest that we, or me at least, are/is mafia - all because we voted for you. Thus far you've suggested those who don't speak are mafia and adam is mafia and I am mafia, hmm, Playing devils advocate - your attempts to highlight suspicious behavior is what townies are supposed to do - i.e. we're supposed to talk amongst ourselves to 'ferret' out the bad guys/gals. And my calling you out, could be also be seem as suspicious, just as your calling me out is suspicious. So based on that what should we conclude? My conclusion is there are not enough conversations going on for anyone to draw any meaningful conclusions and we're all just shooting blindly from the hip because there hasn't been enough chatter from which to determine who's whacking people in the town.

I think what you should read into that is exactly what it says - almost certainly not. That was Will hoping against hope that the Purpose would leave - don't count on it Thanks for reading, and I will always answer questions, even if it's to say, I can't answer that just yet LOL.

Romance between lawyers? Everyone knows lawyers don't have hearts. I have no plans for a Lawyer Romance - Fantasy is not my forte LOL. That and I have too many other projects I want to do and no time to do them. thanks for reading, glad you enjoyed this Andy

Haha, I love the 'Justice 1, Evil- 0' tag, but hopefully it at least seemed plausible that Jordan might get away with it. I was trying to show the uncertain nature of a trial. And yes, this was some closure for Peter and his family.

Well let's face it, Will's Purpose didn't need to talk to him, I mean, everything was going just fine from ITs POV, IT got feed and it got its prior hosts to do its bidding. There are indeed a few questions to be raised and I think Will is going to raise them in the next chapter. Coupe things that came up in the reviews and one from a beta reader that is not posted. Will's Purpose does have 'emotions' or at least what passes for them among its kind. It just looks at humans, including hosts, as food. Much like humans see themselves at the top of the food chain, so too does this creature see itself above humans. So it if appears callous, it is. Ryan never talked to his Purpose. Much as Will got some residual spill over and could feel/hear the thoughts of the victims, Ryan' communication with his Purpose was limited. Will wasn't even sure they were really communicating, but Ryan could see images of what the answers would be. I sort of touched on this in the review to Conner, but the Two Purposes created a mutually beneficial system whereby Ryan's took a host then had it killed creating an 'innocent' victim that often would call out for justice/vengeance, thus give Will's Purpose a source of energy. Now that Ryan's Purpose isn't planning to kill Ryan, that system is going to grind to a halt. One thing I don't think was clear that I will try to address in the next chapter - Will Purpose CAN derive energy from the death of a guilty and often would absorb that energy when it could make contact with his other. The failure to 'feed' the 'other' usually triggered the death of the other's host. Thus renewing the cycle. Okay, hope everyone had a marvelous holiday season. Andy

Not that I want to be the stick in the eye, but today is NOT Anyta's Birthday - see here, https://www.gayauthors.org/forums/topic/32613-happy-birthday-anyta/ her birthday is in July. We celebrated it and she acknowledged it. Not sure how this got started, but as much as we all love her, she doesn't get two birthdays. But if I'm wrong, Happy Birthday dear, whenever it is.

It being Christmas and the last of the 25 days of songs- at least for me, others can keep going if Christmas isn't their holiday - I'm interested to see who chooses what. Sadly Justin Beiber is doing this one too and I'm going to be most of the younger set will always associate it with him instead of Stevie Wonder, but those in the know, know it's Stevie Wonder's song

Okay, so Dave asked for a Christmas present a day early, best I could do was 10 minutes early, but Chapter 25 is posted. I suspect it will get lost in the holiday shuffle, but it's posted all the same. This one opens a can of worms that the boys might wish they never opened. But, such is their lives. I promise this is getting to the end soon, really, I wouldn't lie.

Okay so something a bit more traditional for the night before Christmas.

It's with the editors, who haven't mentioned if they got it or not, but then they are probably busy with their families too. SOOOO, what I could do is post it, then when the edits come back, just put them in. Hmmmm, decisions decisions.

There is a Six Flag - Six Flag's America - right out side DC in Maryland - if that was something folks wanted. See DC rocks so much more than Philly - [i grew up in Philly, so I'm not a hater, just being honest.] Plus the Naval Academy - and the cadets - aren't too far off either.

Yes, today being Christmas Eve, Eve, it is of course Festivus for the Rest of Us!!! Since we can't do the feats of strength on line, we shall have to limit it to the airing of the grievances. I'll go first: You people don't leave enough reviews for authors! Who's next?

Despite Lugh trying to make today the 25 days of Holiday Songs all by in one day, I'll just leave us with one: I always thought this was funny/cute.

Jeff I think having it too far away from the city sorta defeats the purpose of the meet up - i.e. things to do other than sit around the hotel and stare at each other. That said, I agree we don't want to stay down town DC. There are quite a few hotels around where I live - next to the Univ of Maryland - that are not 5 star but are not dumps either. There is plenty to eat - it's a college town after all AND it's a 15 minute metro ride to the tourist areas - hell you don't even have to change trains to get to most of them either - it's the Green Line that goes right to the National Mall and stops on both sides where the majority of the Museums and monuments are. But as I said, once we get a date, I can get to looking at places to stay. As Prince said, food isn't really any more or less in DC than elsewhere - you've cheap eats and pricey fare, just depends on what you want. All you need is someone who knows where to go and what's good.

Aside from the usual PC answers like good health, world peace, etc I want an SLR Digital Camera with 1080p video etc. Mike and I are buying it for each other as our gift to each other. Beyond that - I really want/need/desire - almost nothing material.

Okay seriously? Adam votes for himself then unvotes for himself and from THAT Folks conclude he's Mafia? Not buying it just yet, sorry.

Geez Mark, chapter 25? Christmas is the 25th are you becoming a sentiment old bastard in your elder years? Seems to me that Daddy taking away from Bridgemont and giving to Ge. & Bertie isn't go to sit well with Freddy and Davina. George better watch his arse figuratively and literally because Caroline didn't step in it she shoved Davina's face in it until she passed out. She's gonna be out for blood soon. Thanks for the early Christmas gift. Andy

Glad to see you reposted this Bill - would have been a shame to have missed it. Two thoughts, both evil, but I'll share them all the same 1) Good thing they found a cure cause it would have been a bitch to repopulate the world with only gays and lesbians and bi people. Wouldn't be a whole lot of reproductive copulation going on would there? 2) Had they not found a cure, we could have finally found out whose naughty or nice - err wait, sorry wrong holiday - we could have found out without a doubt all those closet cases we suspected of being gay Nice job. Andy

Thanks Ivan, now you know I'm going to expect something from you for the next anthology - right? Thanks for reading and glad you liked it. Andy

Another one from when we were kids and my father would serenade the family with his horrible, off key voice as he sang along with the old Victrola 33rpm album. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus Just because it's Christmas, here is the Jackson 5 doing this too. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus