LJH

At last! I loved this book. Every word is brilliant: I like dogs. You always know what a dog is thinking. It has four moods. Happy, sad, cross and concentrating. Also, dogs are faithful and they do not tell lies because they cannot talk.

Is it The bard ... Shakespeare Othello?

We are allowed to ask five questions. So here are mine: Nationality of author? Date of publication of book? What is the first letter of the title? Has a movie been made of the book? What year was book published?

Here in sunny South Africa, the republic's 6th Prime Minister and founder of Rhodesia , now Zimbabwe, was thought to have had gay relationships. This taken from Wiki Rhodes never married, pleading "I have too much work on my hands" and saying that he would not be a dutiful husband.[27] Some writers and academics have suggested that Rhodes may have been homosexual. The scholar Richard Brown observed: "there is still the simpler but major problem of the extraordinarily thin evidence on which the conclusions about Rhodes are reached. Rhodes himself left few details... Indeed, Rhodes is a singularly difficult subject... since there exists little intimate material – no diaries and few personal letters." Brown also comments: "On the issue of Rhodes' sexuality... there is, once again, simply not enough reliable evidence to reach firm, irrefutable conclusions. It is inferred, but not proved, that Rhodes was homosexual and it is assumed (but not proved) that his relationships with men were sometimes physical. Neville Pickering is described as Rhodes' lover in spite of the absence of decisive evidence." Rhodes was close to Pickering; he returned from negotiations for Pickering's 25th birthday in 1882. On that occasion, Rhodes drew up a new will leaving his estate to Pickering. Two years later, Pickering suffered a riding accident. Rhodes nursed him faithfully for six weeks, refusing even to answer telegrams concerning his business interests. Pickering died in Rhodes' arms, and at his funeral Rhodes was said to have wept with fervor. His successor was Henry Latham Currey, the son of an old friend, who had become Rhodes's private secretary in 1884. When Currey got engaged in 1894, Rhodes was deeply mortified and their relationship split. Rhodes also remained close to Leander Starr Jameson after the two had met in Kimberley, where they shared a bungalow. In 1896 Earl Grey came to give Rhodes bad news. Rhodes instantly jumped to the conclusion that Jameson, who was ill, had died. On learning that his house had burnt down he commented, "Thank goodness. If Dr. Jim had died, I should never have got over it." Jameson nursed Rhodes during his final illness, was a trustee of his estate and residuary beneficiary of his will, which allowed him to continue living in Rhodes' mansion after his death. Rhodes' secretary, Jourdan, who was present shortly after Rhodes' death said, "Jameson was fighting against his own grief ... No mother could have displayed more tenderness towards the remains of a loved son". Jameson died in England in 1917, but after the war in 1920 his body was transferred to a grave beside that of Rhodes on Malindidzimu Hill or World's View, a granite hill in the Matopo National Park 40 km south of Bulawayo.

Cowboys were heavily exploited and usually brutally treated until such time as they became able to beg, borrow, buy or steal a gun. They were used not only as cheap and disposable labor, but also for sexual release by older and stronger men. Such adult men used the pretext of a scarcity of women to establish enforced homosexual relationships in remote camps and ranches comparable to the relationships for which today's prisons are notorious. The high incidence of pederasty and homosexual rape is the great dirty secret of the Old West frontier--and yet this is not from any lack of contemporary accounts which document or hint at it, including the famed woodcuts of men dancing with boys, descriptions of the practices of multiple men sleeping in single beds (as if there wasn't room enough out West for everyone to throw down his own bedroll), jokes about turns in the barrel, and the lyrics of certain Old West songs in which young men seem to be given women's names. Indeed, the macho attitude traditionally affected by cowboys and gunfighters may have reflected the personal sexual insecurity of young men who often had little contact with women from the time they were first sent out on the range in their early teens, until a decade or more later--if they survived long enough and developed skills sufficient to get work back in town. Meanwhile, many were "used as women" as the phrase of the day put it, unless they dared resist their masters, which could require murder. Such may have been the beginning of the story of Billy The Kid, among many others. Taken from www.sharkonline.org

aWWW Man. Mark you and Stu are great. Your story touched me and made me realise that there is so much more to people than just the one dimension I was always receiving. You made me believe in myself again, even tho I never said that, and you don't know my story except that I cannot get over my first boyfriend's suicide. Your gentle nature assured me that I can, if you can move on, so can I. You are worth far more to this community than you will ever know. Society is unforgiving, but I know you are, and Barry, this sure was a prank that should never have gone so far, but it did, and you, in my eyes, are more than a man by publishing this for all to see. People like you, Barry, are hard to find. You are one of a kind. This must have eaten you up, and it is plain to see that you "love" Mark, of-course not like Stu, but there are variations and levels of love and you respect him. I would gladly give up everything to be like you, Barry. It is clear, from all of this, that the insensitive person who posted the link to GA is an unworthy person. He should have asked permission from Mark. You guys are not to blame. On the other hand, it has driven Mark back. Mark, and Stu, please stay positive. Positive thoughts bring positive things. You guys are worth much more than the sum of those pics. Much, much more. One thing I know, even tho I do not know you personally, Mark, your story changed my way of thinking. Be strong. You are in my prayers.

All right, I'll let you know. All right So many writers use the word alright. Much like they would use the words, already and altogether. But alright is wrong. The words should always be written out seperately. There are no such forms as all-right or allright. All right simply means that all is right. So, 'The scout's report was all right.' and "Is he all right?' and 'All right, you shall hear of this again." and 'Oh, I know this off pat, all right.' Even if we are prepared to admit alright for some uses, for instance in 'That's quite all right.' and 'I'm quite all right.' We should spell it out. Alright will eventually establish itself in the long run, but it is hoped that it will be restricted to adverbial uses such as, The difficulty can be got over, alright. Even here, it is at present barely justifiable since the vocalic value of all is usually retained and no marked differentiation of meaning has yet taken place. Taken from: Fowler's Modern English Usage.

Wooo....I second mikeL and HH5's sentiments on this issue. Novice writers seem to think that open ended or "free writing" has no rules. They are so wrong. Hence, these writers pad their work, duplicate words and use words that bestselling writers don't use. I tend to skip these stories. A lot of writers use several viewpoints in one story, even on a single page... why on earth do they do this. I dont mind taking on an author from scratch. If the author is willing to accept my ruthless editing style. I will not entertain bursts of insane emotion from a novice who thinks he knows it all. When that happens he must find another person to help him. I spend hours mulling over a chapter and forcing myself to not be subjective about the writing. The writer writes and the editor edits. This is my belief. I have been editing and writing stories for a long time. I have won awards for my writing. When a writer fights me I simply stop the editing process. As a writer i too have editors. All writers should have an editor. I have seen such immature writing on many sites that it has become quite sickening. I love helping out, but i refuse to have my experience countered by inexperience hence, i do not volunteer my services to just anyone. I have come to a conclusion: if anyone wants my help, they can email me. I want to see a piece they have written. I want my name mentioned as the editor. I also want recognition, for i know, without my help, as the editor, the work is far less perfect than it would ever be.

Roan ?

There is a point where I was drawn into Baz's world, and compelled to read the rest. That point was the mousetrap scene. Not a pleasant way to start any day. I wanted to see how Baz handled the situations and I was not pleased. Oh, don't get me wrong, the mechanics and structure of the piece are first class. It is not easy to write humour. But i wanted Baz to sock Mark. Now, i'm not a violent guy, but i would have placed his face at the end of my fist. Then i realized, but Baz works for him, and i thought, hmmm, lucky devil. Not only have you used humour to describe Mark's character. You have also used it expertly to communicate Baz's character. Both are down to earth guys working on a farm, but Baz is the conduit for Mark's pranks and Baz feels used. As we say in South Africa, "Ag shame man!" I laughed. If that was your intent, you succeeded. But, there is a cul- du - sac of a genius at work here. Look at the story carefully. I did, and I was like Wow! As an editor, I would usually spot over- usage of a character's name and flog the writer for not using pronouns. In this case I realized there is something cynical to the way Baz repeats Mark's name, and that is due to ANGER. He's not at all pleased. I would not be pleased! Another moment of genius is this; it doesn't matter that the receiver of these pranks is Baz, if he were to leave, Mark would cause someone else to endure his silliness. But, there is one line that caught me, and it is that his father was a prankster too. Hereditory. I laughed. All which goes to prove that there is more to this piece than meets the eye. The last prank, the last line, brilliant. A direct link to the theme of the anthology. It got me thinking. If this prank was not set up by Mark, then who? There are no other characters in the story. This got me thinking; Mark is now heading in another direction with his pranks. He's leading Baz into the twilight world called Insanity. It happens so often in real life where a person is set off course. Employ me, Mark. I'm ready for you. I'll set you right!

John Steinbeck died in 1968 ... ?

There is a strange aesthetic to this work that I can only describe as mercenary to the theme of the Spring Anthology. Two words drew me to the work, and those words make up the title, The Room. At once, the title attracted me to it and I was hoping to read a dramatic discourse, a framed moment in time of an event inside a room, not just any room, but this room, The Room. I wanted suspense, perhaps horror, I wanted drama, perhaps a little fantasy. I wanted something like Stephen King’s, Room 1408. To my utter amazement, I got more. Johnathan Colourfield’s story is based on something that may have happened to him for he admits that this is a “very personal experience”. There is the smell of volcanic ash. It is dark. There are voices; a child’s voice. There is a light. He is tied to a chair in a dark Victorian room with a bed and a TV set. There are nursery rhymes. One thing is clear, a house had been set alight. In the tradition of Virginia Andrews, the suspense builds up as the reader seeks a valid conclusion, because the author has drawn him in by using second person narrative. Using second person narrative is surreal, and there is a definite trend towards incorporating it into popular fiction. The second person viewpoint is often seen in experimental writing, cult or art novels, for example, in “Bright Lights, Big City” by Jay McIniery. Second person creates an almost intrusive intimacy, and is most effective when used in the present tense. The author wants to make his reader uncomfortable. He places the reader in the middle of the action, a witness to the events in the story. Johnathan manages this narrative extremely well, although there are breaks in present tense when he suddenly moves to simple past tense. A gremlin in the editing process I would imagine. But, by using second person narrative, he deliberately makes the reader the victim, so to speak. The Room is nightmarish. The YOU is bordering on dark insanity. There are nuances of blame for the fire, for the voice asks a question, “Why did you do it?” The tale leaves enough space for the reader to formulate his own views. But if the reader has taken note of the nursery rhyme and the newspaper report, it will become evident that the man is the victim, and maybe, just maybe, this is a hate crime. And maybe, just maybe, the entire story is based on hypnotic regression? Nothing is as it should be in this story. So many questions. No available answers. This is precisely why I mentioned in the beginning of the review, that The Room has a strange beauty that is mercenary. The prose is beautifully constructed. The sentences are clear and cut to the bone. This ismade deliberately to heighten the drama, and the darkness of the piece. I was pleasantly surprised by the execution of the prose itself. Masterful. If I did not know that Johnathan wrote it, I would have assumed it to have been written by Edgar Allen Poe, or maybe even Virginia Wolf, all artistes of dark prose. To paraphrase The Room. Enter. YOU will be scared shitless. The rest is up to YOU. Hopefully, YOU will awake from YOUR nightmare.

Clue for author and title?

Oscar Wilde! You can't be serious. Okay I checked my reference works on OW. I have The Golden Heritage Series of the Works of Oscar Wilde in my study. The Decay of Lying. An observation. From Intentions. A discourse on the nature of art and literature and other things inbetween between Cyril and Vivian. Yes?

JWolf understands the edge. And, in this short thriller, he doesn’t waste words. Every word transports the reader to a place where there is no turning back and the reader is suddenly, inextricably, sucked in. Nowhere Man is a dark escape into one man’s reality. But that is not the sum of the story. Every action has a reaction. Note, not an equal and opposite, but every cause has an effect, and this is clear from the time you start reading, to the time you finish. Every scene, every chapter of Nowhere Man is suffused with action and drama born out of a conflict that leads to disaster. One thing is absolutely certain, Mr Wolf is not afraid of the edge, and he places his reader, without too much interior thought, straight into it with him. Travis lives in a trailer park with his brother and his wife, stuck in a nowhere place. Life is humdrum in the park, until he meets the tattooed Tyler Lafferty. Lafferty is one serious hunk of a man who likes to sing a song called “nowhere man” and Travis is drawn to him, both mentally and sexually. Lafferty plays him like putty in his fingers even to the point of stalking him. But Lafferty isn’t enough for Travis. The young man’s seclusion leads him to meet a man called Wade. And this is where the trouble starts. It becomes apparent that nothing is what it seems, and when Lafferty confesses to Travis that he had murdered his wife, it is too late to turn back. Travis is unable to withdraw, and it is this inability that leads him closer and closer to the edge of his own sanity. Only a miracle can save Travis. That, or murder. Lafferty is conspicuous in his stalking of Travis. “I pulled up to the trailer, closed the door to the truck behind me and was ready to creep into the house and pass out. Morning would be here before I knew it. ”Need a light?” I heard from behind me as I approached the stoop. I turned around and put familiar face to familiar name. Tyler was standing right there, flicking a Bic lighter on and off and glaring at me with an expression I didn’t quite understand.” I recommend Nowhere Man as a rollercoaster of a read. It has a well-constructed plot that will not bore. The reader is hooked from the first word through scenes of action and reaction and the heat is on from the very first line. But the hook in Nowhere Man has several levels. It is real and it is imagined. It is internal and external. It is both positive and negative. There is an underlying threat of impending doom with every turn of the page, and Travis knows and understands the situation he is in and that it must be dealt with. The conflicts increase between Travis and Lafferty and Wade, and Travis finds out all too late that the conflict has developed into a game. “Every sound made me nervous. Every branch click under my foot made me jump inside. Every owl hoot and holler made me look up into the trees. Every rustle made me wince.” Wolf increases the stakes at every turn and puts forces into place for the grand finale. The ending had me pulling my hair out, for I wanted this story to continue. It felt a little unresolved even though so many secrets had been revealed and so many questions had been answered.

Having only just discovered this author’s work, I find myself asking why it is I have not read him before. He has the ability to draw the reader in without shouting and whining. The words seem to roll along without any effort at all. It’s like taking a walk through a forest and discovering the soft dazzle of a dew drop, the silky strands of a spider’s web, or the strange moan of an animal one has never met. He writes in hues of peaceful yellow, and mixes his colours until he has a powerful blue and finally a dangerous red. He pulls the reader into these colours without a chance of escape. In short, he is a master of structure. He offers his reader a spellbinding experience through a rollercoaster of events and emotions that are difficult to shake off long after reading the last word. Jason and Patrick are 17 year old teens on their annual camping trip in the Wauskogee Park. It’s the middle of winter and it’s snowing. They spend their time reminiscing about old times and good times and have brought along all the equipment they require to make a winter camping trip comfortable. But, on the third day they find out that the area will soon be snowbound, and all too late they realise they will have to leave the site. Their friendship takes on a whole new aspect when, on their journey home, tragedy strikes. I read quickly and digest words as I would a good South African barbecue, which we call a braai. The cooking of this story deserves applause, not only because it was written as a class assignment some years ago, but also because the structure of the piece is near perfect. The writer’s intention in this piece, I believe, is to deliver an act of heroism where the hero is not fearful of losing his life through his actions. I also believe, that if the author could have, he would have made this a gay story; however, there are references to a deeper relationship between the teens that compelled me to read more, just to find out. The author has given the reader two characters that are not just anybody. I believe readers want to read about people that tiptoe, and stroll and sprint through a story. Sunny, foggy and gusty characters. Mr. Smith delivers. He writes using the senses of sight, and touch and sound. He writes about characters that have faults and are able to evoke in the reader some measure of emotional response by the way they talk and walk. He paces this story through dialogue and flowing action, and this allows the story to develop until the very last word. He keeps his sentences in check. They are sharp and clean. “After he successfully removed most of the glass, he started crawling his way out the window. He screamed in agony when he tried putting weight on his broken ankle. It felt as though someone were crushing the bone between two boulders every time he put any amount of pressure on it.” But for me, the most compelling part of the story is the nauseating feeling that maybe, just maybe, neither of the lads will survive. BLIZZARD is like a wild gust of wind. I recommend it to any reader who loves a thrill and an adventure. These are two teens that any teenaged boy will identify with as they approach the crossroads of their lives.

Im seeing poverty, sin, misery and shame here . Wooohooo. Is the author british or american? This one is a stumper .

Like that helps lol eish so is the author of this classic Russian?

Is this a classic?

Spot on and its an awesome awesome awesome novel that had me in tears for days. The best gay book i have ever read. Over to you frostina

Okay then the rules are: 1 No more than two questions per post: who is the author/ which book? Movie? Actor? Etc 2 Clues are allowed, no more than five. 3 questions are allowed, no more than five 4 no googling 5 if no answer after five hints or questions, the poster must reveal the answer and has the privelege of posting another poser. 6 the posers should not be too difficult, but not too easy. Is this fair? To continue and seeing i got eyes of the dragons ... Hehehe The following is part of a review of the book... Title and author please... After a marriage that concluded on the unhappiest term, and a scandal brought on by an infatuated student that led to his resignation as a track coach from Penn State, Harlan Brown resorts into a solitude that risks an emotional death. But he harbors a secret—a stigma really—that he carefully safeguards and clings on to the hope that this human stain will dissolve over time. When he accepts the job as the head coach at Prescott four years later, no sooner is he convinced of the quiet death of his futile fantasies than Billy Sive, one of the three gay runners whom Oregon expelled on account of inappropriate behavior and whom Prescott sanctions, comes and turns his world upside down.

Ok guys i was thinking about having some rules here. Any suggestions. I was thinking if we don 't know the answer right away, we could maybe ask up to five questions each. Googling makes it far too easy so maybe no googling. ?????

The eyes of the dragon .. In my shop. Hehehe .... Dont dare ask for the page number. Am i right?

Action packed. Enjoyed the read. Pacing perfect. One criticism only: the just word is very repetitive. Characters are well thought out. A normal guy in love someone we can all identify with, and another guy who is larger than life. The setting is perfect. I like all those gadgets and hidden spaces. The mountains always add to drama. Mechanics. I liked the way you SHOW and not simply TELL. Sure there are Gremlins but a good editor could point them out to you. As the writer you are IN it so its difficult to notice a gremlin. There are not many. You don't waste words and in a thriller pacing and choosing the right word is paramount. The dialogue does what it is supposed to do, that is move the story forward and show character. All in all a fabulous effort. Thankyou.

Eish! Okay here goes... Poppies on plains procreate yearly! SNARE