AFriendlyFace

Great to see you around and doing well, Dom Kevin

Eric, this is awesome!! I'm so happy for you!

Well, Chase definitely isn't since Brandon specifically called him and told him to call of the search party. Which incidentally might make their position look even more compromising! Certainly I surprise chapter!

Have a very happy and special birthday, Anna!

Awww thanks everyone! This thread really means alot to me I just wanted to let everyone know that I am fine, but very busy. I know I shouldn't run off without letting people know, but I didn't intend to be away for so long and I sort of lost track of time. Basically, things are extremely busy at work, I've been dating and going out a bit more lately, I'm doing some minor redecorating and home improvement, and several of my friends seem to be going through rocky patches all at once and I'm doing my best to be supportive. Apart from all that my internet and computer situations have been a nightmare. My provider sucks! At one point immediately AFTER my internet was restored (and after I logged on last time) my connection fizzled out again and they didn't fix it for over a week! They were already backlogged from the storm and my schedule made it difficult to find a time for them to come and do it. Anyway, my computer itself is on last leg; it only turns on about half the time and it's slow and full of pop up errors when it is working. Getting a new one is definitely on my list, but unfortunately with everything else that's been going on it isn't quite at the top of that list. Anyway, I hope to be around a little bit for the next few weeks, sort of lurking and posting randomly, and hopefully after that things will be settled down and return to normal. In the meantime I haven't had much time to write, but I do have quite a few ideas and plans I'm even toying with the idea of writing a non-fiction book that I might try to get published. Thanks again for all the well wishes and I'm sorry if I worried anyone. Take care all and have an awesome day! -Kevin

Yeah, this sums it up nicely. I must say I'm quite disappointed that Clay finally came out. He was my standby 'see what a joke you can turn yourself into when everyone knows your gay and you won't admit it' example. At this point he has a long way to go before he can be respectable or expect to be taken seriously, but at least he's finally on the right track.

Hi all Just wanted to let everyone know that I was safe and sound Things are still a bit hectic around here and I probably won't be on much for awhile, but it's okay and I'll tell you all about it when I get back -Kevin

Hi all, Just wanted to let everyone know that I probably wouldn't be online for the next few days, possibly week or so. They're anticipating that hurricane Ike will make a direct hit on Houston and I likely will lose power for awhile. The last time I was in a major hurricane (Katrina, back when I lived in Baton Rouge), I didn't have electricity for a week. So I'll be fine, but I probably won't be around. In the meantime feel free to leave comments! They'll make me happy when I get back, lol Take care and be safe all! -Kevin

Hey Tiff! I think you're very right; parental acceptance and support is very crucial in the coming out process. Sometimes the lack thereof can be off-set by having a strong support system of friends or other family members. Lee definitely didn't have the benefit of either of these things. Thanks! I was hoping it was coming off as too 'preachy' or anything. I also felt like it was important at the end to show Andrew as a good parent as well to sort of 'complete things' and show that Joyce's impact was enduring. Wow, thanks Kit! I really appreciate that! I was definitely trying to emotionally engage the readers with this one. To be honest, Joyce's death took me off guard as well. This is the absolute least premeditated story I've ever written. I usually know almost exactly what's going to happen before I write it. This time I just went with the flow and allowed the story to 'write itself'. Joyce was always meant to be the hero of the story, but her death was somewhat 'spur of the moment' if you will. I really didn't know it was going to happen until I got to the scene, but by that point I felt like it fit better than anything else I could come up with. As I said, there was that same prior uncertainness with David. As I mentioned before I was somewhat tempted to make him the benevolent incarnation of David Goldberg. I was also tempted to make him a stronger 'love interest' for Andrew. In the end though it felt right as it was. Similarly Evelyn was a bit of an enigma to me. I wasn't certain ahead of time how large a role she would play. I think her part in the story was important though. I definitely wouldn't have let Joyce die if I hadn't established a strong, accepting grandmother who would presumably raise Andrew. Actually, the story became very different from the original concept. Before I started getting it down on paper (or rather the computer screen), I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to make Lee the ultimate villain or an ultimate good guy. I considered having him overcome his internalized homophobia to save Andrew from a gay bashing. In the initial concept, before I'd even decided that they were all be related, I'd even considered having Andrew die and sort of making Lee a love interest. In the end though, once I started writing the story, it flowed very firmly in the direction in which it took. I wasn't always sure where it would take me, but it seemed to know and was very determined in heading in that direction. As I said, this is the most free-range I've ever allowed one of my stories. Thanks! I'm glad it had that aftereffect! Regarding the principals' visits aspect...well, I definitely think a principal's visit would have occurred for Lee. He was in a small town, and I imagined him in the 50s actually. For a small town in the 50s I think something as 'scandalous' as what happened would have warranted a principal's visit. For Andrew it's more of a stretch. That's why I tried to include the remarks about Andrew's exemplary grades and skill at baseball. Basically, I wanted to imply that Joyce and his principal had established an at least partially personal, cordial relationship and that Andrew's previous excellent behaviour and the high regard in which he and Joyce would have been held would have resulted in the principal deciding to make it more personal and gentle by paying Joyce a visit. Thanks Kit! I really appreciate it Woo hoo!! Thank you, Steve! I was wondering if I'd managed to actually successfully scare anyone. It was meant to be a very suspenseful, unnerving piece. I was trying to gradually build the tension and anxiety up to a fever pitch which culminated in Lee's physical transcendence and Andrew walking into the room and seeing him. I also wanted to convey to the readers that my characters were not safe. I didn't want to kill or hurt them superfluously by any means, but anything could have happened (as long as I felt it was consistent and powerful). I didn't want readers to get to the end of the story and know ahead of time that Andrew would somehow pull through. He really might not have. As I said, I was actually imagining them in the 50s. I messed with the timeline a bit. In fact that was one of the only fairly major things I changed. It was actually because of Evelyn. I wanted her to serve as that bridge between the two times, but settling on an approximate age, and even the link itself, was more difficult. In fact I even sat down with a pen and paper and crunched some numbers to come up with her age, as well as Joyce's and Audrey's, at each point in the story. The characters definitely were highly similar, indeed almost exact images of each other. I really wanted to explore the concept that Andrew could have ended up like Lee if he'd grown up in similar circumstances. I also wanted to explore the notion that Joyce could actually have ended up with Audrey under conditions similar to her own. In many ways it does go back to Evelyn in that regard. She was a good and supportive mother to Joyce. She accepted her daughters' teenage pregnancy (and it would have been at least slightly harder for Joyce's generation versus Andrew's for example) and supported and nurtured her. As a result Joyce grew into the kind of affirming, dedicated mother that she turned out to be, and all the love and protection Andrew received translated into him in turn growing up to be a good father. It was really Evelyn who broke the cycle. Evidence suggests that Margret wasn't all that warm or supportive a mother so how did these qualities become ingrained in Evelyn? I don't really have the answer. I suspect that her younger age and perhaps her mother's gradual mellowing played a role. I also think that she might have always been a more free-thinking, contrarian. Finally, I think it helped that unlike Audrey, Lee, Joyce, or Andrew she didn't really have to go against society's mores. She could more subtly subvert them without bearing the brunt of them. That's a great point! For awhile I considered allowing Joyce to act as the impetus for a more thorough redemption of Lee. Up until she saw them both at the bottom of the stairs, and was struck by how similar they looked, I wasn't sure if she would 'love' Lee or fight him. When he hurt Andrew in front of her his fate was sealed. Thank you very much, Steve! I really appreciate the comments, you guys! This story was quite special to me and it's definitely my favourite non-serial -Kevin

Wow! So then do you mean to say that no one could independently arrive at homophobia through strictly internal processes? What an interesting idea! I think that's heavily contingent on the concept that people have an innate, natural inclination toward acceptance or effective internal reasoning. I personally don't think that's the case. I think that many people will naturally conclude that different = bad. In that way I think homophobia, racism, sexism, xenophobia, etc. may indeed be innate for some people. The classic refuting argument is that very young children and babies don't have such feelings. That just isn't quite enough to convince me. Children have lots of natural inclinations that, while often very cute, are completely fallacious and stupid. I'd like to think that it was the case that these babies had a sophisticated innate system of meritorious values, but it seems more likely to me that they simply haven't thought about such things and are incapable of so doing. I think what it really comes down to is whether or not children learn to embrace differences and diversity or whether or not they are taught that different = inferior or dangerous. If they aren't 'taught' anything I think there's a good chance they'll conclude that diversity is fine, but I think there's also a good chance that they'll conclude that it isn't. I think it'll depend on other experiences and the way they rationalize and process them. (I like peanut butter. I always eat peanut butter. One day I tried jelly. It was good. So different = good. OR I like peanut butter. I always eat peanut butter. One day I tried apple sauce. It was nasty. So different = bad. But really a sum of many such experiences which may be more meaningful and significant.) Personally, although I grew up in a very homogeneous environment I always received a very strong message that it was okay to be different and that diversity was a good thing. So I very easily carried that over to concluding that homosexuality was a good thing. Undoubtedly this is also why I'm accepting on virtually all over points as well, and probably why I'm also something of a moral relativist myself. Having a different opinion or set of values from me doesn't make someone 'wrong' or a bad person. It just makes them different which is fine. Thus I tend to be very opinionated about my own beliefs and values, but readily tolerate other peoples' even if they conflict with my own. So yeah, I think this all comes down to how someone comes to view 'different'.

Wow! I hadn't considered that at all! I guess that might explain why Austin knew Matt since Matt and Tony are friends. But, hmmm, I'm not completely convinced. Weren't Tony and Austin rude to each other at the beginning of the piece? Wasn't Austin genuinely concerned about how Tony and the others would react to seeing him?

This was an excellent story! It really resonated with me. I have so many people in my past that I'm just that way with. We have all these shared, happy memories, but what do we really have in common anymore? I've even wondered if perhaps, like Oscar and Patrick, some of us have things in common we weren't aware of as children. In any case it felt very real and very well-done! I thoroughly enjoyed it! -Kevin

Eh, I know I keep missing the point of this thread, but here's another very amusing gay song: It's ok to be gay

How nice that we all get a present from someone else's birthday Have a fantastic day and a terrific year! -Kevin

This is a really awesome batch of stories! I'm very grateful to all the authors and editors who contributed, and especially to Graeme (who I should add also produced a story, and a top-notch one at that ) and Steph for their hard work. It was also a pleasure doing reviews with Tim To the readers, thank you very much for reading and giving us all a reason to write! LOL, now go read everyone!

I always feel like I'm wracking my brains when I'm trying to think of a character name. Every time I come up with a new story the ideas and general plotline come easily, but I'm tortured trying to come up with names. I tend to be a pretty careful reader (translation: slow and methodical). I don't scan or skim at all so similar names rarely confuse me. I have noticed though that it also seems to work the other way. The author seems more likely to accidentally type the wrong one if they're too similar. On the twins point, it feels very uncomfortable to me to have twins with completely dissimilar names. Slightly less so if it's a male/female set, but if it's male/male or female/female I'm very put off by names that don't 'fit together' in any way. It doesn't have to be something as similar as 'Tim and Tom' or 'Brett and Brent' as in the examples. I'm fine with 'Ray and Faye' or 'Noah and Jonah' or indeed 'Tyler and Kyle" (the 'yle' spelling is close enough), but something like 'Jane and Susan' just wouldn't float for me as a set of well-named twins. Personally, I even prefer for siblings to have somewhat related names. Any of the above would work where the sound or spelling has something in common, but in general 'Michael, Michelle, and Max' would be great or 'Adam, Bobby, and Cindy'. (or 'Erica, Frank, and Gus' or 'Peter, Quinn, and Robyn'). Those sorts of things I don't find problematic in terms of similarity at all. 'Michael, Michelle, and Max' may all be M's, but they look and sound pretty different, but collectively they still make me thing 'siblings'. The other examples are even more individually different but still work nicely as a set. LOL, personally I've known more than a couple of 'Padma's' I like these names alot, especially 'Tyler'. I don't really think of 'Kyle' as a gay name though. I think of it more as a straight name actually. I've read several stories with gay Kyle's, but I still think of it as a straight name. That makes a lot of sense and I completely agree!

I wanted to be a veterinarian...I settled for being a vegetarian instead

Oh no! If it means doing other software updates I shan't bother at all. I can't stand doing those! ...LOL, my approach to software updates is to ignore them until I'm absolutely forced to do them. Thanks for the warning, Kurt!

Happy Birthday, Conner! I hope you have a fantastic day and an absolutely stupendous year! That looks delicious! I love colourful frosting

Great pics, Anna! Well...since I don't know what they are I'm sure I wouldn't notice yours Anyway nice pic

Hmm, I'm not sure if I think they're hotter than Ron or not, but they're definitely hot! I love to kiss but I don't like kissing guys with facial hair. I don't like the way it looks personally, but even on guys that can pull the look off (and as I said I usually think guys look better without it. Some guys just don't look bad with it either, but they'd like look better without), I'm still uncomfortable with the idea of kissing them with it. I like to have a razor against it

Thanks for the info, Steph! My approach to new technology is almost always the same. I ignore it as long as possible, then once it's absolutely unavoidable I start using it and readily adapt. So if it becomes too big to ignore I might start using it Actually, for once my curiosity is piqued enough for me to be considering downloading it and having a look.

It does look like I missed it based on that quote...but I specifically remember not missing it. HMMMMM

...don't know what it is?