Dannsar

Sooooo happy for the three of you. Just fantastic. Can I also add a wee note to the nice lady who gave up part of her life to give you both this wee bundle of joy, beatiful, beautiful joy. Have you decided on the name yet? I know you had one in mind ... but is it confirmed? xx D

Aw that's just orrible And why did they have to skip tsk tsk lol

There is definitely a difference on a continuum from active hiding through passive hiding, passive showing, active showing. There should even be a militant variety on each end too. My problem is not with the passives who are hiding or showing. It's with the actives. Active hiding is, in my opinion, stupid. You need to be honest and have some backbone, otherwise you prolong your own misery and that of the next generation. And if you declare aversion and criticism to alternative sexualities in the active hiding scenario ... I will out you. And I don't give a flying fig about the moral arguments. You are basically oppressing others on the basis of your own sexuality. Passives though, can possibly be further subdivided. There is a difference in not discussing your husband, for instance by avoiding the topic (my hubby does this to an extent, but he doesn't like going to the local shop, now, because they know his name!), and not discussing your hubby because it doesn't come up. I am not keen on the former, but it seems reasonable if you have a homophobe in your workplace, though I still think it's stupid. As for the latter, well, that seems to me as just being the sort of person whose identity, or more accurately, life mode, is not solely defined by your sexuality. And I can't see what's wrong with that. This could be teased out further to make a philosophical argument about it, but it would be rather pointless, because at the end of it all, you come back to the basic fact of not hiding it by action. It is everybody's right to express which parts of their own personality they want to as they see fit. But I hate liars. And I hate bullies. And when liars are also bullies, they are fair game for the active outing gun!

Jings, that's amazing! I was going to suggest taking the four favourites each from this year's anthos for a compilation!

For the hubby issue, I can sympathise ... or at least my hubby can. He sleeps in one position all night. I rotate on a constant basis. I eventually built myself a bed wide enough to take a single and a double mattress. He's on the single, I'm on the double. Makes a great playground too As for the depth of your sleep, I wouldn't worry too much. If you're not constantly tired, then there isn't a problem. If you are tired, well: As you know, I am autistic, with sensory hypersensitivities. Basically, I am nearly always hot. And when I'm not, I don't actually feel the cold. I used to sleep naked and it turns out that part of my sleep problem was that I was being woken up by the cold. I just didn't realise cos it doesn't register. So ... are you too hot, too cold, too ... My father can't sleep with his shoulders under the covers ... but the man would sleep his life away if he had nothing else to do! Noise can be a distraction, but there are ways of interfering with that. Is your bedroom very bare? Is it carpeted? Is it double glazed? A more cluttered room will absorb more sounds and they will impact less on you. If the room has hollow walls, try filling them with loft insulation, as that is a good muffler. I used to use music, but have used the radio for years now. I had a pillow speaker that I built for myself out of old pc speakers. They give you some noise, and talk radio is usually level enough not to jar at its interchanges. Some other autists use white noise to block other stuff out. That may help, but be aware that it may also keep your brain working while you sleep and cut down the restfulness. However, give it a try with a radio detuned. I use my ipad under the pillow now with radio through the internet. That has helped recently. I used to have one hell of a job getting to sleep. I modified a technique my mother gave me on muscle relaxation, as my problem is that I can't turm my head off. Basically, the sleep centre and the life force are located in front of the wee knob at the back of your head, though a bit deeper in. Your brain is in sort of segments, like lobes etc. I treat it as one series of modules from the top of my head in three segments going backwards on each side = 6 + the sleep/life centre. Starting at the front left segment I consciously relax it. Now, the brain is not a relaxable muscle in that way, but I think what happens is I get the sensation of relaxation from the scalp muscles. Whatever, it does also relax and distract my brain. I then work on the opposite segment and so on back to the core bit. After a couple of weeks when I started this, I found it easier to get to sleep and stay asleep. That might help you too. Added to that, you need to understand that sleep is a skill not a talent. It needs to be learned. Sleep doctors talk of sleep hygiene, sleep routines, and bedrooms being for sleeping only (yeah, they're eunuchs, right!) But they do have a point. Which is why the technique above is so useful. It teaches your brain to go to sleep. So if you do wake up, eventually you will be able to get back to sleep much more easily. Also think about the temperature in your bedroom. Is it too low or high. Is there sufficient oxygen, as low oxygen levels will affect your ability to stay asleep. How is your breathing? Is it good, or less good when you lie down. Is your lung function good. You can get this tested at the doctorquite easily. The last thing to say is food. Everyone knows the caffeine thing, although they may not always know where it is. But changing from an evening main meal to a lunchtime one, really helped me. My body is not churning food and burning energy when I am trying to sleep. Vitamin levels are also important apparently. Lecture over. Must go and edit the antho submission for winter. Boyfriend says its not as good as my last two stories. Too fluffy. Me! Fluffy? Hurrumph!

All I can suggest is that you get out from under my bed and get into your own. Oh, and take your hubby with you. He snores!

Well, I think this is probably the best solution all round. Friends is definitely better. Good luck. Now find yourself a man and see how that feels!

Maria ... read my novel ... it deals with a committed threesome ... which is why it's called Troika!

Lordy, thank goodness I don't get that. How trying for you! Added to which, I love cherry tomatoes, but my tongue always burns and goes painful and lumpy if I eat raw tomatoes

Being human means there are no rules. Monogamy is for security. Open relationships work if both parties can accept the parameters they both agree on. If there are no parameters, this would indicate there is either no reationship to be open about, or it has never been discussed. In the latter scenario, again, there is either no relationship, or someone is 'cheating'. I'm not in an open relationship, but I do see other guys infrequently for sex, as my sexual compatibility with my bf ( together 15 yrs, married 5) is not that strong. Our relationship is physical enough not to matter, but is very emotionally and intellectually based. We are very much in love. He does not do anything physical with anybody else, and says explicitly that he does not want an open relationship. How does that add up? I was honest and respectful enough to ask permission to have one or two fuck buddies. He consented after a bit of a discussion. But I would never have done it without discussion beforehand. It can work. It's not for everyone. And it needs agreement, even if only tacit. Otherwise, it's abuse of trust imo. Monogamy is not our natural state, otherwise we would mate for life like swans and other animals do. There again, polygamy is not a 'natural state' in that it is not the only state humans can adopt. Monogamy has security and health benefits. But don't ever believe that it is a given. And also don't ever believe that it is just men who seek their sex elsewhere. It is estimated, based upon recent research, that as many as one third of children in the UK are born to fathers who are not biologically theirs. Therefore, women are just as needful of alternatives from time to time. It is also genetically imprudent to be monogamous from a species point of view, as the more varied the parentages in a species, the greater the genetic strength. As for open relationships, consider clearly why you might want one. And also consider honestly why you might object. If your reason to object to a proposal of open relationship is based most strongly upon what society thinks of it, then you are trapping yourself outside what might be best for the longevity of your relationship, and the mental health of your partner. On the other hand the opposite may also be true for either of you. At the end of the day, does it really say that you are not enough for him if he gets a bit drunk and has a quickie with a co-worker at the office party? Not necessarily, methinks. People get horny, for gods sakes. You cannot expect to be enough for him if you are not there, then, when his dick is hard and needy. And should you really expect to be enough for him? That's a lot to carry. Just as much as it is for him to carry, if perhaps you are not, in any particular department. If you are not, that's not a reason to consider yourself or your partner deficient. Just not a perfect fit. Perfect fits are a myth btw. And remember, too: you are in a relationship with him. You do not own him. His body is his responsibility, and the maintenance of it, and his mind, may need some tinkering and engineering that you cannot offer. Is he to let it all go to hell just to satisfy your selfish notions of what is the only way to go? That is rather a lot to ask of a person, when you really think about it. Doesn't mean it's not possible, of course. But its possibility does not preclude the viability of open relationships at whatever degree you might want to suggest. I'll bet what you like some may think that this is all just some manipulative argument to allow getting one's end away whenever one feels like it. Well, it's not. If you love someone that much you should be interested in cutting some slack where necessary, just the same as not cutting yourself too much slack if your partner has too much of a problem with it. Compromise, people, means couple specific solutions, not hard and fast rules. Partnership is a faith, not a religion.

Eh?! What does ketchup do for leg cramps? That sounds amazing lol

Never having read any of these stories I don't want to speak out of turn. However, it strikes me that if there is going to be a narrator change, and there is a plot impediment to the potential candidates, then the solution may just be to take a short pause from character narrators and change to an omniscient authorial narrator meantime. As I say, I haven't read the stories, so this solution might not work for this example, but please don't hit me!

Yup. Graeme does what is a fairly time comsuming job on this, so and and thanks!

If that's hope, I refer you to Private Fraser in Dad's Army! Actually, my father had the best advice on ketchup ... good food doesn't need it, bad food doesn't deserve it. ... Packaging problems solved!

Happy Birthday, Mr.. Hope it was a wildone party!

I, too, will need to re-read this. And I'm sure several times, to get it. I think it may just be beyond me though. Poetic sensibility was left off the manifest when I was delivered in 1966. But I do think it deserves a lot of re-reading. Like any artwork it needs engagement. I liked the idea of animation, though I felt a little defeated at not having that explained a little bit. For some reason, too, I felt a slight sense of ... well, pornography is the wrong word ... perhaps burlesque, or voyeurism. Animate number one seemed so like a command to start the dancing girl. Actually, there may also be something surrealist here. There is an odd sort of Dalian feel. Very thought provoking, but not very satisfying - in the best sense!

It is encumbent on reviewers to say somethjng good about a story, because there is very rarely a piece of work that is without merit. Luckily for you, the one thing that can be said of this story is a very big one. It's a great idea. But unfortunately, that is as far as it goes. The punctuation, the grammar, the language, the pacing, the plot cockups, the malapropisms, the lack of characterisation, the lack of narrative development, all combined to make this a terrible waste of time on your part. It's a great idea, perhaps not that hugely original, but in the main the plot devices are new to me, at least. For me, the summation of it all lies in the word throw. You used this, misspelling it from threw, and that was a misspelling of through. A misspelling of a misspelling! That's pretty original, but utterly self defeating. Get an editor, and have a closer look at it all yourself. Otherwise, you are going to get nowhere, and that would be a shame for a creative mind.

A fair bit of constructive criticism, there, JC. Some of it may be warranted, I'm not sure, to be honest. I think I got the structural point easily enough, so that by the second falling asleep I knew we were on a repetition (I don't usually read the intro's, just scan them for keywords), so I was willing to go on with it on that basis. I was also lost with the woman. I'd never heard of her before (my ignorance ), but I did find that part a bit interrupting to the story. However, all of that said, you kept the structure just right. I'm not sure it was 'a certain perverse pleasure' at all, ya wee kink! I think it was basic sadomasochism! Almost like the latest Torchwood scenario (ain't you the prescient one!). I was really chuffed that it was Gabriel, for some weird reason, and like a true bad boy, you managed to make him awful in one way, but well fanciable in another. Good work ... now go back and edit it!

Hmm, I don't know whether to be intrigued or just hugely pissed off This is not a short story, but a prequel (?) with a beginning, middle, end, preface, and beginning. I never read uncompleted stories, so I was well pissed of by the time it was done, Frosty. Which is sad, cos you write so well. That duel scene was magnificent. The world creation was extremely good. The characterisations were excellent. But to have to get to the reviews to find it is a piece of prequel fan-fic is annoying in the extreme. It says completed. It doesn't mention in the notes that it is fan-fic. I'm sorry, but I'm well pissed off. It's like walking up on a down escalator, only to finally get to the top and find there is nothing but an abyss to fall into. I don't know anything about Stuby's novel, and I'm sure it's great, and maybe it is earth situated. But I felt really shortchanged when we got to the end to find that the new Messiah was an earthling. Personally, I had anticipated something else. Sorry to be so negative. And I'm actually quite angry that I have been made so negative. This story has absolutely everything going for it: a great idea, a great writer, a great plot, a great universe, a great set of characters; but it has been stripped of its point. :

You don't trust him ... you're close to terminal. You spy on him ... he's unlikely to trust you. If he's not at it, he'll never trust you again. If he is, fire his ass. You haven't said what gives you reason to think this (not that you have to!). I'd probe gently to find out what the facts are about the inconsistencies you have noticed. If he gets all defensive or stuttery, then ask him outright. I don't like this, but it's no worse than a spy cam ... check his text messages on his phone if you're that paranoid. It's a serious invasion of privacy, but a spy cam is too, and is also probably illegal, to say nothing of a serious bugger to operate, review, etc. A climate of suspicion is corrosive and pointless ... talk to him!

Nephy, good story, well written, not exactly the ending I had imagined, either But there's a gap somewhere, and I'm not sure what it is. Perhaps a bit more familiarity for Jack and Will? Whatever. I think Frosty said Arial will break from Asta eventually ... I hope he just breaks him into pieces! Your scene setting is brilliant. I have a real feel for that room. It is bleak and cold and bare inside as the mountain is blaneted snd frigid outside, Really great. A question, though ... is this really incest? I mean, Arial was not remotely willing. It just seemed to me to be rape, pure and simple. It's a philosophical question I suppose, but hey ho. Good job!

Weeeeeell, I'm reading the anthology in order and this is easily the best yet. The writing is as wonky as f**k at times , but I gotta say, what an incredible story, and a real page turner. The duplicate of a doppleganger - a mirror, and resurgent memories - an alternative self or even the other half, is a clever device. I wonder .. is Talia Jess' doppleganger, or even a hint at one, and Jess didn't like what she saw? There's lots of questions thrown up in these characters which are useful for life. Combined with a speedy wee tale, and well drawn situations and people, this was just terrific.

There's no ifs, shoulds, maybes etc about it. This must continue. However, for believability, Tucker needs to develop his personality and become more forceful, and a little more aloof, perhaps, acting without reference to Stellian. It's clear why you have constructed it this way here ... he has just left a dominance universe and has no knowledge of his powers. And while that's very proper, Tucker is going to get to be one irritating wuss if he continues to be so full of self doubt, and even that small degree of self loathing you seem to have given him. I'd like to see him and Stellian rolling each other over in a sexual sharing metaphorical sort of way, feeding each other, feeding off each other, learning from each other, but both with a sufficient touch of arrogance to push for their world view. They're both very good characters, but I didn't like their world, and I suspect that may have been something to do with the fact that their relationships are a stronger narrative thread than the world they inhabit. I haven't been able build up a picture in my head really, except for the bar, which I really liked. And I also don't have enough of a sense of their bodily forms, either as humans or wolves, yet. I still don't feel I am attracted to Tucker sufficiently to want to mate with him. As characters they are not yet resolved sufficiently to properly bond to. I'd reference Maria's 'No Tomorrow' here for management of the transformation descriptions, which she made beautifully clear. I get the sense this was finished under the cosh, somewhat. There's things I think you might have seen if you had left it a week. There's also an uncharacteristically high degree of typos ... and even a couple of your own old favourite ... comma cockups. There was one sentence with a comma apparently missing which stalled me for ages. I had to continually re-read it to work out what was going on; the whole lup / lups / lupe / lupes thing I found confusing, and; the telephone conversation had no resolved notion of who was speaking to who, what their knowledge of Tucker was. I've said a lot which seems critical here. I suppose I am really just working through frustrations on what I think is a brilliant idea with masses of potential. It's a great story and the elements are there for a whole series of murder mystery and other conflict driven scenarios. It suggests a similar structural paradigm to Rilbur's 'Sword Of Light' in the 2011 novella contest. I'd definitely like to see more.

It's a curious thing, both practically and intellectually, that the writing of this little elegy actually, on the one hand, denotes the father figure as a legend in the making, so to be, and; on the other hand, sets him down in history, and therefore makes a legend of him. This is a really nice little piece, written in an uncluttered sort of way, almost naive, but certainly simple. I heard a man talking on the radio tonight, reiterating that children often give you the truth as of fact, without the clutter of interposing narratives. This piece was rather like that. I suppose, however, that I was a little disturbed, though, that you seemed to be denying the status of legend to the father, almost on behalf of the daughter. This brings an added dimension of interest, because it is contrary to the sentiment of the poem, even while existing. That in itself makes it a more provocative read, and further invigorates the question "why not?". Actually, I think I'll put this in the discussion too, to see what others think. Meantime, thanks for this Krista. I'm currently embroidering a pillow for a baby due on December 27th, so my head is kinda in this space atm in other ways. Nice piece.

Aye, the parents were a bit too cool, but what the hell! This was a proppa story. Great fun, not too much angst, just the right amount of improbability, characters with personalities to like, and a plot that seemed to keep coming out of nowhere. (This is probably the first 'ninja plot' ever ) There were a couple of times I got a wee tad lost, but I think one of those might have been a typo. Great read, though. Thank you! /me wanders off muttering to self "now, if I could just get my mother to pull a wheelie ..."