Dabeagle

I'm hoping that this is the turning point for him.

Ashton and Rowland appeared before. I sense foreshadowing.

Seeing his past is, somehow, like salt in the wounds.

Jeez. I know what I'm in for and I still read it. Ouch. Does this stuff linger with you? Do you suffer along with your characters?

So last year Amazon had this lightning deal, back in November, for a smartwatch. Now this thing wasn't high end - 90.00 new, but on special for just 25. So I thought, what the hell? I ordered it. It claimed to connect to android (it didn't) it's features didn't work. The instructions were in some broken, pig-English and would have been funny had they not been so frustrating. In fact, all I really had...was a watch. It told decent time and looks fancier than it is - in fact, that's the only reason I didn't return it. I did, however, leave a negative review on the item. Then, I checked out the other reviews (I know, should have done that first) and discovered that a very high number of five star reviews were from people who'd been given the watch as a freebie in exchange for a review (and a statement that even though they got the watch free, you should totally trust them. Or something.) I figure I'll give it to my kid at some point. I didn't think much about it until I got this in my email today. I didn't think you folks would believe me if you didn't read it yourself. I hope you find it as amusing as I did - do you have any funny customer service experiences? Hello customer, Thanks for the order very much! We see you bought a headset from us and meet some problems. It is very sorry for inconvenience you. Please kindly note that before you leaving a critical review, please contact us to let's solve the problems firstly. I am very sorry to see that you leave us a bad review. We are always want to do a great service to customer and do long-tern business on Amazon. Also, we have arranged the full refund to you, dear friend, I’m just a stuff, we will be deeply appreciated if you can help to delete the bad review and reply me your idea because customer's satisfaction is our first principal. You satisfaction and kind understanding would be a great encouragement for us. I can totally understand you as I am a consumer in our daily life. In order to avoid the possible problems to you customers, we are striving to improve ourselves in terms of service, quality, sourcing, etc. Also due to the New Year is coming, we will have a holiday, please understand us if we can’t reply on time, dear friend. Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns. We'll be more than glad to assist you. Have an Excellent day Catherine EasySMX Customer Service

Reminds me of something I think was called Empire by Ty, the guy that ran StormNation. He wrote...something in which the main character's name was Storm. I tried to do a site, but it appears StormNation is gone and the successor, StormVerse is as well.

Having been writing away from GA far more than having been 'brought up' here, I have always encouraged email feedback. It's very easy for writers to quit if their work seems to go up an a poof of no one noticed. I know people will give all sorts of reasons for you to write, and that may be fine for them; but I like to talk about them and what people liked or didn't. When stories fail to garner any interest, especially from the work that goes into making them, it can be very discouraging, even with as many years as I've been at this. So, yeah, I'd encourage you to reply to those emails - they don't last forever.

I played for years - I, too, will likely have to see it. I've moved on to SWTOR now.

Gee's short story 'Zombie Valentine' is one of my all time favorites - so worth reading!

That's a great little story - I could definitely see that as a scene in a larger work.

This was a nice, complete chapter. Completely enjoyed it.

I was planning my purchase today - I hope they make more!

I'm sure he'd have loved it, Sam. Thank you for sharing it.

I liked the character development, filling in some of the backstory but avoiding an info-dump.

That was a good start and left me curious about what happens next.

I used to play, ran a guild on Earthen Ring. I hated the Panda expansion and only leveled maybe three of my toons to max before I walked away. Played SWTOR, but I find I can't play time sink games and write - so play Civ most of the time, now, and do it for a day instead of weeks on end

In this genre there are a few ways that our characters come to terms with their sexuality, or acceptance of its fluidity. Sometimes they know right away they are one way, sometimes it's a slow realization or sometimes something happens and makes them question what they thought about themselves before. Growing up with any same sex attractions in a hetero-centric society can lead to lots of behaviors that are commonly classified as 'just trying to fit in' or maybe pack behavior. Perhaps you think about members of the opposite sex more because you're told you should than because you want to. Then, there when this happens. Great posting of a Reddit article where a college age fellow has an unexpected experience and turns to that community for advice. Read it here.

Thank you kindly, one and all. It's nice to have so many well wishers!

All beagles are cute. We simply have a tendency to grow fat in our old age

Oh my goodness, those pictures are so cute! Thank you so much for the birthday wishes!

Not a poetry fan, but I liked this. A lot.

I'm skeptical of remakes. While some things can always be done better with advanced tech, Tim Curry was inspired. I gave up on King after the Dark Tower ended, so I may not watch it anyway.

I have seen people that are so overweight, they pant just from the exertion of walking. Some can't. If they ate their way into that condition (it's not always a gland condition!) then I have no sympathy for them I think what stuns me here is her talk or 'rights' and 'deserving' and what she 'expects'. She's living off a system she never paid into, and she thinks she should get more? Also the logic of 'give me what I want and then I'll be motivated to xyz' is something my ten year old tries. I don't let him get away with it, I hope the Brits don't, either!

There is an article talking about a Reddit thread where a straight male is asking what the hullaballoo is about anal sex and the prostate. There is, apparently, some very good advice - but oen post was added into the article and includes some really frank discussion of what's going on and how to get there, it was good reading and not pornographic at all. Check it out here.

I won't vote, I'm waiting for you to finish the one you promised me that looked so interesting.