Andy78

Congrats Rachel - a really well deserved recognition

Welcome Chris

Welcome John and alfredofranco, and welcome back Rico.

Congrats KC. Really well deserved

So many to thank . . . I need to thank Louis (LJH), Slytherin, Thorn Wilde, rec, Rustle and Rob (Yettie One) for their invaluable help on my flash pieces and anthology stories. I also need to thank Joann who has been amazing in beta'ing my new story The Crown Affair. She's been working on the story with me for about six months so far and I hope she's there until the end. I'd also like to thank everyone on the WST/ART who have been great group of people to work with.

Lots of new reading material. Well done everyone And for us poor Europeans the clocks went forward in the wee hours of this morning.

So sorry for your loss Steve

I always get a giggle out of the American use of the word fanny - as in fanny fatigue or fanny pack. In America the word fanny means ass/bum/backside, however in the UK it means vagina. We all love our female American colleague who still has not been able to stop using the word fanny (with the US meaning) One American word I have actual come to hate (and only because I've had Americans correct me with it so often) is the word "scarf" as in eating; in the UK we use the word "scoff". A scarf is something you wear around your neck in winter to keep the cold out

Thanks for reviewing Lisa. Only time will tell how Max and Josh's relationship develops and how everyone around them perceives it. Though even I don't know what's going to happen with them, I just haven't planned that part of the story out. I'm sure that Josh's parents and the rest of the palace staff are sure to be in a for a surprise or three. I loved writing that excerpt from The Dark Rose, who knows I may decide the write whole story as a companion piece.

Bacon?? Me thinks Wayne has finally cracked Though I dread to think of what Jo Ann will come up with for that one.

Thanks Astro. Sadly, as in all societies, there are those who have and there are those who don't have. Things usually change with time, so I wonder if their lives will always be like this?

Thanks for the review Sammy. There is a lot of background and history still to come, it's just about trying not to overload readers. And I do love happy endings . . . most of the time

Thanks for reading and reviewing. Max and Josh have a very long road ahead of them. I still haven't worked out everything that happens with them, but when the truth comes out I'd like to think Josh is the understanding type.

Thanks Astro. The reunion scenes took a lot of work to get right. That's always the thing with these created worlds. There is so much information that a reader needs to be given, and it's a constant struggle not to overload readers. There is so much more to come.

Sixth day of the eleventh lumin (Kask-Lumin) 2025 of the modern calendar: Josh woke the next morning to find Max already in his bedchamber. “Good morning, Your Highness.” Max pulled back the purple velvet curtains and the early morning sun shone through the window. Even though temperature-wise, snow season had arrived in Salania in the middle of the previous lumin, the page boy was surprised that there still had not been the snowflurries that were indicative of the time of year. Josh yawned

Congrats on reaching a new market Comsie My German stretches as far as some of the hilarious 'Allo 'Allo gags, but that's about it.

Is that 27 in Care Bear years?

For a short story, I have to say very well done Dolores. Such a suspenseful build up, and then you take us in a completely unexpected direction at the end. Brilliant

I saw what the bad bear posted. I offer to sell this information to the highest bidder

It's also great to see our newest Prom featured this week - congrats again RJ

Things are getting back to normal and the kids have calmed down. I've just had lunch, so am feeling better. But there is a certain tension on the ward. Hope it goes by tomorrow. Thanks guys

I love mythology, and you have crafted an enjoyable blend here. Well done

OK, I might not be in the best frame of mind as I type this, but I seriously need to vent - you may want to brace yourselves for some choice language. It's either rant here, or tell a few people exactly what I think of them. Been a nice quiet morning on my ward. Sure some of the kidides are suffering side effects from the chemo, but they were all in good spirits and at least they all managed to keep breakfast down. For a change, we have full nursing support on the ward - first time in weeks where we have had the nine nurses we are supposed to have, and not the seven we have been struggling along with. No emergency admissions overnight for me to worry about. Yeah, it was all too fucking quiet wasn't it. I should have known my nice quiet morning wouldn't last. The older sister of one of our long timers (who I'll call Clare for the sake of this blog) has recently had a baby. Clare has been really happy about becoming an auntie, even the nurses have started calling her Auntie Clare. When her sister comes up with the baby, it seems to lift the spirits of most of the kids on the ward. Well, what do women do when they have a baby? They breastfeed of course. Now what the fuck do you all think happened when Clare's sister started breastfeeding her baby on the ward an hour ago? Oh yeah, we had comments and complaints from some of the other kids' families. It's like they've never seen a woman breastfeed! It's one of the most natural things in the world, and half the fucking parents were acting as though we were exposing their kids to the worst kind of pornography. Long story short, we ended up having to call security to calm the situation down. After a whole load of shouting and use of language by some of the parents in front of the kids that was far worse than them seeing a woman breastfeed inthe first place, things have kind of calmed down. The situation now is: five of the parents have been barred from the ward and three had to be physically ejected by security because of certain things that were said by a few fucking arseholes the matter had to be reported to the police we've got several younger kids who are distressed, confused, and upset over the whole thing and they have no fucking idea why Clare's sister is blaming herself for the whole fucking mess Clare is in tears not to mention I'm fucking pissed off On top of all that, I now have to type out a report of what happened and there is talk about restricting weekend visiting to one person per patient with a maximum visit of 30 mins at a time. I've only been in work for 3 hours, I've still got another 6 hours to go! Well, rant over. Hope everyone's day is going better than mine.

A great story Bill, and a very creative take on the theme. I have to admit I used be a fan of Ric Flair many moons ago. I'm sure he'd be glad his namesake got some payback.

Even though I'm a romantic at heart, you've written a great story on the demise of a relationship. Couldn't help but like it.