Andy78

Everyone wants to see the dragon egg hatch But nice to have another history fan along for the ride.

Thanks for reading and review.

A really cute tale Mike. One of only a few sprinkled with the feeling of coming away having read a lovely, happy story. There have been a few dark stories this time around, so it made a nice change.

Nice short tale Dolores. It's amazing to see what someone can do with so few words.

Thanks for the review Wayne. This story wasn't the easiest one to write, and just when I thought I'd finished it (when it was around 6k), I suddenly had a few more ideas to add in. I spent so much time on this story, writing, rewriting, adding new bits in, shuffling bits around; so yes, this is one I am very proud of. The feedback from everyone has been great, but now I just want to write something happy again

Not just his first Major, but the first win at a Major for a British male since Fred Perry in 1936. Please note: Since he has won, he is a Brit. If he had lost, he would be referred to as a Scot

Great interview with Fearless Leader. Keep up the great work Myr.

It may well have started as a fanfic, but when you are asking for me to hand over money to read your work, it had better be accurate (i.e. properly researched, and at least get your basic geography right), half-way decently written, and deliver on your hype. I have no problem reading a fanfic with Harry Potter being lead around on a leash by Draco, but if you are asking me to fork over those pieces of paper with Her Majesty on them, then you'd better deliver more than some half-baked fanfic.

I read about half of the first book, and have been contemplating suing E L James for wasting my time and intentional infliction of complete boredom. I'd borrowed the book from a friend, but if I'd actually paid for it myself, I would have hunted the author down and demanded my £5.99 back. The book has apparently become the fasting selling paperback ever having sold 40 million copies (it has even outselling Harry Potter) - methinks there are 39,999,999 narked off people who will be looking for a refund. I've read far, far better stories here on GA. The book falls well shy of its hype, and she should go back to her day job.

Happy birthday Conner. Hope you have a great day.

I'm just thankful they got rid of the "dislike" button. There is an author I spotted with a rep of something like -16 But yeah, I run out likes all the time. It was really frustrating reading Bill W's Castaway Hotel, because at times I'd read fifteen or twenty chapters in a night, and the annoying little "you have run out of positive votes for the day" message kept on popping up. I'm not sure why the limit of likes was set to five either, but, like Andrew says, I think it was probably designed to prevent over-inflating an author's rep. But when you get an author on 1000+ rep what's an extra few likes between friends? Besides, on day's when I'm not reading, I tend go back over any chapters I didn't get to like the day before, and like them then. And it's even more annoying at the moment with the release of the fall anthology (13 stories, 5 likes per day, you do the math I've already run out likes, so the other anthology stories are going to have to wait until tomorrow to be read). Then we have the GA anniversary anthology due out soon, and since that is a novella anthology we can expect probably 100+ chapters being released at once (depending on how the various authors have set their stories up).

Thanks for the review. I think even the most bullied kid in school still retains a little of their humour and kindness. I certainly couldn't have written Josiah as being completely emotionless, and I dread to think how the story would have read without him maintaining his playful side. You are right in that James betrayal is probably the bitterest pill of all to swallow - after all, we expect a bully to be a bully, we never expect a best friend to stab us in the back. The two of them bond over the fact they both are treated so badly at school, and then James turns on Josiah just to deflect the bullying away from himself. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I like to think most school bullies have at least one redeeming quality, and for me Jake needed to do something to redeem himself.

Thanks for the review Bill. I had toyed with the idea of it being James, kind of a redemption for what he did, but as you say his size would have made it an unbelievable development. Personally, I think Jake is much more redeemable than James ever could be, so for me it made more sense for it to be Jake. And I always like to throw in the occasional surprise

Now I feel really old I can even remember when Western Europe had their own currencies before the Euro.

I loved a lot of the really old Hammer Horror films. Nothing like watching Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee at two in the morning with the lights off at the age of ten. Dr Terror's House of Horrors and The Devil Rides Out were my two all time favourites. The Wicker Man (original not the remake) was a brilliant film - it could have done without the het action in it though And I loved The Never Ending Story.

Thanks for sharing something so personal KC. It is such a lovely story, but it must have been so hard writing it.

Welcome Tranq. For one reason and another I've been somewhat absent from chat the past week or so. Hope to catch you in there soon.

Thanks for the review Joann. Parts of the story (including the attempted rape) were actually pulled from various stories reported in schools here in the UK; though I changed a few bits around to fit the story. Kids have a hard enough time as it is at school without everything they have to go through, and the betrayal of a best friend is crushing. But I think this will be a happily ever after story

Thanks for the review Dark. My original concept for the bathroom scene was going to be a lot milder, but when I started writing the scene, it just got scarier and darker. Trying to make Jake's transformation believable was probably the hardest part to write, so I'm glad I pulled it off. I usually try to have a happy ending, no matter how twisted my story gets

A nice little story. Really well done. And an anthology story that isn't tough reading . A few of us really went to town on the enemies bit, so a sprinkling of humour is nice to see.

A great story Bill. I love a good ghostie story. It was nice to see Hoover get justice. Keep up the great writing.

Thanks for the review Cassie. I think the bathroom scene would be rough for anybody to read, and it was the one scene that went through the most re-writes (I think about 20 in all). Not an easy scene to have written in the first place. But glad you liked it overall. If the next anthologies weren't "Desperate Ends" and "End of the World" I would have promised you something more cheerful . Oh well, may be next year.

Thanks for the review Cyn. The bathroom scene was one I really uhm-ed and aah-ed a lot over whether to include or not, but after discussions with my beta it was kept in. The final scene was actually toned down (a lot) from the original draft, but that scene ends up being a major turning point in Jake's character.

Evil Renee, releasing the antho whilst me is away Oh well, now have a reason to phone in sick to work on Tuesday

Greetings and welcome. Hope you enjoy the site, and there is usually someone around to offer a helping hand.