LittleBuddhaTW

For anyone interested, I've just posted a new blog entry, my first of 2026!

After an "eventful" last few days over the New Year (you can read all about it in the comments in Chapter 7 of Medellin), I got such a nice surprise this morning when I saw the 2025 reading stats, especially that Swing for the Fences was the #2 most recommended story of 2025, and ranked in the Top 10 in eleven different categories. Even Medellin made the Top 2 in two different categories, and it's barely gotten started yet. Of course, many, many, many thanks to my readers and "fans" for all their support and the little community they've built, and to everyone who has gained something from what I have written. I've gotten some amazing emails sharing very personal and beautiful stories and memories that Swing for the Fences has evoked, or how it has touched someone's life or heart, or inspired them in some way. Reading that kind of feedback makes it all worth it. As for a writing update, I had ten days off over the past two weeks, and it was supposed to be dedicated solely to writing. Unfortunately, that didn't go to plan. I finished Chapter 25 of Stealing Home, which is the longest (so far), and one of the most important (if not THE most important). Then there is Extra Innings: Noah, which I have been working on for quite a while. Eventually, I had to scrap the short-story format because it covers an entire year of Noah's life, and my arc/spine just wasn't "right" in that format, so now we have a three-part novella instead. It will still be included in the Extra Innings category, just in three separate parts, and I hope to start posting them very, very soon (like this week, and I won't make you wait more than 24 hours or so between parts). As for my latest Reading Recommendations, I have gone back and started re-reading the works of Hans Schreiber. The formatting on Nifty as viewed on my Kindle Fire makes his stories very challenging to read, but you can also read a few of the better ones on the IOMFATS site. I would say my favorites are definitely Rock and a Hard Place, Affair of a Foreign Nature, and Val 'N Tyne. He has many others, though, and I haven't yet read them all because of the formatting challenges with Nifty.

I wish I could say that Carlos is based on a real person, but unfortunately, he is completely fictional. I like him a lot, too. He was a great character to write, and we will see a lot more of him later in the novel. BUT, the day before New Year's Eve, I did meet a lovely young man, we'll call him "Luis", 23 years old, just moved to Medellin from Bogota with his older sister, so he doesn't know anyone yet or know the city. Of course, being the beneficent person that I am, I offered to explain to him all the tricks of the trade to living in Medellin, what neighborhoods to avoid, where to buy things cheapest for his apartment, and grocery shopping, and in return, I got to listen to that wonderful Bogota accent, which is said to be one of the purest Spanish accents in the world (the paisas of Medellin speak Spanish like their mouths are stuffed with cotton balls; it can be very difficult to understand them sometimes). Anyway, that was several days ago now, and he just finally left, so I haven't gotten much writing done over the past few days. A hundred million percent worth it, though. Tall (even taller than me, which is rare here), naturally smooth cappuccino-colored skin, gorgeous brown eyes that look like they have little specs of gold in them, baby face, adorably sweet smile, super thin but with a six-pack, and VERY snuggly and affectionate. He would definitely be a character in Medellin if I'd met him while I was still writing it. I think I may keep this one around for a while, like a muse or something. He just walks around in his undies, and I managed to finish the rough draft of Extra Innings: Noah while he's been here, which has been a frustrating rollercoaster of a ride, so he must bring good luck. And did I mention that he's super cuddly and affectionate? He's also already calling me the hundred or so various Spanish boyfriend nicknames anyway. Mi tesoro, mi vida, mi amor, mi rey, mi alma gemela, mi universo, mi príncipe, mi príncipe azul, mi corazón, mi amor, mi gringuito, amorcito, etc. I haven't noticed any red flags YET, but remember, gentlemen, young Colombian men come with extra challenges, and you have to enter any relationship encounter with that perspective, or you could easily get ripped off (or worse). It'll take about six months for him to earn my complete trust (at least). We'll see how it goes. I actually really kind of miss him, and he only left about 30 minutes ago. Maybe I'm becoming sentimental in my old age.

The weekend with Yeison had changed everything. Well, not everything, but a lot. We were different now – more now. That hesitant space that had existed between us, filled with all my questions, doubts, and fears, was gone. In its place was something solid. Real. I had no more excuses. No more distance to hide behind. We weren’t just two boys fooling around under the covers anymore. We were boyfriends. Officially. I finally gave in, albeit a little reluctantly. And everyone in our

It had been a few weeks since the shooting, and in theory, life had gone back to normal. But “normal” was a lie. There’s no such thing as normal after your school gets shot up, after your Headmistress is executed in cold blood, after you’re standing in a courtyard while one teenage boy bleeds out, and another is desperately trying to keep him alive. But this was Colombia. According to the Global Safety Index in 2025, Colombia was ranked among the most dangerous countries in the world.

I did already post the first one, about Tommy and Jonah. I just really need to focus on Stealing Home now, or it'll never get done. Maybe I'll resume the Extra Innings posts (a few) in the weeks leading up to the release of the sequel. There are definitely things I want to reveal in the backstories of these characters, whom I've become very close with and attached to, but they wouldn't work in the novels. Like, why is Noah such a jerk? So, we'll see. I wish I could write faster. That's what I want for Christmas, faster typing hands (and I'm already a very fast typist!) But anyway, they'll be back at some point, just not right now. I'm already stressed enough with Stealing Home and Medellín! On the bright side, Swing for the Fences has gotten posted on about 4-5 new sites, and Medellín on a few new sites as well.

Medellín isn't going anywhere. It's already completed and edited and posted. It's only the short stories collection, "Extra Innings," that I will not continue to write (for now). Maybe after I've finished the sequel, I'll bring them back, or if "Noah" gets huge numbers!

If anyone is interested, I've posted a new blog entry, and there is some news in there:

Happy Holidays to everyone! I really miss celebrating Christmas (as a cultural holiday, not a religious one, since I'm not Christian) back in the States. You'll understand why when you read about Colombian Christmas celebrations later on in Medellín. Medellín certainly doesn't have as high a readership as Swing for the Fences, but I'm still relatively pleased with how it's going. I wanted to do something a little different and don't want to be pigeonholed into just one type of story (although I don't think you should expect me to write any sci-fi or gay alien stories anytime soon). Some GOOD news and some sad news: I'm currently editing/revising a new "Extra Innings" story, focused on Noah, and will end up being 10,000+ words when I'm done editing ("Tommy & Jonah" only covered one day, whereas "Noah" is covering one year, hence the length, and it was still hard to keep it from ballooning any further. I don't expect most readers to suddenly start liking him, but maybe you'll come to understand him and his motivations better. He has a moderately important role in Stealing Home. As for the BAD news (😪), this will probably be the last "Extra Innings" short chapter I post. The readership data and the amount of feedback I've received have just been too low to justify taking time off from Stealing Home (ROI and all that), when that should be my sole focus now, and I'm now halfway done! I'll be starting Chapter 25 this week, once I finish polishing up "Noah." Then I'll have two 5-day weekends in a row for my holiday vacation, and plan to spend those days doing mostly writing. However, my "sort-of" partner has been nagging me incessantly to go see the famous Medellín alumbrados (Christmas lights and decorations) with him. I've been here so long, though, and seen so many variations and dealt with the horrific crowds of people, that I'd much rather stay home, watch Netflix, snuggle with my dog, and eat natilla (a sweet Colombian Christmas treat with a kind of Jell-O-like consistency) by the plateful. Mixed with arequipe (which is basically the Colombian and Venezuelan name for dulce de leche). Good stuff! Anyway, Happy Holidays again to all of you! I truly do appreciate everyone reading my stories, the many websites that have asked if they could host my stories (although GayAuthors, which gave me my first shot at posting my writing, will always get new chapters first, as well as exclusive extra stories), and the many people who have written to me. I try to reply to every email I get, unless they're crude and disgusting, which fortunately, doesn't happen a lot. And if you get bored over the holidays, I'd suggest reading anything by FreeThinker. I also really enjoy Eliot Moore's stories, especially For Your Eyes Only and Turbulence. I haven't read all of his stories yet. Still, there is one that isn't in one of the genres I prefer (adult-youth): Fourteen, a coming-of-age story about the main character, Jeremy, is so profound, and the plot so fascinating, and how he deals with all of the roadblocks that are put in his way, how he learns to survive. Basically, it is just really well written. However, it is also very, very graphic and touches on some very sensitive subjects, so if you are easily triggered, I'd suggest passing on that one. At any rate, thank you for reading my latest diatribe. Back to editing/revising Extra Innings: Noah, and then get started on Chapter 25 of Stealing Home. If you run out of things to read over your holiday vacations, just shoot me an email or DM, and I've got tons of suggestions.

You've gotta be careful, though, because sometimes they just want to try to get money out of you, and many of the "sad stories" are all made up. I'm certain Ferney's story is true, though some other guys I've "known" I'm much more dubious about. As a general rule, I don't give money because I have been burned before, but I'll offer them a temporary place to stay and free food while they try to get their sh*t together. Some accept the help, others don't. I was actually married to a Colombian guy (20 yo) for the first five years I was here. The dissolution of the marriage was a long and sordid affair, and he's now living in Porto, Portugal, and contracted HIV after we divorced. Very sad story. We still keep in touch occasionally. He also came from a very, very poor background, which I witnessed firsthand whenever we went to visit his family on weekends and holidays and stuff. They didn't bat an eye that their 20 yo son married a gringo twice his age. Anyway, he also taught me A LOT about how to tell the difference between someone genuine and someone who is just trying to get money from you. But after being married (and we were monogamous) for five years down here, with all of the amazing eye candy that I couldn't touch, I went a little "boy crazy" after the divorce for a couple of years. Met many, many, many fascinating guys and learned a lot from the experiences, about the culture, the "real" Spanish spoken on the streets, the societal problems here, how the boys here are too busy trying to find enough money for their next meal, and how they're going to pay their rent (some pay weekly, some even daily, just to rent out a room in some stranger's house). MANY resort to prostitution. They don't have the "luxury" of thinking about things like "love," "commitment," and "marriage." They need to eat, and usually feed their parents and younger siblings, too. BTW, "Yeison" is also based on a character from my real life, with a lightning-bolt tattoo covering his arm and everything. Much more handsome than I could describe with written words, but he's another one who probably has no future (great kisser, though). He thinks he wants to be a volleyball coach, but as you can imagine, there's not a huge market for volleyball coaches here, and the pay sucks. He should've left his crazy mother and come to live with me. Never asked me for a single peso for anything, though. Poor boy just wanted to play volleyball. 😝

Cuz y'all haven't met the real-life "Ferney" that this character is based on. He's worth it. Sad story, though. Lives with his sister, who doesn't work (I've had long talks with him about that), and his 6-year-old nephew, and he has to somehow try to support all of them on his meagre pay as a "webcam model" (I wouldn't be surprised if he did more than just that, TBH). He's not really very ambitious (most young people aren't, and don't seem to realize that in just a few years, they won't be able to make any $$$ off their good looks, and they have no skills or experience to find a decent job). "Ferney" is also suffering from very, very severe depression, but the healthcare system here sucks if you're poor. Prozac is always the first drug of choice by doctors here, and you can get it without a prescription, but I don't feel right suggesting a medication like that without being seen by a doctor, especially since he has had suicidal tendencies in the past. I even offered to take in either him or him and his nephew, and pay for "Ferney's" bartending school, which was somehow his ambition in life. But I refused to take in the deadbeat sister, because she wasn't even trying to get a job or earn money. Anyway, he got into the book because, I guess, I was thinking about him as I wrote that scene, but he's very different from the character. It's just their looks that are the same. The real "Ferney" is 24 and beautiful, so I obviously had to age him down by eight years, but he still barely even looks 18 or 19. Which reminds me, I should text him sometime soon to see if he's doing any better. Oh, and "Ricardo" is very real, too, and I only had to age him down by about 2 years, and yes, it is MASSIVE. He's more middle-class, though, so he doesn't have such a sad story to go along with him as "Ferney." The real "Ricardo" is a real cutie-pie, too, and he's only into old guys.

I've got a good chunk of a long-ish "Extra Innings: Noah" story written, and if I can finish it in time, I will post it as a little Christmas gift to all of you. Unfortunately, the number of views on the first short story ("Tommy & Jonah") have been so low, that I will probably stop the "Extra Innings" series after the story about Noah. It's simply a matter of ROI with my time, when I could be spending my limited time writing something that I know 1,000+ people will want to read, like the sequel to Swing of the Fences, versus only about 300+ for the short stories, even though they add a lot more richness and backstory to the novels. But oh well ... not everything can be popular!

The kitchen was quiet, except for the soft hum of the refrigerator and the occasional scrape of a spoon against a saucer. The three of us sat around the table like survivors after a storm, not quite sure what to say or feel. My fingers were locked around a warm mug of coffee, but I wasn’t drinking it. I just needed something to hold. Doña Susana moved gently through the kitchen, filling the room with the earthy smell of fresh-ground beans and hot oil. She placed a basket of empanadas in the

The image is fixed now, closer to the original, with no fifth arm (I don't think). And yes, multiple emails have gone out to correct the image on other sites as well. I use AI all the time for work, and it really can be a great productivity enhancer. You just need to understand what it can and can't do, and especially how to prompt it correctly. I'm trying to get my employer to switch over to Google Gemini, because I think it's better than OpenAI's ChatGPT, but I don't know if that will happen. I do think, though, that AI will revolutionize how many things are done in the future. And, the GOOD NEWS is that Chapter 5 ("The Aftermath") of Medellín will be posted tomorrow (Saturday) morning, and I'm now trying to decide between starting Chapter 25 of Stealing Home or a new "Extra Innings" story about everyone's favorite, Noah.

I can't see it either, but my eyesight is very bad anyway, so I just switched it out with one of the many alternate covers I have. Apparently, there are one too many arms in the pic.

"Yeison" is another one I have "known" in real life, although he's more like 19 or 20, not high school age, but the physical description is spot-on, including the lightning bolt tattoo. Extremely handsome young man, but quite shy at first. I'll never forget, he wanted to watch a documentary series about sea life around the world that was on Netflix on our first "date." I thought it was a bizarre choice.

I believe I discuss it later on in the novel, and it's mentioned in the Netflix series, Narcos, but DEA agents (and their dependents) are basically untouchable. The cartels will keep track of them, gather intelligence on them (e.g., what they're doing, where they're going, etc.), but will not hurt, torture, kidnap, or kill because of the "Kiki Rule." In the mid-80s, a Mexican drug cartel kidnapped, tortured, and killed a DEA agent named Kiki Camarena. When the DEA quickly found out who was responsible, they basically went on a "no-holds-barred" revenge tour/killing spree in Mexico, killing pretty much everyone who was somehow involved in the kidnapping, torture, and murder of Camarena. The DEA's "revenge" attack was so forceful, violent, and effective (really "shock and awe"), the cartels all basically accepted the "Kiki Rule," and they don't touch DEA agents or their families, because they know what the consequences would be if they did. However, we don't know if Hunter or his dad's cover has been blown. There is always the (remote) possibility that "El Chino" would ignore the "Kiki Rule" (but highly doubtful, because if the DEA really went in full force as they did in Mexico, El Chino's days would be numbered). I would be more worried about Hunter's friends, who don't have DEA protection (except when they're physically with Hunter and Juan Camilo is there), and how they could be used to reach Hunter, gather information/intelligence from him, or whatever. Important caveat: The above explanation is based on my own knowledge and experience in this area, and I'm not speaking from the author's perspective, so any of these issues could change in the novel. We'll just have to wait and see! They do say that "El Chino" is even more dangerous, unpredictable, and loco than Pablo Escobar, so who knows. BTW, the character "Juan Camilo" is based on a good friend of mine here (I obviously changed his name for privacy). He was also in the police special forces and fought against both the guerrillas and the infamous Cali Cartel back in the day. As he is in the book, the real "Juan Camilo" is a super guy, a bit gruff on the exterior, but he has helped me out of many a jam and has always been there when I've needed him (like picking me up at 5 AM to rush me to the hospital where I wound up in the ICU for a week). I've also contracted him as a driver and personal security (bodyguard), as well as a tour guide (which is what he does now since he retired from the police force), many times since I've been here. There are a number of other characters throughout the book who are based on people I "know" IRL, but I had to age them down 2-3 years to fit within Hunter's age group. I may point them out as we go along. But the real "Juan Camilo" is seriously THE MAN, and I wanted to give him a special call-out here, and if anyone ever wants to come here on vacation, just message me and I can hook you up with him. He's a great tour guide, very affordable, he will keep you very safe, and his English is outstanding.

Greet him with ¡Quiubo, parce! (pronounced like CUE BO PAR SAY). It basically just means, "Hey man, what's up?" and is VERY Colombian.

It was most likely an inside job. Probably one of the school's security guards was being paid by the cartel. There are a lot of social justice warriors in Colombia as a result of all the bad sh*t that's happened here over the decades and all the social problems that continue as a result of decades of violence and displacement. She was obviously idealistic, as many are. She wanted to make a statement; she knew the risks. Many people like her who try to stand up to the status quo end up exactly like her. In 2024, between 117 and 157 social justice leaders, like the headmistress, were violently killed across the country. It's impossible to get an exact number because the government doesn't keep an official count, just various NGOs, and they all have different methods of tracking; there is sometimes overlap, etc. It's a real problem, especially when added to the number of political assassinations. Still, for whatever reason, the Colombian government hasn't taken it very seriously and hasn't made a serious effort to either protect people or arrest the killers. It's very easy to get away with murder here, to be honest. So, kids, if you want to come to Colombia (which you absolutely should!), stay away from drugs, prostitutes, and any social justice or political activity, and you will be perfectly safe (seriously, I've been here 7+ years and have never had a single problem, except there are way too many cute guys). As for the rest of your questions, you'll have to read more and find out! 😁 BTW, is everyone handling the Spanish stuff okay? I use a lot of very Colombian slang (it's just how we talk naturally down here), and tools like Google Translate don't do that well with slang, so if you have any questions about a particular phrase or word because it sounds like nonsense in Google Translate, feel free to ask and I'll tell you what it means. Colombian slang and its connection to drug culture (which began with Pablo Escobar) are really fascinating to me. The influence he has on Colombian culture, society, and even the language is profound. There are a lot of mixed feelings about him here. In the end, though, he was a monster. I have been to his grave, though. He's buried right next to the last sicario (assassin/bodyguard) who was with him when they finally caught him and gunned him down. The guy's "narco name" was "Limón" (literally, "lime" in English, no idea why). Now with his patrón (boss) for all eternity. He's also buried only a few headstones away from Griselda Blanco, another important female narco, who you may have heard of if you ever watched the Netflix series, Griselda. She was played by Sofia Vergara.

Back to school on Monday felt surreal. The weekend had been a blur of emotions, hormones, and awkward truths, and now I was expected to just walk into class like nothing had happened? Yeah, right. I was definitely not feeling myself. I wanted to get away, but I knew I’d be in big trouble if I just left. So I’d have to suffer through it and try to avoid talking to people. Easier said than done, though, especially when you stick out like a sore thumb. Zack and I met up in the courtyard before

There is a sequel in the works, called Swing for the Fences: Stealing Home. There is also a companion series of short stories (only one has been posted so far) called Extra Innings: Short Stories from "Swing for the Fences." I will post those short stories when I have time, but it won't be on any regular schedule, as I'm focused on finishing the sequel right now. I'm about halfway done right now (just finished a chapter about Valentine's Day), but it's slow going since it's much larger than the original. I hope to have it completed and ready to start posting in Spring 2026.

For anyone into violence, shootouts, and action, Chapter 4 (coming out tomorrow) shouldn't be missed.

New chapters will be posted every Saturday morning (U.S. Eastern Time).

The current posting schedule is one chapter per week, on Saturday mornings (U.S. Eastern Time).

Zack is straight.