Ron

According to a quick internet search Dracula was quite the shape-shifter in Stoker's novel.

The 1931 movie Dracula starring Bela Lugosi is not based on Bram Stoker's novel of the same name. Look here at this humorous article for the skinny - Dracula!

In addition to the above Most Read stories lovers of Sci-Fi/Fantasy might try Attunga by @Palantir and Abel III's Awakening by @Daddydavek to name just two. I enjoyed both stories a lot. They're not remotely alike and they both have multiple chapters which gives room for character development, and the science in the fiction behind both stories is imaginative and well believable. And kudos to @Thorn Wilde for capturing an entire sub-genre! They are missed.

@wildone The move Sublet is good, if you haven’t seen it already. An aging travelogue writer goes to Israel to write and to recover from a personal loss, then with the help of a younger man he finds out that he’s not as emotionally dead inside as he thought he was. The ending is uplifting but unexpected.

"I tend to daydream a lot, and I can safely do that while I work at my job." I know who it is... Homer Simpson!

With respect to the authors on the above lists, if you like Werewolf stories head over and read something a little different, Born Wolf by @Sasha Distan. I'm the proud owner of a personalized copy of the paperback book, I liked it that much.

Oddly (not oddly since mosquitoes do have niches), there is one mosquito that only feeds on frogs and other amphibians. But Culex territans do prefer frogs and toads.

In fairness to my former report concerning Wendy's. . . The company is now backtracking and saying that they will not implement surge pricing, and that they did not use that phrase. This is despite chief executive Kirt Tanner saying as reported that the company would test features like dynamic pricing at restaurants.

Precisely. Otherwise known as shrinkflation.

@Bill W Of course it’s about greed. It has been proven that a nickel here or a dime there doesn’t make much of a dent in consumer spending. A Wendy’s spokesperson likened this to the airlines, prices go up when demand is high and drop when demand is low. But the better and more direct comparison would be the driver services such as Uber and Lyft. I don’t think there was anyone with a brain who thought surge-pricing was anything but a money grab when that began happening — first the nearly put the cab services out of business (not that they didn’t need shaking up) and then the price went up.

Useless — it depends. As reported in The Washington Post as early as 2025, Wendy’s will begin using surge-pricing with digital menu boards that are able to be adjusted on the fly. An extra quarter for your frosty anyone?

@Flip-Flop and to everyone else. As an example, concerning older stories: Years ago, I left comments for stories that DomLuka wrote even though they had stopped posting stories on GA years earlier. As new people discover those stories for the first time, at times I get thumbs ups and hearts from them because something I wrote resonated with them. So, I think you should absolutely attach an appropriate emoji of your appreciation or, even better leave comments to your heart's content on older stories. One never knows what comment you write will promote a response or cause another to think deeper into what they read. Maybe, your comment will be the reason a reader goes back and rereads a chapter based your thoughts. And, yes, I italicized older to make a point. There are no old stories, just some that you haven't discovered yet. And if you're going back and reading a story yet again... well, there's no friend like an old friend.

"If you guess smooth Corinthian Leather, you're wrong." The Chrysler Cordoba was loaded with smooth Corinthian leather, or so the advertising stated. My uncle had one when I was in high school, far too many years ago. No, that's not my uncle in the picture.

It's interesting that I got "Safari can't open the page. The error: "The URL was blocked by a content blocker"." when I clicked on this topic to read it. I tried linking in from Headstall's profile and Flip-flops and got the same message while using my iPad. Now, here using Google on my PC I ran into no difficulty. I had no issues with any other topic on the forum page while on my iPad. I get the need for ads. I subscribe to The Washington Post, and you can't read more than a couple of paragraphs of an article without running into an advertisement for something running across the page and dividing what you're reading or running vertically along one side of the digital page. We know what advertising allows for, but no one likes advertising except the advertisers and those making money from the advertisers, I guess. Other than by accident I have never clicked on any advertisement, so there's that. I've paid for premium access to support GA in the past and gladly, but my circumstances have changed dramatically so I must put up with the advertising. Although, I refuse to put up with it on my television and I can't afford to otherwise pay more so I've cancelled my month-to-month plans, and I will end up not renewing those streaming video apps that have an annual plan when they run out. It sucks to become poor people.

I absolutely made this comparison with the far more excellent movie, The Talented Mr. Ripley while watching Saltburn. I also agree that Jude Law was the cat’s meow, and even now there’s just something about the man.

Imperfection is a worldwide calamity.

Party of two! I wasn't the first one to lob entitled around.

It is helpful to include some sort of idea of what a word may mean, regardless of if some entitled individuals think they know best for everyone else. Point in fact I had considered the word pédé to mean pedophile until you said differently. Was I going to look it up? Not likely but I might have understood the meaning of the word in the context of your story. I think it best to assume correctly that your audience may not be as educated as some others and write accordingly. Readers for GA authors are a worldwide audience, and an author should keep that in mind when trying to reach them with their writing, although I believe the U.S. creates the largest number of visitors to GA if memory serves me well. Does that require information in the notes? or in a glossary? The answer to those questions is not definitive but should be dictated by the needs of the story and the author's desire for clarity.

Yes, putting the odd, needed explanation in the chapter notes is best -- like a glossary of terms. Someone will always either be this way or that way regardless of what you do, depending on how you do it with your writing style. Constancy of style is key within the same story. Write the story you want to tell with the best of your ability.

A long, long time ago in a far-off land... no, it was only a decade ago in fact, I asked the question in this The Lounge: Does writing reviews make you a better person? I felt then, (I still do) that this question was a justifiable one -- it certainly garnered a lot of comments at the time. Your question is a different one and far easier to answer. Yes! If you're an author interested in the nuts-n-bolts of writing, learning, and growing you will benefit from having a diverse membership and I dare say a discerning, often highly educated, audience of readers who are eager to be helpful to authors in one way or another. There are few authors here who have not benefited in some way from the things you have mentioned. So, I would say that you have answered your topic question by already providing the answers to your query in your post. Yes! Yes, to all of it.

You know what they say about versatile authors?

I do not remember seeing the button for either of these options.

Many writers work explanations into their work without seeming to be explaining things. It's perfectly acceptable to be different if that's what you're worried about. @Palantir includes in his writing many examples of Australian life, and this American has enthusiastically enjoyed what I've read.

On a Friday yet ... Who knew ... Flashback to the 'Olden days'.

There is a HGTV show called 'Battle on the Mountain' streaming on MAX which stars renovators Stephen and David St. Russel, a married couple from MA. The link takes you to a free article in The Boston Globe about the couple and the show.