Ron

I like Silversun Pickups, too, Wayne and I like this remake. I have everything from Pikul to Better Nature, but I find Brian Aubert's voice becomes wearing for me after about the half-way-mark on any given CD by the group.

Congratulations on your promotion, Wayne.

I am not an editor. There, I said it. But (you knew a but was coming) from my own self-editing, I use The Chicago Manual of Style and other resources for information, and having my better works edited further by others, I've learned a thing or two. To twist the meaning of the proverb 'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing' for my purpose means I know enough to get a bit peeved when reading various articles in local, national and world news sources; you know, the supposed professionals. My goodness, the errors in spelling and dropped words a person can run into in the news sources is astonishing. Have all the copy-editors been furloughed? Otherwise I'm often forgiving when reading online and that includes many of the works of authors publishing gay themed books for Kindle. Even when I do notice errors I fill in the blanks just as other forgiving people do. That and my mind automatically replaces the correct word for the one that shouldn't be there. I also don't mind an overused trope now and again, but that's just me. That was a good question being asked of the authors.

That is a word I have never heard before, possibly because Merriam Webster dates the word to the year 1596. Makes me wonder, when was the last time a person used that word in a spoken sentence.

Nice, I've got this one and five other books by Rob on my Kindle, and a few from other fellow GA authors in digital or paperback versions -- I'm fortunate enough to have a couple of them personalized. I like being able to support fellow GA authors every now and again by buying their published works after I've read them here, and when the writing really strikes me. Happy reading!

What?

If the content is integral to the story it cannot be considered 'bonus content' by any stretch of the imagination. It seems that you didn't fall for the ruse. It's possible the author will not care but you can certainly offer two-cents worth of opinion -- make a concise point against the author's manipulation and be done with the thing.

For those of you who may be Fiona Apple fans (I am), she has a new release out today called "Fetch the Bolt Cutters." Follow the link for a free-to-read review from the Boston Globe in which the reviewer speaks highly of the new work.

Love this, especially the 'Earn my tears..', which I take it to mean an author must emotionally manipulate the reader with words. What a novel concept! (pun intended) While I mostly agree, there are times when an inclusion of music can help propel a scene. Let me use the example of a character who might appear to be emotionally in control of themselves in appearance but just the opposite on the inside -- say that the character is in a car and turns on the radio and a song comes on that particularly suits the situation and is also meaningful to the character (how many times has that happened in real life) and their outward facade comes crumbling down -- is it then that the author should be looked at askance for using music in creating that type of scene? -- or, perhaps, for writing a cliche'd scene, because some readers look poorly on those, too, and I just used that example?! It's just that I have read stories here on GA that have used music and lyrics overly much and I have read stories that have used either example, sometimes both, to good effect. I've either powered through the poor examples or skipped through those scenes because I don't think an otherwise well written story needs to be written off due to the one small thing I am not fond of in that particular story. No one should ask me for specific examples as I don't keep a running list of either one. As for an author telling... well, some say an author should show not tell.

Congratulations on your promotion, @lilansui

I was a rocker and that's all I listened to be it album, cassette, or the radio. There, I've said it and I own up to it. But... as so often there is, in 1983 a new-to-me group popped up on my radar: Talking Heads. They were touring to promote Speaking In Tongues, their newest (perhaps their greatest album, but no one can deny that this work was what put the Talking Heads on the map for very many people). I bought two tickets to see them hoping I could convince someone to go along with me. I was successful a female work-friend agreed to see this band that neither one of us was familiar with. We convinced our foreman to let us go and come back after the concert, it didn't hurt that the foreman was my uncle. I checked the touring schedule for the group in 1983, but it doesn't reference their appearance at Finney Chapel in Oberlin, Ohio, where I saw them perform. The Talking Heads performed in Maine on August 6, and at the Blossom Music Center in Cleveland, Ohio on August 8, 1983. From there they moved on to Maryland for a concert the following day. That pins the date to August 7, of that year as the only available date in Ohio for the performance at the chapel. I and my friend sat in the balcony -- front and center -- looking directly at the stage. Finney Chapel has about 1,200 seats, so it's a relatively small and intimate place for a concert -- for this group of musicians. There was David Byrne on the stage hurking and then jerking his body in this direction and then in another all over the stage as he performed. The sound was overwhelmingly loud and I was gobsmacked by the whole thing of it. Never had I heard anything quite like this new sound. My female work-friend wasn't able to articulate exactly how she felt about it once we were on our way back to our jobs. What a experience! So, once again, it is not one song but 2-CD's worth of music that has been in my re-current rotation... David Byrne: American Utopia on Broadway. I have been listening to this on TIDAL Audio in MQA (Master Quality Authentication) through my stereo system, it's a fantastic listen. Two songs from Speaking In Tongues are included: Slippery People and Burning Down the House. It seems that someone has bootlegged the performance.

@BigBen I enjoyed reading your essay. I find myself in agreement with much of what you say. Also, I very much enjoyed reading Katherine Kurtz’s writing. As a layperson and not one being especially familiar with the pomp and ceremony she describes in her Camber, Deryni and Kelson trilogies, I nevertheless appreciated the atmosphere this aspect provided to the many books. The religious conflict is of course essential to connect the various storylines of her novels but the detail, as you said, was not amiss in this case.

Interesting! FYI — It never dawned on me that the words below the list of stories was a link at all. On my iPad it just looks like words alone and not a link to a further list. It’s the color or lack of a more distinctive color separating the link from the rest of the wording that fooled me.

I once cleared the tabs on all of the display iPads in an Apple store (this was before there were so many choices) except one—a tab I set to GAs story page. Since then I check every now and again (though not subversively) and I have no problem accessing GA in an Apple store.

@wildone This may be your best preamble this year, not that you've been slacking. Bravo!

Parsnips! They might look okay on the surface (psst... no they don’t, they look suspect; they’re all white and wrinkly looking) but underneath they’re evil, evil things. Believe me, I have known this from childhood—and I’m 60 years old, I ought’a know—when my mother tried to hide them in mashed potatoes, unsuccessfully. My brother, who’s two years younger, concurs. Eat well, not too much, mostly plants (not parsnips) and best of luck!

Congratulations on the upgrade, Carlos.

Thou will not answer on the grounds that thou will self-incriminate and be looked upon with dreadful and rightful scorn.

The head spins. (lol) Apparently I got Shakespeare's meaning all wrong.

Pretend it’s cheese. Scrape the mold off to freshen things up and put it back in the light.

Well, things certainly did run amok in that household.

@Valkyrie You have amok in your title.... Amok, Amok, Amok, Amok, Amok!

And, I might add: The high degree of interest and support from readers. (chuckles)

This should be added: The descrepancy between a large number of story views and that of feedback (reactions/comments/reviews) is proportionately due to the greater number of non-members to registered members. Although some members do shy away from providing input of any sort, it is imperative to keep in mind that non-members cannot provide feedback to what they have read. So the view numbers are a good indication that people are looking and possibly reading an authors work, but the lack of story/chapter feedback doesn't necessarily mean that the story was meaningless or of no value to anyone -- it could be quite the opposite or somewhere in-between.

What accounts for lesbians, another antibody? But, seriously, why even bother to discover a cause, even if a cause can be found? Could that be because even though a large cohort of the worlds population believes God doesn’t make mistakes, they’re still looking to cure homosexuality? In any event, there are far and enough first born children (me being just one of them) who are off the hetero-spectrum. That study sounds like a reach.