Ron

https://www.gayauthors.org/forums/story/ron/apromptresponse/1 Hard to believe that this was my first prompt response. What an emotional dump (Note to self: bad headspace, Ron). Story told from a removed narrative perspective -- you'll have to decide if that's a plus or minus in the telling of it.

Julie Czerneda is an author (one of my favorites) who writes very female centered science fiction books. While you won't find any trans-related characters (to the best of my recollection) her female characters are strong, intelligent and interesting—there are several series. I've found every book of hers to be highly entertaining to read.

Thank you for reading—and for saying such nice things, northie.

Here is a quick read of mine: Sound Bites a response to first line prompt #332. You'll have to try very hard to get through 176 words. I dare ya!

Congratulations, Caz.

Ain't nothin' like a good ole titty twist to put things into perspective, is there? Your story was cute and it fit the bill quite nicely, HB.

Ha-ha! At least poor Dereck was able to have himself a dramatic exit.

Wow! First impressions, just throwing it out here... I completely sympathize with the first character.

Some people get stuck in the process on the way to the end of the game. But if you step back and look at the bigger picture you realize the game never stops. Think of this chapter of your life as but one level of the game, knowing that the act of learning new things is ever ongoing. So get your certificate and move on to the next level. Meet new people, accept new challenges and learn new things. You'll be glad you did. Im going to add that from reading your post it sounds, to me, like you have exactly the right drive to succeed in what you set your mind to.

I began watching Neflix's The OA one episode at a time—one each night or so—because it was kind of quirky and I wanted to be sure that I was "getting it." After the first three episodes I was so intrigued by the show that I ended up bingeing the last five hour-long episodes over two nights. The show is pretty darn good.

Anything beyond your average werewolf (is there such a thing?) is merely reaching and extrapolation of a genre which itself is a known fiction. But why not? If we agree that writing about paranormal events or paranormal creatures can be entertainment—scary, and even titilating—then why can't these same subjects include a gay element? Sure, you might say, and why not? If that isn't a stretch then why can't being gay be the main determining factor in these paranormal stories? There is no reason 'why not.' There is a definite reason 'why for' and it has a lot to do with power dynamics. It doesn't require a stretch of the imagination to know that a large population of both females and males are attracted to dominate male figures—if only in a peripheral sense. We look up to a person displaying a dominant persona, follow them and even idolize those who exhibit such, and sometime we do that without realizing that we're doing any of those things in a conscious manner. So if we are to agree that paranormal creatures are something "other" and powerful—dominant, if you will—is it any wonder that quite a few gay men and not a few straight women are attracted to 'were-' stories. That's my take on the subject. But... what if your werewolf has a form of dyslexia? You'll have to go read Sasha Distan's Born Wolf to find out. I highly recommend the story.

Thank you for your review, northie. I'm thrilled to hear that you enjoyed reading this particular work of mine. A lot of effort went into achieving the elements of which you point out so nicely.

My favorite story that I’ve written and based on a prompt would have to be the one I titled Max Cauler after the main character. The story is in reaction to Prompt 381 – a challenge prompt with the tag of “Uncomfortable Situation.” At just over 1,000 words, this story was perhaps one of the hardest of my prompt stories to write. Who knew at the time, and certainly not me, that I was a glutton for the punishing effort of hard work, and through that effort that I would go on and turn this story into a much larger work? By rewriting and adding nearly another 5,000 words I turned my short story into a full-fledged anthology piece for the 2015 Spring Anthology – Full Circle. What a ride that second version of Max Cauler set me on.

This made me laugh, Sasha. I'm with Dashi, I can walk a few miles and then I need the sofa, too.

While not entirely an original premise, this was a pleasant enough read. I've probably read two or three other stories using this same idea. For the most part only names, addresses and the scenery makes each story different. In this story I find myself not particularly drawn to, or caring for, either character—backstories not withstanding. Perhaps if the characters had been more fleshed out, beyond their situational use. As is, we only experience them one dimensionally and these guys, in this story, demand having their backstory shown, not told, in order to make them interesting.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you writers, promoters, readers and friends.

I'm going to start right off by telling you how glad I am that you took the time and effort to write a story with enough length to give life to a story such as this—that brevity was not your cause. Beyond that, it would be almost ridiculously time consuming to touch upon all that I believe you did right in telling the story. Foremost in my mind is that the story offers the reader such a wonderful example of what it means to be human. We are not always clear, we don't always know what it is that we want and we are not always rational about our choices. But sometimes, however it happens to happen and despite all of the things that can and do go wrong, things fall into place for us. The rest is in the details. Bravo.

Sometimes, when browsing Amazon for gay fiction, I feel like a much younger person... what with all of the eye-rolling that I do over the covers. Again and again it's a variation of something that I've already seen ad nauseum. Occasionally you come across the non-cookie cutter layout on the cover and what that gains the author (if the subject matter is appealing to me) is more attention. I have been on the fence about making a purchase from time to time and because the cover was imaginative, bought the kindle version. Content is a whole other argument, of course, and best deserving of its own space. So I'll leave that alone.

Fear and worry will get you nowhere, Emi. Come up with a plausible response of deniability should something be said (only you know what may work), but otherwise behave as if nothing in the world is out of normal. After all nothing is out of normal for you, and no one else need know any different—including your brother—so your behavior should reflect just that. Acting oddly always leads to doubt and then the smallest whisper can cause you trouble.

I missed the release last year so I'm just now discovering Son Lux's BONES and, I think, it's pretty brilliant. You can listen to the album in its entirety if you click the link.

I appreciate you letting me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading, jfalkon.

I would like to include my own story Trickster for this topic. I did not put a Halloween tag on it (I may go back in and change that) and I posted the story off-season. For those reasons, I don't think the story got the attention it deserved—thanks Valkyrie, Cole Matthews and my sister for the only reviews. The story is rated mature because of I didn't want to run afoul of the GA rating system, but the story isn't really all that mature. Now, I have a far better (and on-topic) reason for mentioning my own story: It was fun as all get-out to write, and I like it. A lot! p.s. Lisa was kind enough to edit and to write the story note.

Depending on whether you consider the 1986 movie Aliens to be a horror movie, Michael Biehn as Corporal Hicks would be my choice. Biehn played the character of a handsome Kyle Reese in The Terminator two years earlier in '84, and later in 1989's The Abyss he portrayed a Navy Seal (still a good looking man - even with that sketchy mustache) suffering from pressure-induced psychosis who throws all into danger.

Congratulations on the promotion, Carlos.

Hey, Drew. I'm thinking that you could always have your first chapter of In Four Years edited and then post it (with an appropriate notation) as the new beginning of the story and continue on from there with further (edited) chapters. Don't worry about the numbers that supposedly define chapters. That way you lose nothing and are free to continue the story however you like.