Ron

I dare say, you're right, Russell. Good point.

I do believe you're right, James. You're a different person than you were and you do have different tools at your disposal to work with. Tools that younger version didn't have access to. Use them to your best advantage, I know you will.

I can just picture the two coworkers creating a tableau vivant across their desks: Monsters being chased by the angry mob (pitch forks and all) with a choice selection of 'Scream Queens' in their horrific poses scattered among the mob for maximum effect. What a picture!

I envision the whole sexual aspect of A.I. as beginning very similar to the scenario in the movie Her. A movie that I consider underrated. The act of affection, as it is in the movie, is easily seductive, to both. Then, because the A.I. does not truly have the same spark, if you will, as humans do . . . they would grow in a different direction than we. And we could only hope that that direction would not lead to our demise, I'm thinking.

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” ~ Marcel Proust

Bravo!

Not everything you write needs be seen by others. Write for yourself if you think it will help. Writing as therapy is something that I've seen mentioned onsite many times and I dare say that I've probably channeled into my own writing; fiction, but just the same, channeled.

Joe was an interesting character, to say the least, with an unusual way about him. Oh hell, I found him to be a bit odd, all right?! Was there something, or someone, that prompted the character?

You've got yourself a fine first chapter, Billy. Your characters are interesting. I must say that baseball themed stories seem to strike a cord with me, for some reason, even though I can honestly say that I am not unusually fanatic about the game. My only advice on the subject would be to caution you to slow down a bit, include some of the reactions from those people not playing the game (that you mentioned). Make them a part of it. Don't rush the words and end up throwing them at us hurriedly. I think that you can take your time and develope your characters and their connections. I think this type of story calls for that approach. But bravo and keep up the good work.

I'm happy to hear that you like my story. Thank you for taking the time to say so.

I enjoyed reading this very much. All of the various elements here gathered into a nice cohesive package. There was one small niggling dangle. How did Dave, not being related, find out about the accident? Otherwise, I thought that you captured the dialogue particularly well during the confrontation. Nice!

Good on you both for sharing such personal facets of your lives with one another. For providing and allowing the safety of friendship to do so. These things remind us that we are human - there are things that must be lived with - and there are things we can do to overcome adversity in all of its forms. I'm happy for you that it worked out so well.

I'm looking forward to the Neko sequel but what I really should do is get over and finish up the shorts. I couldn't read What No One Sees past a few chapters and that may have had something to do with coming right on the heels of having read All In. I'm not sure. I'll need to see if the distance of time makes a difference before I say anything definitive about the story.

A tired soul on their last day deserves some comfort, I think. As does, perhaps, someone who is deeply moved is deserving of relief. Thank you for the wonderful compliment on my work.

You're right, there is a slightly spooky feel and maybe that's inevitable in a story like this. It's more than a ghost story and you noted some of the more important aspects of the story. I'm glad to hear that it all came together for you in a good way.

I'm very pleased that I was able to move you emotionally and I thank you for telling me. Please do check out my other stories but you'll find they are not all emotionally heavy. There is humor and lightheartedness to be found as well.

My first prompt for 2015 and based on Prompt 385. By and By

He swung his legs out and onto the pavement. He stood and stretched his arms out and up in an attempt to relieve the pain between his shoulder blades. He'd been feeling the pain in the last couple of hours. That can't be good, he thought, but at least my knees aren't acting up. He reached into his piece-of-shit car and across the driver's seat, grabbed his backpack and the ever-present bag of fast food—too much trouble to cook for one and too late for the trouble—and headed toward his apartment.

My cache of all prompt responses - 2015 and beyond. All stories rated mature even if not needful of the rating—you must decide.

Since you asked for opinions about continuing or not ... I say no, I don't think that you should, at least not as a continuation of short prompt 'chapters.' Though there is creativity involved in working long stories out of strings of prompts, if one gives you a story idea, why not use it for as long as the idea holds up and be done with it. A longer story can stand alone with multiple chapters and never need to be part of a collection such as this (and still be a response to a prompt). The story: It would have been nice to get a better hint of Garry's (unusual and confusing spelling for Gareth) profession in the first paragraph. Muddy hair, what can be drawn from that? The young girl wrapped up in the blanket was better imagery for the later reveal of a fire (still not aware of Garry's role: firemen? fire inspector?) and paramedics and being wrapped up in a blanket, which she took off in. We can make a connection easily. The mini epilogue at the end was unnecessary and the three lines of Lucas' arrival could have been done away with, you really wouldn't have lost anything, and the story would have been tighter. I liked that you wrote Mia as living just a short distance away. It makes the imagination conjure up events of Garry seeing her somewhere, maybe even have interacted with her. That's a good kind of clever.

The first few paragraphs back in chapter 28 had me chuckling with Marshall's anticipation of his subsequent plugging and in this chapter the underlying humor was still in evidence. Poor Marshall, once again, ready to just get-on-with-it and still managing to hold back for the anticipation and ultimate reward of it. Lee has that whole demand and supply chain down well; create the demand (need) and then supply the goods. He knows how to 'work his boy.' The playful way you go about writing this makes me think that you're enjoying the writing of these two characters. As I'm enjoying the reading of them.

Happy Birthday! May there be many happy returns.

Sorry, man. Something exactly like this happened to a friend of mine (in Boston) and her apartment in Rome. Luckily, the person who checked on her apartment for her happened to pop in the day that it flooded; it could have been worse. Best of luck getting it sorted out.

I'll keep you all in my thoughts with affection, care and sympathy so you'll have it for whenever you need it.

Whatever floats your boat. Let's face it, you love the person you love and that's all there should be to it. It shouldn't be more complicated than that. Exploiting a relationship in order to make a buck off of it is just gauche.