Ron

If you're going to bring someone new into a story, bring them in noticeably. That was accomplished well and dramatically.

Winter and the cold come with it seems to have worked a charm on both the titled and untitled authors. We have received a bountiful feast for the eyes and mind as good as any of the varied comfort foods we rely on in this most bitter of seasons. And, for those folks in the perpetual hot spots of the world and those who are experiencing summer now, there is a place for a good read in the shade and the authors are providing a wealth of material for enjoyment. Send a little heat our way while your at it.

I hope you get to do everything you want to do during your trip. Sounds exciting. I loved my one and only trip to the aquarium in Monterey many years ago. It has been the best aquarium that I have experienced to date. I'm with DDK in cautioning, don't over do it. But that is probably the hidden mommy in me coming out I'll knock on wood, cross my fingers, ask Sasha for a rabbits foot and watch the sidewalks for a heads up penny for you. Good fortune to you on the scans.

Gasp! I can't stand it if the internet goes out for an hour or so. It would work, I think, but would require 'Troll Police'. I wonder what the uniforms would look like.

Welcome to GA Iairy. I have an answer for you and it can be found in the Gay Authors News at the top of the forums page. If you hit the link it will take you to the correct one. My comments to the Tech Blog are there along with many others. Short answer is, it is in the works but as indicated by Myr, the feature you are looking for will only last 30 days as planned. Hopefully the community can be convincing in making that a feature without an end date. Feel free to leave your own comment on that page. You're part of the community now, you signed up so join in my friend. Otherwise, like me, you will needs be keeping your own list.

It is enjoyable and you are absolutely right, the community here is fantastic and supportive.

Thanks, Wayne. My partner says this as well. After reading my anthology piece, which came as a surprise to him since I didn't let on I was writing beforehand, one of the first things he wrote after the surprise wore off was - It isn't the same as what I do, writing fiction is hard. He told me he was proud of me.

A certain amount of emotional removal is essential of course. But you and me, we are cut from different cloth, I'm thinking. Experience, whether life's or time spent writing has a lot to do with that difference, I'm sure. You will find no disagreement from me that a well crafted tale is pulling. It is. I don't get bogged down by emotion and did not mean to imply it if that is what you or others took away from what I wrote. It is exciting and freeing, if visceral when I think I have achieved the right tone with a scene that is emotional and hopefully the words I choose are not merely words on the page. I too want my writing to come alive because the story is well crafted. I do expect that it will, or as you say - possible that it will, get easier and hearing that it does or can from experienced authors such as yourself, is affirming and offers something to look forward to with eagerness. A novel, I fear is a distant stretch of the imagination.

I am currently working on, and hope to finish in time, a long-form short story for entry in the GA Spring Anthology. It is incredibly difficult and time consuming to winnow the chaff from the best grain of words I lay down on screen. My appreciation for what my partner does as part of his career and to provide for us has grown with leaps and bounds the longer I attempt this amazing thing. He is an art historian and author, co-author, collaborator and contributor of books on art history. I am proud of him. The following is an excerpt from a recent email I sent to him. *** My deepest apologies for every time I got upset with you, whether you were aware or not, for spending so much time writing on your computer. I began writing a story after you left. So far I have written 6k+ words of it and spent hours beyond the writing (no small amount) to edit out the nonsensical, the repetitious, unnecessary articles, the redundant descriptions and on and on. Lunch is sometimes late - dinner is sometimes late - I look at the time only to discover it's ten at night and I haven't ate let alone cooked. It is halfway to completion if my ideas hold out and I thought it would be a good point to stop and polish the first portion. I swear to you, if I was to self-edit the whole thing at once, I think my head would explode. The best thing about examining it now is the hope I will leave most of the crap out of the rest of it as I write. You might be surprised to hear my dreams have been invaded by my writing. It's creepy! I have woken in the middle of the night and jotted things down. Ideas for new stories sneak in. Does this bring me closer to becoming a true short-story writer do you think? A novel is unfathomable in my mind, I have no idea how people do it. I hope that it gets easier. I do. *** As some are already aware, my first short story - What's Inside, can be found in the 2013 Fall Anthology. It has the honor of also being my first creative writing outside of a poem I wrote to an older lover. He was thirty-six years old to my then twenty-five and more than half a lifetime ago. He said he was never before a recipient of a poem. He said he liked it. Writing is a surprisingly difficult endeavor for me. I read slowly, every scene alive in my head and my writing has taken the same turn. An emotional scene can become difficult and I will need to walk away, every time I go over it. I keep tissue beside my computer, in case. I get angry when my characters do and sad or happy with them. No doubt this is not unique to me; my sympathy goes out to you. Quality gay fiction is the name of the game though and I will push on with gratitude for my partner's support, for those who are helpful and admiration for my fellow authors.

You don't go for the small stuff, do you, James?

"You should lay of the wine, dear sister" "I'm not drinking today, brother dearest." "More wine, anyone?" A classic used to good effect and a laugh out loud moment for me. The conversation and behavior on the walk home from Nick's on Boxing Day with Dave, Mellie and Jason brought on a chuckle. Good humor. I agree with Suvitar in part, as Stuart continues to be an unknown factor in just how he will influence events in the story. Excellent writing as usual, Sir.

The reviews on Amazon... Well, I originally thought the were fake but there are just too many of them expelling expressing the same symptoms. Some of those reviews like the one Mike posted are really quite eloquent.

Welcome Krzysztof! I hope you don't mind Chris since you included it. Otherwise I may put more z's in your name than required. It appears that you have much to keep you busy and admirable goals. You should have no problems making friends here on GA. Cheers!

I am a bit confused as well. Wasn't Mephistophilis a servant of Lucifer, the devil, Luc for short? Why would he be warning Brian. Unless the warning serves the same purpose as a parent telling a child, "I don't want you to see him any longer." In that case - tricky! and good job!

You use imagery in certain instances well. One thing that I would caution against is the overuse of " I ". Find creative ways to eliminate its use, especially at the beginning of sentences, as much as is possible. The sentences have a way of becoming repetitious regardless of content when nearly each one begins with it. Otherwise, the chapter looks good and reads well. Notwithstanding the awful subject matter of 'let's beat the gay out of the boy'. Cheers and good writing to you.

I am not one of the Starbucks trashers. Their Casi Cielo blend from the Antigua Valley (recently released) is rich and lush. It is a medium roast that comes round about this time every year. With the exception of one year out of the last five or six, it has been damn good every year. If you try it, do not skimp on the beans. I use 24 grams per 9 oz mug of coffee with an Aeropress. For anyone in the US, Matt's Coffee out of Maine roasts some mighty fine beans using a vintage Italian roaster fired with native sap and fruitwood from the Maine forests. Their Mocha Java blend of beans has been fantastic. The beans are roasted small batch and only to order. You can get the beans through mail-order at a very reasonable delivery cost using priority mail. For those of you that want to know what the Aeropress is, you can find it on Amazon. I make every cup using it nowadays. If anyone would like to try, I can highly recommend the Mocha Java or Bird Dog (supposedly espresso but makes a nice cup-a) blend. Matt's Coffee

You have a fine touch with personal interaction and it shows in this chapter well. The dialogue was excellent. There was a dryness to the first sexual interaction that prevented me from 'feeling' it, as it were. After Adam woke up and found Mikeal, the following conversation was emotional and marvelous. Mikeal's uncertainty in the scene was nearly palpable, and the sexual interaction that followed was right there believable in every way. I loved the analogy between questions and doubts, and dogs chasing their tails. It was both a vivid and accurate linking. So well in fact, that I immediately found myself imagining those questions and doubts chasing themselves round and round, never to find an answer.

I liked it. The story worked well with the prompt other than I wasn't aware that a psychic was to be included along with the horoscope. You see, Tina knew exactly what Randy told us about his horrible morning but didn't tell her at the beginning of the story. Hehehe. No worries, I knew what you meant.

I loved it! The ending is not at all what you would expect from the beginning. Very nicely told, Andy and the blending of the target words into the story was seamless.

I've been following 'The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal' on the web and have enjoyed it so much. The premise of a road-trip is not original but the reasons for each of the young men doing it are interesting and the dialogue is cleverly written. The author/artist easily conveys the everyday motions and quirks of two people getting to know one another in his drawings and progresses the story naturally with them. E.K. Weaver is a truly gifted artists. I purchased volumes 1 and 2, and they arrived today along with two prints that I liked. As good as it looks online, I think that it looks even better in print. There is the nature of being able to hold it, the feel of the pages, the ability to see everything writ large without scrolling up and down and of course - not having to click through pages. Volume 3 is out in a few months and I will buy that as well, because the print version is just that good, even though I will continue to read online. My buying the different works has the added benefit in my mind of helping to support an artist who generously offers his work for free. Very much as some of the authors here on GA do.

Ha! Too right.

I'll jump on the dance floor. Happy Birthday Tim! May you have many more.

May yours be much, much better.

Your enthusiasm about getting your story posted was contagious, Mikey. I kept looking for it to be posted but missed it anyway, so I did a search. This first chapter was an easy read from beginning to end. I liked it. I did think that Jen's response was overmuch but then again, she’s had Sarah’s negative influence for input. A friend’s advice is just that, but keeping the little doubts that creep in away from your thoughts can be difficult. Especially if Jen already had those doubts to begin with as reading between the lines indicates. TJ, as they say, doth-protest-too-much. If he were as homophobic as we are being led to believe, there would have been no, ‘let’s trade blow-jobs’ in the first place. He may be trying to convince himself (and Tony) through his words after the fact and his joining the service, but I am not convinced. I will not cover the other participants in this chapter but I will say that the nonlinear way the story is told, and I understand why you did it, prevented me from becoming attached to Tony. From this reader’s standpoint, each shift in time and staging had me more interested in the action of that moment than the necessary act of becoming attached to the protagonist. There were emotional cues aplenty but the shifting and pacing interfered. Apart from that last remark, I want you to know that I did like this first chapter – I hit the button. It is a very good premiere and I am looking forward to your words with enthusiasm. Aside from the story, do you prefer the full Mikeymike88, Mikey or Mike when referring to you?

This proves to show how much there is that folks aren't aware of, even when it may affect their health. Many continue to take herbal remedies right along with their medications, all the while not realizing just how those herbs may interfere with the meds. Best to list any and all vitamins, minerals, over the counter meds such as - aspirin, antihistamines, antacids and such, and herbs that you take for health reasons on your next trip to see your doctor. Or check with your pharmacist; the medical pharmacist, not the guy over on the next block that you have to meet at the back door for your herbal remedy. It's good to remember that if you eat a small bit of grapefruit in a salad that your neighbor prepared, it probably is no cause to rush to the emergency room. That sliver of lime in your gin and tonic is less than likely a reason to think that you may not wake up the next morning either. The gin on the other hand... If in doubt, check with your doctor or pharmacist.