Gandalf

I already started rereading it several weeks ago! I was born and adopted in Indianapolis. So your early tales caught me and I’ve been reading you since on several sites. Thank you for all the journeys you have given us and hoping for more. Pax. Ste

Oh what a chore it has been to bare with you for these chapters. You have dragged us into an interesting culture, unknown to me, forced a look at how it could reclaim itself as many indigenous cultures are doing around the world. Oh and tucked in another of your torturous love stories. Thanks so much for yet another great piece. I have been here at GA for years and have always been pleasantly surprised to find yet another author here that will give me all the pleasure I used to get from the books in my small town library decades ago. Thanks for continuing that tradition.. Pax. Ste

Oh what a chore it has been to bare with you for these chapters. You have dragged us into an interesting culture, unknown to me, forced a look at how it could reclaim itself as many indigenous cultures are doing around the world. Oh and tucked in another of your torturous love stories. Thanks so much for yet another great piece. I have been here at GA for years and have always been pleasantly surprised to find yet another author here that will give me all the pleasure I used to get from the books in my small town library decades ago. Thanks for continuing that tradition.. Pax. Ste

Support from unexpected sources. Both boys getting it from their families is wonderful. Can’t wait to see where things go from here. Thanks for your work. Ste

He is a Passamaquody here in Maine. He is now 66. Which makes me a real Geezer. The world situation is certainly warming up. I hope the autocracy in Russia and then maybe here can be tamed. That would go along way. But we will see. I will wait for your next story and hide in reading. Be well. Ste.

Another powerful/sweet start to your new adventure. My foster son’s record from the 1950’s reads that x has lost his Italian looks and taken on his Native American features and is no longer to be considered for adoption. That was when he was four…. I took him out of an institution 11 years later. I did get to meet some of the elders who had preserved language and traditions to some extent. Now there is much change in the interest and policy of indigenous people here. Pax. Ste

Wandered in here and have really been hooked so far. Looking forward finding out more about these guys. Thanks. Ste

Enjoyed the trilogy. This third part was hard at times but your character development pulled it together. Looking forward to more. Pax.

Your stories are tweaking my life. Very well done although I suspect it would almost never happen that a foster person from NY would be placed in VT. Outside of that I love the adventure and relationships you have created. I took in my first foster person when I was twenty six and he was 15. My second foster son. As an adult helped me sail my small boat across the Atlantic. Somewhere in there I spent my life as a Protective/Child Welfare worker. Thirty years ago I reconnected with my lover from UVM days who still lives in the Kingdom. We have had a long distance relationship since then. Looking forward to seeing more of your work. Thanks Ste

I grew up in the NE Kingdom in the ‘50s. I was adopted and gay. It was nice to feel that these changes could be and are happening . What well told tale. Thanks

Interesting, I wonder what Vya is really saying?

Their shortness is alleviated by your regularity. Keep on trucking.

I’m caught in your web. A good start. Thanks for your work. Looking forward to an adventure into a fascinating time and place in history. Pax. Ste

One of your many stories that are descriptive and evocative and just a pleasure to have read. Thanks for this addition to your many wonderful pictures of your worlds. Pax Ste

Following your likes almost has me ready to reread for the fourth time.

Boy now I know why I read this and then all your other stories on speed read a bunch of years ago. You’ve grabbed me again. Thanks. Ste.

A great restart on this reread. I am enjoying going through your stories again after a few years. Pax. Ste

I have read most of your stories a while ago and just reread Saturday Boy and now these two. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed your stories. I do hope you pick this back up when you are able. It has such a powerful ring to it! Pax. Ste

Watching the generational habit of controlling the situation to obtain the results you want while helping some relatively unknown person is cool. We watched it with JP, more cautiously with Brad and now with Will. Well done. I’ve come close to rereading the series for a(I think) fourth time over Covid but my new addiction of YouTube has slowed that down Along with Mark’s uptick in new chapters. Pax Steve

Wow what a powerful and hot adventure. I’ve been following you since early Naptown days but have not commented much. Over the pandemic years I’ve been caught up in the proliferation of stories I had missed. So belated thanks for all your work and these unusual friends you have given us. Pax. Steve.

How did I miss this all these years by one of the writers I remember enjoying so much back in the day as it were. So unusual and informative and hot in a slow burn kinda way.

Changing/differing perspectives of history seem to be at the forefront these days so this little discussion adds some perspective. The time in Russia is so interesting. When I studied Russian History in the late '60's the focus was mainly on the events of the twentieth century so I have enjoyed the more detailed look at these earlier times and the excursions into wikipedia . This is of course another grand adventure for who I describe to friends as the "gay Hornblower." I should say that as much as I loved C. S Forester he can not hold a candle to Mark. Whether it is the Grainger gang or J.P. and family these guys have become a part of my being. I am again at the end of about a year's neglect and catch up of the tale. I was thinking as I have been chain reading of several things based upon the commentary which I enjoy only slightly less than the story. Back with my foray into SM I soon realized that many things in life are better read about than lived. One of my dreams for years was to crew on a tall ship. However the last time a ship was here in Maine I realized that at this point in my life I would not want the reality of the close quarters etc as much in my 70's as in say my 50's when I sailed across the Atlantic in my small boat. It was sad to reach these conclusions but as much fun to relive them with George as it was with Horatio when I was 13-18. I have no idea where this all popped up but I back and will probably be commenting again more topically. Pax Steve

I have banged through half the epilogues to Black Widow and somewhat sadly am now caught up to the present and have to wait like the old days here. I must say that as much as I love this series I also have come to enjoy the Arbouristas comments after the chapters. It is such a long standing and interesting way to gain different perspectives on these people we have all made part of our lives. The Australian jaunt has indeed been a pleasant way to renew and reflect on the changes in Will and also the profound changes, in some ways, of J P and Stef. I also had been waiting for Brad to show up and see how that skewed things, I will await further adventures with the rest of you. Fortunately I have some catching up on the Gay Hornblower saga. Hornblower might be t he only series I have reread as much as CAP. Pax and thanks, Steve

I had been away from GA for awhile apparently longer than I thought as this chapter of the new Novel was posted on my birthday last year! I have enjoyed working through the last pieces of Black Widow and am now facing this Gap Year. Will is always fun(except for his Dad or others he is pissed at). Part of me was hoping we would move further ahead in time but this will be fine I am sure. Will may be central but I am also interested in the entire panoply of the CAP family. Pax Steve

Having enjoyed this long multi volume saga for years it is great to reach the end of this particular novel. It was delayed for long periods due to events beyond the author's control and as such became hard for me to follow even with the re readings which I was glad to do. For those that follow it can now be read in one reading and will be a pleasure for anyone connected to this saga. This chapter moves the family into a new position and prepares us for the next historical drama. I suspect that I will enjoy the next adventures as well. I hope others will join us Mark Arbour readers in this and the other fine historical adventures which are some of my absolute favorites over my many years at GA. Pax Steve