ColumbusGuy

With my family's rocky history, I am the youngest of six--I grew up with the three sisters from my mom's first marriage, but my dad had another son and daughter from his first that were fifteen years older than me. The brother I met once when I was ten, I think when he drove up to visit, but that's it. The daughter lived in the small town Greg and Benj live in, so I saw her at holidays and stuff. So, no brother experience for me, so that bit's all fantasy and based on some of my friends who had brothers. I think I got it right. I'm not sure what happened--my mom had three sisters, all had three/four boys, and only one had two girls to add to the mix...so my mom's mix was the exception. Even her daughters I grew up with had boys, a total of six and one lone girl. I'll be producing more often--I think my dry spell is coming to an end, though I'm still trying to figure an angle for Sole Mates.

@Timothy M. Hey, isn't Volvo a Swedish car? Oh wait, it's Scandinavia Against The World...at least in the comics. Tim set me on the trail of that wonderful series, so how can he represent himself as rational? Until begging him for help with my Danish boy my only experience with Danes was my dog I had about ten years before moving to town in '87. I had her from about 1972, and you couldn't ignore her--she could stand on her hind legs and stare me straight in the eyes, and I was 6'2. A great dog, white with grey splotches and bright blue eyes. Thank goodness we lived in the country surrounded by fields as she roamed all over, but always came backwhen called. My mom got her from a friend for free, and two years before I moved, I was offered a deaf male by people who raised them down the street as they couldn't take all of them when they moved away. He was nice and well-trained, but I couldn't feed two, so had to say no. So, Tim is my new Great Dane...and like the last, he seldom barks but is always nice. :)

I hope Cassie gets to visit soon and perhaps find her man in one of Ian's family... 😸

Unsentimental? Something wrong with that, min ven? 😸

😸 Thanks--the next one will be faster because this one didn't reach the point I'd been aiming for. Nothing new there as the boys take over, but I did have a goal, so the next one will reach that, and some new stuff besides.

Now you see why I asked Gary to be my editor way back in Chapter 10? He cuts to the heart of the matter and says things in such a way that I can only hope to achieve. He's hit the essence of our group on the head and uncovered something that I didn't know I was doing...this was just a little tale at first to give myself a more harmonious past than I had. Would it have happened this way if I'd actually taken up the offer of my real life 'Jay'? I don't know, but I'd have likely had n earlier expression of my sexuality, and perhaps a confidant, if I had. My first experience with another boy was still five years in the future in my own life, so at least that little item is fixed. More remains to be addressed: parents, an anachronistic Kevin...those parts are underway now, and will find resolution. Take some aspirin, my friend to ease the headache this chapter caused with the tech gremlins hovering. Dang, I don't know what's up, but I couldn't add an emoji from the menu of ones I used. So, hugs and kisses, G-Man!

Creep out? Are you impugning the honor of our boys? They're all 'up-standing' examples of young men...um...oh yeah, I remember hormones now.

Hej min ven! Tusind tak. Role models back then were few, and not positive for the most part. 'Camp' was what most people thought of when the subject of gay people came up, making them an obvious minority that most people need not feel threatened by. Even today, it's the big cities that present themselves as the epitome of gay culture...where the focus tends to be on partying, shopping and being uninformed about anything not related to their world. Does anyone remember the 'Silent Majority'? A large chunk of people felt like they were being dismissed by smaller groups with a louder agenda who dre all the attention. That's even more true today, sad to say. How many gay people feel left out of things because they aren't radical activists or ones to force their sexuality on the rest of society? I'm a product of my rural upbringing, I freely admit, and of an era just after Stonewall when the media was 'discovering' gay people. I did not, and do not now, feel like a part of the gay community in anything more than a fundamental way--I like men rather than women. I don't need endless letters to identify my particular segment of what ought to be a cohesive and supportive group. I am proud to be a gay man, but it's no one's business but mine and the person I'm dating--no need to parade it on a flashy float with underwear-clad dancers. Gayness is only part of who I am, not the reason I exist...and that's how I felt in my high school days--so that's how Mikey and Jay feel too. Finn and Lee will have fine role models in their brothers, and in J/M. With any luck, their future will be secure knowing they aren't alone, and have solid friends when needed. This is pure fiction except for Miles, because I never heard of another gay boy in my school, and neither had my sisters who went there for a decade before my own time. The district still has no gay groups, or mention of it in the handbook's anti-discrimination policies. Holy cow, where did all that come from? Don't try to think when you're tired!

Thanks Wes! A mini-block I think, and some people have been posting pretty cool stories that further distracted me...I'll do better from now on!

Hey, what's wrong with reading bits again? I did it when you began reviewing, and started all the way back from chapter one. :) Okay, I did read the last three or four chapters again to make sure I had things right in my head before writing this one... I often have a dream which will spark an idea, and I had one, but it went bad, and I essentially stared at the chapter for almost two months hoping to find a way to make it feel like the boys. Heart-felt apologies to all of you for the delay.

POV: Jay, Mikey The guys were all able to stay over Saturday night, though Cal and Benny had to go home to get a change of clothes for Sunday—neither of them could fit into Jerry’s old things like Mikey could. Greg asked Benny to pick up something for him from his place since it was just across the street from the big wrestler’s, and Denny decided he could fit into some of my brother’s clothes since he was just a bit smaller than Mikey. While the two athletes were gone, Denn

One mystery solved begets another...and deeper one. Is the consciousness of the royal erdbesten truly gone? The dreams of Francois and Gilles say no...and what of the mysteriously injured figure that needs the boys' help? All this makes me wonder: are there other colonies out there besides that of Terra Nouvelle?

I still don't trust Ayil who seems to have started this whole business. Maybe he wants to dissolve some bonds he doesn't think should have happened?

I love this story as it reminds me of my boyhood days. There's a pic of me in my gallery on my old Schwinn bicycle in '66 when I was eight, wearing jeans with the bottoms turned up, a plaid shirt and sneakers. That shirt was yellow and black, and the bike was red with chrome fenders and white-wall tires. Strange what sticks with you. Not long after that pic, my dad removed the training wheels and i sometimes rode it to elementary school about a mile and a half away in my little town. My next bike was bright green with a banana seat and sissy bar and three speeds. No problems with language since I've read and watched a lot of Imperial writers. One thing I learned was what a DA haircut actually meant--I knew what it looked like but not that it stood for 'duck's ass'. I laughed my posterior off at that one! I hope more people read Ivor because he's a very talented writer and a good friend. And oh, if you ever saw Popeye cartoons, you'll know what a Wimpy burger is....isn't that where the guy always says 'I'll gladly pay you tomorrow for a burger today?'

I'm intrigued by the idea of the area around them could be shaped by what they want to find...though the seeming fact that it's only a close approximation prohibits them from going home by this method. The unrest in some of the Even Realms could mean the boys may find other allies, but what price would that entail? More please my friend!

We all know I have a thing for red-heads, and baseball players don't hurt either, so I was glad to see Jasper right away even teasingly. Eric as GSA President would be great...and I love the Prom idea. It's nice that gay kids can think about going these days as it wasn't a possibility in my day--not in a small town anyway. Godt kapitlet, min ven!

@Timothy M. I appreciate your thinking of me when replying--it does make things easier especially if I use my narrator. Mind you, I have no idea why this is, but it won't always read a line with emoticons in them. It seems to read the ones from the drop down box, but not those typed in like a colon-comma. It did read my 'hugs' one above that I got from my frequently used ones in that box...but some of yours and others mask the line they're in. Maybe some techie guy--hey Geron!--can explain it?

I think Sablo just opened another can of worms with his brother by mentioning the match Theliel made on their auras. We know from AI that celestials can be whatever sex they wish, or none, but that's a hard (sorry) concept for former mortals to grasp at heart. My concern now is that Ayil will try to give Diego crap--I just don't trust him at all. Great chapter as always!

It's such a pleasure to see our friends again, and to realize that our bond with them is still as strong as ever. In just a few words their images came right back into my head, and the same fondness and laughter at their antics was back. I so want to meet these guys in real life. Sigh, that's the problem with fiction...but perhaps virtual friendships are even more fulfilling than real ones--you get only the good aspects without the boring daily grind. min ven.

That title sounds familiar--I'll have to check it out! Alternate and real world history have always been favorites of mine, though I felt cheated by Turtldove's Confederate series when he finally had the South lose after twelve books which showed no sign of it happening that way. GRRR. At least his aliens in WWII series went better. I've only heard of the Eurovision Song contest in comedies like Fawlty Towers and some other things like the Flying Circus series. It could be fun or a colossal pain depending on the talent of those involved. Jeez, I grew up watching enough variety shows like Sullivan, Sonny and Cher, and Laugh-In, so how bad can it get? One of my stories here is a sci-fi thing involving genetic engineering, terraforming and Neanderthals...just to keep things on a semi-light tone. My major story is set in the 70s during my last year(s) of high school and deals with accepting my sexuality in a small-town. That one draws on the places I grew up, and some real events, but everybody but my character is fictitious. Working on new chapter now, and hope to have the next one for the high school story sent to my editor Monday. I'll read through here, then move on to the other site for it if you haven't started more by then. :)

So much promise and sadness in this chapter. Love could be possible between the boys so long as they took into account the outward keeping of their stations in life...but overshadowing that is the fact that Felix has a disease which will eventually result in his wasting away before what would have been his allotted time. From various hints, the medical knowledge to cure him no longer exists, much as our world faced well into the 20th Century. Once Ruprecht leaves for his estate nearby that too will limit the boys' time together. Truly heartbreaking.

Hey Mike, I've got a confession here...I've passed this up more than once because I thought it was part of the Ruthenian series, but am all in now that I realize it's not. Don't get me wrong, please--I loved and devoured that series right up through the book about the Buddhist sanctuary, and the concentration on that evil woman...and I couldn't get back into it after that. I loved the Crown books too, and maybe I'll try getting back into Henry's universe and skip the Buddhist one. Like the others, I'm very intrigued about where the split occurred, and I can't imagine it yet. Is this really all there is? Somewhere I thought I saw almost twenty chapters?

Vegetarian lasagna in Heaven? Sounds more like the other place to me. 😸

A nice welcome for Lex to the novelties of family life. I liked his thoughts on the twins' shrieks--so true but you daren't say it out loud, and it doesn't prevent them from being good kids.

Lets hope that Rhys' comment about wanting a nice landscape and stuff sparks an idea and they find it this time...maybe concentrating on a place could guilde them?