Carlos Hazday

One of my favorite chapters in the book. Primarily thanks to one character's appearance. No, you wankers, not HIM. Karma. It came in, kicked ass, and didn't bother taking names. Rita, Heinrich, Willy, and Zoltan all got their comeuppance. Excellent job wrapping things up, Parker. The growth in Rick is so pronounced, he barely resembles the insecure individual we met so many chapters ago. I guess it's proof of what love can do. I foresee Gus Morales performing during the 2041 Presidential Inauguration festivities.

Are you loving the speculation?

@serelec I can be painfully honest. Ruthless some people would call it. LOL Be aware stories garner readers for years after being posted. I left a review yesterday on one published before I was a member, even though the author has since died. And my first novel, published in 2015, still gets readers and comments. Your chapter was fine, decent writing, and a potentially interesting premise. Good luck.

Considering a recent discussion on providing feedback to authors, I'm trying to practice what I hope my readers embrace. That statement, however, ensures I won't read the next installment. If there's even the slightest possibility the author will abandon a story, I'm not willing to invest myself in it only to be left hanging at some point. My advice to new authors has always been: Write the damn thing, then post. My attitude has not changed. Best of luck to you.

It's going to take me a few days to get used to the new reactions. Us geezers tend to dislike change. 😁 A handful of newer members started reading Cadet, discovered there were a couple of related stories, and braved starting at the beginning. You're right the fact I'm still writing about the characters might give me more incentive to reply, but I know Parker does as well and he creates new casts for every story. Reading some of these old chapters when I get new comments makes me cringe though. I've started cleaning up typos and punctuation in Summer and one of these days ill post updated versions. May take a while.

The hellish drive down the side road kept me on the edge of my seat when I first read the chapter, and once again just now. Forget the lycan aspect, I'm in complete awe of firefighters who risk their lives to protect others. Now, if All Flash could stop mucking around and get his shit together... 😁

@dughlas Isn't it fun to read comments years after the story posted? I don't understand authors who ignore them on their older works.

Sadly, Jack's gone. Thankfully, his stories remain. Professional Courtesy's not perfect but it's an endearing story. I believe were the author still alive, he might have revised it again to maintain relevant contemporary references. It is nonetheless an enjoyable read. I admit Jack's style and subject matter influences my writing, hell I borrowed one of his characters for a story. An openly gay father may have been somewhat uncommon when this was published, but today they're found everywhere. The progress made in the past 10 years may have been hard to foresee, but Professional Courtesy treated the matter with respect and joy. The Flynns will charm you. And for those of you into hot sex scenes, Brian and Eric might be what you're looking for.

Go big or go home. LOL But I don't understand what you mean by cliffhangers. () Glad you enjoyed the first installment!

Thank you. From the beginning, I wanted to make the story somewhat realistic. Cheating and separations are frequent, and I wanted to reflect that in the story.

Yeah... I definitely amped up the drama once I'd established the premise and the characters.

Unfortunately, Lourdes is fictional, but there are many mothers (and fathers) who still reject their kids when they come out. I don't have any of my own, but it breaks my heart when parents toss kids out. My niece just turned 25. At birth, she was one of those pretty babies, all blond hair and blue eyes. I made a joke about buying my brother a shotgun for when she started dating. Something to show any guy she went out with. My brother's reaction? "Not sure I could use a shotgun on a woman if she turns out to be a lesbian." That type of attitude gives me hope.

Stock up on beer and chips LOL

Thanks, JR. And although a little late, welcome to GA. Big Mac's still too big. Maybe a 1/4 pounder w/cheese? A lot of my readers met Ritch in his brother's stories when our cadet wasn't even a teen. 5 years younger than CJ, he was always the little kid in the group. Y main goal with this story was to show him maturing sufficiently to make a good AF officer. We get a bit more of that in the next chapter.

Stop sneaking peeks at my outlines! I really wanted readers to experiennce what I imagined Chipper would do at a concert.

We need to go to a Chipper concert.

Hey! Just marketing here. The ongoing forum discussion about encouraging readers to react inspired me. Didn't the James Bond movies announce the next installment at the end? Even though the new one could have been a couple of years in the future.

Coming to Gay Authors on April 22, 2022.

Have I mentioned I enjoy your commentary. It's incisive, informed, and it usually makes me smile or laugh "I may just start wearing a brain bucket more often.” -- Whatever it takes to keep his brains in his head. I wiah I had one of those helmets, I'd wear it often too. Unfortunately that particular one was not as well designed and effective as I described. As far as I know, they stopped selling it about a year after it was introduced. I'm certain a better one will hit the market sooner or later. They had flown to Miami International Thursday night, having taken Friday off from work and school. -- I don't think he's in the SFS at all. This is B-school scheduling. This is what you find questionable? I thought I really stretched the truth when GU was so accommodating during his involvement in the 2016 election. Wait until you read about his graduation. I may have pushed fiction hard with that one. "Two consecutive appointments of fossil-fuel industry flunkies as EPA Director tells me he doesn’t care.” -- Oh, the orange menace cared a lot, about the environment for fossil fuel profits and for racist misogynists. Damn! And I thought I was being harsh when I had Owen say that. "It’s how you can tell us apart from the sheep fuckers.” -- Australia actually has almost 3 times as many sheep as New Zealand. And New Zealand has little of the racism and homophobia that Australia does. Plus, almost nothing in NZ will kill you, while almost everything in Australia can. Read the fine print, picking on Australia is not allowed. I think all those venomous critters are cute. Anyway, sheep fuckers' what Aussies call Kiwis. Possible typo alert? "At least the change in control of the House of Representatives acted as a break." -- Damn homonyms! You might mean break, but I think you meant brake. Thank you. Countless readings by multiple individuals and this type of crap still happens. Fuck me. “You sure you want to do this, CJ? Out here in the open?” Owen unbuckled the belt, unfastened the top button, and spread the fly’s flaps. -- GRATUITOUS SEX ALERT!! What, you've been writing sappy romance and blood-pounding cliffhangers and tear-jerking drama (which you NEVER do), so now you decide to inflict a sex scene on your readers? LMAO 1-I do NOT write cliffies, tears, or sappy romance. Although I make @dughlas reach for tissues whenever I write about Brad. 2-Some of the things I put CJ and Oz through are based on experiences. I may or may not have been in Owen's position at one point. Damn motorcycle club members abused me about it for months! So what if I never got his name. 3-Rarely do I write something without a purpose. The EPA comment above was a way of showing Owen paying attention to the politics his husband embraces and agreeing. 4-I had a reader complain CJ was a bad, uncaring boyfriend and that I never showed them having sex any more. I decided to throw him a bone(r). 5-Pretty sure you can figure this one out without me giving too much away. CJ in a jockstrap atop a bar in NYC. CJ giving his husband a BJ under the stars. Opposition research. And CJ makes it sound like a Foreign Service appointment is in the bag. Of course, with all the career officers heading for the exits, there are more openings than ever, but is he the type Tillerson/Pompeo/Trump want to hire? And I'm not sure little Marco will help. Yeah well, Sarah Vaughn said it best: Whatever Lola CJ wants, CJ gets. Not sure those three gave a rat's ass about who they hired for entry-level positions. I also figured the exodus of State Department veterans created opening even if many were left unfilled.

@BlueWindBoy Do not despair. CJ will overreact again sooner or later. As a teen, I had him jump between acting his age and being a grown up. As he ages, he'll be a grown up more often, but he's still a kid so... LMAO You're as helpful as CJ! CJ wanted ritzy granite, and Owen wanted practical quartz. Guess what, they compromised on a third alternative. I forget what book I mentioned the material in passing, but it'll come up again. I obviously have a thing for singer/songwriters who are ultimately story tellers. Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Buffett, and Billy Joel are all featured multiple times in the series. Next up, Jimmy in Margaritaville. Brinkley still hold that title. Have you seen how the woman looks in her old age? LOL

Thanks, Wolf! Hope you're ready to revisit some of this book's events. Any scene with CJ in it will probably get re-written from his POV in the next book. Some may be significantly expanded.

CJ involvement level makes me jealous. I could match it if I were younger, but these days sitting on my ass fits me better. The editing I do for others is my attempt to pay back what's been given to me. I've learned a lot from more experienced writers on GA, and I want to pay it forward to up and coming ones. I could start posting the next book tomorrow, I have enough chapters written, but the quality would suffer. I can't just write and post the way some authors do, I need to read each chapter multiple times until I'm happy. Then my beta readers and editor do their thing and I read over it another dozen times or so. Shooting for quality over quantity here.

Okay, time to 'fess up. I can't remember how I worked it out for Ritch to buy 50 tickets. The Academy admits about 1,000 cadets each year. Even sized classes means a total of 4,000 at any time. Those are divided into 40 Squadrons. Ritch commands Squadron 12, the Dirty Dozen and I reference another one in the next chapter. If I can remember the logic behind him buying only 50, I'll include it in an edit. If not, I may change 50 to 'enough' LOL

This is not an easy story to read. However, it should be. By everyone. If for no other reason than to remind us for every kid like Wolf who survives, albeit not unscathed, countless others do not. I've never understood the fascination some people have with young men and women as sexual beings. Engaging in actual acts while taking advantage of someone down on their luck makes their crime more heinous. Hell, the multitude of internet stories about youngsters having sex bothers me. I tend to label authors and readers of those as pedophiles whether they act on their desires or not. As much of a struggle as it may be to get through the story, the author wisely chose to end on a hopeful note. The fact he survived to write about it is a testament to his strength. May his words and actions inspire current and future readers to lend a hand if possible, and to hang in there if they find themselves in a similar situation.

Nothing I hate to admit. I'm working on Mexico and a novella. The second shorter work's on hold while I concentrate on the novel. Add in I'm trying to clean the earlier CJ books and I just volunteered to edit for another author, it'll take something momentous to steer me away from the current path. If extraterrestrials land, I may write a short about it.