Carlos Hazday

A week after the first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Long Island, CJ was back in New York City. He boarded the first available express train after his last class, stopped at the Upper East Side apartment to shower and change, and was now ensconced on a chair at the network’s studio in Midtown Manhattan. Thanking the technician for the assistance with the microphone and transmitter, CJ smiled at the host. The hair and makeup were perfect. The smile was toothpaste-ad worthy. Th

He bribed Miley Cyrus!

If you're a fan of Mann Rambling stories, you'll love this one. Don't be confused by the different author name. If you've never read any of his work, this is your chance to discover a wonderful world full of humor, adventure, romance, and hunky men. I'm not sure how the names of the characters were chosen; if it was random, the universe is conspiring behind the author's back. Filo means edge in Spanish. And the edge is exactly where Filo finds himself. At the edge of the galaxy and the edge of loneliness. After all, he's been by himself for so long at the station, he's not talked aloud for a while. Luz means light in Spanish.And light is what Luz brings to Filo's life. An unexpected, temporary guest who shines with hope and possibilities. Can he be a catalyst for change? What actually happens I won't reveal. I don't want to ruin the experience and enjoyment you'll find in this Christmas Time story. I strongly recommend it to everyone, and the recommendation has nothing to do with the hot sex scenes. Pant, pant, pant...

Extra spaces I'll remove from now on. Emojis I'm not sure what to tell you. I cut and paste responses onto a Word document and then send it to Renee for posting. As for grammatical errors, re-read the part about cutting and pasting LOL Not a chance I'll start fixing questions or replies. I'd end up screwing something up!

Thanks, buddy. Can't write about CJ taking out the garbage these days; that's one of Ritchie's chores now. LOL I like the spirited discussion. It shows CJ's a complex enough character to attract some love from readers but also complaints about his faults. Let's face it, he can be too perfect at times and I don't want to hide any warts he may have. f course, what some may consider a character flaw will be viewed as a virtue by others. Therein lies the fun of discussing a cast member. If everyone agrees with everything it can get a tad boring.

Thank you, all! My involvement in this blog's minimal. I serve as a conduit and scribble a few lines here and there. The real power behind Ask An Author resides with those posing questions and those replying to them. But if no one asks, no one can reply. I have the material for next month's feature and will put the blog entry together this week. But that's one month. For the feature to remain viable I need more questions. January's post will focus on our poets and I'd like to feature other segments of our population in the future. Maybe a month dedicated to Australian authors? Or to Promising Authors? Or to stories about a specific holiday? If you enjoy reading the feature but are not a regular participant or shy, I forward the questions to the authors anonymously. If you're not a member, this is your opportunity to join GA and ask anything you want (no phone numbers or availability, please!) from a favorite author. See you guys on the first Wednesday in January.

@bramonj Thank you for the praise! Your being able to accept CJ or any other character having a different view than you but still being able to accept them echoes what I've tried to do with the kids themselves. I hope as CJ matures, he'll become even more accepting of differences. I've been tempted to use the stairs for an accident or a mugging but have not done so. It would be too cheesy to have someone fall and break their necks---Blatty already did it in The Exorcist. When I read there had been a few muggings in the area, I thought about it again but chose to stage my mugging of Cesar elsewhere. I guarantee you Owen's alive and well as of December 2018 which is covered in the latest chapter I've written.

Simple and swear. Very enjoyable. I'll echo Tim in saying I wanted to witness the confrontation with the parents. I hope the suffer horrible things during whatever time they have left on the planet.

You may have to say it again, David. Not sure I heard you Thank you. Your type of enthusiastic response makes the hours spent researching, writing, and revising worth it. Having readers get lost in the characters and the story is one of the best feelings in the world.

Whenever I hear Chonga, it reminds me of my nieces doing an impromptu sketch during a family gathering; making us all laugh at their parody of a YouTube video featuring a couple of Hialeah Chongas. We need to get you giant hoop earrings for Christmas!

You had me last night when I first read your comment and again just now as I prepared to reply. Leave it to you to ignore the politics and concentrate on the IMPORTANT stuff. Some of CJ's interactions with Ritchie are based on my own with my baby brother. The age difference between them is smaller than mine, but I thought CJ's personality would lend itself to him passing on some of the lessons he's learned from the dads. I still cringe remembering the gears grinding when I taught Mikey how to drive a stick shift in my Mustang. Funny how HRC and Sean were both featured in the chapter about CJ's first Capital Pride. That's when Sean was introduced, meant to play a small role which became larger when I liked the character so much. Also where CJ made his initial contribution to HRC and bought a marriage equality t-shirt. It's been a fun ride and I have more planned for both his involvement with the organization and with the furry bartender.

My original outline assumed Clinton would win. Election Day and the preceding days found me sitting in front of the TV, watching cable news, jotting down notes. I wrote bits of dialogue, took note of some interesting side stories, and used the DVR during Springsteen's performance during the rally the night before. I had to modify the election night events a bit after Trump's win, but the aftermath didn't change all that much. CJ has 4 years of college after the votes are counted and he wasn't about to join the administration if his candidate won. CJ's opinion on seat belts isn't one I necessarily share, but it's common enough I thought it would fit in well with his views on helmets. And as far as poetic license goes, I'm already writing in the future so you never know what may happen in the story once future elections roll around.

Most excellent. The story took me on a roller coaster ride and I love them suckers! Well crafted, interesting plot, and realistic dialogue make this a story worth reading more than once. The choices we make always have consequences and we don't always acknowledge those may not always be what we really want. Or need. #TeamJason

Don't forget CJ and his group are still young! We lived through his 3 years in high school and right after the election we'll get to see a bit more of his life in college. Hopefully, all of them will continue to grow. There's no way someone in their late teens or early twenties is done developing! Damn kids think they know it all!

Thanks, JP- I've tried to show CJ hasn't forgotten the world while involved in the campaign. But when you're faced with such a challenge, anyone would concentrate on it. If I had made him a football player, he could have gotten lost in a championship drive and not done much else during the season. I don't want that for him, I like the fact he still has a life outside the Clinton campaign and all those interests will help make him a better-rounded individual instead of a one trick pony.

@Sweetlion I'm definitely a glutton for punishment! I keep trying to thread a needle with CJ political views and no matter what, somebody's on the opposite side. Oh, hell, I like it! I like your attitude, you're not pushing for CJ to do things the way you would and instead, you watch and hopefully you get to learn about someone different. There's a lot of ways to be romantic, I wrote something I asked one of my editors to read early on and she swore it fit with CJ's personality. He may not be the sappy, syrupy type of guy populating typical M/M romance stories, but his feelings run deep. Did you know I have named over 200 characters in the series? (244 as of today but some you haven't met yet) There's close to 50 who've been important and I've had a blast writing all of them. The group scenes, where I have a bunch of them all talking at the same time are fun but tough to write and if I do it too much they get repetitive. CJ's shared the page with the others but in this book he's taken center stage with Ozzie a close second. They've still had time with the others. Chipper in Miami, Brad and Harley during the motorcycle trip, Sean in New York, Carson in Washington... so the secondary characters haven't been ignored. Once the election's over those still in Washington will get some airtime, but I'll work my way there slowly. The first two chapters in the next book concentrate on family. The Abellos and the Listons. After that, it's a free-for-all and there'll be focuses on all the Squad members at one point or another.

Cute, very cute. You have.any idea where I can get my hands on some of the magic beans? Well written and a nice new (to me) premise. Fairy world sounds somewhat utopian and I think in the end Bobby would adopt and thrive. Regular sex and larger than average endowment can be a strong incentive!

Well writte story tinged with sadness and love. The author juxtaposes time periods and distinct medical conditions showing us how they affect a character at different stages in life. There's a subtle commentary on societal acceptance of gay relationships running throughout the story. It serves to explain and enhance understanding of the aforementioned characters actions. Actions which impact the lives of the supporting cast. Some may disagree with me, but I consider Max the main character. The story's really about him, his life, his choices, and their aftermath. Kudos to the author for pulling off such great characterization when the MC has only a handful of dialogue lines. That dialogue, at the beginning of the tale, is my only complaint. Sounded stilted and syrupy, but then, that's just my taste. I highly recommend the story.

Not bad for a sappy, romantic story, Jay T No, seriously, good job. Aaron not only rescued Kevin but is now offering solid advice. And he's right, Mark couldn't be saved because it didn't sound like he knew he had a problem so he wouldn't have accepted help. Oh, and nice clean writing. Kudos to you and your team.

@Okiegrad Thank you. The experiences of gay men are different depending on many factors. I've tried to account for that when developing each character. I've mentioned before how the Elite are all gay men but the Squad's as mixed as I could get it because I think it reflects current attitudes. Okay, I've excluded women from membership because once a female's present in a group of males the dynamics change. Hell, I've even tried to account for it. CJ has a potty mouth but you'll notice his language changes when he's around women and even around men not a part of the inner circles. Sure my personal views are thrown in here and there but I've also tried to include those of friends who are deeply religious or conservative. Paddy's faith is stronger than Ritchie's or Owens but it doesn't make a difference here. CJ accepts the fact other people have different views and as long as they don't try to force theirs on him, he has no problem with them. I don't think he'd be overly friendly to Jehova Witnesses or Mormons knocking on his door though. LOL

Wait until you read about the trip to Amsterdam. Ooops, there I go saying too much again.

@Anthony McNally Thanks for expanding your comment. Under the new software you can leave as many of them as you want on a chapter; there's no need to do anything special. A short history lesson and I'll try not to be pedantic about it. We Americans have an inbred distrust of government. We don't see it as a solver of problems like other nations do.The separation of powers between the Federal and State governments is enshrined in our constitution. Thomas Jefferson was a big advocate for states' rights and that may be one reason CJ idolizes him. Laws requiring bikers to wear helmets are left up to the states as is the licensing of drivers. We do not have a national ID or drivers' license. Taking a wild guess here, about half the states require helmets. Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, where CJ spends most of his time, do. Pennsylvania doesn't. It's common to see motorcyclist stopping after crossing the state line and removing them. I've done it plenty of times when returning home to Florida. The next state up, Georgia, requires them; Florida doesn't as long as we carry health insurance. The explicit sexual content is absent on purpose; if I had to do it over, I'd reduce the number of them in the initial sections. They served their purpose by showing the characters had a healthy sex life, but GA isn't Nifty and I'm not writing a wank tale. There's no need to repeat the same thing over and over. I'd rather just make a comment about CJ and Ozzie slipping off to the bedroom and not go into who inserted what where. If you recall, I described CJ's addiction to t-shirts for a while and then stopped. I probably should have done so sooner but I didn't know better. There's no need to repeat the same scene. There's a great series I enjoyed reading a lot but became tired when the same birthday party was described in almost every other chapter; it became monotonous and I wanted to avoid the same situation. If the characters are to grow, we need to see changes. There's a hell of a lot more of them coming once this portion is over. Some readers will like, some they won't. But I CJ and Ozzie aren't perfect, I've tried to infuse some 'bad' habits in them. A reader objected the first time CJ smoked pot; he claimed it wasn't in the kid's character. I always wondered how he knew that since CJ's character was one I was developing and the pot smoking's based on what American teens do, not what I would do as a 60 yo man. Same with gun ownership. I've had an avalanche of objections, mostly non-US readers about CJ owning one. Even though readership is from all over the world, in the end, this is a story about an American character and it's the reason for so many cultural references which others may not relate to. Okay, I'm stopping now. I think I crossed into diarrhea-of-the-mouth status with this response.

@Parker Owens I've had a friend for about 30 years who constantly drops names and loves to talk about his boats, cars, and plane. I'm trying to ensure CJ's not like him! LOL Although the one time my ex and I ran into him and his bf at a street fair and ended up flying down to Key West for dinner that night was pretty cool. I'd love to see that basement wall in the townhouse. It started with CJ and family, evolved to CJ and famous people, and now most of them are CJ, Ozzie, and others. The Australian has a much more relaxed attitude and I based that on my experiences with Aussies. They remind me of Americans but much more relaxed and easy-going.

CJ knows he has money but is not into ostentatious displays. While planning the remodeling of his eventual home, I made it a point of him balking at gold-plated bathroom fixtures. I have him buy clothes at Neiman Marcus but wear a motorcycle jacket and simple hi-top sneakers or motorcycle boots most of the time. I'm gonna have to describe his formal Bally pumps or Ferragamo dress shoes at some point LOL

You have to admit the politics haven't entirely taken over. You'll have to wait until chapter 7 for that to happen. Your limo experience is so on point. It's why I had Brett make fun of it, but Cesar acknowledging it was a good idea. And after all, the kid's a millionaire, what teenager isn't going to spoil himself when he can afford it?