Valkyrie

Keep in mind that the theme doesn't have to hit us over the head. The nice thing about this theme is that you can write pretty much anything. Maybe one of your characters has a pet kitty or dog or dragon or whatever. That will fit the theme, even if it's subtle. I'm sure you will come up with something

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Joyous Kwanzaa to all who celebrate! I'm still in a bit of a food coma from Christmas dinner, but I wanted to bring a reminder and also some important news for next year's anthology. First, submissions for Carlos' tribute event are due tomorrow, so be sure to put the finishing touches on your stories and post the link in the thread in the Writer's Circle. Second, I decided to do things a little differently this year, and instead of having a committee decide on the anthology theme, I put it up for discussion with my fellow admins. We've selected a theme that is open to multiple interpretations, and it's one I'm pretty excited to write about. I'm also looking forward to seeing how others interpret the theme. I suppose I've rambled on enough (I blame the Oreo cheesecake I had for dessert), so without further ado, here is the theme for the 2025 GA Anthology! Creature Feature Stay tuned for further details!

Uh, Steve, I thought you said Santa was alive and well...

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa, Happy Festivus, and any other holiday you might celebrate! If money were no object, I would probably want tickets to Calgary for Spruce Meadows' 50th Anniversary. 🐴

He's probably tied up in your basement, enduring god-only-knows what kind of torture My penguin army is on their way to rescue him, so all the kiddos aren't disappointed on Wednesday.

We had a busy year here at GA, with five different events for site authors and poets to participate in. While we wish some of them hadn't been necessary, such as Carlos' tribute, the participation from readers and writers across all events was fantastic. While we're busy working behind the scenes on next year's slate of events, I thought it would be nice to recap what happened in 2024. We started out the year honoring a man who was a formidable presence on GA. His loss is still keenly felt, and it seemed fitting to continue his tradition of always posting something new on New Year's Day. In April, we honored National Poetry Writing Month by featuring our annual poetry anthology. In August, sneaky @Cia brought all the Secret Author stories out of hiding, and readers had a blast guessing which authors wrote what story. In October, we featured the stories from our annual anthology. Check out which authors got In too Deep! Finally, we had our first annual Prompt Team Event at the beginning of December. If you missed out on any of these events, it's not too late to check them out. I'd like to extend a huge thank you to all who made these events possible - authors/poets, readers, the Anthology Proof Team, and my fellow admins for their behind-the-scenes help. You all made 2024 a great year here at GA! Stay tuned next week for some big announcements regarding 2025 events!

This is Cole at his finest! Well worth the read, if you haven't done so already.

It's not Christmas without watching the 24 hours of A Christmas Story on TBS I'm in the Die Hard is a Christmas category. I also love It's a Wonderful Life. Anything muppet, like Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas and the Muppets A Christmas Carol. And all the animated ones, like Rudolph and Frosty, and Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, and The Little Drummer Boy.

We all impact others' lives on a daily basis, whether we know it or not. I think this is especially true as writers sharing our works with the rest of the world. Unless a reader comments or messages us, the impact we make is generally unseen. I used to teach therapeutic horseback riding to a group of kids from the Big Brother/Big Sister program. These kids had a lot of disadvantages in life, but they absolutely loved their experiences with the horses. It was a large group of kids, so we split them into two groups with me teaching one and the other instructor teaching the other. One day, a girl from the other group came up to me and reached into her pocket. "I have something for you," she says. She took out a crumpled up newspaper ad for jeans, which showed a woman with long brown hair in a ponytail (just like mine) petting a horse, smoothed it out, and handed it to me. "This reminded me of you." It was such a simple thing, but after I took it and thanked her, I pinned it to our office bulletin board and had tears in my eyes when I did so. I asked myself why I was so moved by this gesture, and the answer was because I had made an impact on her simply by being there. Let's explore how we impact others in ways we might not be aware of. PT Prompt #255 At your ten/twenty/whatever high school reunion, someone you barely remember comes up to you and thanks you for having a profound impact on their life back then. What happened in high school that left such a lasting impression? PT Prompt #256 Write a vignette where a background character impacts the main character's life in a way neither are acutely aware of. Please include the prompt number either in your story/chapter description or title to help readers who would like to search for specific prompts. Also, please remember that stories less than one thousand words must be posted as part of a collection. If you check the subgenre 'prompt' in your story tags, then people/readers can find everything here: https://gayauthors.org/stories/browse/subgenre/prompt/

The deadline to participate in our second tribute to Carlos Hazday is fast approaching. I have created the threads for discussion and to paste the links to submissions. They can be found in the Writer's Circle: Carlos' stories continue to inspire readers; even those who didn't have the pleasure of knowing him. So, consider participating if Carlos' work has sparked inspiration, no matter how tangential. I have updated Comicality's tribute blog and will create the threads for that event closer to the deadline. It's not too early to start writing something to commemorate his legacy on our site.

There are few stories on the site that are this memorable after almost ten years. You should be... proud? And it's not just me not letting you forget, right @Slytherin and @Krista?

Oh yeah, that line always gives me chills. I waited in line overnight with my BFF for tickets for the Joshua Tree tour. The opening act was Stevie Ray Vaughn. Both concerts were absolutely amazing

Yes, that's another fave! I remember watching Band-Aid live and was so excited when my favorite bands came on. I was obsessed with U2 at the time. I always cry when I listen to that song.

@Lee Wilson Love Dominick the Donkey And TSO. @centexhairysub you posted one of my all-time faves - I actually just watched the clip of Bowie and Crosby yesterday I tend to favor the old classics like Do you Hear What I Hear (Bing Crosby version), Angels we have Heard on High, Little Drummer Boy, to name a few. I love the Barenaked Ladies' Christmas Album, especially God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Springsteen's Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Loreena McKennitt's Christmas albums. My mom and my aunt used to sing this God-awful rendition of O Holy Night every Christmas Eve. I used to cringe in the corner with my fingers in my ears, but my grandpa loved every minute of it. They haven't sung it since he passed, which is good for my ears, but I do miss seeing the smile on his face as listened to it.

Here you go. I'm not sure how to warn people without giving spoilers, but let's just say it's not exactly child-friendly

Yes. It was part of the Secret Author contest in 2015 and still lives on in infamy.

Yes, that is exactly why

@W_L's story link did not embed, so please be sure to clink on the link to read his story.

Edited to add @E K Stokes story. If there's anyone else I forgot to add, send me a PM. Sorry about that!

We're honestly overwhelmed by the response to our first annual Prompt Team Event! Yes, you read that right... this will be an annual event, and we already have a working idea for next year We've got 9 stories based on Prompt Team prompts for your reading pleasure. There were several more takers who weren't able to complete their stories in time, so keep an eye out for them to be posted separately. We've been promised a Christmas story from @wildone, but after his last one, I feel obligated to say "read at your own risk". Check out these stories, and please be sure to leave a reaction, comment, or review and show the participating authors your support. Now get reading! https://gayauthors.org/story/w_l/wls-prompts-short-stories/10

No don't publish them! I already set yours to coincide with the blog release.

12:00 AM, EST and yay!

I've had some authors send me the files to their stories instead of a link. Sorry if the instructions weren't clear. I guess we're too close to the Secret Author contest lol Please upload your story or chapter of a collection to stories, then send me the link. There's no anonymity here, so there's no need for me to do it for you. I hope that clears things up!