Valkyrie

I got a gift this Christmas of writing dice, so decided to roll them and use the results here. My friends know me so well! 😁 I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with. PT Prompt #318 Character traits: stubborn, empathetic Conflict: man vs technology Setting: Foreign country Theme: Power POV: first person Time: Ancient history 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 GA Poetry Anthology is returning for 2026 with the theme "Choices"! We face all different kinds of choices in life, so this would be a great opportunity to explore some of them. I look forward to reading what our site poets come up with! Submitted poems will be featured throughout the month of April to celebrate National Poetry Month. I will work on getting the threads set up in the anthology forum and the event posted. Give me a little time to get that done. 2026 Poetry Anthology - Due: March 30, 2026 The 2026 Theme is “Choices” Feel free to interpret the theme in any way you want. The anthologies are not exclusive, but inclusive, so don't worry if you think your entry has only a tangential link to the theme. If you are inspired, then write some poetry! Please read these submission guidelines carefully. You may address this theme in any poetic style. Be creative! However, please note that this anthology, UNLIKE the other GA anthologies, is an anthology of poems. Therefore, no prose allowed, unless it is prose poetry. Who may participate: Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate. However, you must be a member here at GA with author or poet status (which is free and can be purchased through the Activities tab: Store link). Please RSVP to the 2026 Poetry Anthology – Choices event (can be found by accessing the activity tab, then events) to receive reminders and also to give the anthology team an idea of number of participants. Submission Guidelines Submission Date: March 30, 2026 Please Note: Anthology submissions must be uploaded into Stories and the link posted in the 2026 Poetry Anthology Choices Links topic, which can be found under the Anthology tab in the Writer’s Circle Club, by midnight EST March 30, 2026. Your entry must include the following: At least one poem – there is no upper limit; however, submissions may not exceed 10,000 words total. Posted as a single story submission A maximum of five chapters may be included (“chapters” may consist of multiple poems). Due to site limitations, if there are multiple chapters submitted, one chapter will post every 24 hours. This is not something we can change. When submitting multiple chapters, DO NOT SET A DATE FOR THE ‘STORY’ OR CHAPTERS! Site staff will set the dates for you once they are moved to the anthology category. The ‘story’ and first chapter will publish on the anthology release date, and subsequently, additional chapters will post every 24 hours after that. Submission Procedure *Please read carefully* Once your poetry collection is complete and has gone through your beta and editing team, please complete the following steps: Submit your poems into the GA Stories Archive. For help, please read How do I upload my anthology entry into GA Stories? Make sure the story is unpublished. Select “Fiction” as the category. It will be moved later by staff. Mark your story status as COMPLETE. Only completed works are allowed in the anthologies. Please note that once you submit an unpublished story for the anthology, it will NOT show up in your list of stories for readers until the anthology has gone live. Copy the URL for your story (not any chapter page) and paste it in the links topic so your submission may be checked to ensure it meets submission guidelines and can be moved to the anthology category. [*]Please do a visual check of your story once it has been uploaded to ensure that it posted correctly. If it did not, contact @Cia or Valkyrie. IMPORTANT: Please DO NOT do ANYTHING with your story once it has been submitted to the anthology. We lock edits to anthologies, but we can only lock so much and making ANY changes can cause issues with the system. If there is something with your story that absolutely needs fixed, added, etc, PLEASE contact @Cia or Valkyrie. Thank you! Extensions Occasionally things happen that prevent an author from meeting the deadline. If you need an extension, contact @Valkyrie or @Cia before the deadline (not the day of or after), and something may be able to be worked out. If you have NOT made arrangements prior to the deadline, your anthology entry will not be included. You are welcome to post your poetry independently and include a story note stating it was originally meant to be part of the anthology. Poem Titles Please do not use the anthology theme or your GA Username as a title. Be as original as you can. In case of duplicate titles within the anthology, we will request that titles be changed. No foreign language or ALL CAPS for the titles, please. Unacceptable entries & Content Warnings Entries that are obviously unedited (containing many errors) or that violate site guidelines will be either declined or changes may be requested as a condition of entry. For information on what is considered to be unacceptable, please see the Story Content Rules FAQ. Please include a Content Warning in the story notes if your story contains sensitive content, e.g.: abuse-physical, mental, sexual, extreme violence, taboo topics, etc... Previously posted stories/poetry (whether at GA or elsewhere) are not eligible for inclusion into the GA anthologies. Editing All entries MUST be edited prior to being uploaded. If you need an editor, please visit the https://gayauthors.org/forums/forum/372-editors/ forum to request one. We recognize that poetry sometimes breaks the rules when it comes to grammar and wordplay; therefore, it is not a requirement for poetry to go through the Anthology Proof Team. If you would like your poems reviewed for obvious misspelling, misused words, or something specific to the form you’ve attempted, then please contact Valkyrie and a proof team member will review your submission. PLEASE do not format text beyond bold and italics unless absolutely necessary. Changing the font color, size, etc… or other excess formatting breaks the custom GA reader controls which are helpful to those who may have visual impairments. Copyright As with all content in GA Stories, the rights remain with the individual authors. Your story will post with a simple 2026 copyright notice, using your GA user display name. If you have another preference (for example, a different name, or a Creative Commons license, or specific copyright wording you'd like to use), please include that with your submission. However, with this anthology, by submitting your poetry, you are giving GayAuthors.org first worldwide rights with 14 days exclusivity. What that means is you are giving GayAuthors.org permission to archive your story on its website, distribute it via RSS, kindle, iPhone, iPad, eyeball…. And you agree not to publish it anywhere else for 2 weeks. If you later decide to post your story at another site, please mention at the beginning or end of the story that it was first published as part of the 2026 Gay Authors Choices Poetry Anthology and include a link back to GA if possible. If you have any questions, please post them in the Anthology Forum or PM Valkyrie. Be sure to RSVP so we know you are planning on coming!

I would use the diacritics. They're part of the word and not using them could change the meaning and pronunciation. While the majority of readers aren't going to likely know Romanian, the ones that do will certainly cringe at the misspelling. Same with any language that uses diacritical markers.

Last week, Myr outlined some plans we have for 2026, and there are some exciting things on the horizon! We had an outstanding response to our writing events in 2025, so I'm hoping we can equal or better it in 2026. Stay tuned over the next few weeks for announcements regarding this year's anthologies. Cheers to a great 2026! Let us know in the comments how you celebrated and if you stayed up till midnight.

Who's ready for some genre fun? For this year's Prompt Team Event, @Aditus and I challenged authors to step outside their comfort zone and write in a randomly-selected genre/subgenre. @Myr and team have done a lot of work curating a list of genres/subgenres, so there was an extensive list to choose from! Eight authors took up the challenge and sent me stories to include in the event. We have prompt stories ranging from Historical/Ancient Orient to Fantasy/Arcanepunk. Without further ado, please enjoy the genre Prompt Team Event!

I've been wracking my brain, but sadly cannot come up with any kind of theme for the prompts this week. So here are some random word lists. Have fun and don't forget to enter the Prompt Team genre event! PT Prompt #314: Use the following words in a story: fan, box, cat, snow, closet PT Prompt#315: Use the following words in a story: cheez balls, tree, raccoon, tuxedo, Empire State Building 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/

We love sparking terror in the city

@wildone

There's still time to participate in the annual Prompt Team Event! We've had quite a few takers so far, but the more the merrier. How are those stories coming along? PM either myself or @Aditus if you would like to be assigned a random genre/subgenre. Don't forget to send me the link to your unpublished story, so it can be included in the feature blog. Details can be found here:

It's Thanksgiving Day in the US, unlike some other countries who celebrate a month early... On behalf of all site staff, I would like to extend a heartfelt "thank you" for being a part of the site. The community is what makes GA special, and the interaction between site authors, readers, and members is part of what makes GA so unique. Thank you to all who participate in site events by writing, reading, commenting, and reviewing. If you're celebrating today, leave a comment with your plans and favorite Thanksgiving tradition. We're getting hammered with a lake effect storm at the moment - oooh we just had thundersnow! - so my feast may end up being this weekend instead of tomorrow.

We usually have turkey on Thanksgiving, beef (usually prime rib) for Christmas, and ham for Easter.

There's no word limit for the event, other than what's stated above. I have the flu, so I will be out of commission for a little bit. I'll be checking GA periodically, but right now I'm trying to hydrate in between bouts of throwing up and sleeping.

*coughcoughdustbunniescoughcough*

Sounds like a story you need to write

Blame @Myr he's the evil mastermind behind all the subgenres All I did was close my eyes and point

Send me a PM and I'll get you assigned a genre/subgenre

Ooops look like I forgot to hit send. Check now *runs and hides*

Genre/Subgenres assigned to all who've contacted us so far

It's totally random, so it's up to the universe to decide what you get I'll start responding to PMs either this evening or tomorrow.

Never!

Calling all prompters! It's time for the second annual Prompt Team Event! Anyone who knows me and @Aditus will agree that we like to keep people guessing, so we're changing things up a bit this year. Prompts are designed to help us grow as writers. To push boundaries and explore ways of writing or genres we may not otherwise consider. So this year, we are doing a genre/subgenre challenge! To participate: PM either myself or Aditus. We will assign you a random genre/subgenre. If you would like, you can request two subgenres to choose from. Prompt responses may be any length, but if they are below 1,000 words, then they must be part of a collection. If they are 1,000 words or more, then they may be posted as a stand-alone piece. Responses must follow site guidelines. Once the story is written, PM me with the link to the story or chapter (if part of a collection) by midnight EST on December 14th, and I will include in the December 18th blog. ***Do not publish your story/chapter or set the date/time of publishing. I will set the publish date when I create the blog. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Now that we're past the annual anthology, it's time to look ahead to what's next. We're not quite done with 2025 yet, since we still have our annual Prompt Team Event coming up. Stay tuned to tomorrow's blog for more information. In the meantime, I've been working on 2026's offerings, so.... 2026 Writing Events Poetry Anthology - April Secret Author Contest - summer Annual Anthology - October Prompt Team Event - December There may be some surprises along the way, but those are the major events we have planned for next year. Stay tuned for updates and reveals! THERE'S MORE!!! Even though this event will not happen until 2027, I wanted to announce it now. @Jeff Burton recently described GA as "a tribe of siblings always available to help and listen but totally willing to dunk each other in the pool". I can't think of a more fitting description for the relationships we develop here at GA, right @wildone and @Krista? With that in mind, it hurts us deeply when we lose one of our own. Sadly, there have been a few tributes in recent years to honor beloved members who have passed on. We thought it would be fitting to host an event every three years to honor the memories of our departed friends. The first of these Gone, but not Forgotten anthologies will take place in 2027, so keep an eye out next year for more information.

I see you are not acquainted with my army of narwhals, killer whales, cranky kindergartners, ponies, cowboys, and Fluffy (a machine gun toting kitten riding a flame-throwing unicorn)

I don't think I've heard a better description of GA