Lagnar

I finished Desert Dropping last night. It has kept me reading and wanting more for the last several days. It was well written and the premise was interesting with how a gay teen would react to the loss of his mother and the discovery of a gay father. Unfortunately I could never actually like Rory. He was so self-centered, surly, bitter, lacking in empathy, appreciation and full of needless angst that I took an immediate dislike to him and it never left, even at the end. At every turn he was lashing out at Eddie and Luke for no apparent reason other than they somehow disturbed his hatred for the world and showed undeserved kindness toward him. He “hated” Seth on sight. He “hated” his father on sight. He hated Arizona on sight. He was too wrapped up in himself to give anybody a chance, and refused to communicate with Eddie who could have shed some light on the situation. Then he complained bitterly because he was being kept in the dark. He pre-judged everybody and even after he learned the truth about his father not knowing, he still was cold, uncaring, dismissive and did nothing to try and get along. In virtually every crisis or conflict concerning the “family” or “friends” the world was supposed to revolve around Rory and his rotten life. He basically “used” Eddie and his family to whore around, sneak around, and practically spat in their faces since he was obviously leaving at the end of the summer.

These two quotes sum up Rory. "It worked, mostly because I was running out of reasons to hate him." "Until recently I had made it a point to be insufferable around him. Rory GOES OUT OF HIS WAY to be insufferable around MOST people. Who doesn't he hate?

Here we go again. The whole "family" has to walk on eggshells if Rory is in a bad mood. Playing baseball everybody had fun because Rory wasn't being a prick that day. Everybody has to operate on Rory's terms. Eddie, grandma, Jase, Seth. Luke because he "likes" Rory, is 10 times the person and thinks Rory is redeemable. Talk about a spoiled 2-year old.

So the little douche got burned. Ha ha ha ha. And Seth really isn't an asshole. Thought so. Rory treats his father like shit. Eddie wonders what is going on with the hickey and the first thing out of Rory's mouth is a snarky comment about his own bastardness simply to hurt his father and deflect from his own shit. Ugh. Again.

Rory is so consumed with his angst, selfishness, blame of others and self pity that he can't see, won't see just how good he has it living with his father, Jase and Luke. He is a two faced hypocrite who does himself, exactly what he hates in others. He's a bigger LIAR than all the rest of them combined. His mother had him believing that he was the center of the universe and that his shit doesn't stink. If Rory is supposed to be the protagonist, I find it very hard to cut him any slack or find any sympathy for him. Now that Aaron has shown his true colors; after EVERYBODY has warned Rory about Aaron, maybe he will get a tiny clue. He has Seth completely wrong, he has Luke completely wrong, he is pretty much WRONG about everything, but too stupid, too selfish and too full of self pity to wake the hell up. He ought to be THANKING Eddie, Jase and Luke for putting a roof over his head, for trying to love and accept him, for bending over backward to accommodate him and his truck load of problems. I hope he eventually does. Otherwise what a waste.

Rory is a PSYCHO bitch from hell. Why doesn't he go the hell back where he came from and leave that family in peace? Ugh!

The more I read, the less I like Rory. Luke seems decent, and Eddie is doing the best he can with the rotten, self-centered, PSYCHO prick he spawned. Aaron is clearly a user. Rory would do well to listen to everybody else. If I was Eddie, Rory would have been on a plane back to his grandma a week ago. Freaking ingrate. Wants it both ways. Wants everything to be on his terms, to suit his whims, nobody else matters in the least. I really do not like him. Why am I reading this?

I too loved the story. It was a page-turner for me but I also was a bit disappointed in the sort of abrupt ending. I really wanted Rover to go with Slade and have unimaginable adventures together. I really hope you continue with your writing and am looking forward to reading "Run". Very impressive.

Thanks Stellar, great answers to my questions. Can't give away the sequel, right? I didn't mean to put down other authors, it's just that a person has to wade through so much stuff to find great fiction. I have read other great fiction on Gay Authors. It's just that I am a SciFi junkie and am so happy to have found Hidden Sunlight. There are a couple of other stories that I am now reading (great ones too) but they are not complete yet (dang) so I will keep searching. By the way, I just finished Heinlein's "Tunnel In The Sky" last night. I am pretty sure I read it back when I was a teenager (oh my) and figured I'd see what it was about his writing that got me into science fiction. It is a classic but I was a bit disappointed in the lack of character development. I didn't really get all that attached to any of them. And when some of the characters were killed it was like there was no big deal. The protagonist, Rod, might even have been gay. <g> He never married, though his friends did. A person has to be pretty lucky and brave to be able to make a living doing what they love. I wish you the very best. Thanks agin. Mark

Exciting and captivating story........BUT. Please, please fix the horrendous grammar, spelling, punctuation, run-on sentences. It was damn near impossible to read. I have better things to do than try to decipher such an abomination. Kill off Seth? Why would you do that?

Having finished “Hidden Sunlight” I have to add some further comments. ************************SPOILER BELOW********************* Overall I *REALLY* enjoyed the story. I love the SciFi genre and you did a great job with the science part. I loved that the cities were named after famous scientists and you created a vivid world that has been almost completely lost. The bond between Shay and Mira was wonderful and THAT was what really kept me going after Chapt 11 and then Chapt 17. I never expected the ending; at all. I guess the most disturbing part of the whole story besides Chapt 11 (which was resolved) was that Shay was the one who killed Lily. How would you ever get over something like that? Here are a few questions: Were there any other humans besides Konstantin, Lily and Hartley’s gang living on the planet that had escaped the transformation into sharplings? Was there any wildlife? The kitten indicates that some domestic animals were left. Maybe you could name the cat Schrödinger? Heinlein named his kitten Pixel. “The Cat Who Walks Through Walls”. The sharplings were in fact slaves and the virus was intentionally planted to provide those slaves for the arbiters? After all the humans are gone what use are the slaves/sharplings? How many arbiters are there on Aurum? Mira was cured, Konstantin was cured, so it seems to me everybody could potentially be cured except for poor Lily (still struggling with that). Actually the last paragraph says exactly that. Right? Once Shay and Mira are off Aurum do they still have some of their aqumi powers? I would guess not. Again I loved “Hidden Sunlight” and am eagerly awaiting the sequel. It looks to me like there are dozens of directions you can go with the foundation you have created. You need to get published, dude. Really! Oh, by the way, you have completely spoiled me. Other stories on here and other sites just aren't up to snuff anymore. <g>

I have been reading works posted on gay authors now for quite some time but until now I have never been COMPELLED to register and then post any comments. This story is simply some of the BEST fiction I have yet read, and I have read a lot. From the first chapter I was completely sucked in; to this alien world and to Shay’s life and adventures. I love science fiction and have read the best. Heinlein, Clark, Asimov, Pohl, Niven, you name it. I was wondering what you do in your *real* job because your talent for creating characters that are impossible not to love, your ability to drag the protagonists through gut-wrenching conflict which leave the reader emotionally exhausted is amazing. Talk about a roller coaster. One cliff hanger after another. You dole out plot secrets at just the right times keeping the reader wanting more and more. You left me in tears after chapter 11, devastated, ready to abandon the story as being just too cruel and depressing to continue and was ready to tell you so. Nobody reads fiction with the sadistic expectation that your favorite and much loved characters get KILLED for God’s sake. But like you said, it didn’t make sense to kill off Mira just when the story was getting good and with so many questions un-answered, so I read on. Mira is one AMAZING dude. Best protagonist ever. I am also very happy to see Shay grow and develop from a scared and somewhat helpless 14 year-old into a confident young man. Another thing I love about your writing is that the bad guys really get what’s coming to them. After all the pain and suffering they inflict upon Shay and Mira, it is so very satisfying to see them taken out in a violent and messy way. Of course just like you couldn’t kill off Mira, you also can’t kill off the arch villain until just the right time. I am looking forward to it though. In other stories I have read, EVIL just seems to get away time and again with no real consequences. Sometimes evil is just that and needs to go away. I love a steamy love scene as much as anybody but I don’t read gay fiction to jerk off to. I read for the STORY and the characters and the plot, the sex is just icing on the cake. You have just the right amount of non-graphic leave-it-to-the-imagination LOVE to make Shay and Mira real. You have a real command of the English language which puts other authors to shame. Terrific story and I hope you have a sequel in the works because Shay and Mira really ought to have some more adventure together. Please?