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?