frosenblum

"the Tesla always attracted attention." That's no longer true here in the East Bay. I see a Tesla at least once a week as I walk and bus around the Oakland/Emeryville/Berkeley are. I see them driving by, sitting in a driveway, and once, parked on a busy street!!! It's become no big deal to see a Tesla here. How about you, Carlos, do you see many Teslas in your neck of the woods? I don't live in a particularly upscale neighborhood, although it has definitely been affected by the gentrification of the San Francisco Bay area. You can see this in the change the car demographics. Nowadays, when I walk down my block and check out the parked cars and pickups, I see only one or two American-brand cars. The rest are Asian, mostly Toyotas. And with the Green ethos here in California, a lot of Priuses (or is it, Priusi?) and other hybrids or all-electrics. (Where have all the Fords, etc. gone?) Is this also the case in mid-America cities?

An enjoyable mix of laughter and tears, with a little wisdom thrown in.

"Even when the discussion revolved around a serious matter, levity remained within reach." Brilliant, Carlos. Wonderful guidance for all of us. And especially needed these days in politics, diplomacy, and religion.

Another great chapter. This story has built slowly, focused mostly on the quotidian, so I didn’t notice how deeply Erica, Andy, and Adam wormed themselves into my heart. Until this morning, that is, when “Never Too Late” was the GA story I could hardly wait to read first -- rather than the series that’s been my first Friday read for years. (Sorry, Carlos.) Thank you, Northie, for compassionately exploring the life of an older man, as well as the challenges and rewards of (non-sexual) intergenerational relationships. As for Felicity, I wonder if her husband’s over-the-top behavior at the wedding will be the catalyst that precipitates her breaking free. I sure hope she doesn’t wait and suffer that long before she leaves him.

Like most of your stories, the main guy goes from one crisis to another pretty quickly and keeps us readers on the edge of our seats. You Aussies sure are major braggerts. Here in the Americas, 20 meters high are not mountains.😮 Another typo? Lloyd tells Greg that Greg is keeping the Colorado, but it's Matt. Keep the chapters coming.

We now see that Luca's plan included: Stefano looking directly into the grocery store ATM camera, so that Harris would change his own plans and rush to Hailey to fit into Luca's time line? Genoa installing video cameras in Corbin's living room, so that Luca now has a video of Harris confessing to murdering Liam, framing Stefano, and intending to murder Corbin & Paul? Robin spilling the beans to Timothy, so he'd go on up to Corbin's, so that Harris is caught on video putting three bullets in a fellow FBI agent? Methinks Harris will soon be in federal prison.

They could get it directly from Harley...or his granddaddy.

Great chapter. I also love Harley, though he's been the squad member who's changed the least since we first met him. I'm glad he's finally maturing and you are adding more layers to his personality. What a great couple of sentences, an example of how skillfully you reveal who people are without a lot of blah-blah-blah: "It reminded CJ he needed to send the star diva a text or e-mail. He had not spoken to her since right after the wedding." Yore amazing is that CJ still thinks of himself as just a normal person like you and me.🤔

Thanks, Preston, for your entry and the photo. The California Zephyr starts its run five blocks from my apartment in Emeryville, California (across the bay from San Francisco). The Zephyr runs from Emeryville over halfway across the United States to Chicago, Illinois. I've taken the train as far as Truckee, California, which is just east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountains and a 20-minute car ride to beautiful Lake Tahoe. Emeryville is less than 100 feet above sea level and the Sierra pass is about 7,800 feet. The trip has magnificent scenery, especially in winter.

Welcome to GA. I'm looking forward to rereading your stories. I've enjoyed them, although I don't remember which site they were on.

I enjoyed this story very much when I read it two or three years ago and I'm enjoying it even more the second time around. I hadn’t realized how well plotted and written the story is. You paint a full and detailed picture of this world and give us fully realized people. I'm also noticing many little pieces of information which I didn't realize, the first time around, hinted that there is more than meets the eye, not only of the reader but of our heroes.

Another well-written chapter, Carlos. Bravo! Olé! It was a treat to once again have a chapter (after a long hiatus) that had a single focus. (Thank you, Mann!) The single focus increased the emotional intensity. (I’m pretty sure at least a few people in the café I was at wondered what bad-news texts I was receiving that had me crying for so long.) It was also a relief to have the l-o-n-g foreshadowing finally over and to find out you hadn’t kill off Brad. Though I have a tingle of foreboding about what else you have in in store for us before the book title is fulfilled.

Your writing skill is of the highest quality. You breathe life into every person in the story. This afternoon, as a friend and I were catching up on what’d been happening in our lives over the past week, I caught myself as I was about to share a snippet from this chapter as something that had actually happened to people I knew. Masterful writing, Carlos, masterful.

Another great chapter. I know you've been keeping any info about CJ & Ozzie's baby on the down low, Carlos. But am I hallucinating or did you try and slip a miscarriage by us in this chapter? If so, I would have expected it to be more of an emotional bump for Gina and the boys.

Another interesting chapter. Keep them coming. There's a name mix-up about halfway through the story, where it says Bailey arrived shortly after lunch -- but Bailey was at home covered in calamine that day.

Hey, Carlos. I've made my list and counted it twice. I count 9 men with Taisha on the train. Did you forget to count yourself, er, CJ?

I follow several stories. When I log on to Gay Authors, I receive notifications from only two of those stories, not from any of the others. There are two stories that post chapters almost every day that I don't get any notifications about.

I've loved this series of stories since the very beginning and have reread them all several times. Thank you, Carlos, for your great writing and the many fully created characters. They come in many varieties of good-hearted and loving. Please, more of CJ's regular life: as a college student, his volunteer job with the athletic department, on the community council, being with his family. In particular, since we met CJ when he was 15, Richie has been very important to him. Please show us more their relationship. The final chapter was delightful. One thing was missing, though: while driving up to the B&B and during the balloon ride, CJ & Own would have seen evidence of the October 2017 fires that devastated many wineries in the Napa Valley. I look forward to what CJ and Ozzie will be up to in 2019.

How do I un-follow a story?

What a great idea to have a who's who as we launch into Book 3! FYI, I can't find Chip on the list.