C James

Congratulations again, Carl!

I think it's great that you are in school. Stick with it! Have no regrets, because they don't do a damn bit of good anyway; the point is, you are in the here-and-now, and you are doing something about it. Keep up the good work! I'll bet you have sore knees? I installed some laminate flooring (Looks like hardwood, for those who aren't familiar with the term) a few years ago, and it was the kind where the strips have to both glued and hammered together. Ouch. Sorry to hear about the laptop; just make sure you back up everything, often!

I really liked the story; you know something isn't right, but can't place it... Then the plea to stay the night, and alarm bells go off... That final scene was a nail-biter; at first, it seemed like he was looking back while falling forward. I thought Jay would be too late. Very well done!!

Thanks Graeme! I originally tried the first few paragraphs in first, then in third, before picking second for the reasons you say. I would like to add (as the disclaimer below the story says) that the senator is fictional; I was careful to make sure his electoral record didn't match any past or present Senators. He could be of any political party; both sides do have their closeted. Thanks Jack! This was very much a new ground for me, in a lot of ways. I wanted to do something different. He could have been from either party, I was careful to leave that part vague, but his sexuality was only alluded to; Those two quotes weall all I used; "Dark and dusty cloakroom" was meant to indicate a closet. "Furtive liasons, shame and fear" was meant to allude to gay sexual encounters of a deeply closeted man. I wasn't as clear as I could have been. Hi Ieshwar! Thanks! It wasn't fear that killed him, not quite. He was very old, and his doctors had told him he was dying (the bit about the doctor's warning, his final campaign done and over, etc) He felt the pains in his chest, he knew towards the end that he was done. It could well be that he guesed he wouldn't leave the chapter alive and that's what changed his mind, but I left that part up to the reader. This is as you say very much a departure for me. Not my usual style. A year ago I wrote "the Muse", in last fall's anthology, which was also very different from my usual. It's fun to break the mold every once in a while.

Luc, this was great! And David is definitly a nasty piece of work in some ways. I loved what happened! BTW, the photos might not display for some people. I made a mistake with the files; with Linux, you need to watch out for case in filenames, and the extensions were upper case. Sorry, and I've asked Joe to fix it, so hopefully it will be fixed by tomorrow. CJ

The alternation of first and third person is very tricky to do, but Ieshwar did it very well indeed, and to very good effect, and it served especially well to clarify the jumps forward and back in time. Kyle and Sean are both clever and cute, and I loved what they did! The matchmaking was very sweet indeed, and I agree with Graeme; I don't want to give away too much, so just go read the story, it is very well worth your time. Good job, Ieshwar!!!

The GA Fall 2007 Anthology is now up, and I just wanted to take this opportunity to say "Thank you!" to all those who worked so hard on it; Graeme, who did most of the formatting and most of the reviews, and helped in many other ways too; Thank you! Kevin (AFrieindlyFace) for your reviews and help; Thank you! Joe, for doing the server-side magic that you do so well, and for sorting out those last-miniute bugs and getting us online early, Thank you! Myr, thank you for giving us a place to do all this, and thanks also to all the authors who are participating! Let the reading begin! CJ

ACK! Ieshwar! You can't possibly mean me?!?!? That's Shadowgod's title! I'd never, ever use a cliffhanger... I really don't know what could possibly give you the idea that I use cliffhangers... Is Graeme spreading rumors about me again? Now, just repeat after me... "CJ never uses cliffhangers" Try it, you'll feel sooo much better! BTW, I see you're about to enter the Millennium club! Early Congratulations, my Postaholic Friend! (don't worry, I'll be sure to remember to start a lounge thread for you. ) Oh, and LC, You want a tile? Well, okay, let me see what I can do... Shadowgod has "King of all eeevil Cliffhangers" so how about you be the King of all Eeevil Hangovers?"

Thanks Graeme! That was good to see; I had no idea that Taiwan was getting that close to recognition of gay marriage.

Happy 1st GAanniversary, Ishewar!!! And a big "Welcome back" to Graeme!!

Me??!?!?! But Ieshwar, how could that be? Everyone knows that I never use cliffhangers... Oh, wait, I see! You are so used to having cliffhanger-free stories from me that you have grown to fear them elsewhere, right??

This story is a roller-coaster, in a very good way. At times touching, at times hilarious, and at times pulling on far different emotions, it runs the gamut of feelings, and has more than a few shocks and surprises. I will warn the readers of one thing; if you have a love for Indian food as I do, do not read this on an empty stomach, becuase many things in the first half of the story will make you exceedingly hungry! It quite literally made my stomach growl... The family scenes were warm and touching, and one of the aspects of this story I enjoyed the most was the glimpse it offered into a culture that I am mostly unfamiliar with. Raj and Anju are just wonderful. I did find Ali's decision to meddle and bring up a certain subject to be going too far on his part, but it fits very well; who hasn't had a meddlesome neighbor? I'll refrain from mentioning the ending or the latter one third of the story, because it must be read to be appreciated. BK, this is an excellent story!

Well, I admit I should have said I almost never post in the forums. Okay, I guess its time to release the next chapter title... Don't worry, its nothing ominous; its called Love and Hate

I have no idea to whom you could possibly be referring.

LoL! But Graeme! I've been counting on you to be the first GA member to reach 5k! If not you, then Kevin?? I'm sure one (or both) of you will make 5k before this Christmas. But Kevin, I'm a lurker, I hardly ever post! You've been here a lot longer than me, so that's almost certainly why your post count and daily average is lower than mine. I think we have polling bias!!! That first question says I'm always right, which i certainly am not. So

Aww, Ethan, would I ever do such a thing? BTW, the bolded bit would make a very good quote, don't you think? Aww, but I never use cliffhangers... I'd no more use cliffhangers than I would post in the forums (and I'm a lurker, ya know..) And thanks... It helps me a lot to know that I'm not the only one who goofs on words... The fact that I do goof made me feel very bad about my writing, but since my "coming out" I've actually felt a hack of a lot better. Not to give any spoilers or anything, but Dues Ex Machina is a particular dislike of mine. Mind? I absolutely love and encourage it! :2thumbs: Thank you!!!! CJ

Huh? I'd never do something like that!! Though, if Shadowgod has his eeevil cliffhangerly way, it will be more like; they're on a plane, the pilot is dead, the wing has been blown off, and there are no parachutes... They don't call him the :king: King of Eeevil Cliffhangers :king: for nothing. Oh, and Ieshwar, I see yout title now says "Cliffhanger-phobic.." I'm very sorry that Shadowgod has so traumatized you!

I've always looked at it like this; I think the WBC is one of the best friends the gay rights movement could have. Sound nuts? Maybe, but here's how I see it: they are alienating everyone, and therefor giving their own cause a very bad name. This is a similar dynamic to what KKK rallies have "accomplished" is some communities; they end up being a uniting force, and having the exact opposite of the effect they'd attended. So, the more the WBC makes an ass of itself, the more I like it. Sorry you have to put up with them in your area though, and I certainly do detest the idea of protesting at any funerals.

One of the first things that struck me about this story is the see-saw effect; Brat (what a unique and interesting name, very evocative, and it sure fits!) at first appearing to be a thief, then well-intentioned, and then again a bit of a con-artist, very much still an open question until late in the story. I very much liked the effect this had; it kept me both guessing and involved. Brat is just trying to get by and look after his family. He's not too likable on the outside, but his heart's in the right place and that explains why he's like he is. He comes across as a little cynical due to what he's faced, and one can hardly blame him. He's very street-smart, always playing the angles as life has forced him to learn, far too early. What I liked best about this story was the juxtaposition between Brat's behavior and attitude and his "doing the right thing". That's far from easy to do, and Graeme did it very well indeed.

The first round of the poll is up, in the author's-only forum. The next (and final) poll will be held in the anthology forum. CJ

Dimitri kind of grows on you, doesn't he? I mean sure, he's got a few little less-than-pleasant aspects to his personality, but who doesn't? He does always point out the Kangaroos for Vladimir...

ACK! But Graeme, how can you say "according to me" when you never listen to me? Now, ummm, as for posts-per-day, you will soon be in the undisputed lead... Remember, I'm going away for a month. BTW, Graeme, this means I will likely miss your 5000th post, which looks like to will be coming up in about three weeks... So, an early congratulations from me!

Welcome, Kashka!!! Thank you!! I can't comment about the contents of the upcoming chapters, but I have to agree, I think it's safe to say that Helen will not be pleased. But Kashka, would I ever use a cliffhanger?. It was all just slightly... Tense, with a little bit of a dilemma. Jon and Eric's motto: When in a hole, keep digging. Thanks! I'm glad I got that in there.. It is unusual to have that large a spread between brothers, I agree, though I have seen it. OK, for my own contribution, I want to call Emoe a postaholic. Also, I thought of a new fun thing to do (and I know I promised to do this earlier, but I forgot...) I thoguht I'd bring up posts from the last thread, of those who came closest in predictions. And BTW, if I miss anyone's, PLEASe point it out and say so! The one I thought came closest (just my opinion) was Kevin's. When I read it last week, I thought "whoa, spot-on!" Kevin, you got it! That's exactly right! And they snuck the girls out becuase on of them was there with "dad" and it was obvious what they were going off to do. But now, we know

Wow, thanks!!! I'm going to miss all of you, and I'll hopefully get a chance to pop in briefly a few times. We're on course for at least one chapter posting while I'm gone, and like I promised, I did tell Shadowgod that he couldn't add his planned monster (and literal) cliffhanger of having the guys dangling over the rim of the grand canyon on a failing rope.

But Shadowgod is the :king: King of Eeevil Cliffhangers! :king: And you are right about the rounding, but my point was that it's all just a statistical glitch. For example, if posts per day were rounded to the nearest hundred, everyone but Graeme would read zero.