Thirdly

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed this one.

JT and Rufus had one eventful summer. That's all I'm gonna say.

Saturday, July 6th, 1968 - I immediately thought of the song "the summer of '69" which is interpreted so differently these days to all the naughty folks receiving coal this Christmas, myself included. and the unmistakable aroma of bacon drifting in from down the hall. - 🤤 For a moment, he wished he could linger just a little longer between waking and dreaming - Off on a tangent, I've been trying to trick my mind into specific dreamworlds since I don't have to wake up before sunrise while I'm in recovery, but instead I get dreams that have nothing to do with anything I was trying to think about. Last night it was something about a family at the base of a mountain arguing over who would bring what food bin for a banquet/picnic/BBQ...a family of people I have never seen before in my life in a place I've never seen. I get a lot of oddities like those. After all that had gone on over the past month, the older boy he idolized, Tommy Lee, everyone’s paragon of virtue, was just as naked and horny as he was, and they were just about to have some fun. - Yeah, I don't blame him for wanting to get back to THAT dream. The echo of Tommy Lee’s presence lingered, but JT knew he couldn’t afford to let it show—not now, not with everything waiting for him outside his bedroom door. - Wouldn't want to be him at that moment. One thing was certain, down where it counted, JT was blessed. - LMAO! JT’s curiosity twisted into apprehension; he knew he was trespassing on more than just property, peering into a moment he wasn’t meant to witness. - Dude, get out of there! As slowly as practical, he eased back towards the tree line, his exit covered by the noise coming from the cabin. - At least he wasn't caught. Sunday July 7th, 1968 - Wait, shouldn't it already be the 8th or 9th at this point? Bobby Ray fell back as Rufus laid into him, sinking his teeth wherever he could. - Good boy, Rufus! The last thing Bobby Ray saw was Rufus retreating to the woods before he was blinded by the light. - Rufus is the BEST boy. Tommy Lee kept after JT to return the favor, to lie under him. It was made with some trepidation, knowing the size of JT’s attribute. - 🤣! Reading took longer than I anticipated, as I had to make dinner, but I made it to the end! I enjoyed this entry.

Ok. I'm here. I'm ready. It's still just the afternoon in my timezone, and it takes me like a half hour or more to read 5k words (because I am not a skimmer), which means *counts on fingers* I should be done between 3-6 hours. I'm going in! ...also, as for the prologue: It's kind of ironic that this character is talking about the scent of summer and chorus of birds is what is bringing them back to reality when the scent of summer and a chorus of birds sounds like a vivid dream to someone in the start of nonstop stormy season such as myself. 😂

OMG Jack, I just saw the wordcount on @drsawzall's and that one might end up even more massive. 😂 But it's night time for me, so that one has to wait til tomorrow.

There are no words I could possibly utter that would even begin to describe the insanity and hilarity of this story... except perhaps Fizz, Fury, and Existential Frosting!!

Before reading - That glorious cover art is one of the wildest cover arts I've seen. Summary- What the hell did I just read? He had seen the turning of ages, the shifting of continents, and even the invention of the Spork. - *snort* Instead, the man, Barnaby Buttercup, had turned out to be exactly as advertised. He was a virgin. A cheerful, hopelessly earnest virgin whose primary occupation was writing hardcore pornographic literature he hadn't the faintest practical knowledge of. The disappointment was crushing. - PSSH! Barnaby, forget Percy and come over here. I'll be your friend. He’s an artisanal cheese maker. - *nod nod* That sounds interesting. And he’s fallen deeply in love with a sentient, velvet ottoman with commitment issues. - Wait, what? Which is why he found himself in the Enchanted Forest of Tra-La-La (a name, it should be noted, that had been meticulously focus-grouped by the Unseelie Fae). - At least it's not the Enchanted Forest of Ya-Ya-Ya. The Unseelie Fae, who had managed the property for the last few millennia, had discovered long ago that a name like "The Enchanted Forest of Tra-La-La " attracted a far more desirable clientele: lost lovers, whimsical poets, and the occasional catastrophically unlucky tourist. - LMAO! They were sloshing with the blood of Barnaby Buttercup, a substance dangerously over-saturated with untapped potential and unwritten narrative. - Reasons why I must try to finish more of my hundred projects. And its eyes, which were supposed to reflect the purity of the cosmos, glowed with the unmistakable, manic fire of rabid rage. - An Alpha Unicorn??? The unwritten narratives of a thousand lurid fantasies rose up to meet the unicorn’s life-affirming magic. - I'm laughing so hard because I have a series called Lust & Chastity that is filled with a thousand lurid fantasies AND unicorns. The dark, sonorous symphony of his soul was being forcibly rearranged into a new, upbeat and terrifyingly catchy tune. - You're all I can think of~ Every drop, I drink up~ You're my soda pop, my little soda pop~ ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAyPTJFgFEs ) And the horn… oh, the horn. It was a spiraling, pearly-white dagger erupting from his forehead, and upon closer inspection, he could see with eye-watering clarity that it was composed of two perfectly formed incisors. His fangs. His fangs had migrated. - LMAO!! What emerged from his hindquarters was a perfectly formed, rainbow-colored swirl of what appeared to be… ice cream. - *opens mouth to say something and closes it again*...yeah, I'd still eat it. They were not a threat to his life; they were a threat to the last, tattered remnants of his dignity, which was, in many ways, infinitely worse. - LMAO!! "Oh, thank God," Jerome said, relief washing over him. "I thought it was just me. I want to bury my tongue in his... magical ice-cream churner... and not come up for air until my face is numb and his eyes roll back." - LMAO!!!!)) It was not the serene, shuffling colony he might have expected. It was a military camp. A nation of tuxedoed fanatics in the grip of a collective sugar high. - LMAO! Looking over the vast emptiness of the great brown-lands, he couldn‘t see anything inspiring, but in that moment a fortunate bowl-movement shook him again, and he let a generous helping of ice-cream go into a puddle of Pepsi./"It floats!" Pip observed. "An Ice-cream Pepsi Float! This is acceptable proof." - LMAO! I want a rainbow ice cream pepsi float so badly now. The pact was sealed on the perfect lawn in the fading afternoon sun. A fragile, unholy alliance of fizz, fury, and existential frosting had been forged. - LMAO!! Fizz, Fury, and Existential Frosting...I'm dead! 🤣 "But what if I told you there was a way out? A final, grand gesture. An act of such sublime, theatrical self-destruction that the bards would sing of it for a thousand years?"/Antoine raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "You speak of the Sunrise Climax. A myth. A beautiful, but ultimately unattainable, sensory ecstasy. A whole life of ecstasy, comprised into one event. The ultimate kick. The meaning of a life worth calling lived." - The WHAT? They just moved, their red eyes fixed on the horizon, occasionally leaving behind those grim, black dollops of vegan ice cream like malevolent trail markers. - ...I'd eat those, too. This was the source of The Beige. - Every time I see "The Beige" I'm reminded of "The Nothing" from Neverending Story. The great battle had begun. It was not a clash of good versus evil. It was a war between unhinged, vibrant chaos and the soul-crushing tyranny of sensible postage rates. - LMAO!! "Bartholomew!" he shrieked over the din of battle. "OPERATION BROWN THUNDER! IT’S TIME FOR THE MENTOS BOMB!" - LMAO!! He was, by every conceivable metric, the Goodest Boy, and he had never been happier. - Good for Kevin? "Mourning Mocha," "Pining Pistachio," and the ever-popular "Glitter-Infused Grief Grape." "Sorrowful Strawberry" - I still want to try them! -- Reading this was like experiencing @northie's fairy wings drugs. 😂

Journey to Salvation, indeed! The title makes much more sense after reading. I loved, loved, LOVED this one.

Another quiet hour of slapping mosquitoes and such passed before the trail opened up, allowing the horses to pick up some speed. - 😑Ah, mosquitoes, my sworn enemies. He ran out past her when she did that, and I couldn’t move… couldn’t do nothing but take the pain of that boot stomping me. - 😱Poor thing! Made me read scripture to her for hours while she went on and on about dark thoughts and demons—the weakness of the flesh—and the weakness of men. - Reasons I can't live with my family anymore. Said I had the same demon in me my grandpa did, and she’d be damned if she let him have his way again. - Dag-friggin-nabbit. Grandpa should've never married that one. She always said I’d be the death of her, and turned out she was right. - No, she wasn't. She was the cause of her own death. “He’ll understand, and for sure it won’t be the same for him, but he can hire two instead of one. Ain’t willing to lose this—ain’t going to lose you, Moss—not if I can help it, so the choice be easy for me.” - Yaaaay! “So, I will be going with you to your uncle’s—he’s your only family, so he’s mine too—if’n he’ll have me on his land.” - Yaaaay? For a year, he and Link traveled the same path, but instead of what was meant to be a sure ending, they’d found themselves a new beginning. Yawning, he gripped tighter the hand what be settled on his stomach, and let this new, God-given peace settle over him. - Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!🥰 I loved this entry so much! I'm so glad Lincoln was able to get through to Moss, and they realized what they both wanted was the same thing.

This was a fun, fun take on the Creature Feature theme. Lee had me laughing the whole time.

"Keep it up, and I'll bite you on the kneecap again."/Dane chuckled. "That was my wrist, you dumb peke. You couldn't reach my knee without a ladder." - LMAO! Dane answered with an air of superiority, "I believe I implied I didn't know. Our pets have never been here with us before."/"Didn't they drive us out this way?" - LMAO! "What do I know? I understand less human than you do. Poochie, food, treat, sit, down, good dog, out, window, and the ever popular 'no' are all I ever get. My ancestors came from halfway around the world. I innately understand less than you do."/"Sorry, German is a lot closer to Engwish than Shineez."/Poochie rolled her eyes this time. "I don't think you're saying those right." - LMAO! “I told you. I like it when it licks my head. You never lick my head.”/"I lick your you know what, that should be good enough.” - LMAO! Oh man, those two dogs felt more like a married couple than that human family.

So many things come to a head in this story that it's enough to make anyone feel under the influence, or "away with the fairies" while reading. Thus far, this is the most unique "Creature Feature" in this year's anthology. That Delta 1156 is one sly camel! 🤣

One of the camels – not Sigma 456-7 – was chewing slowly. Its eyes tracked Bent while its tail – Bent’s mind did a double-take – lazily dispersed imaginary flies. When it saw him watching, it winked. - Good Lord, you sure you're still not feeling aftereffects of being 'away with the fairies?' He’d write a sentence and then drift off, mind full of pink-edged cotton wool, before dragging himself back to his duty. And it was his duty to recount Jay’s death and what had led up to it. - Kids, this is why we don't do drugs while operating machinery/working/doing anything that requires your full attention. Outside, in the enveloping dark, camel Delta 1156’s mouth spread wide in a semblance of triumph, teeth gleaming briefly in the reflected light. After a moment, it resumed chewing quietly, tail moving lazily through the cold, still air. - That sly camel! 🤣 "That'll teach them Martians to try and recall me!"

This story appeased the romantic nerd in me. Elliot and Noah team up to resolve some technical issues and end up in over their heads. What do they do when electrical forces try to ship them?

Before reading- You had me at the summary. A judgmental cat named Nyx, too? Let's freaking go. There were still some computer setups in the room, of course, for those who didn’t want to lug their computers around. - Why does this lab sound like heaven to me? All it needs is a jar full of MnM's and I'd live and die right there. “I need to get this laptop working, and it is being unusually stubborn.”/“Oh. Maybe some fresh air and a break for some food will help?” - My dumb IT support subconscious immediately thought "cool air maybe, but laptops can't eat food" 😂 “Noah, Carl Sagan was talking about life outside of Earth there, not ghosts. The next thing you’ll say is that it's Ancient Aliens.” - I wonder if something like this is how the creator of DanDaDan got his idea. Multiple files on the screen showed corruption, but the corruption very clearly spelled out “I SEE YOU”. - Time to burn some sage up in here. Make a salt circle... The air smelt heavenly, with sauce, garlic, and sausage smells wafting about. - Not me drowning in my own drool over here. It was a neat rendition of Nyx, capturing the luscious black fur with what looked like a piece of bread tied to her back. What the hell? His mind ground to a halt for a moment before it rebooted. “Nope. I don’t want to know.” - LMAO!! “Penne with sausage meat sauce. I used sweet Italian sausage, don’t worry. It’s not hot at all.” - 🤤 “Maybe the ghost isn’t random static,” Noah said. “Maybe it’s her trying to rebuild herself.” - I mean... “Translation: ghost with Wi-Fi.” - LMAO! Elliot looked down at him. “You realize we just performed a paranormal data rescue.” - Right?? For once, Elliot didn’t overthink. He leaned in, just as the lights dimmed—not from ghosts this time, but from the storm finally passing—and kissed him. - Yaaay! On the screen, a folder blinked open—Mara Jensen’s Project. Clean, intact, archived under her name in the university servers, marked with attribution and a short memorial notice that Noah had insisted they write together. - Let's go! “Meh, you are like a memory leak—too much of you and my whole system crashes.”/“You say the hottest things,” Noah said, and kissed him, soft and inevitable. - LMAO!! Elliot realized that logic and wonder weren’t opposites. They were a circuit. And somehow, improbably, their loop was closed. - 🥲 Aww. Combine the two, and the cat would spin mid-air as the feet attempted to hit the floor and the butter attempted to land butter-side down. - LMAO!! Well, I absolutely loved this entry!! Thanks for sharing~

Holy shit. So many of my favorite people's work this week. Guess I won't be playing PokemonZ-A today. Not until I read all of them. 😂

Thank you so much! I know it felt like it could have been a longer, chaptered story, and I forced it down to a one-shot. But I do revisit worlds in many of my stories, so I'll definitely come back to this one! ❤️I'm glad for all the feedback and that this story's world didn't come off as too convoluted. 😂Just ask@Aditus, there really were charts created!

Done and ready for the rest!

A pair of soulmates try to find a way to be together, when just about everything in their lives try to keep them apart.

Derek was annoyed. First, at the heat, then at Jordan for leading him out of his beloved city, and finally at complaining and sounding like a small child. Both of them now counted eighteen summers - 18 feels like a small child to me! Complain away, Jordan! "You are about to give your oath to become a cleric. What you were about to ask is barred from you." - Dude! He's not a cleric just yet! Jealousy bloomed in Jordan’s chest like a thorned vine. - Oh, dear... "Of course I am! I'm your best friend, and you push me aside for a stranger with a speech impediment!" Jordan struggled to control his voice. - LMAO! "Do you remember the legend of the Scourge of the North?"/Derek didn't. "Some necromancer slaughtering innocents, right?" - Wow, those events sure twisted like the telephone game centuries later. "What happens now, Father?" Jordan dared to ask./The older man didn't look at the acolyte. "We will go to war, and many a good man will die by the machinations of this evil creature." - Dagfriggin nabbit. And it ends on a cliffie, too? Here's to hoping Jordan has enough trust in Derek.

Simply killing his relatives was insufficient payment for what they had inflicted on him. - Wait, his relatives? The anticipation threatened his concentration, and he focused on the mental link to his undead servants. - Necromancer? Its skin was the colour of dirty emeralds, slick and veined with pulsing black ichor. Horns curled like twisted iron from its brow, and its eyes, two pits of molten jade, locked onto the magician with a gaze that could curdle milk and unravel sanity. - *flips laptop dramatically* Law, I just freaking love the way you describe colors and details. It always hits me. I am SUCH a sucker for colors, especially non-bland ones like dirty emerald and molten jade (and I also love the fact that you keep it balanced, not everything is overly detailed or specifically hued). Now, the once soft face was hard, and the once well-braided blond hair was cut short as an intended insult to his clansmen, who indicated status by the length of their braids. - A clan that denotes status by braid length? Awesome! The first screams of terror reached the necromancer. - I knew it! "And I'm very grateful to her. I would've told her myself if you hadn't killed her."/"It was her time. She ate more food than she was worth." - No respect for the elderly! "Too long have I lived in hate. I deserve a loving future, too. I'll seek a priest powerful enough to resurrect Keldan." - Wait, what??

I just sat here for two minutes trying to leave a review without spoilers. This right here is a 100% certified slapper: action, friendship, romance, comedy, spicy times! Give it a chance. You won't be disappointed.

Before I even started reading, that summary had me all kinds of confused. Who or what is getting bitten where? 😂 The wolf stood, stretched his body, and then shook. Fur flew in all directions. He turned and issued a sharp bark. Wake up! His pack stirred. - I imagine one was grumbling "five more minutes" somewhere in the back. He found himself unconsciously sitting and lying down when the man issued that order to his dogs. He almost revealed himself once when the man had shouted, “Come!” - 😂 The man whistled the command to sit./Immediately, the wolf-man sat. - 🤣 “He wants me to sniff your ass.” - 🤣 Like? I love it! Our Nick named me Farley. Why didn’t you ever think of naming me? What good are you?” - 🤣 The only thing I didn't like was that this story came to an end. It was so enjoyable. Sucks that Farley/Wolf lost their original pack to another wolf, but I'm super glad he found a new shifting pack with Nick.

You don't have to be a dog fan to enjoy this story of a bond that was forged at the right time and only strengthened with time. Hits you right in the feelings. Please read this one.

Then from the bushes limped a German Shepherd puppy, its gaze locked on Jake, silently pleading for help. - My heart! 🥰 How would he convince his parents to let him keep the dog? - That's always the question. Jake cut last night's roast beef into slices. - 😂This is the kinda thing that would have never worked in a Hispanic household...all the meats are so marinated and seasoned, it'd have given the pup indigestion. Then it hit him, Buster. - That's the perfect name for the pup!!💯 “I was worried I had lost my best friend when I heard you were in the hospital. I don’t want to lose you.”/Jake saw something in John’s eyes he hadn’t seen before—a flicker of hesitation, a softness in John’s eyes that didn’t quite match the joke. - Oh my. John met his gaze, eyes uncertain but steady. “I like you, Jake. Not just as a friend.” - Let's go!🥰 Jake nodded as the tears slipped silently down his cheeks. “I don’t know how to say goodbye.”/“You don’t have to,” John said softly. “He knows.” - Gushing tears.😭 This was such a beautiful, beautiful entry in this year's anthology!