Cynus

And so little time . . . Wait, that's not what I'm supposed to say . . . oh, here it is! Thank you for the review!

Well, you know the rule, my friend. I can't be spoiling anything! You'll just have to find out how right or wrong you are when we get there, though you have done pretty well in the past . . . Clint is more than a match for any sort of authority figure who thinks he/she knows best when he/she clearly doesn't. Now, the real question is, what trouble does Clint get into when that clash occurs? Thank you for the review!

I think I pulled a little bit of influence from a father in another person's writing, though it was purely subconscious. There's a story written by Cole Parker, over at AwesomeDude, which includes a cold and uncaring father. I might just have stolen him without realizing it! I'll be putting my own spin on Mr. Thompson, anyway, so I don't think anyone would notice. We'll find out more the further we get along. There's a lot of emotional ground to cover. Thank you for the review!

Zane's father is going to be of great impact on this story, though we'll likely only see him occasionally. He's had a great deal of influence on Zane, despite remaining indifferent to his life up to this point. Hopefully you'll like how that resolves. The rest of the family is great, and they mesh well with the general spirit of "Fearless", I think. Here's hoping my readers agree! Thank you for the review!

The office of our high school was a place I'd only ever been for registration. I'd never been a problem student, and I'd never made any requests of the administration, either. Except for my GPA, I didn't make much of an impact as a student, though people certainly noticed my cane. I hadn't even needed to take care of that detail, either, since my mother filled out the proper paperwork for me to have it long before I'd set foot in the school. It felt a little imposing, approaching that d

Welcome, my friend.

Welcome, Rick! Welcome, Mick!

Yes indeed. Hope the story isn't moving too slowly for anyone. I promise it'll pick up a bit in the next chapter. Thank you for the review!

The cool water enveloped me, pulling me into its welcoming embrace. I let it pull me down, taking a deep breath as I sunk deeper and deeper until I was completely submerged. My feet collided with the bottom of the pool, and though one knee buckled and couldn't support my weight, the other was as strong as ever. I pushed with everything I had off the bottom of the pool with my good leg, and I rocketed back toward the surface. Using mainly my arms, I swam upward until I broke through and took ano

This was actually supposed to be a happy tie off and ending to this story, because I received a lot of backlash for the polyamorous relationship ending of "Underdogs". I wanted to wash my hands of the story, because I hated being yelled at by most of my readers. As you now know, the story doesn't end here, and I did take these three on quite the ride. I'm glad you read it, and hope you'll continue to enjoy more of my stories. I'm sorry the ending wasn't quite what you were looking for, but glad you read and enjoyed anyway. Thank you for the review!

Seth has been through a hell of a lot in his short life, and he's a lot stronger than he appears to be. The great thing about trials like this is what happens once you recover. Seth has a great support network, with lots of people eager to help him, and when he gets to the other side he'll be such a force of change no one will see coming . . . Seth is building up to become a legend. The original concept for this story, however, goes to Dave (Dabeagle). I merely played the other side to his creativity. He created Grayson and gave him to Logan, and I knew I had to play Seth's side or risk losing him. I'm so glad I did. Thank you for the review!

Self-realization, yes. Coming out is a common theme in Sanitaria Springs, so it pops up a lot in these particular stories. I can't say I've worried too much about it in my novels, as they usually start with people who are already openly gay. Self-realization, on the other hand, is an important point for me altogether. It's something I'm constantly trying to be aware of in my own life, and always trying to be better at. That might be why I'm a monk, haha! Thank you for the review!

I figured that Logan, who is normally quite confident, would struggle a bit more when faced with the gender he's generally more attracted to. Seth, whose insecurities aren't particularly related to interactions with potential romantic interests, easily slipped in to take charge because of that. Maggie and Kristin deserve their own mini-series of short stories, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. It'll happen sooner rather than later, given enough time for consideration. Thank you for the review.

Realism has always been a primary goal of mine in writing. Even in Fantasy, I try to be as realistic as possible, though I fall short there more often than I'd like. Another reader was remarking to me recently about how the mundane stuff in my stories made the characters seem more real. I'm noticing a theme, haha! There's a scene in the Hayao Miyazaki film "Castle In The Sky" where is a girl is falling from the sky. The protagonist, a male youth, is in line to catch her, but has a bucket in his hands. He reaches his arms out to be ready to catch her, notices he still has the bucket, hurries to set it down, and then catches her just in the nick of time. That scene, where the animators and story boarding team took the time to include that bucket, impressed me as a writer. I call those little mundane actions "bucket scenes" now because of it, and I always try to include them in my stories.

This was, quite possibly, the story which best matched my original idea at conception among all the stories I've written. I wrote this in a couple of hours, channeling every teenage emotion I still had in me. It's not autobiographical in the strictest sense, more of a self-portrait than a true story, but it was what I needed to write, and needed to get out into the world. I still consider it one of my best stories, and hope people will continue to enjoy it for years to come. But I, too, wish for a day when we won't abuse our children so badly that they end up hating themselves. Not all do, but many do, and that's an unfortunate fact of life. Thank you for reading and reviewing.

Oh, I hope you'll enjoy the ride. Zane has a unique approach to the world, and coupled with Clint's also unique perspective, there will be some adventures, for sure. Thank you for the review!

I almost continued "Fearless" without switching perspectives to Zane, but I needed to get inside his head. Zane is . . . well, to put it simply, he's based off an old friend who was very important to me, someone I wasn't able to help as well as I'd have liked to. Putting him with Clint is rather therapeutic for me. Thank you for the review!

There's a reason for everything that Zane does, which I think is a nice contrast to our other impulsive hero, Clint. We'll see a lot more as the story progresses, and hopefully you'll enjoy him more as we get to see what lies beneath the surface. Thank you for the review!

Internal conflict will be a huge deal in this story, though currently the focus is, of course, on setting the stage. I won't betray how much that conflict will deal with Zane and Clint, but there's certainly going to be many factors to consider. I do love the contrast between Donny and Zane, and also find it funny how protective Mr. Fjeldsted initially is with Clint's more recent love interest, but I also thought it reasonable. After all, considering what Donny tried to do... I'm not going to reveal the reason behind the distance between father and son in the Thompson home through reviews, for obvious spoiler related reasons. I also want to develop that tension naturally over the course of the story, keeping it somewhat of a mystery until we reach the point of the big reveal. Chapters 10-11 will be very important to that plot point. Thank you for the review!

It's something in the water . . . Kidding, but I'm glad you're invested in knowing. Zane is modeled off someone I once knew, an old friend who always seemed to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders. We'll find out why that is eventually. Thank you for the review!

I have at last remedied the problem. It seems I created two separate series titles because of a slight variation between the two. The two stories are properly linked now. We're going to get some answers within the next few chapters, but first we have to set the stage. We're just getting started. Thank you for the review!

Yay! Yep, after the Donny incident, Mr. Fjeldsted wouldn't have it any other way. He had to meet Zane first, and what's not to love? Thank you for the review!

Zane's family situation will be most of the driving force behind this story. I'll be endeavoring to show why things are this way, and why Zane feels so burdened by his family. Hopefully it'll be a good story on top of that. Thank you for the review!

I absolutely love it when people tell me they love my characterizations. They're the most important part of every story to me. I adore my characters. Thank you for the review!