northie

I don't, yet I read this and loved it. 🤷‍♂️😄 It's the Gary charm - the story, the ambience, the characters. The writer in me admires and studies the craft on display. Short for Gary, this story is complete and well worth a read. That's not just my recommendation or spike's - Gary's legion of fans have made their views known.

I've been lax in reading everyone else's contributions but wow, such a varied and impressive turnout. Anniversary as a theme was just about perfect. Unifying, yes. Allowing a multitude of interpretations, also yes. For me, that's what an antho should be all about. I think everyone involved can give themselves a celebratory thumbs up.

Thanks, Gary. That's very sweet of you. Anthos are always a time for experimentation in my book.

The venue's changed. The content hasn't. 🤨😄

Excellent. 10/10 for deduction and observational skills. 😉😁

😄😘 It did cause me to make some necessary additions, so...

Don't worry - I'm winning. Stories read today (apart from my own) 0.

Thanks, Carlos. I had great fun writing it.

Thank you for reading the story not once, but twice.

Tut, tut. Better luck next time... 😉😄

I hope so. She had a great sense of humour, I think, and probably little time for fools.

Yes, though it didn't start out with that intent. I like the lime green crocs as well.

Way to dampen my writerly ego. 🤨😄 Thanks for your help as ever, dear friend.

You're very kind. Thank you.

Thank you! It was fun to write.

I didn't want to make it too obvious - that would've spoiled the fun.

So are so many people. It's one of so many things which can colour, plague, and sometimes warp a queer individual's understanding of themselves. Sometimes I think those who reach such an understanding should be congratulated. Or maybe I exaggerate... 🤷‍♂️🤨😄

Lizzie forces open one of the large sash windows as far as her diminutive frame can push it. She’s greeted by a blast of super-heated summer air drenched in petroleum by-products. And the noise. Crowds of people talking, shouting, calling to one another in so many languages. Lizzie focuses for a moment, taking time to untangle some of the threads. She stops when her count of languages reaches twenty. Plus there’re some she doesn’t recognise. Even after a lifetime of travelling the world and meet

Changed times need new thinking. Open minds. This applies anywhere and to anyone. Even to those who never thought it'd be their turn.

The image of the deer is so vivid. I need no extra imagination the visualise the scene. I hope they were just looking? Or maybe hoping you'd disappear off, leaving the fence unguarded. 🤨😄 Your (our?) fascination with the night sky is unabated. You, I feel, are much better placed to see the true splendour than I am.

As a performer, to experience that is also special, even more so in such a fantastic space as Symphony Hall. You feel as though every single person is held in the same, oh-so-fragile trance. You do need a conductor with presence to help make it work though.

Elements of this are already very possible in areas of the US - Florida and Texas come to mind. Here? 🤷‍♂️ The political dregs who are in charge currently will, I believe, get swept away at the next general election. But yes, illiberalism, censorship, and forced conformity never seem that far away. Difference, any difference, frightens some people. Thank you for this story. I like my dystopias to be disturbingly close to reality. 🤨😄 An action-packed 7k words gulped down in a trice. ✔😉

I feel this more than anything else, I think. We forget sometimes what a profound effect modern interconnectedness can have on us. The internet has revolutionised the pursuit of self-knowledge. And rightly so. Ignorance is not bliss.

Fabulosa! by Paul Baker is a wonderful book / history / vocab / study of Polari.

After the comparatively louche and progressive 1920s and 30s, plus the wartime 'anything goes', the 1950s were a time of attempted retrenchment. Women were meant to be back in the house where they belonged, and this pressure for conformity (uniformity) also extended to men. To navigate those times as someone who didn't conform must've been difficult enough without the punitive, vindictive measures applied to those whose non-conformity extended to their sexuality and gender identity. Indefensible then, and now, in those countries where it's still going on. All these individuals wanted to do was to live their lives. What is it about difference that so scares / enrages people? Thank you for this story. Sad, touching, with that special 1950s grey gloom, it rings true. I love language and Polari is special. There's still a generous scattering of words in admittedly rather faded general slang.