William King

Yeah, sometimes you can look back at life and wonder what the hell you were doing, and ask yourself, why didn't I? But if you have the answer now (hindsight is a marvellous thing), you certainly didn't back then.

Not yet, but later.

There is a theme, the same as in Breakdown, a rope to grab onto. A certain regret, a realisation, a questioning and an acceptance of life. I've been there. Life passes by, sometimes quick, sometimes slow, and you're here until you no longer are. You have to work out what it's all about, but really... it's about nothing at all and everything at the same time. Mystìcal!

“There will be a great loss of learning before the moon's full cycle is completed. Fire and floods will be fomented by ignorant rulers; much time will go by before it is rectified.” Nostradamus. “How high are we?” She asked him. Kado had a puzzled expression. “What do you mean, how high are we? We're on the ground!” The vehicle was being buffeted by strong winds that were building in intensity. It was not difficult to imagine the weather outside. “How high above sea leve

Monday morning. The end of the week, the end of term, and two weeks holiday. Normally that would be great, except now it wasn't at all. How could things be great with all the trouble and most of all, without Matty? Being early was not my usual practice, especially not on the first day of the school week. Thing is, I didn't sleep well, and was up before it was even light. John Boy was always early. We met up walking down the road to school. "Good weekend, Alex?" "Probably the worse wee

Unique, it isn't! A page visit and the counter goes up one, but the count is updated periodically as Myr said, it is not a live real time count. Page views to read, to comment, to read comments, to find where you are, to look back, for any other reason you can think of count as one page view. These are not reader numbers. You could say 1000 page views per chapter might be counted as a a more popular story than one with 100 page views, or then again it has simply been on the site for years as opposed to weeks and so gathered more views of all kinds.

I think you are missing the probability that readers click on new stories which are displayed in the sidebar with only author name and title. This counts as a story view, but readers are only looking to see what the story is about, the synopsis, the genre, the tags. Then they may or may not click the first chapter. In summary, you can ignore story views, they are the equivalent of picking up a book, reading the back cover and putting it back on the shelf. Imo, the only stats that count for anything are chapter views and the first chapter(s) are always higher than later chapters, drop off. You also need to take account of variable chapter views, some middle chapters higher than previous chapters, illustrating clicking to re-read, place finding. The true number of readers you could estimate as 80% of the lowest chapter views (80/20 rule). The system does also throw in wobblies, chapters with views in the thousands when the rest of the chapters are hundreds! A final word, is Action/Adventure really readers favourite genre? Somehow, I doubt that. Romance, yes, and general fiction, a cover all genre for authors that is not really a genre.

And some boys like scrumpy (cider) 🤪 I think Pillion is on streaming here sometime next month, so I guess I'll watch it then. Let us know what you thought after seeing it. Further info: here (France) the series, two episodes, is on HBO Max, a subscription service not many people have. It's new and costs. Rumour has it the HBO may be merged with one of the mainstream services. Wait and see I guess, but I'm not paying for another streaming provider!

I tried Matty's phone, easily five times, but always got the voicemail. I spent the whole day moping around trying to figure out what might have happened between Matty and his parents. What had he told them? It obviously involved me, that much was certain, otherwise why wouldn't they let me see him? I wished I had Edmund's number, but I never thought about asking. Sometime after lunch the door bell rang, I ignored it. I heard Michael go down to answer it, but I stayed in my bedroom feeling

Pillion got great reviews on Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus A remarkable directorial debut by Harry Lighton, Pillion is an unconventional romance that soars thanks to its nonjudgmental perspective and knockout performances. Read Critics Reviews Fresh audience score. Audience Says An unfiltered, empathetic look at self-discovery, love, and desire, Pillion captures its themes with cinematic beauty, and powerful performances – all while never refusing to patronize its audience. Read Audience Reviews

But as teenagers, well in Europe, I don't know about the US, but here I had my first taste of beer at fifteen, hated it, but was drinking Saturday nights with friends at sixteen, and got drunk at a party for the first time, swore I'd never drink again! I think Ryan could have been more responsible and at the very least warned Jamal to slow down? What is a little odd with this relationship is how long they have been together, a couple of months, and no sex. Is this purely platonic? It's an unusual relationship, more a friendship than boyfriends?

That same evening I got a call from Jake. It was a nice distraction, because I had all these things about Matty and me churning around in my head. "Hi, Jake. How's things?" "Okay. Sort of." "Sort of?" "Yeah. Well I might have to go away again. To stay with my dad." "Is something wrong?" I thought his visit up north was just a normal visit to his parents, not because of any special reason. "My mum's not well." It seemed like he didn't want to talk too much about

It was lunch break, John Boy and I were chatting. Then when I turned around, Edmund was standing there looking a bit lost. "Edmund, you want me?" "Ah, well... I don't want to interrupt," he ventured tentatively. I knew Edmund by sight. He and Matty were good friends, but I don't think we'd ever said more than a couple of words to each other. We weren't in the same year. He didn't play any sport that I know of, so I only saw him around school from time to time. Usually he was han

Monday evening, after I got back home, I called Matty. I wanted to hear his voice, and chat, something we couldn't do in school. He picked up straightaway. "Alex, hi." "Hello, Matty. How's things?" "Great... That is, great now you called." There was a little pause. I couldn't help smiling to myself. "But if you hadn't, I'd have called you." "Why would you want to call me?" I joked. "Oh, shut up... You know why. Quit teasing." The way the two of us could

I was looking forward to time alone with Matty, but also thinking about Jake, about him, and about us. Should it concern me what other people think? What they think about Jake, what they might think of me? I didn't know him very well, but I did like him. Everybody carries stuff around with them, emotional baggage. Jake was no exception. When he threw that note to me on the bus, like a fish jumping out of the water, I took the bait. Maybe, at the time, he didn’t care either way. I’d bite and get

Second book in the series Absolute Beginners. Alex is a gay teenager who had hidden his real self, until he discovered his best friend was gay. An encounter with Jake, older and more experienced, started Alex on a voyage of self discovery which he shared with his best friend Matty. Being young, relationships and events can overwhelm you. No one is perfect, everyone has secrets. Alex lives within a group of people with whom he must interact, and that is not always easy. The characters are established in the first book and the events within that story play an important role in what happens next.

https://www.imdb.com/video/vi1756954905/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk Beautiful Thing, 1996, 1h 30min, R (restricted), Comedy, Drama, Romance. Prime Video (free with subscription). Jamie is a shy teenager, often bullied at school. His neighbour Ste has a rough time at home, being beaten by his father and brother. These issues bring them together and they find that what they feel for each other is more than friendship.

Great summation of Brokeback Mountain, which although it achieved everything you highlighted was still for me a bit of a damp squib. I wonder what you would make of Dating Amber, released in 2020, it relates the story of a gay boy (coming to terms, coming of age) and a gay girl. Set in Ireland in 1995, Catholic and very conservative, most especially in a rural environment. The struggle it highlights is touched with comedy, but is all the more real for its comic relief.

Another super chapter as things progress slowly, gently, naturally.

The sunlight spilled through the archway from the balcony. Sakina turned to look at Aksil, he stood silhouetted against the rising sun. “Very soon our army will be ready.” Sakina smiled and moved to join her brother. “Patience still,” Aksil stepped out onto the palace balcony. He walked across to stand near Baragsen, who was leaning, his arms outstretched on the parapet wall. “What’s so interesting?” He touched his younger brother's arm. “I’m looking at the camp. It grows bigger b

History told the tale of the fish dragons, monstrous winged amphibian serpents. It was said that they came out of the sea and ventured up the River Greyflood. But that was the other side of the Misty Mountains. If such creatures existed they were not to be found here, in the Sea of Rhûn. They most likely were no more than a story told to frighten children from going too close to the water. What exists and what does not, is not always known to man. Eönwë knew of those sentient beings, and he wou

There are five chapters written, I made a mistake saying four (there were accidentally two chapter threes which I noticed when checking the story. Not sure how that happened as it never got commented on at the time it was first publish). That said, the story is complete only as far as a first part (like the competitions here on GA, it was a competition entry and limited in length, about 10k words), I thought I made that clear in the story synopsis. I am publishing it here, prompted by a forum post by Myr and so the story as far as it goes, is not lost. Unfortunately, there are important gay story sites in the process of disappearing and this story has disappeared from one of those sites. This is probably a topic for a forum post, because a lot of authors and stories may be lost forever. A part of the history of gay stories online is in danger of disappearing.

I told myself right from the beginning when Dustin said, "I have a plan," he had no chance of escaping, because he didn't have any plan other than to unscrew the chain that was secured to the wall. No plan for what to do afterwards.

It was one fleeting moment, an event that marked his life and which he would never forget. Those moments happen, they make our lives, and the memories stay with us forever. I love little glimpses into other people's lives, even if it's kind of voyeuristic, it gives perspective. Nice story!

As seas go, the Sea of Rhûn was small, but still much bigger than even the largest lake. With a fair wind it was less than two days from Talmon on the western coast to Bruda on the eastern side. But the winds were not always following, and a head wind could easily double the crossing time. The boat would be forced to tack, which was hard work, and inevitably covered the deck with sea spray. Before ever they could think about the crossing, they had first to find a ship. Rasheeq had insisted