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This week I'd like to talk about two of the new features coming to the site soon. I've shared this a bit with the authors, but I wanted to share them a little wider. This is a more focused view for readers. We currently have one way for authors to group their stories: Series links. They work, but I've wanted them to be more obvious. So, with the new version, we're giving a bit more depth to our Series. Series now has a description. We can also add a series banner and special enhanced displays for series that have special circumstances. Authors should take note of the red Xs on the side. We can now very easily remove stories from a series (and yes, it asks to confirm the delete, so no accidents) or reorder the stories by simply pressing the up and down arrows. But a series of stories isn't the only way to group stories in the next update. As anyone who has ever read Tom Clancy, Mercedes Lackey, J.K. Rowling, or Rick Riodan knows, you can have a whole bunch of different series featuring different aspects or couples that all take place, along with stand-alone stories, in the same world. And hence, the next new feature: Worlds. Worlds function almost exactly like Series, except that there is no order like in a series and you can add Series to your world. For the sharp-eyed readers here, you will spot "Contributors". For the purpose of this demonstration, I added dkstories' Dreams of Humanity Series to my Psionic Corp world. Series listing also allows contributors, though I didn't show it in the example above. Also in the picture, you can see that Series has one highlight color (black currently) and Worlds another (Violet, currently). Also, Dreams is tagged with Premium, so that is also listed. I see this feature getting used for authors who share the same writing world or for authors like @Comicalityand I who write stand-alone stories that share the same area. In the example, you see two of my Anthology entries which are stand-alone entries in my Psionic Corp world. Good news too, current existing stories in a series will import in as is. The Author or staff members will just need to go and add a description to the series page, and it'll be good. (if one isn't added, it'll just look as it does now) The browse menu will now have a "Browse by Series" and "Browse by Worlds", as you can see in the right-side menu in the above image. There are other things coming as well. But as you can see from the screenshots, the test server already has these features working

Thanks @Comicality I've had my share of more difficult contacts over the years because of my writing and GA as well. We do bear some responsibility to our fellow people to help where we can.

So this is a thing. The reviews have been outstanding. I played the first mission up to the first boss fight this morning. It's a beautiful looking and sounding game on the PS4 Pro. Outstanding really. The little I've played so far, reminds me of Batman Arkham series but with a much more kinetic character to control. My only complaint is with the PS4 controller. 12 years of using xbox's stellar controller and the steaming pile of crap that is the PS4 (more like POS) controller makes playing anything an exercise in frustration. I mean seriously.. where the hell is the guide on what an R1 vs R2 vs R3 means? That's just stupid. And the layout is not built for large hands. The controller sucks in the extreme. I'm looking to see if I can find a decent PS4 with the xbox physical layout... Otherwise I'll have to just play this game in story mode, because I spent more time fighting the controller than I did enemies on the screen...

Hello everyone! We're going to be starting up our Anthology Flashbacks in fall next week. Please take this opportunity to follow this blog! We only have 11 Followers at the moment For Writers, some important topics are in this blog. Please be sure to check them out if you missed it: This flashback did not get a lot of love, so since you missed the last opportunity to read and review some great stories, check them out now!

Nope. It's in the next row that I didn't show.

For those of you that don't know, Gay Authors stays open and improving through the combination of Premium Membership subscribers and advertising. This pays the bills and allows to maintain and improve the site. In the last version of the forum software, they introduced a simplified Subscription Management tool. The most important thing it does is fixes that stupid error "You have already purchased... etc". The catch, of course, is that any time the software changes like this, there are hiccups. I've waited sometime now for them to have plenty of time to fix bugs. I'm hoping we don't see any. We'll be switching to the new system soon. In theory, all current and past subscribers should be switched over and there will be a new simple interface for you to use to renew or change renewal times. I'm also putting a link to Premium directly on the Main Menu. This is how it will look, basically. @Cia is still finalizing the graphics as I write this. Once you have subscribed, the interface is MUCH better than the old system. It is very clear as to what you are subscribed to, when it expires/renews: Expect this change to hit this week!

That is a more advanced trick that @A.J. will have to help with. The upcoming update simplifies the Series system a fair bit.

Nathan pounded the emergency button on the airlock as the water roared toward him. The watertight door slammed closed just before the wall of water reached it. He knew he had to make it to the launch bay so that he could take one of the scout subs back to the main colony. He let the desperation of the situation settle in for a moment as he watched through the small window in the door as water completely filled the compartment next to his. Eighteen, and barely that, was too young to die.

@pickuptoy, @BHopper2 dkstories is literally no longer with us. I do not know his life status. He left his works with us at Gay Authors and is never expected to return. I have therefore not marked him as deceased as I don't know if he is or not.

This little hook scene served as a starting point for a real scene I did write for an upcoming anthology.

Cool... My exercise in hook writing was a success

This is a collection of scenes, very shorts, and doodles in the Sci-Fi space.

The ship was rocked so violently by the impact that eighteen-year-old Valin Sturgis was thrown out of his bunk and across the room. The display lights all blinked out at once leaving the room in complete darkness. A few moments later, the emergency lighting kicked in, leaving the room bathed in bright red light. The boy blinked at the ceiling in confusion. He sat up quickly when he heard the computer’s voice. “Emergency lighting is now activated. Hull breach in the adjacent section.

Nothing has triggered on our monitors.

Your entire comment as @mmike1969 said is precisely why the story ended the way it did. dkstories is no longer with us and Gay Authors holds the rights to all his stories, per arrangements we made. As the story note says, we are reposting it as is. And there is a very clear note to people that have not read the story that the last chapter was unsatisfactory. You chose to read it anyway. With this story, in particular, we are reposting it for those that enjoy dkstories work.

Sci-fi has been speculating on this for years

Yup. This is a repost. Just like it says in the story note... I figured posting it as it was is better than waiting more time to re-edit it again, no?

Thank you so much! I'm glad the story had such a positive impact for you. I'm still, very slowly, working on this. Life, career, and running this site take up so much time. I'll get there eventually though. Oh, and welcome to Gay Authors!

Ah. I see the issue. I shorthanded the explanation. It should have said " if you don't want a notification when a story/chapter is updated, uncheck the "Notify me when story/chapter I follow is updated" Updated means "Edits". There are toggles for Story edits and Chapter edits. as shown in the highlight above. There is no connection between "Update" and "New Chapter" in notifications. The purpose of the story update is to let you know a status change, from in progress to Complete, for example. Chapter edits are usually just clean-ups.

I have already answered that. "updated" means editing. There is a separate toggle for new chapter notifications:

This is the notification so and so Edited chapter X. Ditto for the Story update notification.

Notifications are now working in full. Before, it seemed to be randomly notifying groups of 25 people instead of everyone. With the last update on the 30th, everyone is getting notified. If you don't want a notification when a story/chapter is updated, uncheck the "Notify me when story/chapter I follow is updated" The below screenshot are my own settings. I have that off myself. If you don't care about comments on stories you follow, turn that off. If you are an author, I'd recommend leaving on the two settings for "story I authored" Just go to your Notification settings here: https://www.gayauthors.org/notifications/options/

We have just posted a new version of Stories. In theory, this finally corrects the notification bugs. If you Follow a Story, you should now get your notifications every time. If you Follow an Author (on the author page) you should be alerted when they post a new story. A "Part of Series" toggle has been added to filters: The quick search links now properly activate existing filters and you should be able to change them or remove them with the minus sign. Example, Series stories by dkstories: https://www.gayauthors.org/stories/?filter_authors=212&filter_series=1 There is now a reminder on "Add New Chapter" box that reminds you about the posting rules: Moderation Queue Important Note: The moderation queue is now based on Story/Chapter reputation only! We are working on a method of displaying an author's current story/chapter reputation if they're under the limit. So if you suddenly find yourself in the Story Moderation Queue, where you were not before, this is why. Reply to Review should be working properly now. The filterbox on the Series page is now working properly. The Quick Search on Series page is now correct as well. Searching by Series word count is also working: https://www.gayauthors.org/stories/browse/series/?sortby=totalwords&filter_sort=totalwords

Yes, it should work now. Not sure the notification is working for it though.

Happy Birthday!!!!