Brayon

Fantastic chapter. Alex and Harry being honest to Jill was the best thing to happen. Can't wait for chapter 9 now, to see the two mama bears go at it.

Thank you very much for the warning, and it will be good for me too. I had decided to reread the first two books, and this way, I can read the first one again as you post the revisions.

Good Night, everyone. I hope everyone has been having a safe and restful night. Sleep is not coming easy for me... The Moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to - Carl Sandburg

@mollyhousemouse It's going, miss molly. It's going.

Different strokes for different folks. Some of the best classic SciFi's have infodumps, and set the standard for it for the genre. See this article here: https://io9.gizmodo.com/20-great-infodumps-from-science-fiction-novels-5481558 To steal a line from that article, "Telling, then showing" is, in my opinion, the better way to go in a heavy Science Fiction or Fantasy environment.

I though the chapter was very good. I think that N'than has a siren like quality to him, that makes people attracted to him quickly. I like his attitude of "I need to do this for me." Realistic and very believable.

Excellent chapter. I'm glad to see Harry and Alex together. Now Harry needs to learn to trust his Mom and hopefully she can help Alex out.

I'll add it to my "To Read" list.

On Dreamspinner, just some "this is really good" stuff. On Goodreads, there is both positive and negative reviews of 18% Gray with one person saying they loved the Worldbuilding. Made me wonder if we read the same book, because there wasn't any worldbuilding to the story. Was there some good to the book? Yeah, I liked the military and scifi aspect of it. Which is why I read it to begin with, and that it had a gay romance at its core. However, in my opinion, the bad out weight the good on that book. There's a time and place for a minimalist approach to storytelling. But if you are selling the book at $6.99 a pop for digital, you damn well better paint a complete picture. Infodumps are the fucking bread and butter of Sci-Fi and Fantasy storytelling. If your Sci-Fi or Fantasy story doesn't have at least one infodump in it, to explain what's going on, then your book isn't worth me wiping my ass with it.

Reviews are subjective. What one person considers Five Stars, another might consider One Star. For instance, I might be tempted to leave a Five Star review on a story that delivers a stellar story despite its flaws. In the end, its how the story made you feel, and that is what the review from your perspective should be about. For myself, I've ranged from Three to Five Star reviews here on GA. I know of a couple of people that routinely give Three or Four star reviews. Thorn is right about normally people on GA practice the saying, "Criticize in private, praise in public." I've done that. But stopped after someone got super defensive about me sending them a PM. Now, on another site, where you have to pay money for eBooks, and they are suppose to be "professionally" edited. I've posted some brutal reviews of stories. Here's an example of one I did for 18% Gray on Dreamspinner.

You asked...

Yeah, we've already hit our summer stride down here.

Harry is taking this pretty hard, but I'm glad to see that Alex showed up there at the end. Can't wait till the next chapter and their talk! Excellent chapter.

The link to the video I had is dead now, but it was on a discussion at a writer's convention on some trigger warnings "some" readers were demanding to be used. The list had over three-hundred entries, on items, sayings, animals, and situations, that people said were offensive. Some of which was pretty common items like glass bottles, lamp shades, and a situation of someone folding clothes while not saying anything.

The Great White North strikes again?

Got good news from Mom, tonight. Lily is recovering, and the 17 that they isolated are doing well. She doesn't know if they are positive or not, but they are still on isolation. National Guard has been in, cleaning has been done, and other precautions are in effect. Keeping the good thoughts going.

I concur. I would have the same reaction.

Excellent short story, my Brother. Loved it.

When a friend shares a song with you, and it turns into a gut punch:

My Real Life friend's story differs from what I put into my story here, but yes he is doing really well. They stayed together, all through HS, and after graduation when to college, lived outside of the country for a while, got married, and moved back to the US. Very happy, and what I consider a success story.

I have a friend who went through emancipation, after his parents kicked him out for being gay. (Even wrote a story based on it.) It was tough on him he was a Sophomore in HS and living with his BF's family, but it was granted quickly.

Well, hopefully, Alex's dad is better than his mother, and can set her straight. But, yes, I've known some "all about the image" type people and they are horrible.