Talo Segura

I have been away two weeks without much chance of internet access. Before leaving I posted two chapters of my story Milo, chapters five and six, using the timer function. These chapters had to be checked by moderators, but then posted each Wednesday. I am pretty certain the chapters did not appear in Story Updates, I don't know if readers following got a notification. My question is: when you pre-programme publication do the new chapters usually appear in the Story Updates list? My reason for thinking the chapters did not appear in Story Updates is the big drop in readers. I know readers drop off for various reasons, but the change in numbers seem quite drastic. I can't really write to everyone and ask, they probably won't remember, so I'm wondering if you can check this somehow?

You know I never even noticed that, but if I was to pick up all the little details, those tiny mistakes that creep into the text, I suppose it might bug me too. But what I do is just correct them in my head, because the story's so good, and I read on.

He squeezed my hand tighter and pleaded, “Please Jack, say it.” Before I knew what happened, I heard, “Yes,” slip from my lips. What an ending to the chapter, I had tears in my eyes, it was so beautiful. Every boy like Jack needs friends like Tracy and Jeff. Loved the chapter.

OMG, who hasn't been there in Jack's shoes, worried about what your friends will say, trying to second guess how things might work out. Torn between being honest to yourself and scared like hell. Nobody reacts how you imagine, at least not for me, let's see what happens with Jack. I haven't said anything about the writing, except it was well done, it's a bit more than well done, because you exactly capture that teenage angst.

Tracy is pushing poor old Jack out of his comfort zone. There's going to be one almighty blow up!

You surprised me in chapter two and now, I guess I'm like Jack, I've just got to know the mystery surrounding Tracy.

That has got to be the most hilarious way to get to know the new boy next door. I love it that Jack told Jimmy to get lost for being such a dick! I would have clicked a like for the chapter, but it was too funny to pass up on the Haha, I'm still smiling, I couldn’t believe it when he squeezed my dick and muttered, “You don’t have anything to be embarrassed about.”

Jack and his buddy Jimmy do not come across as sixteen year olds, but more like a couple of years younger. Jimmy Taylor, kept walking over to the window, pulling back the curtain and looking over across the street. Jack doesn't know about his sexuality: I’m really not interested in finding a girlfriend... I knew for a while that I might be gay, but I didn’t know what that really meant. I really hadn’t thought about it in terms of sex. If this were the fifties or sixties, okay, but it's present day, I have no intention of ever going to France. After watching all the terrorist attacks in Europe on the news... A younger girl was removing her seat belt. And in the twenty-first century sixteen year olds watch porn online, so he absolutely would know what being gay meant! The story starts off well and even if we can probably see where it's heading, it's a nice story to read and well written. Just the age of the characters doesn't ring true to the way they act.

A good description of Nash whom you introduce here with the impression that there is something going to happen. I'll miss Danny when he goes on his travels! The descriptions of people... and dogs 😃 are great. What I miss, a little more description of the environment, the town or city. I think you said it's 50° on average which sounds pretty cold, but Nash was eating salad, although he did have soup in a thermos. That's not meant as a criticism, just an observation. You know your descriptions also focus on food (or is that me? Lol), “I’m making spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread..." haha, makes me hungry reading it!

Someone said they were looking for a story to read and found this. So did I, and you did say it wasn't necessary to have read the other book. I admit it was different to get into, I say different, not difficult, you hooked me. I'm too lazy to translate pounds to kilos, and settled for your descriptions which filled in the picture of little and large. I liked both Danny and Jarren straightaway, and it was comical imagining the big guy squashed in the Nissan. I guess that's what hooked me, your descriptions, not the Jarren hitting the speed bump, but everything you described flowed and easily painted the picture. Although, I have to confess to wild imaginings about what the two of them got up to the night before 😉

There is a satisfying and emotional feeling when reaching the end of a good book. A good book, such an easy turn of phrase, and so difficult to achieve. James Carnarvon has managed such an achievement with his wonderful story, full of evocative descriptions, and beautifully drawn characters. In equal measure the ordinary is brought to life as so much more than ordinary, the drama is almost heart breaking, yet full of hope. A message of triumph through struggle, nothing is ever easy, people are human and make mistakes. How different is Father Stefano from the Catholic priest we might expect? How strong is the influence of our parents even when they are no longer there? How easily do events lead themselves to misinterpretation? The author is the first to admit that no story is perfect, but nevertheless, this is a little gem that sparkles with the magnificent landscape of the Italian mountains and villages and with the emotions in the hearts of the people who live there, not the least of whom are two lonely boys.

I completely understand the sense of acting out of character that has been expressed in a few comments. If I am not mistaken there was some foreshadowing and hints of things to come. The dream, Gianni's emotions reaching that inevitable explosive point. He thinks he knows that Angelo has been giving all the right signals, but Gianni is a reticent English boy, frightened to touch or show his feelings, and scared. But there comes the point when he has "to be true to himself," and it simply explodes. It's bad timing, the wrong place, inappropriate, something he's never done before, but he "loses it," if you like, loses his self controlled person. He has had a glass of champagne and a glass of wine. Not that he's drunk, but it gives a kind of Dutch courage. Everything just bursts out. I can see how it could happen and how it is out of character, but that's the point, isn't it? He's reached the point of "do or die," he throws all caution to the wind and does what he could never ever imagine doing, he tries to drag Angelo onto the dance floor.

I can understand that sentiment. Notwithstanding, the British Empire was built on the class system, it kept the ruling gentry in power and the peasants and foreign wallies in their place. That along with harsh discipline. It functioned up until the first world war, then went into slow decline. The second world war, socialism and the empacipation of women rang the death knell for the class system, yet somehow traces still linger, with deference to doctors, lawyers, and other esteemed professionals. But then the bastions of class embodied by Oxford and Cambridge still exist as do their American counterparts, Yale and Harvard.

Fantastic chapter, you transported me into the mountains of Italy and a small medieval village nestling into the hillside, it's stone buildings adorned with climbing greenery and colourful blooms, the shadows drawing out in length as the sun goes down, superb descriptions. I could hear the cicadas and glimpse the distant blue, blue, sea. I could almost smell the pipe smoke of Vittorio and see the dust reflected in the sunbeams across Gianni's bedroom. The characters are very well drawn, you created the perfect image of his elderly grandparents, just as you did with the young children chasing each other in the square. You paint a picture with your words that is sublime.

I read the summary, then I read the reviews, and I started reading. I knew I would like this novel and I was not disappointed by the opening chapter. This is everything a story should be, well written, nicely paced, very interesting. Yes, it's a sad start and I had a tear in the corner of my eye, but yet there is hope and promise, though also a family past. I loved It!

These are two @Comicality and @Krista contrasting opposites to the question of sequels. It's easy to see how writing inspired by comics would lead to series and sequels. Comics are all about the hero and what adventures endlessly befall him. Comics go on forever and never end. By contrast when @Krista has written a story set around the age of adolescence and dealing with coming out, it's complete in itself and doesn't necessarily lead to a sequel. I say necessarily, because I have read a story or stories (I forget the author) about first love, coming out, which easily lead into a second book where the young lovers ran away to be together. So it very much depends whether a story is completely resolved or if there is scope to continue, but with a new adventure and problems.

@Carlos Hazday If you remember the movie with Al Pucino there is an explanation for the title: The Romans sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather. In modern times, the term refers to those hot, sleepy afternoons when dogs (and people) prefer to lay around and languish in the summer heat.

You conjure up a fantasy world where magic powers and less than human creatures lurk, but the most enticing part of the tale are the characters themselves, especially Nik, the warden and main protagonist. A nice start with a hint of something to happen, something in the world and something on a personal level.

Thank God for Herbert Byron, aka. Lowry, it takes people with the guts to stand up to the establishment to change things. In miniature this is an event that has been repeated over and over throughout history. You have a choice, stand up (and be counted) for what you believe in, or submit to the pressure imposed by society and disappear into the quagmire of "normality" as you watch your individuality vanish, and carry that acquiescence with you for the rest of your life, and to what purpose? Simply, as someone shouted out, because they didn't want to spoil the day, how pitiful! I hope they make it a prize giving nobody will forget.

I guess I too was intrigued - "if you are closed minded,.." so of course I read it, and because I recognised your name. A ménage à trois, I always thought it could work as a relationship because if three people are equal then there would be no arguments, you know, two for, one against. That is a bit naive, but I was younger when I thought that. Still it's always kind of fascinated. To make it last, everyone has to love everyone, and then I think it's difficult, for me it never lasted much more beyond one night. The interplay of emotions is like getting battered in a storm, the waves roll around in all directions, you get hit from all sides. On the crest of the waves it's incredible, but when you tumble down its rude. I love the courage you show to be open, to share, it says a lot about you as a person. There is nothing wrong with anything you're doing and discussing stuff in the open is really great. Like that, the rest of us see we are not weird and abnormal either, just part of the spectrum.

@Cia I am following two authors @Marty and @Mikiesboy I am also following Marty as Follow Member. For both people, I went to their profile, clicked Stories, then at the top of their list of stories page where it says author author, I checked Follow to Follow each of those two authors. So for my member account it says that I am following Marty as Follow Member, Follow Author, and Follow some individual stories. For Mikiesboy I am only Follow Author. I think that explains it. The followed stories show, but not the followed authors, they are both toggled on. PS. I think if you are showing Followed Authors on your profile it is not a problem, the bug is that when you join as a new member, in account settings the four switches for show editors, show beta readers, show followed stories, show followed authors are toggled off. When you turn them on, they all work except the followed authors. To test my theory you need to open a new account, follow an Author, toggle on followed authors in account settings and see if it shows on the profile.

There are several FOLLOW options and it would seem logical it works like this (but I may be wrong): Follow story = updates on story postings, chapters and comments Follow author = updates on the author's new story postings, chapters and comments Follow member = updates on everything that member comments on or anything else they do The first two, follow story and follow author, if toggled on in your account settings on your profile should show the books and authors you have followed, listed on the left hand side of your profile view. Exactly the same as if you toggle on editors and beta readers, they all should be shown on your profile. I have toggled on stories and authors. I follow some stories and some authors. The stories I follow appear in my profile, the authors I follow do not appear. Looking at other people's profiles I see the stories and authors they follow, for those who have turned that feature on in their account settings, are shown in their profile view. Therefore, if you toggle on in account settings, show followed authors, and they do not appear in your profile view, it's a bug?

@Marty @Mikiesboy If I look at your profiles you both list on the left hand side followed stories and followed authors, so you must both have toggled those switches on in you account settings. I simply did the same, but it didn't work for followed authors, only followed stories. What is this all about anyhow? Well if either of you wrote that you liked an author or a story, then trusting your opinion, if I was looking for something new to read, I'd look at those authors and stories you both followed because that would be a good recommendation rather than randomly picking a book.

I updated my account settings as shown here by @northie and my followed stories appeared. I checked the switches to toggle on Followed Stories and Followed Authors. I went to @Marty and then to @Mikiesboy and checked their boxes to Follow Author. When I look at my profile I do not have FOLLOWED AUTHORS which should show those two authors. Can someone check to see if I did something wrong or it doesn't work, because I don't think I did anything wrong and it might be a bug? Thanks, Tal. If this is a bug, here is my info: Galaxy Tab S2 using Samsung Internet Browser and Android 7.0 operating system.

@northie Exactly what I was looking for, it's kind of hidden away, thank you very much ☺ Except, I can't get followed authors to work?