Graeme

G'day, Nono! There's actually a thread where you can say welcome, but that's okay. The moderators will either merge this in, or you get to have your very own welcome thread Feel free to wander around the site and have a look. Joining in on the forums is also great. The latest anthology has just been released, so there's some great new stories to read, too. Cheers! Graeme

If I may be so bold, but I think you're off on the wrong foot. If he needs a more positive view of gay men, then a book isn't going to give him that. Look for positive role models, and I think you'll find that they'll be just normal guys who just happen to be gay. The younger members here will be able to point out a few more, but two that I can think of is the N'Sync singer who came out recently (Lance Bass?), and Ian Roberts, the Australian ex-rugby player. For terminology, like twink (and yes, your definition was right), then I think he'll pick up a fair amount of that through context. I sincerely doubt you'll be able to find a book that helps with that. There is a "gay culture", but in my opinion it only contains a subset of gay people. There are, I suspect, a lot of gay people that do not participate in that culture. I remember speaking to a couple in Australia, and they said that the "gay scene" wasn't for them -- it wasn't what they liked doing. Make sure he understand that it's fine for him to just be another guy who happens to be gay -- there is no need for him to identify as a gay guy. Just my opinion

Which brings up another possibility I thought of this morning while doing manual labour ( ) What if the reason for the antagonistic attitude of the Peidmont cops is because of some sort of corruption, that Eric is mixed up in some way? I've got no real evidence for it, except the way the cops jumped on the identify fraud issue and tried to pressure Chris for information about it. Maybe the information on the data stick is important to them for some reason (could be worth a lot of money, or a key to something big, or just incredibly incriminating) and they were wondering if Chris was working with Eric? They were pressuring him to try to find out what happened to the data stick, but they had to do it in a way that didn't tip off what they were after, if it turned out that Chris was clueless. I think there is strong evidence that Eric is mixed up in other activities -- almost certainly illegal. It's just a question of how big those activities are -- would a cops son be a worthwhile recruit for organised crime? I'm just putting this out for others (apart from CJ) to comment on. Feel free to tell me a a raving lunatic C James -- don't you DARE respond to this post...

There was something I didn't understand regarding the data stick. Dex said that there was only a few megabytes of data, but it was encrypted. He then said there may be some clusters that weren't overwritten. The first statement makes sense to me -- if he's got some sensitive data, encrypting is smart. The second statement confused me. It sounds like there has been an attempt to wipe the data, and that Dex is going to try to retrieve it. Now, if Eric believes the data has been wiped, why did he go to the effort of trying to hide the data stick, since it is highly unlikely he'll have the technology to retrieve the data afterwards? It could be there was a block of encrypted data AND some 'deleted' data as well, but why would Dex be looking for deleted data if there was something on the data stick already? Now, if the data that's important is encrypted, then the chances of decrypting it are pretty low without someone who understand cryptography. Public domain encryption algorithms are solid enough that you can't crack them. Since I've just had to learn a bit of cryptography for my job, I see the following options: 1. It's encrypted using a digital certificate, and that certificate is on Eric's computer (now Steve's, since it was Steve's originally, and he took it back in an earlier chapter). So, if they put it in THAT computer, and are logged in as Eric, it should decrypt automatically. 2. It's encrypted using a password. They would either have to guess that password (almost impossible), find it written down somewhere (and then they still need to understand what it is, AND allow for some deliberate changes (such as making the third letter a capital letter instead of lowercase -- Eric would know that and not need to write it correctly), or force/trick it out of Eric somehow (almost impossible, since he's in custody and there is no evidence that what is on the data stick is criminal). 3. Put a keyboard logger on a computer, and get Eric to access the data stick, and hence capture the password required (still very tricky). There is always the possibility that Eric used something trivial to encrypt it, but I can't see him being that dumb. So, I'm betting on option 1 above.

I have a New Years resolution not to make New Years resolutions. Losing weight is an all year resolution for me (always starting the day after tomorrow).

Another good chapter, with lots of fun hi-jinks. Thanks, CJ! And I noticed the careful wording of the end of the chapter, so I'm going to have to wait for chapter 9 before I find out if anything happened to interrupt their night....

I had to think about my best day -- I've had a lot of days to go through (where's my walking frame...) I have to go back to one special day in 1999. I was at the hospital early morning. My wife had been admitted the night before and they were going to induce her, as she was a week overdue and there were signs of fetal distress. It was a long day, but the midwives were excellent and everything went smoothly. I can remember my wife spending a couple of hours in their large bath, relaxing and holding onto the nitrous oxide feed (the so-called Happy Gas ). Eventually, around 4pm, our first boy was born. I cut the cord and then held him in my arms while the staff cleaned up. My wife was exhausted, so I held my boy for a few minutes before I handed him over. There are pictures from then and I have the hugest grin that I think I've ever worn....

Unless I was mistaken, your current avatar was in there, too....

Happy Birthday, Jack... though I notice that the forum software is listing you as a one year old. I may be mistaken, but that means we've been exchanging emails since before you were born...

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to Everyone A special wish to Myr and all the team at GA -- thank you for all your hard work, it is very mych appreciated

Even if I did, I wouldn't jab you. I have a sense of fairness, after all. The person doing the spoiling gets the jabs. I'll have to come up with something different for you, since you've just confirmed it, even if you didn't issue the spoiler in the first place.... I'll have to take your word for that. Eating gunpowder is something I have no personal experience with, and not something that I want to experiment with, either. Just curious, when you last ate gunpowder, how long did the libido-dampening effect last for?

To start with, Chris's car can get impounded as evidence (they already said that was a possibility) and Steve's car could've sustained some hidden structural damage as a result of driving on those back roads that night. Let's see... Chris's cottage gets burnt down (someone thought candles would romantic, but put them in the wrong place) which forced him to move into the house with Steve. That's when he finds out that Steve's mother likes to clean at odd hours of the day. Sporting injuries are another potential delaying tactic, but they're both imaginative boys and would probably figure out alternatives eventually. Is that enough for now?

By all means keep scenes you like. Part of what I was trying to say was that you'll write a scene better now than you did before. However, the most important thing a re-write without reference would affect is the story flow. If you edited the current story, you will generally keep things happening in the same order and just be adjusting how it's stated. If you write it from scratch, you'll get a different story flow -- one that takes advantage of what you know now. You can still drop the scenes you like into that new story flow without a problem. Does that make sense?

One suggestion that may work for some people: Give them a card saying that X amount has been donated to a particular charity in their name. There are a lot of charities looking for money at this time of the year, and while some appear a little bogus, it doesn't take much effort to find some decent ones. There are even a number of charities that focus on the GLBT community: Alfred Kennedy in the UK and 2010 in Sydney, Australia are just a couple.

If I was a total cynic, this is what I would expect to happen: 1. Harry is killed by Voldemort 2. Hermoine gets pregnant and has a baby (I wonder who was the father?) 3. Voldemort kills Hermoine. 4. Voldemort tries to kill the baby, but something goes wrong and the spell reflects back on him. 5. The baby is taken away by friends and handed over to some Muggles to be raised. However, since I thought of this, I doubt that's what's going to happen...

Congratulations, Robert! Based on my experiences of GA to date, I expect that I will never need to contact you, but I wish you all the best.

The story line is nice, and while there's the obvious lead that Camy's picked up, I'm not as confident that that is the direction you'll take it as you have a habit of misdirecting the reader However, on that subject, there is nothing wrong with an obvious plot direction IF it is delivered well. Sometimes it is the journey that is important, not the destination. On a negative point of view, yes, this needs a lot of work. Given what you've learnt over the last few months, I would consider keeping the plot, but starting from scratch and writing it out again. DON'T look at the original when you are doing it. You'll remember most of it, but you'll be able to delivered the story better by incorporating all the experience you've picked up since. As has been said before, being a good author means being a good storyteller and a good storywriter. You've got the makings of a good story here, bit you need to tell it well. Just my opinion.

You can always try writing -- you never know, you just might surprise yourself If you're stuck for ideas, try writing about being bored and daydreaming about all the things you WANT to do.

A very belated birthday wish... or a very early one for next year I hope you had a good day, Kitty!

I've just read the last two chapters and they flowed together well. You've got a lot of good momentum going again with the story and as you mention above, there are a lot of loose threads to follow up on. I'll also state I'm not really surprised that Eric seems to have been up to a lot more than just blackmailing the two guys. I'm going to have to think for a bit before I try to make any constructive comments because I'm now reading the story purely as a reader... and enjoying it. Good job, CJ!

My first reaction when I read this is that Myr should close the forums. I wrote something a long time ago, soon after I joined, about the relationship between the forums, the stories and the members. They all work together to make this site what it is BUT it is not worth it at the expense of Myr's health -- and it appears clear to me that his mental health is suffering as a consequence. The core of that problem is the forums, and if HE doesn't feel the angst is worth the gain, then they should be closed. Having said that, the forums DO help people. There is a lot of garbage in there, but there are also the little gems scattered through the dross that can make all the difference for people -- especially the younger members who are still finding their way in the world. I would prefer them to stay open, but if it's a choice between Myr's health and the forums, the forums would lose every time. I am aware of some of the work required to run a site like this. I am friends with the site-owners of two other sites and I know how much time, effort, pain and suffering they go through for their sites, which are nowhere near as big as this one. I also know that I can't commit the time and effort to help out, which is why I haven't offered. That doesn't stop me from appreciating the work that Myr and the other administrators put in -- an appreciation that has been expressed in the other ways I can at the moment. That is, in a thread started several weeks ago thanking Myr, and another one thanking Kitty, and by doing what I can as a simple member to enhance the site. I am aware of one site that went off the air because their servers were seized by the police as part of an investigation of a possible illegal relationship. The site was innocent of any wrongdoing, but they still ended up off the air. I would hate for that to happen to GA. I've just found my post in a thread started by Myr and titled "So, What Is The Purpose Of This Place?" I'll repeat it here, and I hope it helps Myr and everyone else decide what they want from GA:

Mine is easy. I've got two. The first was in March 1999, when I cradled my first son in my arms after he'd been born a couple of minutes earlier. The second was in January 2001, when I took my second son to show an ante-natal close of expectant mothers and fathers what a baby looks like a couple of hours after he was born. Two of the proudest moments of my life.

The fact that I've been away in Queensland for a week has nothing to do with the slow down, I promise. CJ keeps telling me I'm a postaholic, so if you can't find the posts that I made while I didn't have internet access, I'm sure it's not my fault.... I've still got a lot of catching up to do, but I assure you I'll be back up to normal posting speed soon.

Happy Birthday, Davey!