Graeme

Thank you!

Thank you! Yes, I deliberately had the gay guy crushing on a straight guy as the central part of the story, but the romantic in my insisted that Eric have a chance at happiness, too. Just not with the guy he was crushing on

We don't know if John will ask for the cards back. After all, he may be stupid enough to mention them to Maria, who would then like to look at them to see if she can work out who her rival may be...

Thank you!

Eric didn't want it to be too obvious. He left the clue in the cards, but otherwise he did his best not to give it away

How many closeted gay guys spend their high school years crushing on one of their straight friends? Eric has a chance now, but relationships still take work.

I didn't want to make it too obvious. Eric had his role to play, especially in making sure that the significance of the initial letter of the notes was made clear. Other than that, he's always been in the background as far as John was concerned. One of the guys, but not someone who has pushed himself forward.

So, Indie isn't as cold as he used to be. It was a really nice touch to have that shown with the poor undergraduate who was so excited that he got any extension from Indie. However, the scene when Indie got home shows that the Indie we've all grown to know and <insert option of your choice: love, hate, admire, dislike...> is still there, and Efrain and Cory are quite capable of bring him back on demand. Then we had Preston preening and worrying about how to get Indie to ask him out for a second date. That was cute. Preston's not supposed to have any insecurities. Didn't Indie get that memo? Now...onto favourite line. I was spoilt with choice this chapter, and that made the decision tough. There were a lot of candidates, but the winner is, I think (subject to change without notice because it certainly wasn't a clear-cut victory) is: Preston simply shrugged and went back to eating his sushi. The correct way.

We have a PM system that allows messaging between our members, but I would have to caution about using that to do any counselling, especially if it's in relation to an underage member. Most of the time, people looking for help will do so in either one of the forums here (we have a Teen Forum that's often used for that purpose by our younger members), or in chat. There shouldn't be many times when private conversations are needed. Soliciting for off-site conversations is frowned upon because often that is the sign of an Internet predator. I would strong advise against doing that. These are just my personal views, and not an official statement from a staff member. Hopefully, one of the admins will weigh in at some stage

That's what I read. To be precise, the script is being "adapted for publication". According to another article, this will be the "special rehearsal edition" version of the story, allowing the play's creative team to modify the production, with a "definitive collector's edition" coming out later. Different Internet articles are saying different things, but that first link includes the link to her website where she made the announcement, so you can go there for the exact statement of what will be published. Even if that may not be particularly illuminating....

From what I've read, the book is the publication of the stage play. She bowed to pressure from fans who weren't going to be able to get to London to see the play and asked for the script to be published.

Australian cricketers get up close and personal during national anthem Interestingly, this didn't appear to make the news in Australia, though it was featured on the news in New Zealand.... The corresponding article from the Cricket Australia website doesn't indicate that there's any official or even unofficial censure. Just a bit of playful fun

Iron Boy, aka Domenic Pace, saves Sydney from Ultron The Make-A-Wish foundation, with assistance from the Sydney Police, have helped "Iron Boy" rescue a kidnapped reporter and save Sydney. Darn those pesky super-villians. Always showing up at the wrong time. At least we have our own super-hero to put them back in their place

An episode in my life from 1981: To Open a Door I may wonder what may have happened if I'd had the courage to come out in the 80s, but I don't regret my life as a closeted gay man. And Gene...? Jody from Soap wasn't a role model for me, but he's the reason I watched the show

I'm not convinced that the money came from Toph's mother, though that's definitely a possibility. Other possibilities include Nils, Nico, or even Gary's father. Gary only said that he didn't use JP Morgan. He never said his family didn't... As for his reactions and the questions of why he accepted the offer, I think the answer is mixed. He was being raliroaded, but he was being railroaded in the direction he wanted to go. He knew he'd have to work to get into Ablington, and Gary's father has opened up a path to get there. They pushed and he's still not ready to resist that sort of confrontation, but he also isn't the sort to hurt his future just to make a point. He sets himself goals and quietly pursues them -- that's been obvious from the first chapter where his goal was to leave home. Is Steve prescient? Possibly, especially since Toph always saw his relationship with Steve as one that could end at any time. Toph is no longer the simple nightshift worker -- he's now moving back into rarefied spaces, though this time they're rarefied spaces he wants to belong to (the world of the professional artist). It remains to be seen how that will impact on his relationship with Steve, but I think Steve is right to recognise that there will be an impact.

The homophobic characters are just a little too blatant to my eye. I wouldn't be surprised if they're part of the pedophile ring and they want to get rid of Kenny to avoid attention to what is going on. Their public views aren't their private reasons.

A powerful and disturbing start, though you foretold the issue in the story notes.

Very nice! At one point I was wondering if James was going to end up with Trevor instead of Tom, but I'm happy with how it all turned out. I completely understand about how James was so worried about losing his job. When you start somewhere new, you don't know all the rules, and to lie to your employer within the first week... Oh, well. All's well that end's well, as the saying goes

An interesting story. I didn't initially think the point of view approach would work, but it did, and the last sentence of the story brought it right back home. Well done! And the romantic in me loves the happy ending

I suspect early on, as soon as it was confirmed that the story was set in Rome, that this was a story about the original Valentine. It could even be true, since there's a lot of uncertainty as to who was the man that was eventually raised to sainthood. I loved the slow evolution of Varius's thoughts, and how they were led naturally to the ending that occurred. Thanks, a beautiful historical piece, lovingly told

Brad's a selfish, self-centred pig. My apologies to all the pigs in the world. Sending that picture to Gabriel's work colleagues was a low act, even if it supposed to be in fun. It clearly wasn't funny to Gabriel, but Brad didn't appear to take Gabriel's feelings into account. I'm glad that it was Avery in the end. Gabriel deserves someone who sees the real person.

Sad, but very true to life Valentine's Day is not a happy day for everyone. I kept hoping for a happy ending, but while the romantic in me is disappointed, the author in me is impressed and pleased with the skill shown in bringing the story to a close in what is an almost-but-not-quite-uplifting end. I hope Mike takes a lesson from his friend's parting comment and realises he's still someone worthwhile.

You had me guessing as to who was leaving the gifts. There were so many choices, but the reveal took me by surprise. I loved the way the story developed, though, with character reveals occurring throughout the story. I'm also very happy with the way it turned out in the end. Really well done!

Poor guys I'm not sure who to feel sorry for the most. There were no winners in this beautifully told story...

Oh, wow... That was incredibly moving. A brilliant depiction of someone with dementia, from their point of view. I suspect it early, but the evolution to certainty, and then realisation of how it was affecting those around him...just...wow... The whole story was made even more poignant because my mother had dementia before she passed away, and I could relate to what was going on, including the discussions on moving Glenn to a nursing home for better care. We went through the same issue for my mother when her husband (she remarried late in life after my father died) couldn't look after her anymore.