Graeme

LOL! Demarcation disputes between Guardian Angels and Cupids... Settled by the Manager of Cupid Central with his own special arrows... Thank, that was very well done. I'm glad the problems in the world were settled as well as those in the heavenly quarters. It's great when everything is wrapped up nicely.

A sweet story about a budding office romance Fred certainly deserves something good to happen in his life. It might feel like overkill to have the boyfriend leave just before Maggie died, but I've seen all too often in real life how these things seem to happen in bunches. It's rarely just one thing going wrong. Thank you for a fun read!

“What the...?” John stared at the small, red, heart-shaped piece of thick paper that was sitting on top of his books in his locker. Tony glanced across from his own locker, where he had been getting out the books for their next class and grinned. “Someone’s given you a Valentine’s Day card early. Who’s the lucky girl?” “Let’s find out.” John picked up the card and examined it for a moment. It was clearly handmade, though with a lot of care. He opened it up and scanned the note inside. “There’s

John has a mystery on his hand as he tries to work out who is leaving him anonymous Valentine Day cards.

I found it interesting that Toph viewed almost everything as a battle or skirmish. Even his initial thoughts were on shields and defences. He still has a mindset of him vs the world, but for him it's a battle to survive, not a war to be won. Even the ending is along those lines. He sees Gary as an opponent and he's already prepared to concede defeat. But even though it's love that he's conceding too, that fills him with fear, rather than elation. His intelligence shows in how he recognises that the new Toph isn't ready yet. He's still got some evolving to do, and he knows that. How long it'll take, remains to be seen. And, just in case there was any uncertainty, we have confirmation that Gary is Garrett and Toph's mother's boss. I'm still looking forward to how things evolve from here

New Zealand arrested their first student loan defaulter a bit over a week ago. The person had a student loan from about 20 years ago (I think) that they hadn't been paying off. They were stopped at the airport when they tried to go through customs. The NZ Inland Revenue department is starting to go out hard for student loan defaulters. Apparently, NZ$850 million is owed by overseas-based borrrowers. That arrest was the first. They're not targeting people who try to pay it back -- they're after those who avoiding paying back their debts.

Sorry, no favourite line from this chapter -- it's too serious to be playful. We get more of Indie's backstory, and it wasn't pleasant reading. I can appreciate why he ended up so cold and cynical. What I loved about the chapter, though, was the contrast of Indie's relationship with Jameson to Efrain's relationship with Cory. The part about Cory trusting Efrain when it came to the hands around the neck...then followed up with how Indie's trust in Jameson had been so betrayed. Very well done

Very interesting. Toph is beginning to understand himself better, and is working to address what he sees as the problems. His analogy of little yards was very aft, but the part that fascinated me was his comment when Steve asked about his family: “My family is not behind little fences Steve. It’s behind a large forbidding wall, with razor wire on top. We’re not anywhere near ready for that assault. Maybe never.” The interesting part is the first word of the second sentence. Toph's family is not "They", they're an "It" -- a group that's he's not thinking of as being people but some abstract collective. Well done to Toph on his month of firsts. I hope that continues. Now we need to find out if he's going to do anything about his sister's wedding... PS: Regarding his new painting, I'm waiting for the time when he discovers he's doing a self-portrait. The way he paints, it will only be a matter of time. However, I have a suspicion that painting his self-portrait and what he learns from it will also be the end of the story, so I'd like that to still be some time in the future, please...

Kuniper belt and the Oort cloud, yes, asteroid belt, no. The calculated orbit keeps it outside of Neptune's orbit at all times. There's no chance it'll have an impact on the asteroid belt.

Video of premature Melbourne twins goes viral

Case made for 'ninth planet' While the idea of a ninth planet (after Pluto was so cruelly demoted) has been around for awhile. The evidence at the moment is still only circumstantial, but I seem to recall the the existence of Pluto was first inferred from gravitational data. It's plausible that the same could apply here.

You can do what I do. I have two email address: my personal one (that I check constantly) and a public one that's just for reader feedback that I try to check at least once a day. Between gmail, yahoo, and outlook, it's easy to create email addresses and you can then choose which one you want to be publicly known. That keeps your private life separate from your public life as an Internet author.

I could be wrong but I think it is pretty obvious what is going on with Carter. He is not living at home anymore; a problem with his parents not accepting him. I would like to see if Abel's parents are not stereotypes. It will be interesting to see religious parents that struggle with a gay son, but still love him. All too often we read stories where they are either rabid homophobes or instant pro-gays. There's not much in between.

A stockholm syndrome story does not have to include a sexual relationship. I remember one I had to read for English, back in the dark ages when I was at school I can't remember the title, but I still remember the plot. It was an innocent young white boy who was kidnapped by a native American. The native American had been 'commanded' by his totem spirit to sacrifice the boy, but there were things to be done first. The boy had a dream that the native American interpreted as a powerful totem spirit granting the boy a wish. The native American couldn't sacrifice the boy until the wish was granted. The story was about their relationship as the native American tried to look after the boy while avoiding capture by the authorities. The boy came to respect the native American -- a respect that was mutual. There was sex in the story, but it was organised by a female acquaintance of the native American so the boy would no longer be 'innocent' and thus not a suitable sacrifice. That story (if I could remember the name, but given that I read the story more than 30 years ago, that's unlikely) fits the requirement and would also meet GA requirements, because stockholm syndrome means that the victim comes to associate and relate to the captor and the captor's goals, not that they necessarily fall in love with their captor.

By a strange coincidence, we watched the original Die Hard movie last night. Alan Rickman was excellent as the lead villain in that movie

Jackson doesn't come over as the most likeable of characters, though I will give him a pass for now because we've only seen him reacting to authority figures. It remains to be seen what redeeming features he has.

An interesting chapter that sets up lots of things for the future. I like how Toph views Gary as a General, with the implication being that Steve is the Lieutenant in that comparison. But that very comparison shows that Toph views himself as a minor player, a Lieutenant equivalent himself. He's not ready to reach the rank of General, and he's not sure when he will be. Looking forward to the next chapter!

And the drama continues... Jacob is still different to Josh. Josh's father would expect Josh to be intimidated by the change of school and the reportedly harsh school environment, but Jacob wouldn't react the way Josh would react. I'm not surprised he's disappeared. Heading home is what I would expect Jacob to do. That's the most obvious reason for him to have disappeared. I could be wrong, of course, but let's not make this more complicated than it needs to be.

I missed this when it was published. Sorry. Interesting developments. The look from Josh's mother implies that whatever has happened concerns Josh. Either they've been found out about Josh and Jacob, or they've found out something about Josh that's made someone upset. Onto the next chapter to (hopefully) find out!

Definitely! I've had authors that have taken a week or two to get back to me. I don't care -- the fact that they've replied is what I consider important.

If it is at all possible, I would suggest replying to all emails, even if it's just a quick thank you. I've emailed a couple of authors recently and never got replies, and as a consequence I'm unlikely to email them again. If the volume is too high to response to all of them, and if you haven't finished posting the story at the other sites, add a comment to your next post to thank all the readers and to apologise for not being able to respond to all of them. That at least tells them that you've read their email and they're not being ignored. Not responding in any way makes the reader feel like they're being ignored, which doesn't make them a happy reader.

Okay, your last comment indicated that you're beginning to guess the lines that I like, but I think I've got you beaten this time But, I agree with the Defiance that it's good to read something about Indie's backstory. I will also say that Preston and Indie's relationship doesn't look anywhere near as exciting from Cory's point of view. I think that boy's too interested in Efrain to notice how exciting Preston and Indie can be Okay, onto favourite lines. I started with: “Indie,” Cory cut in, a strange warning note in his voice. “Choose your next words carefully.” but then I encountered: Okay, so I may or may not have done a few late night Google searches for genital piercings. However, the winner is, without a doubt: Oooo the attack twink has suddenly become Indy's twingman! Sorry -- skinnydragon beat you

Happy Birthday, Matt!

There are way too many great lines in this chapter. Preston and Indie are just so great, with a real chemistry (the explosive kind) between them. But just so I have a favourite line listed... Man-bear-dick-asshole-fuckboy-jerk-pig-douchebag-wanker-twat-dickcheese-baddresser-bitchass-motherfucker-pissant-limpdick-ARGH! Preston always has been the master namer in the story

Hmm...tough battle for best line in this one The opening contender was: Like, say if my goddamn Jon Snow action figure walked off again. Indie clearly liked that particular gift and was getting rather defensive about it Of course, I loved how Indie played the game right back with Preston when he realised who was responsible: Preston Finnegan stood by my desk looking at the tiny rabid Yorkshire terrier now hanging from his keyring. “It fit,” I said. “Adorable, but makes annoying noises whenever that filthy mouth opens.” I love the relationship between Preston and Indie. In many ways, I love this part of the story more than the Cory and Efrain part. Both are great, but Preston and Indie's 'courtship' is much more interesting But the winner for best line, (with the context) is this gem: I was tired of my gringo boyfriend being better than me at Spanish, so I swallowed my pride and asked for his help. He’d offered it before. It was fucking embarrassing, and I kinda-sorta-maybe-just-a-little used sex as an avoidance strategy . Thanks for another great chapter! I'm looking forward to how things develop!