James Carnarvon

Hello @Gary L! I didn't realise you hadn't read this one already. I hope you enjoy it, it's a bit different to the others.

2nd and 4th most read for 'suicide'? That's... quite an accolade. 😨 I'll take being 3rd and 8th for 'holiday' and 6th for 'Christmas' though. That's much better! @Myr thanks for going to all the trouble of doing this. It really exposes some interesting topics and gets more of us in on the action.

That's awesome! The first confirmed case of someone visiting Ravello because of my stories, and at the best time of year too! I'm so glad you had a lovely time. I'm not James Cameron though. I didn't direct Avatar. 😅

And thank you for going back through it. New comments on old stories are a treat.

The sort of line I would only write if things are about to go wrong... 😉

What sad news. Comicality was definitely a cornerstone of this community and a gracious contributor who was keen to share the benefit of his extensive experience. His writing blending drama and humour in a way that appeared effortless but no doubt took considerable thought; he also had a gift for getting inside the heads of his teenage characters, with all their silly ideas and relatable insecurities. It made his stories a true pleasure to read. It saddens me to think that we will never see a new story or a resolution to some of the stories that he left unfinished, but he has left a rich legacy of work that GA will preserve for posterity to entertain and inspire future readers and aspiring authors, which I’m sure is what he would have wanted. Thank you, Comicality!

@Summerabbacat objected to his behaviour in The Star in my Eye.

I don't think your reaction was unusual. I think it's quite possible to feel relatively unmoved by the death of someone but then be moved when you witness the grief of the people around them. I thought you might like Marco's arc within this story, as he goes from strength to strength as the more positive aspects of his nature receive validation. Poor Sami, lol. He's just being a (slightly precocious) kid. Personally, I think his situation is not that different to Marco's. He's a child who's had a tough start in life who's beginning to blossom under the care of the right adults. It's wonderful that he feels safe enough to be precocious. Thank you for all your comments. You really do give top-drawer appreciation. Thank you! It's been a pleasure to have you on board once again.

Thank you for your thoughtful comments. Yes, Elisabetta is a tragic character and I'm still not really sure I did her justice, but from her ashes a better life may arise for Cosmo, Giorgio and the others. Thank you for your enthusiastic comments! Marco and Giorgio aren't in love, but they clearly share an attraction and a sense of affinity and are open to exploring it. It's a happy ending of sorts for them, but it doesn't point to any permanence. I don't think it's right to imagine that all the teenage couples I have brought together will necessarily achieve a state akin to 'happily ever after'. Gianni and Angelo may have earned that honour, but in this story they themselves raise questions about the others: Will Toto and Michele's relationship survive once it becomes long-distance, when Toto goes off to university? Dani and Giaco are still so young. What they have for the moment is right for them, but they both still have so much growing to do and a lot to discover about themselves. I don't think I could keep telling stories about teenagers in which everybody gets together and nobody ever breaks up, at least not if I'm to maintain any credibility. Happy endings are fine if you never intend to tell any more stories, but reality is more messy than that. So, where do I go next? Whose relationship gets tested? I did spot this obvious trap while writing it, but I liked the idea too much to lose it completely. Clearly, this is the way Marco has chosen to view himself for some time. Perhaps he's using the term 'boy' to refer to his immediate age group rather than 'boys' in a wider sense incorporating young men like Cosmo. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interesting comments and your considered review. It's been great to hear from you again throughout this story, and you offer a different perspective to the majority, which is always valuable to have. I'm also glad that you're in Cosmo's corner: he was dealt a bad hand in life, and his actions and choices can be explained by his experiences. However, I think it's also realistic for Marco to lose his sense of affinity and friendship with Cosmo given the latter's attitude and behaviour. Cosmo is very effective at pushing his friends and family away, which is, unfortunately, a common side effect of his sort of malaise. When confronted by avoidance and hostility, it's difficult to continue to be there for someone, especially when you're a young person like Marco who also feels things keenly and lacks the life experience to know how to help.

If I had a bottle of San Pellegrino to hand, I'd crack it open to celebrate the completion of this tenth tale in the series that was never meant to be a series. I always tend to finish on a note that allows you to imagine what happened next. That way, if I ever stop writing these, the story can continue in readers' minds for as long as they like. Thank you for sticking with me through all these stories! Always leave them wanting more... you've heard me say that before! We'll see. My first couple of stories here really meant something. Now it feels like I'm just writing a soap opera. 😅 I'm glad you've enjoyed my tale and I hope you enjoyed following one of my stories 'live' for the first time! Thank you! You know, Marco would probably never have come this far without the persistent reader support he has experienced since way back in Dani the Hero... so you should all take some of the credit for that. It was a pleasure. And thank you for following it! I suppose I could have told a story just from Marco's perspective (he would certainly deserve one), but I liked the opportunities for contrast that this story afforded. I also feel like I stayed true to Cosmo's character as he was presented in The Summer of the Selfless, but I hope a happier future lies before him now. Any further tale might focus on different characters again. I have the vague glimmer of an idea in that regard, but it's nothing to get excited about for the moment. Thank you once again for your support! Maybe Marco should be focusing on Giorgio for the moment. He hopes for the best for Cosmo, but Cosmo would have some work to do to restore their friendship. Cosmo might be better off seeking some friends his own age. 13...? 🤪 I ought really to head back to the children's story I was struggling with when I took a break to write this. I was 2/3 of the way through writing it, but it had been a slightly troubled and tortured process and I needed a change. Who knows - maybe Ravello will come beckoning again? (Well, it will always beckon me. I hope to go back there again for real some time.) Thank you for all your lovely comments.

Well done! I’ve been following your progress with interest (and some astonishment). I’ve just finished posting this story today, so you’ll soon be caught up. Thank you for giving so much time to my work!

Several days later, a small knot of people stood on the sun-drenched terraces of the cemetery in Scala. Marco hung back at a respectful distance with his friends, watching as Elisabetta’s ashes were interred in the Montefiore family tomb. Considering the trouble she had brought to his door, Marco thought it was generous of Maurizio to welcome her into his family in death… but he supposed everybody deserved a peaceful resting place in the end. Flanked by their foster families, Cosmo and Gior

Okay, I’ll take that. I find more to be proud of in Marco’s gradual rehabilitation over the course of several stories, or even Enzo’s guilty conscience-driven turnaround, but I’m grateful!

Thank you for coming along with me through this rather sad, wintry story. In the next one, summer is back with a vengeance!

This is my longest novel, which I felt I wanted to write to make up for the short running and abrupt ending of the previous one. I hope it delivers for you!

I'm glad you identified one redeeming quality in Elisabetta in the end. My goal was not to make anyone like or particularly sympathise with her; only to provide enough grains of backstory to help readers understand her a little so she felt a bit more real and her eventual departure meant something. Thank you for your kind words! Thank you for your insightful comments in relation to Elisabetta. I honestly thought I might have gone too far with this character in terms of presenting a set of horrible behaviours without spending enough time on her feelings and thought processes to make her believable. Whether or not it's really in the text, I'm glad there was enough there for you to read between the lines. My finest chapter...? I'm not sure I like that idea! I think I'd prefer to be remembered for poignant reflections on first love and coming out rather than a portrait of despair that ends up in a teen suicide... indeed, I'm sure I could identify several chapters that I prefer from my other stories. But I've written this story now, so I guess I'll have to take the consequences. 😆

There’s still ch.12 to go!

Thank you @Talo Segura and it’s great to have a variety of perspectives. I don’t personally feel it’s fair to ‘blame’ Marco for any of this; he didn’t cause Cosmo or Betta’s malaise, and once he realises the possible outcome of the situation he realises he needs to bring Luca, a decision which ultimately saves Cosmo’s life. However, as you say, life is messy and this ain’t no fairytale.

I’m sure that was only in Dani’s dreams. 🤣 Okay, I’ll explain. In The Summer of the Firefly, Gianni was hit by a car while skateboarding with Angelo near Campidoglio. The concerned and very apologetic driver, who was essentially blameless, was a man called Maurizio. Later on we briefly meet a Maurizio who owns the bar in Amalfi where Chiara works. @Summerabbacat is correct to reference Michele, as Chiara is his mother. In Michele when Michele stumbles into the bar after his fall, Maurizio sends them both home, but his next speaking role is a brief appearance in the first chapter of Together We Can Fly, where he wishes Toto and Michele a good summer and hands each of them a free drink.

I don’t really know what to say! I mean, thank you - but I have had my doubts about this denouement ever since the beginning: am I being manipulative and cynical by playing with suicide again in one of my stories? Is this ending justified or is it just sensational? Nonetheless I’m very grateful! But I honestly don’t want to own anyone - please feel free to retake ownership of yourself once your beating heart has slowed down. 😆

Hmm. No promises. Ten is a nice round number… but sometimes, when I start to miss Ravello, writing another story set there is a good way to enjoy a virtual visit.

In the heat of the moment, when she asks him if he needs her, he doesn’t have the words. She’s his sister and on some level he will always need her, but at the same time he no longer requires her protection, and in his new situation he has the potential for a better life without her. That doesn’t necessarily make it easy to say goodbye.

Thank you! I don’t think it will be ‘revealed’ that Marco and Giorgio went to Luca and Valentina but that is certainly the implication. Betta will not survive the fall. I tried a few ways of saying that the sound of her encounter with the oncoming bus was drowned out by Giorgio’s cry, but I couldn’t make it read right. Originally this incident was going to play out at the end of chapter 12 from Marco’s point of view; it’s one of the reasons he’s present for the scene. However, I realised when writing the latter part of the book that I needed Cosmo’s storyline to resolve at this point so that chapter 12 could address the aftermath, particularly where it all leaves Giorgio. Chapter 12 will be somewhat shorter than the rest and is sort of a coda to the main story. Yeah, Luca was the key all along. I hope Luca’s outburst here helps to make sense of his behaviour throughout the story. I have to agree that Elisabetta was always headed for a fall. I won’t be able to tie up Giorgio’s feelings completely with a neat little bow in the one remaining chapter, but I hope I’ll have done enough to provide an emotional payoff. Thanks all for the lovely comments. I wasn’t sure whether I’d totally nailed this one.

Cosmo was brooding. He lay on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. Damn, I’m sick of the sight of these four walls. He had passed a hot, sticky and largely sleepless night. Even in the small hours, it had felt like the air had hardly cooled, and now the sun was making its dreaded appearance again. Obliquely for the moment, it crept in through the slats in the shutters, casting the small, stuffy room into a gloomy half-light. As he lay awake, watching the hours tick ever so slo

I’m glad you’re still following along and sorry for not replying to more of your comments. I’m travelling with less access than usual to post here. There was some discussion here about how apparently stupid Gianni and Angelo were in their menu choices. I guess Gianni just got carried away trying to reproduce a traditional Christmas dinner and didn’t think it through. I think/hope there’s realism in the way it kicks off afterwards!