James Carnarvon

I feel a bit awkward about The Summer of the Firefly. I really had my heart on my sleeve when I wrote it - I put absolutely everything into its creation - and yet there are aspects of it now that embarrass me or make me uncomfortable. I think you can also tell that it was written by someone in their late twenties who was working through their demons rather than the more settled forty-something I am now. There's a naivety to the writing and the decision to dabble with suicide. Later stories in the series have been more of a case of "oh look, here's another one". I still put a lot into them, but each one is just another chapter of an ongoing story, and it simply isn't the same.

I can't imagine anyone is seriously rooting for Marco/Cosmo? Are they...? Since I do have this large ensemble of characters at my disposal, I do like to give them walk-on roles now and then. Newcomers to the series might be a bit mystified, but I hope returning readers enjoy the back references. Example: Sami in ch.2 of this story. He's mainly there to re-establish Marco's life away from Cosmo, but it also gives returning readers a chance to check in with him and see how he's growing up. As to Enzo... I can see how you got there. However, Enzo is not part of Cosmo's life at the moment. I hear what you're saying, and I did have this conversation with myself, particularly in relation to Gianni and Angelo. Would they advise Marco to distance himself from Cosmo so quickly? In the end, I came down on the side of Gianni and Angelo's primary concern being for Marco's welfare. Cosmo has also done nothing to help himself in this regard, flaking out on his job for several days and cruelly pushing Marco out when he showed concern for him. I don't think Luisa and Mario have given up on Cosmo yet, but they may be out of their depth. And Luca...? Well, that's messy. Yeah, this is sort of where I think I am with this. Cosmo has been given opportunities, but he has struggled to take them. He does need support, but how many sacrifices should Pietro and Anna's business/livelihood be expected to make, for example, on the altar of helping a young man to whom they owe no particular loyalty? Gianni and Angelo suggest that it's up to Cosmo's foster family to help him now. Thanks. I felt some warmth was needed in this story to counterbalance the bleakness and sharp edges of Cosmo's experiences. It's one of the reason for telling this story from two points of view. And Marco, in the new life position the last couple of stories have brought him to, was the perfect vehicle for that. There's a team now...? 😅 It's only 3 chapters for each character, although of course each chapter can also take the other character's story forward a little. I found this quite a challenging format to work with, even though it's pretty standard for many authors, and I don't think I'll do it again without a very specific reason. Regarding Betta, I'm trying to parse your last statement, but right now I can't quite decide whether you mean death, an epiphany or a flight to Neverland! 🤔

Marco wandered down the avenue of oleanders, not quite looking where he was going, ducking slightly when the overhanging sprays of pink flowers and glossy green leaves threatened to get tangled in his hair. ‘How did it go?’ He stared at his third unanswered text to Cosmo and sighed. He supposed the older boy’s silence spoke volumes. Why did he have to keep shutting himself away every time something went wrong? It’s been over a day. Just talk to me! Still, at least there had b

Haha - it can be Toto if you like! Toto, who, of course, isn't really in this story, is still in Ravello for now but will be going off to University in the autumn. Come that time, his relationship with Michele will be put to the test as it becomes long-distance. Is there a story in that...? I don't know. I've no plans to write more at this time, but as you know that can easily change. Naming characters is hard, and it can become embarrassing later if done with insufficient thought. "Cosmo" may not be an Italian name as such, but I do like the irony it brings. I agree that Marco is nowhere near the level of despair required to contemplate suicide. That's really weird, and I have no idea how it came about. For some reason, it was registering as a hyperlink (to nowhere). I've fixed it now - thanks for flagging it.

Yes, well done! And almost every one was the last one I thought I'd write... Thank you for reading.

Oh, there's definitely humour to be found in despair. Doesn't stop it being bleak as hell...!

You're making short work of this story! Don't forget to breathe. 😄

By this point, Cosmo must be getting a bit hard to be around. I'm sorry to say there's worse to come. 😅 After his 'rescue' in The Summer of the Selfless, some of you may have been hoping he would emerge as a romantic hero like some of my other characters, but, based on what we saw of him in that story, that never felt realistic to me. The only way I could really imagine him being is exactly the way he's presented in this story. I did encounter one slightly embarrassing thing while writing this story. I don't think 'Cosmo' is really an Italian name at all, although it can be found among Italian Americans. My excuse is that his birth mother, who was a fashion model, had an admiration for what she might have considered the 'glamour' of America. 'Cosimo' might be more in the Italian tradition. According to Google, Cosmo is a gender-neutral name of Greek origin. Meaning 'order; organization and beauty'. The irony... 😜

I hope you take to Daniele, because he's going to be a feature of this series for a long time to come. 😅

Cosmo was happy. Well, Vincenzo’s rejection still festered like an open wound, Pietro was on his case about his stupid job, and now even Marco was criticising his choice of friends, but apart from that he was fucking ecstatic. It seemed like Marco had even started telling tales about him. Last night, Luca had mocked him mercilessly about his ‘true love’ from Salerno. He would have liked to bring the little squirt down a peg or two, but he had been too stoned to string a suitable put-do

I'm happy you're still with me after three stories! Onto the longer sequels now...

I'm glad you enjoyed this. When I wrote it, it was my first piece of substantial writing in about ten years. I was worried I'd have lost the knack!

You know me too well. Nothing without a reason, right? We shall see! 😉 Haha, I love this. Sounds like the title for a spin-off series!

Who knows? The subconscious is a strange and wonderful thing. Thank you for reading. 😊

I hope I don’t disappoint you! Elisabetta is a supporting character in effectively one half of this two-perspective story, albeit an important one in the way she drives Cosmo. There’s always a danger she could end up underwritten / a caricature. However, this is something I’m still working on in my edits to ch.7, which will continue today. I’m glad you’re enjoying the story so far, and your comments about Marco suggest some knowledge of his character and have me wondering if you’ve read his previous stories? This story is his fifth substantial appearance. While I’m very glad to have you back as a reader, I haven’t heard from you since The Summer of the Firefly!

It's always a funny feeling when readers power so quickly through something that took many weeks/months to write! (And, in this case, many years of re-reads and tweaks before I had the nerve to publish it.) Thank you for leaving a comment, however brief, at the end of each chapter. Comments mean a lot to me. You commented on the descriptive writing back in ch.2. Looking back on this story, it embarrasses me a little to see how much time I spent waxing lyrical about the location (I mean... Ravello is nice. We get that by now.) But to me, at the time I was writing this, the place was as much a character in the romance as Gianni and Angelo. I've continued to paint word pictures in subsequent stories, but I try to balance it a little better. As I've mentioned elsewhere, this was written circa 2010 and finally published at GA in 2019. It was never meant to have sequels. Everything else I've published here has been written since 2021.

I thought for a second you were saying he could ‘turn’ Luca. 😅

Ohh, welcome to the start of what I hope will be a long journey! Thank you for embarking on my stories. I'll be very interested to see what you think of them. Don't worry, going forward, there will be plenty of humour and charm... punctuated with moments of heart-breaking drama, naturally! 😅

Writing a character like Elisabetta is a good, if not always pleasant, writing challenge. As I write this comment, I'm wrestling with edits to another Cosmo/Elisabetta scene in ch.7 that sets certain key events in motion. Like everyone else, Elisabetta is a human being. To be a proper character and not just a plot device, she needs to have reasons for acting the way she does, and her behaviour needs to have an internal logic and consistency. 'Villains' are meant to be fun to write and act, but the problem I have is that the tone of these stories is meant to be earthy and realistic. No pantomime characteristics are allowed. I pushed my luck before with Ettore Neri in Dani the Hero. In her own way, Elisabetta is darker still. As to Giorgio... he's a wildcard!

That depends. Some might say Marco is the Greatest Of All Time.

Well, Giorgio even tries to call Marco a kid, which is particularly pathetic since Marco's older than him. I think almost every character is addressed or referred to as a 'kid' at some point in this chapter. 😅

“So, you think Vincenzo turned him down?” Daniele asked. Marco nodded. “All I’ve had from him is those two words,” he replied. “But… yeah.” Daniele looked a little crestfallen. “I feel sad for him. It’s like he can’t catch a break.” Marco shook his head slightly his friend’s display of unabashed empathy. Do you have to be so GOOD? He checked his watch. Ten past two. “Cosmo should be here by now,” he mused. “We set this up a couple of days ago but, you know… that was

Thanks for all the comments so far (terrible jokes aside). I'm actually still editing this story even as I begin to post it; last night, I decided that a key part of chapter 6 was underwritten, and I actually ended up adding around 1,000 words to it (it's a daunting 8,500 words now, compared to my chapter-by-chapter target of 6,000 words). In a way, I may have started posting too soon, but I'd been grinding away at writing this story since the end of December and I was keen to start putting it out there. It hasn't always been the easiest of writing journeys. Memory game time. Who do we know who worked or aspired to work on the Amalfi ferries, and might have reason to reject an ugly soul like Vincenzo? In the swimming scene, there's one thing I was half expecting you to mention but, since you didn't, I'll bring it up myself. For all Cosmo's many deficiencies, through his eyes we nonetheless get our first entirely positive physical description of Marco. I thought it was important to provide a firm contrast to our little mouse's own lack of self-belief. Looking at Luca, Vincenzo and (if we go back to earlier stories) maybe even Enzo, I wonder if there's a thing with heterosexual boys in my stories being written as less sympathetic? I feel like I/we would naturally find them less relatable, and I'm actually glad that Vincenzo read to you both as overtly hetero from the beginning. I wasn't trying to hide it; just to insert enough ambiguities for Cosmo latch onto and get the wrong end of the stick, so to speak. As to Luca... I don't think he's ever really integrated that take on Cosmo's choices when they were younger into his worldview, despite Dani suggesting it as far back as the last story. Who knows, maybe this story will allow him to grow into his relationship with Cosmo a little? Aargh! 😩 (I do, since you brought it up... but if I lived in Ravello, I'd be tempted to brave a Vespa.)

With jokes as good as these, I see I'm going to be making extensive use of the 'Sad' reaction to represent 'Groan' in the comments on this story!

I thank you, and I wish you luck with your undertaking! If you enjoy the first one and decide to continue, I'd advocate taking breaks between them to let the stories (and particularly their endings) breathe... but whatever works for you! 😊