James Carnarvon

It’s not by calendar day, it’s literally a minimum period of 24 hours between posts. Otherwise I’d be happy to oblige. It’s kinda frustrating actually! I was posting chapters just before 3pm each day (by my time zone), but I didn’t make the decision to post chapter 13 early until closer to 5pm, which has stuck me to that time of day for the rest of the story.

Oh and by the way @weinerdog your rapid retrospective alongside reactions to my new content has caused me to ‘win the day’ at GA twice now - so thanks for that! 🙃

Well @weinerdog, you have been on one heck of a journey, all the way from chapter one of The Summer of the Firefly to here within the publishing lifespan of this story. Kudos to you for putting the hours in! I wonder how it’s all seemed to you? I hope not too repetitive, either in terms of plots or description. I try to avoid repeating turns of descriptive or character phrase within individual stories, but between stories I can’t make the same guarantee. Nonetheless by doing it this way you’ll have the best sense of the progression of all the characters over the series. As to your comments on the possible aftermath? I’m not sure Mosmo or Carco is a great name for a ship 😆. It would also be an age gap relationship (not a big one - but at 14/16 it’s still significant). Not 100% sure I can picture it, from what we (I) know about the characters, but… anything beyond this point has yet to be really defined in my head. One thing I’m clearer about in my thinking is that, after this story, Dani has run his course as the main character, at least for now.

You and me both!

Keep the faith!

Am I so cruel...? Thank you! Obviously, everyone's talking about the cliffhanger, and rightly so, but I hope it hasn't drowned out the other big part of this chapter - Dani and Giaco's real reconciliation. I hope you were all with Dani when it finally all clicked for him and he realised he believed in Giacomo completely. I'm hardly best placed to judge, but this is probably one of my favourite things I've written, in terms of capturing the essence of both characters, and Dani in particular: It's one of several big character moments between them that I'm proud of in this story, along with the big twist at the disco; Dani's mounting panic before Giaco kisses him at the Fontana Carosa; and Dani kissing Giaco for the first time after he turns away from Laura. Everything else... well, as long as it's passable, I'm happy. 😅

While writing Lanterns in the Dark I worked out that the fire engines probably had to come up from Maiori, which is some distance away along winding and congested roads, so this statistic doesn't surprise me.

It wasn’t me, the mob (and the police) did it…!

I have form when it comes to cliffhangers!

*pause for breath* I wish I could make you wait for less than 24 hours for the conclusion, but no… sorry! Poor Giaco gets shot in exactly the same place Dani hit him with a Nerf gun in ch.4. Just saying.

Daniele ran until he reached the first truly quiet place he could find, the secluded spot at the bottom of the Bishop’s Way where he had first stepped forward to kiss Giacomo all those days ago. Much as the dark-eyed boy had done on that day, he sank down slowly against the high stone wall. The old stonework scraped harshly against his new denim jacket, but he hardly cared. Wiping repeatedly at his eyes, lest the accursed tears start to fall again, he pulled out his phone and texted Giacomo

As long as Sami gets to be Scrappy Doo, I’m happy.

Thank you… 😅 I suspect it’s a rather British form of humour.

Just a quick thank you for your comment, and it’s an astute observation. I’m surprised nobody else has made it. I wonder…? 😉

Yes, by accident of what’s been established previously all three of them have birthdays during the course of this story. 😵‍💫

I’m afraid I’m a soul heathen. I have heard of maybe one of those acts.

Well, I mentioned in an earlier chapter that, by the end of the story, either Team Darco or Team Diaco would be disappointed but I hoped to ‘soothe the disappointment a little’. Hopefully I’ve achieved that by giving your little mouse this level of personal growth. I think Marco might have to be ‘Soul Boy’ for evermore. 😜

Well, I already have Bianchi, Neri, Rossi and Verdi (Luca, green for his eyes 😆), so why not?

It's always interesting to hear different readers' experiences of growing up. It wouldn't surprise me if there are a lot of introverts on this site, as I think of reading/writing stories as an introvert trait. A lot of my characters, especially my point-of-view characters, tend towards the introverted. I mean, being an introvert myself I'm better at capturing an introvert's thought processes. With Toto I attempted to write from the point of view of a more extroverted character, but honestly the mental landscape of a true extrovert would be alien to me. That said, there's often an element of mirroring between my couples. Gianni (introvert) <> Angelo (extrovert?) Toto (extrovert?) <> Michele (introvert) Marco (introvert) <> Dani (extroverted introvert) <> Giacomo (extrovert?) Even my extroverts all question marks, because it's not black and white and they all have doubts.

Thank you for getting this chapter back on track with an on-topic comment! I'm glad this chapter felt revealing to you, and that you can see the character progression. It suggests I'm doing something right...

Like a glass of Italian mineral water or extra virgin olive oil, how much can you build up the surface tension before it spills over? ...as friends, of course

Was it mentioned? I can't find it. But yes, were Marco to have a party, it would be his first. He wasn't much celebrated in his old life.

...but you're not going to divulge which? Okay, then I won't divulge which I think you lean towards. 😆 Giaco's actions here could be described as confused or curious, or they could be more significant than that. Naturally, the rest of the story will dive much deeper into these relationships. Enjoy!

You called it correctly. I mean, I pretty much telegraphed the whole thing in that scene in ch.2 with Dani. Part of making plot twists believable, I guess, is laying the groundwork for them, which means an astute reader could certainly see them coming. If Marco stuck to his guns, it may not have been that difficult to persuade them: “If there’s been that much damage done already, then let someone else have him,” Lorenzo replied. “I’ll have no part in it.” (ch.9) ...especially if Marco was as much of an unwanted burden as @drpaladin suggested in ch.9. (Fun fact from the school of unsubtle character naming, folks: Marco's surname 'Fardello' is Italian for 'burden'... although I meant it in the sense of him carrying a heavy burden rather than being a burden.) Thank you for reading, and I look forward to reading your comments on The Summer of the Selfless!

He pretty much said that already... “They have the nerve to tell us how to bring up our own son? So that he can turn out as… feeble as their own brood?" Lorenzo does seem pretty irredeemable. I mean, he's lived a life of disappointment and bitterness, but still... I don't especially enjoy writing characters like this. Thankfully we won't be spending too much more time with him.