astone2292

I can't wait for you to recall what hasn't been pointed out. And I'm excited you're enjoying the story so far!

Oh, no no no. This is totally different from k's mango habanero whiskey. This was mango jalapeño tequila... and Jack Daniels honey... and an obscene amount of triple sec. I made a pitcher full, okay? I got so sloshed I couldn't use a doorknob.

I get first dibs with my honey mango jalapeño margaritas.

Nah, she does that on her own. I provide drunken commentary.

How did you get a sneak peak at my anthology submission?

October is one of my favorite months, right behind November. While the temperatures are still high, I feel autumn coming. That crisp and chilly breeze, the layered fashion trends, and countless s'mores over a campfire... I can't wait! Then there's Halloween, which I thoroughly enjoy. It's the one day a year where I can blatantly ignore my job's dress code. The apron, appropriately dubbed "my little red dress" remains at home while I don some sort of wig or silly outfit. What will I be this year? I refuse to repeat myself, so I shall not be Austin Powers, Seth Rogen, or Johnny Cash[ier]. This may be the year where I shave my head and become Walter White from "Breaking Bad." But enough of my ridiculous ranting. You're here for questions and answers. Before y'all scroll down, I'd like to remind everyone to keep your eyeballs open. The anthology deadline has passed, which means they're going to post soon. From what I hear, the site proofing team has been sifting through some fantastic submissions. As for Ask An Author, I had the opportunity to sit down with resident author, @Refugium and give them the monthly anonymous questions. Let's see what they said: • • • • • Refugium 29 Stories / 186,138 Words Regarding the series Stories from Old Photographs. Were you in search of inspiration and found the photographs, or did you come across the photographs and the inspiration took hold? The photographs came first. My partner collects 19th-century photographs of men with interesting facial hair. I started collecting a little bit, too, and then the photographs activated my imagination. Sometimes it's the best compensation one can come up with for being born in the wrong century. Several of your stories have a clear "tall tale" or folk story flair that is very enjoyable. Does that come from some place in particular? It might be from a couple of sources. Some of my earliest sci-fi reading was Theodore Sturgeon's collection Beyond, in particular "Nightmare Island" and "Largo." Those are certainly in the tall tale genre. My interest in folktales increased through my Master's program in the Kodaly system, which uses folk songs as the first teaching material in elementary school. I also enjoyed Bruno Bettelheim's book The Uses of Enchantment, despite the great fall Bettelheim's reputation has suffered. Also, I cope better with fairy tales than with reality. Do you have a beard? I do have a beard. I have had a beard for most of my life since late high school. I have had a mustache for all of that period except for once when I shaved to appear as Edna St. Vincent de Paul singing my setting of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem "The Singing Woman from the Wood's Edge." • • • • • Thanks for the interview, Refugium! See y'all next month!

Here's the link to the GA News blog article for the Secret Author reveals.

Pfft, I'm only mildly insane. It wasn't that bad. Besides, we still gotta do "New-U University" at some point.

OMG let's do it. Storyverse sequel, 1000 words per chapter, we alternate writing each chapter. Vincent (or Teddy or Yakob) versus Kage.

I mean, facts. But my shadow shifters are cooler.

I wondered where my ellipses ran off to. You tell me to delete mine and you decide to resurrect them from the grave. Necromancer... Aside from that, gimme more chapters to proofread!!!

And I love the fact you love this book! Hope you're looking forward to this year's anthology.

And I'm sure you would do a fine job after my stampede. However, what fun is it if the GA admins can't join the game from time to time?

For the next posting, I'm keeping you out of the loop.

Alrighty, I gave y'all two weeks to put your guesses in. Did you leave a guess in the interview's comment section? Were you right? Let's find out! This author... has 59 stories logged. This author... is a Gay Authors admin. This author... is... Graeme 59 Stories / 1,902,957 Words Check out these awesome stories they wrote! • • • • • Who got it right? Leave your celebratory comments down below! If you enjoyed this blog game and want to join in on the fun, send me a PM! I'll send you a list of questions, and as a thank you, we'll feature up to three stories/collections of your choosing. With the upcoming anthology, Author Guess Who will be taking a month off. Don't worry, though. We have a few more interviews lined up for when we get back!

I have a list of things I'm great at. You know, for self-motivation purposes. Right at the tippy-top of the paper, in bold letters, "Totally forgetting important things." Silly me, forgot today was the first Wednesday of the month. Good thing my special guest today needs no introduction! Y'all know and love him. Let's see what kind of questions we got for @Headstall! • • • • • Boundaries Headstall 4 Chapters, 16,640 Words, With this story and others of yours having Western setting; what draws you to this genre? I believe I've answered this question a few times, and what draws me to the western genre is that it harkens back to my childhood. I have always loved horses and used to devour anything that featured them, whether in movies, books, or on television. Westerns were so popular back then, and I often feel it is a shame they have all but disappeared. There are some excellent contemporary westerns I've read on GA, but I hungered for something set in the actual Old West, so I wrote "Finding Refuge", a historical western, as an anthology piece. It was really for me, but it was popular enough it showed me there might be an audience for something longer. It took a while, but years later, during the pandemic, the only thing that reignited my writing passion was the thought of writing another western. Hence, "Sidewinder" was born. The response was truly unexpected, remarkable even, and definitely encouraging, so I did something I seldom do, and wrote a sequel. "Larkspur: A Sidewinder Tale" got the same wonderful reception, so now I would say that enthusiasm is also a part of drawing me to the genre... or at the least, keeping me there. It is an often romanticized time period, but it really wasn't as simple a time as we were led to believe by movies. It was a chance to begin a new life, but daily struggles were immense, and not to preach, but there is the whole issue of stealing land from Native Americans, a people that fought back against insurmountable odds. There was so much going on during that time in history, and the Mexican-American War was the nugget that started "Boundaries: An Old West Tale". I guess you could say I'm an historian at heart (five history courses in my last year of high school), so westerns feel pretty natural to me. Still, writing about them requires a tremendous amount of research. There is so much an author can mine from this time of tragedy, triumphs, and heroes. This story has a real undertone of doing what is right or a sense of justice permeating it. Is that a theme you enjoy exploring? I write first and foremost for entertainment and providing readers an escape, but I will readily admit to social undertones being present in much of my writing, and "Boundaries" is no exception. There is so much upheaval in today's world, to the point it feels we are going backwards with regards to individual rights and how we treat people who might be marginalized or different. I wanted to show that we have always needed heroes like Virgil who see right from wrong. We still do, maybe even more than ever. I also wanted to show the resilience of Wyatt, how he would bend but not break. They are examples of the good people who helped build a country with a conscience. So yeah, that sense of justice you experienced in the reading of "Boundaries" is an important theme of mine, and I thank you for this question in particular. I love writing, and I love that it gives me the chance to possibly encourage readers to examine their own thoughts about why they do what they do. That is incredibly rewarding, though I am careful not to beat anyone over the head with preachy positions. I only get on my soapbox in the comment sections. Your writing is so descriptive; especially when dealing with nature. Is there something that leads to this? Are you drawn to nature more than others or is it simply something you enjoy writing about? Thank you! I live on a small farm in the country, surrounded by nature. I also grew up in the rural countryside on the east coast of Canada. Nature is truly in my blood. I can be a city boy, and have been for long periods of time, but my love for nature has to be fed. So yeah, I love writing about the way the world works. After all my years, I am still a curious man, and I learn new things about this magnificent world every day. If that translates successfully in my writing then I am well pleased. As far as being descriptive, nothing turns me off more as a reader than too much of it, so I always strive to balance it in my work. It goes back to not beating readers over the head with excess, and I think I manage for the most part to use description in an interesting way that contributes to the story and doesn't have the reader skipping over passages. At least, I hope that is the case. I can only try. Thank you so much for the questions regarding my fairly new-found penchant for westerns. Anything that puts a spotlight on this genre makes me happy. Cheers! Gary. • • • • • Thanks for the interview, Gary! Readers, don't forget to click the link in their name to check out their stories. Hope y'all enjoy the rest of the month, y'all! I'm off to get ready for work. I really need to plan my days better...

One more chapter left! And I believe it's an ending for now. I'll be revisiting Riv and Gav at some point. They're too cute of a couple not to come back to.

Lmao!! I'll make sure Riv gets this commission request in the sequel. Backwoods Mickey Mouse mechanic!! I'm dead!

And thank you for reading! I made an imaginary small college in TN based off my alma mater. It's a neat little institution, and the only place in Kentucky to nab a Zoology degree.

Waited on a guy at work last night (liquor store). Got him a 30pk but when it came time to hand it out the drive-thru window, he was too busy flexing his cunnilingus skills with a pizza slice. Decided the hold his slice with the left hand (his door, mind you), reach over his entire body and out the window to grab a THIRTY PACK OF CANNED BEER with his right hand... only to come to his senses because that's not how the human body stretches. Held the pizza by the crust in his chompers, grabbed the beer, and said, "thnnnk yzz" with a mouthful before speeding away. I'm going to think about that man every day for the rest of my life and how I was inferior to a slice of za.

Having 15 years of retail experience, I can spot a Karen from three aisles away. I'm glad you had a great giggle from reading!

Before you shake a finger at me, we're changing the Author Guess Who schedule for a good reason! All next month, the GA Blog Squad will promote the upcoming Anthology. Knowing this, we're giving y'all a warm-up round. Let's see if we can get some guesses, and don't forget to pay close attention to the interview... What is one thing that most GA members might not know about you? I started college at the age of 16. I wasn't the youngest, though, as one of the friends I made at college was also 16 and three months younger than me. What prompted you to write your first story? I was reading a story (sadly, it's no longer online) where a particular situation arose. I thought that the situation was one that should be explored further, so I wrote a story based on that situation. What genre of books do you enjoy reading and have you written for that genre? Science fiction and fantasy, predominantly, though I also have a number of historical mystery novels, too. While I've written some science fiction, it's not what I normally write. Is there a genre that you haven’t written for that you would consider trying later on? No. The genres I haven't written are all ones that I really don't feel inspired to try to write in. What do you like most about publishing on GA? The ease of publication and the great feedback the readers provide Do you have any unique writing habits or rituals to help you get into a writing mood? No. I write when I feel motivated and have the time to do so. The biggest challenge is getting the stars to align so those two events happen at the same time. How has your writing style evolved over time? Hopefully, it's improved. The overall style hasn't changed that much, but I'd like to think it's better. For that, I'll have to thank my editors, as I've been blessed with a great set of editors over the years. Do you have a significant other? Yes Do you have any pets? A Jack Russell, who is very spoiled. Do you post multi-chapter stories as you write? Do you wait until you’ve finished writing the entire story? Or is it something in between? In between. I used to post as I wrote, but I think the readers prefer more consistency. I therefore try to write as much as I can before I start posting, though I don't always try to finish the story before starting to post. What is your favorite television show? I can't really pick one. There have a been a lot of enjoyable shows over the years, but none stand out over the rest. M.A.S.H is certainly up there, though, if you need me to pick one. What is your favorite movie? Again, I can't really pick one. Different movies mean different things to me, so it depends on the mood. For example, last night I watched Thor Ragnarok because I wanted a fun, easy-to-watch movie that didn't require a lot of thinking. A movie like Lorenzo's Oil is when I want something serious and thought-provoking. Do you write poetry? Prose? Or both? Prose only. I've tried poetry, but my mind doesn't think that way. If you could meet one person, living or dead, who would it be? Another tough question. I can't think of anyone in particular, but there are people I would certainly like to know. I'm currently going through a boy band phase, so maybe Stephen Gately or Lance Bass? What would you say is your greatest accomplishment? That's an easy one: my family. *** And there we have it! Mull over the responses, then make your guesses in the comment section. In two weeks, the reveal will post, along with a few of their stories to be featured. Keep your peepers open. As for me, I'm off to a remote location where no one will prod me for clues and spoilers.

Well, thank ya kindly! I hope you continue onward and enjoy the other stories in this trilogy.

I'm dead... Always happy to entertain! Thank all y'all for taking the time to read.