CincyKris

This is a wonderful continuation of the fantastical adventures of Kieran and his ever widening group of friends. We get a taste of tradition, politics, intrigue, and new realm powers. I highly recommend this joyful story!

Thank you for this satisfying ending (for now). Our boys certainly influenced the results, but for all anyone in power can tell, it was all done naturally. Making the vote one of conscience allowed the members to decide for themselves, which is always the best way to make changes and keep the members engaged. I look forward greatly to new adventures!

I'm wondering if we'll see more from Josh, since he has not been a central character thus far. I am surprised he didn't go after Sarah immediately upon hiring her! He's kind of a pig, but at least he made a good decision. I frequently wondered why Ashlee had never been to therapy, now I know! Other than her orientation, she is a clone of her mother. But at least Ashlee is trying, her mother is still oblivious to her own mental health. Cathy is receiving the kind of criticism she has been dishing out for years. That's the problems with fundamentalists, they love agreeing with each other in their harsh judgements, but if you just barely sway out of the predetermined lane, you're on the ass end of all those judgements. Her father doesn't seem to have a strong personality, this quote sums him up as a person: Fred did his best to keep her happy, ready so step in with a hug, a kiss, and a quickie when her grit ran out. I'm so glad to see Ashlee and Felicity in couples therapy, they both are trying to compromise, Felicity with actions and Ashlee with restraint. Hopefully Ashlee will see a psychiatrist at some point to work on her OCD. This is a great first step.

I wonder what Mwangi's secret ability is? I think Jamie will be much happier at the British version of the X-Files, plus all the officers have some kind of power, something Mulder and Scully lacked. I agree with the other readers, you have a wonderful set-up for great future stories, if you wish. I don't think I've ever read a more complete characterization of inherited arrogance. RMW will go to his grave knowing he is justified in all his decisions due to his birthright. This is the attitude that conquered nations in the age colonialism, alive and well in modern times. His type will never change.

So River is used to "patching up their tears and holes with pieces of myself. I’d been doing it all my life"(great line, by the way), but he still lives within himself more often than not. He loses time with his obsessions, but then I think this describes a lot of artists. We were never allowed inside River and Kenji's relationship before, I wonder how Kenji will handle River's occasional complete self absorption. Or is Kenji what River needs to temper his OCD?

We had an angst free meeting of the casual friends, on both sides. A good first step before meeting the family and close friends.

I'm not generally a bloodthirsty person, but when kids and animals are abused, I wish the worst on the offenders. I'm hoping that the child molester gets shivved in jail before he puts the victims through the extra pain of a trial. I'm also wondering if there will be tension between Andre and Ollie when Andre's secret is revealed to him. Andre already feels guilty. I'm hoping the reveal to the family goes well. On a lighter note, the teens are having a great time and bonding well. I think Jackson will fit in well. I am also a dark chocolate fan, I only care for milk chocolate if caramel and nuts are involved, but even then would prefer it to be dark. I have never had Tim Tams, but don't really care for packaged cookies. But a big breakfast is a cherished treat!

It appears that Kieran has collected another friend!

This was a lovely chapter, I hope that Keith's confidence continues to increase as he sees all these "educated" people responding well to him. His dad did a hell of a job on him, it's going to take a while to overcome that. I also loved the pudding-basin haircut description, which I assume is what we Americans just call a bowl cut.

I had hoped for better. You are a pretty good author, but you don't care about being authentic. I have read plenty of fiction writers who do research and present stories made better by feeling real. I have also read great stories in which the author posted a disclaimer stating their lack of expertise. In those cases, I didn't let inaccuracies bother me, I was warned and I accepted that. You don't seem to care that the lack of authenticity pulls the reader out of the story. I wish you well.

Ok, that was not even remotely accurate for a group therapy session. Also, there is no way in hell a psychiatrist would see Simon professionally after their history. I'm going to have to shift my expectations from a realistic, darker style to more of a fantasy style. This is an otherwise very enjoyable story.

I feel like there is a possibility that you might have confused psychiatrist led group therapy with a support group, which can usually be attended by anyone who feels they need to, and is typically led by laypeople. I can't imagine any competent psychiatrist that would have encouraged Dun to walk in to a therapy session attended by a man that assaulted him with a baseball bat. My biggest, and really only, problem with Carlo's first story was the acceptance of over the top violence as Ok. This is the same Carlo that took defending a smaller kid against a bully to the level of vicious assault (and received 4 days of in school suspension)!

Sorry, that was ridiculous. No principal, vice principal, and legal counsel at any highschool anywhere would have handled multiple assaults this way. Also, pretty much all high schools have cameras, where is the footage? Literally every character except Lance and Brandon are guilty of assault and would have been expelled and arrested IRL.

I liked this first chapter. I'm just a little curious why it is set in the US, when you are obviously not American, British I'm guessing by several of the words.

I don't often read poetry, but poems like these make me alter my viewpoint! Two poems about letting go and moving on, whether it is nature or man.

Life got in the way of reading the poetry anthologies, I'm so glad I finally read these! The Foretelling was another great example of your wonderful ability to connect me to your natural world. I could smell the soil, hear the clay chimes, feel the strengthening sun. Among the Ruins made me cry, not for your pain (though that makes me sad), but for your brave choice to let some of the hurt go. I understand how much easier it is to remember the bad times than the good when you have been betrayed. All that love, hurt, and anger mingled together are too powerful to let out in the open air too soon.

I'm just getting around to reading the anthology poems and this connected with me. Maybe more so due to just experiencing a total solar eclipse yesterday! Thank you.

I'm happy I guessed correctly about the guard, and that Kieran had it all under control. I'm also I guessed incorrectly that the PM's own people weren't compromised. I have a feeling that security company will be looked into quite extensively, the mining company will do anything to win and they have deep pockets. I look forward to the meeting at the lodge.

Our latest Hugill couple is a little more urban and cosmopolitan than our previous pairings, but still down to earth. We have a fast start, no slow burn here! I'm looking forward to seeing how their very different personalities play off of each other.

@Zuri, dude you get serious props! I spent 10 minutes looking through previous chapters and googling Osiris. You took it over the top! I also loved Stargate. @drown, I'll take 80% this early in a mystery every day!

I just want to say that this story has the best titles ever. It's also a great story, and a great beginner for the series, but seriously great chapter titles!

Blue. The passage at the end of the chapter references water. Mark is represented by Osiris, who was killed by Set (The Theodore?). He was resurrected by Isis, the following is from Wikipedia: Osiris thus represented the life-giving divine power that was present in the river's water and in the plants that grew after the flood. Grey is the moon, Dave is the sun, Mark is water, or maybe Sebastian is water. Perhaps that is why Mark was so drawn to him. We also add to this the earth (Clara), and time (Chronos). Quite the interesting group you have gathered, well once you bring back Mark. Which I am looking forward to!

Keith reminds me of my brother in law, as soon as he sees something electrical/mechanical/broken, he will stop what he's doing and fix it. "Professional" people often forget the importance and intelligence of those who fix things for a living. I like Thomas' boss, she seems very grounded.

I'm rereading this after several years, and I agree with the above comment. Mark seems to have drawn a pretentious line in the sand in which all gay people are on one side and all straight people are on the other side. The sides do not mix and apparently all gays should be the same and all straights are the opposite. Hopefully this attitude changes, I honestly don't remember, but Mark is not currently impressing me.

Thank you, I have greatly enjoyed this look into the lives of normal people. "Normal" is a very underrepresented genre!