Summerabbacat

On Love? On A Feeling? On Classics? @Robert Hugill does manage to "reel us in" very quickly with each new story, doesn't he. And I noted The Art Of Living at #3 in the Most Read Mystery genre on GA for the month ending 24/04/26. I can almost hear Eileen saying "Shitting hell Bobby, there is life left in the old girl yet. The peasants must love reading about the lives of those in the arty commune, and probably like my dry sense of humour too".

It is an unusual premise @Lee Wilson, but one which is proving to be very interesting thus far. Fortunately Fabian appears to have enough talent as a guitar player even without Russell's "assistance" from beyond the grave. No Milli Vanilli-like deception on Fabian's part. I know S&S are a hard rock group, but I would love for Fabian to do an extended solo guitar homage to Prince on Purple Rain.

James’ mother is a bitch, a truly despicable user. It is no wonder Sam is a user, he is just like his mother. It won’t happen of course, but James should drop his mother off at the hospital, go home and NEVER return to his parents home, switch his phone off and pretend his parents and brother are dead. Let them rot.

I know the songs by AC/DC @Lee Wilson. Fabian is very respectful, addressing S&S’ manager as Mr Leon. When he starts touring with the band they may have to give him lessons on how to trash hotel rooms, treat groupies and get drunk. His youthful appearance may be very popular with groupies, but all the sex will occur “off stage” of course.

Damn! I did not notice that. How about the Clinton definition of sex then? Maybe you can name the guitar Monica.

"Beauty was mandatory at Veridien. Lawrence took in the ornamental bushes that cinched the entrance wall like a belt. Early frost hadn’t yet blighted the red fruit, so it still clung aplenty to the twigs. Lukas’s toxicology report had been clear: no alcohol, no known narcotics, and no identifiable poisons. However, the forensic pathologist’s notes had made an interesting read – slight inflammation of the throat and signs of mild gastric irritation." and "Bastien raised his eyes. He looked at Lawrence from below, his eyes clear and passionless. “Mezereon,” he repeated. “Ingestion leads to poisoning. Not fatal if treated in time, of course.” I wonder if the two are linked? According to its Wikipedia entry, daphne mezereum, the mezereon, if ingested by humans causes its victims to experience a choking sensation. Handling the fresh twigs can cause rashes and eczema in sensitive individuals. Given this, did someone, perhaps Lukas' murderer, rub mezereon on both his throat and on his anus, before and/or after murdering him? And if so, was this in sexual retaliation, someone jealous of Lukas' sexual relationship with Bastien, someone who wanted Bastien all to himself, someone who is the mastermind of all what happens in Veridien Academy. Ali perhaps does not like Bastien or may be jealous of him, but I am almost certain he dislikes Anton, possibly intensely. He, Anton, certainly gave off unfriendly vibes when Lawrence met him, and I suspect he has a very dark side to him, a ruthless intent if someone gets in the way of what he wants and believes he is entitled to.

A very impressive conclusion @Josh Aterovis. Ricky and Joyner are scum and I don't care what happens to them, but Alexander was a "victim" of his mother's alcoholism and Ricky's greed and bullying. I know he shot Bridget, but I still have sympathy for him. I am sad that we may have seen the last of Seth and to a lesser extent Micah, but as for Arsehair, good riddance. Now the "burning" question for me, is Eve still kicking?

I did not expect she would; I was being a little facetious.

Perhaps Alex could write something for The Pink Singers to sing @Robert Hugill. I listened to Byrd's Mass for Five Voices on a Youtube clip and it was quite pleasant. Not something I would buy or listen to often, but certainly better than heavy metal or rap. I wonder if Alex has similar characteristics to the poet, Grey Philpott? It is difficult at this point in time to imagine a romantic liaison between Alex and Neil, but then one must remember Vince Philpott and his relationship with Peter. And more importantly, will Venetia Murray make an unwelcome return in this story? A pleasantly soothing opening chapter @Robert Hugill. The piece above reminded me somewhat of Rufus Wainwright's Agnus Dei.

Did you mean Fabian rather than Nigel @weinerdog? If so, I think your speculation is a distinct possibility, especially in Wilsonlandia. Paranormal gay sex @Lee Wilson? The guitar, long considered a phallic symbol, literally becomes a phallic symbol, with Russell bewitching Fabian and Fabian behaving like a cocaine-fuelled groupie.

It looks very picturesque and pristine.

It might work to your fantasy's advantage @weinerdog. Jacy would be so distraught he would need to seek comfort in the arms of another. Fletcher would not be able to comfort him as he would be dealing with his own grief, so Jacy would turn to Killian for comfort, and voilà.

The manner of Russell Anderson's death brought forth memories of Bat Out Of Hell by Meatloaf and perhaps the greatest death disc of all, Leader Of The Pack by The Shangri-Las. An interesting start to your latest offering @Lee Wilson. Did you ever visit Parsippany when you lived in New Jersey? Some very impressive architecture on very old houses.

Very entertaining @Josh Aterovis.

It appears certain Alexander shot Bridget, whether it was accidental or premeditated is uncertain. It appears certain he was involved in the looting of the dig site, at the behest of Ricky whose gambling habit was apparently not as successful as he boasted. I feel a little sympathy for Alexander who was being blackmailed by Ricky because he was from a poor background, due in no part to his mother's alcoholism. I have no sympathy for Ricky, he is vile, and it is not as if he was in the wong place at the wong time. He came to the dig site with the intent to further blackmail Alexander to do more looting to fund his gambling habit. I am not convinced it was Joyner who murdered Professor Healy. I still think his murder was a crime of passion, possibly committed by a femme fatale. Initially I thought Elyse Pike or Susan Urban the most likely, then somewhat facetiously Professor Howard, but what if it was someone so obvious I had dismissed her. What if it is Lily who murdered Professor Healy. You have kept us guessing to near the very end @Josh Aterovis. This has been your most baffling murder mystery to date, with no deranged traumatised Todd, psychopathic Caitlin, cruelly abused Caleb or vicious cold-blooded Razi emerging as a more obvious killer.

James' parents are such a disappointment, a homophobic father and a spineless mother. As for his brother, an oxygen thief whose parents have done him a disservice by always bailing him out of trouble, funding his carefree lifestyle. When their father dies hopefully James will be able to convince his mother to say NO when Sam wants another handout. James is a far more forgiving person than I am, I believe I would have severed all ties with my family if they were like James'. Hideous people.

What a wonderful surprise, a second instalment of Traditions this week. You have been busy @Mark Ponyboy Peters. I cannot remember if any of we readers have asked this question before, but is the owner/manager of the service station at which Charlie works, the Matt, he of the black Commodore, which is possibly long-retired by now? "It was then that I remembered I had taken a couple of photos on my phone, so I pull it from my pocket and found them, then showed them to my mother. One was when Trinity was performing on stage. The next was just as we were saying goodbye. ‘That’s Patrick? Oh, my!’ was all mum could say. I swear, if she’d been wearing pearls right at that moment she would have been clutching at them right now." This was just too funny. It was such a vivid image, Kieran's mother clutching a string of pearls. If she was a 1960's/1970's Aussie housewife she could have had a cup of tea, taken a Bex powder and had a good lie down to get over the shock of seeing Patrick resplendent as Trinity de la Creme. I am so enjoying the simplicity and the overall serenity of this little gem @Mark Ponyboy Peters.

The 'Epilogue' to any @Lee Wilson story is usually a mixed bag of HEA for the likeable/loveable characters, and not so happy HEA and often dire consequences for the homophobes and child molesters/child killers (think Abel and Kathy Taft). This one was a little different in that the only really vile character, Phil Lassiter, met his death well before the story concluded. Things worked out well for all the boys, although lesser so for Art and Seth, which is why I chose the 'sad' emoticon for this chapter. I think @Gary L wisely suggested you not kill-off Seth @Lee Wilson. He was a very likeable character, and although he and Art appeared only briefly in comparison to Sam, Virgil and Scott, they certainly made a good impression on this reader. Looking forward to the next story from the giant (in GA literary stature) of Georgia.

OMG that is soooooo cute.

The shifter from San Diego, @weinerdog. Distinguished gentleman by day, desire-driven daredevil dachshund by night. Loves being petted by San Diego's finest marines.

They are gorgeous dogs, aren't they? Such personality. An acquaintance of mine has one and his former flatmate had the father of my acquaintance's dog. The father passed away late last year after a very short illness. He was 20 and in remarkably good health still. Both he and his son were/are truly lovely dogs.

James was definitely set up by his boss/the company he works for. Whilst part of me is appalled by this, another part recognises Jeremy was clearly out of his depth and James is proving to be the better man for the job. As for James' relationship with Evan, it seems Shalamar, featuring the fabulous Jody Watley, sum it up perfectly:

I cannot praise this story enough. My fellow Hugillites who have already reviewed it, have done a fine job in doing so. The only thing I can really add is that this story, like many of Robert's other stories, included some most amusing Hugillisms and a character named Eileen, who uses the "brown word" as an adjective to describe just about anything in preference to using "fucking". She is a hoot. Read it and guffaw.

Another literary triumph from the pen of "the Hugill". The Hugillverse has delighted we, the faithful, on many occasions now @Robert Hugill, none moreso than this whimsical little romp whose primary objective appeared to be, at least initially, to uncover the fate of the Nimrud Panther, which turned out to be an artefact that our resident "scatological queen", Eileen Garner, would have proudly referred to as, quite accurately apparently, a "shitting ugly little lump of turd". For the most part this story introduced some of your most charming characters yet in the form of Louis, Charlie, Joss, PJ, Ian and even Tom, and of course Eileen. Even the "horrors" like Aunt Daphne and Graham had nothing on Norman, Sheila, Jackie, Venetia and Deirdre. A first-class experience yet again Mr Hugill.

You figured out White Deer @weinerdog! It must be because you are a hound that was bred to scent, chase and flush out badgers and other burrow-dwelling animals. I know a buck is somewhat larger than a badger or similar creatures, but your keen sense of smell likely detected an unusual mix of deer and human when you got the "scent" of White Deer. When I first read the deer-shift, I thought I must have either missed a previous shift or been on drugs. With this story, has @Josh Aterovis perhaps developed a new sub-genre of paranormal stories, deer shifters? Are their "shifting" characteristics similar to those of wolfshifters? Was Felix Salten who wrote the novel, Bambi, A Life In The Woods in 1923 perhaps a deer-shifter, or have I completely misunderstood and really am on drugs? As for who killed Professor Healy, I have always thought his murder was a crime of passion, likely committed by a femme fatale, which was why I honed in on it being either Elyse Pike or Susan Urban, particularly after it emerged they are lovers. But, what if it was a completely different woman who murdered him, one who was besotted with him, one whose sexual advances he rejected, one whose sexual harassment of him caused him to be so vehemently opposed to any relationship between Elyse and Susan. Professor Howard. I have tried to think of what purpose she has served in this story, and to date she has served no purpose at all, other than to confirm what type of person Professor Healy was and that a couple of the artefacts Killian showed her a picture of were perhaps local. Given this, has @Josh Aterovis included her brief appearances to date just to "put her in the picture? I speculate she may have in fact murdered Professor Healy, whom she indicated she thought of as a son, however, a son for whom her attraction was anything but maternal. Killian had a sense of deja vu when he visited her on the second occasion. Is he a dachshund shifter like you @weinerdog and he recognised her perfume, perfume he had smelt on the body of Professor Healy?