Ieshwar

Yup, Gandalf may be straight but what about Dumbledore? He is gay... Aaaand he has the most powerful wand in the wizarding world. Admit it, that's a clear winner for any gay guy. So I say Go gay for Dumbly! P.S I quote " (Dumbledore).. did things with a wand I'd never seen before." Professor Marchbanks, Page 627, OoP.

Awww. Like they say, you got to kiss some frogs first to find the prince...

Yes, I like this idea. The word count is already visible but we can search for only shorts or novellas, it will be easier. Does GA already have a set word count limit for short story, novella or novel? Pretty much everything has already been added to the list. I did try to come up with a few suggestions though: 1. I see that there is already the school tag but personally, I think an additional "highschool" tag will have been better. It is a very popular setting among gay stories. 2. Maybe a tag about "letter" or "blog" style of stories? We do have quite a number of such stories here. Cheers Ieshwar

Happy Birthday, Layla. Have fun.

OMG! I am so shocked. Such a young man... RIP, Cory.

Hmm, thanks for sharing the video (though I have to add that I clicked on it because the guy looks really cute). I really liked it. I loved the dialogues, especially that they were written by such a young guy. It can be felt how honest and genuine it is. About the "intermediate steps" you mentioned in your blog, it must be comforting. I can imagine. But I doubt it is ordinary. Well, maybe it is for you, given the positive response to your coming out. But for someone in a society still in "baby steps", seeing a group of youngsters coming together for such a project is nothing ordinary. As for the "why", well, I would guess survival instinct? Because even if you pretend that you don't care about what others say or what happen, the primitive fear of being rejected is here. It is here since humans exist. Look deep inside and yes, you do care about all these things. Was nice reading your blog. You got great insights, very thought-provoking ones. Thanks for the share.

There's a short movie with this concept. It is set in a world where being gay is the norm and it is the story about one straight teen. Very powerful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzFnV3vwqD0

In most of stories, I try to experiment with the "story telling". This was another experiment, trying to tie up different snippets. Glad that you liked it. Thanks for the review, JoAnn. And sorry for the late reply.

Sorry for such a late reply. Thank you for these kind words, JoAnn. I do try to keep improving my writings skills. Glad that you loved it.

This is the second story of yours that I read. The elegance, the soft charm which I found in Love(Ai) was even more noticeable in this story. It feels almost artistic, poetic, I would say. The delicateness of the tea china, the sweet fragance of tea are imbibed in this story. I really like Asian cultures and to discover it through your stories is a real pleasure. I love the ending of the story. The whole premise of this story was the characters' relationship with the teahouse and the ending shows how San, the visitor, is becoming part of it. It's not forced. It's just right. Thanks for sharing this great story.

This is the first story of yours that I read. I found like while looking for free ebooks on goodreads and smashwords. It is a story which stayed with me. Even days after having read it, the scenes and the feelings would come back to me. I didn't know that it was here, at GA. I only guessed it when I saw your name at KC's blog in a comment and thought that you might be an author here. I googled it and ta-da! It is an amazing story. It has a soft charm to it, which grows on you. Maybe it's because the way you write, the characters, the settings... I don't know. It's very endearing, though. You earned yourself a fan through this story. Amazing story.

Oh my god. This is such an amazing story. I like how despite the length of the story, you brought out the flaws in the main characters- Liron's fear, Milo's possessiveness. All backed up by some past experiences. This added depth to the story. And the chemistry between the two was sizzling. I loved every word of it. By the way, you said that you struggled with the story. Believe me, you did a very fine job with that. It's very well done. Thanks for sharing this amazing story.

Happy birthday! Have lots of fun!

And it's a very beautiful name. I named mine after the Greek Muse of Tragedy, Melpomene. That's because when I first started writing, she thought that killing the main characters at the end was the best way to end a story. A habit she has yet to tame... *sigh*

He looks like Garfield. LOL

Does your muse have a name? I know we writers are almost "schizophrenic" and this might be stretching it a bit (i'm joking, of course) but I do wonder about that.

Am I the only one who sees a face in this? It's from a standard shopping website, nothing related with pareidolia.

I feel like this is more of an interlude than an ending. We should keep in mind that this story is from Dan's POV. We see what he sees. But that isn't necessarily the truth. It's his way of seeing the truth. I'm still unsure about his parents' views of homosexuality. What we see here is Dan's cyncism, lack of hope. I can see that he is trying to "cure" his parents ( i'm pretty sure it's one of your intentional irony with religious people trying to cure gays. Lol. ). But I don't really agree with his approach. He's trying to attack his parents' religion. Years and years of faith don't evaporate in a single night. And there are religious persons who accept gays and lesbians. From the ending, I feel like they might be at least tolerant about his homosexuality. But then, your style of writing about reality might make it the opposite. Like I said, I don't know what may happen in the next chapters. Cliffhanger? Anyway, hope that you have fun at Hong Kong.

I love this chapter! So here comes an end to the journey. You were right; we did see a lot of how he was before. It felt like reading about someone else. Dan got a prefect fired? Wanted to be a dolphin trainer? So is this old Dan still beneath all these layers? Will we get to see him? I would venture a yes and that it's on this way. The way he came out and the way he hugged his gran at the end showed that he has grown/relaxed a lot since the first chapter. I love his friends, btw. So cool. Hopefully, we'll get to hear about them soon. I liked the part about the little boy saving the place for his mother and the remark about life still a competition for them. It's these small astute remarks that make me wonder if you ever lived in an asian country (btw, I did just check that yes, you're from uk. Lol.) What I mean is that only someone who has been exposed to asian culture knows how fierce competition is, much fiercer than its western counterpart. How much important it is to be first, to make a place for oneself in the crowd. Oh, another long review. I can't help it. Very thought-provoking story and chapter. Awesome.

Really nice chapter. We finally see beneath the hard surface that Michael projects. The part where he says he hates choosing between Asher and the rest of the world caught my attention. At one point or the other, he will have to..

That was chilling. Very well written though. Well done.

Hi KC, Hope you feeling better now. Sorry for such a late review. Was really busy. Nice to see that Asher's able to control himself and not rush anything, though I am looking forward to some hot action. Lol.

Good chapter. It wasn't as bad as you said it was. Nice to see facebook portrayed in a good way here. People need to realise it's a tool. It all depends on how you use it. I like how Dan considered UK to be his home now. Nice...

That's quite a hard chapter to review. I think this chapter is an answer to all the comments the readers have made about how sad, cynical Dan is. Childhood experiences does shape us as an adult and here we can see some of the influences, the harsh realities that Dan have heard/ seen in his childhood. I still wonder how much of your personal experience is in this story. Asian/African countries haven't developed as fast as their Western counterparts. So I can relate to these stories of harsh realities (of Dan's grandparents) and especially the veneration, the respect that our parents have for their own parents. At several points when reading about the grandparents' life, I recalled the stories I have heard about my own grandparents. Again, Dan's Conundrum makes my own memories surface. Spooky. Lo.

Sometimes, life happens- the entry of a significant other, career/professional life, unforeseen problems, and most probably, a mixture of all these. In those cases, GA, the stories, the characters, the fans become those friends with whom you have lost touch and you keep thinking, "One day, I'll see them again." And let's keep fingers crossed that that day comes. Cheers Ieshwar