Bill W

Val, as always, I'm late - 6 years late in this case, but I loved this story. I love the characters, I love the premise, and I love your writing style. As others pointed out, your characters achieve strong reactions from the readers, on polar opposites of the love-hate scale. That's a good sign and it brings readers back to see if their side will be victorious. I now how to go to your library to see your follow-up on this story. When I find it, I'm sure you'll be hearing more from me! Thank you for this wonderful story.

In the distant future, the residents of earth have all joined together to form the Terran Confederation, and they’re venturing into outer space and creating and expanding colonies in different worlds. In this new world, the old rules no longer apply and life is very different from the way it used to be, although conditions still aren’t perfect. The Terran Confederation now has to contend with an alien species from outside the solar system, and they’re creating problems and upsetting the calm that people have come to expect and enjoy. If you’re interested and wish to discover more about this new world for yourself, just click on the link and read this intriguing short story for yourself, so you can learn about what is going on, I hope you’ll find it as interesting as I did.

What? 😲 No comment from Steve before he gives a rundown of the week's events. Someone better take him to see a doctor immediately, 🩺 because Steve must be ill. Everyone please pray for him to get well soon! 🙏

I have no idea what you mean by picine, but if you mean piscine and want to put it on your fish, that's probably not a good idea either.

The first known use of the word piscine as an adjective was in 1670, as written by S. Gott. The first known use of piscine as a noun may have been in the 14th century, in the Northumbrian poem Cursor Mundi. In the ecclesiastical sense of the word piscine, the variation piscina is used to describe the "stone basin in a church placed close to the altar and used to receive the water in which the priest washed his hands before the celebration of the eucharist" and comes from late 15c.

Place it on your chest and the vapors will mask the other odor.

This is my favorite line in the story: “Mr. O’Kelly, society has grown up and moved past victimology. Everybody is judged on their own merits and the content of their character. Not upon the color of their skin, the religion they worship, who they love, how they look, how much government they think is enough or their adherence to doomed sports teams. It’s rather pleasant to embrace true diversity and work together to make something greater than the sum of its parts. That’s the ideal of Terran Confederation life. Embrace it. Even though I love the world you've created, I have to agree with Carlos. IMHO, unless you find a way to brainwash everyone, bigotry will eventually rear its ugly head. It may start out as something simple, such as someone having a dispute with several individuals that happen to have hazel eyes, so now he hates everyone with hazel eyes and tells everyone around him to hate people with hazel eyes, and eventually he'll convince others that he's right, although maybe for different reasons. Or possibly several left-handed individuals got the type of assignment that another person wanted and didn't get, so now he starts badmouthing and hating all left-handed individuals and his constant tirades eventually convinces others to start hating left-handed people as well, but for a variety of different reasons. No matter what you do, eventually people will start finding fault and hating a specific group of individuals with a common characteristic, and even if it's not race, skin color, religion, or sexual orientation, they'll eventually latch onto something that causes them to hate a specific group of individuals.

Do you mean the authors' names are Leo or that is their Zodiac sign?

If you love magical stories and believe in love then you'll want to read this enchanting story. The world could use a few people like Martin Pop that could bring a little magic into our lives and correct situations that might end badly. Take a moment to read this charming short story that will bring a little magic into your day.

What a wonderfully enchanting tale. I just wish that I'd read this sooner and Wayne was still around to read my comment and the review I'm going to give. Hopefully, he will still realize how much I truly enjoy his stories.

Sorry, my comment repeated.

Sorry, I missed that, but did you know that he was succeeded by Pope Hilarius. I wonder if he was also hilarious?

An interesting and sensitively written story about a once loving relationship that has gone bad. The author includes flashbacks that show how the relationship began and the warm and loving moments from the past, and this creates the sadness you feel when the relationship finally ends. Although we all realize that not all relationships will last forever, at least this one doesn't end with those involved constantly arguing and hating each other. Even though this short story has a sad ending, it's worth the time it takes to read it, and it may shed some insight into your own relationship.

I know you wrote this long ago, but I want to comment. It's sad how little things - like the argument about the couch or the disagreement over the dishes - can open a crack in the relationship that seems to grow wider and wider with each succeeding disagreement until it has wedged open a chasm so wide that they can't jump across it and repair the relationship. Compromise isn't always the answer either, like with the compromise over the couch, because neither one is totally happy about the outcome and that builds as well. Maybe alternating at giving in to what the other one wants, but that's probably not the right solution either. How do couples seem to remain happily married for 50, 60, or even 70 years? There must be some secret that the rest of us haven't figured out, but what is it? Anyway, a touching and sensitively written story about the end of a relationship, but at least the ending isn't ugly or angry, just sad.

There were 13 Popes that used the name Leo, and as far as I can tell, that was not their name before they became Pope. The first was Leo I (440-461), also referred to as Leo the Great (only 3 Popes were ever given the title of Great), and the last was Leo XIII (1878-1903). I wonder if they took the name Leo because they viewed themselves as Leonine?

The first known use of the word leonine in literature was in the 12th-century romance Guillaume d'Angleterre. The word leonine is an adjective that means "like a lion" or "resembling a lion". According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first known use of "leonine" in English was around the late 14th century, appearing in the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer, the renowned poet of that period; essentially meaning it was used during the Middle English era.

Great start to a Sci-Fi story. The ship is in drydock when a malfunction (explosion) not only breaks them free of the drydock, but it also triggers the computers to make an impossible jump to a galaxy far away. What's going to happen and how are they going to get back home? We'll be learning more about that as the story progresses.

@Myr great start to the story, but I have an advantage in saying that. I'm going back through the anthologies from the newest to oldest, so I've already read part 2. Just keep this going. Love the characters, love Aegis, and it will be a long ride home.

The earliest known use of the word vulpine in English was in the early 1600s. However, English writers had been using the word to describe foxes since at least the 15th century. Dogs and foxes are distinct but distantly related canine species. Until recently, scientists thought it was impossible for them to breed. However, the discovery of a dog-fox hybrid in Brazil suggests that The Fox and the Hound might sometimes be a little more Lady and the Tramp.

My guess would be that this guy doesn't have a gf or bf. He's too involved with his spider and snakes, and that doesn't leave a lot of time for human interaction, even if he could find someone that's willing to put up with his pets.

She may not have a filter when it comes to getting her way, but I think she'd be a little more cautious if it meant endangering her son and lover or driving them away and end her precious desire to have grandchildren.

You are correct, Val. In the past I have written multiple stories for an anthology - there was no restriction as to how many stories an author could submit.

You're absolutely correct, Al. They're having trouble believing their "lying eyes", since it is so contrary to everything they'd believed up to this point. And even though they've applied the brakes on their remaining vacation plans, they're taking time and letting it all sink in before they address the boys.

Any idea when you might start posting book 2?

Animated comes from Latin anima (soul), animare, animat (instilled with life). Animate first appeared in Late Middle English. The earliest known use of the word animate in English was in the Middle English period, between 1150 and 1500. The earliest evidence of the word animate as a verb is from around 1487, in a translation by poet John Skelton. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first known use of "animated" in English was in 1534.