eliotmoore

No things are not going to go easily, but Luc and Matt connecting in this way felt right. With a slight shift in emotion and impulse (it all felt on a knife edge) both young men might have withdrawn from each other and continued their solitude. I think the crack which let the light in was their mutual need to know they can still express love and their mutual need to know they are valued. Duncan, as usual you did write this well. I think we can all stop saying you are a good writer and move on to the things your story sells us about humanity. In some stories this would be the blinding moment the two young men fall deeply in love with each other. Time for the superlatives and hyperbole about best touch, best kiss, strongest feelings, quickly passing on to superlative intercourse and unparallelled orgasm. That is not what is happening here. At this point they are mostly affirming something to themselves. Matt expresses his conflict. He needs to prove to himself that intimacy can be more than physical gratification. His responding to Luc's overture is constrained by his fear of losing control. I think Luc is motivated by his need for acceptance. Daniel and Scott have rejected him in some way. He is desperate to know that someone will not reject him. I did hold my breath at this scene wondering how much more hurt Duncan wanted to inject into their lives. The tension drained away when Matt overcame his own personal demons to give Luc what he needed. They are both attractive young men who recognize each other's physical attributes. Lust is natural for them and they are both clearly passionate people. Both express an understanding that their respective infatuations are not healthy for them. There is fertile ground for a relationship, but as Mike seems to indicate, these people and their interrelationships are complex and deep. Love takes time and work. Despite the romances, it is also a fragile thing. What comes next will be interesting to read.

I had a seriously good sleep last night after a good visit with family. I am still on vacation . Okay guys, this feels a lot like Twitter to me . Janus

I sort of wandered away from the story or the story wandered away from me. When I received the announcement about chapter ten I realized I had not read chapter nine. The tensions in chapter nine are soothed in chapter ten. I was struck by the way Duncan demonstrates that healing comes through dialogue. There is such tension between the four men, but so much of the tension is generated in their personal solitudes. They have things to say to each other that can be healing, but they have not brought themselves to articulate these things. You know it is coming, yet Duncan takes us through the process slowly. You can add up the parts but you won't have the sum You can strike up the march, there is no drum Every heart, every heart to love will come but like a refugee. Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything That's how the light gets in. Anthem Josh let Scott through and that began healing, now we watch Luc and Matt struggle to let somebody through -- struggle to bare their feelings and move on. I suppose we all assume they will find something in each other, but that remains to be seen. The lyrics say love will come like a refugee. It is important that we remember that refugees might be fleeing from something painful, but they are also fleeing to a safe haven. They are moving from turmoil to tranquillity. Thanks Duncan, I'm really enjoying it.

I certainly agree with you. The moment of recall, flashback if you like, was very timely. Luc moving slowly toward the terminal where Scott stands waiting. The intensity of this past relationship suddenly superimposed on the painful, confusing present. Luc and Daniel were caught at the moment where a physical relationship - where they might become true lovers - was at best a promise. It was snatched away at the moment of discovery: seriously tragic. In the midst of this we have Luc's struggle articulated: Stupid, he told himself again. He had to get past it, had to see Scott as himself, not as who Daniel might have been. Had he ever seen Scott that way? Who was Scott, after all, but this nice guy

I am listening to Podiobooks!

LOL Such a long thread for such a simple question. I am one of those ethnic American Canadians who struggles with the varied spelling. Add to that I spell poorly.

The looks will not come back, ever, honestly, pish! I'm passing 50 and "stud" is only something holding up my bedroom wall and there are more nails in that stud than my bed... not time to shoot yourself, but gosh, it is time to worry about rust!

well I have a Roberto Alomar baseball card, does that count? Do you own a rusty nail?

I would like to see this story continued too. It was excellent. I fear we will not see an end.

It is interesting how many of the characters assume they are in control of themselves and the future. Both lightness and darkness express so much confidence. Only Mikie displays a healthy confusion at this point. Dan creates a nice degree of uncertainty in this chapter. All you can be certain about at this point is Dan will be a nice guy and this will be a romance instead of a dark tragedy where Mikie goes down into a malice-filled darkness.

Such a vast question and I would love to mull it over and respond with endless examples. Well I shall spare you that and offer only one comment. I have noticed this about myself; I am not really drawn to the physical descriptions of the characters in a story. I am moved by the characterization. Acfan referred to Gone from Daylight. I am not a vampire fan my any means, yet the story entranced me with its strong characters and the relationships established between them. The fantastic physical beauty of the characters was largely irrelevant to me. I look forward to hearing what other people have to share on this thread.

Thanks for sharing this one. You are right, it is long but worth reading.

Ouch! A very comprehensive list and I enjoyed reading it. Needless to say I was doing a mental checklist as I read (agree totally, done that, woops - done that too much, etc.). I really laughed when I read the one about the hospital scene (I so used that once). I have sat in far too many churches listening to young children play their festival pieces. After listening to the same piece five times (not to mention its repetition over the years) it does not really matter to you if it is being played well or poorly. You just need something fresh... preferably with a beer on the side. I guess these story lines and characterizations are something like that and Nifty (since it was disparaged) is rather like that music festival. We start somewhere as authors and the craft grows (or doesn't) in us. They say that the movies of the Great Depression were full of glamour, romance, and wealth because they were essentially an opportunity to escape from the oppression and poverty of the people's lives. That makes sense to me and certainly these films were hyper-fluffy. How many of us invest the time in writing the mundane reality of living fearfully in the closet or write about the thousand little indignities we do to our souls daily in an effort to shield ourselves from the world? I conceived a story that might revolve around a boy's unrequited and secret infatuation for another boy in his class. I was there once and I am sure so was everyone else. This too is a rather clich

An interesting article. I have a 23-year-old son with what appears to be an active and enthusiastic relationship with a young woman. He quipped after dropping an earlier long standing relationship that he might "go gay" because "gaay was the new cool". I think he was just horny and at that point dealing with another young man seemed easier than untangling himself from his girl friend of the time. The whole discussion revolves partly around the relative value of labels such as gay, bisexual, and straight.

Okay that is the first reasonable explanation for the sword's sudden appearance at the end. It might have been nice if that had been explained at some point in the chapter because I was seriously surprised. Am I the only one who wishes that she had omitted the epilogue? Among other things it reduces Harry to a boring suburbanite.