Tim Hobson

A murder in a story about a sexually confused teenage boy? Wow! Whoda thought? Great writing, @JLynch ! I see I have one more chapter to go to catch up with you. Can't wait for more.

Thayer needs an older, more experienced pal/boyfriend to show him the ropes and introduce him gently to the many pleasurable ways to enjoy his perpetual erection. I fear he's in for a lot worse treatment, though. Great cast of characters, @JLynch. Looking forward to reading more!

I remember those "gas station attendants." They filled your tank, checked your oil, and wiped your windshield! Isn't it interesting how those innocent tasks became shorthand for sex? Of course, those attendants were often so cute you just wanted to lure them into the restroom and get your oil checked or your tank filled! Come to think of it, isn't that the plot line of a lot of porn?

Perfect word picture. And let's not forget all the little "swimmers" he's sending out into the world.

At sixteen, jacking off several times is an integral part of every day. At least Thayer has a place or two where he can do it unobserved -- or was he? With so many people interested in what he's got in his pants, how long will it be before his necessary ritual becomes someone else's entertainment?

Thayer sounds like everyman -- or everyboy. It's going to be interesting watching him figure things out. I wish him well!

I thought it had something to do with timing. So, if an edit is needed, wait until the story is published to make it. Got it. Thanks!

I had my story approved, and prologue and chapter one were ready published with tomorrow's date. Today, I needed to change the story description, so I edited and saved it, and then published it again. The story shows "To be published" with the date and time I selected, but the status bars say the story is not approved and is in the moderation queue and must be approved before I can publish. Is it published or not? If not, what do I need to do? Sorry if this is just a matter of timing. I realize it's evening in England.

Indeed! Perhaps the only real solution is to be selective in which authors I read.

I hope I didn't imply that. I agree and also use all sorts of slang, profanity, and "spoken English" in dialog, but I'm talking about content outside that narrow realm. I could supply actual examples, but that would offend the writers, and it is not my intention to do that. I guess I got up on the wrong side of the bed today. I value the creativity and cleverness of GA writers, but I lose a little respect for those whose work clearly needs at least basic editing (e.g., spellcheck and free Grammarly), and I sometimes get so tired of the mistakes that I don't read further. I suppose it's because I put a lot of effort into the editing process that it irks me when others don't appear to. Now that I think about it more abstractly, I sense that my feeling may be an extension of the national malaise over not being able to persuade other people to "do the right thing." Mea culpa! One more thought: I also read stories on Nifty and a couple of other sites, and the difference between those and GA posts is like night and day. I guess it's a kind of pride in being on GA that makes me want to highlight the professionalism and writing skills of my fellow writers here, and to wish for a little more care and precision from some of them.

OK, I admit this is a rant. Sorry if it doesn't belong in this forum, and @Mikiesboy can delete it if he wants to, but I have to say this. I don't mean to pick on anybody, but I spend far more time time rereading and editing my work than I do writing it. I have an editor and a beta reader, who catch things I miss. In short, I take editing seriously (OK, perhaps it's an obsession). So why do so many of the stories posted here have such glaring errors (e.g., misspelled words, words duplicated or missing, poor grammar -- Who doesn't know the difference between "and I" and "and me"? -- etc.). I'm surprised and disappointed at times when these errors are so obvious, even coming from Prolific writers (does "prolific" only refer to quantity and not quality?) and in Premium content (why should I pay extra for poorly-written stories?). I know we're all amateurs, and perhaps the story is more important than the telling, but it certainly takes away from my enjoyment to have to skip over mistakes that somebody should have caught. I sometimes give up and quit reading a badly-written piece. And I know that my own writing (including my latest story that posts tomorrow) sometimes contains a flub or two, but when someone points them out or I spot them when I'm reading online, I make the correction and re-release the story. At least I make the greatest possible effort to write without such simple mistakes. I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but I had to get it off my chest. Otherwise, why do I bother to edit at all?

To quote the sage of Liverpool: ...and a Happy New Year. Hope it's a good one... in every sense of the word! Glad to hear the worst is behind you -- or at least we hope it is. Don't try to do too much, too fast, though. A boatload of my relatives had the norovirus, so we stayed home for Christmas and New Year's. Now, it looks like the first major snowstorm in years is headed our way. I'm rushing to the grocery store to buy milk, bread, and toilet paper (and some things I actually need!).

As @kbois said, all my stories started out as fantasies, but there are plenty of fantasies that never made it to being stories. I still run them through my mind all the time, especially as I'm falling asleep at night like @employee007 does. There are a couple of them that I would never want to see as published stories, but there are a few others that might make the cut...someday! I used to belong to Romance Writers of America and their "erotic" subgroup. They always talked about "plotters" and "pantsers"--i.e., those who plot out the whole story versus those who write "by the seat of their pants." I'm definitely in the latter category! By the time a fantasy makes it to "paper" (or bits and bytes), it has usually gone down many paths and met plenty of dead ends. How do you know when a story is "done?" I think it's when the next story begins to take up all your time! Does it matter? As long as the creative process is fun and interesting, who cares how long it takes or how many iterations it goes through? And--credit where credit is due--the process is much more pleasant (and successful) when you have an editor or beta reader (or both!) to go with you on the journey.

It does sound like Pete has a secret, like the one that sexual abusers tell children to keep. I hope we're all wrong about that. It would certainly complicate Danny's exit plan if he had to confront his parents or talk to Sarge about it. Isn't this just how life fucks with you? Just when a way out seems to appear, it's snatched away and replaced by a ton of shit!

It's pretty clear why Jake is worried about escalating the war with Thommo. He is going home for Christmas--maybe sooner than he had planned.

The Dalai Lama - I was standing six feet from him once, but he was on his way to lunch with the President, so we didn't speak, but he gave me a smile and a nod. Would you like to take a trip into space?

Manhattan, shaken, served straight up, made with Maker's Mark bourbon and Noilly Prat vermouth in a Viski crystal glass -- served by a hot waiter at a nude beach resort. Favorite nude beach?

What a brilliant plot twist! Introducing a white knight just when most needed is a hopeful resolution to the horror of the sexual violence, and it puts the story back on a lighter tack. Reminds me of Huckleberry Finn and other classic coming of age tales.

My favorite Mark Twain has always been The Prince and the Pauper. The 1937 movie version starring Erroll Flinn stills sets my heart a-flutter!

I can't remember the first book I read, nor how old I was, but I used to check out as many books as the library would allow, take them home, and tie a rope around them and hoist them up to a platform I had built in a tree next to the house. My little "reading room" was a haven all summer long. I think what started me on binge-reading was The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. When I learned that there were more in the series (many by other authors who carried on the tradition after Baum's early death), I was hooked. The library had to send for some of the books from other sites in order to fulfill my endless requests!

I'm so happy to see this new story. I don't know how I missed it earlier in the year.

The characters are angels, demons, and those undefined beings from the Hebrew scriptures, the Nephilim. While there is no definitive theological explanation for them, the author follows a brief passage in Genesis and suggests that they are the offspring of angels and humans, and that their descendants still exist and live among us. Hence, our protagonist. Add in supernatural powers, immortality, relentless pursuit by angels who want to destroy him, and finding himself in the hotbed of demons, Sin City, and you have the ingredients for a delightful and erotic story--one which cries out for more episodes and adventures. Well worth the read, but be sure to leave the author a comment begging for more!

The story took us directly into a series of "jumps," i.e., hyperspace intrusions that defy the laws of physics and the limitation of the speed of light. The mission was dangerous and became instantly deadly, and then a cliffhanger, of course!

Like everyone else, I wasn't expecting a cliffhanger and am hoping that more will be forthcoming. The irony was that the "leap of faith" was what the readers had to make!

I went through a monumental life change over the summer, and I just stopped caring what I look like. Turns out, letting my hair and beard just grow freely...gave me the freedom to accept and love myself as who I am and begin rebuilding. I have no idea how long I'll let them get, but since they grow so slowly, I've a long way to go before I even need to care. I do agree with the comment about washing my hair, but I've just made it a part of my daily morning routine. I don't shower every day because I live in a cool climate and rarely exert myself enough to sweat, so I wash it in the kitchen sink while my tea is brewing, and I'm set for the day in three or four minutes (drying does take a while longer). I have begun experimenting with a ponytail of sorts, but it's still too short to look very good. Letting go of one thing that boxed me in has proven to be quite liberating!