Luca E

And now I put more butter on the bread than I was allowed to as a child when the winters were cold and climbing into bed even colder, and I hated the winters, except when it snowed. Another good chapter that eloquently describes a different time and place.

The descriptions are well written and drew me into the event, it presented the reality of the situation and contrasted the way people deal with tragedy in different ways.

It was very real.

Much better, I would never have found (or read) the series had you not just created it 👍

It seems that Ryan got what he wanted and Ishmael too! Great story, I enjoyed reading about their encounter.

I took a look at Scribble Hub because I was curious, what I found was a lot of Lesbian stories and some gay boy stories all terribly written and basically teenage stuff written by hormonal teenagers who are just discovering their sexuality and want to express it. Well they probably want a boy or girlfriend to have sex with. It's full of stuff like I wrote age thirteen. As for any serious gay themed stories, I didn't find any and wouldn't post there. Royal Road is okay, but demands an investment in mutual reviews and commenting. If you find any serious site post a link, I wouldn't bother with Awesome dude or Castle Roland, if they're still even functioning, it would be a miracle if you get a reply on a submission. You could look at The Story Lover. Good luck.

Okay, but your answers provoke further questions. 1. I understand some story summaries are rubbish, so if you missed a story because the summary didn't attract you to it, what eventually made you come back and discover that initially dismissed story? 2. The last story by @Topher Lydon was an author you already follow, but how did you find the last story you remember reading by someone you had never heard of, or how did you initially discover Topher Lydon? I'm really interested in knowing how you actually found the last unknown author and read their story, not generally, I read summaries, reviews, but specifically, like EK Stokes described his process. Then I could add another question, after finding a new author and story, did you like/finish the story or not?

I clicked TRENDING STORIES and found, Love in a time of hatred vol 2. Simple question which is probably stupid, but how do you find vol 1? I like to start at the beginning.

I have one supplementary question to help clarify what decides you to pick up a story and read the first chapter. What makes you pick a story and open chapter one? If you say summary, title, author, that's all the answer I need. If you say genre or tags, I need more, why this story and not a hundred others in the same genre or with the same tags. You can say, I open every new story, you can say it was recommended (where?). THE QUESTION: Thinking about the last and only the last, story you clicked to open chapter one. Why did you choose to open that story?

I'll take a look 👍

I read these blogs about authors and stories and I agree with you they are very useful and informative and influence what I read. People's comments I'm not sure about, they are very varied, I don't think they influence me too much.

Thing is, how do you know what might be a good story before reading it, and before reading it you have to, as it were, pick it up off the shelves. When looking at the shelves you have only the info from the presentation, title, author name, summary, cover image, genre, tags, etc. So whilst I don't go looking for author names they are right there with the story title and both influence me.

@ReaderPaul you have good reason to be weary, if anyone thinks AI gives you correct information they are mistaken, because it only searches the web and compiles what it finds, and we all know the web is full of crap. Ask a question on a forum and you get everyone's opinion, their prejudices, and more besides, everything except the answer to your question.

This was a great story with real believable characters and an interesting plot. Struggling with what life throws at you and trying to surmount obstacles and deal with the bad stuff, is the general theme. The story is about young gay men and the mc Aled who is trying to come to terms with his sexual orientation in a less than supportive family situation. Highly recommend, very well done.

Really liked the characters and story, if you continue it, I would read it, definitely!

You are absolutely right, it has no bearing on anything, but I still pay attention to superficial things like names and covers and even does a title grab me. What can I say, I'm influenced by even the most mundane things when choosing what to read, maybe (as I said before) because there is so much choice I'll use anything to narrow down what I pick up to read.

People have brought up the topic of AI with the view that they are emphatically opposed to anything with even the slightest hint of AI influence. It's not the thread topic (should maybe start one), but my thoughts are: have you heard of Ludittes?

Interesting! I read story descriptions and reviews, although often they are not very comprehensive. Views, I ignore entirely, number of page hits doesn't influence my choice of what to read. Same for reputation, if that means classic, promising authors, because who decides that and on what basis? But still, being honest, names like cover images influence me even despite myself. I'm trying to decide what to buy (read) in a shop with the shelves packed full. Spoilt for choice, or too much choice, which usually leaves me in the story in process section and I hardly ever look at old stuff!

Not suggesting that at all, wondering if author names (real or pseudo) influence choice of reading, like cover images?

I don't think anyone has ever brought this up before. Leaving aside story recommendations, and irrespective of genres or tags, in process or completed, summaries, titles, covers, there is another aspect to searching for stories to read which influences my choice to take a look or not. This may appear silly, superficial, or not something you even consider yourself, but the author's name influences my choice. I tend to avoid silly names, single names, or other names that simply are not proper names. So John Masters, J Masters, no problem, JM001, or SuperMasterJohn, I flip past. I wonder if other readers find author names influence their choice of what to read. If you are wondering why, I see silly names as authors who aren't serious or are in a different universe to the world of books and literature. And yes, I know it's probably stupid on my part, but I'm like that despite everything, it's how I am and I kind of think there must be others like me or there are other things about stories that make you flip past without bothering to open and look?

I don't know about Matt, too early to say, I'm more worried about an explosive ending 💥

There are a lot of sheep! 🤣 I suppose, but I know nothing about farming, sheep or anything... Oh, and yeah, good chapter.

Have you ever asked yourself why the Netherlands is such a cool country? They made same sex marriage legal years before anywhere else (2001). They made cannabis legal (2013) and don't need to fight a drugs war. They have legal prostitution (18 years old) it's a self-employed legal profession. Around 95% of Dutch people speak English and 75% speak German, and they speak these languages well because they learn early in school. They also have windmills and tulips, a very flat landscape, and are not big church goers (64% of people have never been to church). Homosexuality has been legal in the Netherlands since 1811 and the age of consent is 16 (perhaps because they don't go to church?). And, no, I'm not Dutch, in case you thought this was some cultural self-promotion.

unless you happen to live in the Netherlands. Dutch kids are some of the happiest in the world. Learn something about another culture - 5 minute read... https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/16/dutch-children-unusually-happy-healthy-avondvierdaagse-walking-festival

I was once travelling by train from the coast to London after arriving in England. I had a question about what time we would arrive so decide to ask the two gentlemen sitting opposite. "Excuse me," I said, "do you speak English?" They were Scottish, bit like Irish, strong accent.