John Henry

Words like "Addicted" and "Hooked" pale in comparison to how I feel about this touching and engaging story. In fact, I thought I'd write this review while hoping to find the next chapter. @Arch Hunter has struck again with a wonderful story that will having you desperately wanting to know what happens next. Please check it, and let him know how good this story is.

This is a great short story that had me hooked from the first sentence and wanting more by the end. For a first time writer who is also writing in a non-native language, @Arch Hunter manages to convince you otherwise. His pros are strong and appropriate for the age of the characters, even in this first attempt. It wasn't until later that I found out that English wasn't his first language. I highly recommend this story and the others he has written.

Got a preference for which story idea you'd like to read? The second story would follow a group of former criminals who create a scam and eventually fall into their own hype. The third story would be about the uncovering of a secret world of supernatural creatures that serve as puppet masters in a city.

I learned some lessons from Growing Up Charlie. Having two villains (one open, the other working in the background) and an antihero that made everyone unsure if they should be rooting for (Billy's bio father, Will) has definitely taught me how to gaslight my readers, which is both good and bad. I like the second idea because it would be full of that sort of dynamics with characters who are clearly villains, characters that work more in the background that you don't see coming, and antiheros that you cheer for but makes you feel dirty doing so. It would all be dark with some light giving hoping (some false, some real). The third idea would also be dark and have dark themes, but it would be more obvious who the bad guys are, which would be good, too, but potentially less mysterious.

I've made a blog post about some ideas for future stories I might want to post. I would love your thoughts and opinions, so if you're interested, use the link below and follow the blog.

I know I started this blog as a means to give greater context into Thicker Than Water and my writing process, which hasn't been well received (oh well), so I thought I'd turn this more into a discussion forum instead. The first thing I'd like to discuss is to quote a Chicago song, "Where do we go from here?" I'm not yet done with Thicker Than Water, as I know how the story will end but not quite there yet. I will be continuing the adventures of the characters in the story over on Nifty in a much bigger story that ties in several stories I have on that sight. The reason I don't want to bring that tie-in here to GA is that there will be topics that violate the guidelines here, such as under age sex and sexual situations with minors (which has occurred in my other stories, already), and Nifty is the better platform for that. (I can get into all of that in a future post later if everyone wants.) With that in mind, I do have several ideas that wouldn't work on Nifty due to the lack taboo sexual content, ironically. There are formatting issues that Nifty also lacks that I'm so glad GA has, such as the ability to use italics for emphasis and to be able to come back in a edit posts. With that said, I'm on the fence with what to work on next, as I have three ideas (kind of) fleshed out. The first idea I've worked on the most is an anthology that's built around a soundtrack. Each story would be it's own isolated story focusing on queer characters major events in their lives, with a particular song that, to me, exemplifies or enhances the reading experience. Being into music as I am, I've already created a YouTube playlist to go along with it, along with notes on individual stories. I've tried finding artists that are openly queer, queer adjacent or at the very least not openly anti-LGBTQAI+, and each song has had a strong emotional pull (which is saying something for me) whenever I think about the associated story. The second idea is one I've been toying with for quite awhile. It's a dark drama similar to what you'd find from the US shows Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy. I don't want to get too much into the details yet, but it would explore the much darker sides of human nature within the confines of GA's guidelines. If you've read Growing Up Charlie on Nifty, you might have an idea of how truly dark this could get. I love writing villains and antiheros, people you just love to hate, that's what this story would be about. This would be a series of novels that would be written like I were writing a television show (not in script form, though), with the idea that dialogue and cinematic description would be more of the focus than over all narration. The third idea is more of a passion project that I always get nervous about writing. If you've read far enough into Thicker Than Water, you'll notice Steve is a gamer, who is obsessed with Dungeons and Dragons (don't jump too far ahead here, people!) I'm also a gamer who has a fondness for D&D, but my true TTRPG (table top roleplaying game) love is Vampire: the Masquerade. It was the first game I ever played and have been in love with the setting ever since. I've always wanted to write fan fiction for it since high school, but the company was very controlling over their copywrites and trademarks...until a few years ago. They've opened the door for fan fiction to be written, so long as certain guidelines are met (mostly around money), and GA would be the better site to post it on, I think. I have some ideas of how I want this to do, but have been too nervous to even try to come up with ideas; however, if I pull it off the way I want, I think it would make for a really good, engrossing story or series. So that's what I'm looking at when it comes to future projects. Thicker Than Water is getting closer to finishing with every entry, and I don't want to be the only story I post on this site. I hate making decisions, and would love some feed back from those who would be reading the stories I post, so lets have discussion down in the comments below and see the possibilities.

Thank you so much for the first story comment/review. Not sure why others haven't, but I'm glad you found it worthy enough to leave one.

Thank you, @Gary L. I think doing a lot of ups, downs and sharp turns in my writing, especially when I get deep into it...as you'll later in the series....

Given you're already on Chapter 22 (at the time of writing this), I'd say "enjoying reading" might be an understatement. 😁 I'm glad you found it, nonetheless, and I hope you don't mind when things get a little twisty.

My obviously sarcastic gif aside, if you thought this chapter was rage inducing, you may want to seek medical treatment for at least the next two, especially Chapter 48. There aren't a lot of filler chapters from this point forward. And that's all I have to say about that. 😁

That she does, but that doesn't mean that she won't spread the hate to deflect from her own issues. Most "Christians" like her love to throw stones despite their glass houses.

Did you honestly think the Thomases were out of the picture? Diego's temper won't be the only one tested. I predict some...irritation...will be coming to the surface from the audience in the coming weeks....

I live on the West Coast of the US. When don't just protest. We rebel.

Don't get me wrong. It would cause a scene and add a whole new hellish complication to the proceedings for sure; however, it still comes down to the District Attorney to press charges, since we'd be looking at either a high misdemeanor or felony. They'll look at the footage taken from the security cameras as well as those on the devices (at least those handed over), not to mention the sheriff's deputies who would be on guard duty at the time, and as we've seen all too many times in the US, a cop's word is better than gold. If someone threw themselves in front of the car, they'd be looking at 4 counts reckless endangerment (depending on the state, 2 of those counts could be upward departed since the car contained two minors) and 1 count of filing a false police report. Not to mention the civil liability for false imprisonment (since Steve would be arrested), damages to the car, and a plethora of other minor claims made against the person. It's far more reckless to stage such an incident than the benefit would grant them. Granted, religious nuts don't often use common sense, but there would be those there that wouldn't want their movement tainted by someone's stupidity. They may hate gays, but they also might not lie or would be turned off at the tactics used.

It's a little too late for Summary Judgment at this point, and as my therapist once said, "It's okay to think about hurting someone, so long as you don't go threw with it." (I have issues with customers, lol) Diego has shown multiple times that he's not willing to lose his kids, so it's not likely he would've attacked Raul...his brothers on the other hand, though.... Regarding the points and the parking lot, they protesters would have to hear the obvious sarcasm, and you're not going to die from getting hit by a car going 5 miles per hour (I was run over twice by my father at that speed, so yeah, I kind of have first hand experience/knowledge.) At worst, it would be vehicular assault, but if the protesters throw themselves in front of the car, they'd be liable. Since it is a courthouse, cameras would be everywhere, especially in a secure parking lot. Yes, Diego need an attitude adjustment, but he's also under a ton of stress and Billy doesn't necessarily help that, given how much he mouths off to the judge and the judge showing favor towards Calvin's lawyer.

The question is: Do you believe him?

There's a balance between showing bias and appearing to show bias. I'll leave it up to you to decide which the judge is doing. Calling Raul was a bad idea, but the next witness...I can hear your screams already....

Billy knows why Calvin wasn't called first. Clarke did it to throw him off. Typically, the person who filed the claim is called first to explain their side with the remaining witnesses called to back those claims up. It isn't a hard rule for most courts in the US, but it is the most common practice. By calling everyone else first, Clarke is opening doors to other avenues and claims that he shouldn't be making, and it leaves Calvin in a spot to just fill in gaps made by his witnesses, which shouldn't happen. It just creates more work on Billy's part, since he may have to call the same witnesses again if there's a contradiction. As far as anything Billy has discovered...well, you won't have too much longer to find out.

And there are more witnesses and evidence to come.

This actually started off as Chapter 45, but I couldn't think of a way to properly condense Calvin's first unsupervised visit with the boys, so here we are with the long, drawn out court scenes.