Libby Drew

*nods* The term 'original slash', while popular a few years ago, has fallen off and the more aptly descriptive 'gay-themed fiction' or 'homoerotic ficton' have replaced it, at least in most online publishing houses.

That's happened to me. Those kids on ff.net have no shame. The plagiarism is blatant and widespread. Dom is lucky. I've had horrible luck with the mods there, and have had to rely on scathing reviews from other people to convince the "author" to remove the plagiarized materal. But I was under the impression that in this case Duncan's work was simply being archived (with him as listed author) without his permission. In my experience, that's pretty common, and is usually the result of someone being stupid, not malicious. I once had someone convert all my stories to PDFs and list them on his website as downloads, without an age check or anything. He was honestly shocked when I asked him to take them down. People don't think clearly sometimes. I hope Duncan can get this resolved quickly.

It's pretty common, unfortunately. I'm not sure my first step would be lawsuit, but it would be to contact the admins / site owner to let them know you didn't authorize the story to be distributed there. I've never had a problem having material removed promptly. In most cases, these are individuals who want to spread the word about your work. In their enthusiasm, they just went a bit too far. Good luck. I expect you should be able to resolve this quickly. This is all assuming, of course, that you've been credited as the author.

Happy Birthday, Corvus. Hope you get everything you wish for.

Hotel Carolina is a short story (~15 thousand words) that's about, fundamentally, death -- but not necessarily in its life-ending form. More it's about banishing the destructive forces in our lives to make room for the birth of more positive ones. Or maybe it's just about two people who've forgotten how to love. *shrug* Summary: You cant die until youve lived, and you havent lived until youve loved. At least thats the way Death explains it to Russ and Eric. Hotel Carolina Part I Part I of III posted 10/08/09

Happy Birthday, Paya! Hope you have a wonderful day.

I'm ready! I just need to decide which idea to go with. And then spend the next few weeks outlining and researching. Okay, now that's impressive. I'm going to be lucky to hit the 50K.

Thank you so much! I think you might be right about Marc's crew. A few of them are starting to suspect. Glad you enjoyed the chapter, and I promise not to make you wait so long for the next. Thanks again and take care.

What fantastic compliments! Thank you so much! I'll admit to liking this story quite a bit, not because it's the deepest thing I've ever written (far from it) or the best, to be frank, but I enjoy the characters. It's fun to write. I'm so glad you're enjoying it. Chapter 6 is done and should be uploaded by tomorrow. Thanks again! (And again, sorry I'm late with this reply.)

Hi Paya! Sorry for the lateness of my reply. You've really struck a chord with your comments. Nate and Sophie's father is the Evil here. As such, he will probably never be more than a flat, two-dimensional figure. Not that evil isn't vivid and complex, but that's not something I plan to explore here. If we're talking archetypes, I suppose he's the Trickster or Creature of Nightmare. I do hope to be able to come back to this story early next year. I have it outlined and several future parts written. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Nate and Sophie's father does return, and while he stays the straight-forward evil person we know him to be, the other characters will grow and change as a result of his reappearance. As to your second point, I have to agree. There are some stories best served by realism, others not so much. After all, a large element of fiction is wish fullfilment. Thanks again for the thougtful comments and feedback.

Happy Birthday, Steve!

Happy birthday! Hope it's a great one.

#7000! Do I win something? ;-p

Totally agreed! You could feel the pull between these two from their very first conversation, even if they tried to deny it. Great story, entertaining and satisfying. Thanks for sharing it, David.

Firstly, thank you all for reading and commenting. Each time I get a review on this story, it makes my day a little brighter. It's always been special to me. I love a good fairy tale. And I'm a sucker for happy endings. We don't see enough of them in real life. Thanks for your feedback, glad the pace of the developing relationship worked for you. Thank you. Thanks, Colin! You pegged Aaron's mother. That's exactly what she is. Flat, through and through -- completely uninvolved. And sadly, too often a reality. I'm thrilled you enjoyed the story. Again, thanks for reading. Take care.

Happy Birthday, Drewbie! Hope you have a wonderful day.

Loved chapter 5! Masterful, the way this is unfolding. Harry hasn't escaped anything. He's more trapped than ever. More, please!

Mark is right! (As if I expected any less. ) It's a provacative pose, and Tim is most definitely provacative. I'm loving watching these two come to life. Here's a toast to your imagination. Thank you very much!

Your writing teacher is very smart. And so are you for taking advantage of that knowledge. As painful as Evan's journey turns out to be, having one's mettle proven so early in life has advantages. Based on what I've read so far, I have complete faith you'll give us a great story. And ending. Thanks, and I'm glad you enjoyed Running Far Afield. Don't get me wrong. I love a good high school coming out story. Maybe too much. They can blend together after a while, but others definitely stand out. I've been shamelessly devouring CJ's In Due Time, and now I have this story to love. Read chapter four this morning. Wonderful! Evan's leaps of logic made me laugh. Can't wait for tomorrow!

Caught up with chapters 2-4 this afternoon, corvus. Great stuff! Beautiful to read, as usual, and I'm not sure I can even phrase that any better. Your prose has this smoooth, flawless rhythm that just doesn't quit. Aside from the quality of the writing, the story itself is fascinating. I love how you've put the quirk in the adventure genre. The world's already been saved, and the aftermath isn't the Happily Ever After we've come to expect. I'm having a blast putting all the pieces together in my head based on your clues. There's the grove, the anchorer, Berryman, and late nights in the computer lab... I'm eager to see the past played out as much as I want to see what Harry does with his second chance. LOL That last comment is very much like another I left earlier today on another story. Anyway, fantastic, fantastic, fantastic, but I've come to expect little else from you. I'll be eagerly awaiting the next chapters!

Just read through chapter three, and I'm enjoying the story very much. Honestly, I don't normally go for the 'high school' genre, but you're approaching things from a unique direction, and I think that helps. You've fleshed the characters out very well in a short period of time, and the dialog is witty. As interested as I am in the back story of Adrian and Even, I'm glad you're not skimping on the grieving aspect. I see lots of potential here. I'll be on the lookout for updates. Thanks for sharing your story. ~Libby

Maybe she was going around the world to the left.

My secret's out! I'm a romantic at heart. Well, you have two things going on here, don't you? You mention wanting to write 'love'. I bet you could, with your hands tied behind your back nonetheless. Some people will feel it and some people may not, which goes for any emotion brought on by the written word. If you wanted to write a convincing gunshot victim scene, I could tell you things like...there's a moment of unreality, very brief, then a flash of ice cold, like you've been dipped in ice water, then pain so intense it makes you vomit. You get dizzy as shock sets in. You cry. You wonder why your blood feels so hot. Sticking detail like that into a story can sell the scene to just about anybody...except to those who have been shot and who've had a completely different experience. They may say, 'It's nothing like that.' What they mean, of course, is that it wasn't like that for them. Since I doubt you're curious about parental/child love, and instead romantic love, I'll admit to loving three men and two women in my life. One I've been attached to for seventeen years. The others were relationships that lasted different peiods of time -- the shortest six months (she threw me over for a blonde), the longest four years -- but I loved them all. Was it as strong as the love I have for my husband? That's a tough question. Those relationships are years old. They felt very strong at the time. Nor will I bore you with all the trappings of what I think make a successful marriage, much of which is cooperation, sacrifice, and compromise... not three-day romantic weekends in the Poconos. You want to know about love, and, believe it or not, I can come to a point, so here it is: I'd willingly, without a thought, without the slightest hesitation, die for him. I value my life, don't get me wrong, but if I saw him threatened, my first emotional reaction would be to put myself in between him and harm. Does everybody feel like that? Probably not. Maybe. Who knows? There are infinite ways to love. A nod to your observations about the social aspects of love and romance. And I have a whole slew of thoughts on love as a social convention, but I will save them for later, before you ban me from your blog for being too long-winded. Take care, my dear. And best of luck.

Just like people who want to be rich, there are people everywhere who want to be 'in love'. But just like money, there's 1 rich human being for every 1,000,000 who aspire to it. But that doesn't stop them from faking. Fake it 'til you make it, don't they say? Just like millions worldwide who invest well beyond their means to appear 'rich', there are millions worldwide who invest unnatural amounts of effort to appear 'in love'. They buy extravagant gifts ('my husband bought me diamonds, he must really love me'), they have romantic getaways ('we're going to Hawaii in March, we're so in love'), they meet regularly for 'dates' and eventually co-habit... See? I believe the complete opposite. I believe there are people, millions, who everyday tell themselves they aren't in love, when they are. But as love is as subjective as pornography (), that's impossible to prove. Instead I'll caution against speaking for other people about their feelings, and add an example that references sex, because I'm just one-track minded that way. Every time someone says, "Normal people don't do that in bed," what they're really saying is, "I don't do that in bed." I hope the parallel is clear. Good luck with your story.

Thanks! And the feeling's totally mutual. Also, I've got an open-door policy, no need to knock. As long as you're not shocked at what you might see.