W_L

I've finished off the entire first batch of stories yesterday @Valkyrie It's a good selection and start to this anthology, I am surprised by the positive reactions to my story and am grateful for all the readers and reviewers.

Thank you, hopefully, the image that people see can be changed like an off-color sweater

Thank you, I was sort of worried it was too abstract as social commentary goes, but seems like most people responded well to the concepts I put forward.

Thanks for reading @wizard Sometimes just finding love and that special someone is worth more than never having it, even if it didn't last forever due to circumstance

I'm glad you appreciated all the emotional resonance and the charm of the special love these boys shared.

Thanks Chris, I am glad to inspire your thoughts

Thanks @drsawzall for reading

Sexually charged and reminds everyone of their first time, well done! Comsie, you have always had a way to tell amazing tales about young lovers and hitting the right emotional notes of surprise, fear, awe, and wonder that is present in youth. This one is no exception.

I love hamsters, you are so cute with your little twitchy noses. If I get to be your friend (not owner, because no one wants to be owned), I promise not to force you to run on a little wheel or push a roller around for exercise. It's a good way to remind folks that the natural world is something we should love and cherish

Hopefully, Congress will pass the same-sex marriage bill this month, thus protecting it for our lifetime. Still, I fear that this will not completely help everyone, because there are several draft amendments in the bill, which would protect "religious liberty" essentially, creating a segregationist alignment in government for those who will administer and offer services for same-sex married couples and those who will refuse to do so. The core issue that kind of amendment hurts the LGBT community is that the Supreme Court and government authorities have long forgotten the separation of Church and State as a principle between acts of government and acts of an individual. Once you have that kind of mindset, it becomes impossible to maintain the rule of law.

Nice poems: I thought the first one was probably stronger with its visceral appeal from the perspective of an abused partner recognizing the abusive relationship and ultimately attempting to leave. That was a thrilling and dark poem. The second one came across as a meditation on a past lover, perhaps someone unwilling to leave the closet, but the perspective is still of longing and love.

Beautiful poem, twenty years of love and longing. To me, I interpret the poem from the perspective of a gay/bi person being involved with someone in the closet, who just couldn't come out or commit. Yet, you never stop loving them, though regret their choices.

Amazing and very visceral, it was not a poem that readers enjoy, rather it is something we experience in the perspective of an abused lover/partner/spouse. @Headstall Thank you for sharing this great piece with us!

A very charming UK-based tale with amazing characters, set several decades in the past, it highlights the magic of love and bonds. Also, the Ford Anglia 105e isn't too shabby. If you enjoy a quaint nostalgic drive with lovely characters, feel free to give this story a read

@Mancunian This is an amazing story, I love John and Steve's relationship that was lifted up by the simple exchange of vows these two men had. Before the time of gay marriage or even acceptance of gay relationships as anything beyond dreams, people like lived and loved. It's a nice little story.

Thanks Carlos, glad you liked it to the point of hugging and cherishing a tree. (I call dibs on best person duties during the wedding... ) You noticed I added some conservation elements in there. Another one of those things I usually don't add to my stories.

True, most shifter stories have happy endings, but sometimes a tragic ending helps brings the point across, especially when the story themes match up. Authors shouldn't be afraid to offer tragedy, just don't make it a habit

Thank you @Cia and the entire team of GA for organizing this wonderful anthology

Thanks @astone2292, I wanted to offer something unique and summer-like for my entry Thanks @Mancunian, I am glad you enjoyed it Thanks @Mrsgnomie, I am so glad and I am thankful for your assistance on this story as my editor as well Aye @Bill W, I wanted to evoke some memories of people who enjoyed nature and lived outside the urban world in their youth. Things have changed, even for someone like me who grew up in the 1990s-2000s, but I wanted to evoke a time even before that to when nature was still innocent and fresh, before human spoilage. PS: Just an FYI Bill, I submitted this story before I joined your writer support team. I don't usually write shifter stories, but you can see how my frame of reference follows shifters and natural environments. I do like the concept of immersive nature when writing about shifters, who in truth should carry some traits from their animal counterparts.

When I was fifteen years old, I met a boy in the woods. It was a time before smartphones, before the internet, and maybe even before memory now. I may have forgotten and forgiven much in my life, but I will never forget that time I had with him. I was in the woods because I didn’t want to face the cold realities of life at home, school, or any connection with human life. My parents were in a loveless marriage, where endearments like “darling” and words like “love” were poison-tipped spears for p

A boy heads into the woods and makes a lifelong promise

Aye, it's a step in the right direction though. Sometimes you want something light, but adventurous. Too often the shifter/Omegaverse stories tend to get bland and repetitive after a while. In this series, at least, the authors created an interesting over-arcing storyline and some stakes.

Thanks Chris

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52928603 Yes, I will review a shifter Omega series, so folks get a taste of this subgenre in mainstream gay fiction. I have read a fair deal of shifter stories and Omegaverse stories, most of them have no plot and the characters are bland as heck. Most stories have the shifters fall in love and impregnate the male Omega, who acts like a female character stand-in. I also have a love of dragons, whether they are European winged lizards with a penchant fo

The snake being evil probably is truer for Judeo-Christian influence and its connection with the devil. Most folks know eastern dragons are serpent-like, so I thought I would share the Chinese fable of how the snake came to be, at least the Asian variety. They're really sad creatures in the myth, they were compassionate and kind to humanity, so wouldn't carry out the orders from the gods (in all versions of the tale, same truth). Then, when they lost their immortality, claws, and arms, the same humans were told to despise and hunt them by the same gods, who had wanted to kill the humans in the first place. It's a tragic fable of how kindness doesn't always get repaid.