W_L

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.

A boy heads into the woods and makes a lifelong promise

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

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.

Chapter 5 I wanted to show off a skilled military operation that wins an entire battle without costing any lives. Some people will say, is that even possible? Technically, it required a lot of precision, timing, and extremely good luck, which are all attributes that Hua Cheng possesses in excess. Hua Cheng was asked by Xie Lian to keep the army of Huan family alive, but simply to remove their threat. Putting them all to sleep through the use of grounded herbs and powders being sprinkled from the summit of the mountain would achieve all those aims, plus gain fame for the Xie Xuan as a capable general and bounty giver. Another interesting fact about ancient Chinese troops of the day, there was a lot of looting and spoils that happened after defeating an enemy, it's how soldiers can make their income beyond the small base pay they get from their lord. A victorious general would attract more followers and soldiers, primarily due to how much booty they can gain from the opposing side. In this circumstance, where 5,000 men robbed 100,000 men of everything including their clothing, you will start seeing a lot of soldiers wanting to join in. Wang Tsai is an original LGBT character, he's probably best described as a bottom-training Some gay and bi guys are just attracted to strong men, but neither Hua Cheng nor Xie Lian will ever cheat on each other, they're so loyal and faithful to each other that in their own novel, married straight couples worship them to keep their marriages intact (Yay, gay marriage is revered for its stability!). I wanted to write that little scene between him and Hua Cheng just so folks don't get the wrong idea, the sleep-inducing powder is not meant to be used as a date rape drug. Now as for the two myths I introduced in this chapter: Yes, the Hmong people are a real ethnic minority in China and Southeast Asia. They are traditionally thought of as an offshoot of the Chinese Yellow river people, who were forced out in prehistory. The myth surrounding those events became part of the legend of the Yellow Emperor and the Battle of Zhoulu, which according to the myth resulted in the banishment of the Jiuli, the ancestors of the Hmong and Miao people. Also after the conquest and consolidation of the Yellow River and Yangtze rivers, the Yellow Emperor did in legend start the Huaxia nation, which is nowadays used in modern China as a form of sino-nationalist philosophy. As for the story of the origin of the snake, it's a legend I heard as a child. I re-adapted it and made the context far more understandable to various audiences on what happened. It's an ugly affair showcasing how cruel the gods were even among their peers if you disobey their commands. It further highlights why someone like Xie Lian would leave the Heavenly Court and just be a roaming knight with his husband rather than having to obey such commands. An interesting issue with ancient Chinese mythology is that "legalism" as applied to absolute law is usually what caused a lot of Taoist gods and mortals to fall from grace. Furthermore, Chinese Buddhism applies a legalist practice in separation between natural and unnatural, essentially it's an early form of discrimination in fiction (anecdotally this may be considered a social commentary on ancient racism toward non-Asian people, since the White snake's human form has white skin). Basically, old-school Chinese Buddhism did not like the idea of natural (an Asian boy) falling in love with someone unnatural (A white snake girl) in the Legend of White Snake, something that western readers I bet haven't heard about or knew behind the "free love" and "spiritual" side that modern Buddhism showcases nowadays. The white snake will be part of the first story arc. I'll see how well this works out

Chapter 5 (The Xie Clan’s Army) Hua Cheng had been a teenage soldier defending his homeland of Xianle in his life, leading spirits in wars against both gods and men in death. He knew the way of the warrior far more than his husband, who possess brilliance in fighting and knowledge of various subjects, but could not wage war or in this case prevent a civil war from starting. Before setting out with the army, Hua Cheng had sent out his Deadly Silver Butterflies to do reconnaissance on th

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Given_(manga) Considered one of the best boys’ love manga and anime series in the last decade, it is only fitting that I end my run of anime and manga reviews with this series. It was one of the first anime series that I started watching after I regained a significant portion of my vision after my cornea transplant in late 2021, so it holds a special place in my heart. The manga series was released in English in 2020, but there were fan translations of it datin

Thanks Gary, Writing short prompt stories is allowing me to play and explore different styles of storytelling.

Thanks Chris, it's a possibility Thanks Gary My sister also sleepwalks too, she once made breakfast in her sleep. In the morning, when she saw the cold omelet, sausage, and gluten-free toast, she asked who did it. We told her she did. Stress contributes to the level of sleepwalking, you do things in your sleep that you may think about doing in your waking moments.