W_L

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16174363-dark-space This will mark my 69th review and my first 100K word series on GA, I have probably written more book reviews than anyone else on this site at this point. To mark this moment, I want to offer readers a hidden gem in the gay science fiction genre. Most readers know this is my favorite genre and the genre that got me into reading gay fiction, but it is a very limited selection at times. At its core, Dark Space is a human story in its natu

Thanks @chris191070for reading It will depend on how big of a fan reaction is.

Melody of Rain Since folks wanted me to continue a little more with the story, I did with a set of prompts that seemed perfect for it. Again, thank you @Aditus Playing with the music theme, I wanted to flesh out Brad's character a bit more. Brad is an independent non-identifying queer blind male pianist, which I think fits him more than anything else. A free spirit yearning for human connection. Most people with full abilities can have connections easily, while disabled people have to risk their trust and bodies to explore. Being disabled makes a lot of things harder, including hookups or dating. It takes a bit of courage to do what Brad does, maybe a lack of sense as well, but for a romantic like him, it's worth the risk. I can't say I have done as much risk-taking as Brad, being low vision myself, but I've had some odd and scary near hookups. You have to dust yourself off and just put yourself out there again, sadly to a greater extent than most people realize. As music was the core of the last story, I wanted to narrow the musical choice down to 2 musical pieces this time: First, "Chopin's Raindrop" is a classic masterpiece that really highlights a flurry of emotions. Chopin composed this piece, while he was ill on the island of Majorica with his lover George Sand, a famous 19th-century biologically female author who portrays herself as a male in everyday life (to some queer historians, one of the greatest transgender male authors of the 19th century). I thought it would be a good piece of reference for folks into music or history. I may not be as good of a historian as @Mark Arbour, but I do like to throw in a few references from time to time for those into that stuff like me. The second musical choice is the iconic "The Sound of Silence", which I recalled had a stanza near the end contemplating raindrops falling into a well of silence due to the lack of expression. I thought it was a good way to express something from an artist to the object of his affections, reflecting on the lack of expression between them with more than just mere conversation. I hope readers enjoy this new short story

Thanks @Librent A bunch readers from before had wanted a sequel short story to my first to explore Brad and Mark's coffee date at Brad's home.

@Aditus I present you with my answer to both your prompts Melody of Rain

Melody of Rain (Mark) I’m pretty much fucked, how can I ever relate to Brad? We’re too different to ever work romantically and sexually, I am afraid I am going to hurt him accidentally if he’s interested in sex. Do blind people have sex? Do they know what being gay is, if there’s no visual frame of reference? I visualize everything in my life, my body is a good example of it. My fear of being bullied as a kid for being obese led me to admire the male body. It’s that appreciation

Oh, I remember that anime. I believe it was an early attempt to satirize the nascent BL tropes that were prevalent in the early 2000s. It also had a lot of cosplay as well. Ouran High School is kind of a satire on Fujoshi ("Rotten girl"/ female BL culture) enthusiasts. Lots of shipping combinations among the characters, but most of them are heterosexual if I recall, including the twins In terms of my favorite satirical anime from that period, hands down it would be Hetalia, I still think the subtext of Germany and Italy being in a "will they/won't they" relationship is cute.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukisho As I have noted, not all anime or manga were created the same way; in this case, the catalyst for this story started with a video game. This story is one of the weirdest things that I have ever read or seen. It’s unique as the origins of the story came from a BL video game, which had a lot of romantic options for Japanese audiences. Japanese readers and gamers have far more gay options than their western counterparts even by today’s standards. The firs

Thanks Chris for reading Chapter 2

Indian myths are interesting, they're more aligned with transgender themes than same-sex based on my recollection, but they do have interesting epic battles. Of course, I've heard about Agni (who exists in both Hinduism as a physical god and Buddhism as an element of fire in texts) in some myths having shall we say "oral fixation" , I wonder what his wife thinks

Thanks, it is true a lot of classic Chinese mythology is a bit more conservative, but there are a few exceptions like Journey to the West. My favorite non-conservative myth though would be the Legend of the White Snake, the forbidden love and the religious bigotry that prevented the two lovers from being together are common themes in modern LGBTQ fiction. (You might see something in this story that connects with that one ) Like I said, I am familiar with some Chinese fantasy, along with Japanese as well.

Chapter 2 is here I wanted to thank the readers, again, for joining me in this story. I honestly didn't think many people would be interested in this kind of story. GA is not AO3, there's fan-fictions and historical fantasy, but they are localized to select topics and genres. I have yet to see any East Asian Fantasy story, nor fan fictions from popular non-western stories on GA. I hope I am opening people's minds and eyes to the vast cultural landscape of gay fiction from a different corner of the world, maybe inspire readers and authors to do some more exploration of their own. As for chapter 2, I wanted to showcase the characters' personalities as I interpret them from my readings of their respective stories. For Xie and Hua from Heaven Official's Blessing, they are very different: Xie is more introspective at times with lifetimes of suffering and pain in his experiences, while Hua is far brasher and tricky with how he handles others as he lost his mother in his human life, along with his father and stepmother mistreating him as a child. I think as parents they represent the 2 sides of the "reason"-based parenting style and the "tough love"-based style based on their different experiences. Sun Wukong in my interpretation as a child is highly intelligent, adaptable, and cynical. He was born out of the seemingly endless human suffering that he absorbed as a celestial stone. To most western viewers of the classic TV series "Monkey" based on Journey to the West, he's a comical and cunning character, but to readers of the original novel, he's a nuanced character. He was a child, who grew up around suffering, but he was intelligent enough to understand that this should not be how the world should be. His intelligence though is what should show through his character, he can make good plans and goals. A few minor details: I made a few in-jokes for the readers of Heaven Official's Blessing, Xie is well renowned for his bad cooking, causing several gods in the story to fall deathly ill (despite being immortals) and when he attempts to make alterations with sewing needles, he creates crimes against fashion For readers of Journey to the West, Sun Wukong's peach adventure and the mention of Xiwangmu are nods to his famous scene in the story, where he goes up to her garden and snatched hundreds of her prized immortal peaches, which would grant immortality to anyone who ate them (he was already immortal by the time of eating these, so it just made him even more powerful and unkillable). Another lesser-known fact about Sun Wukong that I referenced, he's not adept at swimming. In order for him to enter water and perform several of his famous feats in the novel, he had to use magic to transform himself or the water around him, basically manipulating matter/reality, in order for him to defeat Ocean gods or river demons. As child, Sun Wukong without magic would be far more susceptible to his issues around water. Hope my readers enjoyed this chapter, let's see what the reaction is, and maybe I'll write the third chapter soon. I did not expect this story to generate many readers and was thinking it would just be a one-off project. If readership rises to equal to or greater than my most well received story True as It Can Be's 45 followers, I'll consider making it a weekly publishing schedule and extending the story into a large-scale novel. I don't think it will be that well received, but I will offer it to fans as a possibility.

Chapter 2: “It is time for us to roll,” Hua Cheng tells his husband as he pulls out his Distance Shortening Array Dice. These magical dice allow its wielder the ability to traverse great distances by rolling a precise amount. They do not expend much spiritual energy, unlike a standard spell, and warn their wielder if the endpoint of the transit is dangerous. As such, there will be very little to trace from any Di mage or priest with knowledge of spiritual energy. Xie Lian holds the han

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52314536-bitter-heat After book 2’s amazing representation and triumphant hurrah for its main characters accepting their sexualities, I had to continue onto book 3. I finished this book right around the time the US Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade’s right to abortion was leaked, so I scrapped my plans to publish a review. I didn’t want people to think I write my reviews for cheap applause or political brownie points, so I held off postin

Thanks I wasn't sure if there were any readers interested in this kind of story, I thought it would just be a passion project.

It's a fan-fiction story and a passion project. I usually don't write fan-fiction or historical fantasy for that matter, but the idea came to my mind rather quickly after I was able to read through Heaven Official's Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. The idea of a powerful gay martial (warrior) god from the Chinese Taoist immortal pantheon caught my attention. Later the same day, I was in a conversation with my father discussing classic Chinese literature, and he pointed out that Sun Wukong's (Son Goku in Japanese, or the Monkey King in English) Taoist teacher, Puti Zuoshi, was a false honorific name as the true name of his master was never known even in mythology. I got to thinking, what if Xie Lian continued living despite being forgotten as a God and being sustained by his immortal ghost husband as the novels implied? He is still one of the strongest, if not the outright strongest god in the Taoist pantheon, far surpassing even an Emperor of Heaven or the great sages equivalent to Laozi. Only someone like that could have taught the monkey king. Hua Cheng in contrast would be a great foil, he has a prankster side to him and an edgy personality that comes off as rude to most other immortals, it would help form one of the core characteristics that Monkey King possessed later in life. Yes, this is a fantasy version of gay parenting, but it's an interesting concept with massive payoffs. As to the concept of being a rebel, the monkey king's greatest feat is not merely his journey to gain the Buddhist sutras, but his rebellion against heaven and earth. Classic scholars and even modern leaders, depict the Monkey King as being someone with a huge ego and pride, especially Confucian followers with their rigid hierarchy, who vehemently vilify him in a similar light that westerners would call out the antichrist, As readers, we know he's not evil, a little bit of a prankster and rude at times but he's kind, generous, and courageous to most people. Other people throughout history have found cause for his rebellious streak too, because the nature of the world was corrupt from the earth to the heavens, so rebellion was not wrong. The backdrop for the story being the chaotic Sixteen Kingdoms and Six Dynasty period is perfect to highlight how his worldview is shaped, this period was akin to the Dark ages in Europe when barbarian people invaded China from several Proto-Russian groups who wanted to form expansive empires (somethings never change). It's a great setting to create stories and expand on an already rich body of modern literature and classic literature. I doubt many readers will be interested in this area of fantasy, GA is not AO3, but I wanted to offer something different to the mundane fanfictions or fantasy fare that we have. I think I am the first GA writer to actually use a few of these tags in my story as well.

The streets of Chang’an were filled with merchants from various ranks and they loudly proclaimed prices. However, such sounds of prosperity hid an ugly truth, the merchandise they sold were people held in shackles. Some were the Han descendent of former residents, whose very storefronts were being used to sell them. There were people of all shapes, genders, and ages being paraded naked and sold like meat. Their uses ranged from the mundane services of translator, carpenter, or blacksmith to the

Prologue: After three thousand years since the fall of Heavenly Emperor, Jun Wu, the three realms have seen the rise and fall of many kings and emperors. Most recently, the old order of gods was replaced by new immortals, who won their seats through martial triumphs during the Fengshen Bang (封神榜), defeating the manipulative nine-tailed fox spirit, Daji, and her cruel earthly husband, King Wu of the Shang Dynasty. The Jade Emperor now reigns in the heavens with his court. On Earth, those who

During a time of great turmoil, when emperors and gods rose to power and fell within a lifetime. A child was born from an ancient celestial stone. He will be known by many names and his fame will reach beyond the three realms one day, but before any of that, he was a child. He needed to be cared for and taught by men, who did not fear him and allowed him to be himself.

Thank you for reading these and appreciating the books.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40103645-alpha-heat How do you write an interesting and reflective LGBTQ story within the stereotypical omegaverse genre? I started my book review series a year ago with book 1 of the Heat of Love series, Slow Heat. Now I am an old hand at writing these reviews, but I still feel like I am only scratching the surface of what is available in gay fiction and stories. Leta Blake has remained one of my favorite authors in gay fiction over the years, she has a

Sounds like an interesting autobiographical story, I do not see it in the US version of Amazon's Kindle, is it limited to certain countries like UK and Commonwealth?

Really depends like you said @Valkyrie I've done both types of writing. To me, it comes down to how the story needs to flow from one point to another and what you want to establish in the plot. My anniversary entry is shorter than the entry I did for the Holiday Anthology last year, it felt right to be more minimal and natural.

After watching my most recent gay Anime binge, Heaven Official's Blessing, and starting on the books in the same series, I've begun to get a bit more philosophical about gay romance, when confronted with such a slow burn gay romance that allows me to deconstruct what gay romance is. My forays into various stories and books revolving around gay relationships from mundane high school boyfriends to intergalactic soap opera power couples has given me some food for thought, I've also compared notes with how writers on GA have written gay romance, including myself, and have a few interesting observations. 1. What writers describe in our romance stories, including my own, isn't really love, but rather its attraction and the building blocks of love. Before you can have a relationship, you first must have attraction. Then, you build on that attraction through interaction or conflict. Finally, in the end, you have a relationship, but even then, it is not love. (Sorry to burst so many people's hopeful Happily Ever After bubble, but the ending of stories when two guys end up together is just cementing the relationship) 2. Further, once the characters are in the relationship and face struggles that enhance the relationship, it is still not love yet. It is an important building block of love though under the principle of endurance. Romantic couples that can endure and triumph against all odds are some of the best characters in fiction because they are proving themselves to each other. 3. Undercutting everything though and the building blocks of love is the blueprint for love to exist, something far more intangible than attraction and far more powerful than endurance during times of strife. It is the concept of devotion. Love is almost like a religion in some ways with its various interpretations and applications, so the same truth that exists in religious followers' beliefs can exist in partners. Without devotion, there can be no love between characters, because it is the devotion that allows you to endure after attraction fades and conflicts cease. 4. Devotion is a powerful concept, something many want to channel for their own needs and purposes. From the corporate leader trying to sell you into his culture to the politician trying to persuade you into his ideology, everyone wants you to be devoted to them. The most extreme exist within faiths and authoritarian regimes, that seek to hold your sole devotion, so you may only love what they love. As Orwell pointed out in his novel 1984, Replace "Big Brother" with "Church", "Motherland", or "(Insert leader name)", then you get the same absolute devotion and love. 5. I think another reason why gay romance is so hated and feared isn't just due to the arguments about legality or tradition, but rather the fact that it takes the individual away from those who want their devotion. Those who can think for themselves, who have something to live for beyond wealth, ideology, or values, we do not play by the rules. Those who can love fully and deeply with full devotion to the concept alone are as powerful as any faith or regime. ------------ This is just my musings, maybe I am just drunk off gay romance overload.

Thanks @Aditus, when your prompt brought up phantom images and "perception", the idea gelled in my mind. It was a departure from how I usually write, but I am glad I surprised you with something interesting. I am nowhere near Rod Serling levels of plot twists yet