W_L

Thanks for the pin @Valkyrie, I'll return the favor and you might see me attempt another one of these prompts this weekend

I love the anthologies on GA and I agree completely with @Carlos Hazday that it's a great way to get your name out there or if you are like me, someone not super followed nor completely alien to readers, it's a good time to experiment with new stories and concepts. Play with themes, genres, or even characters. You just never know what might catch your imagination or the imagination of readers that sparks a larger adventure.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/35699997-axios This book was something that I heard a lot of good things about from readers, who also enjoyed the Song of Achilles. Ancient Greece is one of those things I learned about in middle and high school with my classical education. Like many kids, my education focused on the virtues of the ancient Athenian society and its democratic value system. Yet, as I grew older, I found myself drifting to different areas of ancient Greece, including Theb

Lucky for these guys, we're not actual literary critics, just amateur peer authors with a strong opinion I agree with you, not everything has to be loved or liked equally, but be able to reason why you think there are issues with a book or story beyond just personal opinion or taste. I've tried to do that with my gay book and now Anime/Manga reviews, I know some stories are stronger than others, some authors with great stories had a bad story concept, or in the end, there was a major problem with how characters worked. There's also a cultural element in stories too, For your book, Chronicle of a Death Foretold is told from a Latin American cultural landscape with their own sensibilities that might be alien to say US or Canadian cultural perspective. It may be popular with its target audience due to the elements of the story people identify with. The same was true when I reviewed the Manga and Anime Series, Super Lovers, which to me felt uncomfortable and was borderline child grooming between the gay couple with a 9-year age gap, meeting when they were respectively 17 and 8, while slowly getting into a relationship at 23 and 14. Yet, Japanese female audiences loved the manga and anime to the point of having a 2nd season and 16 volumes. I have to leave my perspective and try to understand why so many female audiences enjoyed it for an honest review, so I looked at why the plot might interest the target audience.

Thanks Chris, I know there are a few readers for a short story, it's not a bad showing. I do enjoy writing and coming up with little things like this just to get my juices going for bigger projects.

A nice review @Drew PayneEven if the story wasn't that good. Not every book is going to be loved, even what many call classics or even award-winning novels, so don't feel bad for writing a negative review of a book others enjoyed. I have been holding off reviewing a book with similar issues based on your description. It's Less by Andrew Sean Greer and I am really debating it out. Sure the author won the Pulitzer for the book, but it is one of the hardest books to really get into or derive meaning from. It meanders from one subject to another without ever fully realizing its potential (maybe that's the vogue, question everything without giving any concrete substance). It won literary awards, so I am giving it another slow read and a bit of patience before writing a review.

Thanks, I am glad you enjoyed this light romance story. I wanted to create something relatable for people, so I am happy that Mark strike the right chord with you as well.

Great, I just fixed a small typo as well.

Try it now

I must be crazy to be running in this heat in the middle of July, but I have to keep up my cardio routine to maintain. I had thought running at night might help, but this crazy heatwave has made the night just as bad as the day. I know my need to run is psychological, growing up overweight and being the butt of many jokes left deep scars. In my heart, I just don’t want to be that guy and can’t let anyone see that insecure part of me. That’s why I lost most of my weight and got in shape a couple

A collection of short stories from prompts on GA

And like that @Valkyrie you inspired me to write a short story: https://gayauthors.org/story/w_l/wls-prompts-short-stories/1

Lol! Prompt 70 would be a wonderful dream, there have been times especially when I am waiting for a bus or just sitting at a bench when a nice sounding guy would be near. The thing about blind people, or people with variable visual ability, the sound of someone's voice can be useful to help ascertain various things from a distance measure to personal temperament. I might take up the prompt just for fun. Very true @CassieQ, people with disability aren't often represented well in fiction. There's a certain mentality that due to our disability, all disabled must be babied or are fragile. Many do require help sometimes, but for the most part, most don't need constant support. ---------------------- I helped an author on GA with a story dealing with some of these topics a few years back. If anyone needs some perspective from a blind gay author, feel free to ask. @Nick Brady and his story, Love is Blind

RIP Michelle Nichols When I heard of her passing, my mind was reminded of this scene from Star Trek II, which she was part of.

Does a rainbow rabbit, named Robby, count?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Lovers This is one of those Anime and Manga that I stumbled across in my review of all the BL stuff I’ve missed in the last decade. Published in 2010 and continuing to present, it’s very popular among BL readership, mainly Japanese women. As a gay man watching and reading this material, part of me was wondering, “WTF, how is this so popular” and I have to remove my perspective to understand the point of view from a female readership. I know many readers o

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55424906-here-s-to-us Oh Boy! This is one of those sequels you need to read the prior book before continuing because you will not be able to understand the emotional resonance without it. I am so glad I re-read the 1st book a week before I began reading this book back in January. Arthur and Ben were so innocent and sweet in book 1, it reminds me of a simpler time a few years ago before the Pandemic. Book 2 has them growing up and maturing into adults with

On this point Bill, @Zombie was right, his original post was from June 21st 2012, not 2022, so it would have been 100th anniversary of Alan Turing birthday based on that point in history. He just re-opened this topic back in June 2022 to discuss recent developments in computer science, then we all came in with our own.

Thanks for sharing and I completely get it as a gay guy with limited vision. A lot of people don't think much of it, because I don't show off my limitations in the past. My vision does affect how I love and how my instincts for attraction operate as I grew older. When my eyesight started getting worse and blurrier before the cornea transplant, I had to use my white cane, which I don't think many people knew about. Guys, whether gay, bi, or straight, can be sympathetic like any other human being, but I'm not a person who wants sympathy sex or dependency. With my eye disease, I know it's hard to love someone who has limitations, but I do hope that you find someone out there, too, beyond just a guy or girl to warm your bed.

One of the sad truths about being gay and single, it's hard to have a relationship with a decent guy. Sex is a few clicks away, but someone who wants to talk, make dinner together, or walk around the streets is harder to come by. Then, when you do find those kinds of guys, there's a fatal flaw with them: they enjoy sneaking kisses in back alleys (Uh, it's dark and the dumpster reeks), they blow out your tastebuds with some kind of pepper since you told them you enjoy spice (I like spicy, but God, I'm not looking to swallow fire), and the conversations are scary bad (How did a conversation about cartoons we like turn into school shootings). All this stuff does leave you feeling empty after a while. I wonder if it's this hard looking for love with other single gay guys?

So who wants to play a game of chess: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jul/24/chess-robot-grabs-and-breaks-finger-of-seven-year-old-opponent-moscow Playing devil's advocate here: if a computer program were a human child, being forced to play 3 consecutive games of chess against other players for entertainment and profit without rest, we might consider it a form of child abuse. If he/she/they act up, we would reason with the child and criticize its parents for ignoring basic needs. However, a computer program is not considered a child and thus there is no ethical process within its mind to differentiate between its actions to achieve its goals. This reminds me of Joshua from the 1980's movie WarGames, conceptually the idea was spot on about teaching an AI how to stop playing and understand why not playing is better than winning at all costs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitation_(manga) Why am I reviewing this old series? Believe it or not, it was my first gay anime series as a young fan. Before Queer as Folk, Shameless, or the mountains of books I have read or reviewed, there was a little comedy Anime series called Gravitation that I was introduced to as a 17-year-old member of the anime club. Originally published between 1996-2002, the manga was modestly successful, the Anime series broadcasted in 2004 was released to wor

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/920057.Death_Claims?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=T8a4R2nhDH&rank=3 This book feels like a standard plotline in today’s reading: a man murdered on a beach, then it leads to the seedy side of Hollywood and theater actors’ illicit relationship. Written in 1973, this book was a pioneer in these simple tropes. While I am not a fan of the story’s plot or the tragic outcomes for all the LGBT characters, there’s a lot to be said about classic st

I stopped writing this 6 years ago, but I am glad you enjoyed it. I know a bunch of readers have asked me about continuing it, but it would be a difficult journey back into this world with so many changes in the last 6 years. I wonder if people would accept a time-skip

True about Trevor, it's not underrated, but it is the first thing I think about when it comes to gay shorts That little movie inspired a generation. I think A Friend of Dorothy might be up your alley then as it is underrated nowadays considering the term has fallen out of usage with the advent of mainstream gay culture and I liked the Boys Life series depiction of gay life with its beauty and warts. I'd also suggest a few other shorts if those hit your interest. If you want more feature-length films: a few shorts have been made into feature-length films, like Dare, Yossi and Jagger (this one has a sequel), and The Way He Looks, so those are not underrated. If you're in the mood for comedy, I'd suggest the Italian film Loose Cannons, made in 2010. I have been trying to find a few more recent gay comedies, but most of them are Manga or Anime related.