W_L

This might be sacrilege to diehard fans of this sci-fi franchise, but I did not finish TekWar by William Shatner, nor do I have any intention to read the series.

True, writing teens in these stories is extremely hard. One of the reasons why I've considered keeping the MC young is I don't want the love interest and the MC to have too much of an age gap that violates site rules. If he's too old, then it gets uncomfortable and morally dubious. As for blood livestock, they're naturally going to need to be young and "bred" to maximize performance for their future recipients. According to one report I was reading, an 20-year old blood donor to a 67 year old resulted in nearly 20-year regression of organ function improvement for the elder recipient (Scary that these studies are going on). I'm pushing the limits of the science, it's no different than breeding horses, cattle, or pigs for the ideal outputs. In this case, human beings are commodified for performance.

Feeling like a classic

I thought I'd write out my story ideas from a recent brainstorming session: -Firstly, the genre would be speculative fiction/science fiction about a near-future society, based on the recent advances of young blood transfusion and convalescent plasma therapy, which President Trump and key advisers supported versus mRNA vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. It's one of the areas that traditional regulatory guidelines might not have caught up to the data, which indicates this approach might be highly effective for general population immunity. -It's a dystopia, but how do you get from our current world to one where wealthy and powerful elders begin farming human beings for literal immortality Incentivize certain groups to become dependent on your enterprises, reducing the free flow of capital. Essentially, it's monopolization based on crony capitalism, we've started seeing formations of such groups in technology and finance, i.e. can a restaurant or a private plumber, carpenter, or electrician operate without credit to obtain goods or tools. Controlling intellectual or monetary capital, the principle is the same Create a crisis to stimulate decentralization. If you offer different segments of various groups and interests benefits, you can maintain an upper hand by keeping civil administration fragmented and impotent. Say the country is being invaded by a foreign power or have a surplus of illegal immigrants who cannot be expelled and cannot be used as labor force, the offer of being "livestock blood donors" might be appealing. (Around 3 million illegal immigrants exist in the US right, would be hard to get rid of by force, but not hard to convert into human material under the right conditions) The modern vampire society is run like a feudal state, where there's a nominal king from the elder vampire elites, but each vampire group/corporation/bloc would have more power than any appointed leader of the king. Such a society should not exist in a vacuum, other world powers should also be interested in similar practices, creating "Pop" wars, where populations from various countries are extracted to satisfy blood quotas. Religion and moral fluidity- Religious drift occurs over time, especially among the Judeo-Christian religion to allow for the use of blood livestock. Catholic and Protestant beliefs are co-opted by a new religion with various tenets that conform to the new social order, just like Medieval European Christians changed their pagan practices by changing gods to Saints for worship among other things. -Main Character- He should be part of a family of "freeholders", a term meant for those independent business owners and farmers in society. I imagine a boy in his early teens, around 12-13. He is deaf and does not have access to a hearing aide, nor was he taught sign language due to the poor educational standards in this society. Thus, the boy must rely on a notepad and pencil to communicate to others. He's skinny and bullied a lot by other freeholder. Update 1.1 Main Character- I am going to age up the male protagonist to 23 years old and change his background. Instead of being deaf (my other ongoing project's MC is deaf and I am using Sign language in that one) he'll be visually impaired (like myself, I am blind in one eye). He's the bastard son of the Queeney patriarch, an important family that manages and enhances the "blood livestock" for prospective buyers. Freeholders will be changed as people who can buy and train blood livestock for profit under contract with more powerful groups, making them akin to independent ranchers of our current world who operate on contract basis to raise cattle to larger meatpackers. New plot points: 6. The "vampire"/Lords of this world can custom order their blood livestock for various performance enhancements, i.e. say you want blood that has better oxygen flow like an athlete, you can have select special stock, which is trained for it. We see that right now with various athletic training programs that target specific bodily functions with top athletes and specialized livestock for certain tastes are common like the famous Wagyu Kobe Beef cattle raised in Japan that fetches thousands of dollars for an A5 rating. ---------------------- Now the question is how can I write a story that will allow the protagonist to make a difference in such a dystopian world? Yes, I could do the trope of him meeting one of the "blood livestock" boys and build a relationship, but then it would feel like I am writing a reinterpretation of an antebellum drama with the injustice of slavery. This isn't the old issue of slavery, it's more nuanced and societally complex, the arguments for human mortality is not something to toss around without some forethought. That's where I was stuck in brainstorming the story

Thanks guys, This is just me writing fanfiction in-between major projects. I'm glad people enjoy it.

For Tommy and me, the walk back to our apartment after work was unhurried. The bustling sounds of New York City filled the gaps between our sparse words, an ambient hum against the weight of the conversation we were about to have. Tommy already knew about Kayleigh’s abrupt visit to my clinic and the videotape she’d brought—though without an old-fashioned VCR, the tape's contents remained a mystery. I had told him everything: her disheveled state, the desperate threats, the tape, and finally, the

Right now, I am immersing myself in several online stories before I head off on vacation around Dec 16-20. One of them, I think some GA readers might find interesting, despite the difference in culture. It's called Back to My Youth, it's the story of a man, who goes back to the body of his high school self, and saves his best friend, later his boyfriend/partner, who would have died in a sanatorium due to the "treatments" for homosexuality. It's an interesting story as it comes from a Chinese cultural perspective. Here's a link for the fan translation https://chrysanthemumgarden.com/novel-tl/btmy/ The website is also pretty good if you're trying to get access to underground published gay literature from China, though private gay publishing exists in China, it is too censored to be exported (unlike Japanese/Korean BL), so it's rare to find english translations of gay Chinese novels.

May the Five Year Mission continue... Better than the JJ-verse, less lens flares

This reminded me of a scene from Futurama: "Someone's acting awefully aluminum"- Bender

As a writer, I prefer to be honest with my ending based on the circumstances of the characters, setting, and plot. As a reader, I prefer an ending with the possibility for more stories or imaginative potential (The end of one story should not just be "The End") As a beta reader, I prefer an ending where the writer follows through on his promises within the story, so my efforts and time were valued. --------- It's hard to put value judgement on an ending, depending on my role and perspective.

I took concepts from the movie for this, Kayleigh did become a drug addict prostitute in a timeline George gets arrested, but... Tommy's accident has a few more ramifications Maybe, maybe no

Oxygen is not flammable onto itself. Oxygen is an oxidizer that makes flames stronger, brighter, and more explosive. Oxygen can lower the ignition temperature of other materials, causing them to catch fire.

Kayleigh’s face twisted with anger and desperation, her eyes narrowed, her body coiled with the same greed I’d once seen in George Miller, her father. But this was no longer about George; it was about the path he’d forced us down and how, somewhere along the way, Kayleigh had become a fractured reflection of the trauma she endured. She saw others only for their value to her, much like her father did. I wanted to hate her, to blame her for Tommy losing his leg and for everything that had happened

Sunday drifted in a sleepy haze, calm and content. Tommy and I stayed close, wrapped up in each other, just existing together. His warmth grounded me, while memories from this timeline trickled into my mind. In the low, drowsy light of the morning, he shared pieces of his childhood I'd never heard before—small secrets he’d kept close all these years. Each one revealed his courage and scars, moments that had shaped him but also left him vulnerable. One memory stood out by the weight he place

George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt must circumvent their agents from pitching them another Ocean's movie until they can get script and director oversight

Isn't that glass half full or empty? In either description, the substance being measured covers half the maximum potential capacity. The arrow of time is biased with consciousness and perception is whether the substance is filled to reach half or depleted to reach half. Entropy in this case depends on on the system and observations. Pretty cool relationships.

A primitive beefcake having fun with a teenage boy... 😛 ----------- @Talo Segura Time in the scientific context is meant as an observational measurement, so it can be calculated assuming the subject has a beginning and ending. Essentially, it is the study of entropy. What I think you are referring to is the arrow of time as envisioned by British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington for the direction of time, based on his 3 principles, which includes conscious perception:

Well the end of the movie showed 2012 from Evan's perspective in a thriving NYC without a visible Freedom Tower, so I wanted to create an in-universe explanation for it. (In reality, the movie being filmed in 2002-3 would not have had ground-breaking of the Freedom Tower, which happened in 2006). I remembered the dropped investigation of the overbilling scandal and the lack of accounting for the $8 billion in liberty bonds issued after 9/11, so I created a plausible reason for the delay in construction. I like little historical details. Glad you're having fun

Saturday unfolded quietly, almost idyllic, as Tommy and I wandered the streets of New York. The city looked just as I remembered, yet there was a persistent sense of something "off"—a subtle reminder that this timeline was different from my own. Tommy seemed to notice my lingering glances, and with his usual gentle patience, asked what I was seeing. I pointed to the Freedom Tower, which was under construction and looked as formidable as ever. "In my timeline," I began, "they had to halt con

I think some vampire boys will be proud to perform some phelbotomies

Thanks, I'll need to figure out the road forward for this universe. It's far from over, but there's a lot to consider. Glad you enjoyed it ----------- I know the end in Russia is devestating, but it was heading in that direction for a while. This is an epilogue rather than a final chapter, because Eli has already revealed everything in the last chapter on what he, Robert, and the Mecha knights had done and will do. This entry just cements the brutality of this kind of strategy, but you can't deny it's efficient for reaching certain goals.

I thought I'd share some insights into my thought process for this story—both for readers and for myself if I ever wonder why I wrote something so alien to my own experience as a gay man. I'll focus on the genres and subgenres that shape this story to give a clearer frame of reference: Genres: Fantasy: Within the Fantasy genre, there's a subset called Isekai that originated in Japan and has expanded into Korean and Chinese fantasy fiction. The core idea is that a modern person is someh

A week before the final action on January 6th, I made my way alone toward the refugee encampment just outside Moscow. Dressed in rags, with sores on my feet and an emaciated frame, I aimed to blend in as one of the countless refugees. In the distance, I saw a massive blue-hued dome enveloping the city with an unearthly glow—a manifestation not of phantom energy but of another exotic particle. My ability confirmed it was a graviton bubble, identical to what a scout drone had detected months ago d

Here's the thing, I do enjoy the movie and felt like it was such a bitter love story between Evan and Kayleigh. Do I think they belong together? No, it's quite toxic especially with how it began (Childhood sexual exploitation and abuse is not grounds for forming a deeper love story). However, after rewatching it, I wondered what was Tommy's deal with his hatred for Evan. Is it merely just a brother's overreaction to his sister's lover? Is it the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father (which I assume was not just limited to what we saw in the film based on the implications)? Plus the whole, "finding Jesus" thing that gives his life purpose in the movie, it just made me feel like Tommy had an unrequited crush on Evan. While the ending of the movie implies everyone is better off, I'm not quite sure if Tommy being a closeted gay man repressing his sexuality really is a happy ending for him or the world at large. Now as for Evan, he's different. On the surface, he's 100% hetero and there's no doubt that he's had many female lovers over his timelines. However, my question is why? He's more sexually active in the timelines when he was sexually exploited alongside Kayleigh, but in a reality without that, he's been portrayed as being alone or with his friend Lenny without a female companion (He should have had developed relations with someone else). I went with the thought that Evan based on the development track with his flashback ability would be asexual, if he were not exposed to hetero experiences. So, in this kind of setup, what would happen when an unrequited love and a blank slate interact? A love story of course. Of course there's issues, Evan still remembers his time with Kayleigh fondly. He is aligning his thoughts of previous timelines with this current one. Plus, Tommy is disabled in this timeline (mysterious cause, hmm...wonder when will that Chekov gun go off). This story might get dark at times, but it is far nicer and happier than others I've written. I don't often write love stories, but I enjoy them. I hope folks can enjoy some fluff from me after a dark journey into an alternate 16th century world from Of Pride and Power.

I opened my eyes slowly, the weight of sleep heavier than I could ever remember. Everything felt distant, like moving through water. As my vision cleared, I saw sunlight filtering through sheer curtains, illuminating the edges of an unfamiliar room. A steady warmth pressed against my chest, grounding me with a faint, elusive scent that felt familiar. A hazy memory flickered for a moment: waking up in Kayleigh’s dorm room, the morning light catching in her hair, her presence so close I almos