W_L

I've been arguing back and forth, even trying to offer some one else a chance at writing this story, but I have decided to finally take the plunge and write this new story. I had come up with the concept 3 years ago, but I kept shelving it until now. The plot of the story centers around a mass act of Coordinated Cyber Bullying attacks on Gay teens. LGBT leaders and advocates are unable to do anything to fight this new threat as ad campaigns, youtube videos, and marches prove ineffective. These ideas of public organizing and community building are hallmarks of the 20th century, but they are not the solutions to 21st century issues, where technology, people, and identity are in constant flux over a world wide network. I am postulating a new 21st century front in Gay rights that has not been discussed and for all I know may or may not have been opened. However, with the rise of extremes and the connectivity of social networks; we have seen the power that coordinated revolutions and terrorism can have on a people. Is it so hard to imagine that this same power can be turned against LGBT peoples or empower us to be better? I want to go into this new frontier with you, my readers, if you will have me. I am open to new ideas for the story and open discussion over the realities people face.

Good points everyone, I only started doing extra-long reviews recently and mostly for non-GA stories and movies, but I really hope more people do reviews and I am open to doing extra-long reviews for authors that have interesting stories right here. As for criticism, I leave that to my green friend (no, not Zombie! )

Hmm.. I guess I must be the international kid 1. The way he looks (Based off a really good Brazilian short film "I don't want to walk back alone")- Of course as I am a legally blind and gay, I am really bias 2. Happy together 1998- really interesting Asian LGBT movie about a co-dependent gay couple

Sometimes Tragedy makes us stronger people, Title: Three Voices Setting: Rural, Carterville, NC Plot Overview: A short tale about Trey Parker (Finding Family) finding love after his partner of 9 years, Brian Barnes, dies tragically of Cancer. We also get to meet Pat O'Connor, a Wildlife/Game Ranger, who finds himself raising his estranged 15 year old son, Marty, after his wife disown him due to him being gay. Pat has never been with another guy and Trey does not know if can ever love another guy like Brian, can these two form a new bond? Character/relationships: Trey Parker- He is around 31 at this story's start and quite tragic. I think as a character, I said he was not dynamic in Finding Family, but was well rounded. In this story, he is dynamic and touches on my heartstrings more for what is not said than what is said about his relationship with Brian Barnes. I think Jeff made the right move in not making him overly sexual in his prior story, a devoted lover that loses the love of his life is a very strong story element, but I can also tell by how short this story was that Jeff had more or less run out of steam. A pity that we never got to explore Trey Parker more as a character and as a gay man. Pat O'Connor- A robust and masculine character, who is the "late in life" archetype of gay characters. From being a Marine to being a Forest Ranger, I get that he is a structured and highly motivated man, who's family history prevented him from being able to explore his sexuality. His family is screwed up and his current situation with his teenage son is also complicated. Marty O"Connor- A gay teen trying to find his own way and gets into a fair amount of trouble. I think he is a good character, if slightly underdeveloped. He is the type of gay character that let's his dick do the thinking a little too often and it nearly got him raped. If Jeff had moved further with that story arc, I can see this character being a modern day reflection on gay teens with issues of bullying, partner abuse, and more, but only a glimmer of his true potential is shown here. Supporting Character: TJ Ladd and Donnie Micheaux- They're such a cute gay couple that breaks the stereotypes of race and love. Honestly, they're instrumental in helping both Trey and Pat in the story as supporting characters, but seeing how well functioning their family became after Finding Family makes me extremely happy. Micah Micheaux- Donnie's 2nd son from the failed marriage in Finding Family, who is gay and in this story Marty's boyfriend. He is used sparingly, which is a shame as I wish the relationship with Marty had grown in rather than added in for plot reasons. Grant Micheaux- Donnie's 1st son with his failed marriage, he's straight, but I really can't form much of an opinion around him. As straight characters go, he is not bad, but he is not great either. Jeff's success and failures in previous story probably held him back from exploring the brotherly dynamics of a straight black teen and his gay black brother more, but I think it would have been interesting (Oh well, Empire will do that for me ) BB aka Bruce- A big black football player with the heart of gold. As a straight character, I like him for what he did in minor supporting roles throughout the story, but felt Jeff could have made a nice character here as well if he had spent more time thinking about both straight and gay character development. A few old faces came by from prior stories, but the cameos were much shorter and fewer here Theme No more Age issues, so this is a straight up gay fiction story- Remembrance of what we lose- There's an emotional resonance that I get when reading this story, a sort of silent sleepy theme of love lost and found again. I think this type of storytelling is fine as a standalone piece, but what is missing to really make this emotional resonance something evocative for more effect is Trey and Brian needed more time to form their love with one another. I wish we had a longer open with Trey and Brian going through the rites of gay love, maybe even getting married in Boston (We legalized first!) Then, go into the heartache of Brian dying and Trey losing himself to despair, only to be supported by old friends like his uncle Parker and best friend TJ. Jeff missed a beat on the strength of melancholy and the determination of the human spirit, but what we did get was enough for a few tears. Maybe that was enough versus a river that have flowed from my eyelids. Finding our place- A question of "where do we belong?" is fundamental to gay fiction, something as writers we explore almost as much as our sexual identity "who we are?" I like this aspect of the story and it is shown very well throughout from Trey's tragedy to Marty's exile to Pat's acceptance of being in a relationship with Trey. Belonging is a powerful message.. Story Review: Alright, I have written several thousand words and read over 118 chapters in a matter of 2 weeks to get to this point. I wish there was more to read, I wish there was more to explore. As I said in Love of a Lifetime's review, I'd have been happy to read little Greg and Gary deal with issues as modern young gay men, which there are many even after gay marriage has been legalized. What we got is a little more unexpected and too short, sadly. Yes, Jeff touched on new areas, but he did not explore the door that was open. However, like the way Jeff started out with When Love Comes, he ended this with a short and concise concept. It's a book-ended piece that is imperfect and open to interpretation on where these character will eventually end up, but that's why readers enjoy novels too, we want to use our imaginations. Was the ending perfect, no, but it was a good ending. As for the elements, Jeff again had all the right things set up for a great story, but this time unlike Finding Family, he just stripped too much down. One of the problems with writers is that we lose creative steam over a long story. "Rescue" stories are notoriously plot heavy and take away our energies far faster than a lot of others, which is why there's a lot of rehashing of plots and stories after a while in some gay authors, Brew Maxwell might have been able to do it the best, but few others can repeat. Overall Jeff did a good job, he gave us functional characters, good plot development, and a central theme of "belonging" that made perfect sense. I give this story: 8.5/10 Overall series rating- 8.75/10 I know I have been harsh as a reviewer on some things, I am not a perfect writer either and I have a lot of problems, too. We gay writers don't get paid for these free stories, we don't always get praise or even criticism for exploring our fantasies with others. At times, we are left alone with our stories without a single reviewer, praise, or worthwhile email except a bunch of junk mail from a viagra re-seller. As readers, please remember that we need you guys to give us the emotional strength to continue our writing and storytelling. At other times, we make bad moves and no one will ever tell us due to sycophantic praises or fear of alienating us that might stop us from writing, but we need you as our readers to be our conscience as well. As Albert Camus said: Story Link: http://www.crvboy.org/stories/jeffallen/s008/c01.html

"Barks" at Andy "Sniffs" at Andy "Licks" at Andy He's clean guys

If you think I was gushing in the last story, this one will shock you on how critical I can be Title: Finding Family Setting: Rural/College, Carterville, NC and Adam State University Plot Overview: Parker Arnold is a high school History Teacher and soccer coach, who tries to help his students both as a mentor and also as a father figure. This story revolves around his life, his trials and tribulations, and his relationships with students. It is worth reading and understanding for the overall plots in the story. Character/relationships Jeff had probably fell into the "rescue" kid syndrome, when he was writing this story, I'll do my best to add important characters. Bishop "Parker" Arnold- He's a complex character and one that deserves a good deal of thought provoking questions. I do not know if he should be an ideal or a case scenario like Bill W.'s main character of Castaway Hotel. I understand why he polarized some readers and why he is also loved by so many. For modern gay readers, I know Sardusky's crimes are still a recent memory, but if you read past the first 10 chapters, you will realize that Parker is not that kind of character. He is self-conscious, which Jeff has always endowed in his primary father figure characters in all his stories. That's the part of gay characters that must always be remembered (and why I am so harsh towards Nifty's recent strings of authors), while sexual fantasies are great, your characters must have some doubt as to what they are doing. Characters are not toys or pawns on a chess board, they exist as real living people in your fictional worlds and should be treated with respect. His relationship with Karl Henson in my view was dynamic, maybe not as dynamic as Andy and CZ were, but they did develop a complex growth from teacher/student to equal partners in later chapters. Maybe Jeff pushed it on this story for a high school teacher to fall for his student, but in terms of story and character, it works. Now as for his "rescues", I've read Brew Maxwell enough to know how those work and I think Jeff's rescues were handled decently, but I felt it kind of detracted from the character more than helped him. Some of the rescue scenarios were good and poignant like Isaac South's rescue from a meth dealing/kid molesting father or the rescue of Bart from an overzealous Mormon family (Yeah, caricature characters, but that's what makes the genre fun, plus they're not that far from reality sadly). Other rescues by Parker felt tacked on, like Nacio, who was rarely mentioned again. A warning for all writers in this genre, don't over do it; there are good stories to tell involving rescuing gay teens, but don't feel like you need to keep doing it to maintain a quota. Karl Henson- He is an example of immature love with a mature gay man; the exact opposite of Andy and CZ. He will eventually become a better human being and someone Parker can honestly form a good relationship with, but at times, I felt like smacking him for being so stupid. However, as the story goes on, the character opens up new areas of issues for gay rights, which I find provocative, but also troubling. He joins West Point and becomes a military cadet, but faces betrayal and dishonor by the very people he wanted to serve and work with. Jeff was trying to expand his "Soapbox" into a political commentary here, I get that and appreciate the idea. I also like how the "trauma" figures into his reconciliation and re-establishment of love for Parker as an equal partner. He's also one of the most developed redemptive characters I've noticed in Jeff's stories TJ Ladd- I love this character as a gay teen and as a gay man, I think he really does become a well rounded character over time. He and his straight brother, Ryan, are examples of a well prepared "rescue" story arc (Though Ryan has other character issues, I will get into later). A mother abandoning her kids is not new to anyone, but I like how the tension grew between TJ and his mother and how evil she was. I also like how Parker took him into his home and protected him; though, I would have to be a little less sympathetic to the entire helping him out "sex" angle, earlier in the story before he moved in, but as I said, Parker, and Jeff himself, was conscious enough to put a stop to it as his story got into gear. Eventually TJ will end up with his best high school friend Donnie, a complex character I cannot help but praise. Donnie Micheaux- I think if for no other reason, this character is someone you should go into the story for. Jeff has a way with minority characters and African American characters are by far the most intriguing, especially if they are latent gay men. Donnie ended up married to a white woman, he got pregnant and had two sons. His life was miserable for a while, but Parker helped Donnie out by offerring him a loan to start his own auto business. Eventually, he realizes that he had always loved TJ, but he could never come to terms with his own sexuality. At a time, when black gay characters were fairly rare, Jeff took a good pot shot and created a very dynamic one. Trey Arnold- He is Parker's nephew, who becomes his ward after Parker's brother Deuce dies. I love this character, but I also wish he had more development with his relationship to Brian Barnes (From Love of a Lifetime). I think he is an interesting and well rounded person, but what he lacks is a strong dynamic push. The character lacks evolutionary development, but it's to be expected, when you don't have that much sex in Jeff's stories until the last three chapters Ryan Ladd- If Jeff ever reads this, I hope he doesn't think I am being harsh on him, but I really dislike this character. I think Jeff handled his straight characters well in Love of a Lifetime, especially Justin Barnes who I'd consider straight and "curious", but Ryan was far too overly sentimental and at various points, I just couldn't believe he was completely heterosexual (Justin at least had a reason for his underlying bi-curiosity and in certain ways he was a good "temptation" character for "CZ" that actually worked well). Maybe the key problem with this character versus Justin Barnes was that he needed to be protected constantly in the story whereas Justin was the protector. Also, unlike Justin, he lacked character development in his heterosexual relations other than a few mentions of the stud on campus I understand what Jeff wanted to do in inverting his characters, but I just don't feel it worked from my view. Supporting Characters Robert Marquez- Ex Pro-NBA Hispanic player for the Chicago Bulls, who is secretly a gay man. I like that Jeff attempted to add a little more depth into his story by re-introducing the prospects of a retired gay athlete, but his story seemed underdeveloped at the end, serving merely as "temptation" for Parker to get over Karl's betrayal. I like the idea and the racial diversity that it brought, but Donnie Micheaux was a far better character in this story for that purpose. Tyronne- Robert's son, who dated Isaac for a while and ended up in a fling of wild sex with other partners. I don't know if Jeff was trying to point out inherent flaws with promiscuity or if the character was deeply flawed due to his wealth and upbringing. There was no real evolution to this character either, so just like his father, another untapped potential. Memorable Rescues Isaac South- If anyone remember Justin Davis from Brew Maxwell's Foley Mashburn Saga, Isaac could be his non-related cousin Honestly, I love the story line and the slow build up in intensity for this rescue. It felt right and it matched up with the deeply rooted Meth production issues in the South at the time, not to mention the child sex trafficking. Jeff would use this character along with a few others in his side story "Construction Job", which is a decent read, too. Brandon Harris- An interesting scenario, he was not being trapped by abusive parents at least currently, but he was being held captive by his own fears and memories. An ex-Army veteran, who lost his lover in Iraq, resonates with modern gay audiences even now as we are reeling from that war to this day. I am glad he found a partner in Josh. Bart Harris- A cross-Continental rescue worthy of another series from this era, all it's missing is a transporter and some phasers Beyond that, Bart Harris is an interesting character, he's Brandon's little brother and a gay kid in fear of his life due to the Mormon religion. Through the effort of Parker's friends Robert, he was rescued from "evil" Salt Lake, Utah to Carterville, NC. Highly implausible, but it is a great story arc that shows how far Jeff could stretch himself. He hooks up with Isaac south as his partner. Johnathan/Wes- Twins separated at birth, Jeff don't go to Soap opera territory...wait they're also a couple Yes, it's really implausible and complex in a not so good way. I think the couple is memorable though and I do love the idea of twincest , but this couple also showed that Jeff really got sidelined by the shift in story genres during this period of gay fiction. I like them for all the wrong reasons, which as a reader is both good and bad. Josh- Hmm...I don't know, he's memorable because of all the plot that surrounds him, but the character is two dimensional. Again, I like the rescue genre, but some characters need more focus and Josh definitely was one of them. Jeff could have explored Josh's determination to find his mother's killer, by extension, add some conflict into this story, but Josh's character was under-utilized despite a lot of plot developments like his relationship to Brandon, his protection by Parker due to fears about his life, and a potential danger to the other gay kids in Parker's care. I think Josh should have been Jeff's gravitas to final chapters, but he was not. Finally, everyone else, we got cameos from When Love Comes and Love of a Lifetime, including the Barnes Brothers Brian was the only one really highlighted, briefly, but his evolution from gay boyfriend swapper to lover was a nice touch that launched us into "Three Voices", could have been stronger, but it was a nice addition. Theme Teacher-Student Relationships- Jeff took this one on again, but this time, he did it in high school. I will grant that it was consensual and it was hot. I also think Jeff's detractors got him wrong here, the immaturity of many characters made it hard for any of them to establish real partnerships in this story, which is realistic to life. It is only when they face life altering situation like Karl at West Point that they actually begin to understand how love is created. This was actually a well written area of the story. Rescues- Ugh, I have already said a lot at the top, but I will just repeat that extraneous rescues hurt a story, not improve it. While it might have pleased a fan base that hungered for those kinds of stories, you must balance the demands of plot with it. Jeff experimented with this style of writing, it was fun and memorable for a few cases, but some of them just caused problems with the plot and character development. Family- I've read a lot of gay family stories and helped write a few, too. Jeff did a good job here, he made perfect use of diverse characters and their backgrounds for the development of an ensemble cast. However, the issue of the continuous and gratuitous rescues made it hard to focus on any pre-established characters. What was worst was the lack of development meant we had stunted characters like Ryan Ladd running around. Jeff tried to make corrective writing moves on it and I can tell he was trying to balance his demands with his plot, which in the end at least got the family together. This part of the story is what can be considered an idealistic fantasy that every gay kid in the world could join into a family that accepts them and protects them. The sex is appealing with your "brothers" who may be partners eventually, but it's the heart that counts. Is this a good idea for modern audiences? I don't know, it appears to be a little too haphazard legally, too perfect for a story plot, and too implausible for acceptance. If I remove the extraneous issues from the rescue stories though and the potential psychological attachment problems, I think Jeff actually did the right thing here with family development if he had focused soley on that aspect. Story Review: After reading what I wrote, I think most people would understand why I felt this story was the weakest in the 4 I am reviewing. Don't get me wrong, I like the things Jeff attempted here and he succeeded in a lot of areas, but in terms of plot and structure, he lost a lot of steam from Love of a Lifetime. I still like what he wrote and what the story ultimately comes down to. A cardinal rule few writers observe, I do it too, is that stories need to be planned in your head before you write. A stream of consciousness story is fine, but structured fiction needs preparation. At various points in the story, I felt Jeff rushed or could not focus on where needed to be and left things hanging. No amount of sex or wild rescue scenarios will make a difference after a long period of time. Jeff's stories were classic, because he brought the characters out as human beings, not 2-d cut outs. His first two stories were amazing and prescient, but I fear Jeff nearly derailed his own story with excess. It's also why I think his next stories were so short and focused. It's too bad too, Jeff had a good baseline for a story, a controversial reversal of his earlier elements, and a potentially death defying plot line if he pushed it. I hope if he writes again, he will try to write a long story and focus on the plots that bind everyone together. I also want to note that around this time Bill W.'s Castaway Hotel began to come out on Nifty and several other stories of similar style appeared. Gay readers were clamoring for this, so I don't think Jeff knew how uneven his story became. I still like this, but it is a far cry from his earlier work. I give this: 7.5/10 Sad, I know he can do better and part of the blame belongs to readers like me Tomorrow will be my final review in the series, it is a tearjerker, but at least, I think Jeff was back to form Story Link: http://www.crvboy.org/stories/jeffallen/s005/c01.html

Thanks guys, Now I will need to figure out who I should review next?

Didn't know him too well, but he seemed like a nice guy overall. We all have our quirks and sometimes come off badly to different people, it smooths out over time. Will miss him,

I've just prepared my last future blog entry for 9/9/15 on Jeff Allen's Carterville-Adam State series of stories, so with that done, I am wondering if I should keep doing this? I've written only positive reviews so far for Jeff's stories that you have seen, my next review tomorrow morning will be more negative on "Finding Family" and then I did a wrap up with "Three Voices", which would be more quiet and somber for Wednesday Morning. I don't know how many other gay authors want me to analyze their stories or write massive and elaborate literary critiques. No one else is doing it, no one else is presenting themselves with the challenge of trying to identify themes within our stories or identify eras where certain story types were more popular, why do I need to? I have doubts on how far I want to take my reviewing and how far I want to go with judging other people's work when my own is far worse in comparison, because I am far too cerebral. What do you guys think, should I keep going? Also, what story should I go next?

It's getting hot in here for Part 2: Title: Love of a Lifetime Setting: Rural/College, Carterville North Carolina and Fictional Adam State University Plot Overview: Andy Hatcher is a 26 year old banker, who just moved into Carterville, North Carolina after a messy divorce. He finds himself falling in love with 17 year old C.Z Johnstone, a 17 year old boy, who delivers his newspaper and has a really hard life. While Andy does not at first know he is gay, CZ had known for a long time, but he could never fully explore his sexuality due to his family obligations with his sick mother. The story follows Andy and CZ's love through encounter to break-up to reconciliation and beyond. CZ will eventually go onto college and he'll meet a bunch of friends and have a lot of new issues. Be warned, this story is my favorite of the 4, despite its controversial issues. Character/relationships: Andy Hatcher- he's like Doc (Dr. Griffith from "When Love Comes") in terms of character dimensions. He's young, professional, and talented, but unlike Doc, he lacks the acceptance or understanding of his sexuality. When he does go past his initial reluctance to form a relationship with a much younger CZ Johnstone, we get a very dynamic and evolving character. I like Andy a lot, because I can relate to him as a gay professional in finance and his need to "prove" himself. This quality about Andy would also lead to problems with his relationship later on with CZ, which rings extremely true for a lot of us gay guys who are career minded and sometimes we forget about our partners' needs too. Definitely a character that I remembered well. CZ Johnstone- Damn it, I can't help but love this southern belle of a character He is Scarlet O'Hara with jeans and a nice bulge. While not an "abused kid" or one of the traditional kinds of partners that you will see in many modern gay fictions, he does have a rough past. When his mother was dying from Cancer, he worked three odd jobs and still grew Christmas Trees to maintain his family and pay his mother's medical bill (Okay, fine, Obamacare would help him if it existed in 2002, happy now guys, I concede that point ). I really love this characters' work ethic and personality. Also, when he gets into a relationship with Andy, he is extremely mature about Andy's work life and his needs versus just sex. Jeff scored a big breakout character for me, which I wish could have been repeated more often in Gay fiction afterward. When he goes to College, he doesn't just sit back and play the loyal boyfriend card, he explores and messes around with other guys. He's a human being with needs too and I just can't get over how much his character develops and becomes some one I wish I could even have 10% attributes. GA writers take note, this is a character you need to know how to create, a full 4-D characters that is both strong willed and evolving over time. Even masterful storytellers don't make gay characters like him, nowadays. Adam State Characters Justin Barnes- Why must he be straight! Honestly, Jeff made a great character here, I appreciate the idea of creating a strong advocate for gays, who is not gay. Another reason why I like this story is that Justin, while he is straight, is not afraid of trying things with CZ up to a point. When writing heterosexual characters, Jeff included, there's a certain limit that must be held in interactions before you question their sexuality as well. Jeff nailed it here with Justin and gives readers a character worth investing time to know and even accept as a friend. Beyond that, you can really see the protective quality of this character during the college era of CZ Johnstone at Adam State. He will eventually become CZ's college roommate and introduce his gay and bisexual brothers, Brian and David Barnes who will play roles later on in smaller story arcs with Brian being a catalyst character for both "Finding Family" and "Three Voices". Jason Sherman- CZ's first roommate and closeted gay character. Interesting and a bit derivative, but he did add to the over-arc of the 1st year in college for CZ and Justin's story. I distinctly remember his story had more meat at one point prior to the edits, but as it stands, he is good character for what he represents, a young man trying to become a gay man who falls at points but has redemptive qualities. He will be the roommate of the main antagonist of the story Brad Miller and I think Jeff consciously wanted him to serve the role of foil on how a closeted gay man versus an evolving gay man can turn out. Brad Miller- Damn, his story arc is messed up on so many levels. At some points, I want to see him dead, at others, I want to see him gang raped in the worst possible way. Then at the end, I feel so bad for him that I just wish he finds peace wherever his soul ends up. Jeff did a great job on Brad, he represents the darkest realities that gay men can go down in the end of a long struggle. Think Dahmer and Gacey, while we can hate what he does in the story, we can't help but understand that his pain and rejection could happen to a lot of us. Jeff played with darkness and he made a good antagonist in this story. Supporting Characters: . Doc- Gary Griffith is now the old man on campus with his partner Matt, which is kind of cute in a respectable and linear way. He acts as guidance and level headed adviser to CZ and other characters in this story. Matt Stevenson- He shows up on occasion as Doc's back up, but his story is mostly done and his brother Mark is only lightly mentioned as well. Still, he played a supporting role. Kathy and Kevin Williams- The most open minded liberal couple in the south is back in this story I got to say, these people make me wish that the world really did work that way and there were good people like this everywhere, who were fair to everyone. David Barnes- Interesting to find a bisexual character in a story, who is trying to figure himself out and I can feel his plight when measuring himself against his heterosexual and homosexual brothers. It's interesting to wonder who you belong with, if you can play an entire field that neither side completely understands you. CZ will mess around with him in the story and help him figure out his bisexual leanings. Brian Barnes- Small, but sexy role in the story as both a sexual partner for a bunch of people. He is the slutty character that you just can't hate, because let's be honest we all want to be like Brian: young, libido driven, and uninhibited. Greg Hatcher and Gary Williams- That little baby boy in "When Love Comes" has grown up into a little 9 year old, who basically grows an attachment to his friend Greg Hatcher, Andy's son from his failed marriage. Be on the watch guys, if Jeff ever comes back to this series, I would think these two little boys would probably be featured as the main protagonists, dealing with modern issues of gay life like their parents and friends a decade before. We have new challenges and kids growing up in the 2000's are going to need a new reflection. There's a lot of one off characters: who play minor roles as romantic partners, as well Themes Character Evolution- Andy and CZ will remain my favorite developed characters, they're complex, but in many ways, it just boils down to love for them. Brad Miller is another character, who evolves before our eyes in a much more negative fashion, which Jeff does extremely well. If you want to see Character development from both a positive approach and negative, I highly recommend this story to everyone. Maturity and Sex- Oh boy, legally, Jeff 's character were probably in deep shit, but on a more aesthetic level, I actually approve of this kind of relationship. If this was just a 26 year old guy perving on a 17 year old boy, I'd cry foul, but it wasn't. CZ Johnstone was in love with Andy and Andy loved CZ, both were mature enough to make that choice. Jeff took a page out of QAF (Queer as folk), which I tend to agree with. America tends to be far less tolerant of age of consent below 18 for sexual activity, especially against gay males, but European age range is usually 16 or in some nations 14. It's highly debatable, but I think as the story evolved, CZ showed us he was fully committed to Andy just as Andy was to him. Also, both were mature enough to know that they should also be outside their relationship and test out their feelings for other people. What I loved about this story is that neither character cheated on each other, but they both did slept around with their partners' acknowledgment as a way to have sexual release when they were apart. That part of the story makes this more controversial as well, because we've been taught as gay men to restrict our partners after the breakout of AIDS. Jeff took a huge step forward and raised tough questions about partners and relationships, both for the age aspect and the sexual partners. Family- This theme will be featured really prominently in my next review, but it starts here. Even if the story doesn't use the most natural rescue themes, it does have one other tenet of Gay fiction in the 2000's, a strong unified family. When I say family, I don't mean the American "nuclear" family, I mean a group of characters/people who we surround ourselves with and who loves us unconditionally. Story Review: This story is my favorite, so I am bias on it. I remember an old friend on GA a long time ago telling me, "Jeff Allen had a really good story, up until he started writing like NAMBLA". Was he right? No, but I can see why he thought that way and I also can see problems with how far Jeff was stretching things into his next story "Finding Family", which most readers at that time actually loved more than this story. The story touches on love without boundaries or restraint, which I think is what Gay fiction should be about. We forget that only a few decades ago, stuff like this was considered illegal to read. Hell, half of GA's own author's would be indictable for graphic storytelling. I don't approve of pedophilia, but I am not so conservative as a storyteller to believe in a set age where things happen. It doesn't in real life and it doesn't in fiction, we only set up laws like that because we need boundaries to regulate behavior for the majority, but in minority cases, it is permissible and right..That's my interpretation of Justice and law, I will let that point rest until we get into "Finding Family" where it becomes more problematic. Beyond that point, CZ Johnstone as I said up at the top is one of the most dynamic gay characters in written online literature and no one really pays him much respect. He is strong willed, independent, and an evolving character that faced major issues, but survived and thrived. However, he doesn't have the background of abuse, homophobia, or other negative character backstories that you might expect from gay writers. When thinking of characters that resemble him, I can't find any that has his multi-faceted nature. There are a lot of close ones, but they only have one part of his character and fall through with negative background propelling them forward. I make the same mistakes too, I use negative backgrounds on my gay characters to give them drive, but I feel like that part of me has to end as we enter a new era of gay fiction. Finally, Character development was top notch in this story. From Andy and CZ's relationship to Justin Barnes' friendship to the destructive Brad Miller, we saw a gamut of real life expressions. A gay fiction story that has that kind of characterization and a lot of good hot sex is hard to come by. I would argue that thematically and plot-wise, Jeff hit his greatest storytelling peak here. He did everything right on the characters, he included development of complex issues, mastered a balance of Heterosexual representation with Homosexual affiliation, and he displayed a lot of common issues gay college kids faced if they were openly gay. I give this story: 10/10 Perfection is hard to improve on (PS: Next part will be Finding Family and a lot less rosy from me) Story Link: http://www.crvboy.org/stories/jeffallen/s002/c01.html

Alright, here it cums! ( ) Title: When Love Comes Setting: Unspecified University setting, later revealed to be fictional Adam State University in later stories Plot Overview: Dr. Gary Griffith is a young college professor, who recently finished years of education and started his teaching career. He has come to grips with his sexuality and is just beginning to understand himself. Matt Stevenson is a College football player, who has fallen in love with Professor Griffith, but is afraid of his sexuality and other dark things in his life. Can they both go beyond a student teacher relationship to something more? Or will fate keep them apart? Character/relationships: Gary Griffith- He is basically most of us in our late twenties, confident enough to seek romance, but cautious about the prospects of finding love. As a gay character, he is pretty spot on in terms of the reluctance and uncertainty factors that some of us share, but his cardinal weakness exists in that he allows doubt to keep him away from forming relationship, especially in the case of Matt Stevenson. While, I will reveal that these two guys do find each other in the end, Jeff does not give them an easy bow out to happily ever after. Matt Stevenson- A man of two souls, a college jock and BMOC (Big man on Campus), and a haunted young man with horrible abusive past. This character is complex and sometimes I wonder if he was really in love with Gary Griffith or in need of a father figure and sexual outlet (Yep, I thought he might have been a daddy chaser ). Still, with only one sexual experience between him and Gary Griffith early in the story, I think the truth is in the facts that they both kept their distance, but never stop caring for one another. That was love and I loved how Jeff handled Matt's evolution and tragedies to be a gay man, we can all be proud to call friend. Supporting Characters worth a mention: Jamal Phillips: Matt's best friend, who messed around with him in high school and is currently with him on the College football team. He is supportive, fun loving, and a great piece of meat at least I've been told I can count in one hand how many stories I've read that featured great African American gay characters in my youth and Jeff, you definitely stood out there. I know nowadays we have shows like "Empire" where black gay men take center stage, but it was a radically different reality in 2001. Jamal eventually ends up with Mark Stevenson, Matt's younger brother. Mark Stevenson- You can't help but want to cuddle up to him, but at times, I wish I got more out of his story. He in my opinion is the prototype for a lot of "rescue" abused gay kid stories that would come in years afterward. Bill W. and Comsie on here might be more well known for this, but the threads were being turned years ago. Still, he was a nice character. Kevin Williams: Hmmm...a straight married man, who enjoys exchanging blowjobs with his gay friend and colleague, when his wife was pregnant. Alright, I'll bite, this part of the story was a little weird to me, but in his defense, it also added dimensions to this character. While we label ourselves as gay and straight, we honestly don't open ourselves to try new experiences in sexual practice. Nothing came about this sexual exchange, except a strong friendship and a new baby boy getting born to Kevin, named "Gary", (I love the symbolic love making of the three to create Gary Williams, but that I will leave to theme) Kathy Williams- Really open minded woman, who allowed her husband to try a lot of new things and accepted Gary Griffith without issue. Part of me assumes she's from a Hippie generation throwback, but Jeff never gives us that detail. Still, she is delightful though sparingly use in the story. It's an old weakness among gay writers, we focus so much on the gay characters that sometime we forget that our heterosexual friends need to be included in, if not sexually at least in the plot. Themes: Coming of age is definitely a big thing here, along with many of Jeff's stories Forbidden Love- Jeff began his stories into age gap relationships, which in this story I found to be not just acceptable, but something that should not even be questioned as both men were adults, they just existed as Teacher and student. In later stories, I question myself on how far I was willing to accept Jeff's characters in this regard, then I thought back to this story and said "Screw it, I can't accept one and say no to the other"; even though I think he might have gone too far in the first few chapters of Finding Family,, Jeff Allen was not stupid or non-conscious of the fact that emotional maturity might not be there. In this regard, Jeff trumps almost every other writer in these kinds of stories, because he questions himself through his characters and that's a healthy does of concern for readers and for the characters. Abusive families- Well this theme comes up in gay fiction way too often, but it should never be forgotten that art is a reflection of life. There's a lot of fundamental flaws in people and it creates fundamental flaws for the long term within families. Jeff did not overtly preach what was right and wrong, like Brew does in his story, but he did push Gary Griffith to be more assertive towards Matt as a father figure as well as a lover to prevent some of the darkest chapters of family history from repeating. Sex- Lots of sex was in this story and sexual tension rose so high, I thought Jeff wanted to give everyone blue balls. For those of you, who did not grow up reading Nifty in its earlier days where Sex and story melded together, this was how a story kept people interested and I feel that it actually enriches this story nowadays, since there was a real story that went along with the sex. Story Review: I have read a lot of stories in my time; I have seen many beautiful characters rise and fall, but Jeff's little story etched itself into my imagination. Gay erotic fiction does not need to be shunned out of writing, it is part of who we are and where we come from, you just need to have some humanity mixed into it. When I read Jeff's story as a gay teen, I liked it because it had lots of action and sex, but also a story. As an adult, I like Jeff's story, because it has a well developed plot with sex. This story was the 1st of many, he would add to the settings and make the stories far more dynamic. However, this was his first and it was probably his most underrated story that showed how far he could go as a writer. The story was solid, the characters were creative, and the themes spoke true today as they did 13-14 years ago. There's a lot of writers, myself included, who have written stuff that has since been dated and obsolete in today's gay fiction environment, but a sign of writing "mastery" to me is that a story can only age well, without regard to when it was written, because the themes and characters still are relevant today as they were a decade ago. For example, ee got our first openly gay Pro-footballer in Michael Sams recently, but Jeff was already discussing the realities of a professional gay football players' issue years before with the same result. Michael Sams did not go anywhere in his first year and he was left to dry on the CFL. In Jeff's story, Both Matt and Mark Stevenson played well in College level, but never rose to the next level after their "outing", which is sadin a way that even with all the hype of gay marriage and openness toward us, things still remain the same in that regard. Also, there's a lot of authors on here at GA, who are descendants of Jeff's writing style, Mark Arbour comes to my mind in his earlier works and the evolution continues with people who have read Mark's stories, then write as well. In gay writing there are no literary critics, theme analysis, or character observations that you might see in "AV Club" or a New Yorkers' column, but there should be, because our writing is evolving into something new and completely different than what mainstream novels and fictions are doing. I am not an English Major, I am not a critic by choice or design, but I feel like we should identify ourselves far more as a new genre rather than a subset of an internet publishing culture. For all these reasons, I give Jeff's story: 9.0/10 Good, well written, and made me remember why I love to read gay fiction Story Link: http://www.crvboy.org/stories/jeffallen/s001/c01.html

Alright, this is how my 4 part review will work on Jeff Allen's Carterville-Adam State stories. I will use a formal format for these stories, because I believe Jeff deserves something more than my usual blurbs. The reviews will follow the format: Title Setting Plot Overview Character/relationships Theme Story Review: Story Link: As for how I am reviewing and splitting out the reviews, here's my schedule: Part 1: When Love Comes (9/6/2015) Part 2: Love of a Lifetime (9/7/15) Part 3: Finding Family (9/8/15) Part 4: Three Voices (9/9/15) This is set up in chronological order of how the story progresses; also, I will note that another side story "Construction Job" was omitted as I felt it really did not add depth to the characters from earlier, but "Three voices" deserve to be part of the grand review of the series as it is a crucial development for one of the characters and his family. Also, if you have the original unedited versions of Jeff's stories, PLEASE SEND ME A COPY, I HAD GOTTEN A COPY YEARS AGO AND I LOST IT WHEN MY COMPUTER CRASHED Jeff had edited out a huge chunk of some of his stories, so I will only review what is present; though I remember a few alterations or alternative histories. It reads much smoother, but you will miss out on some fun sex scenes and plot twists for side characters. Alright, now onto the reviews!

As I start my long weekend of reading and writing due to the labor day holiday, I've hit upon something I should have done a long time ago, but I feel like I never could do, I want to say "I'm sorry". Confession is good for the soul and after thinking things over, I've got to confess my soul: As an author, I've been at GA for many years without a single great hit or an ugly negative story, as a gay man I have been out for 4 years without having a stable relationship for more than 3 months, and as a blogger, I've only recently began to use my blog for more than a few political swipes and rants. There's a lot of things I've done wrong over the years, some out of good reason and others out of conviction for things I strongly believed in at a given time. While re-reading Jeff Allen's stories recently, I was hit by an epiphany; I've been a horrible friend and horrible gay man. People say, I'd make a great father, if I ever have kids, because I pay close attention to the needs of others, but give them the space to be their own person. My ex-boyfriends thought that was my best quality, being caring without being clingy, but I also have a very ugly nature, I was far too quick to reaction and too slow for the realizations. I am not a rash guy by any means, but I am guy who sizes up a situation on the spot and make quick choices without thinking of anyone else, kind of a paradox in my nature. The older I get the better I am at controlling the worst parts of my personality; if it is a good thing, I am spontaneous, if it is bad, I am unpredictable. In high school, I let my frustrations get ahead of my reality; I could not beat people up, but I did watch bullying of friends and not react. In one case, I allowed a gay guy I knew to be pushed all the way to suicide, because I wasn't ready to deal with "it". It's kind of funny, I've gotten into fights when people try to bully me due to my disability, a few guys probably still have bite marks on their arms, but I never had the conviction to be proactive defender. I'm not a coward by any stretch of the imagination; I just don't know how to focus my need to fight for myself into a need to fight for others even when we share many of the same qualities. When I read gay stories about these kinds of kids from my past, I realize that I've always idolized the gay champions and the great crusaders, because they had something worth fighting for, even dying for if that's the case, but with me, I skirt away from fights that don't involve me. As a gay kid, I was a hypocritical closet case. I never really admitted that to myself, but I probably should have. While I idolized fictional heroes, I never did live up to it. In college, I was a better person overall; especially after the guilt from high school grew on me. I made a lot of friends and went to parties, but College for me wasn't the idealistic vision that my dreams had thought they'd be. It was greater freedom and I had my first real gay experience, but I was also just as alone with my fights. Being a Business student, I joined the Republican party and easily rose up the ranks to Vice chair. I basically took care of a lot of intra-campus organizing stuff, like working with Bible study guys and the alumni network, along with several other groups including the Democrats when we had our annual debates. The LGBT group had approached me to organize a forum with them, but I never brought it to an open vote, it was actually a non-executive member who did. I knew the end results would be that no olive branch could ever be made between us and an LGBT group, especially with students from rust belt and southern states being vocally opposed. The vote was 20 against -13 for - 7 abstain, I was among the 7 abstainers. I am an operational political mind, I know where the votes will likely go and don't believe in fighting a lost cause. Also, only a few close friends knew I was gay, while I was ready to open up that can of worms and did eventually during my last year, I just wanted to keep that chip for a bigger fight or something worth sacrificing for. That was another thing I want to apologize for, because I lack the courage to fight the small battles when I keep pushing back until I could fight for a big one. The guy who organized that vote was called a RINO and a lot of bad names, including a few homosexual epithets. I don't know if he was gay, but I sure did feel guilty again. He dropped out of school a few months later. I did put down my chips on something big, left them with a warning to my successor "you can't let our "allies" be dictating positions for us, because one day this party will go into civil war due to the excesses of idealism". I've never believed like many of them in the "exceptional principles". I believe in practical principles and operational efficient concepts. I am a Bismark/Burke Conservative, not a Ayn Rand or Ron Paul, or Goerge Bush or Rick Perry. I've done bad things in between those two events, too, but my crimes are always crimes of neglect and convenience. Reading those stories again has opened up some old wounds for me, I never lived up to the fictional characters I loved, never protected a "brother" when the gay bashers were on him, never spoke out against injustice when I had the ability, and never took a fight on when I didn't lack courage. I could easily hide behind ignorance as a defense for my actions, cowardice even, but I wasn't stupid or afraid; I just didn't choose to fight despite what I knew and what I believed in my heart. For all of those things, I am sorry...

Nah, Aerosmith and Nirvana are classical, Led Zep is prehistoric

Incroyable, mon francais peut-etre utile! I'm not saying that bilingual or in some cases like me, trilingual, speakers aren't good. There's a ton of good reason why we should be open to other languages in the US from how the US was founded to how many cultures live and work together here. However, opponents are also right to argue that a language is part of a nation's identity and it is also a unifying concept. The problem is if these guys are going to do as they are pushing, we may end up with an ugly situation of oppressive assimilation. One of the last dominant world power that tried to unify their country through forced assimilation and massive deportation was ironically Spain (Inquisition and Reconquista anyone). They basically destroyed their nation and allowed an opening for English, Dutch, and French to encroach and gain power. Can it be done successfully? Yes, but it will cost dearly and if you do succeed, you basically are violating the most basic principles of the US , not to mention principles within the Declaration of Independence. I don't know the answers, but we can't accept forced assimilation as a solution.

Rock, but not into Metal. I'm actually starting to switch over from Punk Rock to Alternative and a little Rap Rock

Nightrunner b Lynn Flewelling is a great series to follow and it even has an ending, so you just need to plop down and read to your hearts content. As for fantasy authors around here, there's plenty to go around, but what is your niche? We got sword and Magic, creature features (Dragons, Werewolves, Elves, and even a few Vampire kids). If you are interested in modern Fantasy gay fiction, I can suggest a few books outside GA as well, Cronin's Key is a good read, if you are into gay mystery and supernatural. I am not going to plug myself into this post, because my story is still not done yet, but when it is I hope you will do me the pleasure by reading it.

Alright, one political post a week An issue was raised about the use of Spanish in communication versus using English, which is the majority language of the US currently. It's a really provocative question about language and people. I do believe that an official language in some countries are necessary to create a cultural identity. It's a good idea for nations that want to establish some kind of hegemony over customs and standards. For the United States, it's a little more complicated. From its origins, the US was never a single language state, because its territorial acquisitions were usually forced upon both native and colonial powers (The British took over french territory in the Seven Years' War along with some Dutch territory in New York even earlier, the nascent US took over Florida from Spain, bought Louisiana from France along with a huge chunk of the Midwest,conquered some indian tribes and Mexicans, then bought Alaska from Russia). If you use English as the sole language of the US, then you basically have to reconcile with history. Would it be wrong to force a language upon other ethnic and racial groups, who are not native English speakers (Mexicans being chief among them, along with Asians, African immigrants, and some Europeans )? Technically, no, I don't like it, but historically; it's how a lot of Imperial nations start to evolve and grow into their own. While Rome fell apart; its native language and customs remain with us for 2 thousand years. Is it wrong to be like Rome? No, but it does put the US into a different perspective. Around this time in Roman history, Julius Caesar rose to the Rank of Dictator and he was an amazing guy (potentially a bisexual guy too, but that's cool with most of us). His adopted son Augustus would start the codification of Roman literature, morality and customs, and even produce one of the longest periods of peace in early European history. On the other side of the world, the tyrannical Qin Dynasty wiped out the other seven nations and formed China, which they unified by killing all alien languages and foreign scholars of the former nations in a forced bid of assimilation. Within 50 years, no one knew how to speak, write, or even the history of their former homelands. Despite a successful populist rebellion that would create the 800 year reign of the Han dynasty, the only thing people knew was the language of the Qin and the history according to the Han Dynasty. Unlike Rome, China chose an even more forceful approach bordering on cultural genocide to win hearts and minds, which succeeded as history shows us now. The US is at a crossroads between Republic and Empire, between isolation and globalization; the current argument about official language in the US is merely one part of the growing social and cultural shifts.

People wonder why the south has a bad name?

Well I took a slight break tonight from marathon reading and writing to watch some TV, or more precisely catch up on some TV. I don't know how many of you watched Hannibal, but it really is a provocative TV drama centering around Hannibal Lecter, America's favorite Cannibal. I finished the final season today and had several thoughts about this version of Hannibal and Will Graham. Yes, they are most definitely a messed up gay couple, but in a weird horror movie way, Hannibal makes sense as he skillfully manipulates people like a certain Prince of Darkness You can't sympathize with him, can't reason with him, and can't defeat him, because all his flaws are inherent in all of us, symbolically in most cases. That just got me into thinking about the nature of evil; human nature's most self destructive impulses and it brought me back to a few old names that I had forgotten as their news stories faded. There are certain individuals in the last 30 years, who have been notorious mass murderers and, incidentally, repressed gay men. John Wayne Gacey and Jeffrey Dahmer come to my mind as the some of the worst our community have seen and tragically their first victims are gay men. Is it self hatred that drives these men to do such horrible things, a reverse narcissism? Will society's new openness to LGBT people make such monsters disappear? Or, will a reactionary monster rise far worse than either of these evil men? I don't know the answer and quite frankly, I am grateful not to know.

I just started re-reading one of my earliest bookmarks from Cryboy.org. As I read Jeff Allen's story "When Love Comes" part of his trilogy of stories, I realized why I started down the path of reading gay fiction and I can even now pinpoint something else, the balance of an erotic story and a gay fiction story. I will do an in-depth review on these three classic gems in a few weeks after I am done with the over 100 chapters, but for now, I just want to share something I rediscovered. Like it or not, Nifty was the springboard for a lot of gay fiction at the turn of the century and Jeff Allen's stories got their launch there (I first saw it on Nifty, but went over to Cryboy to get access to it and discovered Brew Maxwell's Foley Mashburn saga, which got me into a lot of other stuff as the abused kid "rescue" genre was born); I got into a bunch of stories as a teen browsing for things "gay" on my dsl modem. In its golden age, Nifty's sex appeal drew the reader into a story, but it was not what kept the reader interested in the story. That's what separates a story like "Wilderness Survival" and "When Love Comes" or "Love of a Lifetime", both used explicit sex, but Jeff Allen's writing was self-conscious about his characters and the world they were living in. That piece of "realism" sparks the characters to develop and become truly fascinating characters over the length of multiple stories despite the one off sexual tryst or the cock size descriptions that keep coming (I still love Jeff Allen's stories, it turns out, despite his stories being over 14 years old now). For me, the pinnacle of a good storyteller is a balance of elements, a focus of plot, and a timeless quality to their audience.

I hope it is not controversial to say that Kermit's old girlfriend was a gluttonous ego maniacal pig, because she was I don't think anyone who had followed even one of the the Muppet movies could doubt that Kermit was in a bad relationship with a woman, who didn't treat him right. I think Fozzie tried to tell Kermit once to watch out for that girl, but like many good-matured guys, he just took it. So glad, he got out of the relationship; hopefully, he finds a good girlfriend finally, or if he is inclined being a 40 year old southern frog, he might be open to other ideas down at the watering hole http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/01/entertainment/kermit-the-frog-new-woman-feat/index.html Well, beyond the fictional story-line, I don't know about this new show coming out. Muppets are really campy; even campy for gay guys who like nostalgia. Adding adult humor to the show would ruin the nostalgia, like it did with the Looney Tunes reboot a few years ago. You can't rewrite history, but an old fashioned Muppet show would be boring as hell. What do you guys think?

I am going through a camping fetish stage right now, so bear with me as I dig through my old story bookmarks. I don't know why I feel like digging up the past, but there's just something interesting and reminiscent about reading old stories I used to like. So let's review this story: http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/wilderness-survival/ To start off, I thought The Journey by Sunshine boy was dated, but pleasant and capable of being updated if the writer ever returns. This story is, how do I put it mildly "nifty"-esque There is a few good strands of story in here, call backs to the mid 2000's when gay writers like Brew Maxwell and our own Bill W. were writing story about kid rescues and showing us kids that we can find good role models and safety among our older peers without fear of getting molested. You can see that the writer was trying for that angle in the middle of his story, but it seemed completely out of place. In the story, the key romantic gay couple are destined soulmates, who are young teenage boys with huge libidos. While I do agree that I love the idea of Soulmates and even used the concept in my stories; the conversations and sexual experiences of both boys (who are named Jim and Jimmy, another thing that bothered me) was just off. A major issue with Nifty's storytelling for erotic fiction is that sex rather than substance or character development began to grow around this period. While, yes, everyone likes big cocks and blowjobs (well, I might be bias ), when you are trying to tell a story, you have to figure out what you want it to focus on. Is it sex that will be gratuitous and fetish-y like 50 shades of grey or a romantic story involving eternal bonds and life lessons. From the way the author began and ended the story, I got the feeling he wanted to do the latter, but he got distracted along the way. It's a shame really, I wanted to read about these boy's developing their relationship, learning things about their past lives as partners, become a naturalist story like a LGBT "Hatchet" (I was a huge fan of Gary Paulson's novels as a teen) , finding more kids to help in improbable situations (it works for a lot of writers, I've done it too), or simply explore the baseball element of their lives. The last element seems to have been a focus, but it just got mixed up with all the rest of the unorganized plots and half finished ideas. I used to like this story, but as I re-read it today, I find that it is missing a lot of critical details and story elements that destroy its plot. The obligatory Nifty sexploitation doesn't help, but there was a story here, it just got lost. I must tearfully give this story my lowest rating yet: 3 out of 10 I'll try to review more old stories from my bookmarks and feel free to give me suggestions on any Non-GA stories or even GA stories that are from prior to 2006 for a retro review. The only exception I will have to this is Do-Over as my love for that story and arguments with DK over politics make it a difficult story to review, but I would highly recommend it.

I have to do this to you, because it just fits

I am avid reader, but not always bound by GA's collection of talented writers Today, I am going to review an oldie that I fished out of my bookmarks from years ago. It's a short story that can be read in one day if you feel like it, despite being split into 20 chapters. I never met this author during his time, but I do appreciate a nice reading. http://iomfats.org/storyshelf/hosted/sunshine/ To start off, how much is love worth to you? I don't know about you guys, but $1500.00 sounds cheap in comparison to the lifetime of joy that a good partner could bring. Of course anyone promising this for a monetary value is usually either deluded or a con-artist. The character of "Dan" in this story did not believe so, he truly hoped and wished for something so desperately that he'd walk a thousand miles to find his partner/soulmate, literally. Western Canadian geography is an alien concept to me as I have only ventured around Eastern Canada and the lower Great Lakes, but I do appreciate the author's remarks on Canadian landscape and experiences that add a bit of colorful detail to this story. Of course, you assume this being a Gay story, it's about a boy finding another boy and folling in love with him. I would argue that assumption is quite false; the story is split between two segments, one about our hero Dan traveling across the Canadian wilderness with his companion Sam in this remarkably simple plot device, which finds them falling love with one another very quickly. The other story surrounds Dan's straight friend Beau, who falls in love with a girl named tonya, who perceptive quality makes her equal to Margaret Cho among gay literary heterosexual female characters. The dueling love stories draws a nice contrast and parallel for readers, who are looking for a common nature to love rather than a standard story of "I'm a gay guy who falls in love for a guy, so this entire story must exist in a vacuum about me", which I love reading and writing as well, but let's face it, our friends are dating and forming relationships too. The nature survival portion of the story was excellent and I could see this being a nice low-budget movie if it is ever picked up by an enterprising indie school filmmaker. A decent outing, but there are some negatives: One, I felt Dan's internalized fear of his nascent homosexuality/bisexuality was too strong. Since this was written 10 years ago, I think times have changed in how we talk about sexuality and as such, we're no longer so tight about "if you like boys, you're gay" mantra at least I hope people have evolved past that. Second, anti-gay counseling that is mentioned towards the end of the story has declined over time to a point, where it's mention is not relevant, especially as society in both US and Canada have been moving past that. It's not to say there are no proponents of aversion therapy or other psychological therapies against homosexual tendencies, but I don't think that part of the story will be understood over the next few decades. Lastly, I want to smack Sunshine boy for not giving readers a conclusion to these two boys struggles. There should be a short story telling us how far their love takes them, do they find happiness despite family issues, do their friends find joy in their relationships, and so much more. The story is good, but it is not holding up as well to time as many other writers, which is a shame. I grant this story: 7.5 out 10