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Actually you're pretty spot on there Graeme, the Sydney gay scene is incredibly shallow. I know guys who avoid it and many more who can't live without it. Personally I love going out and partying on the scene, for me the superficial crap is far outweighed by the fun aspects, though I'm probably not the best person to comment on this cause I tend to go out and party with a big group of friends, most pretty boys, so the superficial attitudes don't tend to be focused on us that much. In my group of friends we can be pretty shallow at times, but overall it's rare, especially when I see how others on the scene act. Personally I place a high importance on looks when it comes to attraction to a guy, but I don't carry that over into letting appearance dictate if I'll be friends with someone, afterall there isn't much point in being friends with good looking, rude, arrogant arseholes. At the end of the day I think personality is as important as looks in a guy, because without both the attraction will only be half complete. Let's be honest, looks aren't irrelevant, but they're only part of the equation. LMAO funniest thing I've heard all week Gary.

Hey Dan, I hope you're feeling better soon.

Anything of Dio's is good, I think he could write about almost anything and make it interesting... On another note, how can anyone live somewhere that gets below 10 degrees Celsius/50 Fahrenheit? I wouldn't want to go out...though I've gotta say the 40/104 degree plus summer days are a killer here. Enjoy the holidays as much as you can Dom, which means lots of alcohol to deal with some family...

DOH without a doubt, I'm enjoying DOH as much as DO at the moment, and I just can't say that about Bully, Bully is good, but it just doesn't have the same impact nor appeal. I think you'll find that Bully has broader appeal, however Bully has a tried and proven formula of teen angst, homophobic situation and working out ones feelings towards someone else, which is why it'll have broader appeal. I tend to find that a teen angsty/coming out story has to be really something special to hold my attention and while I'll read and enjoy Bully it just doesn't do that for me. DOH does hold my attention, because as with most Sci-Fi stories it has far more possibilities, twists and turns as well as different structures that come with being able to create ones own world, though the same can be said for Fantasy. The things I think Dan does best is create the twists and turns as well as having a masterful skill when creating battle scenes, and they are two of the things missing from Bully. To me DO did the whole angst thing better than Bully, which is one of the reasons DO was so good, it had the twist and turns and battles, yet got the angst and coming out story packed in with it. I'm hoping Dan's next major story will be a Fantasy novel

I must say it's been a rather long time since I last posted around GA but was compelled to write how much I enjoyed QOI. I honestly wasn't expecting it to be as captivating as the rest of the series, not having many of the main characters, however that line of thought disappeared after about 15 mins reading. The addiction was renewed and I read the book over the space of 3 days, even having a day off work to finish it (which is shocking considering the amount I've been working). Fav character has to be VonGrippen, incredably logical and unemotional most of the time, yet still holds your interest. Fav scene has to be when VonGrippen is "schooling" Maguire in space combat. I probably should have posted something sooner, after all I had finished the book weeks ago, but for those who haven't read it yet, do so! I'll be eagerly awaiting TBOJ Chris.

One thing to remember is GHB alters ones state of mind to an extent most substances can't, it's very dose sensative and very potent. One annoyance was Conner being affected so quickly, it would take a bit longer than that, no matter what the dose is, but overall the topic has been handled well. If you have no real memory of an incident how can you feel much about it? GHB in a non recreational form (date rape drug) is designed to render the person unconcious and have little memory (if any) of anything after. GHB is highly dangerous because of it's dose sensativity and negative reaction to other drugs, if anything Connor should be happy to be still alive. No doubt he will have issues in future, most likely around the guy who did it and his capture or the failure of the police to capture him, but there isn't much mental trauma for him simply because he wasn't concious, for which he was kinda lucky. It could have been far worse. Let's hope Conner becomes stronger and stands up for himself more.

What can one say other than, sorry, it sucks and Green will be missed. I hope you stop by from time to time to let us know how you are/what you're up to Chaz

Congrats Jakob and Seb.

Happy Birthday (sorry about the lateness, I've had a long, busy week at work and couldn't post sooner).

Favourite is Edward, why? Who couldn't like a god like being with his personality and he's cute Dislike, Evans, Caldone and Lex, but Lex is also helping and committing genocide. I'm wanting to see more of the half Polian half Human boy. Funniest character has to be the Darien construct.

TLP was very good, it built on what the previous books had created, but took it to a whole new level which was great because the previous books were already so good. I like Edwards level of confidence of Elias's, plus their similarities make them mould into one person well, while still drawing on their unique talents to create one person. Lex is potentially far more dangerous than Rikard could ever be, however I doubt Rikard is out of the game yet, he always seems to have something up his sleeve. Evans is on track to get eaten whole by a Gorean like I suggested, if it happens it'll be a funny scene no doubt, along the lines of the Rikard/Darien construct scene, that had me laughing hard for ages, though the construct being killed does take some of the humour away, however it was necessary part of the story. The Gorean's are in for a bit of an arse kicking if Darien has to fight them, the re-aquired propylons will insure that. James is a favourite character now, plus Katz has grown on me, with more insight into him it's shown he's more than just a flyboy. I finished the book on saturday, but is it to early to ask for The Balance of Judgement?

It's an unusual story but a good one and I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

Not long now

Happy Birthday Ben, I hope the surprise was good and highly enjoyable Remember you're not old for a couple of years yet *hugs*

DIR is off to a great start, which isn't surprising given the author (does flattery work on you Dan? ) I can understand the various reasons that could lead you to going offline, however your proposal about continuing writing, answering emails and dropping in here from time to time sounds like the best idea. I'm probably one of the few people around here who understands the negative implications a blog can have, especially with all that crap about political laws over there, let alone the other issues arising from it. I really do hope you continue to write, your stories are unique because they feature far more than 'boy meets boy, boy gets outed, boy gets in fights with bullies, boy gets kicked out of home, boy moves in with other boy, boy and boy live happily ever after' which is the staple of most gay themed stories. The use of military and political themes has always been what got me hooked with your stories, because not only do you write those themes well, but you make them realistic as well as using the right terminology and specs of things. If you don't want to go offline and your fans don't want you to, then a middle ground that you're comfortable with is what I'd suggest, even if it means a slower rate of writing. It would be sad to see the author who's work brought me over to GA to stop writing but at the end of the day the choice is yours.