Trebs

Thanks again Andy - I enjoyed this piece. Lots of good advice for all authors - even though this is focused on self-publishing, even beginning authors can use some of these ideas to build up their reader base and direct people to a blog they may have here, and to stories they may post under GA.Stories. My best thoughts and hopes for Purpose - you are a fantastic author and I really enjoy your work.

As always, we couldn't do this without help. Thank you Wicked Witch for this great review of Promising Author JMH's "The Centurion Cycle" - much appreciated! If you have a story that hasn't been reviewed yet and want to write a review for us, let us know! Trebs and Renee Stevens The Centurion Cycle by JMH Reviewer: Wicked Witch Status: In Process Current Word Count: 698,166 Some authors awe you with the way they managed to build vast, complex cohesive plots that make perfect sense. JMH has achieved this with the massive Centurion Cycle, some nearly 700,000 words of the life of Jason Argot, Legatio of Qul Tos and his expansive group of true friends and loves. An amazing mix of medieval, fantasy and science fiction that defies genres, Centurion Cycle hooked me and then wound me right in and I spent nearly a week not stop reading it from beginning to end. Centurion Cycle isn't so much a romance as an epic novel covering war and death, struggle and ultimate sacrifice and the fate of an entire world, with romance included for good measure. Something I thoroughly enjoyed was the way JMH builds Centurion Cycle as something that is the history of the world as we know it. In the end I felt delighted I had read this masterpiece, it left me feeling much benefited by the read. An amazing portrayal of human emotion will dance across the pages as you read this, with delightful characters. Jason is just a young boy when the story begins, and you will watch him mature, grow and developed mentally and physically as the story unfolds. But he is not perfect, and not everyone can be saved. If you are looking for something with a plot that you can really sink your teeth into, you'll enjoy Centurion Cycle.

I can easily see the insurance company denying any claim, as the evidence is there that they purposely went into a Cat 4/5 hurricane (Act of God if nothing else). But between the book deal and the gold, Trev can afford the rebuild.

One factor I hope is addressed is Shane's visa status for the U.S.

Hope your week has been going well. Here, we started with a review by Wildone of Hosted Author Krista's Something Unexpected! Wednesday, we were pleased to be able to announce GayAuthors.org's first Anthology eBook: Best of 2006. Speaking of anthologies, Friday we pre-empted out weekly prompts (don't worry - they'll be back next week) for the announcement of our 2013 Summer Anthology! This anthology who's theme is "Roll the Dice" is now live and has so many great stories to read. Enjoy! So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: "Paid Premium Anthology": 3 Summer Themes - Due June 15th (OMG - LIKE TODAY!!!) Announcing our Fall Anthology: Pandora's Box - Due Sept 8th Get writing and submitting :-) Some of us want to do some new reading NEW READING In Premium this week: Binding by Lugh, Book 3 of Vega-5 By our Hosted Authors this week: Legacy by Altimexis, Book 29 of Naptown Tales Coupled in Synchronicity by Cia Flash Fiction - Second Shot - The Senior Year by Andrew_Q_Gordon One Night by Cia 9.11 by Mark Arbour, Book 13 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) Take a Ride by Renee Stevens, Book 3 of The Adventures of Jerry & Chris Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont Thwarted by Renee Stevens By our Promising Authors this week: The Prophecy by Dolores Esteban Pour Me Another by K.C. A Cook's Tale by Mann Ramblings, Book 2 of Ship Logs of the Santa Claus Hard Choices by comicfan The Talents of the Fallen by JMH, Book 1 of Fallen October 14, 1993 by K.C. Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

Thanks - we'll look into this now

Hi Kitt - We have a "Writing Prompts" forum, and everytime a prompt is posted, a new topic is created in that forum. You can go in and post your prompt response as a comment on that topic. Many authors also create a story in GA.Stories and then post all of their prompt responses as "chapters" in that story. To do this, go to the "Stories" tab at the top menu, then on the right side click "Submit Story" under Story Actions. Once you have named your Story, you can then post the writing response as a chapter there. To let people know about it, you can then post the link to your chapter as a response in the Writing Prompts forum under that prompt's topic. One caveat - please don't create a new "Story" for each prompt response - as you do a second response, etc, put them all in the umbrella story for your writing prompt responses. Hope this is clear, but if not, feel free to send me a message. OH - one last thing that is great about the Writing Prompts forum. You don't have to use just last week's prompts - you can look back over the over 200 past prompts and play with any of them! As a reader, I sometimes just randomly look back and there are some fantastic responses we have had over the years.

Our thanks to Wildone, who has written a great review of Hosted Author Krista's Something Unexpected. We hope you enjoy it! Something Unexpected By Krista Reviewer: Wildone Status: Complete Words: 158,336 I was in conversation with Krista a while back and she mentioned a story of hers that I have never had the opportunity to read. Something Unexpected is a very appropriate name for this great story. I debated on if to call this review a ‘before and after’ entry or maybe a ‘must get an editor’ one. As many of you know, Krista is one of our long term Hosted Authors that has continued to post over the years here at GA. I would call a lot of her stories as romantic but in this case, I would submit that it is a well written teen angst story. Now as far as the ‘before and after’ comment, it should be noted that Krista actually wrote this story when she was in high school (I can’t even guess how long ago that was ). Being her first novel, this story is full of spelling and grammatical errors that show often with new authors. The thing is that if you look at her current stories you will see how over the years she has become an experienced author as well. The ‘must get an editor’ comment falls in line with previous one as well. Like others she tried to do this alone. She is willing to admit that it does show what can happen if you try to publish without an editor or at least a beta reader. The story starts out on the first day of Grade Nine for Highschool student Andy. Quickly we learn of his overbearing older sister who is a senior and willing to protect her little brother. The only thing is her little brother is a basketball star and about a foot taller than her. Throw in that his mother is a very busy plastic surgeon and father is a multi-business owner who is home seldom it has a feel of a modern day family with two teenagers. Andy gets on the bus the first day and is intrigued when he meets a new student starting Grade 9 as well named Jase. He quickly finds out that he went to a different middle school and probably won’t have any friends at the new High School. Andy always being the polite and good kid that he is decides that he will become Jase’s new friend. Things progress through the first week of school and then Andy along with best friends Ann, Mandy, Tim and Evan decide to attend their first High School Party. They invite Jase too in order to make him feel welcome with the new group of friends. This is where things go horribly wrong for the first time in this story. I won’t give away the whole story and plot line but will mention that I was surprised when it didn’t really follow the typical teen angst plotline that you will find on the web. There are more twists and turns that make you unsure of what will happen next. Sometimes I was sure something would happen only to find out that it went totally a different way. A couple of warnings; one, you will probably be like me and wish you could find an edit button and fix some of the rookie errors within the story. One of my favourites was when someone was ‘jumping on the cough’ . Although there is mistakes, Krista has left it as it was first published as that is where she was so many years ago. Second is the ending. A bit disappointing in my opinion but she probably had to end somewhere and didn’t plan it out as best as it could be. That being said, Krista said she would like to maybe someday create a sequel to find out what happens to all the group of friends after the current ending. I invite everyone to enjoy this good read for the storyline and the plot. It is overall a great story for someone that first broke their teeth in High School for writing a complete story.

SO worth the wait - thank you C James!

So - June is busting out all over! Barely into the month, and at least here in California, we're totally in a summer swelter. Of course, a great remedy is just staying cool inside, reading some great fiction... Hmmm - gee, where to go for great fiction... We started our week kicking off the June CSR - Can't Stop Reading Book club entry of Reach by CassieQ. Oh hey - maybe THIS is the great fiction I was talking about? Ya - check it out, and be sure to come back on June 24th for the CSR discussion on this story, as well as to be able to nominate a story for July. On Wednesday, we again had our great monthly feature of "Ask An Author" - installment #5. Dark does a wonderful job of interviewing a few GA authors and putting this feature together every month. We closed out the week (and started the weekend early) with two more great Writing Prompts by Comicfan. Mother talking or singing birds - where will our crazy dedicated writers take us this week? So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: Summer Anthology "Roll the Dice" - Due June 8th - TODAY!!! "Paid Premium Anthology": 3 Summer Themes - Due June 15th (ie, NEXT WEEK)! Get writing and submitting :-) Some of us want to do some new reading NEW READING In Premium this week: Binding by Lugh, Book 3 of Vega-5 By our Hosted Authors this week: 9.11 by Mark Arbour, Book 13 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) Flash Fiction - Second Shot - The Senior Year by Andrew_Q_Gordon The Secret Life of Billy Chase 7 by Comicality, Book 7 of The Secret Life of Billy Chase Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont Line of Sight by Renee Stevens Legacy by Altimexis, Book 29 of Naptown Tales By our Promising Authors this week: The Prophecy by Dolores Esteban Pour Me Another by K.C. Juvenile Feelings by SidLove A Cook's Tale by Mann Ramblings, Book 2 of Ship Logs of the Santa Claus Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

Ask an Author #5 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #4, we had questions for authors comicfan, Cia, C James, and Comicality. In AtA #5, we hear from authors wrathofmagneto, naptowngirl, and C James. For their protection, the members who asked these questions shall remain nameless (unless they choose to reveal themselves). Please note that all author replies are copied as is, spelling errors and grammar eccentricities original to the individual. Today’s first author is wrathofmagneto. Sworn enemy of OSU (Go Buckeyes! LOL), Michigan-dweller wrathofmagneto sports a sexy mustache goatee and loves comic books and video games. He’s also lately become something of a journalist, check out his stuff here: examiner.com. For fiction, try his latest, Footsteps of Giants, a sci-fi story about a doctor reminiscent of the classic Sector General stories by James White. To wrathofmagneto: Has writing journalistic articles affected your fiction writing ? Writing journalistic articles has given me a whole new outlook on and appreciation for researching different subjects. When you're reporting on something, you have to make absolutely sure that your information is 100% correct. Journalistic writing is a completely different style of writing than fiction, in that with fiction, if one or two details aren't correct, it doesn't matter as much, but in journalism, one wrong fact and you could lose readers, or even your job/position. I actually haven't noticed all that much of an impact yet, other than the fact that it's been making me want to write more. Like I said, it is a completely different style. But I've noticed that if I start to feel fatigued writing one style, switching to the other seems to help a lot. My writing speed is something I've noticed too. With journalism, Google will only put a news article in their Google news section if the article contains information 48 hours old or less. So it forces you to find the most up to date information, and write it as fast and accurately as possible. I've already noticed that my writing has gotten much faster. (it might not seem like it on here, haha) (I'm doing like fifteen different things, not least of which is trying to get Google Analytics to work correctly so I can track my pageviews on my articles, lol) Today’s next author is Naptowngirl. This beauty is a kind and loyal friend. She loves the forums and can usually be found there replying to the latest random thoughts. Her writing is far from random, however. Naptowngirl’s stories make you re-think the world and the people here with us. Her series Shades of Gray is a true love story with a touch of drama, but it’s not what you might think, as lawyer and main character Chase Montgomery has a lot to learn about love. To Naptowngirl: Do you tell people in RL what you write about? Hahahaha....really great question. We writers discuss this often and the answer for me is a simple Yes and No. I don't hide what I write, I do however fill people out first. My children know that I write M/M stories, LOL even my 10 year old son, believe it or not. It's not a big deal to them. A few friends and co-workers know, oh and the cable guy knows also. My mom knows I write, but she doesn't know what. LOL Last time, Hosted Author and perpetual King of Cliffhangers C James had a brief reproof from the member question regarding his story “For your Love.” C James finished this story in Feb 2011, but still continues to torment us with the 150 chapters-long uber-novel Circumnavigation. Now let’s see what else our dear goat had to say. To C James: What types of things do you do, if any, to get into the mood to write? Hrmm.. Basically, get all my work done, so I have free time. That;s about it. Writing is recreation for me, so it's a bit like getting into the mood to watch TV for most people. (and I almost never watch TV). To C James: In all of your travels, where is the one place you never tire of returning to other than home? That's a tough one!! I don't go anywhere frequently so burnout isn't an issue. Once I feel I've seen enough of a place, I don't go again; there are too many other places to go. I'm going to have to list several. The Falkland Islands, Italy, and the Austrian Alps. I love them all, for very different reasons. (I've only been to the Falklands twice, but I'm itching to go back. I've been to Italy and Austria quite a lot, but love going back.) There are places I went once and didn't want to go back. The time I took a vacation in a war zone comes to mind (if at this point you're wondering if I'm insane, well yes, of course I am...) It was during the fighting in Croatia and Bosnia, and at the time you could still get vacation packages out of the UK to resorts in the region, and due to the fighting, they were cheap. So, I went, but it was not a relaxing trip, and the shelling kept me awake sometimes. (it was distant, but the small arms fire often was closer). I went back ten years later and had a much better time. That’s it for now! For more info on these authors, go check out their stories, post in their forums, and/or catch them in chat! Coming next time: FishWings, Libby Drew, and Mark Arbour. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark

He's baaacccckkk! Heh - this is my first Weekly Update in seven weeks, but as I mentioned in our Wednesday blog, I've been able to use this time to deal with a number of things and now that I have a handle on my offline life, I can put in a bit more time to this wonderful online community. So - what has been happening around here? Well, as is usual for the last Monday of the month, we had the Discussion Day for our Can't Stop Reading book club, where May's reads were four Reader's Choice Award winning entries from our Anthologies. Check it out and there is still time to recommend a book for next month's CSR selection! Wednesday, in addition to "The Return of the Trebs", I also announced a Restoration Project - something that I am going to start working on but also need YOUR help. There are some stories I've come across myself that show as complete, but when we made the transition a few years back into the new GA.Stories, some of those stories didn't totally get re-posted. If you find any OTHER stories that you know have missing chapters, or are mislabeled ("In progress" vs "Complete"), send me a PM and I'll work to make the system more accurate. Thanks to the ever inventive mind of Comicfan, we ended our week as usual with two new writing prompts, Prompt 234 on Insomnia and Prompt 235 with a list of words (including "one red shoe"). I know the wheels are churning on these and can't wait to see what people come up with - and be sure to share your prompt respose with the community in the Writing Prompts forum! What's that you say? There was more? Of course there was - we also got a very interesting response from PMDacey to Prompt 233. I'd love to know more of Tom's life (and hopefully Wallace's too)... hint, hint So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: Summer Anthology "Roll the Dice" - Due June 8th - THAT's JUST ONE WEEK FROM NOW! "Paid Premium Anthology": 3 Summer Themes - Due June 15th! Egads - get writing and submitting :-) NEW READING In Premium this week: Binding by Lugh, Book 3 of Vega-5 By our Hosted Authors this week: Flash Fiction - Second Shot - The Senior Year by Andrew_Q_Gordon In the Arms of an Angel by Nephylim, Book 1 of Wednesday Briefs Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont 9.11 by Mark Arbour, Book 13 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) Adverse Effects by Cia, Book 2 of Saving Caeorleia Thwarted by Renee Stevens Legacy by Altimexis, Book 29 of Naptown Tales By our Promising Authors this week: The Prophecy by Dolores Esteban The Talents of the Fallen by JMH, Book 1 of the Fallen Two Short Tales of the Fey by andy021278, Book 5 of My Old Anthologies Pour Me Another by K.C. Andy's Shorties by andy021278, Book 2 of GA Prompt Stories A Cook's Tale by Mann Ramblings, Book 2 of Ship Logs of the Santa Claus Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

[Crossposted in DKStories Forum] I wanted to update you on some recent news - dkstories and I are no longer together. There are a lot of things that brought us to this point, and at this time I would appreciate holding off on any questions or speculation as I am still trying to pull together the rest of the pieces of my life. Dan is also taking a hiatus from the Internet - his stories will remain here but he is planning on not using the Internet for a bit, to give himself time to deal with his own issues. We will also be continuing to post his remaining stories on the board although we are working out the timeline for doing this. For myself, I had pulled back on some of my GA duties, but am at the point of being able to devote more time to the board again. I thank all of the mods, admins and News Blog staff for helping to cover and give me more time to adjust. My health continues to be decent - I see my main doctor every Tuesday and have blood drawn for labs twice a week. It is great to be able to log into my hospital's website a few hours later to see the results of all of my blood work. I do still get tired very easily but that's expected at this point. The aspect that makes me happiest is regardless, my doctor each week is very happy with my progress. I am likely to remain on disability from work until at least the new year, and possibly even into March 2014. I appreciate everyone's support and well wishes. Robert

It's with great sadness that we report that one of our most notable members, NaperVic, passed away recently. As many of you know, Vic was an active guy who enjoyed working out and running with his dog Mina. He had been warming up for a race when he suffered a major heart attack. After being rushed to the hospital, he remained unconscious until he slipped into a coma. Though he put up an amazing fight to survive, he finally succumbed to his injuries and passed away. Vic has been active on GA for over 8 years and has touched the lives of so many people here. He's always been that friend you could lean on when times were tough. His personality is matched by none, and he will be greatly missed. The hole many of us will feel in our heart where Vic once was may never be filled, but our loving memories of him will live on forever. Here's to you, Vic. May you rest in peace knowing you made the world a better place. We invite those who experienced this wonderful man to leave your thoughts here or in the thread we've started in DomLuka's forum.

Vic - You were one of the first friends I made on GA. I remember us being in one of the first author chats hosted by GA - being able to chat with DKStories. Privately we kept talking about how much I was interested in Dan and eventually how I started dating Dan. We both had a strong love for Dom's stories as well - though no one could compare with HOW strong your passion was. The playful arguments of me being an ARITE and you being (correctly) an SRITE. That's the thing I always felt from you, passion. You loved reading, enjoying and sharing. You loved meeting new people, warmly turning strangers into friends. We talked about problems in relationships and in life in general. You lived life to its fullest, were a wonderful daddy to your dog Mina, stayed very close to your family and even stayed friends with your ex. Eight years of friendship, of sharing - I will truly miss you. Robert

Loving these so far - each chapter is over fast but so well written with great details. Can't wait to bee more!

I've had the pleading child/puppy experience... Um - but the child was me as a 36 year old man and it was myself I was pleading with. Somehow I won and got the pup ;-)

Constructive critique is always helpful, and depending on what someone's views and background, there are always going to be stories that some enjoy, but as in your case, the characters fail to connect with other readers. Overall, I think what you wrote is not only honest but also very helpful. Thanks Percy!

Come on people - the answer is obvious:

I just wish he was currently on a team and not a free agent, but the first is the first and hopefully this will spur others to come out as well.

We wouldn't be able to produce and provide all of the wonderful content here at the GA News Blog without so many great contributors. Libby Drew gives us a great tip for authors on Writing Groups. Enjoy! Writing Groups: Some Pros and Cons A writing group can do wonders for our motivation and keep us accountable for our production. Members cheer us on, understand how even the smallest recognition can mean the world, and know not to say things like, “Oh, you’re a writer? Do you have any bestsellers?” There are pros and cons to using writing groups. Here are a few. Benefits: Writers of the same genre may have a helpful understanding of voice and target audience. Writers of different genres offer fresh opinions. Reading other people's fiction and trying to articulate a critique of that fiction increases our understanding of the way storytelling works. Further, other members may point out things we wouldn't normally notice. This process helps us develop a critical eye, specifically in regards to our own craft. Every writer is different. We use different routines, tools, and work spaces. Talking with other writers is a great way to expose ourselves to alternative processes. We may learn tricks that help us write better or use time more efficiently. Pitfalls: Writing groups can be a waste of time if the members are writing at different levels. Novice writers might be left behind while more experienced writers may not receive the level of critique they need. While the flattery will feel nice, it won’t help them improve. Bad advice is rampant. That it’s unintentional doesn’t make it any less harmful. Writing group peers are not all-knowing, nor are they (most of the time) well-established professionals. The writing group becomes happy hour. Like-minded people have the potential to become our close friends. Meetings can easily become social events. Enjoying being a writer is fine, but being a writer also means, you know, writing. Editing and critiquing can take a lot of free time. Some editing is good and will increase the quality of our own writing, but if all our time is taken up by editing, we’re learning how to be editors, not writers. And here’s one that can go on both the pro and con list: Writing groups are honest and critical. We all want to hear that our writing is good. Nobody puts their creation out there hoping to hear that it’s not. Some writers claim they don’t care what other people think, but with very, very rare exception, they’re lying. When our peers, and quite often they become our friends, tell us what doesn't work, it hurts. We have to develop a thick skin if we want to improve. A critique of our writing is not a critique of us as individuals. Writing may be more of an art than other tasks, but it’s still very much a learned skill. And, with caveats, a writing group is a learning tool. ~Libby

Never know - the previous version may have been "a single beating heart" ;-)

ANNOUNCEMENT: Today is the submission deadline for our Poetry Anthology "Whispers In The Dark" - so you only have a few hours left!!! In another bit of randomness we're very pleased to have this review from LJH, of Author Randomness's "To Move Forward." We hope you enjoy the review and check out the story - you're bound to be as captured by this tale as many others have been so far. To Move Forward by Randomness Reviewer: LJH Status: Complete Word Count: 37,125 You break up with a boyfriend. Twenty years go by quickly and there are moments when you think back and relive some of the good times you shared. Now and then there has been contact, but vague and brief. Then, one day out of the blue, you bump into each other and those old feelings resurface. But there is also fear. Apprehension. Questions. He has friends. You have friends. Do you want to see this person? What could he possibly want? Is a reconciliation possible? Do you really want to rekindle that lost love? And if so, at what cost? It's not an easy decision, and this is the crux in To Move Forward. Ben and Patrick were more than friends before they went their separate ways. In the years that follow, Ben marries and Patrick remains true to his sexual orientation as a gay man. Patrick takes life seriously. This is a good thing, considering that he has recently had a fallout. He and Ben, now divorced, meet at a fair, and suddenly Patrick is thrust into Ben's life once again. He has no idea what he is getting himself into because, as much as Patrick desires Ben and vice versa, there are skeletons in both cupboards and both must make sacrifices in order to be together. There is one aspect of this story that makes it all believable; Patrick and Ben must learn to trust each other. It is not trust at first sight; the trust between them grows as the story develops, and, for the reader there is no escape. It is impossible to put down, for, just as one thinks that things are looking up, another setback occurs. Randomness knows his craft. He knows how to engage the reader and make each sentence compelling. If there is one story you should read this Lent, make it To Move Forward. It will leave you feeling delighted and inspired.

Krista - I was thrilled to be able to add you to the Wrapup :-)

Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.... Errm - I mean, updated!