David McLeod

Andy, Good morning. I'm sorry not to have answered your review before this, but I failed to turn on the "notify me of reviews" button. Thank you for your very moving comments. Just as it may take only one "sweet shot" in a round of golf to keep folks from giving up the game, it takes only one "wonderful" to keep me writing. Hope you've found "Protector of Children." It continues the story, and has, I think, something over 50k words in multiple chapters. Thank you! David

Good morning, and thank you for reading and reviewing. The first chapter was nearly finished before I remembered Piers Anthony's books. Found a set at a used bookstore and read them through in a weekend some years ago. Initially, it was going to be just Nemesis's story, but Anthony was the inspiration to continue the theme. Didn't want to plagiarize, so tried to come up with characters other than his. Had to use Death and Mars, though. They're too important. Appreciate your comments on the relationship between Gary and Nemesis. That was hard to fathom, at times, and until Death interviewed Gary's little childhood friend, there was no way to tell how it would come out. Also appreciate your thoughts on stories about other characters. You're right: each could have a "backstory." I'll try to work some of those in as the next "book" in this series, "Protector of Children," develops. Thanks! David

Synergy Part 3: Refuge “…ideas which divide one group of human beings from another, only to unite them in slaughter, generally have their roots in religion.” —Sam Harris, The End of Faith Calvin I think I’ve skipped a bunch of things. Mama had decided she didn’t want to live on the ranch, anymore. She wanted to sell it, and could have … she was sole trustee now that Fred was dead. But Uncle George stepped in when he saw how much I would miss the place. He agreed to be trustee; however, i

Synergy: Part 2 Gary Bobby was about to be problematic. That is to say, he was about to be a problem. It wasn’t Bobby, really. It was what he was becoming. And, it wasn’t his fault. I knew why Dike had been reluctant to describe what she thought was happening to Bobby, Kevin, and Calvin. I knew that the words of gods and spirits could create reality. That was one of the few things Yahweh had gotten right: the part about in the beginning was the word. Too bad his followers didn’t understan

Thank you for both your insight and your kind words. I hope that the light of understanding you see in your students' faces will translate into a better life for them and, perhaps break the vicious cycle of poverty (intellectual as well as fiscal) and abuse that seems to have taken hold so many places. I'm sorry not to have replied sooner; however, the site software doesn't seem to notify me of reviews any more (or, I've not set it up properly). Hugs to you for your work. David

Synergy Death Dike had sent the boys to play in Nemesis’s room. I wasn’t sure what she wanted with us, but when she erected a shield so that only she, Gary, and I could be privy to her conversation I knew it was important. She didn’t mince words. “Calvin, Bobby, and Kevin are becoming something different. It is something new, but it echoes something I have seen before. Exactly what form it will take, I cannot say,” Dike said. “Cannot? or will not?” Gary and I asked, at nearly the same time.

Protector of Children Chapter 6 The Bridge Calvin From the Badlands of South Dakota, we went to an internet cafe in Rapid City. Uncle George drank one cup of coffee before ordering a fruit smoothie, and watched while I researched Anubis—both the old god and the member of a neo-Nazi hard rock band. But first, I had to ask. “Uncle George? I understand Anubis as an ancient Egyptian god. But I don’t understand what you said about Neo-Nazi hard rock band. What’s neo-Nazi, and what’s hard r

Death With his kiss, Calvin had opened himself fully. I saw who he was and what he had suffered. I knew what he knew and I knew what he wanted. He had figured out for himself who I was and what I did. He wanted to be with me … as a helpmate. He wanted to support me in what I did. He wanted to be what I had been looking for; something I didn’t know I had been looking for until he showed me. Why? I wondered, and formed the question in my mind. “Do you think my job is … exciting? Do you think yo

Nothing is Certain but Death and Texas Chicago, Illinois Death Gary was worried about Richard—the new Asclepius. Something was troubling the boy, something associated with death. Gary wouldn’t read him, but hoped that I could help. I joined them for a Saturday breakfast. Richard had been right: Saturday breakfast wasn’t about a meal. It was about ritual and celebration. Gary had begun the tradition the morning after Nemesis had rescued Bobby, and Gary had learned that for a long time B

A Botched Saturday “The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.” —Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac The boy licked salty blood from the cut on his lip. He was hungry, but the dumpster smelled too bad to look for food, there. Sometimes one of the girls from the bar would bring her trick into the alley. Sometimes, he could beg a dollar from the girl. Sometimes he could get enough money to buy a little food. Not often, and, so far, not tonight. His head spun, and he passe

Everest The little boy was soft, smooth, and clean. He smelled of patchouli. The man whose lap the boy sat on was hairy and smelled of lust—of the apocrine sweat that dripped from under his arms and the pre-ejaculate that leaked onto the little boy’s bottom. The boy smiled, and cooed. “I like Yankees best. They have biggest dicks and strongest seed. I make you feel real good, Yankee. I take your dick in me. You fill me with your seed. Your seed make me strong. You like, Yankee.” Morning

Hi,Just found your review. I don't get notices, anymore ... probably due to inactivity. Glad you liked it. I have had years of pleasure from reading, and hope to have passed some of that on. David

Protector of Children The old gods live: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. This must be understood, or nothing wonderful can come out of the story I am going to relate. They were born in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece; they arose in the Levant, Lascaux, and the Orient. They were born in the minds of pastoral peoples, of hunter-gatherers, of warriors. They have names: Set, Mazda, Zeus, Spider, Yahweh, Quetzalcoatl. We and our ancestors gave them Attributes, Aspects, and Aut

The old gods live: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. This must be understood, or nothing wonderful can come out of the story I am going to relate.

Aww, I'm conflicted, here. In the first place, I know that readers' imagination is much, much more vivid than anything I could write, and so I write to set up situations where you can imagine. Second, I know that the site's rules prohibit explicit sex between adults and underaged kids, and I have to respect that. Mir could open the doors, but IMHO would lose something that makes this site unique and respectable. That said, there are circumlocutions and euphemisms that can legitimately and legally overcome these problems. I plan to explore those in the rest of the series, which will be published, initially, as "Protector of Children." Of course, given the title, you can assume things such as "protected from what?". Thank you for reading, and for sharing your thoughts Cute puppy, by the way. Part wolf? David

The Evangelical Project Part 4: Hellfire and Damnation Nemesis I fell asleep, cuddled in Gary’s arms, and dreamed of making love with him. In my dream, I lay on my back; he knelt over me; I spread my legs and lifted myself to him; I put my hands on his buttocks and pulled him toward me; and then, just as his penis touched me, just as I was about to open myself to him, I was burning in the fires of Hell! I screamed myself awake, but the flames were still there. So was Gary. I could feel hi

The Evangelical Project Part 3: Dike and Friends Dike Garreth called to ask for a meeting about the “evangelical project.” I had some understanding of the evangelicals’ beliefs. After all, I knew Yahweh. I did not agree with his ideas about original sin and damnation. In fact, I did not agree with most of his Old Testament personae … Thou shalt not kill…except those who aren’t the Chosen People, and thou shalt slaughter them and their children and their manservants and their sheep and thei

The Evangelical Project Part 2: Chicago Those who don’t remember history may not be doomed to repeat it; but, they are doomed to be taken advantage of by those who do. —David McLeod Caden I stretched out my arms and sat up. Yep, I was in someone’s living room. Nemesis stood over me. Apparently he’d known what was about to happen and had stood up before he—before he transported us from a Boston coffee shop to wherever this was. “Oh, crap! I’m sorry! Did I hurt your back?” Nemesis aske

The Evangelical Project Part 1: Boston “I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit.” —Mark Twain Caden The coffee shop across the street from the hospital did a good business: people who were early for appointments, people who were between appointments, people who had fasted before a blood drawing and were desperate for carbohydrates. I was a member of the between appointments group and the need carbs group. I had finished three hours of physic

Gangs of Chicago Part 4: Retribution, Resolution, and Revolution Nomos This time, I called Garreth before translocating into his home. He offered coffee, stuttered for a moment, and then changed the offer to tea. “I’ve been in the States for over a hundred years,” I said. “And I’m a Chicago policeman. Coffee would be very welcome, thank you.” Nemesis came in while Garreth was pouring the coffee. I began the debriefing. “We found several handguns, ammunition, two ounces of marijuana, and

Gangs of Chicago: Part 3: Nomos Gary Even though he had rested at Erewhon before popping Viktor and Kenny home, Nemesis was exhausted. I fed him, and then we cuddled briefly before he fell asleep. He slept in until nearly noon the next day. I was about to wake him when he came into the kitchen. “That gang needs a visit, I think,” Nemesis said. “You’re not to go alone,” I said. As Nemesis had cast off more of his adult memories, I had become more comfortable setting rules and boundaries for

Gangs of Chicago Part 2: Kenny and Viktor Kenny Viktor was two years older than I was, but we were in the same grade. He had been born after October, and started first grade with kids mostly younger than he was. He was always the oldest boy in the class. I had skipped the second grade, and was always the youngest boy in the class. Viktor was a lot bigger than me, too. We both knew that we were out of place and different. We lived in the same apartment building, just close enough to Lakesho

Case: Gangs of Chicago Part 1: Apollo Gary Nemesis needed a lot of cuddling before he would tell me what had happened in Georgia. I heard his hurt in his words and in his voice. He hurt for the boys who had been raped (even the older one); he hurt for himself because he had killed a man; and he hurt for the boys who had killed themselves. Nemesis told me that somewhere and somewhen Mark and Kevin had died when their bodies crashed onto the rocks. Later, that had been erased not only from real

Georgia Trailer Park “The love which belongs to common Aphrodite is truly common, and works at random. It is the love of inferior men. When they love, they love bodies rather than souls.” —Phaidros in Plato’s Symposium (redacted) Nemesis When I came down to the kitchen, Death and Gary were sitting at the table talking about basketball. It was a friendly argument over which teams were going to be in the finals of the college playoffs. Gary’s phone rang. He glanced at it. “Oh, oh. Importa

Alabama Area Code Nemesis It was Saturday, and I didn’t dare sleep too late. Gary was busy all week with his businesses, the foundation, corporate donors, lawyers, and Family Services. He had always reserved Saturday for himself, though. Now, Saturday was for Gary and me. He always planned something special for just the two of us. I shivered a little when I thought about that. Gary had taken the one day he had reserved for himself, and shared it with me. I loved him so much! When I got