methodwriter85

Guys, I really honestly love the idea that Stefan's birthday is Bastille's Day, but because Stefan isn't about birthdays, JP has instead made Bastille's Day a covert way to celebrate Stefan's birthday without making him feel old. Awesome idea!

Hey guys, I made some edits, including finally giving Stefan a birthday. (Which might be a moot point, since Stefan doesn't believe in his birthday, but hey.)

You know what, guys? I agree with you. Mark Arbour, I think Stefan's birthday is Bastille's Day, 1945. Is that okay with you? It works for the period of time in which Stefan and Annette were having sex, as well as Stefan being 16 in April of 1962. (If you guys are wondering, Mark usually has me set birthdays for characters that didn't specifically happen in the story, like Darius and George Granger. I picked January 10th, 1776 as George Granger's birthdate because it was when Common Sense was published.)

Someone apparently posted this on Craiglist. The original got taken down, but a blog has reprinted it. It's quite possibly one of the best things I've ever read on Craigslist. To the Straight Guy At the Party It's kinda sad that guy who's going for his masters in Educational could be such a bigot, but it's nice to know that he was made an outcast at the party for being such an unrepentant homophobe.

No, he's not. He was born June 20th, 1936- which makes him 74 in present-day. In the CAP World, where it is summer 1999, JP is 63.

Right. If Steven hadn't known about Stefan, he might have considered it, but he knew, and there's no way he would have abandoned his child like that.

Mark M, I hope Aaron is dead as well.

happy birthay, JP!

The date of conception takes place October 1st, so Stefan's birthday can't possibly be October 7th- humans don't have 53-week gestation periods.

Chapter 19 -When Steven talks about Aaron's death, and has sex with Annette Bordet. "Smile" by Judy Garland -In Steven's last journal entry, where he talks about his nerves about becoming a father, and what has happened to the Hayes family, and wonders how he'll get it together when he gets back. "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" by Judy Garland -When Stefan grieves his father, after finally getting a chance to know him. "My Time Of Sorrow" by Marianne Faithfull http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t3p-Wvwxhs

Still, it's kinda crazy that someone who loves to throw a party wouldn't throw one in honor for himself. He could do what someone I met once did, who always put 32 candles on her birthday cake. LOL. And even back in the Land Whore, when Stefan was still in his 20's, he didn't ever acknowledge his birthday. Although I guess you could say that Annette Bordet, being as poor as she was, just never really did the birthday thing for Stefan, and that's why Stefan never really got into the habit of celebrating them. Maybe that's the reason why Stefan treats other people's birthdays as a big deal- i.e. him flying people around for Will's 13th birthday, getting Alejandro and Casey matching cars for their 16th birthday, etc. Stefan's not comfortable celebrating his birthday, so he overcompensates and gives the real "Super-Sweet 16" to everyone else. ' But anyway, let's just go ahead and make July 1, 1945 Stefan's birthday. It's been bugging the hell out of me that Stefan doesn't have one, so let's make that his!

No. Stefan's non-birthday has been a running gag throughout the whole series. For a guy who loves a goood party and for someone who has been the protagonist a record-setting three times, its pretty amazing that we have never seen Stefan celebrate a birthday. Anyways, you raise a good point- why DIDN'T Tonto search for Stefan since she knew?

Chapter 18 -When Steven gets settled in with his platoon, and stands up to his sergeant. "G.I. Jive" by Johnny Mercer -When Steven has sex with his very drunk sergeant. "Rum and Coca-Cola" by the Andrews Sisters http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWY4_GyLufI -When Steven talks about D.Day "Footage from Saving Private Ryan" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfh3ne88fPY

For the scene when Jeff comforts JP after losing Andre and Billie.

I FINALLY decided on where I'm going, and that's Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I realized the only reason why I was considering Millersville was because it's only an hour away and I could take my car, and other than that, Millersville doesn't really offer a whole lot. Like it doesn't have graduate housing, and it doesn't offer a wide variety of classes. I'm a bit wary about the fact that it's 5 hours away from home, and I likely can't bring my car as my 1999 beater couldn't handle a 300 mile drive, but I think that might be a good thing. Funny how things work out. IUP was my second-choice, MU was first. But when I sat down with the advisor at MU, I realized that the program didn't really offer much to me. My mom told me, "I just want you to be happy, and go where ever you want to go", and I realized that I want to go to IUP. It's just going to be a real different kind of experience, but I'm excited. I'm sorta taking a big leap of faith, and I realize I could fall flat on my face, but hey- if I hate it there, I can always transfer, plus it's only two years anyways. And Indiana is the hometown of Jimmy Stewart, so...it's like I'm going to be around the real Bedford Falls. I can't wait for the first snowfall...I'd be running around, yelling "Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls!"

Does this remind anyone else of the end of Titanic I like that they're spending eternity with each other the way they want to be. (They both died, right?)

That so explains Matt Carrswold of Bloodlines.

Hey, don't sell yourself short, Mark. I've seen you embrace mid-life with an equanimity that frankly takes my breath away. I should hope to do the same thing when I hit middle age in about ten years. You've grown up into a fine man that any father would be proud of. As for Adam, I wouldn't be his bitch so much as I would be his whipping boy every once in awhile if he so pleased. The way that guy insults me just makes my toes curl.

Chapter 17 - When Steven comes home after his training. "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" by the Andrews Sisters http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wiVkdVPGoY

There should be some kids around Darius's age. It wasn't a Hayes kid you're thinking about- it's Matt's biolgical mother's son.

Here's one from Adam P's first grade days in 1985...

Chapter 16 -When Steven and Nathan have sex after the party, and Steven realizes that he's falling for Nathan. "I've Heard That Song Before" by Harry James (vocals by Eileen Wilson) - When Steven reads Aaron's letter to him. "You'll Never Know" by Dick Haymes http://www.youtube.c...h?v=GpVXGKUGbbM -When Nathan tries to tell Steven that he loves him, too. "People Will Say We're In Love" from Oklahoma! *** I love that damn musical. I saw the Patrick Wilson version in '02...man, it was awesome.

You can tell him that the young man grows up to become a happy, well-adjusted professor/family man in the mid-West, settling into middle age quite comfortably.

Many of you guys are aware of Adam Phillips, a new author here at Gay Authors. Last night, he posted at another group this touching tribute to Mark. I really thought I'd like to share what Adam wrote with all of you. *** This will be long. f**king deal with it or move on. I've been interacting with people through Yahoo groups for 7 years now. I'd been hanging out at various places on the Net a couple of years before that, places where I ran into Ed and a couple of others, but it was 2003 when I began writing Crosscurrents and talking to some of you people. Ridiculous. Seven and a half years it will have taken for me to finish this damn thing. That's absurd, but it is what it is. I've walked some road during that time. Mark. What to say about Mark. Where to start? I have something specific to say, but I can't say it without saying some other shit too. Mark has had my back and been my bud from all the way back to 2003. He is a f****n Man. We clicked early and often. He's definitely First Tier in my book of Internet Companions. Over the years I've disappeared occasionally and he's disappeared occasionally, and as the Dylan song says--sort of--I've seen a lot of women but he never 'scaped my mind. So back already over a year ago Mark asked me to look at his first 3 chapters of Chronicles of an Academic Predator. He knew I'd tell him what I thought even if he didn't like what I thought. I actually liked the three okay. I wrote him back in some detail, trying to be helpful and encouraging. And, man, did he go to town. Boy got the writing bug. I liked his stuff okay. Wasn't my favorite stuff, but I liked it okay. I had my demurrers here and there that kept me from engaging with his stuff 100%. Mostly topic and technique stuff. And I wasn't always crazy about the narrative pacing and the motivations driving characterization. But it was Arbour, man, and I wanted to be loyal and supportive. He's always been that with me. See, problem was, I'd read On the Mark. And it was clear that that was much more from his heart. I wanted that intensity and passion in Cramptonworld and wasn't particularly getting it always. Seemed like he was playing God with his little universe and deciding what he oughta do with them next rather than loving his characters and loving his stories and telling tales of the heart, as the aborted On the Mark clearly was. Then a bad thing happened. Second novel out, he killed off a character I'd come to love, and it seemed to me utterly gratuitous. At the time, anyway. I'm not sure I'd put it like that any more. It told me a couple of things, though. One thing it told me was that his character portraits were starting to work. Other thing it told me was that I wasn't necessarily safe in his hands as a reader. I'm not sure if I can explain that. I don't mind authors taking me into tragedy. But they have to kind of f****ing ready me for it, and there has to be a sort of redemptive purpose to it. That may be old-fashioned of me, but I can't deny it's a factor in my assessment of an author. Well, in 1968 I wasn't ready for it, and there seemed to be no redemptive purpose to it. So I was leery as I continued on to his next story. The Land Whore never really grabbed me hard. I'm not a big fan of the Stefan character and he was narrating. But beyond that, the narrative just never engaged me. Didn't take long, though, for him to snag me again. I loved Brad and Robbie, the Main Guys in Be Rad and Man In Motion. I thought, for the most part, that they were believable, loveable characters, and they behaved in ways that worked for me. The narrative, too, was once again interesting. I was participating in Mark's little group that responds to early drafts of his chapters. And as I was reading along in Man and Motion, out of the clear blue sky, he does it again. F****in takes a character that he's portrayed effectively and sympathetically, and sent him down the tubes. Gratuitously. Again. That was it. I couldn't do it any longer. Subject myself to an author who has the skill to get you to fall in love with a character, only to watch him discard that character like used cat litter. I wrote him a scathing email--as scathing as I can get with Mark--and left his drafts group. I just couldn't subject myself to repeated salvos of having the author waste these beautiful lives he's drawn just for sh*ts and giggles. I don't know, maybe it was just to shut me up or to prove to me that he wasn't a one-trick pony, but he decided not to take that direction after all. I read through his revision with some gratification and a little embarrassment that I'd popped off at him like that, but I was pretty rattled, and my own life was pretty busy, so I never really got back on board with reading his stuff, and he just kept churning out the chapters. But eventually I couldn't take it any more. I felt disloyal as f**k. This is Arbour, goddammit. So I took a deep breath and started over from the very beginning of the Crampton saga, just so I could get a feel for everybody once again. I died once again in 1968, but made it through without too much bitterness. I rejoiced when the rat bastard who'd come to kill Jeff died a horrible, miserable, and in-my-opinion much-deserved death of AIDS (Sharon, I'm sure, is snarling at this point LOL). And I noticed that slowly but surely, Mark was finding a pretty f****in solid voice. I read through the next couple with enjoyment, and finally got to Bloodlines. And I have to say, that opening paragraph of that first chapter...well, sh*t, that's some of the finest writing I've seen anywhere, and as great an opening paragraph as I've read in anything published. I was especially taken by the first sentence. There's an art to writing first sentences, and Arbour f****in blew the doors off the hinges. There was some incredibly artful writing on and off in Bloodlines, which surprised me because Mark had never seemed particularly interested in making sh*t Sing, as I sometimes put it. For him, watching the characters do stuff is the thing; that and the really really nice job he does of weaving historical context and background in a vivid and convincing manner. But this was another whole level of good. And not only that, he had a batch of new characters who were utterly engaging. F*ck if I didn't fall for ol' Matt Carrswold. Almost guarantees that he's going to kill him, I thought to myself; but actually, no. (Jeremy's comment: I think Mark was scared that he'd start a riot if he killed off another one of the Hayes family.) Bloodlines was a pleasure and he got the Big Accolades for it at Gay Authors. Deservedly so. But I gotta tell you...his latest one, The Box, has me grabbed by the 'nads. It's his finest piece in the Cramptonworld series, in my opinion. It's a prequel, in a way, and tells the story of an earlier generation of Schluter and Hayes boys. It's set around World War II, and in my humble opinion, Mark's grabbed himself a piece of the One Story here. I'm partial, of course: It's a coming-of-age tale about two best friends who fall in love. In an era that's much harder on That Kind of Love than anything Andy and Matt ever had to face. Aaron's angst in the earlier part of the story is of a Piece with Andy's angst from my story. And, while Bob's news article (and a post at my other group) suggest that sooner than we realize, people are not gonna get what that's all about, I'm still very much appreciative of an author who explores that internal conflict. And Mark does that here credibly, sensitively, and with love. He lifts Aaron up for the reader's consideration in a way that's utterly heartbreaking, and at least for this reader, it was impossible not to fall for him. And for his best friend. Let me repeat: I don't know if it's possible, unless you're Jeremy with his philistine, boorish tastes, not to fall in love with Aaron Hayes. (Jeremy's comment: I'm just not that engaged by Aaron, and don't find him all that interesting. I'm in this story for Steven, and could go either way with Aaron. Sorry.) The reader knows that both the main characters are doomed. (Don't we?) It's war, and from the rest of the Cramptonworld saga, we know that Steven Schluter died in the war. (Almost certainly, anyway) But that's okay. Steven's love for Aaron and Aaron's for Steven lights up the pages. F*ckin sets fire to them, even. The passion and the depth of emotion is almost palpable, and the guys are skillfully, skillfully portrayed; they and their story are told with subtlety, nuance, restraint, and dignity...yet somehow, for all that, with an explosive power. And finally, finally, it seems to me--though I saw suggestions of it in Bloodlines--Mark displays some evidence of loving his characters. Finally. I'm not completely sure where this story is going; he's not finished with it. But I have to tell you, this is damn good storytelling, in my opinion. I don't know if a reader can start in on The Box without having read the previous Cramptonworld novels and still experience the same power that I have...but I think maybe he/she can. The story of Aaron and Steven is told by giving us glimpses of Steven's journal entries. From time to time Mark breaks into the present and focuses us on the people reading the journal, and if you start with The Box you won't know who those characters are or what they've been about...but I actually think that's okay. The real storyline is in the journal, and that's where the real magic is. Beyond that, Mark's technical control has grown by leaps and bounds, and its visible here. And while he'll never be an author whose pages radiate elegance and verbal power--that's not his style--there are plenty of nice, nice passages that, not even considering the storyline, read soooo pretty, so aesthetically fine, without being self-conscious (such self-consciousness is hardly ever a good thing IMHO). Mark...a superb effort, man. I'd have said this to you in private but I want other people to get curious and check it out. I'm enjoying this immensely. At least for the duration of this fine story, You are indeed Da Man. Thanks, buddy. Adam *** Adam, that was a pleasure to read, even with the personal dig at me. I really am glad that you found something worthwhile in Mark's writing...lord knows how hard the guy works. When Mark started writing his little story about a slutty professor two years ago, I had no clue what he'd managed to build up in the world of e-stories. It's bit breathtaking to think about what he's accomplished in such a short time.

Mark is doing some editing to CAP- he posted five revised chapters, but so far he hasn't touched Be Rad.