apjordan

Excited to see where the new story takes us, Carlos. And you can count me among those happy to hear CJ's editorializing about the cheetoh-in-chief. A small writing correction: Owen is CJ's fiancé (just one e); the second e is just for women.

Just popping back to this thread to note that, with today's generous double posting of new chapters, Mark has returned to his rightful place atop the list of prolific authors. Thanks, Mark and team, for your continued gifts to GA's readers... ....Allyster

Since Beautiful Thing is one of my favorite movies, my brain made little sqeeing noises at the first flashback scene. I enjoyed this version of the future for Jamie and his mum. (And I might be a bit more optimistic regarding Ste's future...) Readers who haven't seen Beautiful Thing should do so immediately... and then come back and read this story again

And we're back! How else would Mark return than with an update on a holiday? (And the timing is perfect for me, since I used the hiatus as an excuse to re-read the last several CAP stories and had just worked through to where Black Widow was paused, which means most of the relevant story details were fresh-ish in my mind. Lucky me!) Mark: I'll add my voice to the chorus in other threads wishing you well as you return to health. It's very good to have your authorial voice back in form, and to know that things in your real life continue to improve. All best, Allyster

Have just discovered your writing as a result of the Secret Santa competition. This is a lovely story, and I'll add my voice to the chorus hoping it will have more chapters soon.

As more and more signs point to Elizabeth as the mastermind, a little voice in the back of my head won't let go of the fact that she's not, technically, a widow. (Recall that that technicality mattered quite a bit in the planning of the Senator's funeral and the settling of his estate.) Even though Mark has hinted that the title might not be literal, I can't help but notice that we still don't have any actual confirmation that Elizabeth is even involved, let alone in charge. In his conversation with Wade in chapter 12, Trevor denies that Mary Ellen is involved; but when Wade implicates Elizabeth, Trevor doesn't say anything at all. The only things Trevor says about Elizabeth are generic observations about her character. I think there's also at least a part of me that wants the small shred of humanity buried inside Elizabeth, particularly the affection and respect she has for Brad, to make it unlikely that she would mastermind a plot that would hurt his children so badly. (And while we haven't seen it yet, I won't be surprised if the plot eventually expands to place Darius in harm's way as well.) So, I'm holding out for the revelation of a surprise antagonist. As for Will and Zach, I'm struck by a parallel that I probably wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't dedicated some summer reading time to revisiting the older CAP stories: Will's need to regularly reassess and renegotiate the terms of his relationship with Zach is so reminiscent of how Brad handled his relationship with Robbie, especially while they were in school. If they were aware of these similarities in language, forceful certainty, and elicited reactions, I think it would freak Will out and make Brad chuckle. Thanks, as always, Mark and team, for keeping us engaged and entertained!

And with Chapter 34 of HMS Valiant posted, all is right with the universe again...

Hmm...and now it says 4,989,798. Perhaps the algorithm is recounting slowly? Edit: Apparently the algorithm was tweaked again a little bit ago and the counts were re-run.

So, the algorithm that counts words at GA was changed yesterday to something which defines words much more conservatively, dropping most word counts by ca. 10%. The upshot is that Mark's total as of this moment now registers as a mere 4,997,244. The next posted chapter will presumably push it back over five million again.

I'm pretty sure I first found GA by following Dom Luka's stories (it's been long enough ago I can't be entirely certain). But I quickly found many more good authors to follow and have enjoyed being a frequent visitor.

Delighted to hear from several of my favorites in this installment and to see more of them on the docket for next time. I'm especially pleased that Comicality has returned to "My One True Weakness," since it's long been a favorite of mine among his unfinished stories. But it might not be the best example of the author "not leaving us hanging": the gap between chapters 3 and 4 was 12 years! Don't know whether you intended that to be funny, Dark, but it definitely made me laugh!

There are a handful of NFL players who have come out after retiring from the game. The trailblazer in that regard is David Kopay, who came out in 1975, one of the first to do so in association with any professional sport. Others who have publicly come out include Roy Simmons (1992), Esera Tuaolo (2002), Wade Davis (2012), and Kwame Harris (2013). Ray McDonald and Jerry Smith were apparently known to be gay in personal and professional circles, but never publicly came out before their deaths. I'd imagine that Esera Tuaolo's coming out in October of 2002 would have a pretty big impact on Zach.

I'm also pretty sure it's not true. You have a citation for that, Bucket? I know personal anecdotes aren't data. But since every retired academic I know (and I know a lot of them) has lived more than 18 months post retirement (and several are at 20+ years), a lot of folks would need to be dying even earlier than that for the average to work out. About the only way I could imagine that stat pans out is if people who die while still employed are considered to have retired at the moment of their death. This BBC News piece suggests that claims that specific professions (apparently teachers are mentioned most often in this regard) have life expectancies of 18 months post-retirement are both common and false.

When I lived in Chicago (1994-2000), I never spent much time in Boystown and never got into the club scene there. But reading about some of these clubs in Flux is definitely bringing back details I might not otherwise have recalled... Quoting Mark from the Reviews: I did some research, and all I could find in 2002, for clubs in Boystown (that looked interesting) were Manhole and Circuit. SideTrack and Roscoe's were both incredibly popular in the late 90s. And since they're still going strong today, I expect they were still big deals in 2002. SideTrack was very popular with the UChicago gay crowd in the 90s (though I can't speak for the B-schoolers), so perhaps Matt's classmates can nudge him in that direction. My recollection of Manhole (which I never went in) is that it was very forbidding—a stark blacked-out glass storefront that suggested a very nasty backroom—and very much a club of the established (and slightly older) serious partying community, for whom it was almost a sacred space. Their print ads ran to the raunchy side of Tom of Finland. It wasn't a place for people who were unsure of themselves. I did some googling to check on its fate, as I was pretty sure it's not there anymore: It doesn't last much longer than its current appearance in Flux. It closes at the beginning of May 2003 and is replaced a month later by Hydrate. Today, Hydrate hosts occasional "Manhole Night" events, in commemoration of its predecessor. Stories about the opening of Hydrate seem to suggest that the Manhole was in desperate need of a major overhaul/remodel by the time it closed due to years of poor maintenance (minds out of the gutters, boys!). That could make an interesting complement to the renovations at Spartacus.

My own thoughts on the second question include two possibilities not listed here: a) Wade came to Paris because he realized that Matt was hurt by his plan to go straight back to Boston, or Wade came to Paris because JP asked him to. These are not mutually exclusive, of course...

I happened to be browsing the list of "Most Prolific Authors." Mark is, of course, first on that list. And as of this moment, he has 5,054,405 words at GA. Working backward through recent postings of Flux and HMS Valiant, I believe that the 5 million milestone was crossed with the posting of Chapter 15 of Flux on April 24. So, it's a bit belated, but: Congratulations, Mark, on FIVE MILLION FREAKING WORDS. And what words they are! ...Allyster

I was about as prepared for grad school as you perceive Wade to be—and came from just as prestigious an undergraduate institution and wasn't recovering from any sort of deep personal or familial trauma—but it still took me a full quarter to adjust to being a grad student at Chicago. However... ...I was in a program and field about as far away from the MBA as possible. If Matt were entering a research-oriented PhD program, I'd suggest that he's poised for a stellar flame-out. But I think the challenges and experiences of an MBA program may be just what he needs.

Mark continues his excellence of posting quality and quantity with the arrival of Chapter 5, focusing on Brad's "date" with Ben. I can't help but feel that Brad's last line to Stef—“Love takes different forms. They’re all important.”—underscores another type of "flux" that will be important to the ongoing story.

Boystown was definitely already transforming a bit (especially in terms of having more families, both gay and straight, with children) when my husband and I left Chicago in 2000. We were never much into the club scene, so I can't offer specific advice there. It was my impression that the club scene still thrived—the neighborhood transformation being much more obvious during the day than at night—and might not have been very different in 2002 than it was in the 1990s. Chicago being much larger than Pittsburgh, the collection of bars in Boystown was always larger and more diverse than anything portrayed in Queer as Folk.

I'm from an earlier generation. But when I came out as a college student in the early '90s, I also found that the community of our LGBT student group wasn't a community I was interested in. Students who were active in the club were interested in casual hookups, radical political action, or both. The former didn't interest me and I wasn't ready for the latter. I knew a lot of openly queer students on campus, the vast majority of whom weren't associated with the student group. After I graduated, I believe a new student group—focused more on simple social interaction—formed for awhile. But like most student organizations, it fizzled when the leadership graduated. So no, you're not the only one. I don't think it's possible for an LGBT group to cater to everyone in its defined community—that's one of the reasons why we have so many different organizations today—but campus-based student organizations are especially prone to changing focus with the leadership and membership. We saw this a bit at the end of Bloodlines. The club as it had been run by Jason, as it was imagined by candidate Jerry, and as it was imagined by candidate Wade were all quite different. Each of those versions of the club would certainly attract and retain different students as members.

Just what I wanted for my birthday: A new chapter! (And you didn't even know that it's my birthday—surprise gifts are the best I was especially struck in this chapter by the similarity in how Will and Brad both resort to claims of exaggerated drama when they're frustrated. Will's repeated warnings that he would torch Matt's car and Brad's claim that he was afraid to go out for lunch each (almost certainly) overstate their likely actions; but because of their sometimes fiery personalities, those on the receiving ends of their threats can't be completely sure. Like father, like son...

Some others that I regularly read (in addition to about half of Myiege's original list and Buying Time): A Couple of Guys - MM contemporary, long-running, link is to the Facebook page (which has more content than the website) Boy in Pink Earmuffs - bb contemporary adorable, updates sporadically Capitol Hillbillies - MM contemporary, lots of pop culture references Casey at the Bat - MM contemporary with a focus on recreational sports (especially baseball and hockey) Gaysome - MM contemporary in both Spanish (original) and English (translated), was updating weekly but currently on hiatus Hitched - MM contemporary, updates on Tuesdays Kyle's Bed and Breakfast - MM contemporary, long-running, updates every other Tuesday Niels - MMF contemporary, updates very sporadically, rather quirky in that installments just hint at a larger story that isn't told O Human Star - MM sci-fi Vacan7 - MM contemporary fantasy Also a few titles that aren't principally queer, but do include queer content/characters: Hijinks Ensue - contemporary with lots of pop culture and sci-fi references, updates often Oglaf - medieval fantasy, includes all sexualities, frequently NSFW, updates on Sundays Pictures of You - contemporary college-age ensemble, updates daily Now off to check out the other half of Myiege's list... (edited to correct the relationship tag for Niels, which updates so infrequently that I had forgotten...)

I have to say that these last few chapters are absolutely the very best of Mark's writing for me. I'm never struck as much by the you-are-there action elements as by the development of the interpersonal relationships. Watching this powerful family begin to come terms both with their own grief and with the ramifications of several deaths is especially gripping. I'm not usually one to get weepy while reading, but this is really hitting me. On a different note... We lived in Chicago at the end of the 90s. By the time we moved in 2000, Boystown/Lakeview was attracting increasing numbers of young straight couples with children. You would see them out and about frequently, especially at marquee events like pride. The Andersonville/Edgewater area, which had long been a popular area for lesbians, was becoming more broadly queer at that time, too. I knew many gay men who left Boystown for Andersonville about that time. Of course, Boystown remained and is still very much a gay area. I suspect it would be a great place for Matt and Wade (and Riley and Tiffany and...). It's a lot more convenient to Northwestern than the U of C, though.

I was four weeks into my first real faculty job, for which we had moved across the country. A friend of ours from Chicago (where we had moved from) called to tell us to turn on the television. At that point, the second plane had just struck. I then left to go to school. By the time I arrived on campus and sought an update, the towers had collapsed. The university eventually closed and canceled all classes for the remainder of the day. We had CNN on a large projection screen in one of the classrooms, and students, faculty, and staff gathered throughout the day to watch the coverage and simply take comfort in each others' presence during a time of great emotion and uncertainty. We were geographically far enough away not to be in any probable danger; but almost everyone in our building had friends or family in New York or Washington. I eventually reached the point that I had to stop watching. The constant replaying of the planes crashing, of the people jumping, and of the towers collapsing was just too much.

Fans of Colton Haynes (aka the officially cast John Hobart) may enjoy this photo spread curated for his 25th birthday.