Daddydavek

Corey made me laugh and Liam' s retort kept me smiling. Some packages are best unwrapped in private! Thanks for sharing!

The plot thickens and old foes are back in the picture. Sawyer is an incompetent backed by Admiral Mann and the Wilcoxes as there is no reason to doubt St. Vincent. Spencer is a reasonable man but he also has many pressures, so St. Vincent's threat should be persuasive but knowing Mark other agendas will be sprung as well. Cavendish has a real problem. Either way his life is a ruin and somehow I'm beginning to doubt there is any way out... More please!

1968 is the second book in the CAP series and the one in my opinion that is the most under appreciated. It is set in one of the most turbulent years of the second half of the twentieth century. Everything seemed to come to a head that year and Mark's characters are swept up in the events of history and were forever changed. There is some real heartbreaking ground which is covered against the panoply of events. To understand the complexity of JP you must see how the events of this time in his life deeply changed and shaped him. I promise you that the insights you get into the characters will help you to understand the man and his motives even to the present time in the latest book.

The first story in Mark Arbour's ongoing CAP series is all about JP and introduces some of the early cast in this ongoing saga. This is the foundation on which the whole saga in its many twists and turns is based. Mark's story is what brought me to GA in the first place and his stories continue to be the most compelling for me as must reads! The whole saga which now encompasses some 16 books may seem overwhelming, but trust me they are reads you cannot put down and keep drawing you in to see more. On a personal note, I am a contemporary of JP and Mark puts JP's story in the context of a history I share and so it is especially rewarding for me. So given that caveat, I may be unfairly biased a bit, but notice how many followers and comments are made on the stories and you soon see that he has a host of fans. Take heed and read! CAP is the beginning of the whole series!

Pour Me Another was posted in 2013 by KC and it won the 2013 Readers Choice Awards for the Best Story by a Promising Author. The site used to annually have readers vote on the best story of the year in various categories. This story was the overwhelming choice and has garnered almost 1100 chapter comments to date. Asher is the main character and as we follow him through the heartaches and highlights of a transformational time in his life you are swept along and will find it difficult to put the story down. The good news it is complete and you don't have to if you have the time. I heartily recommend it to everyone, especially those who are newer to the site and were not here when this story was all the buzz!

This is a complicated romance with competing friends who have different ideas and an insecure main character who wants to avoid conflict and hesitates in going for the brass ring. It is set in some wonderful European locales with all the charm you could ask for. It is a good coming of age story in a young guys life with the angst that seems to be an integral part of it. I certainly recommend it for anyone who missed it or wasn't a member when it was serialized in 2014 into early 2015.

Not to be repetitive, but a good post warrants it:

Many readers know of Mark Arbour's legendary serial stories about Granger and his exploits at sea in the late 18th and into the 19th Centuries as well as his other multi-volume CAP history set in the 20th and 21st Centuries. However, this gem is a stand alone story and it is extremely well done and is one of my favorites. As noted in the intro Mark provided, it is a first hand account of the sinking of the Bismarck. Without revealing any more than that, I can say it captures the drama and intensity of a wartime naval encounter. ENJOY!

Attunga by Palantir is my favorite by this gifted author from Australia. Remarkably it is about some gifted young beings, not all of whom are human, but definitely of earth. The first chapter was posted in late 2011 and the story was serialized and completed in late May 2014 so it too, predates when many of the site's current visitors were active. It is a bit dystopian and sci-fi and I guess that is part of the attraction for me. I love a good sci-fi story and this is one that just pulls you in and you will find yourself unable to put it down. If you can, please give it a read, a like and a comment!

This story was originally posted by DKSTORIES under a different pen name which for the life of me I cannot remember. However, this story is a fantasy fan fiction story set in Mercedes Lackey Valdemar world and it is a delight. Magic is a complex gift which can have a price. Young Prince Dalen is the central character and his challenges and responses to them are the grist of legend! Read and enjoy!

Sasha Distan has 64 stories on site, many of which I could recommend, but my favorite is Cowboy Summer! The teenage Rhydian loves horses and is from the UK and spends a summer in the American west and it is a story I became totally immersed in and couldn't wait for the next chapter. It was posted in 2013 and is complete and you don't have to wait. Read, comment and enjoy!

Damphir is my favorite story by Nephylim. It is in the fantasy genre but it is certainly not your usual fantasy fare. I heartily recommend it to everyone to find out for yourself what a gem this story really is!

At over one million words spread over a prologue and 157 chapters, CIRCUMNAVIGATION is the longest story on site. It is also one of the best! It has more twists and turns than you can count and the plight of Trevor and his friends is so intense sometimes as to almost make you want to look away, but the story is so compelling that you just cannot. C James has written an epic, epic! It truly does the genre proud and the story when it was being serialized, probably drove more traffic to this site than any single other story. It is too good to not be enjoyed by newer members who arrived too late to actually see the frenzy each post brought. However, now you can read it at your own pace without having to wait for the next chapter. So make some time, sit back and enjoy because you are in for one helluva ride!

I'm going to copy my review that I provided on Amazon when this story was first published: "To borrow a famous quote, this story is "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma" with deadly and frightening consequences. The two main characters are bonded by forces outside themselves and it takes luck, persistence and danger to tease out the meaning of it all. It is wrapped in a love story between two men. So those who are repelled by homoerotic love should be warned, but love scenes are not explicit. Their journey to self-awareness and knowledge of the forces that bind them is tense and dramatic. I heartily recommend this story for everyone with a sense of danger and adventure."

One of my favorites!

This is a short story to warm the heart of anyone who loves their cars and their families. It is one of my all-time favorites and is a very satisfying if quick read. I heartily recommend it to everyone who loves a good up-beat story that ticks the boxes on the most important events in life!

It is interesting to see some of the results. I can readily understand that some members truly cannot afford a year round subscription, but if they truly enjoy the site and want to support it, they could surely buy a random month or two during the year and contribute some to keeping a favorite site up and running. I'm supposing that you are still kicking around ideas about chat and I suspect that may be another future topic. I don't do chat but it does seem important to several members. I don't know if there are dedicated chat sites that you could offer a link to with a dedicated room for GA members and perhaps they would place an ad on their site in return? Again I know nothing of the economics of traffic or how those arrangements work or if they are too entangling to consider..... Finally story reviews. I am remiss in not spending some time and going back and providing reviews for so many of my favorite stories. I promise to try and review at least three stories a week until I work through them. As always, thanks for being an upfront, stand-up guy even if I don't always agree with all of your politics!

Sorry for being repetitive: AT LAST!

Dally is really a sweet guy and more than a bit scarred by his father's sexual history.... JJ is still the self-absorbed petulant diva. Will is Will is Will. Brad is probably right about Alexandra. And it was so like him to be embarrassed by Will's story about JJ's kitchen encounter..... ...and maybe Steff is thawing a bit?

The 'trap'....been there and had it happen to me. Fortunately, I was able to work my way through it with only a minor disruption to my posting Able III. I think it is a pitfall that can happen to anyone who is posting while still writing the story instead of waiting until you have it all finished. Thanks for articulating the problem so clearly and in a way that explains what can happen to the writing process.

Classic Rock Thursday: Chris Cornell: Immigrant Song

Great party, including the parting quip!

I'm not sure I'd want such a powerful aphrodisiac to constantly distract me....OK maybe I'm trying to be practical and failing..

An interesting cast of characters to even include a couple of references to Hornblower. Poor Freddy, I can't imagine him dealing with a Lady Elgin type. It was good to hear that Granger's family enjoys the island house. Thanks for the auspicious start!

Like too many cooks in the kitchen, it appears Granger is dealing with a similar situation.