Looking for Story Recommendations

[Bobert99]

I'm relatively new to this whole gay stories thing but I love reading them and have been looking for more and more stories to read through. Problem is, it's extremely difficult to find stories I'm interested in since it seems many stories across the web either don't have synopsises or aren't labeled at all beyond titles. I've gone through the Gay Authors search engine and read the stories that interest me but now I'm not sure where to look next. Sites like AwesomeDude or Best of Nifty might help but it appears they don't have any sort of searchable story database beyond listing all the hosted authors.

 

Anyways, I'm interested in novel length coming out/coming of age/discovering their sexuality stories involving high school or college-age characters. The longer the stories the better, and while I don't mind the occasional sex scene, I don't really enjoy pure smut or stories without realistic characterization (like boys declaring their everlasting love to each other immediately after coming out). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

The stories I've read and enjoyed so far:

• The Do Over Series
• An English Teen by Riley Jericho
• Beloved by Dan Hanratty
• Sparkling Combustion by skylight
• Sky's the Limit by captainrick
• In Due Time by J Ross
• Something Unexpected by Krista
• everything by the amazing Dom Luka

[Hamen Cheese]

Okay, I tried posting my reply here which I copy and pasted from elsewhere but it won't work so I'll just try and send you a message.

[Dark]

There's tons and tons of stories here with the theme you're looking for.

If you like fan-fiction, there's The Rider's Pride featuring Anne McCaffrey's Pern universe.

Not sure about the ages, but Take the Track features a slow seduction of someone unclear in their sexuality.

The Face in the Window is about two high school boys finding love for the first time.

Also with high school characters, With Trust is amazing, but unfinished, but there's also Desert Dropping (a must-read), The Ordinary Us, and The Long Way, just for starters.

One of the most touching stories I've read here is It Started with Brian, which follows a young man starting in high school as he discovers and comes to terms with his bisexuality.

I could go on and on, but that's all I have time for right now. If you go to the GAstories page and search under Tags you'll find key words like "Coming Out" and "First Time" that will also help you find more stories along the guidelines you're looking for.

Good luck and good reading!

Edited October 7, 2016 by Myr
link fix

[Cia]

Okay, so I haven't read all of this stories personally but quite a few I did in the past or I read part of as I moved things over. I also opened the tag browsing option, chose coming of age stories, then refined the search to have them with completed status over 10k and got 2 pages with stories that aren't all on your list. You can do the same with the coming out tag. Also, on crvboy you might check out Sara Bell, her stories are good. On AD you might check their best of Nifty page for recs of 'good' stories, you can always see what info you get for category if they go back to Nifty or just try reading a little. That's tedious, I know, I'm fortunate to be a speed reader. At least GA is pretty searchable. There is quite a bit here you haven't read yet by some very good authors.

 

Altimexis has a series of interconnected stories called Naptown Tales that involve usually high school age characters and various issues pertaining to sexuality.

 

Coming of Age stories, over 10k in GA Stories:

Are you Christian by Krista

Black Star Crossing by Young Sage.

Blind Sensations by Ricky.

Carter's Saga by Christopher P. Lydon (has 3 books, all long)

Life's a Grind by Jack Sage

The Pastel Cowboy by Carl Holiday

You Pass This Way But Once by Bill W

[Tipdin]

David McLeod writes well. You may enjoy his work.

 

http://www.gayauthor...or/david-mcleod

[Sara Alva]

Shane and Trey is a nice college-age one.

[Marzipan]

- Viv's From Behind those Eyes

- Comicality has a lot of great stories, and they are long, try A Class by Himself

- Jack Frost's Moving on (I'm reading it now and loving it!)

- Cia's Escaping the pain

...

 

The list goes on and on, I have tons of recommendations, but I'd start with those ^^

 

[rec]

There are many to recommend:

 

At awesomedude.com:

Anything written by Cole Parker

Triptychs, by Douglas (and probably anything else)

A Special Place, by Sequoyah (and his others)

Laika and other stories by EleCivil

Someday out of the Blue, by Little Buddha

Kayden I, by Ryan Keith and sequels

 

At gayauthors.org:

Educating Alex and all the other stories by Ardveche

 

At iomfats.org:

All the stories by Grasshopper

 

At nifty.org:

In celebrity/boy-bands/ Alone Together by D S (Outstanding, long, extremely well written, challenging. There are two separable but related stories contained in Alone Together. Beyond chapter 46, the story gets a bit weird but at 46 you can stop, but the end of 46 is amazing. Don't let the boy-bands category sidetrack you; it is not a boy bands story.)

 

At CRVBOY.org

The Peacher Series, by Michael Arram

The Magic in Your Touch, by Sara Bell

When Love Comes, and other stories by Jeff Bell

Two Men in a Pickup, and all the stories of Rock Lane Cooper

Tapping, and others by Kit

The Carter Saga, by Christopher Lydon

The Foley Mashburn Saga by Brew Maxwell

Phalen, by Roy Reinikainen

What We Are, by Richie Ryan

 

There is another, absolutely outstanding series of stories, but the author wants no publication of his name. If you PM me, I will direct you to the website.

 

And many more..

[sat8997]

On the Best of Nify (and the Net) list, anything by these authors:

 

Grasshopper

Freethinker

Mike Arram

Josh Aterovis

Ardveche

Savoir Faire

Nevius

Tinnean

EleCivil

Sequoyah

Rick

[bigbear427]

My votes for great stories would include Duncan Ryder's 'Everybody's Wounded' and the sequel 'How the Light Get In'. Duncan is really a top notch writer.

 

So many others on here are great... Comicality, dkstories, just too many to list

 

Actually one from Comicality come to mind 'Light Reaches Earth' is a great coming of age short story.

 

Keep reading here.

Edited March 4, 2011 by bigbear427

[Eddy]

I

Anyways, I'm interested in novel length coming out/coming of age/discovering their sexuality stories involving high school or college-age characters. The longer the stories the better, and while I don't mind the occasional sex scene, I don't really enjoy pure smut or stories without realistic characterization (like boys declaring their everlasting love to each other immediately after coming out). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

One of my all time favorites was written by John Ellison "Aurora series" found here:

 

http://www.nifty.org...ntom-of-aurora/ The Phantom of Aurora is the first book of a five book series as listed below.

• Phantom of Aurora
• Boys of Aurora
• Aurora Tapestry
• Knights of Aurora
• Aurora Crusade

This series is extremely well written story. One of my top five favourites in fact.

 

A taste of the intro into the story:

The Phantom of AURORA: Chapter One

 

"The Phantom slowly opened the door and entered the barracks. He was

dressed, from his soft-soled shoes to his ski- masked covered head and

face, in black. Black leather gloves covered his hands. The Phantom took no

chances. Even his briefs were black. Ranged before him were the tiers of

double bunks that held the bodies of some of the boys he would visit

tonight. He remained still, listening intently for a noise, a sound that

was out of the ordinary. He heard nothing but the heavy, rhythmic breathing

of 40 boy cadets deep in sleep."

 

Why this story is not mentioned more is beyond me. Most chapters are huge as

are all five books.

[Bobert99]

I just realized I never came back here and thanked everyone for their wonderful recommendations. So THANK YOU.

 

I've read through a bunch more stories and am about to finish up With Trust by DomLuka (an absolutely fantastic story that I somehow looked over before because the 5-word synopses had me thinking it was an inter-generational story which I have zero interest in).

 

Here are some of the stories I've read through and enjoyed recently:

Zac and Kayden stories

Black Star Cross

Are You A Christian by Krista

It Started With Brian

Life's A Grind by Jack Sage

From Behind Those Eyes

Matthew Figures It Out

New to this State

Prom by Cole Parker

Someday Out of the Blue

Tristan's Redemption

 

It's very difficult to keep track of the stories I've read or what I'm planning on reading since so many of them have literally no synopsis or hit of story besides an author and title.

 

A few of the stories I've started but stopped for whatever reason:

A Class by Himself by Comicality, Good Guys Finish Last by Krista, From Where I Stand by Kansekji, Love in a Chair, New Kid in School, One Moonlit Night, Perry & Jesse, A Place in my Heart by Bill W., Wes & Toren, Chris and Nigel, Everybody's Wounded, For the Love by C James, Get There by John Doe, Josh Evolving, Just Hit Send by Grasshopper, Max and Josh, Moving On by Jack Frost, Rich Boy by dkstories, Roll Call by Ricky, Roommates by Krista, A Special Place, Turbulence, What We Are – Richie's Story, Here's Looking At You Kid/Triptychs by Douglas

 

I can't say why I stopped reading these, they're just in my folder for stories I started but haven't gone back to. I usually stop reading a story if:

 

• It's less than 100,000 words long
• It's set in a historical era or has extreme science fiction or fantasy elements (Do Over was great cause the only scifi stuff was the time travel)
• There is sex in the first chapter (I don't mind some sex scenes but I don't want to read 50% smut)
• The character is out to everyone at the start of the story
• The side characters (friends and family) aren't well drawn three dimensional characters. In so many stories, it feels like “mom” isn't even given a name. I think this is why DomLuka's stories are so great, I'd probably read a spin off centering on the straight side characters if he wrote it.
• The romance in the story doesn't feel genuine, like the boys are declaring their undying love for each other on the night they meet.

I guess I just love living with the characters for a long period of time and reading through their entire process of coming out, becoming comfortable with themselves, and eventually falling in love. Any other suggestions for authors and stories people can suggest would be very welcome. iomfats.org seems to say its story specialty is non sex-heavy coming of age stories, which sounds fantastic, though there are so many authors and no synopsizes so it's hard to know where to start.

 

Wow I wrote this way too long. Thanks again to everyone!

Edited May 30, 2011 by Bobert99

[intune]

All my favorites are listed in my profile, but I totally recommend checking out Everybody's Wounded and How The Light Gets In by Duncan Ryder and Accidents Happen by Comicfan

[Bobert99]

All my favorites are listed in my profile, but I totally recommend checking out Everybody's Wounded and How The Light Gets In by Duncan Ryder and Accidents Happen by Comicfan

 

Thanks for the recs! I think I already read Everybody's Wounded (I'll check to make sure) and I'll look into the other two.

 

Also just to clarify I realize my post up above was way too long and way too restrictive. I've read lots of stories that aren't 100,000+ words or where the characters are already out, so really any non-smut romance stories I'm very interested in reading.

[John Doe]

I just realized I never came back here and thanked everyone for their wonderful recommendations. So THANK YOU.

 

I've read through a bunch more stories and am about to finish up With Trust by DomLuka (an absolutely fantastic story that I somehow looked over before because the 5-word synopses had me thinking it was an inter-generational story which I have zero interest in).

 

Here are some of the stories I've read through and enjoyed recently:

Zac and Kayden stories

Black Star Cross

Are You A Christian by Krista

It Started With Brian

Life's A Grind by Jack Sage

From Behind Those Eyes

Matthew Figures It Out

New to this State

Prom by Cole Parker

Someday Out of the Blue

Tristan's Redemption

 

It's very difficult to keep track of the stories I've read or what I'm planning on reading since so many of them have literally no synopsis or hit of story besides an author and title.

 

A few of the stories I've started but stopped for whatever reason:

A Class by Himself by Comicality, Good Guys Finish Last by Krista, From Where I Stand by Kansekji, Love in a Chair, New Kid in School, One Moonlit Night, Perry & Jesse, A Place in my Heart by Bill W., Wes & Toren, Chris and Nigel, Everybody's Wounded, For the Love by C James, Get There by John Doe, Josh Evolving, Just Hit Send by Grasshopper, Max and Josh, Moving On by Jack Frost, Rich Boy by dkstories, Roll Call by Ricky, Roommates by Krista, A Special Place, Turbulence, What We Are – Richie's Story, Here's Looking At You Kid/Triptychs by Douglas

 

I can't say why I stopped reading these, they're just in my folder for stories I started but haven't gone back to. I usually stop reading a story if:

 

• It's less than 100,000 words long
• It's set in a historical era or has extreme science fiction or fantasy elements (Do Over was great cause the only scifi stuff was the time travel)
• There is sex in the first chapter (I don't mind some sex scenes but I don't want to read 50% smut)
• The character is out to everyone at the start of the story
• The side characters (friends and family) aren't well drawn three dimensional characters. In so many stories, it feels like “mom” isn't even given a name. I think this is why DomLuka's stories are so great, I'd probably read a spin off centering on the straight side characters if he wrote it.
• The romance in the story doesn't feel genuine, like the boys are declaring their undying love for each other on the night they meet.

I guess I just love living with the characters for a long period of time and reading through their entire process of coming out, becoming comfortable with themselves, and eventually falling in love. Any other suggestions for authors and stories people can suggest would be very welcome. iomfats.org seems to say its story specialty is non sex-heavy coming of age stories, which sounds fantastic, though there are so many authors and no synopsizes so it's hard to know where to start.

 

Wow I wrote this way too long. Thanks again to everyone!

 

Haha! My story is on your "Pause" list... well if the reason is because it took forever to update... it's finish now. Not perfect by any means and one day I'll edit it to be right... maybe then you can finish it. If you continue it now that's okay too. BUt I am curious to hear your reasons for stopping to read... it may bring me some insights...

[Bobert99]

Haha! My story is on your "Pause" list... well if the reason is because it took forever to update... it's finish now. Not perfect by any means and one day I'll edit it to be right... maybe then you can finish it. If you continue it now that's okay too. BUt I am curious to hear your reasons for stopping to read... it may bring me some insights...

 

Get There by John Doe? lol I just looked it up (I can never remember which stories are which) and unless I'm somehow forgetting I'm not sure I've ever read it or even started reading it. That probably sounds like I'm lying to save face and no insult your story (I wasn't trying to insult any stories or authors with that list) but I swear that one must have just fallen through the cracks. What I do is find the stories that interest me then convert them into audiobooks and put them on my ipod. And I've got 3 ipod folders, one for the stories I put there originally, one for the newer stories I've converted, and one for stories I finished which I move things too from the first two folders. It's pretty easy to over look a story and skip it (I didn't read With Trust by DomLuka until last month even though I'd had it downloaded for like 6 months). That list of stories I didn't finish is just everything from the first and second folder that I thought I'd started.

 

That probably sounds like some elaborate fib but it is how it is lol. I'll give your story a shot though, thanks for bringing it up

[NaperVic]

I didn't see it on your list, but since you like Domluka, I think you'll enjoy Human Condition by JFinn (if you haven't already read it).

 

Dom and JFinn are both in my top 5.

 

Take Care,

 

Vic

[JamesSavik]

Anything by Graeme rocks.

 

Dewey is a seriously under rated author. Read his Brian & Pete Saga- it's a classic.

 

On Dewey's site you'll find the Eggman's writings which are also top notch- check out A New Life.

 

I send out respect for Comicality, Dom Luka, Grasshopper, EleCivil, Cole Parker, Freethinker, Driver 9 and many, many others.

[morgnita]

. What I do is find the stories that interest me then convert them into audiobooks and put them on my ipod.

 

How can you do that? Written text to audio? I love stories but get motion sicknes(?) and get a bit tiered of podcast

[Bobert99]

How can you do that? Written text to audio? I love stories but get motion sicknes(?) and get a bit tiered of podcast

 

I just paste the stories into TextAloud using the voice Neospeech Kate. That converts them into mp3 files, then I just use a freeware program called audiobook converter to turn the hours long mp3s into iPod audiobooks. You can PM me if you want more details or free links.

[morgnita]

If you want a long one you can try Naptown Tales. tells the story of the gay teenagers in a town and their trubles. http://awesomedude.com/altimexis/naptown_tales/index.htm

[Throbby]

I've been writting a story called Troubled Minds on Nifty, that might be your street. When I get writers satus here, I'll start posting chapters

[Swhouston44]

Did anyone mention The Prince by someone calling him/herself FutureCanadian? There is a story I think by Lugnutz about a car breaking down, the rescuing Wrecker, and everything after.