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We've already hit one quarter of the year down! How time flies. How about a story about two men who found their time once they found each other? Read this first story posted by a newer site author @Cap recently. Don't forget the interview & Discussion day at the end of the month where you can share additional thoughts you don't add to the comments/reviews! Parker & Brody: An Alliance by @Cap Length: 61,671 Description: The exploits of the P&B duo; 1st story. Parker: the ex-officer turned contractor/fixer. Brody: the Tier-1 operator who holds the line. Both men built for impact, with zero tolerance for games. Brothers in arms, partners, and solitary souls searching for a forever home. A military alliance of two against a rotten world. A reader said: A deep and thought provoking tale of two men living somewhat shallow and unfulfilling lives in the military, men who meet by chance and soon realise they have found what they thought they never would - being seen by another, becoming important in the life of another, being a safe haven for another and mind-blowing, wholly satisfying, sex. A brilliant debut @Cap. ~Summerabbacat Don't forget to come back to comment on the Discussion day, Monday, April 27th!

Did you read this month's featured CSR story, Break the Day, by dragonenthusiast? Share your thoughts on the story below, but first of course, is my interview with this GA author who just passed their first year mark a few months ago! Have you ever gone out in public, realized your shirt is on backwards, and just don’t care? That actually happened to me just last week. I was sitting at my PC working and then realized something was scratching me on my collarbone, found the shirt tag, and then shrugged. If I didn’t notice it, I’m sure no one else did either. And if they did, oh well. What’s one location you’d love to go to research for a story? I’m not really the type to travel, so I never really considered this before, but I think I’d like to go somewhere truly unfamiliar to open my mind more for inspiration when it comes to writing distinct cultures. I struggle with making them distinct. I can’t keep making pseudo slavic nations and calling it a day. What’s something personal about you people might be surprised to know? I’d say that I’m Czech as a fun fact, but that might not exactly be a surprise, so instead I’ll say that in my day job I work for a graphics studio, mostly making promo material for a local supermarket chain. Sounds thrilling, I know, but I enjoy it. What’s your favorite animal, real or fantasy, BESIDES dragons? Bunnies! I have one, his name is Buttons, he’s a little menace, I love him so. Keeps trying to eat plastic for reasons that elude me. I call him a bandit because every time he’s near he will try to shake me down for treats. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing? I always struggle with descriptions, and it’s something I try to work on. I can write dialogue all day, but describing places or people never comes entirely naturally. I have to say, I’ve gotten a lot better at it over the years though. What’s the best part of being an author? Being able to get the stories and characters that keep manifesting in my brain out of it. They won’t leave me alone. My second favorite is sharing the silly nonsense I write (complimentary) with the world. All your stories on GA are based in Fantasy. Is that your favorite genre to both write & read? At this point in time, definitely. The first series I wrote is more of a sci-fi fantasy, though, and I fully intend to return to sci-fi sometime soon. I just have to slog through some of my unfinished series before I take the plunge into making another one. What character trait do you think best describes Fennrin? What about Ainreth? In many ways they’re opposites of each other. In that vein I’d describe Fenn as cautious, careful, and guarded, while Ainreth is more willing to take risks, is more open at least on the surface, and doesn’t bother how he feel. But when it comes down to it, I think both of their big character trait is loyalty, and caring for those they love, even if some take a while to figure things out. Do you have a favorite line or scene in the story? I don’t really have a favorite line, but I think my favorite scene from book 1 has to be the one where Fenn meets Ain’s parents. It’s just very sweet and a little chaotic, and while it was difficult to write given that there’s so many of them, it’s dear to my heart. No matter what happens later on, the way they accept Fenn is just very sweet. Can you share anything about your current or upcoming work with GA readers? After Raze the Night is posted in its entirety (45 chapter + an epilogue + a bonus chapter), I’ll be posting the third and last book in the Nightstar series, Bring the Dawn. After that, I’m not sure what I’ll post next. Maybe I can share another one of my standalones before going into another series. I have one about an asexual merman librarian that could be perfect for some variety.

The only plants I don't kill are the ones I want to die, the roses outside the house. I run those things over with the lawnmower every year, and they STILL come back. Dug them up and the deeper roots sprout. Damn thorny weeds. Don't care if they're pretty, I don't like 'em! Plus, I hate weeding. Or pinching dead heads on buckets/hanging flowers and watering. It's work. No thanks!

Those stories are unpublished.

Did you catch Monday's blog feature with Mikieboy's story from last year's anthology? It has a particular take on nature, magic, and many of our site members enjoyed it. Take a look at the excerpt I chose below! Want to read more? Click here.

I'm keeping up with the fantasy theme this month with the Signature feature but again, not going with those rainbows and golden coins! Nope, you get to visit another fantasy genre with Mikiesboy's Anthology entry last year. Did you enjoy this story then? Why not now, if you missed it! Length: 4,402 Description: Every cedar holds a spirit. Every spirit longs for home. When a young Japanese cedar sapling is transported to a Canadian zoo for a new “Trees of the World” exhibit, no one realizes it carries with it a kodama—an ancient tree spirit torn from its home. As the cedar begins to wither, strange phenomena ripple through the zoo, and a girl named Maureen O’Neil decides to find out why. With her mother's support, Maureen challenges the botanist who brought the tree overseas. A violent storm reveals the truth so, together, child, mother, and scientist undertake a journey to restore nature's balance. A reader said: What a gorgeous, rich, mentally stunning story. Many of us hold trees in high regard and I will never touch another without remembering the last lines of this wonderfully written story. Thank you for this one, tim. xo ~MichaelS36 If you want to spread the word about Mikiesboy's story, download the graphic below and add it to your signature! Make sure you come back on Wednesday to see the excerpt I chose to share!

I've done a few interviews with Myr, but this is the most recent/the only complete one left in existence in the last 5-6 years. I also fall into Xennial (along with my hubby who is a '77). It's a weird switch. I remember learning to type on a typewriter, formatted floppy disks and aligned paper reams to the dot matrix, had AOL and Myspace on our *gasp* home computer I bought at 20, flip phones and slides before the first smartphones came out... I'm infinitely more adaptable to technology than my hubby, but also far more likely to just sit and read quietly. He does so love to be chatting with friends on his phone, playing angry birds on his ipad, and watching YouTube videos on the TV because he's always "bored" at home.

Well, as we have a bit more time this month, I thought I'd share a longer story. No, not gold coins, rainbows, and lucky charms themed... but we do have fantasy! Take a peek at this story if you haven't already, as well the ongoing sequel! Break the Day by @dragonthusiast Length: 91,498 Description: Fennrin is a shadowforger, a type of az-ari who have mastery over shadows. But all it's ever brought him is misery. People are afraid of the power that he himself barely understands, seeing his shadows as omens of bad luck and death. Fennrin's life takes a turn when he is approached by Ainreth, a lightweaver and famous general, asking him to come with him to the royal court to be trained. Thrust into a world of politics, Fennrin quickly learns how powerful he could become, while starting to fall for Ainreth. However, unwelcome feelings are only the start of his problems as the neighboring, tyrannical monarchy is preparing for war. A reader said: An intriguing start and we have yet to meet our hapless protagonist. This looks to be a good one. ~drpaladin Don't forget to come back to comment on the Discussion day, Monday, March 30th!

Did you read this month's CSR story? I love a good country story, as I grew up on and around farms, horses, cattle, sheep, and can spot who wears their boots in the saddle versus who wears their boots to be fancy (and yes, we did make fun of those visitors at fair!). I love asking what's something personal about you that people might be surprised to know and getting all sorts of answers to my interview questions to share with GA members about our authors, and getting to read more about a fellow country soul! Read on to find out more about @Griz and his story, Spring and a Ring! Make sure you share your comments below. 🤠 Chocolate or Vanilla? Hmmm.....Chocolate, I think. Vanilla is integral to good chocolate, so really, I get both with each and every bite. What’s one location you’d love to go to research for a story? Wojtowa, Poland. It's a small village now, but before WWII, was larger and very much like Lewistown, Montana: an agricultural railroad town. The Nazis reduced the town to mostly rubble, but my remaining Polish relatives and many, many others restored it as much as possible. I have this idea for a story about my (young) great-great-great uncle on a boat out of Gdansk, Poland, bound for the States. He and another traveling immigrant meet, a young Dane from Copenhagen, when the boat stops there on the way West. The end might be predictable, but the details will focus on both Denmark's big city and Poland's little village, and the challenges in a new country the two young men are truly not prepared for. I want at least two weeks in Wojtowa to research around 100 years of history and geography. What’s something personal about you people might be surprised to know? I was born and raised in Lewistown, Fergus County, Montana. I returned here after years away for college and working for a larger international company which focuses on farm commodity shipping and receiving. The folks here have no idea I write gay romance stories (with some nookie included, of course), and the readers of the stories have no idea I'm a real farmer with a real farm and real livestock. No, really. What do you like to do when you’re not writing? As with many aspects of Life, one thing leads to another, and then returns home. I take my horse out and ride around the property, checking the fences. I get most of my story ideas, including dialogue, on horseback. Generally, a ride results in stuff for a story, and the stories seem to include horses (and nookie). Same happens if I'm cooking; I get an idea while standing at the stove, and write stuff down. Sometimes in the margins of cookbooks. If you could give advice to yourself when you first started writing, what would it be? Write everything down when ideas come to mind. They might not be used, but it's a good bank of ideas for plot, characters and dialogue. Some of them will never come back to mind, once forgotten. How did you come up with the title? I was trying to think of a title that conveys personal and professional growth. Spring is the beginning of agricultural growth, and traditionally, a ring is the beginning of personal and interpersonal growth. This is a traditional community, and the seven or nine other gay farm guys we know give each other rings (or if it's necessary to be discreet) or nicer wrist watches, when we want to have physical connection with each other by proxy. Screw the 'patriarchal heteronormative' drivel we hear when we are in bigger cities and folks see our rings; farm boys are not hung up on labels from the very people who insist we should not live by labels. One of these days, I'll work on a story about our own tribe's selective, near-militant hypocrisy. It'll depend on which acre my horse takes me for checking the fences, I guess. Do you relate more to one character or the other, Sal or Tim? I relate more to Tim, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, behaviorally and physically. I am 6'5", 235 pounds and furry. Due to a badly-timed investment in equipment a few years ago, I wound up in Tim's boots-----in bankruptcy. It took a long time to dig out of the nightmare, and I didn't have my own Sal del Vecchio to save my sorry butt. Sal, though, is a re-named (straight) friend in real life, and in real Walpole, Massachusetts, who said he'd try to find me a rich sugar daddy. That's its own can of worms I'd rather leave unopened, although.....I'd like my own version of Sal. Not that he needs to resemble the character, but just be a good man, smaller than myself, who likes horses, cows and crops, and thinks snow is the very best crop a Montana farmer can grow. (I love cold weather and snow. And the best candy in the world is heated maple syrup with a little cinnamon added, then drizzled in a snowbank, which is Winter thing only.) Did something specific inspire you to use the setting for Spring and a Ring? Well, yeah, actually; Sal's farm and log house, which in real life is my property and house, and my favorite little town, Winnett, Montana. My property and its precise location is the setting for another agro love story, "Harvard Comes To Montana". Longer than "Spring And A Ring", and not yet complete. My farm has been in our family for five generations, and my veterinarian nephew and his boyfriend will take it into the sixth and beyond. I'm solidly planted here, just like the wheat, oats, rye and Black Angus and Scottish Highlander cattle I grow. Do you have a favorite line or scene in the story? Those were my nephew's boyfriend's idea, when he read the story as I was working on it. That guy is the funniest, most romantic, knuckle-dragging redneck I've ever met. I told him I want to collaborate on a full story with him sometime. I hope sincerely that will happen. Can you share any of your current or future story you’re working on with readers? I kinda already did, or a specific story: "Harvard Comes To Montana". High school graduate farm boy, sixth generation on Polish immigrant family farm, meets visiting Harvard professor. Twelve years apart in age. They have a lot to teach each other about challenges, compromises, family, career and (of course) love. Oh-----and food. Seems to be a regular topic in stories I write. Everything 'food' I've written about is stuff I've actually prepared. It's on nifty.org, and once I get the next chapter written, I'll publish the whole thing on GA, too. One of my readers is a professor at Barnard College. I am, he says, his 'personal favorite gay mushy-trashy novel author'. That's an honor, as far as I'm concerned. There's another one-chapter short story on nifty.org: "On Eggs And Kinsey". I want to submit that to GA, as well. Just need to get my lazy butt in gear.

Josh has been watching the hockey game too! Mostly because I woke up at our normal 4 AM time... then went back to sleep until 6 but he couldn't. I do all our taxes online (it's a mix of business/personal) so it takes me a few hours each year, but overall it isn't bad. Unfortunately, we live in a state without income tax, but Josh works in a state that does, so we pay a large amount while they only give us back about half of it. So rude!! Their residents don't have to pay our sales tax. Grrr. I've also taught both of my kids how to efile their taxes (this year was my son's first time) and that's simple enough my daughter actually does hers on her phone, LOL. Can you imagine? I remember doing them just on paper before switching to computer. 🤪 My dad comes up for a visit with his retirement & part-time income for me to do his taxes each year. It takes him 3 hours round-trip to drive and only 30 minutes for me to do his taxes, but he won't learn how to do them on his own. 👴

Yeah, I use rhyme all the time for daily life. Mnemonics are so helpful. I always felt free verse, despite being a relatively open way to provide imagery for readers, was like short fiction. And I struggle with short fiction. Gotta add details!

Did you catch Monday's blog featuring Mark's story, The Yacht Club, from last year's Secret Author contest? There will be another one of those coming up later this year, so I hope you will both enjoy this story (if you missed it) and the upcoming event this summer. Make sure you check out this excerpt and the story if you want to remember that fun or read it now! As always, like, comment, and review! Want to read more? Click here.

If you meant me @Bill W it was my reaction to the original blog. I used the laughing haha emoji, not the angry bomb. Sarcasm is so hard to convey online I gotta use the those but it's even more subtle. I have gotten far crankier in my 40s though. LOL

This month I thought I'd feature a romantic... or is it? cruise story by @Mark Arbour. This was part of the Secret Author contest in 2024, which I hope readers enjoyed, but if you missed it, check it out now!! Length: 10,473 Description: Two daddies and two twinks go on a cruise. Devon and his boyfriend Roger plan a cruise to get away and enjoy some time together. While boarding they meet Keller, who is traveling with his estranged boyfriend Jason. While on board they discover the true strengths and weaknesses of their relationships. A reader said: Yacht Club is a compelling, well-writtem short story. Perfect for a lazy summer afternoon, you will be drawn into the dual love stories of our 4 main characters, rooting for them as they discover what they mean to each other. A great read. ~ Doha If you want to spread the word about Mark Arbour's story, download the graphic below and add it to your signature! Make sure you come back on Wednesday to see the excerpt I chose to share!

Look in your screenshot next to the tab for Step One where it says Step 2, 3, 4. You must complete all the steps properly before you can save. Click on those tabs to switch to those pages to fill in the story submission metadata. Also, please make sure you check out all the FAQs for authors. You should have been directed to them when you purchased (free) Author status but you can always find them in the FAQ through the Help tab. There is a step by step guide to posting a story, how to add a chapter, formatting tips, content rules, info on the moderation queue, etc ... that we really recommend all new authors read. https://gayauthors.org/help/ https://gayauthors.org/faq/authors/author-questions/