Trebs

Futuristic Sci/Fi still can cover so much, from near future to galactic empires 10,000 years in the future. One great series for the far-flung future is Foundation, by Isaac Asimov. If you're looking for online Sci/Fi, Dreams of Humanity by dkstories here is (to me) a great Sci/Fi and militaristic story. If neither of these are what you're looking for, give us a bit more of an idea of what you'd like.

First a reminder - today is the LAST day to offer your suggestions for the 2015 Anthology Themes! Visit the thread to offer your suggestions for the 2015 Anthology Themes! Thread will close at 11:59 PM (US Mountain Time) on July 20th This was a great week with men all over the place - err, I mean Mann Ramblings all over. We started the week with a great review by Joann414 of Mann's The Luxorian Fugitive. A slightly dark sultry tale set on the spacecraft The Santa Claus - tied together as only Mann can. Our Premium Feature story of the week is Boy Called Slave by Nephylim. This is one I haven't read yet, but based on the blurb and some of the comments, adding it to my reading list! So, with Mann being the feature of the week (as well as the month of July), we get some great insight via an interview Cia did with this hunk author, giving Mann Ramblings thoughts on The Luxorian Fugative. Go check it out and see what he likes to swirl! All good weeks come to an end, and this one ended on a bang with two great new Writing Prompts, including starting with "There is no way I am going in there!" and mysterious rings. Stretch your writing muscles as well as comfort zone by giving one of them a try, and then sharing with the community. Last week, Joann414 shared her use of a pregnant woman and jock strap, to very humorous results. So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: 2014 Fall Anthology: Scars - Due Sept 3rd *Note: Deadline is for submission to the Anthology Proof Team* 2014 Winter Anthology: Chain Reaction - Due December 3rd *Note: Deadline is for submission to the Anthology Proof Team* NEW READING In Premium this week: No More Hiding by Renee Stevens By our Signature Authors this week: Standing in Shadows by Krista Space Pioneer by Dolores Esteban Flux by Mark Arbour; Book 14 of Chronicles Of An Academic Predator (CAP) HMS Valiant by Mark Arbour; Book 7 of Bridgemont The Secret Life of Billy Chase 8 by Comicality, Book 8 of Billy Chase Chronicles Finding Alex by Nephylim Lost Inside by Cia, Book 2 of Carthera Tales The Strange Life of Jonas Marks by comicfan Shelter by Comicality, Book 1 of Shelter Pilots II by David McLeod By our Promising Authors this week: Sole Scion by JMH; Book 2 of The Sole Scion Cycle: Second Cycle of the Centurion Chronicales Vintage by carringtonrj A Wolf And His Man by Sasha Distan Direct Confusion by Sasha Distan Redemption's A Bitch by Sasha Distan Curse of the Fallen by JMH, Book 2 of Fallen Button by Cole Matthews Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!!

One of the great aspects of GayAuthors is the variety of ways that members can improve their writing, from various writing tips to the availability of editors and beta readers, to these - writing prompts that encourage authors to take a chance and see where a prompt may lead them. Based on the responses we've had in the past, these prompts have a tendency to take on a life of their own and really capture the imagination of both our fledgling as well as veteran authors. This week, we've got two new prompts courtesy of PromptGuru comicfan - try one (or both) out and see what you may make of it, especially if you've never tried one before. But to get the full experience, share what you do create with the rest of the community by posting in the Writing Prompts forum or in Stories. Prompt 340 – Creative Tag – First Line “There is no way I am going in there!” Prompt 341 – Creative Tag – Rings With the passing of your last relative, a collection of rings has been handed down to you. At first you look at the old rings and figure you might be able to sell them. As you begin going through them you notice there is something different about them. What is it? Last week, one of the prompts (#338), asked to write using the following words/phrases: "pregnant woman, hammer, blue jock strap, yellow flowers, and an apple". And oh my, will Wonders Never Cease... If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know it doesn't just end there So check out the rest of this great prompt response from Joann414!

Ya, but living together would have just been too weird... I personally like how it ended up (so far)...

First, congratulations to Renee who is relaxing on a family trip. This gives me the chance to <bwah ah ha> TAKE OVER! And it is a great week that I get to look back on, starting with our look at July's CSR Book Club selection of Advent by Promising Author Cole Matthews. Be sure to stop back on Monday, July 28th when we'll discuss this great story. Our Premium Tuesday blog entry for this week was Waiting for the Sign by dkstories, continuing our look at the great stories available as thanks for our Premium Content supporters. Cia gave us a great writing tip on Overcoming the Obstacles. Finally, we got two wonderful new writing prompts, one with an amusing set of words and the other with a sci/fi'ish scenario. To cap it off, we got a look at Cole Matthew's response to Prompt 336, starting off with "Oh God. This isn't what it looks like!" Anthology Announcements: 2015 Theme Suggestions - Visit the thread to offer your suggestions for the 2015 Anthology Themes! Thread will close at 11:59 PM (US Mountain Time) on July 20th 2014 Fall Anthology: Scars - Due Sept 3rd *Note: Deadline is for submission to the Anthology Proof Team* 2014 Winter Anthology: Chain Reaction - Due December 3rd *Note: Deadline is for submission to the Anthology Proof Team* NEW READING In Premium this week: No More Hiding by Renee Stevens By our Signature Authors this week: Flux by Mark Arbour; Book 14 of Chronicles Of An Academic Predator (CAP) Leopard Spots by Graeme, Book 2 of The Lilydale Leopards Space Pioneer by Dolores Esteban HMS Valiant by Mark Arbour; Book 7 of Bridgemont Cataclysmic Evolution by Cia Agenda 21 by Comicality The Secret Life of Billy Chase 8 by Comicality, Book 8 of Billy Chase Chronicles Global Explorer by David McLeod Lost Inside by Cia; Book 2 of Carthera Tales Noah's New Plan by Rob Colton Dream Lover - Extended by Comicality Translator III: Dragon Warrior by David McLeod By our Promising Authors this week: Sole Scion by JMH; Book 2 of The Sole Scion Cycle: Second Cycle of the Centurion Chronicales A Wolf And His Man by Sasha Distan Vintage by carringtonrj Curse of the Fallen by JMH, Book 2 of Fallen Direct Confusion by Sasha Distan Dinner is Prompt-ly at Eight by Cole Matthews Redemption's A Bitch by Sasha Distan Gaia-Town by Cole Matthews Button by Cole Matthews Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!!

Renee is off playing so I get to sneak in and give everyone a review of this, our last week of June. Can you believe after Monday that the year is half over? Wow! We had a great start to the week here, with a review by Renee of Promising Author Dark's short story The Matchmaker is Grounded. It a very sweet story and a quick read that will bring smiles to your face, and Renee does a great job of enticing you with her review. Continuing on with our Premium Tuesday feature was a look at Coin in the Fountain, written by comicfan for the 2013 Summer Premium Anthology. If you missed reading it then (or read it and need a refresher), now's the perfect time for another read of this magical story. We got a new Tech Blog 7 on Privacy Policy and Site Help. These site updates by Myr are always one of our most popular features, and this week's is no exception. Friday is more important that just the end of the working week for many of us - it's also the time to celebrate reading the new weekly Prompts from comicfan, along with a great response to a past prompt. This week we got to see Cole Matthew's response to Prompt 332 that was a first line starter: "Try it again, and I will kill you!" And oh my, you should go see where Cole took this. We ended the week with a wonderful two-fer from Mann Ramblings. The July Signature Author background is out and features Mann's story The Luxorian Fugitive. The "two-fer" aspect? The background graphic was done by Mann as well - damn, is there anything he can't do? So - how was YOUR week? Anthology Announcements: 2015 Theme Suggestions - Visit the thread to offer your suggestions for the 2015 Anthology Themes! Thread will close at 11:59 PM (US Mountain Time) on July 20th) 2014 Fall Anthology: Scars - Due Sept 3rd *Note: Deadline is for submission to the Anthology Proof Team* 2014 Winter Anthology: Chain Reaction - Due December 3rd *Note: Deadline is for submission to the Anthology Proof Team* NEW READING In Premium this week: No More Hiding by Renee Stevens Do Over by dkstories, Book 1 of Do Over Series [reposting] By our Signature Authors this week: Belovéd by Don H Leopard Spots by Graeme, Book 2 of The Lilydale Leopards Space Pioneer by Dolores Esteban Flux by Mark Arbour; Book 14 of Chronicles Of An Academic Predator (CAP) GFD 12: Blood Ties by Comicality, book 12 of Gone From Daylight HMS Valiant by Mark Arbour; Book 7 of Bridgemont The Secret Life Of Billy Chase 8 by Comicality; Book 8 of Billy Chase Chronicles Lost Inside by Cia; Book 2 of Carthera Tales Noah's New Plan by Rob Colton Finding Alex by Nephylim Dream Lover - Extended by Comicality Veil of Shadow by Stellar, Book 2 of unnamed Geeks by CassieQ By our Promising Authors this week: The Gay Man of Her Dreams by carringtonrj A Wolf And His Man by Sasha Distan Direct Confusion by Sasha Distan The English Year by Jwolf Dinner is Prompt-ly at Eight by Cole Matthews Button by Cole Matthews Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!!

Not sure if there are other Broadway/Showtune aficionados out there, but I have been listening over and over to the new soundtrack out for If/Then and stars Idina Menzel (Rent/Wicked/Glee/Frozen) with supporting cast of Anthony Rapp (who was in Rent with her), LaChanze and James Snyder. Thumbnail description: Elizabeth (Idina) comes back to NYC after a broken 12 year marriage (to Oren who doesn't show up in the play at all). She's about to turn 39. Two friends give her a choice - go with her bisexual friend from college Lucas (Rapp), or go with her new lesbian friend Kate (LaChanze). Lucas calls her Beth while Kate calls her Liz. Key thing to realize - the story splits here but both paths are shown concurrently. For example at her birthday party she's told "there's 39 candles Liz, I know how you like candles" which is immediately followed by the other path's line of "one candle Beth, I know how you hate waste". Some songs are exclusively one path or the other, but some do both. So it takes a few hearings to get it all clear, though the names help. Elizabeth isn't the only one to face changes - Liz meets an Josh (Snyder), an army surgeon who has a doctor best friend David, who starts dating Lucas. In the Beth path, Beth hooks up with Lucas at one point. As Liz, she ignores a phone call but as Beth, Lucas insists she answer and it's a dream job offer (city planner). Two outstanding songs (both sung by Idina) are You Learn to Live Without and Always Starting Over. Once I got it, with a few reads of the booklet, I started loving it more and more and listen in the car, work computer and at home. I've always loved Broadway and this does not disappoint!

REALLY enjoy being back - does feel a little strange, especially when dealing with new people (I was out for 15 months). We also just moved into a beautiful new office building, and so there is a little bit of adjustment to that, but that is also true of everyone else in the office. Biggest adjustment is actually my yellow lab - now, when I get up and immediately jump into the shower, she puts her head down and gets depressed. She's like this when she sees luggage come out - she now is associating an early shower to me leaving for most of the day. I do have a second dog, a beagle, so they keep each other company. But after so long of getting me almost 24/7, it's an adjustment for all three of us.

The plan is that all of Do Over will be reposted here - sorry that it is being a slow process

While not an author, I have beta'd for some, and one thing that comes to mind is timing. One author had a woman saying she was six weeks pregnant, and then having the baby 11 months later. They also had baseball Spring Training starting in April. So, a little tweaking of the story before things went too far, and a more plausible timeline was created. One other tip and this is something the author came up with - when writing, have an excel document open in the background to create a "Character bible". When you create a character, or write a description, add them to the bible, with such details as name, relationship to primary characters and brief description. That way 6 chapters later, you won't accidentally start calling a character's mom Susan, when her name was originally Sarah.

Promising Author no more - please join us in congratulating our newest Signature Author, Andy78! Between his 34 different published stories, tons of reviews written about others stories as well as responding to over 93% of the reviews of his own stories, and all of his forum posts and works as a site moderator, you wonder if he's somehow manipulating time to be able to do it all Andy78 has a few longer stories, but it is his wonderful short stories that truly capture the imagination and make you smile. Fantasy, thrillers, westerns - something for everyone. Check out Andy78's stories here, then please join me in welcoming Andy78 to the Signature Author group!

Waiting for the Sign is a great story - and the other two stories (Rising Star and Hard Knocks), while not traditional sequels, do show a bit more of Cal, the Pistols and others... One random bit of trivia - like Jake, I'm half-Japanese, and when Dan needed a last name, I gave him "Iwai" to use as it is my Aunt's married last name. The maiden name for my mom and aunt is Ito - which appears in Dreams of Humanity.

Peek-a-boo! Ya, Renee was kind enough to allow me to do another Weekly Wrap Up while she is out of town. So let's look back on our week then. We started by looking at our Featured Story: Leopard Skin Cover by Signature Author Graeme. I was privileged to have been a beta reader for this great story and Wildone's review wonderfully captures the interest of this story. Premium Tuesday gave us a look at Incomplete Recollections by Johnathan Colourfield, a part of the Summer Premium Anthology. You can read the description in the blog post as well as find out more about how to purchase a premium subscription so that you can access all of GA's Premium Content. Tying in with Monday's review, we continued our Signature week with an interview with Signature Author Graeme, wherein we learned the controversial fact that at 6:30am, Graeme is already up and fully dressed And da-da-da-DUM - the 2014 Summer Anthology: The Backup Plan is now live! Nine great new anthology stories for your reading. I know that most of you are probably ignoring this blog right now as you're nose-deep into reading these great new stories, but we'll be still here when you're done. Anthology Announcements: 2014 Fall Anthology: Scars - Due Sept 3rd *Note: Deadline is for submission to the Anthology Proof Team* 2014 Winter Anthology: Chain Reaction - Due December 3rd *Note: Deadline is for submission to the Anthology Proof Team* NEW READING In Premium this week: No More Hiding by Renee Stevens By our Signature Authors this week: Savage Moon 06 - The New Breed by Comicality, Book 6 of Savage Moon Pilots II by David McLeod HMS Valiant by Mark Arbour; Book 7 of Bridgemont The Secret Life Of Billy Chase 8 by Comicality; Book 8 of Billy Chase Chronicles Flux by Mark Arbour; Book 14 of Chronicles Of An Academic Predator (CAP) Weaving Their Way by Cia, Book 2 of A Maze For Three Last Call by K. C. Consolation Parents by Bill W Anything For My Brother by comicfan Space Pioneer by Dolores Esteban Pour Me Another by K.C. Lost Inside by Cia; Book 2 of Carthera Tales Jessie-101: Online Celebrity by Comicality A prompt a week by comicfan Dream Lover - Extended by Comicality Translator III: Dragon Warrior by David McLeod By our Promising Authors this week: The Bachelor Farmer by Cole Matthews Magic in the Air by Andy78 Sole Scion by JMH, Book 2 of The Sole Scion Cycle: Second Cycle of the Centurion Chronicals Direct Confusion by Sasha Distan The English Year by Jwolf Not My Brother by Sasha Distan Button by Cole Matthews Dinner is Prompt-ly at Eight by Cole Matthews Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!!

Thanks Jack - while I'm still dealing with a few issues, I just this week went back to work full time after being on disability for the past 15 months :-)