FreeThinker

I have been following this story since its beginning and could not praise it enough, but I am bitterly disappointed with the way Arthur chose to end it. It was such an abrupt end that I have the feeling he simply grew tired of writing it and wrote two or three paragraphs to bring it to an end. It is almost a betrayal of the readers who have invested the last seven months in the story. A note at the end says a Book Two will soon come, but this is still a disappointment. I remember a debate on this board several years ago about what authors owe their readers. I know I was guilty a few times of not finishing a story or ending it too quickly when I grew tired of it--and my readers let me know! As a reader and a writer, I have been on both sides, but when I ended a story too soon, at least I felt a twinge of guilt. I do hope to see Arthur follow this up with a good Book Two. The character of Thomas Marking deserves more than this. I must acknowledge that Arthur has put a great deal of work into researching the story down to the positions of individual companies during the battles of the Peninsular Campaign. I acknowledge that he has done his homework and created an excellent work that deserves to be published. Perhaps, I feel so unhappy because he put so much into it that it was such a good story. Despite the abrupt ending, it is worth your while to read Drummer Boy, the story of a boy who did his duty. it is moving and inspiring. I hope the sequel is not too far off.

I submitted Chapter 1 of Dance of the Wicked Boys and my list begins with Jack London, Stephen Crane, and Willa Cather? Hmmm. The writer I seem to be most unlike is Lewis Carroll. Curiouser and Curiouser. Apparently, Awesome Dude attracts writers who are similar to Stephen Crane. Perhaps he was one of us.

I found this Story Corps video from NPR on The Atlantic web site. How wonderful. http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/409927/dont-sneak-a-fathers-command-to-his-gay-son-in-the-1950s/

I agree. Cole is a gifted writer with a sensitive understanding of people and an empathy that gives his characters life and realism.

Colin, you are fortunate that you grew up in a time when self-loathing wasn't drilled into you, as it was for us and the characters in the movie. Michael's line near the end sums it up for gay men who came of age in the 50's-70's: "If we could only learn not to hate ourselves quite so much..." I had a roommate whose father was gay in the fifties and did what he thought he had to do. He got married, had kids, bought the house in the suburbs, and became a grandfather. He told his gay son later that he didn't regret what he did, just that he wish he could have had a choice. He didn't know he could back then. Those who made the choice often sank into self-loathing, alcohol, etc...

Oh, sweet mystery of life, at last I've found you!

I think the reason Boys in the Band may not appeal to many younger gay men or others is that it is a snapshot of gay men from 1968 in New York. It has to be looked at in context. Many gay people were forced to live closeted lives and some lucky few escaped to cities such as New York and San Francisco, where they congregated in insular communities within the greater anonymity of the metropolis. In doing so, they created, intentionally or not, their own "ethnicity," their own culture. Perhaps many feel uncomfortable with their behavior--and it can be argued in some cases that this could be internalized homophobia. However, it may also be that those who are uncomfortable or feel as if this is an alien environment didn't live through this period, were not from this place and time. As a young gay in the seventies and eighties, I knew a number of older gay men who would have fit into the cast quite easily, even though I didn't live in New York. I knew countless Emorys, a number of Harolds, dozens of Larrys, and not a few Donalds and Michaels. I love The Boys in the Band, as much for the sociological study of gays in New York in the late sixties as for the clever and witty badinage and repartee. The script is a delight and I admit to have based the character of Uncle Teddy in the Dance of the Wicked Boy stories on an amalgam of characters from Boys in the Band. A sad side note, all of the cast with the exception of Laurence Luckinbill, are now gone, lost to HIV. I believe Luckinbill may have been the only straight member of the cast, though I may be wrong. Boys in the Band may be considered by many commentators today whom I've heard and read to be the gay equivalent of Amos and Andy, but it was groundbreaking and we owe Mart Crowley and the cast a debt of gratitude. Now, if you want a gay minstrel show, look at Modern Family, which revolts me.

The Village People's In the Navy. Or maybe It's Raining Men.

Wonderful news. Congratulations. If two young men ever deserved this, it is you two.

I strongly agree. I've been reading it on Castle Roland. Arthur is a fascinating writer and his story is both educational and entertaining. To see Thomas taking on greater and greater responsibility and finding strength that might elude an adult is captivating. Arthur has several other stories, including Evensong, which are similar. He would be a good addition to Awesome Dude!

I laughed myself silly watching Donald Trump at his resort in SCOTLAND hailing the UK vote for Brexit. In SCOTLAND. The twit. I didn't expect him to know this, but I would have expected someone on his staff, perhaps one of his kids, who seem to be the only people he listens to, to tell him that Scotland voted overwhelmingly to REMAIN. He actually used the phrase "take back their country." This is a man who a week before the vote didn't know what "Brexit" meant. This is why the thought of that man in the White House scares the pee out of me.

This does not bode well for the United States. I was watching the live ITV coverage on C-Span last night and this morning and they said there was a tendency for most non-university educated people to vote leave, while those with university educations tended to vote Remain. Also, working class whites voted Leave, and non-working class whites voted Remain. The polls had given Remain a slight edge, but they were wrong. The nationalists won. In the United States, Donald Trump is strongest among non-university educated, working-class whites, the same groups of people in the US who tended to vote Leave in the UK, though polls give Hillary a 5-8% lead. I sincerely hope the nationalist, anti-immigrant forces here aren't underestimated, as they were in Britain, and that we don't see a parallel here in the November election. ITV says immigration fears were the strongest reason for people to vote Leave in the UK. In the US, I believe that immigration is what built America and makes us strong. All of us who aren't descended from Native Americans are immigrants. Of course, some will say it is "Illegal" immigration they oppose, but living in Oklahoma, one of the most conservative states in the US, I seldom hear Trump supporters make that distinction.

I wasn't attacking Texas. I merely mentioned where I thought he was from. Actually, I used to live in Texas-- Ft Worth and Austin, back when Austin was still delightfully weird, before it turned into Dallas.

The second preacher is Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona, not Texas.

This Baptist preacher said all homosexuals should be lined up before a firing squad and killed and that the tragedy is more weren't killed. Another in Texas said the same thing. These people make Westboro look tolerant. Of course the same passage they quote from the Bible also says to sell disobedient daughters into slavery and stone adulterers. Oh, and not to eat shellfish.

Joshua Colley--the boy in the pink waistcoat--has appeared in Les Mis, Newsies, and You're a Good Man Charlie Brown. They keep him VERY busy. It think he's the best of the three, with a clear, strong voice and a natural acting gift and he will, indeed, have an amazing future on stage. Here he is several years ago when he was first getting started.

Last April, the MCC Theater in New York had a gala allowing actors to perform in roles they might not ordinarily get to play. Hamilton already allows actors to play roles they wouldn't ordinarily get to play, as it highlights actors of color playing white founding fathers. In this, however, three boys from other plays sing a scene from Hamilton for women. It's amazing. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/this-gender-swapping-hamilton-performance-is-the-future-of-broadway_us_5759cd22e4b0ced23ca774ba

Thank you for the kind words everyone. And thanks to Mike for listing Foxwood as a Dude's Pick--and Courage and Passion a few months ago. I am very grateful for the compliments. There are so many fine and talented writers here that I am honored to have my stories hosted here.

Congratulations to Leicester City for winning the Premier League championship at 5000 to 1 odds! I believe we have an Awesome Dude on the board from Leicester.

This was fun! I wonder how many children in the 40's, 50's, and 60's were introduced to classical music through things like Saturday matinees at the theater or... Warner Brothers cartoons!

This is a powerful story with a message for all. I think too often white people in America think that legislation has removed most racism and, indeed, progress has been made, but there are institutional forms as well as overt forms still present in our society. Often, as well, there are times when we don't realize we are being racist, as happens in this story. We also see both racism and homophobia. Congratulations to Cole on a moving story with nuance, a strong message, and a great ending.

I would suspect that this is the result of the draconian budget cuts just proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, who has dreams of succeeding David Cameron as Prime Minister. I see though there are protests against his budget even from members of his own Conservative Party.

Lets all pray that Trudeau doesn't build a wall along the southern border of Canada!

I am not a fan of Anonymous--at least of some of their tactics. I can sympathize with some of what they want to achieve, but I don't always approve of their means. That said, I won't lose sleep if Trump's website goes down. What frightens me more, however, is what Trump's Putinesque response might be, or should that be puttanesca response? (Sorry, that just popped into my head). Sinclair Lewis wrote a marvelous (and prescient) novel in 1934 entitled, It Can't Happen Here, in which FDR is challenged in the 1936 election for the Democratic nomination by a fascist ala Huey P. Long, who wins the election with the support of Southerners and northern conservatives. Read it. Really. Read it and then think about the parallels with what is happening today. I first read it in 1973 in high school. It can happen here.

I know Cole doesn't do sequels, but perhaps a stand-alone story about Sutton (I have a soft spot in my heart for horny redheads)-- possibly finding real love and discovering that he doesn't need to bed every new student. There are so many great characters in this work who deserve their own stories. I think this story ranks up there with Duck Duck Goose or Josh Evolving, both of which I nominate for a Dude's Pick.