Chris James

Lovely, Des....no, brilliant. Most creatures of higher intelligence do dream, and yet I always thought only humans had the ability to look ahead and understand our final demise. But then I had a dog who lived 16 years before life became too much of a struggle. I could see in her eyes that she knew what was coming even though the vet assured me she was not in pain. But she dreamt every night during those final weeks and I could almost see her reliving those days of her youth when chasing squirrels and rabbits. She was one of the few animals I have ever met who understood English words and reacted to them. I would gladly share some plane of existance with her once again since she was better than some of the humans I have met. But I digress only to assure you that I would like to go as she did. I can only imagine what that final dream must have been.

I vote this event my waste of money nomination for the week, and it's only Monday! http://now.msn.com/m...sm-council.aspx I am sure there are others...what is your take on things like this? Can we re-institite public flogging for officials who waste the taxpayers money?

You guys are braver than I am. I rode a 250cc bike around a parking lot one time and decided that I am addicted to four walls around me when I am on the road. Vans and pickup trucks for most of my life, the occasional Volvo here and there. But now that I live in Florida with all these old lady drivers...been thinking about an armored personnel carrier.

Although I can understand this young man's need to defend his family, the whole incident makes me very uncomfortable and I can't imagine the emotional aftermath in this family. In this society where lawyers crawl out of the woodwork at the slightest provocation we have become so afraid of being sued. This is why you see signs that say Beware of the Dog posted on fences...can't say you weren't warned. Perhaps a new sign will be needed: Beware, this family is protected by guns. I don't imagine the National Rifle Association would be too pleased with that. After all, why warn people away, let them take their chances. The NRA would be sure to voice their paranoia that the government would add such families to a list of gun owners. So I understand this boy defending his home and I hope it stays that way. In far too many instances kids are bullied at school and then go home to steal daddy's gun to take their revenge. But this was in Arizona where certified nut cases buy assault weapons and then go shoot government officials and small children. Just another day in the American neighborhood.

I am NOT recommending this story, just commenting on the need for links to find anything on Nifty. AD is a lot more user friendly, and that is a good reason to post here. I have my own adult/youth crap on Nifty and would love to destroy it now.

Thanks for the link, Cole. Otherwise first time writers on Nifty are invisible and virtually impossible to find without trolling the entire list of recently posted material in more than a dozen categories, how unfriendly.

You are not alone, Cole...ancient Greek would seem easier to understand. I am told that there are people who spend not hours, but days and weeks playing in these fantasy worlds. Perhaps that is what is wrong with this one. It becomes too easy to abdicate reality and find a cyberspace existance. I would be out of place there and so I will remain here. A lot easier to take over the planet when everyone else has their head in the clouds.

LMAO technology, ain't it wonderful!

I have just learned that a young man of 21 years I know is now HIV positive and about to enter the system for treatment. Based on his lack of caution and condoms, this is just another bump in his road. His attitude will improve, the disease can be treated and hopefully he will learn from this and grow up. I know others with the same condition, but thankfully I was scared enough, or careful enough, to avoid the disease. Some of them became infected as far back as the late-80's and they are still with us. Treatment has come a long way and survival rates are up. But to many HIV and AIDS is still a gay disease, and in this society where gay issues are under attack by religious organizations we have more than a disease to treat. This article is not new, but can you imagine the problem for these men has vanished or has it just been swept under the rug in the Vatican: http://blog.gaycatho...ated-illnesses/ The demon in the closet affects all levels of religious thought. Many churches have suggested that AIDS is a form of punishment for sin. These same organizations have established HIV treatment programs with the sinner message included. Pray for redemption and we will treat you. An interesting study here and I wholeheartedly agree with their conclusions: http://www.virusmyth...iv/dmchurch.htm However you view the subject, the moral imperative is that we treat all disease for what it is, a threat to humanity. In the last century we successfully beat back malaria, polio and other epidemic diseases around the world. The fight is never complete, there are still victims to any disease where vigilance slips away and governments don't seem to care. HIV-AIDS is still with us, and some learn to live with it. What choice do they have?

Amazing! And I laughed when the policeman buckled his seatbelt. Years ago I lived in Baltimore and there was a local auto insurance company (which shall remain nameless here) that placed an ad on television showing people piling into a car and driving off. Of course none of them put on their seatbelts in accordance with the laws of the state. That was wrong and a bad example for any young drivers who saw the ads. So I called the home office for the national company in Nebraska and laid out my complaint. Not only did the ads get pulled off the air, there was a spokesman who appologized for the local company. Always nice to step up when you can and do something positive.

Perhaps it is because he is so young and has his whole life before him, but I am attached to this story about Max. I think it is astonishing that after surgery last week on Thursday that he is going home today. From what I have read about his family that is probably the best place for him to recover. With his medical history I can only say that this child has an amazing will to live, and now he shall. http://today.msnbc.m...day-today_news/

Des, you need one of those "Check your God at the door" signs. My idea of good sex is not to have a threesome with Jesus in the middle. Trab did a fine job of descriptive writing in following the course of that drop of water. The ending was a nice surprise even though I bet most readers wish it had ended another way. Hand the man a towel and exit the sauna.

Very cute (but poor quality video). Commercial wars are part of the American landscape. And no, I don't drink diet soda either. Brewed ice tea is the only civilized drink I like.

I don't drink either one, all that sugar is bad for the body. But thanks for sharing the videos.

Good News: Hospital released the news this evening: Max had a successful surgery today. After a five day recovery period he will go home. Sigh, what a relief. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/47820502/ns/today-today_news/

Very well done...jockalicious! (If that isn't a word it ought to be) DaBeagle Rules!

then you aren't human. Max deserves a better life, and a long one. My thoughts are with him and his family. http://today.msnbc.m...day-today_news/

The absurdity of using a cyberweapon like this is that once the code is unraveled then any country with skilled operatives can use it. Perhaps they will post it on Wiki. It's like a gun to the head. Did anyone really think it could be kept secret?

Aw, James...you figured out my secret. Place is always a character in my stories, and usually the first one I develop. Teenagers or young men, characters often do have such similar traits and it becomes difficult to keep them unique in a story. But put them each in different settings with interesting challenges related to the landscape and you have a means to build an interesting story. Having travelled extensively in my younger years gives me a long list of places. Can't always do everything from memory but it eases the research. The first thing I look for are the images, in books, online or from my own albums. Male characters have a defined image and I stick with that for inspiration, as I am sure many other writers tend to do. Perhaps one day I will get a decent scanner and can add my personal images to the title page of a story.

Some really wonderful thoughts here in this thread. Characters make the story, and so I would like you to consider place as a character. My example would be in the opening chapter of Doing Something by Cole Parker, currently posting. How timely that this is his newest work and so I will not spoil it for those of you have not begun to read, but you really should begin now. Earlier in the thread Cole mentioned his concerns about boring a reader before getting to the action, but he need not worry. In Doing Something, the first chapter contains a rich development of his main character's thoughts with barely a line of dialogue. But the character is conflicted by events, not the least of which is the new place he finds himself. In this chapter that place has become a benign protagonist, a character if you will, brought to life by the descriptive passages that define the environment for his main, and very human, character. I can't spoil the read for you, but by the time I was finished with this chapter I felt a certain dread that things were not as they should be. Something was coming but I didn't know what to expect. This is a wonderful example of foreshadowing the coming events in Cole's story. Sometimes the reader has to bear with the author's method to reach a point of understanding. I've always believed that good stories are like a painting created in layers. So far Cole has painted us a dark and brooding forest of emotion and pain. Now I want to know the creatures that inhabit that darkness. Looking forward to future chapters. Bravo, Cole.

I love a good story that is character driven. Characters often have more facets than the plot, and that seems to work. A story can take twists and turns galore all the way to the end, but if the characters aren't up to the task of guiding the readers there then we have a disaster. All the great plans for a story plot often dissolve when a character asserts itself in the mind of the author. A developing empathy for a character means he/she will get more play, more lines, and I think that bond is important. We often start out with one or two central players only to discover that the focus in a chapter shifts to someone else because of an event in the plot. But chapters end and fade to black...then it is decision time. There is nothing lost if an author goes back and makes changes in previous chapters because of some new idea, I do it all the time. This is why I will never again post as I write. Some developments don't reveal themselves until later in a plot and if an author can't take advantage of them...I think this is why many posted stories are never finished. The wonderful thing about AD is that the stories all seem to be spread out over an entire spectrum of thought. The variety alone creates a good diet of words for the readers. I see fewer problems in stories here than I do elsewhere and that speaks to good writing and editing habits. The rules be damned if an author has something to say and knows how to present it in a cohesive manner.

...only this time it isn't a gay issue. Remember the early 80's? AIDS was called the gay disease and preachers across the nation said it was God's punishment for immorality. I think Richard Nixon even believed that, but then he was so parinoid who knows what he thought. The wise voices in the medical community said that AIDS would cross over to the heterosexual population, and lo, it did with a vengence. So now we have a new strain of sexually transmitted disease prevalant among the hetero people of the planet and gays are not to blame this time. It doesn't matter, everyone should be cautious: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47704210/ns/health-health_care/

Bradbury was a personal hero for a long time because he got me to read sci-fi fantasy. The Martian Chronicles inspired so much thought...could we, would we...and I hoped in my lifetime. His inspiration will be missed.

http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/books/2012/06/05/discover-winners-lambda-literary-awards#slide-1 Sigh, once again an armload of books receive acclaim and I am not on the list. But then I shouldn't be, I haven't published in print. I look for this list as a sampling of what's out there in LGBT literature and as usual lesbian writers dominate. Is it that they have so much more to say? A gay author here and there, and even a few transgender writers. The latter certainly have a story to tell. I will find some of these books and read them as I am wont to do. My personal take on this list is that I really ought to sit myself down and put together a serious fiction work. Then I will have to join the mob in search of agents and publishers, so you see why I haven't made the effort. Someday I tell myself...someday.

Who understands cricket? For all I know it could be gay, but that is another argument. Jason Alexander needs to stop playing George and get on with his life. I know that cricket is quite the popular sport on the other side of the world so someone must understand it. I have been told that it was the earliest form of what we call baseball so I decided to look up the rules. That was the big mistake, I didn't understand a thing. American baseball is that thing you watch on television when you need a good excuse to nap...puts me to sleep every time. I am not much of a sports fan, there are other things far more important in my life. I did join the Capital Croquet Club in Washington, D.C. some decades ago, but the park service finally chased us off the National Mall. Cricket is filled with these cute little terms for the equipment and the parts of the game. Here we eat hot dogs and drink beer at our sporting events. Somehow I don't think tea and crumpets will ever make cricket a popular sport here. But then the world is large enough for everyone to have their own favorite pastime even if they don't know what to call it. Football anyone?