Nigel Gordon

This is the first of the Swords of Riverside Trilogy. Let's say from the start, it is not an easy read, you have to work on it. It is, however, a fascinating read. Set in a world of swords, but no sorcery, this is a fantasy novel without magic. It is set in an unnamed city, in a country where nobles defend their honour at the point of the sword. The thing is that they do not do the fighting, they hire swordsmen to fight in their place, often to the death. In such instances the loser's patron will excuse themselves and retire to the country, for a period. The swordsmen live in Riverside, what was once the centre of the city but is now a derelict area occupied by whores, thieves, con-men and swordsmen. It is here that we find our main protagonists Richard St Vier, probably the greatest swordsman in the city, and his lover Alec. It is from this base we view the machinations of the nobility as they try to use Richard St Vier for their own ends. As I said from the start, it is not an easy book to read, it is though one well worth reading. I enjoyed it so much, I have just ordered the other two books in the trilogy. Swordpoint is available from Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats.

It is not being fought everywhere, there are some placed where it is allowed. Hopefully we will get more places adopting a more realistic attitude to assisted dying. Doctors need to remember the old guidance that they should not strive officiously to maintain life.

I was at a writers' circle meeting a couple of days ago. One of the students asked the speaker, "How do I learn to write a good story?" The speaker, thought for a few minutes then replied. "Read some bad ones and remember where they went wrong."

I think we have gone past the tipping point. The demand for food production, limited resources and the impact of climate change have resulted in a socio-economic structure that cannot be maintained. I hate to say this but antibiotic resistant bacteria may be the last hope of humanity. A plague or two might be what we need to get the world back to a situation where we can sort things out and get a balanced society that works.

Trab I tend to use an Amazon Kindle e-reader to read books on. Basically because it is small and fits easily into my pocket, so I can carry it with me to read on the bus or train. I also have the Amazon Kindle app on most of my devices, my phone, my tablet, my iMac and both my Windows and Linux laptops. All my Amazon sourced books are available to me on all my devices. I can also put up books that I get from other sources, to my Amazon library, though I usually have to convert them to epub format using Calibre first. Regards Nigel

Thanks Camy. Unfortunately, I do not have the time, nor the inclination, to expand it. If anyone else feels like taking it up, they are welcome.

This is a well-written story involving a runaway eighteen-year-old, a rather seedy businessman George, and some questionable business activities. Add to this mix the return of Freeman to the city, who used to George's right-hand man and life starts to get complicated. Especially given that Freeman's late sexual partner is now George's right-hand man. The story is available on Amazon for Kindle and is currently on offer for free. Be careful though, after reading it I found myself buying some more Clare London stories.

Actually, Colin, you may have a point there. The oldest boy had been over a couple of years before with his grandfather. I would not be surprised if he had found out that in the UK cider is alcoholic and that Strongbow is potent.

A couple of years ago the son of a distant cousin of mine who had moved to the States in the 1960s came over to find out where his family had come from. He came with his wife and their two sons, aged thirteen and fifteen. For part of their stay in the UK they had hired a holiday cottage in the Peak District. The day they arrived at the cottage they drove to the nearest market town to buy groceries. Amongst which they purchased some two-litre bottles of various drinks for the boys. Amongst their selection were two bottles of Strongbow cider. Whilst in town they noticed there was a concert on that evening, for which they booked tickets, the boys declaring they would prefer to stay at the cottage and watch TV. Late that evening, after they had been at the concert, they arrived at the cottage to find two very intoxicated boys. It had never occurred to them that something labelled as cider could be alcoholic.

A six-week art buying trip to Europe has been a disaster for George. The art has been bad, the boys have been worse. At a party, which he was wishing he had missed, things suddenly start to look up, or do they?

Stating that Trump's language is 'oddly adolescent' is an insult to the majority of adolescents, they have a much better grasp of spoken language.

I really enjoyed this. A great story, well told. Hopefully, one which will give rise to more as I suspect there is a lot more to come from Starcrossed in one way or another if the gods of fiction allow.

I agree it is a very good read.

Chapter 2 has just been published on Story Lover. Well worth going to the site to read it.

This story has just started posting on the Story Lover site, and Wayne has stated that he is not going to be posting it on Nifty. So, if you are interested in reading it you will have to go to the Story Lover site. I will say it looks like Wayne has gone up a notch in is writing and in his plot construction. He has indicated that this is going to be a slow burner and he will not be posting as often as he has in the past on Nifty, which I must say is probably a good thing. I suspect it will produce better writing and better plotting. If you would like to read the opening chapter, you can find it here: https://storylover.us/?t=2R6PCUp16iLMHehy

I loved it.

Something that is not talked about very much in the gay community is domestic abuse within a gay relationship. Maybe we like to think it does not happen, but it does. On a couple of occasions, I have found myself helping to pick up the pieces after some domestic abuse in a gay relationship. On more than one time I have tried to write about it, to date with no success, which is one reason why I am so impressed with these two novels by N R Walker. The first, 'Galaxies and Oceans' is set in the South of Australia. It is the story of Aubrey, a young man who has to die to escape the abusive relationship that he is in. It is also the story of Patrick, an older man who has to overcome the grief he has lived with since the death of his lover. The second 'Yanni's Story' is about an aspiring actor who escapes an abusive relationship but then has to rebuild his life. In so doing he is able to not only build a new life for himself but to help others, who are trapped in the same hell that he was in. I have long admired N R Walker's writing, but I think these two books, which are available on Kindle, are some of her best works.

I believe these lions have had a couple of other poachers in the past. The previous time all that was found was a head and two pairs of shoes.

My only concern is are the lions alright? Surely there is a risk to their health from ingesting such low life forms.

Apparently, there is a waiting list of cities wanting to borrow it!

The UK Government has announced that it is going to ban Gay-Straight Conversion Therapy: http://theconversation.com/gay-conversion-therapy-proposed-ban-is-a-positive-step-but-the-battle-remains-to-be-won-98492 That is good news, so long as they bring in the ban. Already the religious right is saying that such a ban would be a breach of their religious rights as they believe that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice, not an inherited orientation. Tonight I had one of my neighbours knocking on my door trying to get me to sign a petition to save their 'mission to the deceived' where they 'help put deceived young men back on the path to true family life'. I managed to keep her talking on the doorstep for a good three-quarters of an hour, during which time she could not canvas anybody else. Eventually I told her I was a witch so did not approve of any Christian movement. Her final words to me were "at least you're not queer". My final words were "don't tell my boyfriend, he would be very upset".

To an extent, I agree. This is one of those occasions when one wishes all the chapters had been published in one go so you could get it over with. I am enjoying the story and appreciate Cole's writing but wish I could get to the end of it and find out how it all works out.

Essentially that is how it works, a large open area with private stalls down each side. The stalls have floor to ceiling dividing walls and full height doors.

It is interesting to note that a number of recently built school in the UK have done away with gender-specific restrooms. They all report a drop in reported incidents of bullying.

Could not agree more. This is one of the better stories to have turned up on Nifty.