Alien Son

Thanks, Alan!

Why the author was not getting replies shouldn't have prevented you from responding to his post. You obviously knew Mike was OK -- not least because he's currently posting a story of yours. You could have simply responded that you knew Mike was alive and well. That would not add to speculation.

Did you respond to the post to prevent further speculation? If not, why not?

I agree. I'm biased, because I helped edit it, but it is a wonderful story about overcoming fear and insecurity.

Wow, thank you for the ringing endorsement, Joe. I hope Dynasty lives up to your expectations.

It's sad that Driver never finished "Dog Days". At least, Chapter 8 ends with " … more " so I assume he intended to write more. It certainly doesn't seem complete.

Sad news. Chris was a great writer and I love his stories. We exchanged numerous emails, including when I wrote to tell him how much I appreciated a story, and when I was working on preparing his stories for posting. I always enjoyed hearing from him. Best wishes to you, Addym.

This might add to the confusion, but here in Australia we have apple cider which is sold in supermarkets along with the other juices and soft drinks. It's non-alcoholic. We probably have the alcoholic variety, too, but I don't drink alcohol so I wouldn't know.

Love is Blind is being posted on Nifty. . As of 24 February it's up to six chapters. Whether those chapters correspond with what's posted on GA I wouldn't know, sorry. GA is a horrible site I rarely visit.

The house of representatives passed the legislation today. All amendments were defeated, and only four MHRs voted against the bill.

Today in the Senate our attorney-general, George Brandis, made a speech during debate on the same sex marriage bill. I'm no fan of George (in fact, during most of the life of the current government I've regarded him as a real dill), but this speech is a gem. I only hope he really meant it. There's an edited version of it here: http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/attorneygeneral-george-brandis-powerful-samesex-marriage-speech-in-full-20171128-gzu669.html. I think this is the highlight: "I want to reflect for a moment on the message this will send, in particular, to young gay people: to the boy or girl who senses a difference from their friends, which they find difficult to understand and impossible to deal with. In his first speech in the Parliament, my friend Tim Wilson spoke movingly of his own experience of confronting that knowledge, as a tormenting fear "that took an energetic 12-year-old and hollowed his confidence to eventually doubt his legitimate place in the world". How many hundreds of thousands of young Australians have known that fear? How many have lived with it, silently and alone? How many have failed to come to terms with it and been overborne by it? By passing this bill, we are saying to those vulnerable young people: there is nothing wrong with you. You are not unusual. You are not abnormal. You are just you. There is nothing to be embarrassed about. There is nothing to be ashamed of. There is nothing to hide. You are a normal person and, like every other normal person, you have a need to love. How you love is how God made you. Whom you love is for you to decide and others to respect."

Thanks for your encouragement, Colin. If it happens it might be a long time coming, though.

I read this just a few minutes ago. It's quite moving.

You're probably right about sequels, although my reason for writing Another Day was to tie up all the loose ends I left in The Worst Day. I had always thought I would never write a sequel. I had heard of authors claiming that their characters sometimes took over and told the story. I wasn't convinced that they were being truthful until it happened to me when I was writing Black Dog. The last two or three chapters almost wrote themselves.

Thanks for the link to the voting survey, Graeme. I wasn't able to find it again. This time I'll save the link! My memory of the article wasn't very accurate, either. Sigh. The number of MPs who said they would vote in favour was much higher than I said above, and the number who didn't respond to the ABC was also higher.