backwoodsman

For the sake of the rest of the planet, I do hope that you're right. Forgive me, I shouldn't delve into politics. But having seen Mr Trump in action he is at best a loose cannon.

No one can accuse me of flooding the marketplace with my literary efforts. Holiday was written very many years ago and published here about 3 years ago (from memory). And only now has another book length story been carefully edited by John the Designer to eradicate my many errors of omission and commission, known to you and me as cock-ups. Boydrake is nothing like Holiday. That's all I'm going to tell you, apart from the fact that Mike says it will hit the news-stands on Sat 7 May. People were kind about Holiday. I'm going to be interested to see what the attitude to its stable-mate is. Happy reading, I hope!

I'm really pleased to have received a number of emails - complimentary - about Holiday. Every author would join in that sentiment. it's also good to see nice comments here. Thank you. The story was originally two. In fact I'd got to the end of the Amberdale holiday and was vaguely dissatisfied with its end which, as far as I can remember, as somehow different from now in that I had no idea what to do with either of them after James had gone home. So - as you do - I started on another story. English canals have always been an interest, and there have been certainl holidays where... ...nothing happened, though I really wish it had! But it seemed a good place to let my imagination start. Then about halfway through, I ran out of steam, as you do. The imagination faltered. But gradually it occurred to me that the stories could be spliced together, with a little bit of judicious editing. So I sat down again... There are probably quite a dew authors who say "the story almost wrote itself." When I wondered how to deal with the loose ends of Amberdale something clicked with my own period of adolescent agonies, when it was bandied about that homosexuals were cured by electric shocks. And the more I thought, and agonised (as an adult), the blacker it got, especially as I read about more and more teen aged boys who had taken their life rather than face up to reactions they feared but never knew. What waste. What tragedies. So I watched, in horror, as the words describing Mark's end poured out onto the screen in front of me, seemingly without any conscious effort on my part. And other parts wrote themselves too, mainly to do with the canals. And finally I wondered how to end it. A full circle seemed logical, so they booked to return to the Island near Amberdale. And I couldn't resist mentioning The Book! Will they return? Maybe, but coincidentally, as adults of course.

If I wanted to define the words 'dogmatic' and 'bigotted' I would play that video and then explain that neither word would actually have you go that far. Extrordinary. Though Daniel is now hopefully in a loving environment I can't help wonder if the trauma of that 'interview' and assault by people he's loved and who are meant to love him will resurface at some point. I hope not.

Thank you all for those nice comments: they're most encouraging. As more gets added to the site, and particularly when it's all there, I'll add a bit more information about its creation. And I'll also see what you think about another story - Boydrake. Is that the sound of whetted appetites I hear?