Tim

The Dude and I have been talking, for nearly a year, about starting an AD Bookstore with a publish on demand function for AD/CW writers. We saw this trend and are actively considering it. What's your opinion? Tim

Today marks the ninth anniversary of the 911 attacks. Nearly 3000 souls died. No, that's wrong...the soul doesn't die. 3000 people died...that's more than seven times the number of people in the town I now call home. The loss of life was horrific but, as we remember this day, we should realize there were tens of thousands of victims who didn't die. Children lost parents and parents lost children. Husbands lost wives and wives lost husbands. Relatives lost relatives and friends lost friends. Let us keep all the victims of 911 in our thoughts and prayers today...the living and the dead. Tim

Codey's Grandfather, who is the Patriarch of our extended family, suffered a "cardiac event" Saturday morning and underwent triple by-pass surgery yesterday. He came thruogh it and is doing as well as can be expected but will be hospitalized for up to a week. All prayers will be greatly appreciated. Tim

As one of the few non eaters of chocolate, I'll offer you a rebutal to his logic. Tell him that's fine and feed him some mole sauce and see how he likes chocolate with no sugar! Tim

question for younger members? I'm 19 (20 in 3 months) and this song was an oldie when I was growing up. From the early 90's I think...I've always liked it though. Tim

No apologies needed, Rodent. Even though Codey ended up with a site of his own, due to the graciousness of almighty Trevor, he considered Awesome Dude his home site up to the day he died. I understand completely and welcome home! :cowboy: Tim

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908//vp/34249049#34249049 Tim

First to let everyone know where I'm coming from, although I classify myself as non-gay and non-straight...I'm just Tim, I'm also a Christian. After living with someone for four years who was facing the same feelings as Dermot, I found his reactions to be almost the same. There was anger, rejection of his church (he was also Catholic) and withdrawal from organized religion. Most of you know who I'm talking about. Through it all, he never lost his faith. He was angry with God but never to the point of rejecting God. Having been through this with him, I think the author did a brilliant job in describing Dermot's reactions...grief then anger then questioning. As for being blindsided by the religious content, it was there from the first chapters and developed as the story went on...it was no surprise to me. The author never mislead or tricked anyone. Some here criticize him for pushing his religious point of view. Don't all authors push their point of view in their stories? Why should this author's point of view, on a subject he chose to write about, be treated any differently than any other author's point of view expressed in the stories they choose to write.? This story was troubling to me but for personal memories he brought back to the surface. I think it's a great story and we here are lucky to have it on AD! Tim

What is the value of a labor of love? Everyone likes free stuff but is free stuff really free? A lot of us listen to NPR programming and it?s free?right? Wrong! There is nothing in this world that?s free?there?s always a cost to someone. Awesome Dude is a free site. Unlike other mega sites, like GA or Nifty, you don?t have to wade through ads to get to the stories you want to read. AD is a place for authors to post their stories online. There are many authors who have gotten their start on AD and this is good for readers. If the stories posted on AD, and it?s family of sites, were in an anthology, it would cost you a fortune every month. This access for readers and authors is free to them but it does cost someone. Due to a collapsed economy, the Dude is in forced retirement. Money is tight for him for the foreseeable future. He?s cut everything he can in order to keep AD and the AD Family of Sites going ad free. Ads are a way which he won?t go but income has to come from somewhere. Now its our turn to step up to the plate and show our appreciation for the last 5 ? years of AD and do our part to keep it alive and moving forward. If you look on the main page of AD, you?ll see a little gray cat. This is a pay-pal button. Every amount, no matter how small, is needed. Just a few dollars every month or so from as many people as possible will help AD and show Dude how much we appreciate his labor of love for us. Tim

A great loss to The music world. My condolences to all her friends and family but especially to Dude, a lfe long friend of hers. Tim

I agree with Camy! This is awesome! My only complaint is that it is waaaaaay to short! I'm really looking forward to the full length versions! A personal aside to the Dude...Thank you for that dedication at the end. It brought back so many happy memories of happier times. Tim

That's sad news James. Remembering the good things will help you get through it so just never let the good memories go! Tim

SEASON"S GREETINGS! http://www.codeysworld.com/2008-xmas-flash...s-flash-ad.html

I've been following this thread and am amazed that wibby has to defend his style from so many other authors. I'm a reader, not a writer, but have always thought it was the author's prerogative to define his work. So many seem to have fallen into the Hollywood definition of entertainment. Everything must be wrapped in a neat little box and everything explained for the mindless viewer or reader in thirty or sixty minutes (less commercial time) or in one hundred twenty minutes for a feature film. Codey once told me that an author's only responsibilities to his readers are, to entertain, to make them think and to stimulate their imaginations. I believe wibby's story meets these three criteria. It holds your attention, so must be entertaining. From some of the comments, I think we all have to agree, it's definitely made people think. If the ending doesn't satisfy you, as a reader, then you can use your imagination to complete the story in any way you want. If authors are to be held to strict rules, we'd be limiting creativity and lose the opportunity to ever see innovative new stories and styles. It's fine to not like an authors work but wrong to try to force that author to climb into that same little box of rules that you are comfortable with. Just my opinion as a sometimes reader. Tim

I think the story is brilliant! Wibby took a common theme and stood it on it's head. He doesn't condone or support what is going on but is able to take the reader into the mindset of a man whose soul is in torment. A good murder mystery is just that and doesn't mean a good murder. This story is a good story and doesn't mean the actions of the characters are good. two thumbs up from me! Tim

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUDE! May you have so many more that they can't be counted! Tim

It may seem like rubbing their noses in it but more importantly it might serve as a wake up cll to other parents who may suspect they have a gay cchild and how they deal wiith it. Some object lessons have to hurt some for the good of many. Better a gay live child that a dead one. Tim

The girl says they remained friends for two years up until he died. The parents have to know that. I may be a stupid kid who knows squat but it seems to me the parents are suffering from guilt and looking for someone, other than themselves to blame. It could be that they already suspected he was gay and were in denial and are continuing in denial to ease their guilt. I say tell them and then tell them good-bye. It's time parents stopped living in their own world and make it easier for their kids to tell them anything. Acceptnce begins in the family. Tim

I couldn't agree more, Des, but this type of subliminal bullying is something we teens face on a daily basis. Okay, not just us teens. Adults face this everyday too. There are people who, with the best intentions, attempt to make others see things their way. This tends to stiffle creativity and free thinking. We never hear "this is what works best for me" or "let's try it your way and see what happens". What we are told is that as an adult they know what we really need and then they ignore our ideas. I have a lot more to say but would only piss people off so I'll do what kids have done for eons. I'll find a way to do it my way and just further convince these sub-liminal bullies that kids don't know crap. Tim

From me and on behalf of Codey's Grandfather, our families and extended families, I want to thank everyone from Awesome Dude for their support and condolences during our recent loss. With only two exceptions, a chapter in a round robin and a story he wrote with Graeme, Awesome Dude is the only site, other than Codey's World, where Codey was hosted. This was by his choice and not because of a site owners restrictions. He was so impressed with the hosting policy at AD that he modeled the policy at Codey's World On the AD policy. Codey was a special person. He said that seeing the bad in people was easy and sometimes finding the good was hard but when you find the good the rewards are far greater. Codey spent his life searching for the good. He was stubborn and rarely gave up on people. We wish we could personally answer each e-mail, pm or forum post but there just isn't the time to answer the hundreds and hundreds we've received. We all are gong to miss him, some more than others, but his spirit will live on in our hearts. The world is a lesser place with his loss but a much better place for his life. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. Tim

This is great. It's time people started listening to Bob Dylan. The times they are a changing and you'd better all join in or be stuck in the past. Tim

Sounds like you guys had a good time. Makes me wish I was there too. Tim

It's only right that my first post should be here. I have this one decoded Nerky. HAHAHA It's a good one and you can give me the third degree about it this week-end. I bet I'm right too. Tim