colinian

Josh, Evolving ~ Chapters 21 and 22 of a Novel by Cole Parker. What happens when two lonely boys meet in a shopping mall food court? My Incredible Summer ~ A Short Story by Cole Parker. A soft, dark night, a walk with his twin, and everything changes. From our archive: Stories and poems that we think you'll enjoy reading again — or for the first time. All We, Like Sheep ~ A Fable by Codey. "Now that the predators were gone they faced an even bigger danger: Themselves...." Click here to read the hundreds of serial novels, short stories, flash fiction, and poems on the Codey's World site.

So, does that mean we have to start saying "he works on night" instead of "he works at night"? Colin

As a Computer Science major I learned the only correct way to enter dates. It is yyyy-mm-dd (and we don't use / because that has a separate meaning in the internet world). Entering them that way means they will always sort correctly: year first, then month, then day. And, no single digits! yyyy-mm-dd means using a 0 in front of single-digit month values and day values. So, today is 2018-09-23. Colin

They wouldn't have been confused if you'd written the date as 9/26/18 (which you actually did, but I digress). The reason they wouldn't be confused is that while 9 is a valid day value, 26 isn't a valid month value. At least here on earth. Of course, it could represent day 9 in 26 months from now, which would be February the 9th, 2020 which is two years in the future (26 - (12 * 2)). But just think how confused people would get, especially those who are arithmetically challenged. Colin

This is too bizarre, Bruin. I deleted my comment. I have no idea how it got inside your post. There's an announcement that a new vision of Invision Community is coming that includes a security patch. It will probably be installed soon. Let's hope that helps. Colin

Josh, Evolving ~ Chapters 19 and 20 of a Novel by Cole Parker. What happens when two lonely boys meet in a shopping mall food court? From our archive: Stories and poems that we think you'll enjoy reading again — or for the first time. A Breathless Story ~ A Short Story by Alan Keslian. A teenage guy goes to a charity bike ride in the hope of catching sight of his sports hero. The event turns out to be a lot tougher than he expected, and he struggles to cross the finishing line. Click here to read the hundreds of serial novels, short stories, flash fiction, and poems on the Codey's World site.

Josh, Evolving ~ Chapters 17 and 18 of a Novel by Cole Parker. What happens when two lonely boys meet in a shopping mall food court? Freshman Dorm ~ A Short Story by Colin Kelly. You've graduated from high school (finally!) and now you're going to college. Everything is different, including sharing a dorm room with a stranger. From our archive: Stories and poems that we think you'll enjoy reading again — or for the first time. Summer of My Fourteenth Year ~ A Short Story by Grant Bentley. Sandy is thirteen years old so it’s his fourteenth summer… new friends, new adventures, and the start of a new life… a life free from what had become daily fear and abuse Click here to read the hundreds of serial novels, short stories, flash fiction, and poems on the Codey's World site.

I'm ready, James. Let me know what you find! Colin

Thank you, Rutabaga and ChrisR. I appreciate your comments. My knowledge comes from when I was in high school and watched a modest size paper wasp nest being removed from the crawl space under the floor of the home of one of our neighbors. Yellow Jacket wasps in the San Francisco Bay Area are found both in paper nests ( a.k.a. paper wasps, like those removed in my story) and in nests in the ground (a.k.a. mud dauber wasps). Note that these two a.k.a. references are to popular names that have no scientific significance. Rutabaga, you asked, "…what happened to Ryan?" Unfortunately, harkening back to high school days, the response has to be the dreaded: "That is left as an exercise for the students." ? A hint, however: No high school students were impacted negatively in the writing of this story. Colin

Josh, Evolving ~ Chapters 15 and 16 of a Novel by Cole Parker. What happens when two lonely boys meet in a shopping mall food court? The Boy with the Rubik's Cube ~ A Short Story by Pedro. Is he as fascinating as he finds his puzzle? A Boys on Trains story. From our archive: Stories and poems that we think you'll enjoy reading again — or for the first time. To Thine Own Self Be True ~ A Short Story by Pee Jay. Sometimes you find exactly who you've been looking for. But will he be interested? Click here to read the hundreds of serial novels, short stories, flash fiction, and poems on the Codey's World site.

So sad! There's no more Gay-Straight Alliance. It's been renamed as the clumsy (in my opinion) "Genders and Sexualities Alliance". The website is still www.gsanetwork.org. The website lists the following as, perhaps, the rationale for the name change (though it isn't stated as such on their website): "GSA Network is a next-generation LGBTQ racial and gender justice organization that empowers and trains queer, trans and allied youth leaders to advocate, organize, and mobilize an intersectional movement for safer schools and healthier communities." I discovered this change while writing a new story and checked a reference to a school's GSA and discovered it was gone. I then read through the list of clubs and found the Genders and Sexualities Alliance. Then I went to gsanetwork.org and found that it was, really, in fact, renamed. Then I searched Google for 'when was gsa renamed as the Genders and Sexualities Alliance' and found it was in April, 2016. So now we know. A recommendation: Don't go back and change anything in your existing stories. In new stories I'm going to refer to it as the "GSA Network" which they also use on their website. Others can use whatever they prefer. BTW, the Canadian GSA organization (https://egale.ca/portfolio/mygsa/) is still listed as the Gay-Straight Alliance. Yay! Way to go, 'eh? Colin

That's why I'd explain exactly how it works to Doug before I took a drop of the medicine! I'd also make sure he wasn't tired!! Colin

Josh, Evolving ~ Chapters 13 and 14 of a Novel by Cole Parker. What happens when two lonely boys meet in a shopping mall food court? Brady and Bryce ~ A Short Story by Grant Bentley. Brady and Bryce, coming out, hanging out, stepping out, and making new friends. From our archive: Stories and poems that we think you'll enjoy reading again — or for the first time. A Dance to Remember ~ A Short Story by Altimexis. So, do you wanna go to the homecoming dance? Click here to read the hundreds of serial novels, short stories, flash fiction, and poems on the Codey's World site.

James, that would be a conflictionary. A new and immediately useful word and tome (available in paperback and on Kindle). That, of course, will lead us to conflictionariest, conflictionarial, anti-conflictionary, and that popular favorite, pro-conflictionary. Colin

Josh, Evolving ~ Chapters 11 and 12 of a Novel by Cole Parker. What happens when two lonely boys meet in a shopping mall food court? From our archive: Stories and poems that we think you'll enjoy reading again — or for the first time. Leaves and Lunatics ~ A Novel by EleCivil. What happens when the truth is hidden? When the past is seen as something to escape? When a person is sheltered from a harsh reality, they are robbed of the opportunity to face it. A story about friends, family, and communication. Click here to read the hundreds of serial novels, short stories, flash fiction, and poems on the Codey's World site.

Colin

Josh, Evolving ~ Chapters 9 and 10 of a Novel by Cole Parker. What happens when two lonely boys meet in a shopping mall food court? The Yellowjacket Nest ~ A Short Story by Colin Kelly. A budding writer has just two problems that she needs to solve. A story to write. And when to start. From our archive: Stories and poems that we think you'll enjoy reading again — or for the first time. A Love Never Meant to Be ~ a Poem by Shadow. Sometimes love is meant to be. Sometimes not. Click here to read the hundreds of serial novels, short stories, flash fiction, and poems on the Codey's World site.

Chris, Based on what you played with, the story line for 'A Hole in My Ceiling' might have read: … Rafe was standing between my bed and the window that looked out on our backyard. He stretched his arms up toward the ceiling, closed his eyes, yawned with his mouth really wide open, the button was in his right hand, and he squeezed both hands like he was making fists, and The End Of course, it would have needed a different title, too. Colin

This, unfortunately, appears to be a common problem with IPS forum software. What I've found is if you get this message after you've posted on the forum, your post probably is there. So, copy your post (just in case, though it should still be showing as if it hadn't been posted), then click on Home at the top of the forum. Take a look where you'd wanted to post. Your post should be there. If it didn't post, you can paste what you copied (though, it will probably still be there so in that case you won't have to paste what you'd copied) and resubmit it. I've found that it only happens with the first post I make coming into the forum. And, I've found that it always has been posted. Colin

Altimexis, It's interesting that you suggested that I write a sequel to A Hole in My Ceiling. I've actually thought about doing just that. I even have some of it plotted. There are some hooks in the story to connect to a sequel: When Rafe offers the gun to Toby so he can hold it, Toby defers. He tells us "Actually, I didn’t like guns. I wasn’t interested in holding it." Rafe tells Toby that the gun is a "target pistol" a.k.a. a competition handgun, which is described on Google as: "Competition handguns are made to get on target and shoot fast and accurately with an emphasis on recoil reduction for quick follow up shots." (So it's a pistol that can be used for any purpose — it's a handgun.) The was actually a bullet in the gun. (Rafe's father should have made sure that the gun was unloaded 1) When he bought the gun from a dealer at a gun show, and 2) Before he gave it to his son — which shouldn't have happened until they went to the target range.) Rafe's father didn't give Rafe any instructions about storing and carrying and using the gun — Rafe doesn't say that he did or didn't. (Thus he becomes culpable for the damage caused to the roof in Toby's family home.) Later, Toby is thinking: "I thought about what we’d done and if it was good enough to keep the rain out. Since the bullet went all the way through the roof — the outside of the roof, too — and we didn’t do anything to fix the outside, it probably wasn’t going to solve that part of the problem." (This shows that Toby realizes the problem might be bigger than their solution.) Of course, being a young teen, Toby also thinks: "But as long as the rain wasn’t coming into my room, that was the most important part." (Of course, that isn't the most important part.) So, maybe I'll write a sequel to this story. In my copious free time. ? Colin

Ivor... That is soooo harsh! (Not the antiques part, though.) Colin

Josh, Evolving ~ Chapters 7 and 8 of a Novel by Cole Parker. What happens when two lonely boys meet in a shopping mall food court? The Button ~ A Short Story by Colin Kelly. Sometimes unbuttoning a button turns out to be very hard. From our archive: Stories and poems that we think you'll enjoy reading again — or for the first time. Queer Bent Bastard — The Sequel ~ a Novel by Grant Bentley. Assuming nothing happens without a reason, when Chad finds out why Jason turned on him, will he still invoke the best-friend forgiveness clause? You might want to read Queer Bent Bastard first; it’s the prequel to this story. Click here to read the hundreds of serial novels, short stories, flash fiction, and poems on the Codey's World site.

A "soul mate" isn't necessarily a one-off out of the world's population. It's someone who you connect with and the two of you fall in love. I met my soul mate in 2002 when we were 12 years old and in middle school. Doug and I have been together for 16 years, first as friends, then as best friends, then we fell in love and became boyfriends, then on August 23, 2007 (Doug's birthday) we became domestic partners, then on July 23, 2013 which was as soon as it was legal we got married. And, most important, we are still soul mates today and still totally in love. Colin

Terminus is also posted on Codey's World here. Colin

That is very funny, Bruin. It gives a different meaning to the newspaper term, "Above the fold." Or, even better, a new term "Hidden in the fold." Colin