Graeme

I'm not sure, but I don't think the ADF moves people around as much as that. My brother has certainly moved a few times, but apart from when he was deployed to the Middle East (his family stayed behind) they've stayed at one place for at least a couple of years. In some ways, he's probably closer to the family in the story, since he's not a combat officer (he's a chaplain) and hence has a different role to play to those that get deployed when needed.

Coming in late, but, yes, a wonderful story I used to work near the Victorian School for the Deaf back in the 80s and I still remember the kids on the tram signing happily to each other. However, the true delight in this story is simple that of discovery -- learning that there are people who can become friends, and good friends at that. Thank you!

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Pro is to Progress as Con is to Congress

Delightful!

The other thread on this story is in the Codey's World Author Discussions section. I really enjoyed the first chapter, but I have a lot of trouble at the moment following serialised stories, so I'm waiting for the story to get further along before I go back to the start and read it all the way through

Coffee is a reasonable beverage to fill in time until it's acceptable to drink wine.

I saw the DVD in a shop here in Melbourne, yesterday. The DVD cover is different to the one in the article. The cover they appear to have used in Australia is the image from this movie poster:

On the subject of sequels, I'm currently working on my first one. I've had requests for sequels/continuations for my other novels, but my response has always been that I won't write a sequel unless I have a plot and a decent ending. Since I usually put all my efforts into the first story, I don't have a lot of ideas left for a second....

I saw this movie on the plane last month. I was really impressed. I don't see the point in altering the cover because the entire movie revolves around the gay organisation L.G.S.M. The only possible marketing reason I can see for making the change would be allow it to be displayed prominently in places that are still strongly homophobic...but even there, there will be people who will know of the film and will demand it not be displayed, regardless of what's on the cover.

And in related news.... Nigerian woman files for divorce because her husband's penis is 'too big'

My understanding is that he's a doctor. I won't mention the stereotype about doctor's handwriting, but... Yes, the request could've been made in a much better way. The request itself is, I think, still worthwhile.

He's not the most diplomatic or talented advocate for what he's doing, but I got the overall message loud and clear -- he cares for those kids and he's trying to do his best to help them. Which is why I got off my fat arse and made some suggestions As I understand it, he's not looking for activists. He's looking for help or support, and he wasn't getting it. His post about putting something on the Internet and expecting feedback almost immediately shows he's very naive. I only became aware of the situation and his blog when he made a post over at GA, asking for help. I've just skimmed a few of the other posts on that blog (there's not a lot) and one of the comments he made was about the difference between stories about teenagers and stories written for teenagers. Since I've been buy and reading a number of YA novels (and then passing them onto my sons to read ) I understand the distinction. I tend to write more about late teens, early twenties, and more for an older audience than a teenage audience. There's probably not enough action in my stories to keep a teenager's attention.

Cole, I think the negative comment in the blog entry is not about the stories we write, but is merely indicating that they're not stories that young teen boys want to read. The implication to me is that they're looking for adventure stories more than romances, featuring teenagers. Since pretty much none of my novels fit that description, I accept that my stories won't be popular with that group of kids. That's fine. The comment could've been made more diplomatically, but the intent seemed clear to me -- my stories don't suit that particular target audience. That's all. That's my understanding of what was said. I could be wrong, of course

I found this blog today: https://daktaris.wordpress.com/2015/02/25/self-pity-too-often-results-in-myopia/ AwesomeDude and, Colin Kelly in particular, gets a mention as providing stories to help teenage refugees who, in addition to a massive upheaval in their life from being refugees, are also dealing with being gay. The author also asks for help in identifying more stories that are suitable for that purpose. Have a read, maybe you can offer some more suggestions. I've just pointed them to Codey's World as a source for stories to meet their needs.

Ah, but that's not supposed to be traumatic (for anyone). It's if the guy wearing the dress goes into a girls bathroom, or, (shock, horror) a girl wearing boys clothing goes into a boys bathroom -- that's supposed to be incredibly traumatic for anyone else in the room.... Now, where did I put that sarcasm tag....

I see...so when the girls see someone dressed a guy enter their bathroom, they'll be fine with it, but if they see someone dressed as girl, they'll freak out so much that they can sue the school for $2500??? I am, of course, presuming that to find out that the person dressed as a girl is biologically male, they would have to invade that person's privacy. That appears to be okay. It also seems to mean that the guys will be given the okay to break into cubicles to confirm that anyone using one will be biologically male -- with them being traumatised (to the tune of $2500) if they're not. How much can the transgender child sue for the invasion of privacy required for the others to be traumatised? I think at least one or two extra zeros would be about right....

I don't find this surprising at all. A lot of childrens and young adult books are for escapism, and that's something all of us want or need at various times. Putting yourself into a different world, maybe one where we're young again.... Why wouldn't adults want to read that?

Thank you! I've been trying to set this story against real-life events. Those links at the end of chapter 29 are an example. Similarly for the links at the end of chapter 13. Sometimes real-life throws up things that an author of fiction would struggle to get away with Even when sometimes those events are tragic As for cliffhangers, I hope I've been using them sparingly

Thanks, Nigel! Sorry, I've been away and haven't been able to get on until now. I'll admit I wasn't sure how it would read as a standalone story, but I was hopefully it read fine without prior knowledge of the characters. One small correction: it's a spin off from Leopard Skin Cover, not Leopard Spots

Just as an aside, this is not the steady-state theory. They still postulate an expanding universe, but going back in time doesn't result in a big-bang, but some other state. I'm not sure what they think was there before the universe started expanding -- all they've done is to postulate something other than the big bang (which essentially requires a change of physics to occur to start the big bang). From what I've read, their theory also offers an alternative to dark matter / dark energy, which I view as a positive. I've never been impressed with the idea of dark energy. It reminds too much of "the ether" that was a concept to fit a theory.

A wonderful little tale of one of the most essential forms of love. I won't say what that is -- I'll let you read the short story for yourself

Enormous? Gigantic? Humongous? Huge is so passe...

Banning is too strong a term. I'd say used sparingly, and with great caution. It also makes a difference whether it's narration or dialogue. I could make an argument for someone to say "Ah...they're a cute couple" just before throwing up

No problems, Rick. I'm fully aware of the problems that religion has, and still does, cause. I'm also aware of the many good things that religion has done. I make no attempt to try to see if one balances out the other -- that's futile and, in my opinion, stupid. You'll never have a problem from me with complaining about the ills of religion. I'm not blind -- I can see them. I just get upset when the brush stroke is too broad... As for why I'm religious, there are multiple reasons but one of the top ones (since I have a strong mathematics background) is that I can't view Euler's Identity without wondering about a universe where a simple equation of the five most important mathematical constants, combined with the core mathematical operations of addition, multiplication, exponentiation and equality, each used exactly once, comes out so beautifully.