Graeme

Fifty years of change: Queensland social history through the eyes of a 78-year-old gay man

Sorry, but no. I lost touch with them when I went through a writing hiatus a number of years ago. I would love to know how they are all doing, but my only contact with them was through their public email account. When I tried, there was no response.

Here's an interesting article on Gender Fluidity about teenagers who don't consistently think they're boys or girls. My first thought was that this is transgender, but it seems that it's more that they're androgynous -- boy or girl, as needed/wanted.

Mysteries are tough to write. I've written two stories that had a mystery component and most people worked out the first one without a lot of trouble. It's a definite skill to be able to write mysteries where the mystery isn't solved by the reader well before the ending.

There wasn't an earlier thread just for the story, but it was mentioned several times in the 2013 Halloween Collection thread. It's a great story that I would have loved to seen expanded into a novella or even a novel.

I can see this being counterproductive. A presidential candidate is going to be attacked by what many would consider to be a criminal organisation. That's going to gather sympathy for him unless they find real dirt to spread. If it's just cyber-attacks on his websites, that's not going to help.

LOL -- I didn't realise this was a real-life tale. However, I suspected something similar to what you've suggested

Nice, though I think it would be more interesting if the noise was described. Was it footsteps (a squatter, another intruder, or maybe a zombie) or rustling (as someone move past a tapestry or curtain, or maybe the movement of a ghost coming to check on who was in the house), or something else?

Chapter 16 is now online - The Legend of Schrodinger's Queer

Sporting codes to be scored on inclusionary measures under Pride In Sport Index While I appreciate why this is being done, I can't help feel a few qualms. All I can hope is that it's only needed for a maybe a decade and then it can die a nice death because it's become irrelevant. Of course, I also know I'm an optimist...

You missed the post above. He was shot and killed last year.

This is a really tough question, because it depends on so many factors whose weighting can vary over time or even mood! I would also distinguish between my novels and short stories because I don't feel you can compare the two. What you look for in a short story is very different to what you look for in a novel. I know judges in shows have to do things like compare the best of two different breeds of the same animal, but they're professionals (usually). I'm just a writer who does this as a hobby. My favourite novel is, at the moment and subject to change without notice, Leopard Spots. But it's not one I'd recommend for a first-time reader because it's the second book in a series. I picked it because while there are other novels I really like, they have flaws in them that detract. I also loved the complexity of the story line, with lots of interwoven story arcs that kept the story moving as one arc finished and another arc starts to hit its peak. However, Leopard Spots itself isn't completely standalone because there's a book three that's just started posting... My favourite short story is...whichever I'm reading at the time. Sorry, I just can't pick one.

My boys used to call what you call 'tag' 'tiggy'... And it's 'footy' (Australian Rules Football), soccer, or rugby (which in turn could be 'union' or 'league').

As the recipient of American early readers and editor, my recommendation is to flag it for the author to decide. What happens with my stories is that my first reader will flag anything that reads odd to him so I can decide if it's a typo (which it could be) or an Australian colloquialism (also quite possible). The same applies when my editor goes through and makes changes. Most of the time, I allow Americanisms to remain because Australia is actually multicultural with a lot of phrases (the American, British, or Australian versions can all be used here, depending on the speaker), and only change them back if I feel that it no longer sounds plausible for an Australian to use that phrasing. And this is why I like using an American editor I want my stories to be understandable in America as well as Australia and Europe. It's the little linguistic phrases that only a native will understand, but being a native I don't realise that everyone else doesn't have the same understanding.

More photos, courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald. For those who don't know , Bill Shorten is the federal Leader of the Opposition (who's hoping he'll be Australia's next Prime Minister later this year) and the Sydney Stingers are a LBGTI-friendly water polo club. One thing I'm surprised I haven't seen photos of is the float with the Australian Olympians, lead by the Daniel Kowalski who came out after he retired from international swimming. It's mentioned in news reports, but I haven't seen any pictures.

It was originally held as part of the international Gay Solidarity Celebrations to commemorate the Stonewall Riots, with the first march being held in the Winter months (June, 1978). It was later moved to March so the marchers could enjoy the better weather at the end of Summer. http://www.mardigras.org.au/history/

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! It's been pointed out to me that the link to the Western Bulldog's code of conduct in the Author's Notes for chapter 1 is broken. It will hopefully get fixed shortly, but in the meantime I just thought I'd go looking at some of the AFL club websites to see what other clubs said. Only a few have an explicit code of conduct on their website, but others have it as part of the membership terms and conditions. Here's a few (including the corrected one for the Western Bulldogs): Western Bullogs Football Club St.Kilda Football Club Adelaide Crows Football Club And, for completeness, the AFL Vilification and Discrimination Policy

This report has it as at least 300,000 spectators, but otherwise, yes, it's a big parade That link also has a small selection of photos. Our Prime Minister attended, the first Prime Minister to do so, but that's not really unexpected. The parade goes through the heart of his electoral district so he's also the local member of parliament and has been attending the parade for years.

Sydney readies for the 38th Mardi Gras parade To be honest, I'm only really linking this for a couple of the images that are on the article: and the image on the Twitter post from the Sydney Swans football club

Very nice

As a partial indication of how far Australia has come since those days, the National Rugby League (NRL) will have a float in this year's Mardi Gras parade. And as an indication of how far we still have to go, the Federal Government has initiated an inquiry into an anti-bullying campaign for schools that focuses on gay, lesbian, and transgender students.

Sydney Mardi Gras - NSW Government apologies to first generation of protesters Also in the article is the apology from the Sydney Morning Herald for publishing the names and details of those arrested on the front page back in 1978. It's amazing how far Australian culture has come in the last almost 40 years, though there are still people who seem to be living back in that era....

Sorry, no idea. Others have already asked at GA. It's possible that the stories have been removed in preparation for publication, but that's only speculation.

With the football season over, the attention turns to the upcoming AFL draft for a number of the Lilydale Leopards. Will any of them make the leap to the AFL? If they do, how many will make the jump and to where? Leopards Leap, the third book in the saga of the Lilydale Leopards, will commence posting on Saturday, 5th March 2016. It will initially be posted as a chapter every two weeks until I can be sure that I am far enough ahead that I can keep to a regular posting cycle.

Sexual fluidity: Living a label-free life I can related to parts of this article. I personally consider myself to be gay, even though I'm in a heterosexual relationship, but I dislike the connotations associated with the label. Label-free is the best approach, in my opinion.