aj

One of the many 'unfairnesses' of life is that as I get older - and consequently more financially stable and capable - I meet a lot of 'boys with dancing eyes.' Some are outright predators, others are just boys who don't mind accepting a little help from someone who is willing to go there, but they all of them aren't serious about much of anything...except getting what they want. One must deal very carefully with this kind of person, I find. It is a mistake to think that any dealings with such are anything but commercial in nature - if one leads with one's heart, it will end up a punching bag or a bumper, neither of which it is designed to be. One learns to be suspicious and guard one's heart rather carefully in this time when being known as a 'player' is a commendation, and honor and honesty are despised. cheers! aj

Hey Rauch - Grieving is not something that comes with an expiration date or a set schedule. Perhaps the most significant step in the whole process is giving yourself permission to take the time and the space to grieve your friend's death however feels appropriate to you. You don't have to be 'over it' within a month, or six months, or a year...it's a slow, gradual process of recovery, and it may well be that you will never be the same person that you were before that event that you are grieving. You will be able to function in the ways that you need to, but your life has undergone a change that will be with you for a long, long time. And that isn't a bad thing...I can think of worse ways for your friend to be remembered than by the changes of perspective and experience that his death wrought in your life, as well as the changes that knowing him while he was living made in your life. In the end, for most of us, that's really the only lasting impact that we have.cheers!aj

I was delighted to see another story by Graeme show up on the boards, and immediately clicked on it. I was not disappointed: Graeme's latest is a tale with a VERY interesting premise, and some very fun characters. Go check out The Price of Friendship - I don't think you'll be disappointed. cheers! aj

Ok, I sent Kris a note this morning asking her to send you the first chapter, Mike. Once you read it, I think you'll agree that it's made for us. cheers! aj

Pigs, wearing lipstick or not, tend to run in herds. cheers! aj

And yet, though one cannot hold a political candidate responsible entirely for what happens in his/her home church, it is indicative of his/her beliefs. Obama has clearly repudiated the statements made by his former minister, but I haven't seen anything from Palin saying that she does not support her church's efforts to convert homosexuals through prayer. Much can be seen by the nature of the people that one chooses to surround oneself with. Though frankly, both Obama and Palin choose to surround themselves with politicians, so what does that say about their characters, eh? Nothing good, I can assure you. cheers! aj Another thought: doesn't asking a hypothetical question about banning books in a public meeting strike you as a little disengenuous? She wouldn't be asking the question if she wasn't thinking in that line. I would never ask a question about banning books because it would never occur to me to want to.

Done and done. I wanted to snap this one up before she heard of gayauthors, so I had her send a letter and a sample to TR, but he's been out of commission for awhile and not been able to respond (see, I was trying to follow the rules...for a change), so I thought I'd bring it to your attention. She has come over and scoped out the site and she likes it, so she's just waiting for word from us before going ahead and sending the story for posting. cheers! aj

So that's where the phrase 'crazy as a bedbug' comes from? I can deal with that... cheers! aj

Cholmondeley...I have a new name for my next World of Warcrack character! thanks, guys! Loved the story. I have a similar memory of something that happened with a friend in the top of a tree that we'd climbed in my front yard... sadly, it ended with me being too timid to pursue it and he too discreet to push beyond words. cheers! aj

My first flash fiction! This happened about two weeks ago...still a little sore, but the ribs are healing. The Accident Need to get to work on time... there's a lot of potholes on this alley, but if I ride in the middle of the lanes, there are a few less. Hard to see 'em in the dark and the rain, but I know this alleyway. Keep up my rpm speed and I'll be to work in plenty of time. High gear, and pushing the pedals feels good. Something looming up straight ahead in the darkness, oh shit! I swerve, but the impact is sudden and devastating. I'm falling and something hits me very hard in the side, on my left. I see a bright flash of white and then I'm lying on the slick, wet blacktop and I can't breathe. My legs are moving all on their own, an attempt to crawl, and my fingers are scrabbling for purchase on the hard roadway. I feel the nail of my little finger on my right hand break. I hear a voice sobbing "Oh, uh, oh," and realize it's my voice. I try to breathe, and pain sears through my chest, sharp and burning, like I'm being stabbed. I take control of my legs, and push myself up to hands and knees, my helmeted head hanging and my breath coming in short, gasping pants. I push myself to my feet, stand swaying for a moment in the dark and the rain. My glasses have fallen off, and everything is a blur, but a dim glint of light on glass shows me where they are. When I bend to pick them up, my back shrieks in protest and I gasp out "Oh, fuck!" But I have them and I slide them on, essential armor. What happened? The cyclone fence around the back of the nearby building seems undisturbed by the impact, but my bicycle lies in the middle of the roadway, the front tire crumpled and bent - no longer fast and graceful, but a danger to traffic. I won't be able to push it home. I bend to lift it to the side of the road, but pain stabs through my back again, so I nudge it with my legs, pushing it over to the short wall at the side of the park. I rifle through my pockets, can't find my keys... leave them. I have to go home. I can't catch my breath, and my steps are short and halting. The walk seems to take forever, but finally I climb the stairs and grasp the polished brass knocker that I had engraved with the address those years ago. I clank it against the plate. A moment later the door opens. "Oh my god, what happened to you?" "I crashed on my bike."

This discussion of hearing voices is interesting. I think there's two kinds (at least): the inner tapes that we all hear, that act as judge and jury for us, and then the 'other voices' that only a few hear. Not every night, but many, when I'm just at that still point between sleep and waking, I hear a party: lots of voices, some laughing, some talking loud and some softly, and all pretty indistinguishable. It doesn't seem to mean much of anything, just kind of odd. If I raise my head off the pillow, it all shuts off, and I lay back down it starts again until I fall asleep. Kind of peculiar. cheers! aj

An astonishingly lovely piece...I wish I had his 'lack of talent.' Beautiful! cheers! aj

Saw this and thought it might be of interest. Gov. Sarah Palin's church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through prayer. By The Associated Press ANCHORAGE ? Gov. Sarah Palin's church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through prayer. "You'll be encouraged by the power of God's love and his desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality," according to the insert in the bulletin of Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed for about six years. Palin's conservative Christian views have energized that part of the GOP electorate, which was lukewarm to John McCain's candidacy before he named her as his vice-presidential choice. She is anti-abortion, opposing exceptions for rape and incest, and opposes gay marriage and spousal rights for gay couples. Focus on the Family, a Christian fundamentalist organization, is conducting the "Love Won Out" Conference in Anchorage, which is about 30 miles from Wasilla. Palin has not publicly expressed a view on the "pray away the gay" movement. Larry Kroon, senior pastor at Palin's church, had no comment. Gay activists in Alaska said Palin has not worked actively against their interests, but early in her administration she supported a bill to overrule a court decision to block state benefits for gay partners of public employees. At the time, less than one-half of 1 percent of state employees had applied for the benefits, which were ordered by a 2005 ruling by the Alaska Supreme Court. Palin reversed her position and vetoed the bill after the state attorney general said it was unconstitutional. But her reluctant support didn't win fans among Alaska's gay population, said Scott Turner, a gay activist in Anchorage. "Less than 1 percent of state employees would even apply for benefits, so why make a big deal out of such a small number?" he said. So, here we go again. cheers! aj

Whoohoo! Someone else who shares my addiction! I'm currently working my pallie through the battlegrounds in a quest for better gear, 'cause I don't play on the weekends so I can't run instances or raid with the rest of my guild. Looking forward to WoLK and working like heck to get geared for it. Ok, back to the original topic! cheers! aj

As a medical professional, I'm astonished that this even needed to be ruled on by the Supreme Court or any other court. Regardless of one's religious beliefs, the medical profession carries its own set of obligations, and the choice to enter the field of medicine trumps personal beliefs. "Do no harm" applies here, and kudos to the CA courts for enforcing one of the elemental, foundationary ethical standards of our industry. cheers! aj

Hmm...I guess I have to disagree about missing the climactic ending. I actually thought it ended the way most of these kinds of things end, in real life - 'not with a bang, but a whimper.' Maybe I'm just revealing something about my own character, though. cheers! aj

Mike, have you had a chance to see Kris Olson's story, "A fairytale...sorta"? It's an excellent story, and I think she has sent a notice of interest in posting with us to TR. Here's the link if you'd like to take a look. I think it's a winner. http://library.gaycafe.com/nifty/gay/sf-fa...iry-tale-sorta/ cheers! aj

Ah. That being the case, a couple words added will convince the reader of the narrator's sympathetic view and form the opinion of the narrator that you want. cheers! aj

Never forgotten, 'nutz. I've taken a look at the chapters you sent me already, and started to work on some solutions for what I'm looking at. cheers! aj

The only ambiguity I found in this little gem was, what made him feel like the luckiest man alive? Was it the fact that he didn't suffer the same injuries that his brother had, or was it the fact that his brother was still alive and able to request help as he did? Stepping entirely away from that autobiographical nature of this story, I'm viewing it entirely as a piece of literature, and that means I can allow my opinion of the narrator to be based on the content of the story. If it is the former, than I will form one opinion of the narrator...if the latter, then I will hold an entirely different one. Perhaps that's the point of the story, though: the shift of opinion that can happen with only a couple words added or deleted. cheers! aj

Yes, like little maiden aunties we are, all sitting and holding our...er...teacups! Yes, our teacups, in a grip that is amazing like how we hold...well, you get the picture. Love the NZ-isms. keep 'em! Too much sex? Is there anything else, really? a momentary pause to explore some other issue - bullying in school - and then right back at it. Nothing wrong with that, of course...except in the disingenuousness of the question. The story, thus far, is about sex between two brothers. However, I have a feeling that it will not be limited to that topic fairly soon, and the characters are sturdy enough to manage a transition to a story going just about anywhere you want it to go. cheers! aj

Update: Chapter 22 is currently finished and 'in the can,' as is chapter 23. Jamie has the first edit of chapter 24, and is looking it over while on a teaching-out-of-town trip. I expect that I will hear from him fairly soon about it. Overall, the plan is to get several chapters ahead...about a six-month cushion...before we start posting again. At two chapters a month, that means we need a minimum of 12 chapters prepped and ready before we even consider going ahead with posting. Jamie continues to write and I continue to edit, so this will happen before too terribly much longer, but we'll have better information on a timeline once we get a little further into the process. Thanks to all of you for your continued interest in the tale...we hope we can provide some more good reading soon. cheers! aj

Another example of my unintentional and still prevalent cultural filtering. As much as I want to be able to stand outside my culture and try to see it from the outside, I'm still very indoctrinated in its precepts - one of which is the bias that you responded to. *sigh* I still have a very long way to go. cheers! aj

Part of what puts us (americans) at odds with a lot of other cultures around the world is a difference in priority in assigning and protecting rights. We, as a culture, value most highly the rights of the individual. We weigh them equally with the needs of the society, under the theory that a strong society starts on the individual level. Outside of Europe, most of the rest of the world finds this a very strange concept. From Africa to the Middle East to Asia, the harmony of the society as a whole is far more important than the rights of the individual. Every crime and punishment and all the privileges extended to the society are based on creating and maintaining harmony and peace within the society. If a few noisy, obnoxious troublemakers who insist on defying the rules that create peace and harmony get it in the neck, so be it. In terms of social utility, those people don't matter anyway. No one has the right to place their own needs above the needs of the group. The pitfall of this kind of thinking, of course, is that it is much easier to define individual rights than it is to define societal needs, and that can lead to abuses. We, as americans, are so indoctrinated in the primacy of the individual that it is hard for us to imagine a society run any other way. That basic difference is what I have to keep in mind when I look at ethics across cultural lines, I guess. cheers! aj

Thanks for your answers, guys. It helps to hear from others about this. I recognize that there won't likely be a black and white answer to this question...there rarely is when this kind of thing is discussed. It's good to know that I'm not the only one who thinks about and struggles with this question. cheers! aj