Through Different Eyes by Drake Hunter

[Camy]

I love science fiction. Especially the very English writing of John Wyndham. You'd probably know him for titles like 'The Day of the Triffids', 'The Chrysalids' and 'The Trouble with Lichen'. He died in 1961. Very sad.

Anyway, I'd just discovered that some of Wyndham's work was available on-line, and had finished reading a short story called 'Consider her ways', when lo and behold I stumbled upon a story by Drake Hunter called 'Through Different Eyes'. Go and read it, it's brilliant!

[clay49]

Anything you can find by Drake Hunter is top quality. To bad his website is down now.

[The Pecman]

Yeah, I praised Through Different Eyes some months back and tried to get it added to the "Best of Nifty" site, without success. It's a terrific novella, though I have a logistical problem with some minor story elements (chiefly, the kid's lack of awareness of his sexuality).

But it was very well-written. I told the author in an email it was good enough that it could've easily been a Twilight Zone episode, assuming one could air a TV show about a young gay teenager. Really well-done.

[Abraxas]

Drake Hunter is another extremely talented writer who, for whatever reason, has completely withdrawn from the web. 'Finding His own,' 'A Place to Live,' and 'A Royal Thief' were also imaginative, excellent stories, the first two of which tied in with Dewey's 'For the Love of Pete' series. Its a shame that Drake has chosen to, or was driven to, hide the light of his talent from the world.

Come back Drake, we miss you.

Abraxas

[Trab]

Maybe we should be addressing the reasons for these departures by excellent authors?

[jack scribe]

Maybe we should be addressing the reasons for these departures by excellent authors?

This is a great topic. However, usually the author is so withdrawn that emails are usually not returned. David Buffet, for example. I loved Alpha Male and wondered after reading it a second time why the writing stopped.

I know one excellent author, Evan Bradley, who is so busy with his real job that writing has taken a back seat. Same situation with the superb writer, John Yager. Another, who I will not name, has serious issues with his wife concerning the man's bi-sexuality.

Others, I think, give up when the feedback dwindles. Readers can be a fickle lot.

Jack

[The Pecman]

Others, I think, give up when the feedback dwindles. Readers can be a fickle lot.

I can think of a few others:

1) health problems. A good friend of mine (and contributor to AD) had some severe medical issues last year, and is basically living on disability at the moment. It's doubly tragic, because he's a good guy and is only in his early 50s.

2) work-related problems. Few of us are independently wealthy to the point where we don't have to work for a living. I had to bail on my novel over the last few weeks, simply because I was working 70 hours a week and going crazy. I'm just now getting back to it, but it'll take awhile to get back up to speed.

3) hostility from readers. Apparently this is what drove Drake Hunter off the net. For the record, he still has yet to respond to my (very kind) email from a few weeks/months ago, asking him to consider allowing AD to post his stories.

[DesDownunder]

Jack Scribe wrote:

I loved Alpha Male and wondered after reading it a second time why the writing stopped.

Alpha Male was the story that first alerted me to gay fiction being something more than just porn.

I had only discovered Nifty a few weeks before and was about to give it up as a curiosity in my life when Alpha started.

I was hooked. I wrote the author a note of appreciation; also a first for me at that time.

There is no doubt in my mind that most authors appreciate some communication from their readers, even if it is a simple message of acknowledgement that they have read the author's story.

[dude]

When I saw the discussion of this story in the Roamin' Reader... I was taken aback. We have featured the story here at AD for the past couple of years.

Somehow, Drake's author page lost it's link from our home page. I have recitified that.

However the only story we posted was Through Different Eyes... which I enjoyed immensely, and which deserves to be on Best of Nifty... but I believe I asked you for the link to it's Nifty location for that purpose, dear Pecman, but received no response from you. The link we have is courtesy our friends at The Mail Crew.

For the record I made a complete copy of the Drake Tales website when it looked like it was being neglected and about to fade to black... just for safety's sake. I have it on a CD but failing to contact Drake to get permission.. I can't make it available at AwesomeDude which I am willing to do.

While I'm at it.. I want to point you all to Nick Archer's Archerland site which has just been revived after several years. Welcome back Nick!

http://archerland.disbelieve.org

[Trab]

Thanks for that info about Archerland. It was one of the first sites where I started reading gay fiction, and I missed it being updated. Even the newsletters dried up and I finally stopped looking.

[The Pecman]

However the only story we posted was Through Different Eyes... which I enjoyed immensely, and which deserves to be on Best of Nifty... but I believe I asked you for the link to it's Nifty location for that purpose, dear Pecman, but received no response from you.

As far as I know, it's not on Nifty -- or if it was, I can't find it anymore, at least not under "Science Fiction/Fantasy." They only have three or four SF stories with the word "Through" in it, and this one doesn't come up in a search.

If this is the case, then I would still put the story on the Best of Nifty list and just link it to "Stories on Other Sites," which I think is warranted.

[Graeme]

My understand is that Through Different Eyes is a story that Drake wrote especially for The Mail Crew. It was, I think, the only story of his that he allowed to be hosted outside of his DrakeTales site.

[The Mail Crew]

My understand is that Through Different Eyes is a story that Drake wrote especially for The Mail Crew. It was, I think, the only story of his that he allowed to be hosted outside of his DrakeTales site.

Yes, Drake did write "Through Different Eyes" for our site, and he asked us not to send the files to anyone else. He didn't post the story at DrakeTales. He sent us that story in November 2003. In December 2003 he allowed us a holiday-season exclusive on "A Yule Tale" before he posted it at DrakeTales. "A Yule Tale" is still available on our site, on the Stories page. It has received many, many compliments. It's apparently considered to be an outstanding example of the writer's craft.

We join many others in wishing Drake well, and we hope to hear from him again. He was a mentor to us during the early days of our website in 2003, but we haven't heard directly from him since 2005.

Borrowing Drake's usual sign-off phrase:

Be well, my brothers,

Aaron, for The Mail Crew

[jack scribe]

However the only story we posted was Through Different Eyes... which I enjoyed immensely, and which deserves to be on Best of Nifty... but I believe I asked you for the link to it's Nifty location for that purpose, dear Pecman, but received no response from you. The link we have is courtesy our friends at The Mail Crew.

I used a cross-reference to find the story on Nifty and came up empty-handed. BTW, this is an excellent link to use:

http://www.gaycafe.com/nifty.php.

Jack

[Rutabaga]

This story is still a good one. Thought I would bump the thread here in case anyone hasn't come across it before.

http://www.themailcrew.com/tdeintro.html

R

[Lugnutz]

I have most of his collection, never know when it's needed.

[colinian]

This is an amazing story. I read it when I was a teen and loved the idea he developed in a very believable way. It's definitely worth a reread. I wish it was on Codey's World – it's perfect for the audience there.

Colin

[dude]

Colin...

If I remember correctly... Codey's World has rights to it, as well. AwesomeDude rights were only if we used the Mail Crew link but I believe Tim said that CW has rights to it, as well.

Mike

[colinian]

Colin...

If I remember correctly... Codey's World has rights to it, as well. AwesomeDude rights were only if we used the Mail Crew link but I believe Tim said that CW has rights to it, as well.

Mike

Mike,

I searched the archive at CW and "Through Different Eyes" isn't there. The backup of the former CW forum has this post lamenting the demise of the Draketales website:

Just thought folks would like to know that Drake Hunter's site, Draketales, has died. The management of DewerWriter is attempting to see what can be done about either bringing the site back up, or hosting Drake\'s stories on DeweyWriter. Come on back Drake, we miss you....

I'm concerned about the continuation of the Mail Crew website. It's moribund at present. Mike, do you have any contact info for any of the Mail Crew staff? I'd be glad to put their stories up on CW if they agree and have the rights to do so.

Colin

[ChrisR]

I'm glad you guys bumped this one up again. Just finished the story and it is one of the finest sci-fi tales I've read. Hopefully the author is still writing, perhaps under a new pen name. Stories of this quality are rarities to be treasured by many.

[Rutabaga]

Maybe Graeme still has some contact with the Mail Crew lot.

R

[Lugnutz]

I hung out with Drake a couple times before he moved east. We have a couple mutual friends. He is a good hacker. If he wants to remain hidden, he remains hidden.

[Graeme]

Maybe Graeme still has some contact with the Mail Crew lot.

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.

[colinian]

The website is still there, but the most recent post was on December 25, 2010. If any of the Crew are reading this, let us know how you're doing by posting to this forum.

Colin

[Lugnutz]

Was just there yesterday.