Josh Awakening

[Altimexis]

I haven't had the time to go through Cole's story with a magnifying glass, and I suppose I could always use MS Word's Compare Documents feature if I were really anal retentive (which I'm certainly not I can assure you - we birds have a urogenital sinus, I'll have you know) but I couldn't help but notice that JE has a different ending in the version Cole's posted here than it has in the version he posted on Nifty. The ending posted here gives the story a whole different feel at the end of the day. Since I'm tying up loose ends and preparing to move and start a new job, rereading JE is not at the top of my priority list right now, but I'm curious about what other people think about the new ending. I'm not going to discuss it just yet, since that would involve posting a major spoiler - I'll come back here in a week or more and see if anyone has posted anything, and then we'll have some discussion.

[Tanuki Racoon]

It'll be at least a week before I can get to it myself so no news yet.

[Steven Keiths]

He did, did he--change/alter/revise his story? Well, being a C. Parker-ophile, I guess I'll have to put that on my list when I get back from Thailand. I too read the story at Nifty. I thought that "New" flashy deely-bobber just meant that it was a new posting here at AD. That was sneaky. I may have to file a very strongly worded informal complaint. I think the least he could have done is like Tide or Oxydol and word it thusly, "New and Improved", or something along those lines.

[colinian]

Uhh... guys, the title of Cole's story is and always has been Josh, Evolving.

J,E is over two years old. Cole decided to revise it when he moved it to AD. It's HIS story with which he can do whatever he wants. I've done the same thing with a couple of my stories that were originally posted on Nifty (and were written when I was 14 and 15) when I posted them on The Hub because I thought they needed revision. Cole told me he thought J,E needed revision.

I read J,E I've read all 28 chapters of the revised version here on AD, and I like it. Read it; I think you'll like it too. If you prefer the version on Nifty, that's fine. But, please, don't rag on Cole for revising J,E; it's his story.

Colin

[Tanuki Racoon]

Colin, sir. I believe you misconstrued the previous poster's intent. I don't think he was ragging on our local antiquarian Cole but just a little tongue in cheek commentary that it was changed. I saw no slight in that post.

[Steven Keiths]

It was meant very tongue in cheek. I am a great fan of Cole's. I'd read the phone book if he revised it, Yellow Pages included!

I guess my sense of humor doesn't come across well.

No offense was meant.

[Kethatril]

Another wonderful story by Cole, I have to say even though I have read it before, I enjoyed just as much the second time.

[DesDownunder]

It was meant very tongue in cheek. I am a great fan of Cole's. I'd read the phone book if he revised it, Yellow Pages included!

I guess my sense of humor doesn't come across well.

No offense was meant.

Steven, I got the sense of humour, if it is any consolation, but then I am upside down and think everything is funny. Well almost everything; except those things which aren't funny...I better stop before I put my hand in it.

And what's that? Cole has revised the the phone book? I must go get a copy and start reading it immediately. ( I would have said I will start reading it straight away, but knowing Cole he has probably concentrated on the not-so-straight names in the phone book.)

[Altimexis]

I can't believe how much time has passed since I started this thread, but I finally got around to rereading JE in its entirety. The revisions Cole made are fairly minor for the most part, but there are some that are fairly significant and one that changes the story in a big way. One of the more significant changes is the way that Cole handles Eric's coming out to Josh and Bryan, handling it with much more sensitivity, which is nice. The ending of the story is the most apparent change, and it alters the story in a big way. In the original version of JE, after building a relationship between two boys and giving all appearances that they were gay, Cole backed off in the end and made it appear that they were just very close friends who liked each other a lot and were experimenting. In the revised version, Josh still organizes a triple date, but rather than having the story end at that point, he continues the story with them actually going on the date. He brings out the sense of awkwardness of the boys going on the date with the girls and wondering what to do during the movie, and whether to kiss at the door. Then at the end, they admit that there were no fireworks when they kissed the girls at the end of the date - nothing like they felt when they kissed each other. This is a very different way to end the story, to say the least! It gives the reader the distinct impression that Josh and Bryan may well be gay after all, and may ultimately become more than best friends. I'm just curious as to why Cole decided to make such a significant change. It's an excellent story, either way, with a number of great subplots, but how one feels about a story is often dictated by the ending, and this is a different ending.