recommendations

[sumbloke]

I have some issues with some of Mark's books, but he's got a lot of heart, as do his characters, and most of his stories are quite affecting. A few years ago, I contributed a little bit to his novel Keeper of Secrets, and got the inspiration for a gay Civil War-era story, after thinking about the 1800s ghosts in his story. Mark wasn't interested in pursuing that plot-line, but he encouraged me to try it myself, and that's what led to Pieces of Destiny.

BTW, with luck, we'll have another chapter done right after the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, when I get some much-needed time off from my day job.

You know, somehow I'd forgotten about Pieces of Destiny! I'm reading it so get the new chapter out soon!

As to Mark Roeder, I do like his books a lot - my parents gave me The Soccer Field is Empty and I went off and found the rest for myself - I liked them enough to actually order print versions. I gave them all to my little brother too and in his rather blunt way he summed up my reservations. He said something like "Jesus, how many gay teens gotta die before we get a happy ending?" but he liked them too :). They are also a bit didactic - sometimes it's on the edge of a manual of good behaviour for queer teens but then, it's nowhere near as bad as Alex Sanchez!

It's quite fun watching Nono read books that I read a couple of years back. He's much tougher to please than me :)