vwl Posted November 17, 2011 Report Share Posted November 17, 2011 Marcus McNally's Love on the Rocks, now at Chapter 29 continues to be a fine read. When done, I would recommend it for BoNN. Link to comment
dude Posted January 25, 2012 Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 Looks like little more than wank material to me. I've bailed. Link to comment
vwl Posted January 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 I still find Love on the Rocks one of the better stories. Sure, the protagonist singer is probably too sweet a person. But the family story, the kindness to the boy with cancer and the relationships among the people are good. For a while, the author seemed to think that every chapter needed an explicit-sex scene. I wrote him and said that I found such to be distracting from the story, that the sex should be more subtle, and I think he responded. Thus, the story still holds for me. Link to comment
dude Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 I still find Love on the Rocks one of the better stories. Sure, the protagonist singer is probably too sweet a person. But the family story, the kindness to the boy with cancer and the relationships among the people are good. For a while, the author seemed to think that every chapter needed an explicit-sex scene. I wrote him and said that I found such to be distracting from the story, that the sex should be more subtle, and I think he responded. Thus, the story still holds for me. OK... I've unbailed. I had gone back to the story after bailing once before... they say the 'third time is a charm.' Link to comment
dude Posted January 29, 2012 Report Share Posted January 29, 2012 OK... glad I unbailed... I've caught up with the story now and it is truly good... now that the multiple sex interludes have been reduced to one or less per chapter. I would guess if the author continues limiting the sex to where it fits into the story instead of making it the story that it will turn out to be an even better story. The plot and the characters are now front and center and are excellent! Link to comment
Cole Parker Posted January 29, 2012 Report Share Posted January 29, 2012 I stopped reading it early on, but with your guys' testimony, perhaps I'll give it another chance. Everybody...well, most everybody, deserves a chance at redemption. C Link to comment
Bangalore Posted March 10, 2012 Report Share Posted March 10, 2012 I’m surprised to read these comments about ‘Love On The Rocks’. It is far and away the best story I’ve read on Nifty. It’s got it all – character development, plot, humour, hot sex. The frequent sex scenes early on just reflect the early stages of this kind of relationship. It’s up to about 30 chapters now and the sex is no longer centre stage – again, fairly real life. It's beautifully and skillfully written - you people are too critical! Link to comment
Cole Parker Posted March 10, 2012 Report Share Posted March 10, 2012 Funny, I thought the comments most recently were quite complimentary. C Link to comment
Bangalore Posted March 10, 2012 Report Share Posted March 10, 2012 I was referring to the two threads about this story, not just the comments above. I didn't realise they weren't linked. The earlier comments about 'Love On The Rocks' were really quite harsh. Link to comment
dude Posted March 11, 2012 Report Share Posted March 11, 2012 Hi Bangalore, Welcome to AwesomeDude. There has been quite an evolution of this story... despite some excellent writing early on each chapter seemed to present less plot than a series of sexual exploits... with little variation of the couple involved. Later, once the writer came to the realization that readers didn't need one or two explicit sex scenes per chapter to hold their interest and that the plot and characters were actually good, the story actually began to evolve. The story is quite long and it wasn't til the later chapters that the author seemed to realize he was a good writer and started focusing on developing the characters and the plot... it really became quite a nice story. I for one, although first viewing the early chapters as 'wank material' have changed my opinion and now check for new chapters at least once a week. And if readers can get by those early sex-packed chapters in the first couple dozen chapters it is a good read... particularly when it focuses on the chemistry between the three brothers as well as the kindness, compassion and generosity shown by the main characters. At the time the suggestion that the story was made that it might be a good story to list on Best of Nifty, I was indeed the person who was picking the stories for that list. Alas, I have recused myself from those duties now and whoever takes over the list will have to make that call when the story is finished. By custom, a story isn't added to the list until it is complete. As far as another thread on this story, it must have been elsewhere.... Link to comment
Bangalore Posted March 11, 2012 Report Share Posted March 11, 2012 Hi Dude, I’m very new to AwesomeDude and I’m still feeling my way around. There is another longer thread about Love On The Rocks elsewhere on this site and I mistakenly thought they were linked. I initially agreed with your observation about the frequent sex scenes, but I thought more about it after I emailed the author early on in the story. I seldom contact writers but I had become so caught up in the story that I just had to write and tell him that I was absorbed in his characters. In that mail, I mentioned that I had found the storyline so engrossing that I was tending to skip over the sex scenes. I wasn’t really expecting a reply, but I received a very thoughtful response within a day, saying a lot of readers had been saying the same thing. I’m paraphrasing, but he said that he was new to writing and he had assumed that people who visited Nifty were looking for wank fodder (my words, not his). It seemed to come as a surprise to him that people were engaged in the actual story. He accepted that he had underestimated the Nifty audience, but in defence of the earlier sex scenes, he did make a couple of valid points. He felt that because the early chapters covered only a few months in the lives of the main characters, it was not unreasonable to believe that two guys who are clearly hot for each other would be “at it” all the time in the early stages of their relationship. As the story progressed, they became more of a ‘couple’ and less like rutting bulls … which is the way it tends to go in ‘real life’. Also, that because his chapters are very long, he hadn’t thought the sex scenes were too frequent, but he said he is glad to take on board the opinions of the people who take the time to read his work. I was drawn to this story for several reasons. It is very well written, the syntax and punctuation is usually spot on and the ‘plot’ is well planned. I think it’s clever the way he has two or three threads running at the same time. I’m an Australian and I was pleased to read a story set in this country, using a lot of vernacular. There aren’t very many stories set ‘down under’. There’s a lot of Aussie humour in his writing (and it makes me wonder whether he gets mail from people asking what a ‘lamington’ is, or what ‘tracky daks’ are!) His characters are quintessentially Australian and I enjoy the way they use humour to cope with pretty much everything that’s thrown at them. I’ve laughed out loud many times reading this story, and on several occasions have quite literally blubbered my way through a chapter. I see that as a skill on the writer’s part. I didn’t realise there was such a thing as ‘The Best Of Nifty’ but I would wholeheartedly support any move to have ‘Love On The Rocks’ included (along with the only other Nifty story I believe comes close – Gabriel Murphy’s ’52 Panhead’). Meantime, I’m waiting anxiously for the next chapter of ‘LOTR’. He’s by no means the quickest poster … Link to comment
Bruin Fisher Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 I thought LOTR stood for 'Lord of the Rings' - and for the life of me I couldn't remember as many sex scenes as one per chapter! Link to comment
Merkin Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 I think you must have the expurgated edition, Bruin. Link to comment
Camy Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 I thought LOTR stood for 'Lord of the Rings' - and for the life of me I couldn't remember as many sex scenes as one per chapter! In LOTR Tolkien swopped the sex scenes for endless Dwarven poetry and singing. It was The Hobbit that had all the nooky. Link to comment
Lugnutz Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 A Hobbit and a Elf get busy. Think of the offspring............... Link to comment
vwl Posted March 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 The latest chapter, 34, was just posted at Nifty under adult friends. Still engrossing. Link to comment
Bangalore Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 One of the best chapters yet ... Link to comment
dude Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 One of the best chapters yet ... I agree... but one of the hardest to bear. Link to comment
Bangalore Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 I see there's a new chapter online this week. Haven't read it yet but looking forward to it :) Link to comment
dude Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 Thanks, Bangalore... Chapter 35 is indeed posted... two in a month... a new record. Now off to read it! Link to comment
Bangalore Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 I swear this story just gets better and better. The twists and turns are amazingly clever. Link to comment
dude Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 And the author has learned how to write cliffhanger chapters, too! Link to comment
Bangalore Posted April 6, 2012 Report Share Posted April 6, 2012 The cliff hangers are great but all the more frustrating because of the wait between chapters. I see 'Love On The Rocks' has now been included in the Best Of Nifty list. Didn't somebody say that only happens when the story is finished? Link to comment
dude Posted April 6, 2012 Report Share Posted April 6, 2012 Yep... I did. But then I had a chat the other night with David, the Nifty Archivist - who now updates the list and who now makes the rules and told him that Love on Rocks is definitely worthy of the list I had hosted and helped to maintain. He decided to add really good stories to the list even though they weren't finished yet and would probably annotate them as such, removing the annotation after the story was finished. Glad you found it there. I hadn't seen it there yet. Link to comment
Bangalore Posted April 7, 2012 Report Share Posted April 7, 2012 'Love On The Rocks' definitely belongs in that list. I don't know whether readers can make recommendations for Best Of Nifty. If they can I would befinitely recommend '52 Panhead' by Gabriel Murphy. It's not quite as clever as 'Love On The Rocks' but it's still an awesome read. Link to comment
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