The Girl for Me, by Failte200

[Merkin]

I've waited to point out a story that has just finished posting over on IOMFAtS, because I feared at every chapter that it would go off the rails to crash and burn. I should have had more faith in the brilliant writing by Failte200, an author unknown to me but who has just completed The Girl for Me http://iomfats.org/storyshelf/hosted/failte200/.

I invite you to read this wonderfully entertaining and thoughtful examination of what it means to confront the implications and contradictions of sexual awakening, when that sexuality ranges from straight to cross-dressing to gay to bisexual to transgender longing and back again. This carefully-managed story portrays the crises and mysteries inherent to both halves of a youthful relationship where the sexual outcome is in question throughout, while at the same time both boys struggle with all of the other coming-of-age issues common to our human condition.

Discovering and determining where one is located sexually is a theme that many of our writers shy away from, opting instead for the familiar dichotomy of straight and gay. The world and its populations, as we well know, is much more complicated than simple either-or labeling can accommodate, and this compelling story is a refreshing insight into its complexity.

James Merkin

[Nick Deverill]

In rather fewer words - read it, you'll enjoy it.

I did!

[Lugnutz]

Yes. I'm halfway thru it. Good story.

[Lugnutz]

Finished it. Yes, it's a good story. Read it, you won't be disappointed.

[J.J.Janicki]

My first reason for checking out A Girl For Me was just that I know a TG. Never met her/him in person, and odds are, I never will, but still, I'd say by now we have a relationship and at FIRST, I was only thinking that this could be a story she'd really enjoy. (By now, I have no problem thinking of her the way she'd prefer.)

But anyway, five chapters in, and I'M blown away. Failte200 is one hell of a good writer, it's that simple.

So after googling him, I came across this: http://queerschool.com/?tag=/Failte200.

`Course, then there was the question of whether or not the two links still worked, so I quickly checked that out as well, and... um...

Well, okay, pasted in just below are the first two paragraphs of Alex and Bobby:

Alex was afraid, and knew he had every right to be, but he also knew that this wasn't something he was going to be able to help. So he was understandably fretful as he waited to drive Bobby home from school.

Two weeks ago, he'd finally been able to admit, at least to himself, that he liked guys. That he was gay. He'd actually said the word to himself. Gay. It was surprisingly hard to do. He'd known, in a way,that he was gay for four years now – since he was fourteen. Knowing wasn't really that big a deal. It was a secret, certainly, not the kind of thing you let anyone know about. Not here in West Texas, not here in the Permian Basin, not here in the tiny, dusty town of Wink. Knowing was easy. Using the word was hard.

Shit. It looks like I might be hooked again.

[Jeff Ellis]

I'm with J.J. on this one... Alex and Bobby is worth the trip... the guy has talent above and beyond.

If only for my own convenience, here is a link direct to A&B

http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2414254/1/Alex_and_Bobby

[Merkin]

Alex and Bobby is WONDERFUL. Thanks, J.J., and you too, Jeff, for finding and promoting this one.

Just did a little more searching, and ALL of his stories (nine of them!) can be accessed at the bottom of his bio page: http://www.fictionpress.com/u/513599/failte200

[DesDownunder]

I've just finished reading The Girl For Me ​and I must say it is one of the best stories I have read. It's beautifully written and crafted with rational believable situations and wondrous characters. In many ways a milestone in Gay romantic fiction.