General Audience (pg)

Alone for the holidays

This year for Christmas, my kids are going with the ex to her parents' place in Vail. They left this morning. My parents and my sister can't afford to fly here this year, and I can't afford to even take the time off, let alone travel. I don't have any close relatives within a thousand miles. I don't even have any pets at the moment, a highly unusual circumstance for me. So, for the first time in my entire life, I will be spending Christmas completely alone, at least in the sense of not having any family around.

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The Bittersweet Christmas



The Bittersweet Christmas


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Carmine climbed out of his 4Runner and exhaled slowly. Another Christmas Eve without Tony and Margo. He looked around at the garage. Camping equipment had been shoved rudely into a cubby underneath the steps leading to the kitchen, gathering dust. He remembered that last trip to the lake before Margo got sick...

Once the Hero Continued!

Hey Everyone! Just a quick note to let everyone know that Part 2 of Once the Hero is up at StarDust. Like I said last week, the newest stuff will hit StarDust first and then a week later make its way to BCTS. To reassure everyone, the whole thing is finished so this will not be another incomplete work. As long as it is I would've had to split it up in parts anyways. This way gives me the added advantage of being able to take advantage of you sharp eyed readers out there spotting errors and letting me do some bandaging and damage control.

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Once the Hero

Thirty-four years ago Alan Glenn was the teenage superhero known as Vroom and a member of the government sponsored team, The Rocketeers. A tragic experiment gone wrong left him as the only survivor as well as without his once formidable powers. Now the government wants him to train another group of children to go into harm's way. Made an offer he couldn't refuse, perhaps they should have remembered he'd been once a hero!

Once the Hero
by
Grover

Darkness

I'm not sure, but I'm thinking of writing a dark story. I don't mean a story where 'evil reins supreme'. That's just the opposite side of the mirror as I see it, and not satisfactory to me. Its all to easy to ignore your characters dignity and abuse them, they can't protest can they?

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Apologies

Okay.. I think there might have been some confusion for a few people on A Splintered Life.

I finished this story in 2003-4 as a potential thesis for my Masters. I was kind of blown off. At the time I finished the story it was done and good and I was proud of it. The ideas of the story were fun and I thought it was a creative way to tell the story. Part of the artistic conceit of the story is that time is splintered around Deirdre and as the story continues things settle down time wise so the order of the chapters is linear.

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Andy Warhol

I was digging around in the archives this afternoon and stumbled upon a discussion of Andy Warhol by SLM. That caused me to think about another artist I have been searching for. I don't know if anyone will admit to it but I was reading "Playboy" in the late 60's and early 70's and distinctly remember an artist from that publication that I really loved, so much so that I think that the character represented there most closely reveals my own personality, or what I would like to present to the public. I know, fantasy, fantasy.

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A Merry Christmas wish to all.

I want to send to each and everyone of our fabulous authors and to all the readers, such as I, a wish for everyone to have a marvelous and very Merry Christmas, followed by a Happy New Year. For all of those who may not celebrate Christmas, but do have their own holiday(s) to celebrate during this time of the year, May YOU also realize your dreams in soon to be New Year.
A very big Hug to each and everyone of you. Janice Lynn Miller

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Skin Horse

Google Chrome Beta has a bug in it, apparently, that considers the javascript that syndicates the Skin Horse comic from WebComicsNation to be malware. This produces a warning when you visit the blogs here.

Unfortunately, the warning also goes out to Google's automated reporting system which has put WebComicsNation on several blacklists. Depending on how you have your settings set in other browsersi, you may not be seeing Skin Horse when you visit the blogs here.

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A gem of a story.

This a story running to two book equivalents posted in 2003/4 on Crystal's storysite, which is one I feel deserves more attention and because Sarah Bayen doesn't post any more - she seems to have left the scene altogether - you might not come across it unless you know it's there. It could do with a proper edit but it's still a very readable tale of adolescence and self discovery. I attach a link.

Part 1 The Contest Beginings

Part 2 Contest and Consequence.

Sarah Bayen at Crystal's.

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Little Pink Pills, Part 26

Little Pink Pills

Part Twenty-Six, by Michelle Wilder

Look around / leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter.

Hang on to your hopes / my friend
That's an easy thing to say

but if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend that you can build them again.

(Hazy Shade of Winter, by Paul Simon)

I'm back, mostly

Hi all. I know I've been absent for some time here. Health issues, you know. I won't go into those here, just tell you all that I've got the next chapter of Maiden up and do profusely apologize for the delay in getting it to those of you who have waiting so patiently.

Or not so patiently. lol.

The bad news is that I can't guarantee that I'll be able to keep up with posting a new chapter each week, the good news is that I'm writing again at last.

So that's the news from here.

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Passing It On

Phyllis Rackman is still trying to deal with the arrival of her nephew Tommy into her life,
and wondering whether he truly is different from the men she learned to hate.
But a chance encounter on a playground makes her think ... and maybe hope.

Passing It On
A Tommy Browder Tale
by Randalynn

Maiden by Decree Chapter 26

Gently pulling Deirdre forward a bit more, so she now stood to the front, the king went on. “In recognition of dangers endured, and defeated, along with valued service to the crown, this Lady, my heir’s betrothed, will now hold Lindsay as part of her personal holdings. She will therefore now be known officially as The Lady Deirdre, Duchess of Lindsay, and that title will fall to her heirs, in perpetuity.”

Maiden By Decree

Chapter 26 - The End of a Beginning

Or:  Okay it Was a Little Messy, But We Got Here... Right?

By Maggie Finson

Copyright © 2009 by Maggie Finson

To Sonja Henie, With Love

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Peter learns about his Norwegian heritage and finds his true self in preparing for a School’s holiday pageant.
He also gets the finest Christmas present of his young life.

To Sonja Henie, with Love

By Katherine Day

Copyright © 2009 Katherine Day

The High School Of My Dreams

Watch this! It will make you happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7TI-AJi2O8

It's a lip-sync music video made by a high school, using the talents of the entire student body. Everyone. Together. With gusto. Nerds, geeks, jocks, the swim team in speedos, stoners, preppies, goths, cheerleaders, staff. Everyone. It makes me giddy.

Oh, and they did it backwards!

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Question

Okay... I have a story that is Novella length, has several chapters and I have no idea if I am going to revise it for an attempt at publication. Do you all want to see it?

It is my first long piece and it is a bit rough, but I would be posting it to get it out there more than anything else. It also has some fun construction issues that might throw people as well, but hopefully people can cope.

So, wanna read it?

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Inspiration?

Anyone seen it?

Ah, thought I had it but the darned thing just slipped through my fingers.

If you find it, please return it.
It was a gleaming glittering thing, looking quite nice.

Anyway, I hope you all will have a nice Christmas.

Cheers.
Yor.

....
Ps:

If you find chapter thirteen a little weak I'm afraid that I have to agree.
It's like Churchill once said. "Sometimes blood sweat and tears just ain't enough."
Or something to that matter?

Ds: I've tried to 'edit' it a little to make it readable now, well, as i see it :)

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Adam's own, -chapter 13-

Eliah and Damien were already out on the prowl, looking for the little miscreants, goaded by our Mr Waverly.

“And you find them better find them this time.”

They had been searching high and low without finding them and as they sat in their car discussing where their next effort should take them Elias said.

“Brother Damien, a point of observation only.”

“Yes brother Eliah?”

“The fuel indicator, it hasn’t moved at all?”

Testing Teaser -3-

The next night I couldn’t sleep, and Andy hadn’t turned up. Somewhere in the middle of the morning I went up, sitting, wrapped up in my old blanket. Well, I told you it was cold didn't I? Rereading my old newspapers, the books I used to love to read was still back in Bergen, and the only thing I had left to entertain myself with were those old rags. As I turned to the glamour section in my yesterdays paper, you know, the one where they write about all those film stars and stuff, I suddenly found myself looking at Andy.

Something Feels Strange - 31

Feels Strange

I pull the shoes out of the closet and ask, “So who d’you think the greatest catch in your class is? Maybe I can help you snag him.”

She pauses in thought for a minute. She’s obviously struggling with what she wants to say. “You have to promise me you won’t tell ANYONE this,” Caitlin says emphatically. “I’m only telling you this because you’re my best friend and I know I can trust you.”

“You can trust me,” I tell her with sincerity, “after all I’ll be gone in a couple of months.”

“Okay,” she leans close and whispers. “But you can’t tell anyone–especially your cousin. I’d just die if she found out. If I could pick any guy to be my boyfriend,” she pauses and looks furtively around, “it would be Chris Quinn. God, I get wet every time I even think of that boy.”

Chapter 31: Revelations and Spy Lessons

What happened to literacy?

This morning driving to work I was listening to the local community college's radio station. At the top of the hour, Headline News from NPR came on. Something was said about the economy, and someone's sound bite was played. He was talking about disparities between economic and unemployment recovery, saying employers have been finding ways to get by with fewer resources. What he said hit one of my exposed nerve endings. His sentence ended with "making do with less employees."

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Feeling left out

I am feeling really left out lately. You see most of my friends are from the transgendered community or the geek community , and lately I feel left out in most situations.

With my friends from the geek community I feel OK , they seem to accept me and while I can't speak with them on everything ( the all transition thing for example ) it seems like they are there for me .

With my friends from the trans community I feel left out ( and sometime judged ) because of sexual orientation.

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TransBike-Merry Christmas Wish

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TransBike-Merry Christmas Wish

By Stanman63
Thanks To JennaFL For Proofing And Nora Adrienne for editing
Synopsis:When a Trans-Woman who has spent her life helping others with their problems finally meets the Dapper Gentleman and the TransBike, she finds her special wish is granted and she is healed of her ailments, thanks to the love of her many friends.

Dancing confidence research

A slightly bizzare bit of research carried out by the University of Hertfordshire in collaboration with Radio 4's Today programme has indicated that although men may be initially reluctant to get up and dance, once they hit the dancefloor they will generally be quite confident. For women it's more complicated...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/news/8412333.stm
(just excuse the lame headline)

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