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Post by Neal on Oct 30, 2022 23:42:42 GMT -5
I recently reread "The Beard" by dkstories. I remembered it had some political background and that I liked it. It is about a gay underdog teen being approached by straight BMOC at his high school to be his pretend boyfriend to help his dad win an election. It is told in the first-person narration style and had some interesting, to me, comments on the behind-the-scenes life of politician's families. All the crap that is coming to my text messages, e-mails, snail-mails and TV made me think of this story. Although it was first posted in 2012, it is still timely in its portrayal of teen angst and political machinations. The narrator has a lot of other issues with his family life and school life. The story focuses on the narrator and is not preachy or political leaning. The story is well told and has a Happy Ending with a twist. I think you'll like it. gayauthors.org/story/dkstories/thebeard/ |
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Post by glh on Nov 4, 2022 1:46:10 GMT -5
I've finished the first three chapters and it's definitely holding my interest.
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Post by glh on Nov 12, 2022 15:55:39 GMT -5
I've somehow missed dkstories' writings, but I've now finished "The Beard" and really liked it. I'm currently enjoying the second story in the "Waiting for the Sign" trilogy, "Rising Star".
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Post by PaulR5 on Nov 13, 2022 14:32:12 GMT -5
I'm reading "The Beard." Interesting story. I read the first chapter last year, and for some reason didn't get the whole story done. due to some medical problems. It reminds me of a story by Geron Kees (only one chapter) where a straight girl hires a gay classmate to pose as her boyfriend, and he falls in love with her brother. gayauthors.org/story/geron-kees/the-party-of-the-third-part/ |
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Post by Dabeagle on Nov 13, 2022 14:44:20 GMT -5
DK stories, I believe, is the new pseudonym for the fellow who wrote the Shaper's Chronicles that I originally hosted. He's a very imaginative person.
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Post by PaulR5 on Nov 13, 2022 14:56:13 GMT -5
DK stories, I believe, is the new pseudonym for the fellow who wrote the Shaper's Chronicles that I originally hosted. He's a very imaginative person. A link on another site called "dkstories" Dan Kirk. |
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Post by Dabeagle on Nov 14, 2022 19:19:35 GMT -5
Yes, that was his name, but I wasn't sure if he'd stopped using the name over time.
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Post by silentreader2 on Nov 21, 2022 2:29:05 GMT -5
I've somehow missed dkstories' writings, but I've now finished "The Beard" and really liked it. I'm currently enjoying the second story in the "Waiting for the Sign" trilogy, "Rising Star". |
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Post by Neal on Jan 13, 2023 2:34:38 GMT -5
I'm reading "The Beard." Interesting story. I read the first chapter last year, and for some reason didn't get the whole story done. due to some medical problems. It reminds me of a story by Geron Kees (only one chapter) where a straight girl hires a gay classmate to pose as her boyfriend, and he falls in love with her brother. gayauthors.org/story/geron-kees/the-party-of-the-third-part/"the-party-of-the-third-part" is a really GOOD read. Interesting characters, interesting comment on a lifestyle I can't comprehend and a sweet ending. Nice guy finishes as a really nice guy. Another of his stories I must have missed is Goofy-Foot. It's a little heavy on Skate Boarder lingo but the story kept me interested and did not end the way I was predicting. Which was a very pleasant surprise. gayauthors.org/story/geron-kees/goofy-foot/ |
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ivor
Young Hound
Posts: 57
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Post by ivor on Jan 13, 2023 7:52:41 GMT -5
Hijacking this thread a bit, but I'd say anything by Geron Kees is always worth reading.
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Post by Dabeagle on Jan 13, 2023 22:13:15 GMT -5
Geron Kees is really excellent. I wish I could get him writing in SS.
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Post by mattyboy on Apr 10, 2023 12:32:11 GMT -5
Another of his stories I must have missed is Goofy-Foot. It's a little heavy on Skate Boarder lingo but the story kept me interested and did not end the way I was predicting. Which was a very pleasant surprise. gayauthors.org/story/geron-kees/goofy-foot/Yeah, I liked Goofy-foot too. Did it "end"? I thought it was ongoing, but maybe I just didn't figure out what was going on. |
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Post by dgt224 on Apr 11, 2023 0:49:28 GMT -5
Yeah, I liked Goofy-foot too. Did it "end"? I thought it was ongoing, but maybe I just didn't figure out what was going on. I'm just now reading it at iomfats.org; it's a complete story there, and it's marked as complete in three chapters at gayauthors.org.
I just ran into something that reminded me that not everyone has the same interests I do:
If you think about what makes it a full moon, it should be obvious that a full moon can only occur at night. "Full moon" means that the entire face of the moon that's facing us is illuminated. The moon is illuminated by the sun. For the entire surface of the moon that's facing the earth to be illuminated, the moon must be on the opposite side of the earth from the sun, which would mean that it would be rising just as the sun is setting. The geometry of the situation implies that the night of a full moon is also when the moon is visible for the entire night. (Come to think of it, that also means that a lunar eclipse can only occur on the night of a full moon, and a solar eclipse can only occur at a new moon.)
Aside from his grasp of astronomy, I've been quite impressed by Geron Kees's writing.
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Post by Geron Kees on Apr 11, 2023 16:56:19 GMT -5
Actually, it's a mistake to sum up an author's knowledge based solely upon what his characters say.
The fact is, a full moon occurs irrelevant of where the observer is located. It's part of an earth-moon-sun cycle, and not just full when you can see it at night from your own backyard. Full moon occurs in the cycle when the sun, earth, and moon form a basically straight line, with the moon on the backside of the earth from the sun. Because the orbit of the earth is tilted, the full moon is above the pole and receives the direct rays of the sun, which illuminates the entire face of the moon as seen from the night side of the earth. On the day side, you can't see it at all, but it's still a full moon in the cycle. So a full moon can and does occur when we are on the day side of the planet and cannot see it.
Jason perhaps worded his understanding off a little, but he's a kid, and allowed to do that.
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Post by dgt224 on Apr 11, 2023 20:06:24 GMT -5
OK, the first part of my last paragraph was ill-considered. I think what set me off was the last sentence I quoted - if the moment of full moon occurs while the sun is above the horizon, then the moon is necessarily below the horizon, so it's not so much washed out as obscured.
In any case, the appearance of the moon at midnight (when the character left home) is probably the strongest consideration. An interesting reference is available at aa.usno.navy.mil/data/MoonFraction, which reports the fraction of the moon illuminated at midnight at any particular longitude for each day of the year, rounded to two fraction digits. Where I am (U.S. eastern time zone) every month this year has at least one day with a reported value of 1.00, meaning that the moon is at least 99.5% illuminated. February has two consecutive days (the 16th and 17th) with a value of 1.00, which I imagine means that the full moon occurred near noon on the 16th, my time. I suspect that to any observer not using at least binoculars, the moon would appear to be full any time it is more than 99.5% illuminated.
It is true that two days before or after the full moon, when the moon looks full to a casual observer, it is only half as bright as the full moon. At that point about 95% of the visible surface would be illuminated if the moon were perfectly smooth, but the irregularity of the surface means that a significant fraction of the surface is shaded by features of the surface. At first or last quarter, when the moon appears to be 50% illuminated, it provides less than 10% of the light provided by a full moon. Since the time between full moons is a little less than 29 days and 13 hours, months will typically alternate between having the moment of full moon occur during daylight or during the night.
In the same paragraph from which I originally quoted, the character also observes that "Even the nighttime moonrise times varied, with some occurring way too early or late to be useful." That was probably also influencing my thinking, since moonrise on the days near the full moon is always very close to sunset.
In any case, I think my actual point originally (recall "not everyone has the same interests I do") is that the paragraph in question really caught my attention and diverted my thoughts from the story line, but I seriously doubt that many other readers would be bothered by it. (Also, I have since finished reading the story, and I quite liked the ending.)
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