This just received from a satisfied customer who read newsboy II: "lovely, good thing I ignored the stupid score." Which made me feel better. I was happy with the story when I posted it, but response has been disappointing. Oh, well. A revised version will be posted soon. Peregrinf made a good suggestion for improving the ending, and there were a few additions I thought of myself, which in retrospect appear obvious.
Also a funny reaction to "Strip Shakespeare" from an anonymous, female reader:
Every summer from the ages of 6-16, I went to an
all-girls camp; during the school year, I attended
an all-girls school. I played strip poker in the
barn at our farm probably a dozen times and skinny
dipped in lakes, pool and rivers at least once a
summer from 6-21 years of age. I have to say that
I never saw an orgy or any girl-girl action. A few
male hands help me up the various ladders on
various occasions, though. Does that count?
Well, no, it doesn't. I never saw any all-girl action at that age, either, but this was a fantasy, after all. As I suggest in my profile, my stories are what I would have liked my adolescence to be.
Newsboy II --- Seven Minutes in Heaven --- has been posted, and it's a real sumbitch.
The next installment will probably be Newsboy IV, which will be written before Newsboy III just because I'm more inspired by it.
Response has been pretty good to my first newsboy story, especially now that I've posted a corrected version --- solid eights and nines in the the TPA. Nice. I've also noticed that posting a new story causes downloads of my older stories to increase. It seems people new to your work are encouraged to explore further.
There is a Newsboy II, which just needs another read before I post it, which will probably be Thursday or Friday.
Posted a new story (actually somewhat old) this morning. "The Girl in the Window" is based very loosely on a real memory and is my first attempt at a male perspective. A second episode is done and will be posted soon, and there are one or two more yet to be written.
I love curly quotes. I am careful to use curly quotes in my stories' Word files. Unfortunately, the posting program at SOL straightens them out. Same with the apostrophes. I noticed this when I reposted "Rebecca."
Bummer.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that pregrinf has told me he likes my stories, but I was a fan of his before I ever wrote any.
He likes my pen name (which Chandra doesn't), and, he said, "Your style is great, and the characters entertaining and wonderfully uninhibited." High praise, coming from the man who invented Dee Walker. I feel better about stuff now. I might actually make it through the day.
About Chandra: She says the name makes me sound "cheap." Honey, I love you, but I write porn. How much cheaper can I get?