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Some readers of 'Shaggy Dog Story' asked for more. Perhaps they should have been careful what they wished for. I have two more instalments awaiting further editing and proofreading so the story is no longer flagged as concluded.
Apologies for any confusion caused by the chapters (SOL) being divided into chapters (mine). I never intended to continue the story in the first place and it's a clumsy retrospective (UK) attempt to make the head-hopping comprehensible.
Thank you to all those who have read the story and taken the time to vote or provide feedback. I hope I haven't wasted as much of your lives as I did of my own when I watched 'Frozen' on Christmas Day.
AJ
Students of voting patterns know that appealing to readers' fantasies will produce a score which includes a premium to what a story deserves on literary merit. One way of achieving this is to endow the main character with the appropriate characteristics. For this story, I deliberately tried to avoid as many of these as possible. For example:
1) Military/fighting experience. No.
2) Hyperintelligence/eidetic memory. No.
3) Hung like a horse. No!
4) Filthy rich. No.
5) Mastery of environment/destiny. No.
6) Drives a muscle car. No.
Despite these self-imposed limitations, I tried to create a sympathetic main character, although the variation in scores shows that at least some readers judged the experiment a failure.
Most of the above characteristics are male-oriented. I'd be interested to hear from female readers what characteristics they think a female main character should have in order to fulfill female reader fantasies.
As a sort of postscript, I had an idea for a continuation of my story. On the second anniversary, Clark takes another five bottles of Irish whiskey down to the river bank. The next time he's at the mall, he finds he has parked his box-on-wheels next to a near twin. He strikes up a conversation with its owner, a cute 4ft 11in woman who is very easy to talk to and strangely familiar. It's only after they cement their burgeoning relationship with some very satisfactory traditional sex that he discovers her last name - Warrender! However, to get to that point would require me to cover a year's worth of graphic descriptions of teen deflorations and that's not where my interest or strength lies.
Thanks to everyone who reads the story and provides feedback,
AJ
This is a list of recently updated ongoing serials which are giving me the greatest enjoyment.
Three Stars:
A Well-lived Life 2 - Book 1 - Bethany by Penguintopia
Jacob's Granddaughters by A.A. Nemo
Rebirth by Lumpy
Mayhem in a Pill by Shinerdrinker
Serendipity by oyster50
Getting it Wrong by G Younger
After Five Years by DeeBee
Two stars:
Murder by the Numbers by Stultus
Magical Slavery by Alan C. Zumwalt
In the Darkness Falling by Celtic Bard
Blue Wave Healer by Radley Black
Not Your Average Joe by double_entendre
Shaman by Zoras
Honor Matters by corsair
Of Dancers and Doves by Lord Van Leak
Summer of Love by Kenny Baller
AJ
In no particular order, these are the ongoing stories which have given me the most enjoyment in the past week or so.
A Well-Lived Life by Penguintopia.
Serendipity by oyster50. Not a 'Smart Girls' clone, it has enough potential for character conflict to keep it interesting.
Jacob's Granddaughters by A. A. Nemo
Rebirth by Lumpy.
The Times They Are A Changing by Omachuck. Significantly superior to the average Swarm Cycle story.
Getting It Wrong by G Younger. Nicely swerving some of the usual do-over cliches.
An honourable mention to A. King and his Queen by Lazlo Zalezac. I'm not a fan of the author but the multi-dimensional characterisations make this a couple of levels above anything else of his I've read.
AJ
Sorry for the silence but my writing is currently maxed out by a Science Fiction novella I'm crafting for a showcase anthology by local writers. I'm not being paid but I guess it's half a step up from self-publishing.
I'm particularly enjoying a very strong crop of 'coming of age' stories on SOL at the moment. My personal favourites are, in no particular order:
Foul Ball - Sophomore Year, by Mindmeld
The Grim Reaper, by rlfj
Living Next Door to Heaven, by aroslav
Ninth Grade 1958-1959, by Banadin
Adam and the Ants: The Beginning, by LastCallAgain
AWLL Book 1 - Birgit, by Penguintopia
Honourable mentions to the following, which don't really have a 'coming of age' focus in my opinion but are enjoyable romps involving teens:
Art Class Preempted, by autofocus
Stupid Boy - Freshman Year - Part II, by G Younger
Dman 3, by Cold Creek
A couple with titles I can't remember have gone quiet for the moment - I'll add them to this list if more chapters appear in the next week or so.
AJ
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