tendertouch: Blog

If you're at all into ff then you really owe it to yourself to read No One's Ice and Fire . Humor, self-consciousness, sexiness, some actual sex - it has all of that, but that doesn't do it justice. On the surface the two main characters seem very different but that's not the whole story and given such a short story they round out nicely.

Hard to say Happy Thanksgiving given everything going on in the country but I do hope you find a way to enjoy it as much as you safely can.

Unlike some, I tend to go back and reread my favorite stories and sometimes I'm reminded of just why I enjoy them so much.

A case in point is Janna Leonard. She's no longer writing but she has left a fine body of work for us. What I've found I like so much about Janna's stories is that they mostly don't deal with the silver spoon set, no bankers or stock brokers. The characters aren't managers or CEOs, not even engineers and programmers. They're deputies, privates, nurses, mechanics - in short they're the people getting their hands dirty. Yet she treats them with dignity and compassion.

The stories are mostly set in the upper midwest of the United States - more than one in North Dakota of all places. They mostly deal with gentle romances between women, romances aimed at a lifetime together. Her characters face tragedies and disappointments and help one another through them. All in all they feel lifelike, but without being repetitious or boring.

Gentle, compassionate, empathetic, uncertain and dignified. That's really saying quite a lot.

Something came up today and reminded me of one of my favorite SOL authors. After some rereading I thought to put out a recommendation.

If you enjoy:
- romantic stories that don't require some of the tropes that seem to define the romance genre
- sweet and sappy stories that still have a bite
- strong supporting casts
- a not-quite-American outlook
- gentle humor
- leading men named George
you might want to check out WTSman's stories. He hasn't posted anything new in a few years but what he has posted includes some of my favorite stories on the site, in particular 'Wet', 'Odd Job' and 'The Proposition' but the other stories are well worth reading as well.

some words are flowing again. It's not the steady stream that made writing Building a Better Past so easy but I like where it's going so far and I feel I have a vision for the sequel. Along with what I wrote several years back the story is up to roughly 28,000 words and I've got the characters and ideas that I feel will drive the remainder of the story. The lack of a vision for the story was what stymied me before so unless I suddenly realize that my ideas won't work I feel good about being able to continue.

Let's hope I didn't jinx it by speaking up.