Forum: Story Recommendations

Yeah, I didn't remember the pedo ring till well after I posted that — I tend to try to forget it. Sorry 'bout that. And yeah about his heroes' competence.

I second Radagast's other Cantrell recs.

Oh, yes, second this rec. I've been meaning to add it to my Favorites listicle. I'm fond of the author's voice if not always his plots, but his works are worth trolling through.i

Coaster2 is a similar author — I'm still working through his backlist, but lemme see if I can find a specific story to rec.

Coaster2 is a similar author — I'm still working through his backlist, but lemme see if I can find a specific story to rec

My favourite is 'Life on Another Planet' but it may not meet the OP's criteria.

AJ

Oh right. I'd forgotten that was his. Great story, but the description does a horrible job of selling the premise.

I was hoping for some turmoil or drama to happen at some point. I want long, slow, romantic stories but I do expect to read about some drama before getting halfway through the entire thing.

Oh, you had barely even scratched the surface! *laugh*

I will say this to start, I am in the middle of a total rewrite of that series, mostly just some cleaning up and editing because the chapters are so damned short. As in, super short chapters. Heck, you stopped even before they had sex in Chapter 26 (which I think in my rewrite will be Chapter 10).

Let's just say that rather quickly, a lot of drama starts to happen, and by shortly after the start of Book 2, things implode dramatically. Which actually ends quite literally with the main character going through an intersection and hearing a truck horn. Then picks up months later when he comes out of a coma.

Yes, the story did start in that way, but you have to realize that was really my first "long story" in almost 2 decades. And my chapters were small, as in 12-15k characters small. Which I then changed as I continued, so Book 1 actually has more "chapters" than Book III, yet is actually only about half the size.

You are not even half way through the first book, but whatever. It actually does start to change tone quite a lot after Chapter 26, which is when I got tired of the build-up and finally had them "do it". And his relationship with his father and future stepmother also gets considerable attention later on.

But remember, it is in many ways a "stream of consciousness" narrative, from a kid who at that point is 16, so writing what was important to him at the time. A typical teenager and their outlook on life. Which changes as he matures and has more experiences.

And I will just say that you can ask anybody who has read it. Linda was fun and interesting to write, because almost from the start all the readers loved her. But only part way through Book II, they all knew her for the evil bitch that she really was. And she was like that from the beginning, Pete just clouded it over because he was seeing her through "rose colored glasses".

If you want to try a more highly condensed version from her point of view,. "Valley Girl" is only 8 chapters, 344k. And it tells a very tightly condensed version of the story from Linda's point of view. So condensed in fact that Chapter 1 starts about a year before she meets Pete, and continues for about a year after Book I ends, about 1/3 of the way through Book II. Then picks up periodically during the narration, and gives events from her perspective.

And it is quite obvious from the start, she is not a "nice girl". And that for most of Book I, she was largely playing Pete. This is why her narration comes off very different than his.

To just give an idea how "not nice" she is, when she discovers he was in an accident and is in a coma, it is over a year after she broke up with him and had tried at least once to trick him into taking her back. She is already a porn actress, prostitute, and striper who gets it into her mind (drug addiction also) he might have amnesia and she could get him back. So she drives to the hospital in the hopes he will wake up and she can have all the things (money) that she had lost.

Oh, in this case I can guarantee not.

I am very active in my comments, and by the time book II was half way through, there were "Teams" forming up for each girl, and some even giving commentary like it was a race. (Team Becky, Team Holly, Team Mandy, etc). Saying which girl was in the lead, and which ones had left the race, or had crashed and burned.

I will admit, *I* knew who it was, and through the entire series had been sprinkling in hints. But there were still some making bets the chapter before I revealed it.

But the only thing I had made clear many times is that it would never be Linda. She was forever out of the race and would never be a finalist.

And as far as the drama, some accused me of being Sadistic, as I had Pete go through a lot of shit. And while he makes some good choices, he is in no way perfect. Blows several calls (some of which could have had him arrested), but mostly he gets rich because he was raised frugally, and he saves about half of his pay and puts his money to work.

And many asked about the money early on. But I had already said his father was a senior RADAR technician. At that era (1981), a 6 figure income. But Pete works pitching hay and mucking stalls to get his own car at 14. It is a case of an upper class family, living a middle class lifestyle, and banking the rest. Not living on credit, and living almost as if they had half the money they did.

Which is what comes into play as the money starts to roll in later on, yet he still lives the same way.

But yes, the chapters are short, about 1/2 to 2/3 of a "SOL Page" in length. But later on, most of them became full page chapters.

And the entire story was a nostalgia trip for me. Having actually moved from Idaho to LA in that very era. A lot of the places I mention are long gone, and you will even be able to see LA change as the story progresses. Games were a big part of my life in that era, and since there is little "Geek Porn" in here, I figured what better than to actually write some. But as he grows and matures, that also changes, and his adventures even take on much darker and more complex tones as it progresses.

You are still at the point where ditzy Kaos and the group are meeting the 7 Dwarves. But later on, I start to sprinkle in some actual "advanced game concepts", and weave in such things as a fallen Paladin having to help an evil Cleric to regain his Paladinhood.

And yes, almost jokingly entering in anachronistic pop culture references from decades later. At one point even "Rickrolling" the readers, in 1988.

But by Chapter 14 in Book II, Pete leaves for his career and things change drastically. But even before then, I started to add more and more "Real Life" events, to reflect the real world, and his growing maturity. The downing of KLA flight 007 in 1983, the Beirut Marine Barracks Bombing, and more. And of course by the end, the fall of the Warsaw Pact and the collapse of the USSR.

At 18 is he running his own company?

18, and junior JUNIOR partner in a company. As in, it is 3 adults that actually do it all, he is simply allowed part ownership as he is their most prolific writer and they want to keep him "locked down".

He writes games for him and most of their other works are based off of his, and I never outright say it, but this was for legal reasons. As a part owner, they get a lot more rights to use his work for derivative works, without having to worry about royalties and more complex contracts. He writes for them, edits reviews and tests games by others for them, but has almost no involvement in any of the actual operation of that company.

More or less like Gygax and all others who create something in D&D. He created and got royalties for the game itself, but of course all the other TSR modules were also based on and included his work. But he and TSR did not worry about that, as an owner of the company he still made money, just not in direct royalties.

I admit, I did leave a lot unsaid as I created this, but at that stage that was actually quite common in the industry. Bring in somebody you want as a part owner, then not worry about such things as they still make money even if that is largely their only involvement in it.

But at 18? He would not know or care about that. All he sees is that he is now part owner in a game company. And part of his character is that he really does not care about the money side. So long as he has money for his toys and trips, he is happy.

Part III starts when he is in his mid-20's, and there he actually does create his own business. And much of that is around his largely taking decade old used computers and reselling them. Essentially, my taking a snapshot of that era in the history of computers and writing a story around it.

But if you are at the convention part, his lawyer George Flushing is quite often involved throughout the rest of the story. Who next to his father, Rosie, and one other lady are his most important "Adult Advisors". He constantly goes to them for advice and input, and they are of critical importance in who he becomes. One thing I always made clear once he became an adult (maturity not age), is that he constantly went to them to ask for input and advice, he did not "do it alone" at all.

Plus his first publisher commenting later that he always had to have a "muse", and that when he was alone he was at his worst and did his worst work. He goes through several, but his best works were almost always when he had a lady to inspire and help him. Even when it was only Holly and they were in no way involved.