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My assistant and I have been doing some research spurred on by discussions with Tim and Warren regarding this forum, its future, and its effectiveness for fulfilling its original principal mission and the question by both of these gentlemen of where do the scared and closeted LGBT youth and adults go for answers.
This question having been brought about by the tremendous changes in the web and in particular the online participation of LGBT youth and young adults shifting from a forum setting such as IOMFATS/APOS to social networking and the blogosphere.
As part of this research, we decided to also take a look at sources and information available outside of the digital online realm which brought us to this article published in June of this year by Associated Press journalist LeAnne Italie, writing for the Huffington Post.
[ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/24/gay-teens-cheer-as-young_n_623927.html ]
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saben
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On fire! |
Registered: May 2003
Messages: 1537
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Hopefully timmy will be the next to be published... Some people have been wanting to see Chris and Nigel in print for a while.......
*hint hint*
Look at this tree. I cannot make it blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time [...] No matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.
Master Oogway
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13751
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Actually, no.
First it is already published, as far as publishing houses are concerned, so, unless one decides that having it free, on the web, is no competition, I think it will be very unlikely.
Second, it almost was. I was offered a publishing deal by a gay publisher in the USA, the one which publishes Josh Aterovis's works. They sent me their contract, which was allegedly negotiable, so I negotiated. Their stance was "How dare you try to negotiate with us" and pulled the offer. That made me think a little more, which brings me to reason three:
Third, i want the tale accessible to kids without money and those who dare not bring the book home or be seen in the gay section of a bookstore.
I was told by a literary agent I approached that, had he not been dying, thus retiring early, he would have loved representing it and getting it published. I think some things are simply not to be.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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saben
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On fire! |
Registered: May 2003
Messages: 1537
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If those are the terms I'm glad you kept it online instead of in print for the reasons you say.
Look at this tree. I cannot make it blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time [...] No matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.
Master Oogway
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13751
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I decided that my writing, if it has a use at all, is as a present to those who need something to show them that, while quick fuck is great fun, real romance is available to the gay kids of today.
I thought queers just stuck their dicks through toilet walls. That disgusted me. It made me afraid to be queer. So a story which admires a masculine yet youthful body, which is erotic and romantic, that is what I wish I'd had.
Classics of my youth such as Lord Dismiss Us (turgid tripe, way too long, but still a classic) shoed fearful love with little affection. Odd raunchy books such as The Au Pair Boy had a but of a queer fuck in, but badly written. Simon Raven's awful Alms for Oblivion series.... Oh dear. Bill Meilen's "The Division" was gritty and realistic, in a harsh naval reform school. It had sorrowful sex, described in metaphor.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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... my wanting to transcribe your stories (and those of other authors you represent on "The Story Shelf" in *pdf-format. I'm fairly certain I likely still have the early drafts still hidden amongst my archives here somewhere.
Unfortunately at the time there appeared to be no demand (this being just prior to the whole e-Book craze taking hold), what with you even POlling on the subject; and if I recall correctly Marc sorta threw a monkey-wrench into the fray as well.
You and I had some great ideas about cover-art and what-not, and it could have been a bigie had we followed through. Wanna still try?
Warren C. E. Austin
The Gay Deceiver
Toronto, Canada
"... comme recherché qu'un délice callipygian"
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... underground "blogsphere" scene we were discussing (amongst other issues), and their apparently having codeword access; has there been any further traction on this?
Warren C. E. Austin
The Gay Deceiver
Toronto, Canada
"... comme recherché qu'un délice callipygian"
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13751
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I honestly think the market is online and free. And pdf unless on a Mac seems resource intensive to download. I admit I had forgotten about it completely.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Warren~
Mark is still working on access as well as interviewing numerous LGBT youth between the ages of roughly 14/15 to 23.
As I had indicated in our phone conversations and as I stated to Tim in our conversations, this most likely will take some time.
The number one issue still is trust, [ or lack thereof ] that much I can safely relay as we talk to these kids. They are a closed group often and adults, well, lets just say they're wary of them generally.
For example,
The young man in Minnesota who died in July as a result of his hanging himself caused by the inordinate amount of pressure brought to bear by the uber-Christian religious fascists, the peer group, and others who are homophobic in that part of Hennepin County, his friends have been speaking out and talking to us. Some of these kids are LGBT as well so we are getting an interesting window into their daily lives and their world as seen from their perspective.
It is both fascinating and frightening, but mostly sad/depressing that young people are forced to live a lie and be scared to be themselves to the point that suicide seems the only viable option available to help heal their pain.
As they talk though, they often remain aloof and suspicious of even our motives to the point that they have wondered if whether or not we are simply exploiting them for gain, for example, to double our blog's numbers, [readership/views] or "sell papers."
As we are able to document, verify, and then disclose the data Warren, Tim, we shall although some of it for obvious reasons will be edited for privacy concerns.
~ Brody
[Updated on: Mon, 13 September 2010 18:25] |
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DesDownunder
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Likes it here |
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Registered: September 2010
Messages: 127
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I detest pdf files for that reason on a PC. The scrolling and the presentation all make reading difficult to my old eyes.
DesDownunder
Call me naive if you want, but life without trust in the goodness of others would be intolerable.
Religious indoctrination: It gets better, without it.
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