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When Shadows Pass  [message #74818] Fri, 31 August 2018 08:47 Go to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



There are sufficient chapters of When Shadows Pass online now to start to see where it might be headed. I see it as a story of the redemption of a badly abused boy. There is a great deal of angst and also compassion here. Sean English has done a remarkable jpb of writing in a setting alien to him. He's chosen a difficult path to write about a UK location with very specific attributes and he also does pretty well with the local linguistic vernacular; sometimes disbelief must be suspended, but that is ok.



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
Re: When Shadows Pass  [message #74868 is a reply to message #74818] Fri, 14 September 2018 23:14 Go to previous messageGo to next message
American_Alex

Toe is in the water
Location: New York, upstate
Registered: October 2017
Messages: 98



You know, I was really enjoying it, until it started to delve into incest and voyeurism. I wish that authors would let us know that it's a fetish story before we get invested in reading it. Invariably, when an author starts writing about his own personal fetish, that turns off about 95% of the people reading it, myself included. Perhaps you need a "fetish section"? That way people can avoid these stories.
 

[Updated on: Fri, 14 September 2018 23:15]




"Able was I ere I saw Elba"
Re: When Shadows Pass  [message #74871 is a reply to message #74868] Sat, 15 September 2018 06:48 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



Incest is an interesting concept when one cannot procreate. What purpose does a prohibition against close relatives who are homosexual have in our lives?

[Updated on: Sat, 15 September 2018 07:07]




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
Re: When Shadows Pass  [message #74879 is a reply to message #74868] Sat, 15 September 2018 15:52 Go to previous messageGo to next message
William King is currently offline  William King

Toe is in the water

Registered: October 2016
Messages: 98



There are criticisms that may be made about When Shadows Pass, but labelling it a "fetish" story is definitely not one of them. Neither is the story any sort of personal fetish of the author. Look up the definition of fetish. You may decide you don't like the story, fair enough, but the criticism you make, I find not valid, and adding that 95% of readers would follow your thinking is off target. The story is extremely popular, published on a number of sites, and having received what might be deemed critical acclaim. I myself do find there are valid points of criticism, but fetish, how?
Re: When Shadows Pass  [message #74932 is a reply to message #74879] Thu, 27 September 2018 23:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
American_Alex

Toe is in the water
Location: New York, upstate
Registered: October 2017
Messages: 98



At first, I wasn't sure whether this was written by an American or a Brit, but now I'm certain it's written by an American. All the talk about Halloween and the time leading up to Christmas, not one mention of Bonfire Night? Or Christmas crackers? 

Also, with all the convoluted story about the relationship with Simon, he should've named him Bob instead..........and I'm certain the author will not understand this joke!



"Able was I ere I saw Elba"
Re: When Shadows Pass  [message #74941 is a reply to message #74932] Sat, 29 September 2018 07:33 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Pkew is currently offline  Pkew

Getting started

Registered: September 2017
Messages: 6



Definitely not English, he's used the word "fellow" which is rather old fashioned. I'm also worried about their talk about skinning each other , makes me think of what happens to rabbits rather than removing clothes.
icon12.gif Re: When Shadows Pass  [message #74945 is a reply to message #74818] Sun, 30 September 2018 15:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Sean E is currently offline  Sean E

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Location: USA
Registered: September 2018
Messages: 13



Nope, I am definitely not English (although my last name might cause some to question it). I am an American, reared in Kentucky and Tennesse. My background is simply that, once I graduatred college I went to work for a company that was headquartered in Havant, and by nature of muy position, I was permitted to travel there extensively, 7-8 trips altogether. My very first trip, I got to stay with a family in Portsmouth for almost 2 weeks, of which Halloween fell near the end of that visit. I got to see firsthand how that family treated the night, and quite honestly - it was fun. Does all of England do that? Maybe not - but that night, that family, the kids and neighbors and so forth, did - and that is where I caught my experience for including it in my tale.

Although anyone is welcome to their point of view on a story, and mine is no exception, I ask you Brits out there to consider something: I visited and loved your country, and wouldn't even mind living there someday. I do not know all the idoms and parallels of British society, but I am not lame in them either. For example, "Fellow" is not just an American term, I have heard it plenty enough in my travels there, old-fashioned or not. "Skinning" is another term I've heard in chat rooms before, with American teens, British teens, South American and more, all referring to stripping to their skin, or getting naked. Now, I'll grant, maybe it's become outdated by now (I wrote the first third of this story over a decade ago), but it does not mean it wasn't common. In other words, maybe not everyone uses some terms, but meh - I can't please everyone all the time. These are my experiences, put into words the best way I could.

Bonfire? Christmas crackers? Afraid they are rather new to me, but I knew nothing of them at the time of my writings. It's just a story guys, drawn from what experiences I had, and from an idea. There is no real 'fetish', either. And what was the other claim - incest? Please - I shake my head at that one.

But it is not intended to be perfect, nor does it claim any level of perfection. It's just my best attempt thus far at fiction. I have two English editors who have helped me, too - so I know its not all that far out in left field (as we say herte in America).

Okay, I'm off my soapbox. I didn't really mean to defend myself so heartily - but, nevertheless, that is where I was coming from, and how/why I wrote some of what I did. I wish all of you the very best. Smile
-Sean
Re: When Shadows Pass  [message #74946 is a reply to message #74932] Sun, 30 September 2018 15:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Sean E is currently offline  Sean E

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Location: USA
Registered: September 2018
Messages: 13



Afraid you're spot on about that one...
Nope, that reference flies straight away over my head! Wink
-Sean
Re: When Shadows Pass  [message #74947 is a reply to message #74871] Sun, 30 September 2018 16:02 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Sean E is currently offline  Sean E

Getting started
Location: USA
Registered: September 2018
Messages: 13



You're correct. And besides, incest also infers one's blood relatives internally (at least it does here in the States)...
BTW - I LOVE the tagline about capitilizing letters affecting different meanings - THAT ONE IS INGENIOUS! :d
-Sean
Re: When Shadows Pass  [message #74949 is a reply to message #74945] Mon, 01 October 2018 06:54 Go to previous message
Bisexual_Guy is currently offline  Bisexual_Guy

Likes it here
Location: USA Midwest
Registered: September 2015
Messages: 152



"Sean E wrote on Sun, 30 September 2018 15:57"

.... "Skinning" is another term I've heard in chat rooms before, with American teens, British teens, South American and more, all referring to stripping to their skin, or getting naked. Now, I'll grant, maybe it's become outdated by now (I wrote the first third of this story over a decade ago), but it does not mean it wasn't common. In other words, maybe not everyone uses some terms, but meh - I can't please everyone all the time. These are my experiences, put into words the best way I could....


--
Another way I have heard the word "skinning" used is to mean the pulling back of the foreskin off of the glans of the penis. (Of course, this would not normally apply when someone is cirumcised.)  It was somewhat common among those of us Americans who were not circumcised as I was growing up in the late 1950s and in the 1960s.  I don't know if the term is common or ever was common among those in the UK who are uncircumcised.
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