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You are here: Home > Forum > A Place of Safety > Literary Merit > The Works of Geron Kees
The Works of Geron Kees  [message #77774] Thu, 22 April 2021 10:01 Go to next message
chanter is currently offline  chanter

Getting started
Location: Melbourne
Registered: March 2021
Messages: 5



(I realise there is currently a thread about 'The Darkness Between Doors' but have been studiosly avoiding it to avoid the slightest hint of spoilers while patiently waiting to binge the completed story)

One of my greatest pleasures since finding this site has been discovering the works of Geron Kees. I can honestly say that rarely have I enjoyed so much the complete body of work by any author, regardless of genre. As a fan of fantasy/scifi I find myself transported to the worlds created in those stories with total suspension of disbelief.  The stories set in the 'real' world are just as effective at painting themselves into my mind.

I could easily write extensively on all of the stories, but will limit myself to a few I would like to mention. (Fully aware that there will be others that I will later think i should have mentioned as well.)

The Thrift Shop Nation stories make me smile, great charcters and humour.
The Mooi stories feel like Amsterdam.
The Thief Of Small Things has a great initial mislead.
The Frost Covered Marker has a great tension, and a sad satisfaction to it's ending.
The Stolen Dream is a favourite amangst favourites.
A Charmed Life includes a minor character who touched me deeply with the way he was written; Rafie.
Tales Of The Road; I can hear the engines and smell the fuel. Has also been partially responsible for the creation of a playlist as an imagined soundtrack (Lots of heavy prog)
Z Is For Zombie had me hoping all would work out ok the the 'tribe' and that they would all be safe.
... And of course, last but not least - The Charlie Boone stories are a continual pleasure ... full of enjoyable characters and situations. i have a real soft spot for the introduction of Will and Billy, as well as the story of Oumuamua.

So thank you Geron for such great stories and characters, including those not mentioned. Much respect, admiration and apprecition to you.
I look forward now to reading The Darkness Between Doors, then the srory after that, then the story after that....
Re: The Works of Geron Kees  [message #77775 is a reply to message #77774] Thu, 22 April 2021 12:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

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



He does make his tales effortless to read. I suspect that is because he spends a long time crafting them.



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: The Works of Geron Kees  [message #77776 is a reply to message #77774] Thu, 22 April 2021 16:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Geron Kees is currently offline  Geron Kees

Likes it here
Location: USA
Registered: February 2016
Messages: 147



Wow. That was a very nice mail, Chanter (you, too, Tim!), and I certainly do appreciate it. I have to say that it IS nice when you open up your mind a little and share your thoughts with others, and even a few seem to enjoy going along for the ride. It just shows how much many people have in common, inside. Wonder is one of those things you either have, or you don't. I grew up with it, and it's still a part of my life. It's probably the main force that prompts me to write, whether it be about the relationships that form when someone meets that special 'other', the guy that completes his life; or the simpler wonder of exploring new places, even worlds. It's all about looking outside the borders of daily life. Just a little, you know? And doing it with someone special.

I appreciate all the time people take to read my stories, and to write to me about them. I've been posting stories for five years now, and it has been a great ride thus far. I don't see it ending anytime soon! Smile

[Updated on: Thu, 22 April 2021 16:48]

Re: The Works of Geron Kees  [message #77777 is a reply to message #77776] Thu, 22 April 2021 19:49 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Teddy is currently offline  Teddy

Really getting into it
Location: USA
Registered: October 2006
Messages: 484



Geron, You spoke a real truth there when you said:
"Quote:"
It's all about looking outside the borders of daily life. Just a little, you know? And doing it with someone special.

That's what makes your writing float to the top like the cream at the top of a milk jug, oh, so delicious. So many writers want to create potential relationship breaking drama as if it is something special that attracts reader enjoyment. I won't speak for anyone else but I'm only willing to read limited amounts of that before I'm fed up with it. We all get enough of the relational drama in day to day existence without purposely exposing ourselves to more of it. When I read I want somehing that lifts me wihout heaping more of the relational drama on.

Sure, I like a story that builds suspene, even conflict, but I want to feel as if the protagonists and I are working it out together as a team, to the provervial happy ending, rather than feel like it's me looking on, hoping that Bill workis it out and forgives Joe for cheating on him or otherwise rejecting him in some way, regardless of a three paragraph "happy ending" tacked on to the end of the tale.

Your tales lift the reader and do it in spades, and this is why you have so many of us adoring fans Smile

[Updated on: Thu, 22 April 2021 19:49]




“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
Re: The Works of Geron Kees  [message #77781 is a reply to message #77777] Fri, 23 April 2021 04:28 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Geron Kees is currently offline  Geron Kees

Likes it here
Location: USA
Registered: February 2016
Messages: 147



Thank you, Teddy. It's kind of sad to realize that most of they gay fiction out there revolves around the hardships of being gay and the seeming impossibility of having a stable relationship. Conflict. I know a lot of authors write about the very turmoils they've experienced in their own lives. I have touched on that in my stories, but it's almost never my main theme.

I much prefer to show guys working and living together happily, doing things that they love, and doing them together. It can be done in the real world, and it IS being done. There are happy couples out there. Better to have the conflict in a story be a problem for the guys to solve together, in my mind.

I doubt I'll ever change that outlook, either. Smile

Re: The Works of Geron Kees  [message #78019 is a reply to message #77775] Sat, 14 August 2021 18:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Bisexual_Guy is currently offline  Bisexual_Guy

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Location: USA Midwest
Registered: September 2015
Messages: 152



"timmy wrote on Thu, 22 April 2021 12:53"
He does make his tales effortless to read. I suspect that is because he spends a long time crafting them.

--
Thanks for the link to Geron's stories, Timmy.

Three of my favorites are "The Odd, Onward Door" series, the recent story "Effigy, and one I think is under appreciated -- "The Party of the Third Part."  Each of those covers important concepts, but in differing ways.

"The Odd, Onward Door" stories show the importance of teamwork, and the importance of careful communication with each other.  "Effigy" shows again the power of communication, including with parents, while "Third Part" shows the peer pressure and parental pressure teens are under, especially teen girls, which is why Amanda hired a gay boyfriend, already knowing he was gay.

In every story by the talented and thoughtful Mr. Kees, there is a serious issue (soemtimes more than one) which is thoughtfully and carefully addressed in the story.
Re: The Works of Geron Kees  [message #78030 is a reply to message #78019] Mon, 16 August 2021 16:37 Go to previous message
Geron Kees is currently offline  Geron Kees

Likes it here
Location: USA
Registered: February 2016
Messages: 147



If I ever decide I want an agent, I'm coming to you first! :)
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