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solsticeman
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Likes it here |
Registered: November 2012
Messages: 109
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Sam's fifteenth birthday brings a surprising final gift. It relates to Kenny, the best friend from forever, way back. Kenny is special. How he is special I leave for you to find out. Do go find out... this is one of the most unusual and tenderly written stories I have read since i started passing this way... give yourself a treat.
http://iomfats.org/storyshelf/hosted/kit/e-mails-from-kenny/ 01.html
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Kitzyma
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Likes it here |
Registered: March 2012
Messages: 231
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Thanks for the kind words.
I'm glad that you think the story is a treat.
Now that the complete story has been posted, perhaps readers will consider that although Kenny may be special in one way, Sam is even more special in his own way. He's managed to carry some of the simplicity and innocence of a small child into his teenage years. In my experience, the fresh and accepting vision of little children has usually been lost, or at least become stale, by the time they become teenagers.
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Jolyon Lewes
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Toe is in the water |
Location: SW England
Registered: September 2012
Messages: 62
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This is one of the most original stories I have ever read and is anything but a straightforward love story. The friendship between Sam and Kenny is beset with difficulties, like the passage of time, tricky personal circumstances and the awkwardness of two teenagers trying to express their feelings. As with most of Kit's stories, there are deep and complex issues for the boys to deal with.
It is a most rewarding read and like the best stories, has changed me slightly, in that I think I am now a more tolerant person.
I heartily recommend this life-affirming tale. Never before has the simple act of stroking a friend's hair seemed so significant.
Jolyon
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Well I'm just about to start chapter 3 and was going to wait until I'd finished the story before commenting but I have to give credit where it's due and this is a great read so far. Such original characters and Kit is right Sam does have an innocence about him which makes for a refreshing change, I think that's one of the main reasons why I'm enjoying the story so much, the characters are so intriguing and for want of a better word 'unusual' that you can't help but be drawn into their lives.
Looking forward to seeing where the story goes.
Oh and Kit, I think you've handled Kennys disability superbly, it's just a part of who he is rather than his defining characteristic which is something I think some writers have problems with.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13778
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Quote:samsone wrote on Sun, 23 February 2014 19:19
Oh and Kit, I think you've handled Kennys disability superbly, it's just a part of who he is rather than his defining characteristic which is something I think some writers have problems with.
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That is also true of any sexuality any of us have. It is an attribute, simply, but that is all it is.
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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Quote:timmy wrote on Sun, 23 February 2014 23:08
"Quote:"samsone wrote on Sun, 23 February 2014 19:19
Oh and Kit, I think you've handled Kennys disability superbly, it's just a part of who he is rather than his defining characteristic which is something I think some writers have problems with.
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That is also true of any sexuality any of us have. It is an attribute, simply, but that is all it is.
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I completely agree Timmy. I always find it amazing how many people there are out there who feel who a person sleeps with is the major part of who they are. I work with someone (gay himself) who will forgive almost anything if the person involved is gay.
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Good one Kit! Liked how Sam was rather adult in his reaction to the emails, no tantrums or screaming, yet he was still very childlike in his outlook at his friendship with Ken.
The way things worked out in the end wasn't entirely predictable and was really satisfying.
Like has been said, I'll not be able to consider a touch of the hair in the same way again.
raysstories.com
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Thoroughly enjoyed the closing chapter. I wasn't sure how things would be tied up but I think, Kit, that you went for a really thought provoking ending. My initial reaction was to embrace the 'happy' ending presented on the surface, but then I got to thinking about the deeper issues it raises about sexuality and just how set in stone our attractions are.
I guess there are probably people out there who might look at a story like this and think that if sexuality is so fluid its perfectly believable that gay can become straight. Kit, did you worry at all about how people might react to Sams revelation? Speaking from personal experience I think some people are scared by anything that isn't one way or the other when it comes to sex and relationships straight and gay alike. I guess one way to challenge the perception that anyone who has feelings that veer from a pre set path are denying who/what they really are is through stories like this. For a lot of people it's the person that is important, their sex doesn't come into it.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13778
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Quote:samsone wrote on Wed, 19 March 2014 09:04Thoroughly enjoyed the closing chapter. I wasn't sure how things would be tied up but I think, Kit, that you went for a really thought provoking ending. My initial reaction was to embrace the 'happy' ending presented on the surface, but then I got to thinking about the deeper issues it raises about sexuality and just how set in stone our attractions are.
I guess there are probably people out there who might look at a story like this and think that if sexuality is so fluid its perfectly believable that gay can become straight. Kit, did you worry at all about how people might react to Sams revelation? Speaking from personal experience I think some people are scared by anything that isn't one way or the other when it comes to sex and relationships straight and gay alike. I guess one way to challenge the perception that anyone who has feelings that veer from a pre set path are denying who/what they really are is through stories like this. For a lot of people it's the person that is important, their sex doesn't come into it.
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Those who wish to read the "We can cure you" message in this will read it. Sexuality is somewhat fluid, but it has exceptions. I can say this clearly as a gay man who has one exception for his wife. Love is the thing that conquers sexual orientation. Even so, the underlying orientation remains as it ever was, not concrete, but fluid around whatever its own base point is.
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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Kitzyma
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Likes it here |
Registered: March 2012
Messages: 231
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Quote:samsone wrote on Wed, 19 March 2014 09:04
I guess there are probably people out there who might look at a story like this and think that if sexuality is so fluid its perfectly believable that gay can become straight. Kit, did you worry at all about how people might react to Sams revelation?
--
Yes, I did think carefully about how readers might interpret Sam's words regarding his sexuality. I certainly didn't intend that to imply that his sexuality could be changed. However, he's only just turned 15 and has been brought up in a very traditional family. Also, he's never had any sexual experience and at that stage in his life he hasn't (yet?) developed a strong sex drive.
Because of his childlike qualities, Sam can accept himself as he is in the same way he accepts and loves everything about Kenny. So up until then he's never given a lot of thought to his sexuality and he's never tried to analyse his feelings for his best friend. At the end of the story he's beginning to realise the different facets of his sexuality and how that relates to his feelings for Kenny.
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In that fluid-sexuality way, Sam is a lot like Tom in The Circle. He isn't so much concerned about gay or straight, only that he likes someone and likes being with him. Sam doesn't care if Kenny is gay, he just loves him. Sam hasn't considered his sexuality yet. Tom doesn't care if Alex is gay, he just loves him, though Tom has examined his own sexuality very much, and concluded that he likes girls. Yet he still likes to mess around with Alex, but isn't attracted to other boys. He enjoys the closeness and love with Alex, that's all.
Sometimes that's all that's needed. Why does anyone have to be gay or straight? Where's the fifty shades of gray?
That's why I wrote some 'bi' characters as well as some who aren't gay or bi into The Circle. Some characters don't mind messing about with the gay main character because they're friends, and it's fun, and it opens a new, deeper friendship. And one character, Eric, isn't gay or bi, but he's very willing to 'experiment' with Alex as well as with others. He even gets a perfectly straight boy to mess around. Just because you've been in bed with another boy, that doesn't mean that you have to be gay or bi.
That's the way I read the ending of Kit's story. Sam may or may not be gay, he probably doesn't even know, but he loves his friend, and he's willing to experiment and find out about his own sexuality with Ken. He loves Ken, and he wants to find out how much. He'll go as far as he has to to find that out. Maybe they'll get as far as kissing and petting and Sam will find out he's not interested in Ken that way. Maybe they'll fall in love with each other and end up together for years and years. Maybe they'll get as far as having intimate encounters, but fall in love with someone else. Who knows. They sure don't. But then, finding out those things is really the whole point, anyway. Not the result, the journey.
raysstories.com
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A truly wonderful story, Kit. Though if I'd been Sam I wouldn't have spoken to my mother in a good six months. The fluidity of Sam's sexuality is bang on. Love of person is all and sex is just a really nice part of it.
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: Music and Cats." - Albert Schweitzer
It's like Mad Max out here: guys doing guys, girls doing girls, girls turning into guys and doing girls that used to do girls and guys!
- from Alex Truelove
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Just read the first three chapters. How this takes me back to being a boy and being separated from the one true love in my life at the age of 13. We did have one brief reunion a year later and then the separation became permanent (you can read a fictionalised account of the relationship in 'Scholarship').
I often wondered what would have happened had we got back together. I fear that we would not have been able to restart our relationship as happened with Sam and Kenny as things would have changed, it was probably best that we remained separate.
Anyway a very thought provoking read for me.
Ian
Visit my Blog: http://thepaintheagony.blogspot.co.uk/
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ChrisR
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Likes it here |
Location: Western US
Registered: October 2014
Messages: 136
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Thanks so very much for the pointer to this story! Several folks have pointed out that it's very different, which it surely is, and it's a wonderfully rewarding read. Bravo, Kit.
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pandareader
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Toe is in the water |
Registered: October 2019
Messages: 51
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I know I'm late to this thread, but although Ive been coming here for a while Ive recently registered.
Not going to write on all my favourite stories threads (or Id spend a lot of time writing thank yous and doing nothing else), but theres something about E-mails from Kenny that's special to me. I don't usually re-read a story but I think I have re-read this one quite a bit.
So thank you Kit for writing this one, it's one of my favourites from here (and there are many great ones that I really like here).
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I just got around to reading this one. What a lovely tale. So rewarding. I love how the author establishes the rituals of a childhood love afair early on then wraps the tale up with the protagonists reestablishing those rituals. Beautiful story. Thank you so much, Kit
“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
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