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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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Who is reading Riding Lessons by Andrew Todd? There are some deep issues handled with a light touch.
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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swamprat
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Getting started |
Location: Ontario
Registered: January 2014
Messages: 1
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i am reading Riding Lessons and I miss it terribly.
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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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There is more, and more, and yet more We have been on an unannounced vacation.
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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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13751
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Andrew has just sent me the final book of Riding Lessons. I can tell you that it will be well worth waiting for. It has taken its place in our rather creaky production queue.
One of the things I like best about this tale is that sex is implied, not explicit. Some stories cry out for explicit sex, others insist that none is shown. This story would not be as powerful if it had explicit sex.
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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ChrisR
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Likes it here |
Location: Western US
Registered: October 2014
Messages: 136
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I've thoroughly enjoyed the series. As a rider when I was a kid, I assure you he catches the true ambiance of life with horses. (Except for the lack of smell-o-vision on my computer, thank goodness!) The author must either be a rider/rancher himself or one of the better writers since A.L. Tennyson.
My only problem with the tales is the aggregation of characters. One by one new people join the cast to the point it sometimes takes a paragraph just to list them and what they're doing at the moment.
But be not discouraged. The steady rhythm of the story moves the reader along at a nice canter.
Highly recommended.
Chris
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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 rode a lot as a twenty-something, and it is obvious that Andrew has a great love of horses. He knows what makes them tick, and he knows how a horse can tame a wild child.
I rode this summer after a gap of far too many years. Took a three hour trek in the Derbyshire Peak District. Damn that horse was hard to make go forwards!
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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ChrisR
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Likes it here |
Location: Western US
Registered: October 2014
Messages: 136
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I do understand. Back in the day, I rode a Morgan and occasionally a friend's Appaloosa. Today I fear I'd be better off with a Warmbluder!
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I have read all of Riding Lessons and have commended the author to others and have had a little correspondence with him myself.
I liked it from the very start... some difficult issues and so well handled. Very good read indeed and some very comedic interludes also.
I hold my hands up and admit my sole riding experience was as a child on a donkey on Blackpool Beach.. There you are, I'd say my knowledge was ...zilch. My sister, however, had a pony and it was corralled in the piece of land we owned next to our small apple orchard in the extensive garden of the house I lived in as a boy In Croydon, Surrey. South East England. My only contact with the pony was when the apple season came (September) when he could be seen head over fench whinnying for apples from whoever he could persuade to give him one. He was my friend during that time only.. I was allowed to pet and stroke him. The rest of the year I was treated with haughty disdain... I was not his rider after all.
Paul Jamison
[Updated on: Sun, 08 March 2015 08:45]
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bisexualguy
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Toe is in the water |
Location: United States
Registered: November 2012
Messages: 30
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Andrew Todd did indeed address some potent issues in the Riding Lessons saga. (See the Story Shelf on IOMFATS and look under Andrew Todd, if you have not already read his stories.) One does need to read them in order for best understanding. Yes, there are a couple of plot inconsistencies, but not so big that it is worth being upset with. Topics covered over the course of the three stories include shyness, fears of various kinds, various aspects of friendship, loss of a caring and loving father, caring parental father figure substitutes, skills with horses and riding styles, ADHD, sexual and personal attraction, serious and severe depression, risk taking, recovery from sexual assault, cultural differences, unexpected siblings, parental over competitiveness, leukemia, bone marrow transplants, and more.
The short story, Empath's Kiss, is the prologue (alternate spelling: prolog) to his next story, The Chosen. Right now, an another website, The Chosen is on indefinite hold. I do hope Andrew can eventually continue the story and that it might be added here.
And Paul Jamison, I hope that eventually you might continue your good storytelling, as well, hopefully with the story of Christopher and Marcus where it leaves off at the end of Liam.
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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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Andrew and I have spoken about The Chosen some time ago. His real life has intervened, and he plans to offer it to us at what he considers the right time to be. One of the problems authors face is the balance of a desire to see the story published with the problem of disappointing an audience by being interrupted on the way to completion. Doesn't make for great sex, either.
We used to take stories as they rolled off the keyboard. Indeed there is some evidence of that with incomplete tales on the site still. The objective today is to provide a set of complete stories wherever we can, and Andrew is very happy with this approach.
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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ancient_richard
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Getting started |
Location: England
Registered: March 2015
Messages: 19
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Quote:timmy wrote on Mon, 04 November 2013 18:00Who is reading Riding Lessons by Andrew Todd? There are some deep issues handled with a light touch.
--I've read it all, and also the sequels 'Lessons learned' and 'Second Chances' I enjoyed them all, even though I've no interest in riding, doubting my ability to stay on a horse for more than a few seconds. I deal with it by thinking of the horses as very big vegetarian cats - I get on quite well with the household cats.
The author is now in the process of writing a story called 'The Chosen' which uses some characters from 'Riding Lessons' but centres on the activities of some youths born with 'special powers', the sort of theme that can easily get out of hand.
richard
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ChrisR
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Likes it here |
Location: Western US
Registered: October 2014
Messages: 136
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I very much enjoyed Riding Lessons and follow-ons. It was obviously written by somebody who knows about horses; took me back to younger days when much of my summer was spent in a saddle. (Morgan, socks and star, ex-Cleveland police horse, "Duke")
The situations were always interesting and believable. The only downside was something I listed in my pet peeves a while back - too many characters to keep track of. But what the heck - I still enjoyed the ride!
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