Discuss SonoLuminus' story "Scenes from Hugo", in this thread.




Spoilers below!!!





Spoilers below!!!





Spoilers below!!!
–

This story covers an era that I was lucky enough not to experience, though I know people who were unfortunate enough to lose many friends at that time.

This is a story worth reading for its historical value alone, but SonoLuminus has brought out the pain and dread of the time when AIDS was striking through the heart of the gay community. You could see it in the sadness of the other characters that Brock Rendall missed the debut of his show, in the despair that made Kerry Daniel take his own life, in the stoic nature of Owen as he tried to ignore, and then to resolve what the disease had done to him, and finally in the fear that Tracey had for the future.

I will admit that I'm afraid for young Parrish. Patrick used a condom, but then Parrish got cut by the glass. Did their blood mix? Did that storm give one of them a death sentence?

I was moved by this story, and felt guilty at realising that I passed that time by without being touch. This story gave me a small -- very small -- taste of what it was like. Thank you, SonoLuminus.

Excellent job SonoLuminus. You had said this was part of a longer piece...any chance we'll see the rest??

Sharon

A big cast of characters, but we do get to know them nevertheless in this short story. The atmospheres of the beginning scenes is realistically rendered. Because of the theme, the course the different characters follow is either going up or down. The simple problem of getting cut by glass casts a threat on Parrish and Patrick. Same as Sharon, if this belongs to a larger ensemble, it would be interesting to read it all.

I really appreciate all the comments and interest in my story!

The piece that this came from is still in rough draft form, over 50k words, and probably not even half finished. It would take some serious work before it would be ready. However, you'll probably be seeing more of these characters, or at least some of them, possibly in the form of inter-connecting short stories instead. I do want to write more about them- I'm just not sure I'm satisfied with what I've already done. Interestingly, one of the two main characters of the original story didn't appear in the short story at all, and I'd really like to introduce him at some point.

I wrote about these characters in the present day (well, last 10 years) before I went back and described some of the things that made them who they are today, and how they were shaped by these past relationships. I can answer the question about Parrish and Patrick, but I don't know if that would be too spoiler-y.

What struck me the most was the juxtaposition between the short-term disaster, Hugo, and the long-term one, AIDS.

Very moving, wonderfully done.