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It's with great sadness that we report one of our Classic Authors, GhostRyder15, passed away in October 2013. Ghost Ryder was one of Gay Authors' original Hosted Authors, joining the site back in 2005. A military veteran of the United States Navy during the Vietnam War, it is no surprise that his stories are military themed. Today we honor Ghost Ryder's contributions to both this site and gay fiction. May he rest in peace knowing his stories will continue to live on here at Gay Authors, allowing new readers to experience them. In honor of his passing, we feature a review by Andy78 of his completed story, Kombat Kids. Kombat Kids by Ghost Ryder Reviewer: Andy78 Status: Complete Length: 283,898 When I was first thinking of reading Kombat Kids, I was initially apprehensive as I am not a fan of the military genre in any format; I never even got into TV series such as JAG, NCIS, North and South, and SeaQuest. However, I was pleasantly surprised not only by the story, but even found myself being drawn into the genre. Also, when a new military term is introduced in the story it is explained, which makes it easy to follow the use of these terms and they eventually become familiar. Kombat Kids is set in Washington State near the Columbia River, and focuses on Unit One. The local area has a number of church-run groups and of course there is Boy Scouts; however gay children have been made to feel extremely unwelcome and have been left feeling ostracised. The story starts with Phillip Martin (the son of the town’s sheriff) telling his father that he is gay. Sheriff Martin has no idea how to help his son through this time, and feels unable to answer his questions. So he turns to Matt and James Bateman for help. Both brothers are openly gay and are ex-military; Matt having been a SEAL, and James having served in army airborne. After uncovering the rampant homophobia in the community’s children’s groups, James and Matt decide to form Unit One, which the Bateman Brothers decide they will run like a military training camp; complete with weapons training, fitness training, and even its own Judge Advocate General group. Phillip becomes the poster child for, and a very prominent member of, Unit One. Although initially the Bateman brothers keep Unit One independent without any external support, they soon attract the attention of Sheriff Martin’s brother-in-law, a US marine general. Once he gets involved, the story goes from strength to strength, and in my opinion is the source of some of the best overall plotlines in the story. Not everyone in the community is happy however with the formation of Unit One, and they go to extreme lengths in order to try to close down the unit; lengths which have dire consequences for several of the kids. There is a lot of sex in the story, probably the most I’ve seen in a story here on GA given its length. Though, as with other authors here, GhostRyder15 has managed to avoid it reading too much like smut. However, the way some of the couples first come together, and some of the sex scenes do have a very Nifty-esque feel to them. There are a few negatives with the story; however they are all technical issues. The speech tags are poorly punctuated, and there are minor issues with spelling, continuity errors and general formatting. Whilst these issues are numerous enough to be obvious and are a frequent stumbling block, and numerous enough for me to usually move on to a different story, the story itself is of more than sufficient quality that any reader should try to, if not forgive these errors, at least overlook them. Forgoing these technical errors, I’d give the story itself an 8 out of 10.

It's with great sadness that we report that one of our most notable members, NaperVic, passed away recently. As many of you know, Vic was an active guy who enjoyed working out and running with his dog Mina. He had been warming up for a race when he suffered a major heart attack. After being rushed to the hospital, he remained unconscious until he slipped into a coma. Though he put up an amazing fight to survive, he finally succumbed to his injuries and passed away. Vic has been active on GA for over 8 years and has touched the lives of so many people here. He's always been that friend you could lean on when times were tough. His personality is matched by none, and he will be greatly missed. The hole many of us will feel in our heart where Vic once was may never be filled, but our loving memories of him will live on forever. Here's to you, Vic. May you rest in peace knowing you made the world a better place. We invite those who experienced this wonderful man to leave your thoughts here or in the thread we've started in DomLuka's forum.

Rest in Peace It recently came to our attention that long time member and Classic Author, Jack Scribe passed away earlier this year. Jack joined Gay Authors in June 2006 and since then has posted 19 stories, including the popular Splash Trilogy as well as the Las Vegas Trilogy. Not only was he a popular author on-site, but many members considered him a friend. He will be greatly missed. Rest in Peace, Jack.

In Memory Last week, on August 7, we were all stunned and devastated at the news that Robert (aka Trebs) had lost his battle with Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Anyone who knew Robert knew what a truly genuine and caring person he was. He was always willing to help, always willing to lend an ear, and just always willing to be there if someone needed him. We were all certainly better off for having known him. Earlier this week, we were approached by a GA Member who wanted to ask if it would be possible to publicly share something they had planned, in memory of Robert. After hearing the details, we asked SonoLuminus to write up a blog entry as well as post in The Lounge. Here is what SonoLuminus had to say: As you know, we all suffered a great loss last week with the passing of Robert, aka Trebs after a long battle with Mantle Cell Lymphoma. As a longtime friend of his, I wanted to do something in memory of him, so my husband and I have decided to participate in Light The Night, which is a walk to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We will be walking in Greensboro, North Carolina on Sept. 27th. If anyone would like to contribute, either by donating or by joining the team and walking with us, it would be greatly appreciated. Robert was a caring person who was always helping others, and I feel this would be an appropriate way to honor him. Here is a link to the Triad (Greensboro) chapter: http://pages.lightth....org/nc/Triad14 Here is a direct link to our team page, Team Purple, named for Robert's favorite color: http://pages.lightth...ad14/TeamPurple This link goes directly to my personal page: http://pages.lightth...ad14/MGianzanti Donations made through the links go directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. There is also a link at the bottom of the team page for anyone interested in joining the team as a walker. As of now, it is only the two of us, but I'm planning on trying to recruit a few more. If anyone has any questions, feel free to message me.

I have been trying to think how to put into words what I feel about my friend Robert since I heard he passed away. It is difficult, to say the least. I have been friends with Robert since not long after his arrival here on Gay Authors. We bonded over our shared love of the stories written by dkstories. In fact, we both loved the one story that we never posted here on Gay Authors. It's over on Nifty if you want to figure it out. When the time came for me to finally break Gay Authors away from my own personal business and set up a corporation to run and control Gay Authors, Robert was the first on board. The R from CDEJR is for Robert. In this day and age with our hyper partisan politics, our business partnership is a bit strange. As many people know, Robert worked for the Democrat Party of California and was a liberal supporter of Barrack Obama. In politics, I'm his polar opposite. Robert though, contrary to many these days, understood the simple truth of strength through diversity. We have had a balance here at Gay Authors and it has been Robert's quiet, steady hand keeping us sane. Each of the admins on the site serves a role. In many cases, these roles aren't visible to the public. Robert was our quiet consensus builder. He served the role as Member Advocate because he could lean out and listen to all sides of something and come up with an equitable solution. It wasn't the flashy stuff or the out front stuff, but it was a large part of the glue that kept us together. I can't put into words how much he will be missed by me and by our community. May you Rest in Peace, friend. ***UPDATE*** Many people have asked where they can send flowers. We have noticed this message from Robert's family: "If you would like to make a donation in lieu of flowers, Robert's Charity of choice is The Trevor Project. ( www.trevorproject.org ) or you can help in the fight against the cancer that took Robert by donating to The Lymphoma Research Foundation (www.lymphoma.org). Thank you."

Rest In Peace We must share the sad news that Trebs, or Robert, as he was known to many long-time friends on GA, has passed away, far too soon, from his battles with lymphoma. As a board member and administrator, he has been involved with GA for a long time. He was a big presence in the site blog in recent years, but he was so much more than that and often active in quiet ways. He was always willing to help others whenever, and however, he could. So many of us here were lucky enough to count him as a friend. He will be deeply missed. ***UPDATE*** Many people have asked where they can send flowers. We have noticed this message from Robert's family: "If you would like to make a donation in lieu of flowers, Robert's Charity of choice is The Trevor Project. ( www.trevorproject.org ) or you can help in the fight against the cancer that took Robert by donating to The Lymphoma Research Foundation (www.lymphoma.org). Thank you."