Gay story over the river and through the woods
PC
The fourth entry in Octavi Navarro and Susanna Granell’s Midnight Scenes series, From The Woods, tells the tale of an institution for young men, in which some spooky goings on occur after the arrival of a brand-new boy, Oliver.
Oliver and his sister, along with their babysitter, were captured in the woods ten years ago. The babysitter was murdered, and the children never seen again. But a decade later, Oliver reappears in the woods, and given the severity of his situation is taken to the Fernwood Creek Center to recover. At which point, things begin getting creepy, and rather deadly.
The majority of the story is told in flashback, as recounted by 18-year-old Elijah, another patient recalling the events of the previous week to his counsellor. We then direct Elijah in these flashbacks, as he lives his animation at the Center while embroiled in his ongoing relationships with friends, bullies and staff, all while trying to get to understand Oliver. And the stuff with the tree.
This is by far the least interactive adventure in the series so far, playing more like a visual novel than a point-and-click adventure. You can make some vague dialogue choices, and there’s a gr
Program: Alan Hollinghurst and Charlotte Wood on gay lives and celebrity nuns
Booker Prize winner Alan Hollinghurst reflects on writing about lgbtq+ lives and Booker Prize shortlisted author Charlotte Wood explains what it's appreciate to not win the prestigious prize.
British penner Alan Hollinghust won the 2004 Booker Prize for his novel The Line of Beauty about a gay man living in 1980s Britain. His latest novel, Our Evenings, is about another queer human but this story spans a much longer period of British history and follows Dave Win for 60 years as he navigates his life as a gay, biracial guy. Alan was a guest of Sydney Writers Festival.
The Australian writer Charlotte Wood shortlisted for the 2024 Booker for her novel Stone Yard Devotional about an atheist woman who retreats to a nunnery in the Australian bush. It was the first time in 10 years that an Australian was shortlisted for the prize. Claire Nichols spoke to Charlotte at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival, WA.
The River Yearned to Run Free. As a Gay Guy, So Did I.
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
Big-leaf maples blush with the first bloom of autumn on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Just beyond the parking lot in Olympic National Park, the Elwha River rushes north toward the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A forest service highway, which once led to the ranger station, is now gated. Although I am expecting the first big storm of the season, the sky is now blue, so I stow my rain gear. Signs warn me about bears and a cougar that acquire been prowling the area. As a solo hiker, I’ll need to produce noise along the way.
Not far down the road, I find the shuttered National Park Center, eerily quiet. Staffing issues here, too. The mists of recent rains evaporate from the roofs like smoke from burning buildings. It feels as if the landscape is swallowing up all traces of human interference. The pallor of decay adds to my perception of unease.
Four miles beyond, I reach to the site of a former dam. At the end of the walkway, the concrete ends abruptly. Two hundred feet below, the Elwha cuts between the
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Over the River and Through the Wood: A Holiday Adventure by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Kim Smith (InfoSoup)
This modern take on the classic holiday song has family members from around the nation traveling to Grandma and Grandpa’s property for the holidays. One family traveling by automobile comes with 2 dogs, 2 pies and one enormous teddy bear. When their car runs out of gas, they are rescued by a horse and sleigh. The next family, a gay couple with older daughter and baby, travel from a major city via subway and then train. They discover there aren’t any rental cars, but again they are rescued by the same sleigh. Two more families join the pattern, both with diverse family members, and all needing the rescuing sleigh in the end so they can all generate it to Grandma’s home by night.
I love the jaunty rhyme here. While it can seem stilted when read silently, once you try to study it aloud it is magically fun and the rhyme works to design a real rhythm to the story. The repetition for each family no matter how they are traveling to Grandma’s property makes for a guide that even small children will enjoy. Each meets with a disaster and then i
Our daughter received her annual birthday greeting and tribute of $10 from the Toy House here in Jackson, MI. It's one of our favorite places to shop as it's a local, family-owned business plus they have really cool stuff for both kids and adults alike. While Anna ran around ringing the birthday bell and posing for her picture for the November birthday wall, I took a moment to inspect out the new books in the store's manual section. The holiday books were pushed to the front and one caught my eye. It was Linda Ashman's Over the River & Through the Wood: A holiday adventure. We sing the tune to our kids as we have to cross either the Maumee River or the St. Joseph River to get to either one of our parents' house each holiday.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a lgbtq+ male couple with kids as one of the family groups as I read and followed along with the story line. The owner of the store came by and I pointed out the couple and he laughed. I cautioned him that in our rather conservative town (one of the allegedly birthplaces of the Republican Party) this type of family might not fly. He shook his head and asked me how many copies of the book I wanted.
I decided to perform