ci5hq | Jan. 14th, 2020

Thanks

macklingirl for hosting our first Reading Room discussion of 2020 last weekend! Our very quick-read story for next weekend's Reading Room is:

...Winter Rain by Alys (Rachel Sabotini), hosted by

byslantedlight from a suggestion by

bodie24
Read it at:
Circuit Archive
A03
British Takeaway 6 (zine)

And then, as you can see below, we have no more suggestions until February! This is despite the fact that some people made suggestions last week (thank you very much!). Trouble was, four of them were stories written by people who are currently active in our Pros comm, and that brought up a dilemma that I thought I'd better address via this poll last week - and thanks everyone who responded! What the results came down to was this:

- respondents = 9 authors and 9 non-authors!
- 7 people were happy to discuss works by current authors
- 9 people said they wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings and so would only be positive
- 2 people said they wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings and so probably wouldn't comment on those stories at all
= 11/18 people wouldn't feel comfortable enough to discuss stories written by current authors
- interestingly, nearly half the authors who said they were happy for their own stories to be discussed said they'd feel uncomfortable discussing stories written by current authors!

I rather had a feeling this was how it might work out, to be honest, and so I think we need to nix the idea of discussing stories written by current authors - not because any of the current authors who answered the poll said they wouldn't like it (on the contrary!) but because this is supposed to be a discussion venue and if people aren't comfortable with all sides of that discussion, then... well, then Reading Room would end up being a positive-feedback venue, and excellent as that always is, it's a different game. *g*

An idea was mooted (thank you!) that authors could be asked if they were happy to have their stories discussed, but to be honest I don't think that would encourage people to give feedback that included criticism (however constructive) as part of the discussion.

Now, all that said, it's definitely notable that authors want their stories to be discussed - and I wonder if anyone remembers the days of Beta Central? We could always try reviving that again, and see what happens. Let me know in the comments if you're interested, authors (and potential beta-type-commenters *g*). Maybe we can get that going again?

So - please suggest stories by authors who aren't currently around Pros on lj, and let's see if we can fill some of the gaps below!

Fri 10th January - A Pardon After Execution by Pamela Rose - hosted by macklingirl
Fri 17th January - Winter Rain by Alys
Fri 24th January - Of Tethered Goats and Tigers by Tarot
Fri 31st January - Love in a Cold Country by Alexandra
Fri 7th February - My Golden Afternoon with the Grim Reaper by PRZed.
Fri 14th February - Snowman with a Dark Coat by Castalia
Fri 21st February - Holding Back the Flood by Lacey McBain
Fri 28th February - In Balance with this Life by MauveMaz hosted by

paris7am