Hi Everyone!

It's Jeff this year asking for your help to keep our sites up and running. You may well know our sites are run almost entirely on your generous donations! When your donations do not cover all of the cost, the difference comes out of our pockets. We have no ADs on our sites and no Premium Tiers and No Pay Walls! There is no charge to our authors for hosting their stories nor any charge for you the readers to read them. That was the original agreement in the beginning and we work hard to keep our promise to keep it that way. Of course we would appreciate it if you could find a way to donate any amount to help us in our mission keep our sites AD-free and running. So please check between your couch cushions and under your car seats any amount will be gratefully accepted. No amount is too small. Seriously!

We thank you very much for all of your help over the years.

So you know, our last offer is still on the table. We are still running the following promotion, simply put, make at least a $10 USD donation and say that you are interested, you'll get a random autographed copy of one of the soft cover Joel Books directly from Ted Luis himself. I don't know how many copies are left but while he has them, he's happy to send them to you all as a thank you. Mine is on a shelf here in my room and it's probably one of my favorite keepsakes.

The Original Offer - Repost:

Have you considered helping to keep these sites up and running? Are you also a fan of Ted Louis' "Joel" series? Well, Ted has informed us that he found a case of assorted Joel books. Yeah, "actual" in print books! He decided that for anyone willing to make a $10 or larger donation within the US to the hosting service paying the bills for the Fort Family Community of sites, he is willing to send you your very own copy of a random book in the "Joel" series, autographed by Ted Louis himself as a thank you! An amazing keepsake from an amazing author!

What to do:

1. Click on https://dsshosting.net/donations/donation-form/ and click on "Donate Now".

2. Make a qualifying donation of $10 or more.

3,. Email your name and mailing address to joel-offer@fortfamilyforums.com (Yes, a P.O. box, relative's address, next-door neighbor, total stranger's address... is fine. As long as you are able to intercept the mail ;)

4. Once the donation has been confirmed, Ted Louis will send a random autographed copy of one of his books to you directly.

(One book per donation. This offer will be withdrawn once the limited number of books has been sent. The early bird gets the worm! Unfortunately, only US residents due to expensive international shipping :( We'll take down the offer as soon as we confirm that no copies remain.)

Hey all!

Yes, I'm serious - there is actually a new chapter!

I just posted CSV-DSM Part 2, Chapter 16: Unintended Rewards for your reading pleasure. As you can probably guess by the title, this one has taken a few twists and turns. The chapter happens after the DSM boys get back home from the party in Orlando, and gives some insight into just how they have been affected by recent world events. I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised at who steps up to become the key player in the events of this chapter; I sure was! There are things that happen here that will need to be expanded on in the next chapter, but this one was getting to the point that it needed to be posted.

For those of you wondering, Brotherhood of Love is pending real life allowing The Eggman to be able to sit down and finish his part of the next chapter without something else completely derailing any thoughts of the storyline. Both of us have been getting sidetracked by real life issues; I just happened to sneak this one in when life wasn't looking!

I hope everyone is having a great summer;

Hugzzz;

AC

It is with a sad and heavy heart that I have to inform you that one of our own has left this plane of existence. However, don't be too sad because Str8mayb is going to Heaven to be with his wonderful wife Robyn. They both have left us too soon. How do I know that he is going to heaven? That is an easy question to answer, he is a Presbyterian and according to one of his favourite songs Heaven Is For Presbyterians. Str8mayb passed away Sunday,  June 2, 2024, he had been battling a severe version of Colitis, the same version that had hit him before. However, this time he couldn't recover.  Str8mayb was not only an author but he was an editor as well. Str8mayb like Comicality helped several authors become better writers, he even convinced several skeptical people to write. Str8mayb was also a former Admin of The Fort Family of sites until personal and work issues took away his time. As you maybe could tell Str8mayb had a very warped sense of humour, especially when it came to music. I am not sure whether Darryl The Radio Rancher corrupted him or vice versa. They were both diehard fans of the Frantics, Boot to the Head was another favourite of his. However, the thing that most of us will remember Str8mayb for is that he was the Evilest Author, and I can personally attest that he was evil. He took the slightly used Cliffhanger and elevated it to new heights. In fact, he raised the bar so high that I couldn't beat him with five Cliffhangers in one chapter. He was also a Master of Deception, he would lead you down the Primrose Path and then suddenly you are looking at the edge of a cliff with no way back. He would a lot of times end the chapter there. He was also known for carrying a Cliffhanger for several chapters. I learned a lot about misdirection and cliffhanger from him. Before I forget, Arli J. was one of the authors that Str8mayb convinced to write. While I will miss reading new words from him, what I will miss the most is writing collaborations by voice on Skype. Str8mayb, Darryl, Darryl and I had a lot of fun seeing which character we could cause to have the most trouble or cause the most trouble. Str8may gave me one of the highest compliments an author can give to another author; I had edited a chapter of his and I had added over fifteen hundred words. When Str8mayb got his chapter back he couldn't find the words I added. He told me that he didn't know where his words ended and mine began. He told Darryl the same thing several times as well. Str8may also created a character that had two nicknames the first one was "The Bengay Kid", and the second one was "The Modern Major General," a character from The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan. I have many amazing memories of a wonderful human being, and he will be sorely missed.

The Story Lover

It would mean so much if you could take a look at our GoFundMe, “Support for Comicality's Mother in a Very Difficult Time”. Comicality's unexpected passing has hit us all very hard but his mother is now being overwhelmed with his final expenses while at the same time dealing with the loss of his income. Please donate or share with others—any help gets her closer to getting her head back above water. Thanks in advance for your kindness and support as we look out for the person who to Comicality was a rock through some very rough times.

Here’s the link: https://gofund.me/372364c6

On Tuesday, April 16, 2024, the world lost a man that served as an example for more people than he even knew.

That man was Comicality; and those of us that he extended his guidance to are still reeling from the loss. He was the ear that would listen when your past came back to haunt you, he was the first one to lend support when an author thought they were not good enough, he never stood down in the face of attempted oppression when he knew it was wrong. Most of all, he was a friend who would stand by your side.

If it wasn't for him, you would not be able to read this today, as I would have never published the story that became the CSU; I would have never took the chance at joining what became the Fort Family, and I probably would still not accept myself for the real me. I'm not alone; far from it... he had that effect on anyone he made contact with. It still doesn't seem real, and even after a week I still am at a loss as to expressing just how much he's affected my life.

If you've read his story "Gone from Daylight", you'll understand the meaning of the next line...

On April 16, 2024, the Elder Comicality went on his Sun Quest.

Rest in Peace, dear friend;

ACFan

Hey everyone!

Yes, I'm still alive! Believe it or not, The Eggman and myself do have a chapter in the works; unfortunately my current medical issues and some real-life issues on his part have slowed things down considerably. While things are moving forward, I value your patience as we navigate these rough times. Good news is that by the end of this year, it looks like my medical issues will be under control!

Now, on to another topic, one that I hope you enjoy. One of the core things that has been part of the CSU since the beginning has been music. Jeffsfort was poking around one day recently, and he found something that he thought I'd be interested in. I did a little poking around, found that not only was it valid, but there was an amazing backstory, and I now want to share it with you!

Back in the day, Don Goldberg was friends with Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, and penned two songs with him which are now available on the "Lost Tracks" collection that was recently published. Don formed the tribute band "Surf's Up" with his sons Donny and Danny, along with his cousin Denny Hardwick. Moving on a few years, Donny gets married, and they have two sons. The oldest, Landon, starts playing drums at the tender age of one - and there is video proof of it! (Dad says he thinks Mom being at the concerts while pregnant taught Landon how to keep a beat before he was born) A year later, Lyric was born ... and by some stroke of luck, both boys were gifted with 'perfect pitch'.

Now on to today... Just like how his Dad let him get involve in music, Donny and his wife has supported both of their son's interest. That has led to the current topic, the band "Raized Wrong". Thirteen-year-old Landon is on drums and vocals, twelve-year-old Lyric is on keyboards, vocals, occasional guitar, and usually draws attention due to his antics. Dad does guitar and some vocals, but lets the boys take the lead. The best part is that the boys do all of the background work, programming Mainstage so that Lyric can use the keyboards to fill in instruments they don't have, breaking down songs so that they know what they need to play, etc. They recently put out an album on most of the streaming services called "Gen Z does Gen X", covering multiple 80's songs (with approval from the original artists, at least one done in-person).

Raized Wrong has a page on Patroen, and multiple Social Media pages. Video and special announcements can be found there. For Patroen, just search for "Raized Wrong". the other one I watch is on Facebook, which is "Raized Wrong Productions" and "Raized Wrong Momma" -- be careful on Facebook, as there are intellectual property thieves posing as them on some other pages, the two I just listed are confirmed as the real thing.

As a reminder, neither I or anyone on the sites are associated with the band, this is just sharing some very skilled youth who deserve to have their skills shared with the world!

**************

Don't forget about the previous news post on the Cafe; we could really use the help to keep the sites running! Thank you to each and every one of you!

**************

I hope all of you are safe and healthy, have a great week!

AC

Hello Readers,

It's TSL again with hat in hand, yes it is that time of year again when we ask you our loyal readers to help keep our sites up and running. You may well know our sites are run almost entirely on your generous donations! When your donations do not cover all of the cost, the difference comes out of our pockets. We have no ADs on our sites and no Premium Tiers! There is no charge to our authors for hosting their stories nor any charge for you the readers to read them. We would appreciate it if you could find a way to donate any amount to keep our sites AD-free and running. So please check between your couch cushions and under your car seats any amount will be gratefully accepted. No amount is too small. We thank you very much for all of your help over the years.

To sweeten the pot a bit, we are running the following promotion again, simply put, make a $10 USD donation get a free Joel Book.

Have you considered helping to keep these sites up and running? Are you also a fan of Ted Louis' "Joel" series? Well, Ted has informed us that he found a case of assorted Joel books. Yeah, "actual" in print books! He decided that anyone willing to make a $10 or larger donation within the US to the hosting service paying the bills for the Fort Family Community of sites, he is willing to send you your very own copy of a random book in the series, autographed by Ted Louis himself as a thank you!

What to do:

1. Click on https://dsshosting.net/donations/donation-form/ and click on "Donate Now".

2. Make a qualifying donation of $10 or more.

3,. Email your name and mailing address to joel-offer@fortfamilyforums.com

4. Once the donation has been confirmed, Ted Louis will send a random autographed copy of one of his books to you directly.

(One book per donation. This offer will be withdrawn once the limited number of books has been sent. The early bird gets the worm! Unfortunately, only US residents due to expensive international shipping :( We'll take down the offer as soon as we confirm that no copies remain.)