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 This offer will be withdrawn once the limited number of books has been sent.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.)

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

Originally Posted by JeffsFort

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Despite 2023 ending with a hard drive crash that took out all my writing projects, I managed to slip in another chapter of Brotherhood of Love for you! Chapter 14 is hot off the presses, and it goes places that we've never gone before.

As anyone who has been following Clan Short knows, there is something in the water at the Pacific Rim base that causes the most unexpected situations to arise. Today, we've been hit with two of them - and we get to watch as the boys deal with it in their natural unconventional way.

No Mikyvis were harmed in the production of this chapter, but there is a distinct possibility that a couple of Patriarchs might need to invest in scuba gear!

Enjoy!

Hugzz,

AC

Got your attention!

Seriously, a new chapter of Mikyvis Chron. Vacation has went live ... and things are just getting started! While actual Mikyvis sightings are rare in this one, the casts of CSV-DSM and CSPRD make up for it! You'll get to see a little more about how some of the families bonded, and friendships developed.

Somehow this chapter had slipped through without getting published earlier; fortunately TheEggman found it, and after both of us made sure it was actually complete, he posted it while I was busy with other real-life things. We're trying to find Kyle now so we can tickle him for forgetting to remind us!

We both hope you enjoy the insanity!

Hugz

AC

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

Hey all;

Just an update for those of you wondering about the future of the CSU.

We have NOT given up on it! Real life jobs going crazy, on top of a few of us suffering from medical issues that have had us in and out of medical care, has limited our time to write considerably. Personally, I just had circulatory issues in my leg save my life, as when I went into the ER they found that a viral infection had caused major fluid buildup around my heart - a VERY bad thing to find! I'm recovering, and they are pretty sure that I'm out of danger, but that still is affecting my stamina and how long I can sit in one place.

I have been doing my annual review of my own writings - the best way I've found to not only keep the characters fresh in my head, but to also watch for things that their later actions might cause to happen. The storyline for Brotherhood of Love is an example of that, as DJ and Tanner grew into the positions that they now hold, and they have started passing that on to their own new family.

Currently, while I do have some partial work done on multiple stories that I write, I don't have anything that is ready to call it a chapter. There are a couple that I want to wrap up the current books on before I start Memories Book Four, and a couple that I've decided can run alongside it. Brotherhood of Love is probably going to run as a companion to Memories Four, while CSV-DSM needs to close Book 2 and prepare for a Book 3 that will tie it in better with other resources in the Midwest region. there's a lot to juggle, but it is falling together in a way that makes sense in the long run.

Keep your eyes open, because there will be more coming!

Also, I did manage to write a submission for the current writing challenge, and yes, I did the one that covers ALL topics! Call Antonio for temporal tranquilizers once you've read it!

Hugzz;

AC

Originally Posted by Fred De Elf

Dear Readers and Authors,

Due to popular demand, the Thanksgiving Short Story Deadline has been moved to Midnight Wednesday, November 22, 2023. [Actually, TSL needed more time, so his problem is now your help.]

Happy Authoring,

Fred

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to remind you that the Short Story Event is in progress! I just sent mine in, and yes, I took on the challenge and wrote one that uses ALL of the topics.

Remember, you don't need to be a published author to participate; we'd all LOVE to see what our readers come up with! Have some fun, and don't worry that it's 'not good enough' - trust me, you ALL write a lot better than you think you do!

See ya soon!

AC

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

Some friends and I started talking after we heard about the death of Mike (Awesome Dude) and another webmaster, Chuck from Tickie Stories.  We feel that all sites should have a backup plan in place, along with the personnel to continue the site, in case something were to happen to the guy running the site.  This way they can pay their respect to the one who passed and continue the site in his memory.  Think about it, because it would be a shame of any of these sites disappeared. 

BillW

I've been on the fence about this for a little while. Not so much what to post about this as I was considering "if" to post this. Why?

Back in 2004, we had been contacted by a concerned author/reader regarding a free forum we were using that was laced with ads and crap to gather and talk to a small handful of fairly well-known authors of the time. The "community" was considered back then, some form of author support. LOL! That concerned author/reader purchased a parent domain and the software to build an internally supported forum to move the conversation to and gifted it to us. You see the name August Christopher come up for us, this is why. That was the official birth of what we now know as the Fort Family. We all came from small beginnings, the oldest of us were developed in a relatively young internet and needed to change with the times. Our forum is gone now but because of the interconnectivity of the modern internet, the forum became obsolete. So now we focus on hosting the sites that keep online authors' work available to the world. Are we alone in this task, heck no.

On September 9, Dude (IRL - Vale Mike Wengert) founder of the online community "AwesomeDude" that is as old as we are, passed away from a massive heart attack at the age of 79 years old. Just shy of his 80th birthday :(

All of our communities face issues that unless managed could knock us off the internet. This is why there are so few of the "Old Guard" (as ACFan put it to me earlier) left out there. The death of the founding member is bad, when that founding member was also the person managing all the bills and accounts, it is more than a speed bump, it's a mountain to overcome. When August Christopher passed, we were in danger of losing all that had been built so, we have seen that mountain, and feel for the AwesomeDude community.

If you have time, please reach out to them and offer them some positive energy and support. Not only are they facing a difficult battle but they are mourning the loss of a close friend. That mourning has to take a back seat when dealing with trying to save their creation and I can say from experience, that part sucks! Our community was only a year old when we dealt with this loss and fought to get our hands on the wheel of what felt like an out-of-control bus. Their community was established almost 20 years ago, around the same time our community became something we could also call a community. So it is more the size of a freight train compared to the bus we needed to learn how to drive.

Even though over the years all these "competing" communities had fences between themselves and others of its kind, I've always considered us in competition with no one. Just another group or gathering supporting independent authors and offering a hand to get them exposure. That's all any of these sites ever offered. Dude was one of those people who felt the same way, and his absence will be felt by us all.

RIP Dude and best wishes to the community you created and those within.

https://awesomedude.com/

Just as you thought the insanity couldn't get any crazier, the Morale Rimmers hit the Hyperspace button! Due to Clan Wagner AND the PRD Command Team holding various weapons to the heads of myself and The Eggman, Chapter 13 of Brotherhood of Love has been completed in record time! (Valium sold seperately, batteries not included.)

This chapter continues the visit of Clan Wagner to the Pacific Rim Division, and quite honestly, it surprised even the two of us writing it! You'll see quite a few CSU core characters wandering around, and some interesting surprises are in store.

We hope you enjoy the chapter; it is highly recommended that you have something nearby to wipe snacks and/or drinks off of your screen if you risk them while reading.

Huggzzz!

AC

Despite the best attempts of real life, (twelve hour days five to six days a week suck!), the boys of Clan Wagner managed to get my overloaded brain to actuall put words to the screen. That's right, Brotherhood of Love has just had the long-awaited Chapter Twelve posted!

I'd like to thank TheEggman for his assistance as co-author on this chapter; nobody can write the Rimmers like he can!

The boys finally make it to Hawai'i, and the expected PRD madness ensues fairly quickly. In the process, we get a good look at how the various activities that the leaders have been up to have affected their relationships with each other. It's a roller coaster ride that you'll probably stand in line for again and again!

Thank you for your patience and support; I'll do my best to get another chapter out in a reasonable time!

Hugzzz;

AC 

I plan to travel to the USA during August, 2023. My first time, might I add, and will be visiting the states of Washington, Oregon and California. There has been some talk about possibly hosting a meet and greet, and well, I’m sending out this message to see if any folks are actually interested in this venture. I’d love to meet and talk about my books and life in general with my readers. If this is something you’d be interested in doing, let me know. So, I could try make arrangement for possible things to do, or if you have any ideas please let me know. I’ll include a bit of a survey below to best pool everyone’s thoughts, making it easier for me to decide on what to do. I’m dropping this email early so people have some foresight to plan if this occasion goes forward.

Best,

D.K. Daniels

Hi Everyone!

Yup, you read that title right, we are attaching a brand new/old site to our Community Network and I personally think it's a bit of a big deal. As many of you may be aware, the online author 'Ted Louis' from tedlouis.com is hanging up his quill. He has given us decades of some of the most amazing stories ever read by so many of us. In retiring, his plan was to give warning so people could grab copies and then let the website simply retire itself. Now, not wanting to see that happen, we put a ton of work into creating a family site that was capable of maintaining a home for his works and those of his hosted authors and I'm happy to say, it's ready for the big unveiling.

Now for the catch, I need to adjust friendship links between any other sites already co-hosting Ted's work as it is coming from the temporary domain; and where we have already obtained the correct domain name, it needs to be adjusted and then wait until DNS servers recognize that change. It could happen instantly or it could take a couple of days. There's no way of telling. So, if you are here to read a story by Ted Louis or the story from an author that is hosted on his original site, you may want to go to tedlouis.com as there will always be a version of all this work on the source site or outgoing classic site while co-hossted copies may fail until the internet catches up with the change.

I'd say please welcome Ted to the family but, hosted by us or not, he's always been family to us and it is our honor to be able to make his retirement that much more pleasant.

*HUGZ* - Jeff

Hi everyone!

I wanted to reach out to regular readers here at True's Fandom as well as those who circulate throughout the Fort Family of hosting sites. One exceptionally difficult job is finding someone willing to take over the work started by a community/family member who we all miss. We all know that TrueFan (Lenny) put a lot of himself into his own work as an author as well as in growing his site. In the few years that True's Fandom has existed, he has amassed an impressive library that signifies the personality of those hosted on the site as well as give many newer authors a jumping-off point or even a home base. When we lose a site owner, we can maintain the hosting so the work isn't lost and active authors can still contribute but, we need to find someone who is willing to carry the torch lit by its creator. Today I am very happy to announce someone who not only is willing to take the wheel but, if given the opportunity, someone I believe Lenny would have chosen himself as his successor.

For those of you who are readers both at True's Fandom as well as many of our other hosting sites, author "Garret D. M." who has been a very close friend of many of us, including Lenny, has accepted our request for him to take over his online "Dad's" site and I know for a fact, this would make TrueFan himself both very happy as well as very proud. Garret brings with him new ideas & new direction as well as the ability to pay tribute to a man who quite literally was his online Dad, which is awesome!

So please join us all in welcoming Garret D.M. as one of our newest site owners and let's all support him as he learns to drive the vehicle Lenny and his hosted authors have built! 

- Jeff

As promised, the first part of the Epilogue that will cover the characters of Jigsaw, Be Careful What You Ask For, and Dawn's Early Light is now live for your enjoyment.

Just as a reminder, this is being put together by myself (AC) and The Eggman as a tribute to D&B's visions, using the permissions given us at D's passing. As he had tied both of his mainline stories together into Dawn's Early Light, the Epilogue will cover all three stories listed in the announcement.

I hope that we are doing his memory justice with this work, and look forward to having the characters able to be used in future works once their stories have been brought up to date.

Thank you;

AC & Eggy

Hey all!

As I'm sure all of you are aware, I've been bouncing around between stories to get everything up to the current spot in the timeline - which sometimes means jumping around to ensure continuity across the Universe is maintained.

When Dave of D&B passed on, B turned the characters and stories over to myself and TheEggman to allow the characters to be part of future storylines. Unfortunately, at that point in time they were in front of all of us! Before Dave passed, he did manage to merge two of his stories into a third one. Both Jigsaw and Be Careful What You Ask For run alongside each other, and were merged into Dawn's Early Light to cover the BOE storyline.

This has allowed a unique opportunity; in most cases, when an author passes, their storyline stalls. In this case, we've had the permission to continue the storyline, but needed things to be caught up to allow that to happen. Once we finally were satisfied that it was safe, the next part was deciding how to pull it off. While various plot points that had been planned were included in other CSU stories, to move forward the storylines from D&B really needed closure. After serious thought, and quite a few discussions, it was decided that the best way to honor what he was doing would be to write a multi-chapter Epilogue to Dawns Early Light, resolving some of the major storylines and preparing the characters to move forward in future CSU stories.

Over the next week, I plan to finalize a method to re-direct you to Dawns Early Light after the last chapters of both Jigsaw and Be Careful. The first chapter of the Epilogue is over 2/3 done, and will be posted as a continuation of Dawn's Early Light. Upon the conclusion of the Epilogue, all three stories are expected to be wrapped up and the characters poised to be able to be easily integrated into future CSU stories without major questions left hanging.

So, now that you've been warned, you'll have time to refresh your memory on all three stories, and will be ready to move forward with us as we once again get to see Jonas, Harry, Kurt's family, and other characters actively moving ahead!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we are writing it! This will be appearing on all Fort Family Sites which currently host D&B's stories!

Hugzz;

AC

Hey all!

Confused Archnanians, time loops, new discoveries under CIC ... that can only mean one thing ... CSV-DSM Part 2 Chapter 15 is now live!

Hold onto your hats, because this is one wild ride! To add to the fun, there is a whole scene in there that co-stars our friends from Life Renewed! Their section happens between chapters 8 and 9 of Life Renewed, so if you want to brush up on them, you just need up to the end of Chapter 8.

I hope you enjoy the show!

Hugzz;

AC

Hey all!

It's happened; Life Renewed has reached the point where it ties into the Memories storyline, which nails down the timeline! Chapter 11 is now live, and it brings us to the point where the crew shows up in Memories 3, Chapter 43.

Don't worry, this isn't the end of Life Renewed; I have been told that the boys have a lot more story to tell! In this chapter, we get to watch as the first major steps are attempted by not only the boys, but also the adults, towards becoming a much-needed branch of the Clan family.

Hugzz; and thank you to those who have already donated to the Annual drive! Just remember, 100% of received donations are used for providing the hosting of the Fort Family sites - we do not use them for other purposes. If for personal reasons you do not feel comfortable with using the donation button, please feel free to contact myself, JeffsFort, or The Story Lover to arrange an alternate method!

Thank you;

AC

Dear Authors and Readers,

It is that time of year again. Yes, it is time for our Annual Pledge Drive to keep the lights on and our Fort Family of sites servers running.

So please give us a helping hand to keep our sites alive. No donation is too big or too small, all donations are greatly accepted and appreciated.

Remember none of our sites have ads or Premium Fees!

Please help us keep our founder August Christopher's dream alive.

To Donate just click on the Donate Button in the left side panel on any site.

Thank you for your help over the years,

The Fort Family Admins

Hey everyone!

There's a new chapter of Life Renewed!

Sorry about the bouncing around between stories, but I'm trying to get the timeline resynced! I just posted Chapter Ten of Life Renewed, which locks in the story to the timeline at the end of Memories Part Three. There's going to be at least one more chapter appearing fairly shortly, as I still need to get the story past the events of Memories 3, Chapter 46. Once that's done, then I can get back to CSV-DSM, and then the base is set to move forward. If everything goes well, another chapter of Brotherhood of Love will sneak in the mix somewhere soon too!

Thank you for being patient; 2022 was a real mess for finding writing time, I'm really hoping 2023 is better!

I hope you all enjoy the new chapter, and wish all of you a safe 2023!

Hugzz;

AC

Happy New Year, all - as I'm trying to dig myself out from under moving boxes, we had a little surprise arrive on the Cafe!

Brynmor has added a new story to his library - "Hedley Hollow", and he has given the okay to allow it to be co-hosted here on the Cafe!

Chapter 1 is live now, and from this point on it will update as soon as he posts on the Annex. I get to see it in-progress, and I requested to co-host it before the story was even named. Stand by for a thrilling ride; he's just getting started on this one!

Have a great year!

Hugzzz;

AC

Happy New Year 2023 from the Admins of the Fort Family and the Authors of the Cafe to each and every one of you!

To add to the festivities, I want to thank all of our Authors and Readers, as the Cafe has passed the TEN MILLION chapters read since we started using this software milestone!

To each and every one of you, we send best wishes for a happy and safe 2023!

ACFan

Happy New Year everyone! Thank you for another awesome year, there is more books on the way soon for you all to enjoy. I hope 2023 is a better year this time around, and that you are happy and healthy.

🎄🎅 Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you all have a lovely evening. I have a free Christmas story available through my mailing list. So, if you'd like to have a festive read over the holidays, sign up and get your copy. I'll be dropping the story in two parts, and its only available for my mailing list and Patreon. 🎅🎄 Sign up via my website - www.dk-daniels.com 

The Fort Family is truly saddened by the loss of the Author and Site Owner True Fan. He will be sorely missed.

We are extending our sincerest condolences to his family, co-authors, and readers.

His site will be maintained as a memorial to him.

Requiescat in Pace, 

The Fort Family Admins

Hey everyone!

While this does not affect the other CSU authors, I was given the chance to purchase the house that I had been renting but moved out of last year, and I took advatage of it! 

Closing on it is about to happen, so I'll be spending a little time moving HQ to its permanent home. That will slightly delay the next chapters that I'm working on, so don't panic!

Just to keep you in the loop, this is where things stand. Life Renewed is in the queue to be brought to current time, Brotherhood of Love is awaiting a few things I need to have happen in Des Moines, CSV-DSM has a few things that still need to happen to support events in other stories either already written or pending, and Memories book 4 is waiting for DJ and Tanner to get control over their new life. (There might be a Mikyvis Chron or two as well; I never plan those, the kids spring them on me without warning!)

Thank you for your support, and I'm looking forward to driving the CSU into its 21st year at full steam ahead!

Hugzz;

AC

Hi everyone,

As some of you may have noticed, we have been experiencing intermittent outages with a small handful of our story siites as recently as earlier today. These outages are a result of a service that we utilize being hacked, which is affecting some functionality of the sites and triggering malware scanners within our service. It is being addressed but as with any attack of this nature, we can't offer a timeframe of when we are "in the clear" as we are simply reacting when trouble pops up as software needs to be developed to address this new issue moving forward.

For now, be sure you keep copies of everything that is newly posted on your site as an attack could force a site to restore from a recent backup, which 'could' reverse the addition of new material. Site owners, you will be contacted if this action is performed on your site. Get in touch with one of us if you have any questions or concerns.

Together we built The Fort Family and together we defend it!
- Jeff

You really didn't think I forgot, did you?

CSV-DSM Chapter 14: A Father's Love is now live, and due to everything that happens, it is just a little longer than most of my recent posts. As you would expect from one of my Anniversary storylines, you're going to see some familiar faces coming in, and quite a few questions get answered - and I promise the end of this chapter will NOT leave you hanging!

Thanks to everyone who has supported myself and all of the other CSU authors over the years; none of us could have done this without you!

Hugzz!

AC

It seems a few of you are kind of worried about how the last chapter of CSV-DSM part 2 ended ... so I've decided to post Chapter 13 before one of the pitchforks causes any damage! I've had to make some small adjustments to the house plans, so they're going to appear as soon as I have them updated. Other than that, our latest family seems to be coming together quite nicely ... and at least one of the Brazilian boys has no issue turning Grandma Morrisons own tactics against her!

The ride's getting godd, I hope you enjoy it!

Hugzz

AC

First off, I hope everyone has caught up on the newest CSU author, SamIam; he's already plotting a storyline that you'll love!

Now, for the latest news, CSV-DSM Part Two has just gained ANOTHER new chapter ... Chapter 12: Intervention is now live and ready for your reading pleasure. Over the weekend, I'll post the blueprints for the house in the chapter; they're just about ready to go.

Enjoy the fun; you're about to get to know a few characters a little better, and we start to understand some things about our new friends from Brazil!

Hugzzz;

AC

Attention All CSU Readers:

As Archivist of the Clan Short Universe, I hereby declare and confirm that the author known as SamIam has successfully completed the necessary requirements to be awarded the title Clan Short Universe Author and confer upon him all the rights and responsibilities which are consistent with the title.

On this day, September Fourteenth, in the year Two Thousand and Twenty-Two, let it be known that the story Oh Can You See has been reviewed and accepted as a Clan Short Universe Core Timeline story, and is considered a canonical part of the main storyline.

TSL Clan Short Archivist

Welcome to the CSU SamIam, as usual, all of CSU Stories will be co-hosted on the CSUhub as well. This is the only place for all the CSU Stories, Images, and Resources.

This post has been approved by The Clan Short Archivist.

Portions of the post have been contributed by ACFan Creator of The Clan Short Universe.

(PS: Temporal Tranquilizers are in the third drawer on the left!)

From all of us at the Fort Family of sites, we express our sincere condolences to the subjects and territories of the United Kingdom upon the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Elizabeth was an example to the world, affecting decisions and direction just by her presence even in countries which were not under her rule. Know that we mourn with you, and know that we honor her achievements and her life.

Godspeed,

ACFan

Hey all!

Despite rumors circulating the Web, I did not forget about CSV-DSM! Today we get to follow along as two boys from Brazil get introduced to the Clan in an unusual way, and in the process set wheels in motion for future events.

Hang on, this is going to be a bumpy ride!

AC

It seems the boys were getting impatient, so they made me sit down and get this written out! So, for your reading pleasure, the newest chapter of Brotherhood of Love, Chapter 11, is now live!

This chapter is actually quite calm compared to the last few, but the characters are opening up and giving us a hint at what we may see from them in the future. Look for a couple of faces from Sentenced to Life, they are getting a chance to visit!

I hope that you enjoy the chapter!

AC

I've posted a PDF addition to the Family Tree for Brotherhood of Love, covering the new chapter. As a PDF, it gives you one file instead of three, yet you still have the three images for quick reference from Chapter Nine.

I'm confused too! I just don't think spoilers are good in family trees, so leaving older ones for new readers is a plus!

Hugzz

AC

Hey all!

I had planned on posting this literally the instant that the sites went down a couple of days ago. Now that we are as stable as we can be, I'll give you the latest in the Brotherhood of Love saga - Chapter 10: Camptown Blues!

DJ and his family are finally starting to settle in; just spending the day relaxing. When a call comes in, Finn steps up to the plate, leading a select group of his family members on a mission to invade a reprogramming camp owned by one of the former executives of Zorro Communications. Will he follow in his new family's footsteps? Chapter Ten answers this and a few more questions!

I hope that you enjoy the chapter!

Hugzzz

AC

Hi Fort Family!

As many of you may be unaware, on Thursday evening our service provider was one of many who experienced a complete outage that took our entire community down for a short period of time. I won't go into any details but we are not complaining about the speed in which this issue was addressed. The reason for this post is to request that any major site updates or important chapter postings should be postponed to allow for temporary fixes to receive permanent repairs. Where the work continues, I would consider all of our sites "Read Only" for a day or two. I will attempt a current backup as a "Just Incase" but, if we experience DNS issues resulting from the outage, new work could be lost.

So please join us in thanking those involved in such a speedy recovery but to be safe, do some reading and let your readers angrily stare at your newest cliffhanger one or two more days. 🤣

*HUGZ*

Dumbstruck - Part 3 is out now, folks can get paperback or ebook versions on Amazon or Google Play. I know this book has been coming from a while, and now I'm thrilled to say it has finally dropped. The book is much longer than the previous two in the franchise, and I have plans for a fourth book, so stay tuned for that too. Links found here: https://www.dk-daniels.com/dumbstruck-series

Hey All;

I've got a new chapter of Brotherhood of Love for you, as well as a Family Tree so that you can keep score easier!

In BoL nine, we get to see how some of the more fragile new members of Clan Wagner are adjusting, while some other members are stepping up and trying out their new capabilities.

I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as i did writing it, and you'll find that there are hints at some future events!

Hugzzz;

AC

As I promised, the second part of what I posted yesterday is now live!

If you missed it, you'll want to read Brotherhood of Love Chapter 8A first, but now you have the conclusion to the events of Chapter 8A. Things finally come to a head as Destiny reveals the path that DJ is going to be leading his family down.

Enjoy!

Hugzz,

AC

Hey all!

I'm about to post the first part of a two-part chapter for Brotherhood of Love! Between real life and certain characters who don't know when to slow down, the chapter became too long to post as one!

Within a few minutes, I'll be posting Brotherhood of Love Chapter 8A ... and I plan on posting 8B sometime tomorrow night.

What should you expect? Well, DJ, Tanner, and Chek are trying to regain control of the sudden changes in their lives... which could possibly happen if their sons let them! Fortunately, a few familiar faces from the other Orlando bases have noticed, and they are trying to assist in giving structure to Clan Wagner.

I have purposely picked a split point which doesn't leave you hanging, so as I verify everything in Part B is ready to post, you can read Parrt A without needing to break out pitchforks to make me hurry up!

I hope that you enjoy the new chapters!

Hugzz;

AC

As promised, I'll be going ahead with my live launch party for How I Live Now. I've got physical copies of the book to give away, and I'm thrilled to say I have the paperbacks. So, I plan to do a live stream event on Saturday to celebrate. I'll be giving away copies of How I Live Now, some signed artwork and whatnot. The event details are below. Please stop by for a chat; I'll be reading some of the novel while answering questions. Hope to see you there. You will also be able to find a link on my website and linktree.

Details: 
4th June, 2022 at 8 PM Irish Standard Time.

https://youtu.be/nJpOhdFDZDk

Linktree:
https://linktr.ee/dkdaniels

Best,
D.K.

Hey all!

I couldn't resist ... I had to get this one live! (Okay, the threats from the characters helped a little bit ... )

Now that everyone's home, it is time for the family to start settling in. Will the boys accept the new brothers? Can the kitchen handle making enough cookies? Can Dylan make it a full chapter without a prank? Read on, and at least some of these questions get answered!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Huggzz 

AC

Hey all!

It's that time again ... DJ and his family are once again proving that Cory was right when he decided that DJ and Tanner had earned their own Family within Family Clan Short. Hang on as we learn just how much attention our boys paid to the events in their family since their rescue back in Memories Part 1, and watch them put their knowledge to use.

I hope that you enjoy this chapter, and like you, I look forward to seeing just what they're planning to do next!

Hugzz;

AC

Happy Saint Patricks Day!

Tonight, I'm giving you Chapter Five of Brotherhood of Love ... and the mall trip gets even more interesting! DJ and crew are on a roll, and the adults are trying to catch up to them. Hold on to your seats, because DJ is getting ready to prove the reason Cory gave him his new title ... and I fear for anyone who gets in his way.

This chapter grew beyond the size that I'm allowing for chapters in this book, so I already have a good start on the next one. Feel free to send me your thoughts, I'm sure there might be a few twists that you didn't expect!

Enjoy and HUGZZ!

AC

​

🇮🇪☘️ Happy St. Patricks Day to all my readers and friends. I hope everyone has an awesome day. 🇮🇪☘️

​

Guess what? The long-threatened mall trip by DJ, his family, and his friends has hit the streets, and as expected things are going sideways at a record pace! That's right, Brotherhood of Love Chapter 4: Timmy's Law is now live, and we get to watch as a few of the boys start to find their places in their new Clan families. Look for a few familiar faces from Memories, and make sure you have cookies at hand to feed Dilly!

I hope that you enjoy the chapter, and I'm already plotting the events of the next one!

Have a great week!

AC

As you are all aware, I normally strive to keep the real world out of the news on the Cafe. Tonight, I have decided that an exception was in order. One of our Featured Authors, Ruwen Rouhs, has the unfortunate distinction of having lived through World War II in Europe, and now living through the current war in Ukraine. He has put his experiences into a poem that can be found here - "I was Four! It was War! I am Eighty-Four! It is War!" - and I honestly think that it should be read by everyone to get insight into just what the current events mean, from someone who has lived them. None of us born after the end of WWII have the experience to really recognize what current events really have the probability of leading to, so I am honored that one of the few people left with that experience has decided to share their observations with us.

Thank you for taking the time to read, and please join me in whatever manner you believe in in extending prayers / well wishes/ spiritual support to those being attacked because they wanted to make their own decisions.

AC

Despite the overload of real life causing a slight writers block, I did manage to come up with something for all of you!

As of today, there is now an official cover for Brotherhood of Love! For those of you who have decimated a few forests by printing hard copies of all of the Memories chapters, you now have a cover for Brotherhood of Love as you add it to your collection.

I hope you enjoy the addition, and don't worry, I should be writing again soon.

AC

This is the first book by James Keogh, his first essay into the world of published stories. It is a modest tale of life in another century, in another country, and as such is set in a world probably unfamiliar to the reader.

The style and language used are such as to reflect this different world. At the same time the theme the story evokes is one which is common throughout history. So whilst being a historical romance, it embarks on that familiar voyage of self-discovery, questioning, and struggle. A battle the protagonist engages in, both with his family, society, new found friends and acquaintances, and most importantly himself.

Synopsis

One summer well before the Bolshevik revolution, when Russia was a noble country, young Alexei, as was the custom of the time, left the city with his family, for the countryside.

It was a time of discovery, excitement, longing, and also sadness. A time in which he made new acquaintances and fought battles with himself, as the child he still was struggled free from many constraints into a world of dangerous possibilities.

Author's Note

The book is complete, consists of short chapters, and around 20k words. Chapters will be posted frequently and regularly. I am very pleased to have been accepted for publishing to this site for online stories.

A Russian Summer - Chapter I

I'm thrilled to announce that As They Say is out now. The story of Adam of Ross is a true love story, and I am proud to share it. I enjoyed it when I wrote the novel, but I further appreciated it in the editing rounds. You can grab a copy of the book on Amazon and Google Play. It is half price until January 31st.

Don't forget I'll also be going live this evening at 5 PM (GMT) on Youtube for the launch of As They Say. I'll be talking about the book, answering questions and discussing the giveaway bookie box. It's also my birthday, so turn up to make it a real party. Cake may or may not be included in the invitation.

Link found here https://linktr.ee/dkdaniels

Best,
D.K.

It's been a busy year already on the Cafe, and it's only January!

First off, congrats to D. K. Daniels for his publication of "As They Say" - I hope you have as much or more success with the paperback as you have had with the online copy!

Welcomes are in order for our newest author, Ruwen Rouhs, and you will be seeing his stories appearing over the next week or so.

Thank you to The Story Lover for all of his help over the last year; he's been helping me keep things going when life went into turbo-insane mode.

And now, to top things off .... NEW CHAPTER!!!

If you didn't notice, I've added a new story in the Clan Short Universe, called Brotherhood of Love. DJ and Tanner have grown as characters to the point that they deserve their own storyline, so I have given them one.

Today, Brotherhood of Love Chapter Two: Changes has gone live! Join the boys as they come back from their honeymoon only to find their own family has been plotting in their absence. You'll find visits by a few familiar faces, and quite a few surprises!

Enjoy, and I wish everyone a Safe and Happy 2022!

Hugzzz!

ACFan

Don't fret folks, I know As They Say is a beloved tale here on the site. I thought I'd let you know what is happening in case you missed it. I've decided to unpublish the story prior to my personal publication of the story in paperback. However, I am delighted to say I will be updating it here on Cornercafe to the latest version, I just need some time and there is a lot of moving pieces to contend with now. I plan on releasing the offical book on the 29th January 2022, so if you want more info about that you can head over to my website at www.dk-daniels.com - Also, don't forgot to sign up to my mailing list, I'll be giving away free paperbacks and digital version to some lucky folks. I hope to have an updated version of ATS - book 1 up not long after the release, but I'll have to see how it goes with my time constraints. Thanks for understanding, and I can't wait to share the newest version of the story with you all.

Happy New Year, everyone!

You'll see two new CSU posts to start the year, both in the Mikyvis Chronicles area. Honeymoon: Intermission is for those who skipped reading my Christmas 2021 Story Challenge submission; I tried to warn you, it ties in with Honeymoon: Chapter 3 and will clear a few things up. The second post, logic dictates, must then be Honeymoon Chapter 3. (Of course it is, I'm not THAT mean!) 

For Honeymoon 3, we're back in Archnanian Real Time after the Intermission, and we find out quite a few things about the effects some of the Clan family have just by being there. This chapter allows a lot of healing and bonding, something quite a few of the boys needed.

May all of you have a safe and joyous 2022!

ACFan

Orignally Posted by Fred DeElve

Happy New Year guys, I hope you have a lovely evening, and you celebrate lots. Thank you for an amazing year to all the readers and authors I've had the chance to talk with this year. :) It has been an incredible journey, and I am greatful to have shared it with you all. Lets hope 2022 will be the year where things get back to normal.

D. K. Daniels beat me to posting, so don't forget to read his news post as well!

Merry Christmas from all of us on the Corner Cafe!

There are multiple Christmas posts this year, and I thank all of the authors and readers who made this year special. I'd like to extend a special "Thank you!" to D. K. Daniels for kicking everything off with his online reading of "Chasing Christmas"; I can tell you that was no easy feat, as it has been tried multiple times with Memories but never made it to first base! 

From myself, JeffP, and TSL, we have the Fort Family Admin's submissions into the Christmas Story Event. For you CSU fans out there, you might just want to read mine, because you never know what warped ideas might travel from my fingers into CSU Canon ... don't say I didn't warn you!

From all of us, to all of you, Merry Christmas and may yourself and all of your families and friends have a safe and joyous conclusion of 2021 that extends throughout 2022.

ACFan

Merry Christmas Everyone! 🎄 🎅 I hope you have a lovely day, and you get all the Christmas presents 🎁 you asked for from Santa. If you still haven't found out, sign up to mailing list, I'll be dropping an exclusive Christmas story 📖 called It Would Be You only for my mailing list, and my patreons. The post drops tomorrow. So, don't miss out on that, and if you still want more festive vibes, grab a copy of Chasing Christmas ⛄, and read along with me on Youtube 🖥️. I covered all 16 hours of the book, and you can still catch up if you missed the livestreams. 📹

Link Below:

https://linktr.ee/dkdaniels

There was a live reading of Chasing Christmas every day from December 1st - December 14nd, 2021. Thank you to all the people who turned up, it was nice to see you all. You can also rewatch the previous livestreams on my Youtube channel, and still turn up to the livestream even though it had ended. Links via my linktree.

Linktree link: https://linktr.ee/dkdaniels

Website Link: https://www.dk-daniels.com

D.K. Daniels here: I'm not usually vocal on the news bulletin. However, I have something neat to share. I'm trying out something new, and since the 12th of December makes Chasing Christmas 3-years-old too, I'm thinking of doing an exclusive reading of the story live. Twenty-two chapters, Twenty-two days, each segregated into an hour a day. Starting around the start of Decemeber. You can grab yourself a copy of the book, and we can read the novel together simultaneously, ask questions, and whatnot. If this is something you'd like to participate in with me, let me know below by voting on it. I think it is cool, something different to look forward to on the run-up to Christmas :) So, vote on it below. The link goes to survey monkey, just so I can guage the demand. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9MXPJZ7

Despite working 12 hour days AND having to move unexpectedly to a new house, I have managed to get another chapter together! With this chapter, the Michaels family saga gets to within 24 hours of the party at the end of Memories Part 3.

STL and Memories fans will see some familiar faces this round, and we all get to watch as the group that was thrown together start to learn how to be family.

No kiddie pools were harmed in the making of this chapter .. promise!

Hugz,

AC

Due to the ongoing Pandemic, a lot of us have gone through financial difficulties. The Fort Family of Sites has been affected by those financial difficulties as well. In fact, for the last eighteen months, we have been running in the red. Due to quite a few of our sites coming up for renewal over the next couple of months, we will go far enough in the red that it will be untenable.

So, please donate to support our Author Hosting and keep all of our sites online. All donations large or small will be greatly appreciated. Anything you can give to support The Fort Family of Sites will go a long way to keep the sites online and Ad-Free.

Thank you for your generosity.

TSL for the Fort Family of Sites.

The next chapter of "Mikyvis Chronacles: Honeymoon is now LIVE!

In Chapter two, we continue to follow DJ and Tanner as they start their journey in Cory and Sean's footsteps -- and as expected, they're doing it in style!

Hang on, this ride has some serious twists!

AC

I thought that you would all like to know what we're working on in the background! After discussion, myself and TheEggman have finally been able to determine a path to move the CSU stories of D&B forward. After Dave passed away, "B" turned everything over to us; the problem was that none of us felt confident at the time that we could do their storylines justice.

I'll give more details when available, but for now we have decided as a first step to include the core "Jigsaw" characters in some future installments of "Honeymoon" to prepare for the continuation of their storylines. For the first time in years, "CSPRD", "Memories", "Jigsaw", "Be Careful...", and "CSV-DSM" are running very close together. With the work we are planning in "Honeymoon", we should be able to have all of the above stories in line to run concurrently when we start the next books of Memories and CSPRD, and we are looking at ways to move forward with the "Jigsaw" and "Be Careful..." storylines without disrespecting the legacy of D&B.

Stay tuned, there's more coming as fast as we can get it done!

AC 

To go along with the previously mentioned update announcing the "Honeymoon" addition to the "Memories" and "CSPRD" timeline, I just went through and cleaned up an issue that has made even us author ask "Where is ... at?"

The story collection "Mikyvis Chronicles" has had the word "The" removed from the front of its name, as has the first section, "Musical Interlude". This should make things easier from a reader and author standpoint to find things. I also added some quicklinks in the story lists for TheEggman and myself to help your access to the stories.

Hugz,

AC

A new section of "The Mikyvis Chronicles" has been created, entitled "Honeymoon" This story is intended to fill in the gaps between what happens at the end of two stories, Memories Book Three and CSPRD Book One, and the start of the next book of both stories.

This first chapter focuses on events involving DJ and Tanner immediately after Memories Book Three finished. There are lots of adjustments that the two boys need to make as they learn about their new family members, plus there are a few surprises awaiting them! 

Link to The Mikyvis Chronicles: Honeymoon

From The Eggman and myself, we hope that you enjoy the newest chapter, and want to make sure that you remember to keep an eye out for more chapters!

Hugzz,

AC

Believe it or not, tonight a milestone has been reached... after almost 19 years ...

Book Three of Memories is now complete!

That's right, Chapter 44, Shelter, is now live for your pleasure, and concludes Memories Book III!

No need to panic, however, as there is still one more book to go. (I threatened to make it a pamphlet, and got dunked by half the Clan!)

Once I wrap up a few things in other stories that need to happen, Book 4 will begin.

I hope you enjoy the chapter, and look forward to your comments!

Hugzz;

ACFan

Despite real life being insane, I managed to put togeter a little something for the holiday weekend in the US. For our team in Des Moines, it is the first day after the attack on Earth, and a few parents are pushing their sons to try to unwind. Also included is Colin Powell doing his best to make the entire Clan blush, which personally I think he did quite well.

Between the two chapters, one of the favorite escapades of the Clan once again rears its head - a mall trip! Hold on tight as the boys have their fun!

Hugzz,

AC

I hate these posts.

Today we lost one of our youngest authors. Juju on "The Story Lover's Home", also known to us as Jbird or Julian, passed away today. As relayed to us by "Jarquafelmu", What should have been a minor head injury from a fall in the locker room at school turned into a Subarachnoid hemorrhage near his brain stem and by the time the doctors were able to stop the bleeding pretty much all brain activity was gone.

Our sincerest condolences go out to Julian's family and thank them for letting us know what happened.

We've lost many friends over the years and we have honored each and every one of them by keeping their work alive within our community, Juju's work will live on among them. Julian will be missed terribly by us all. He was taken much too soon :(

Rest in Peace Juju...

We have found another way to process donations! As of now, the Cafe and Jeff's Fort have active links to the new donation system in place. Both will open the page in a new window / tab on our main hosting portal, DSS Hosting, and the donations can be processed from there.

Other sites will be rolling this out in a few days, as each owner gets the chance to update their site.

Thank you for your patience and support!

The direct link to the donations page is: https://dsshosting.net/donations/donation-form/

ACFan

Due to actions by Paypal with absolutely no reason given, the donations system using them is permanently down with no way to dispute it. We are going to research any options we can find to replace the ability to donate to support the sites. Please be patient as we try to recover.  Any donations that are being held by them are held for 180 days, and I have emailed anyone whose donation is affected by this.

Thank you once again for all of your support.

Dear Readers,

This site will be undergoing a little maintenance over the next few days. During this time a few stories will be offline and inaccessible, however, they will not be gone forever! They will be back better than ever. The site will remain up and running during this time. So don't fret or panick everything will be back to normal soon.

TSL for ACFan

Despite real-life going insane, I've finally been able to post the latest chapters of Memories!

Yes, I said CHAPTERS!!

As you'll see, this segment, Chapters 43 A and B, were a real team effort. While it took some work, the end result cements two other stories firmly in their places in the timeline.

If you have not read Lost Souls by Myke D. or Life Renewed by me and Str8mayb, you probably will want to after you read these to get more background. Both stories are a few chapters from this point in time right now, but they are close enough to be able to be locked in.

I hope you really enjoy the chapters - and I claim no responsibility for spilled drinks!

Huggs;

AC

🇮🇪😛 Happy St. Patricks to everyone from glorious Ireland. Let the celebrations begin... er... from your living room of course. 😛🇮🇪

Dear Reader,

Yes, it's that time again, to Spring Forward into Daylight Saving Time, so don't forget to set your clocks ahead one hour when you go to bed.

While you are doing that, check the batteries in your Fire, Smoke, and Carbon Monoxide Alarms. The life that saves may just be yours!

TSL for ACFan

The Café is very happy to announce that the author Dewey, also know as Dewey Writer has come out of retirement and is back writing.

So, stay tuned for more of his work.

TSL for ACFan who is buried under work and Real-Life!

To finish off the year, I couldn't resist one last chapter!

Life Renewed, Chapter Eight: Beware the Dragon is now live for your viewing pleasure, and I promise, there are no dragons involved! (Virtual fire-breathing twins, on the other hand...)

From all of us at the Cafe, we wish each and every one of you a safe and happy New Year 2021!

Hugzz!

AC

Merry Christmas from the staff and authors of the Corner Cafe!

Despite the best efforts of 2020, we have had amazing stories appear throughout the year, with more chapters coming in the final week of the year. Please make sure that you check out the Christmas Event stories, as TSL blackmailed me into another one (He had Fred's help) I promise, no funky pizzas this year!

For those of you that are wondering, I am managing to slip writing time in despite real life. Life Renewed is just about to the point where I can lock it into the timeline, which will then allow me to slip back over into Memories. I have not forgotten CSV-DSM either; I plan to start moving it forward again in concert with Lost Souls, so keep your eyes open.

Thank you to all of the amazing authors and readers who have kept the Cafe full of ways to escape the stress of real life, if only for a little while. When i started this, I never expected to have what is here today 18 years later, and it is all because of each of you. Thank you again, and I wish all of you a safe and happy holiday season.

Huggzz!

AC

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

Doctor Allstaff, report to the Latest Menu Additions on the Corner Cafe! CODE BLUE- CLAN SHORT UNIVERSE!

The Clan Short Universe has TWO thrilling and heart-stopping story updates for the Thanksgiving holiday in the US.

Both Life Renewed and Lost Souls have updates today; Life Renewed is available immediately, and Lost Souls is scheduled to be released during the day today! Any description of the happenings of either story would give things away - all I'll say is that even though they are both happening at different points in time in the CSU, both stories contain material that affects already posted as well as future events in multiple other CSU stories. Digital Refresh has been updated on the 18th, so if you missed it, time to catch up!

Don't forget to check out everything else that has been and will be posted this holiday week - to be honest, I keep having to refresh just to keep up myself; the Cafe authors are doing an outstanding job of providing quality stories for your reading pleasure. BillW, Myke D, Jeff P, Beaudreaux, BillyYes, D. K. Daniels, Brynmor, The Story Lover, Ted Louis ... the list keeps getting bigger as I type! Please make use of the View All Newest Chapters button, you really don't want to miss these! And don't forget, a little dragon has told me there is more coming today, so check back when you have a moment!

Everyone have a safe and wondeerful rest of the week, and Happy Thanksgiving to our readers and authors in the US!

AC

Originally posted by Fred DeElve

I would like to take this moment to send birthday wishes out to our favorite programmer and Fort Family brother, Akeentia! For those who are not aware, Akeentia is the wizard responsible for creating the software which makes the Fort Family sites work as flawlessly as they do.

Happy Birthday Akeentia, and the best wishes for a great year!

AC

As Creator of the Clan Short Universe, I hereby declare and confirm that the author known as Myke D. has successfully completed the necessary requirements to be awarded the title Clan Short Universe Author and confer upon him all the rights and responsibilities which are consistent with the title.

On this day, November First, in the year Two Thousand and Twenty, let it be known that the story The Lost Souls has been reviewed and accepted as a Clan Short Universe Core Timeline story, and is considered a canonical part of the main storyline.

ACFan

Yes, that is official! Please join me in giving a huge CSU welcome to Myke D. as he joins the authors of the CSU with his story The Lost Souls. I hope all of you enjoy it as much as I have; from the very start he's painting a picture that puts you right in the middle of his character's thoughts and actions. This is an amazing read, and I'm honored that he has chosen the CSU to base this storyline within. 

Please let him know what you think, and keep your eyes open for the next chapter, which is already in progress. 

Welcome to the insanity, Myke! I'm looking forward to your input and involvement with future storylines!

Once again, the CSU story is The Lost Souls by Myke D. - and it can be found on any of the official CSU authorized story sites. Please let Myke know if it is missing from your favorite place, and he will work with us to find out why it isn't there. 

Have a great week, and enjoy!

AC

Hey y'all, how's it going?

I just thought you'd like to know where things are at. I managed to screw up my left shoulder petty bad, which has affected me being able to write for a bit. Good news is that it's not affected my plotting, so there are a few storylines that have been fleshed out with other authors. My current plans are another chapter of "Life Renewed" before I get back to "Memories", mainly to ensure I have things in place to make the next "Memories" chapter make sense. Also, the authors have been working together in the background to iron out details that will allow "CSV-DSM" to move forward pretty soon; the BOE details are being checked and rechecked right now to make sure we've got everything covered.

Thanks for your patience, and I look forward to sitting at a computer to write again fairly soon.

Hugzz and stay safe!

AC

Hi Everyone!

So, I've heard some sidelines chatter about how busy I've been and how little I write. Yeah, I caught some of it and I point no fingers but, if you bet that I was done writing then you may have lost some money.

Yes, I have been struggling to get a couple of unfinished projects going again. It happens to us all at some point or another. I was always told that if you want to get over a case of writer's block, you need to do something else. Start another idea, work on another project, just switch gears. As some of you know, I have a file loaded with "Ideas" for stories that I read through every once in a while when I just get stuck to see if anything starts to push me forward. Well, one of the ideas gave me a violent shove and the keyboard is cursing me out again. The new story is called "Commander Kid" and begins following a small kid named Jack who is not in an ideal situation in a place where it seems pretty much hopeless if you need help...unless you get lucky. I hope you all enjoy it :)

*HUGZ*

Happy Saturday Everyone,

Since ACFan is experiencing Internet difficulties at the moment, I have posted the latest chapter of Life Renewed for him and for your reading enjoyment. The chapter is a collaboration between ACFan & Jeff P. it ties up a few loose ends and brings the story back inline with the rest of the CSU Stories. The characters from Life Renewed are now free to terrorize the other CSU Stories.

I am very sorry that this News Post is written in Mid American English, my Southern English isn't up to par, and I don't think that you would enjoy trying to read Juvenile Android.

Happy reading,

TSL

Just when you thought it was safe to go back and refresh yourself on back chapters, me and our favorite Cajun, Boudreaux, decided to hit you with all barrels!

Boudreaux broke out his swamp buggy, dropping off new chapters for FOUR different stories in one day!

Not to be left out, I happened to have Memories Part III, Chapter 42 ready for the final read-through, so I gave it one last review, and set it loose! There was lots more happening at the party in the previous chapter, and this chapter follows along as Tracy and Karl prove just how much mischief they can cause if left unsupervised! I promise a few twists and turns, but you'll be smiling when it is done!

Enjoy!

Hugzzzz,

AC

Hey y'all!

The boys have been really busy, and it shows with the new chapter of Memories. The party in Orlando is still going strong, and we get to see a few families finding their spot in the Clan. Hold on, this is a fun ride!

Thank you to all of you who have stuck with me through the real-life delays -- I'm trying to find writing time when I can, so you can count on me not giving up anytime soon.

Hugzzz

AC

PS: Thanks to DBarber for being the first to point out a name goof -- it is fixed now!

AC

Between 2am EST and 6am EST on May 26, the wizards who provide our hosting will be casting a new integrity spell on the rack-mounted totem that contains all of our characters. This is done to ensure not too many of them escape or cause too much havoc on our realm. It may be difficult to reach the sites with your computer as they perform this ritual but if you are able to peer into ethereal realms, you shouldn’t have a problem. If not, I'd suggest you use your own wizardry and save a few chapters locally to get you through.

This ritual should take about 30 minutes for most of our sites. Maybe about a DAY for The Story Lover's Home as Dragons are much more difficult to contain and really do like messing with the wizards. <snicker> 

We do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, both in lost reading time and should you become overrun with the group who plans out this time of year to escape normally. Our hopes and gratitude go out to the wizards tasked with this responsibility!

 ** Between 2 AM EST and 6 AM EST on May 26 various Fort Family Sites will be down for about an hour for datacenter maintenance on the servers. **

Hey all!

Sorry about being so scarce lately, but this virus thing has caused my workload to triple in real life. I've literally been putting this chapter together a paragraph at a time, which made the wait extremely longer than i wanted. The good news is that I hit a point that just screamed "STOP HERE", so after a few continuity checks I was finally able to decide it was ready for you.

A little side note... Tracy's Camaro, "Shadow", now has a real-life counterpart. He (yes, somehow I always end up with male cars!) was sitting on a lot I drove past every day, and when the government decided to give me money to spend, I took advantage of it and rescued him.

For those of you in the US, please have a safe Memorial Day; and for my fellow Vets who didn't make it home, you will never be forgotten.

Hugzz

AC

Hi Guys!

Wanted to give a quick heads up that we have a new author joining the Corner Cafe tonight! I'm giving ACFan a hand by doing his bidding this evening, hehehe! Myke D. who was the featured author in the April issue of Imagine Magazine joined my site shortly after the magazine article and for a new author, he's really giving the site software a workout so, I talked to ACFan to see if he thought you guys might be interested. He has three stories in progress and they are definitely worth the read.

As always, if you like what you see, please let him know with a quick email. A smiling author types more I hear ;) 

*HUGZ*

Project New Horizon and New Dawn have now added chapter twenty-two, though there is no difference in this chapter between the two stories. Neither romances come into play so there is no difference. There is also list of character names for anyone interested in the extras as well as pictures from Ravenscroft farm.

Hello everyone, after quite a bit of writer's block, I have returned with Chapter twenty, a bit of a smaller chapter. Hope everyone is keeping safe and inside in these troubling times.

Toyarcher

The following link is to a You-Tube video that gives an age-appropriate explaination about the CoronaVirus for the younger family members of our readers. Please feel free to spread it around!

(Big Thanks to TJ for passing this on to us!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DlOGKpMNs4&feature=youtu.be

Stay safe!

AC

Hello all!

First things first -- myself, Lindon, and JeffP finally managed to write another chapter of unBroken - and it is now live! This chapter took quite a bit out of all of us - it wasn't easy, but it was necessary.

Also, instead of giving you ANOTHER e-mail, I'll tell you that this site is 100% corona-virus free - always has been, always will be! So feel free to browse new stories while you self-isolate (Hey, if they're gonna pay you to sit at home, enjoy it!)

Hugz!

AC

Hey everbody,

Hope everyone is doing well! Chapter 28 will be posted tonight around 7:30pm-8:30pm EST. The chapter is long, but no where near the size of the last one! Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and look forward to hearing your feedback!

Best,

Lindon

I know I normally never do this, but this once I'm drawing attention to a commentary that has been posted.

You may have noticed that TSL posted a repost of something I found in my Facebook feed. Nobody is sure who wrote it, but any of us who have been there can identify with it and the lesson it teaches.

Please, no matter if you have been abused or not, read the "Monsters are Real" in The Story Lover's Societal Commentaries, and share it with everyone you can. Unfortunately, it mirrors reality all too well.

Thank you, and please say a prayer tonight for the young ones to get help escaping the monsters.

AC

While I'm in the process of reviewing all of Memories Part 3 to ensure I have all the pieces I need for the next chapter, our favorite HQ AI decided that he wanted to give all of you readers a little insight from his end. Also, there was a request by a reader for something, and I have found a proper response!

I hope you're all enjoying the latest posts on the Cafe, and rest assured there is more coming!

Hugz

AC

First off, a warning -- this chapter was posted under the influence of NyQuil - so I am not responsible for any errors!

With Tommy Short in the lead, the Clan boys begin the process of acclimitizing the Schaffer family to their new home. As can be expected, Tommy uses his own style to do it, which leads to some ... interesting .... developments.

I hope you enjoy it, and as always, please let our authors know if you like their stories!

AC

D. K. Daniels, Pyro, Ted Louis, and myself are giving you one last posting on the Cafe to make the year complete! My latest addition to the Denny's Universe is a very tongue-in-cheek story just written for fun. I hope you enjoy it and all of the end-of-year postings from everyone else! 

Happy New Year,

AC

Over the last couple of days, I've posted a few of the tools that I used in developing the next chapter of Memories... and now I am proud to present the results of all of that planning!

That's right ... Memories Part 3, Chapter 38 is now LIVE!

This was a hard chapter to write in some ways, as there is a lot happening for quite a few core characters - things which are hard to write in a way that meets my expectations.

Please feel free to let me know what you think!

AC

We had a slight goof that was making the links on other Fort Family sites to the new movies give errors. Once we bribed JeffsFort with Pringles, it was easily fixed and everything works as intended! (Even though technically we were doing things that were not intended!)

Hugz

AC

Creston hijacked Timmy (My Mac Pro, not the redheaded Chief!) while I was asleep last night, and ran up the electric bill making more videos; I think he might like his new house!

He added another format to his first movie, and then posted two formats in two different sizes each in a new post showing off his new house. Make sure that you have munchies handy, the video runs for a full 32 minutes!

I hope that you enjoy it, now I'm going to get back to writing!

AC

Hey all, I hope the holiday season is treating you all well!

As I'm writing, sometimes I have to make visual aids to make sure that i have everything the way I want it. Today, I shared some of those tools, namely the floorplans for the Schaffer house AFTER Peter got done with it! There will be a followup vid, but it will make more sense after seeing these.

On the chapter front, the fact that I'm releasing these should be a good sign, and it is ... the next chapter of Memories is close to completion, I hope to have it done by New Years day if all goes well!

Stay safe, I'll see you all soon!

AC

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

Chapter Nineteen has now been released on both stories, If you are reading both New Dawn takes a sharp turn in this chapter taking it away from Horizon. Much the same events happen, but in very different ways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and hopefully soon I'll have the next chapter for you.

Toyarcher

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

It's been some time since a new chapter has been released, I have just uploaded Chapter Eighteen of both stories for you, though there is not much difference in this chapter. Unfortunately, the next chapter won't be released until mid-December at the earliest as I'm hard at work on a new project, a fantasy story I've been wanting to work on for a while. Hopefully, I will start uploading the chapters in the new year, I'll have maps and extra features for that too. Hope you enjoy chapter eighteen of the Project's series and please let me know if you are enjoying it, or if there is anything you don't like about it. My email is Toyarcher1993@aim.com

With the Holiday season upon us I find I'm a little more time constricted for writing.

    [An aside to Jimmy who's tugging on my sleeve. "It means I don't have as much time to write your story because of the holidays."]

    "I know it's not fair, Jimmy."  Wow... Paul's answer is going to get his mouth washed out with soap!  "Yeah... you better apologize, youngster."

So, for the time being, expect updates bi-weekly rather than weekly. And have a great Thanksgiving and Christmas everyone.

    "Stop making that face, Paul!"

    "He isn't funny, Jimmy!"

Hooray! My book You & I is finally out in the big world. You can grab your copy of the novel revolving around a popular closeted boy and a nerdy loner type who become fast friends when nobody else is willing to listen to each of their problems. The novel is available in paperback and Ebook on Google and Amazon. I have 3 free signed copies to give away also for those who wish avail of them. Find the details under my announcements tab on my website. 

https://www.dk-daniels.com/you-and-i

Hi everyone!

Hope all is going well. Chapter 27 will be released tomorrow 11/14 at 8:15pm EST!! As always, looking forward to feedback and I hope you enjoy!

Cheers,

Lindon Weztser

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

We are aware of there being network issues in the US from Ohio east that are causing timeout issues accessing multiple sites in the Fort Family. This is an Internet issue, not a server issue, so there is nothing that we can do but wait it out. If you are having issues, please be patient while the Internet fixes itself.

Thanks,

AC

First off, a huge THANK-YOU to the authors and readers of the Cafe - you have done the amazing! As of sometime this morning while I waas asleep, the Cafe slammed past the previous total yearly reads from last year, and is now setting a new record daily! Once we finish the year, I'll let you know how things ended up, but the previous record of 1,779,875 chapter reads is now ancient history. (Just a note, the statistics software on the site doesn't count non-story chapter pages, so that is actual chapters opened!)

On a second note, Fred DeElve accidentally issued a challenge in his 'Oops' post a couple of days ago, and someone submitted a story for the Fall Short Story Event that was even more insane than the one he was complaining about! To all of you readers and authors on the Cafe, let's see if we can drive the Elf into a valium addiction! Imagination is encouraged, and suspending reality just makes it more fun! Fred has staff to handle the little things like edits for punctuation and such, so just give it your best shot and allow your inner weird out for some fun! (For the first time ever, I even wrote one for a challenge - and I'm sure all of you know how hard it is for me to write anything short!) Fred said it was encouraged to be crazy, so I challenge you to show him just how crazy we can all be with minimal limits placed on us!

Have an awesome week!

Hugzz,

AC

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

Yep, I'm still here! Working my butt off in real life, but still breathing. If you haven't noticed, Bill W and Paul Schroder have been really busy lately -- which is good, because I enjoy having great stories to read when I do finally make it home!

Before I move on to Part 4 of Memories (Cory and Kyle lied to me! They said it was a trilogy!) I decided that it would be really good to go back through the story and see what plotlines I've left hanging, then deciding if I want to resolve them yet. I have found a couple that I think  should be wrapped up before closing out part 3, so as I get time I'm looking at them to decide how I want to procede. (By the way, Conners husband and son come in handy -- Cory and crew haven't figured out yet how to retaliate when the guy tickling you has extra arms to keep you from escaping!)

I hope that all of you are having a great October, and I promise that I'll get another chapter out as soon as I can; I'm working on it a sentence at a time, but still trying to get something going.

Hugzz;

AC

Just to show that Billy Yes and Bill W are not the only ones slaving over keyboards instead of enjoying the summer weather .... Paul Schroder has given us Chapter 2 of his latest story, "A Child of the 50's"!

I think you're going to love this one, and please don't forget to email Paul and welcome him back!

Hugzz!

AC

As I warne... I mean promised you, Paul Schroder is back with a brand-new story, and Chapter One is now live for your reading pleasure!

• "Chapter One" from A Child of the 50's by Paul Schroder Posted August 7, 2019

In case you didn't catch it - Darkhuntsman also posted new chapters of his main / alternate storyline pair of stories. 

• "Chapter 16" from Project New Horizon by Darkhuntsman Posted August 6, 2019
• "Chapter Sixteen" from Project New Dawn by Darkhuntsman Posted August 6, 2019

And to add to the fun, BillW gave us another chapter of Castaway Hotel: Next Generation Book 3!

• "Another Birthday" from The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation Book 3 by Bill W Posted August 5, 2019

I hope that you're enjoying the busy week, it seems I started something when I posted a new chapter of Memories Book 3 on the 4th! As always, your emails are the only payment these authors ask for in return for the awesome job that they do writing these stories. 

Huggzzz!

AC

... and spend time with the boys of Clan Short!

That's right; the newest chapter of Memories part 3, "Meltdown", has just been posted to the Cafe! I'll be honest, the boys inserted some twists that even I didn't expect, but in the end it all made sense. I'll warn you, you'll want to hold on to your seats in a few spots!

Also, keep a close eye on the Cafe this week, as I have the first chapter of Paul Schroder's new story in edit right now, and will be posting it within the next few days. It'll be worth the wait, believe me!

Have a great week!

Hugzz;

AC

It's been a while, but one of our long-time authors has given us something new to ponder! Please join me in welcoming back Paul Schroder as he gives us an awesome short story, proving that the break has only made him better!

"The Jock" by Paul Schroder Posted July 28, 2019

Not to forget our other VERY active authors, there have been recent posts from Stannie, Pyro, Boudreaux, Lindon Weztser, and Bill W... it would make this post WAYY too long to list all the stories that they have updated, but fortunately the Newest Chapter list never fails to keep track for us!

Have an awesome week!

Hugzz,

AC

Hi everyone,

Just and update here, so Chapter 26 will be posted this Tuesday or Wednesday. I just finished the chapter and it needs to go to editing still, but it shouldn't take too long. Also for anyone interested, I've had a mailing list for readers to receive updates on chapter posting. If you are interested in being added to it, just send me a email at lindon.weztser90@gmail.com with the subject line as mailing list! 

Looking forward to releasing the chapter and getting everyone's feedback! 

Cheers,

Lindon 

For those of you in the US, I hope that you have a happy and safe Independance Day. (For those of you in the UK, we understand if you tip back a few pints to celebrate getting rid of us pesky Colonials!)

I just completed a move into a new house -- much more room and less issues with noisy neighbors, so once I figure out where the heck i put everything I can possibly get in some quality time to finish the partial chapters I have done .... you'll have to wait to see which story wins the lottery though!

As a special holiday present, Bill W has given us another chapter of Castaway Hotel: Next Generation book 3 ... I'll admit it, I had to read the chapter first before I could take the time to announce it. If you have not read the Castaway Hotel saga, you really need to -- Bill W has done an awesome job of following the Curry family through muliple generations with new twists at every turn!

I'll see y'all soon -- I've got an appointment with a few bottles of lager!

Hugzz!

AC

Since AC is still working hard and not having time to update here is the recent Story Updates

Ch10-16 of Book One of Joel by Ted Louis

Ch 15-23 of Book 3 Of Castaway Hotel by Bill W

Ch 12-13 of Missing by Stannie

Ch 16-18 of Dante, My Inferno by BillyYes

Ch 10 of Book 3 of Finding My Way Home, Ch 12 of Expanding Horizons, Ch 10 of Fantasy Faire, Ch 22 of Flea Market Sausage and Ch 4 of Gifts by Boudreaux

Ch 35-37 of Voyagers by the Voyagers Authors

Ch 1 of unBroken by the unBroken Authors

Ch 36 of Memories Part 3 by ACFan

Interlude to Dragon Earl Book 2, The Lost Dragon Down Under Memories, a Societal Commentary Titled Words To Live by and another Commentary Titled Pride Day ~ Good Bad or Indifferent? by The Story Lover

Ch 8 of Starting Over by Pyro

Ch 13 of Missing by Stannie

Ch 7 of FCS: Las Vegas by True Fan

Hopefully things will calm down soon and AC will again have some free time to enjoy things like being able to sleep in and not having a certain Mikyvis slow down time so he can get everything he needs done.

There are some traditions that were started as a laugh that we refuse to let die. This is one started by our favorite role model and yes, The Fort Family celebrates it to this day...

- Jeff -

Originally Posted on the Fort Family Forum: May 28, 2006 (Edited for General Audiences :P~ )

*Random Cake Holiday* Emailed By Comicality!

That's right! I said 'Random Cake Holiday'! Hehehe! Don't ask any questions, don't worry about the rhyme or reason WHY you should do it...just DO IT! We had a conversation in the chat tonight, and this lack of cake is just unforgivable. So today, I want each and every single person reading this, to go out somewhere and find yourself a piece of cake to eat! I don't care HOW you get it, or WHAT kind of cake it is! But there are just way too many people who have gone TOO long without having a piece of cake!

You can laugh all you want! Feel silly doing it! I don't care! Whatever! Just go out, find some cake, and enjoy it for the simple fact that you CAN! And I'm not talking about some moldy old store bought sliver of cake that you can buy for a quarter at the counter of your local gas station! I mean actual *CAKE*! Go to a bakery, go to a neighbor's house, hit up the old lady that does volunteer work at the resource center in your area, bake your own and give half of it away to someone else who doesn't have cake, play your Cake cd on your car radio..whatever...but don't you DARE let the sun set without getting a taste of that sweet sweet cake goodness! C'mon...don't you want some CAKE??? I do!

The only time we get to have cake is at weddings, birthdays, Bar Mitzvahs, and bachelor parties. And that's just wrong! So if you needed a reason to eat cake, then here it is. It's cake day. GO! Get some! Enjoy it! Do it for the simple fact that you have absolutely NO reason to do it other than I told you so! Hehehe! Savor it!

That's right....I'm going to get mine as soon as I get up tomorrow! Believe me! Mmmm cake...

Spread the word!

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

Today, the US is observing Memorial Day. While this is not observed world-wide, I ask all of you to take the time today to thank the people that you know who have served in your nation's military services. Without them, the stories that you read here would not be possible, as the soldiers and sailors of the world sacrifice their time, and sometimes their lives, to give you the rights and freedoms that you enjoy every day.

To all of my brothers and sisters of the world who are now serving, have served, or have given their lives in service to their country, I salute you.

ACFan

US Navy - 1985-1987

Just to prove that I have not forgotten, I have also been working on Memories while I was collaborating with Jeff and Lindon on 'unBroken'!

So tonight I'm giving you another peek into the lives of the boys of Alpha Prime, as the boys work to help one of their newest members begin the path to recovery.

Beware the Bear, as he has no mercy when injured!

Enjoy!

AC

What happens when you put three insane authors in a locked room and tell them to cooperate?

You get a story that makes you wonder just how they managed to pull it off.

The subjects of this experiment are ACFan, Lindon Weztser, and JeffP ... and the end result is a little story we call "unBroken"! Chapter One is now live, and we're all waiting to hear what you think.

Just look for us under the name "unBroken Authors" -- anything the three of us put together is going to be under that name.

We all hope you enjoy the story!

ACFan, for the unBroken Authors

Everyone, please give a warm welcome to Ted Louis!

He has graciously given TSL's Home and the Cafe permission to co-mirror his story "Joel" on our sites, which kinda caused a posting blitz to get everything caught up as much as possible. My apologies to all for the flood, but he's been writing longer than me, so there was a lot there!

Thank you for your support, and I hope that you enjoy this story as much as I have over the years!

For those who missed it, "Castaway Hotel: Next Generation Book 3" by Bill W has been updated, as well as "Project: New Horizon" by Darkhuntsman, "The Music In The Painting" by JuJu, "Dante, My Inferno" by BillyYes, "Fantasy Faire" by Boudreaux, "Voyagers" by Voyagers Authors, and "Societal Commentaries" by The Story Lover.

There's more to come from all of us, so have fun!

AC

Originally Posted by Fred DeElve

Fred asked me to post this reminder:

Posted by Fred DeElve

Hey everyone! From all of the authors of the Cafe, may all of you who celebrate have a Happy and Safe Easter!

As DBarber mentioned, things have been a little nuts for me in real life - don't worry though, I am sneaking in words on the next chapter when I can, so all is not lost. I've been given a couple of twists for the next one that i think you'll enjoy, so stay tuned!

As summer approaches, I'm hoping for a few surprises that will make everyone's day on the story front, as all of our active authors switch into summer writing mode ... sunlight does strange things to us author-types!

Enjoy the holiday... and remember - if you eat the chocolate bunny's mouth first, he can't scream when you bite off his butt or ears!

Hugzzz!

AC

Since ACFan is still busy with work I guess it falls to me to do the updates again. Juju has brought us Chapters 20-21 as well as a re-edited copy of Ch 1 of his story The Music in the Painting as well. The Voyagers Authors have brought us a good bit of updates starting with chapters 33-34 of Voyagers, an update to the SS Sooloo Duty Roster, a chart of the families and couples aboard the Sooloo and an update to the Glossary for the Voyagers Story. Ch 15 of Project New Horizon by Darkhuntsman is also posted as well. Lindon Weztser has also brought us an update with his posting of Ch 25 of Lincoln, The Family I Never Expected. An Addendum to the Revised version of Can You Spare A Quarter by Tigerpaw is another one of the updates that’s been posted. We also have 3 updates from the author Pyro which are Ch 6 of Starting Over, Cody and Joel, and Ch 1 of The Lonely Prince. The Castaway Hotel by Bill W has had Two new chapters posted as well, Looking Forward to a Fresh Start, and Ignoring the Broom in the Corner. Finally, we have a Societal Commentary by The Story Lover titled Who Will Answer and Boudreaux has brought us Ch 9 of his story Fantasy Faire.

Hey everybody,

First of all, hope eveyone is doing well! I just wanted to stop in and give a quick  heads up. Chapter 25 should be posted tonight. Looking around 9:30-10 EST.  Thank you for your pateince everyone! Eager to get yalls feedback!

Cheers,

Lindon

For those of you wondering, here is a quick recap of updates since the last time our busy ACFan had time to do one. Chapters 11-14 of Dante My Inferno by BillyYes has been posted. There was also an update to the FCS Atlantic Fleet Ships Register posted by ACFan. Bill W has posted 3 chapters from Book 3 of His Castaway Hotel Series, Strange Things Are Happening, A Currie Christmas and Bringing In the New Year. TSL brings us two stories, A societal commentary titled Death Came Knocking At My Door: I Sent Him Packing! as well as a story titled The Woodpecker and I. Tigerpaw brings us chapters 18-19 as well as an Epilogue written by Jamie of the revised version of Can You Spare A Quarter. We also have Ch 19 of The Music in the Painting by Juju, and finally D. K. Daniels brings us Numbers 22-23 of You & I as well as a story titled Those Days 

Posted by Fred DeElve

Hi Family!

As one of our favorite holidays is right on top of us, I'm afraid our plans for it have been unavoidably put off. We got an announcement from our hosting service that there will be some much-needed maintenance being performed on the machines that we rely on for hosting. Which means we can expect intermittent outages throughout the day. Now at first, we thought "Hmmm... Maybe THIS was intended as an April Fool's joke..." before we considered how serious our hosting service takes their job. So, even though all year long we have been planning something a bit out there to make up for missing past April Fool's opportunities, we regretfully need to let it go this year. For those of us who think THIS is an April Fool's joke, we have trained you well but, this year that training will not serve you as well as it should. <giggle>

I also want to remind you all that tomorrow, our hosted author "Garrett D.M." ships out to boot camp with the United States Army. I hope you all were able to send him off with good wishes and I personally can't wait to hear some of the stories he comes home with. Those of you who would like to send him a quick message to wish him luck, you can reach him at his listed email: garret.d.m98@gmail.com. I'm sure he would appreciate knowing that we are all with him in spirit.

Til the next update,
*HUGZ*
- Jeff P. -

It's been a busy time on the Cafe in the last 5 days!!

Since the last update, we've had the following updates:

• March 19th: "Moving On" from "The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation Book 3 by Bill W 
• March 20th: Chapter 11 of Missing by Stannie
• March 21st: Chapters 7 and 8 of Dante, My Inferno by BillyYes; Chapters 16, 17, and 18 of The Music In The Painting by JuJu
• March 22nd: #21 from You & I by D, K, Daniels; Chapter 32 of Voyagers by Voyagers Authors
• March 23rd: Chapters 9 and 10 of Dante, My Inferno by BillyYes

And to add to the fun, the Clan Atlantic Fleet becomes official! Memories Part 3, Chapter 35 is now live! In the process, we end up learning a little more about the events of November 5th, 2004. The intel is still coming in, but the Clan is slowly putting together the puzzle that was dropped in their laps. I hope you enjoy the update, and please make sure that you let our authors know if you like their stories - a few kind words do wonders for an author!

Hugz;

AC

First, a big thanks to DBarber for the help with posting updates to the posted story list -- if you saw my schedule right now you'd understand why I have Mikyvis...! :)

Now for the big news -- thanks to some of the best authors and readers on the net, in less than 2 years the Corner Cafe has just reached a major milestone - THREE MILLION chapters read in 22 months!

I want to thank all of you, both authors and readers, for continuing to choose the Cafe; without all of you this wouldn't have been possible!

AC

Since it looks like AC has fallen behind in letting you know about certain stories being updated, I figured I would step in and help. In addition to the updates to Book 3 of the Castaway Hotel by Bill W and Memories Part 3 Ch 34 by ACFan that he has posted already,  the story Can You Spare A Quarter the revised edition by Tigerpaw  has had three more chapters posted  in what is a really great story. Chapters 30 and 31 of Voyagers as well as a chapter on Space Fleet Regulations has also been posted by the Voyagers Authors. There is also a picture posted by ACFan of the Clan Short Atlantic Fleet: CSSF Jesse L. Brown for you to look at and admire. The Story Lover has also posted a Societal Commentaries Poem titled The Shadows Of My Mind. Garret D.M. has  posted the long-awaited continuation of his story with Ch 3 of Boise ID., and finally, we have Chapters 17-20 of the much-loved series You & I by D.K. Daniels. I asked Kyle for help in getting ACFan some rest so he’s able to update more  since he always seems so busy but all I got was a laughing Mikyvis who then grinned before disappearing so I’m not sure how much rest he will get now.

I hope all of you are having a great week!

Tonight on the Cafe, the Clan Short Atlantic Fleet storyline gets another installment, as Chapter 34 of Memories Part 3 joins the list of updates!

As the US Navy is still busy recovering from the Battle of Earth, a call for help comes in ... and the Clan Fleet is the closest group able to respond. In the process, the new boys learn a lot about themselves, and realize just what they've gotten themselves into. We learn along with them as they face their past fears and begin the path of recovery.

I hope you really enjoy this installment, and look forward to your feedback!

Thanks;

AC 

For those of you who might have missed it, one of the classic stories of the Cafe is growing! By popular demand, BillW has opened the doors of the Castaway Hotel, and is now posting Book 3 of The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation!

I began following this story back before I started writing, and have always been honored that the Cafe is allowed to be one of the hosts of this amazing tale. When we migrated onto the current software, I actually caused a week's delay in the rollout because I stopped to read every single chapter of all of the books while I moved them over.

If you have not read it yet, this is a story that will grab you and keep you engaged no matter what your age!

Also, while I'm at it, a big welcome and thanks to dBarber, who has joined us to try to give more frequent news posts and assist with background site work. He's been a long-time reader, and is giving us a hand at various levels on multiple Fort Family websites. If you run into him, thank him for his assistance!

Have an awesome weekend!

Hugzzz;

AC 

Hello everyone, we have some great updates for you to check out.  We have chapters 10-15 of The Music in the Painting by JuJu, Chapter 15 from You and I by D. K. Daniels, Chapter 29 of Voyagers by The Voyagers Authors has also been added for y’all to check out as well as Ch 14 or the Revised edition of Can You Spare A Quarter by Tigerpaw. We also have three updates to the wonderful Hearts Across Space Series by The Story Lover, He has added a Cover Page,  Information about the Errata VI: The Alexander Class Dreadnought, and a New chapter titled  Activation What, Who?

Hey all! We've got a MAJOR operation in progress! Today marks the launch of our newest author, Darkhuntsman, and his stories "Projecr New Horizon" and "Project New Dawn". What really makes this unique is that the two stories cover the same plotline but show the different dynamics that come from changing the relationships of the characters.

To make things easy, the following stories had been posted before I started turning all of the chapters on:

• "#14" from You & I by D. K. Daniels Posted February 1, 2019

• ---

• "Chapter 4" from Lagniappe by Boudreaux Posted February 1, 2019

• ---

• "Chapter 8" from Fantasy Faire by Boudreaux Posted January 31, 2019

• ---

• "Chapter 3" from Gifts by Boudreaux Posted January 31, 2019

• ---

• "Chapter Thirteen: A Decision is Made" from Can You Spare A Quarter ~ Revised by Tigerpaw Posted January 27, 2019

Keep an eye open - I have the Extras all turned on, and am about to start on the chapters!

Let's all give Darkhuntsman a Cafe-level welcome!

I hope that you enjoy his story as much as I do, this is going to be a classic!

Welcome to the Corner Cafe, Darkhuntsman!

ACFan

Thank you to all of our awesome authors on the Cafe!

As I was posting my "State of the Cafe" address, I decided to actually count how many new chapters / new stories were posted so far in January. The list ranges from authors that have been with the Cafe for years to our newest author,  Frostbite Seth, and including the State of the Cafe address, there have been 30 chapters posted in 27 days!

Authors, thank you for sharing your awesome stories!

Readers, thank you for supporting our authors and giving them encouragement to continue their works!

ACFan

Dear Readers and Authors,

This year's Valentine's Day Short Story Event is titled ~ Cupid's Arrows ~ 2019 ~ Cupid Won't Give Up! 

The event starts now and runs through January 31, 2018, for unedited stories and February 7th for edited stories. I will post all stories on Valentine's Day February 14th.

Please send all your submissions (yes multiple submissions are allowed) to  Elfmail <elfmail@events.csuproductions.com> with the subject of Cupid's Arrows ~ 2019.

If you need an idea of what this event is about check out this really cute Short Video In A Heartbeat it just may spark your muse.

 Happy Reading,

Hey all!

The Fort Family has a new author! His home site is Jeff's Fort, but he has been kind enough to allow the Cafe to co-host his first story!

Welcome to the Cafe Frostbite Seth!

You can find his first story on the Cafe at: "Chapter One: Riley" from The Robot with Human Hair - I hope that you enjoy it, I can see a lot of promise in the storyline, this one looks to be a thriller.

Enjoy the story, and if you see Boudreaux or Jeff P looking for me, you never saw me!

AC

It's another great month on the Cafe -- there are so many recent updates that I can't list them all!

Just to add to the fun, I just posted a double-dose of Memories! This is a double-header that follows a complete story arc involving Leon Schmidt, Captain of the CSSF Iowa. I really hope you like it, as it buttons up one of the hanging storylines that needed to close before wrapping up part three. This is a really fun chapter that I enjoyed writing a lot.

Please don't forget the other stories that have been updated, as a lot of great authors have posted new stories!

AC

Dear Readers and Authors,

Look out Internet, the boys of Clan Short are back! To start off 2019, Orlando HQ has wound things up for some good old-fashioned Clan fun. This installment has more twists and turns than a mountain trail in the Alps, so hold on tight! From first-time interventions (Don't get the bobcats mad) to family salvage operations, to new brothers making a point, this chapter's got it all!

I really hope you enjoy the chapter!

Hugz,

AC

Hey everyone,

First, let me wish you a belated happy holidays and joyful New Year! I honestly can't believe its 2019.

Anyway, I've been receiving quite a few emails from readers, asking if I have stopped writing "Lincoln, The Family I Never Expected". Short and simple, I haven't stopped and I do plan on releasing CH. 25 once it is finished. Which, unfortunately, is nowhere near completion and no timeline on when. I'm sorry, but my real life has been super busy and not sure when it will slow down. However, just for the record, chapter 25 is still a work in progress and not forgotten.

I do appreciate the concerned/check-up/feedback emails from all that have sent them. I'm trying my best to reply to all, so sorry if I missed your email or haven't gotten to it yet.

Once again! Have a great 2019!
Lindon Weztser

From all of us on the Cafe, we wish each and every one of you a safe and happy New Year for 2019. While I obviously don't have the final numbers yet, I can say with certainty that we have experienced amazing growth in 2018, all thanks to the authors and readers of the Cafe.

May each of you and your families have a safe and awesome 2019!

Thank you for choosing the Corner Cafe;

AC

Dear Readers,

All Nineteen Twenty of this year's Christmas Short Story Event Submissions are now live here on The Fort Readers Event District!

Santa & I owe our author NCNesturfer our most abject and humblest of apologies, I made his story invisible while I checked on some special formatting and in my rush to get all of the chapters posted, I forgot to switch the status to Publish, before I clicked the Save Button.

So please enjoy this latest addition to our Christmas Short Story Event.  This has been our most successful event yet, thank you, authors!

All of these stories will be appearing on their author's Home Site as soon as we get a slight crosslinking issue resolved.

Enjoy all of these amazing stories that the authors have worked hard creating for you, please take a few moments to say thank you by sending them an email.

Happy Reading,

Dear Readers,

All Nineteen of this year's Christmas Short Story Event Submissions are now live here on The Fort Readers Event District!

All of these stories will be appearing on their author's Home Site as soon as we get a slight crosslinking issue resolved.

Enjoy all of these amazing stories that the authors have worked hard creating for you, please take a few moments to say thank you by sending them an email.

Happy Reading,

P.S. Thanks to TSL for twisting so many authors arms to get their Short Stories.

Another year has flown by, and once again we are in the holiday season. From the staff of the Corner Cafe, we wish all of our authors and readers a safe and happy Christmas holiday. Thanks to all of you, the Cafe has experienced the best year in its history, and we are all grateful for the support that all of you have given us.

Thank you once again, and may each and every one of you be blessed with a safe and joyous holiday!

Merry Christmas!

AC

Dear Readers,

Next Saturday is the 'official' submission deadline, all of your wonderful Christmas Short Stories 'should' be submitted by Midnight that night.

*** News Flash ***

My nice assistant 'Goos' says that he will fly any late entries directly to my inbox here at the North Pole so if you are close to finishing or even just getting started he will make sure that I get your submission in time to post.

*** End News Flash***

The theme for this years Christmas Short Event is A True Spirit of Christmas, What The Christmas Experience Truly Should Be.  The guidelines are simple all Short Stories should fit the theme or at least be in the neighbourhood. All stories must meet the standard Submissions Guidelines located HERE. The word count should be between 500 and 15,000 words give or take three or four (um...thousand? < giggle >). If in doubt Fred takes 'Cinmon Crumbles' as bribes.  Don't forget to give the Fort Family of Sites permission to host your Short Story, also make sure that your Author name & Copyright Date is in your Short Story as well.

All submissions should be submitted by Midnite PST, December 22, 2018, All submissions will be posted on Christmas Eve, December 24^th, 2018. Send your submissions to Christmas Short Story Event Submissions. Give or take an hour or so.

Happy Writing,

P.S. Thanks to TSL for twisting so many authors arms to get their Short Stories.

Hey guys & girls, I just dropping another note to let everyone know that Chasing Christmas is available for purchase over on Kindle. For more information check out my website www.dk-daniels.com

Secondly, I want to wish everyone an early Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, as this is the most hectic time of the year for me, as I assume it is for many. This January coming will mark my 2nd anniversary since I set out to pursue writing with serious intent. I want to thank all the folks who have spent hours reading each written word, through the mistakes and all the tiring waits. If it weren't for you guys, I wouldn't have anything worth saying without an audience. :)

We have completed the upgrade and after sorting out a couple of bugs it appears that the sites are all working. If we missed anything, please let us know! We are aware of issues on ShackNation, and are actively working on repairs (It doesn't like the newer OS for some reason)

If you do spot something major, please notify TSL so that he can take credit for breaking something again... he's behind on his quota for the month.

Thanks for your patience!

AC

Right now we are waiting for the DNS Servers to catch up with all of the work. At this time, sometimes you will hit the old setup, and sometimes the new one. Within the next 24 hours it will stabilize, then everything will be back to normal! Good news is that this new setup is even faster than the old one - I'm sure that you will appriciate it!

Thank you for your patience, and we're all looking forward to the performance boost this new equipment gives us!

Hugz!

AC 

Once again, we will be doing upgrades to our services! (I know, this is becoming a bad habit!) Our server host has offered us an upgrade that is too good to pass up, so on Wednesday, December 5th the sites are going to be undergoing maintenance.

>>   From a reader and guest standpoint, you shouldn't see any problems - there is no anticipated downtime for the sites themselves. There is a slim possibility that you might see a glitch as the DNS servers update, but overall you shouldn't have any impact.

>> Authors, all we ask is that you hold off any posting on Wednesday and Thursday for sure - Friday should be safe, especially later in the day, but if you want to play it safe wait until late in the day Friday.

From all of us in the Fort Family and CSU Productions, I want to thank you for your support and patience as we work to give you the best service possible for your donation dollar.

Hugzz;

ACFan

Just when you thought it was safe to relax, the boys of Clan Short strike again. Major thanks to TheEggman and Akeentia for their contributions to this chapter!

There's a lot happening, in a lot of places, but one thing they all have in common is friends and family coming together. Akeentia has once again worked his wizardry with the Ark family, while TheEggman shows us that the Pacific Rim contingent is just as insane when visiting the mainland. All I'll say about the rest of the kids is that no matter what you do, never get on the bad side of a bobcat hybrid human!

I hope that you enjoy the latest chapter!

AC

Dear Readers,

The theme for this years Christmas Short Event is A True Spirit of Christmas, What The Christmas Experience Truly Should Be.  The guidelines are simple all Short Stories should fit the theme or at least be in the neighbourhood. All stories must meet the standard Submissions Guidelines located HERE. The word count should be between 500 and 15,000 words give or take three or four (um...thousand? < giggle >). If in doubt Fred takes 'Cinmon Crumbles' as bribes.  Don't forget to give the Fort Family of Sites permission to host your Short Story, also make sure that your Author name & Copyright Date is in your Short Story as well.

All submissions should be submitted by Midnite PST, December 22, 2018, All submissions will be posted on Christmas Eve, December 24^th, 2018. Send your submissions to Christmas Short Story Event Submissions.

Happy Writing,

Hey folks,

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving; we don't celebrate it here in Ireland, but still, I hope everyone had a good time. The reason for this message is for anyone who can remember last year, I wrote a story called Chasing Christmas. The good news is, I have added tremendously to the story, including new scenes, and I have gotten around to editing the entire piece start to finish. I know... I know, it was bad, but people loved it.  I just wish to say thanks for all the kind feedback I have gotten from all my stories and to let folks know that I am publishing the book. The story is going to be part of a series of Chronicles known as The Doomed Adventures of Noah Finch. If anyway enjoyed the story last year and would like to relive it again, with new content and polished, I have the book up for pre-order for a discount, before I set it to full price. I needed to remove the story from all website for a reason, and that was because I have decided to enroll the story in KDP, which allows me to reach a larger audience, however, I do intend, at a later date to bring back the story, however, it won't be for a while.  For now, however, I hope everyone is happy with my current stories and that you continue to enjoy the content I create. To check out all the details you might need regarding the book, check out my website - dk-daniels.com 

So, there is more story to come revolving around the family and the boys. I want to thank everyone for making me feel incredibly welcome on Corner Cafe :)

Regards

D.K. aka Danny 

Dear Readers,

All of the Fall Short Story Event ~ A Thanksgiving Surprise Stories ~ Are now live and available for your reading pleasure.

To read all of the stories please visit the Fort Readers Event District AKA F.R.E.D.

For those of you that don't celebrate Thanksgiving, you still will find some great reading. To our Canadian readers sorry we are a month and change late for you.

Please let all of our authors know that you have read their stories. This is NCNetsurfer's second Short Story Event and Juju's First, thanks for being part of the event!

Happy Reading,

Dear Readers,

Saturday, November 17, 2018, Midnight PST, has come and passed and all eight submissions have been added to the processing queue and will be posted on the morning of Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2018

If you haven't quite finished writing your story, however, you are close please submit it as soon as possible, please include a bribe of 'Cinmon Crumbles'.

Happy Reading,

Dear Readers,

There is less than a week left to get your submission for the Fall Short Story Event Submission submitted. Next Saturday at Midnight PST.

The theme for this years Christmas Short Event is A True Spirit of Christmas, What The Christmas Experience Truly Should Be.  The guidelines are simple all Short Stories should fit the theme or at least be in the neighbourhood. All stories must meet the standard Submissions Guidelines located HERE. The word count should be between 500 and 15,000 words give or take three or four (um...thousand? < giggle >). If in doubt Fred takes 'Cinmon Crumbles' as bribes.  Don't forget to give the Fort Family of Sites permission to host your Short Story, also make sure that your Author name & Copyright Date is in your Short Story as well.

Happy Reading,

I would like to welcome Tigerpaw and his story "Can You Spare A Quarter" to the Featured Stories on the Cafe.

This is one of my favorite stories, which I read way back when the original version was being written. I am honored to be able to provide this story for the readership of the Cafe, and hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. The rest of the chapters will be put up as soon as we can get them online, so keep an eye out for them.

Enjoy!

AC

Dear Readers,

Just in time for Halloween all of the Death's Day Off Short Story Event submissions have now been posted. So visit F.R.E.D. and read them all.

Don't forget to say thank you to our awesome authors by dropping them a short email.

Happy Reading,

Dear Readers,

We now have seven confirmed submissions for this years Fall Short Story Event, A Thanksgiving Surprise, keep those submissions rolling in. Send your Submissions to A Thanksgiving Surprise.

Thanks to all of you that have sent in your submissions, especially the new authors.

We have also resumed posting the submissions for the Death's Day Off Short Story Event from years past.

Don't forget all of our Short Story Events are open to readers as well as authors to contribute.

We will be announcing the Christmas Event shortly.

Happy Reading,

There are a few things that I'm trying to get wrapped up before we  move on to Part 4 of Memories.  While a scene in progress is being finished, I've decided to take care of a couple of things that somehow got missed in-chapter. In the process, you are going to catch up on quite a few things that make future events make much more sense.

To take care of the issues, I have posted chapters 28 AND 29 of Memories Part 3!

Once the final scene is done in Chapter 30, it will be posted as well - there are already completed scenes from Akeentia in it, as well as some interesting diversions by TheEggman! Stand by for more insanity as soon as it's done!

AC

Not only are you getting stories, but as a present to the readers of the CSU we have brought online the first interface dedicated to everything CSU - the CSU Hub, located at https://csuproductions.com

Not only will you find the stories, but also you'll find the extra little things and utilities that we've made available to you. Things like PDF copies of some of the completed stories, images, and custom multimedia are being added as fast as we can figure out where we stored them while we were building the new setup. (The characters keep moving them!)

I hope y'all enjoy the new setup! For those who like to print out the stories, the PDF versions will handle the reported issues with some printers printing white text on a black background. I am in no way responsible for your large paper bill or the quantity of printer cartridges that you go through!

Enjoy!

AC

Just when you thought it was safe to take a break to grab munchies, the party has stepped up a notch! We all know that you can't have a CSU anniversary, without a taste of the story that started it all, and I have once again delivered on the expectations.

"Chapter 27: Please rewind before returning" from Memories Part 3

is now live and awaiting your reading!

It's taken sixteen years to get to this point, and it has been a lot of fun getting here. Thanks to all of the authors past, present, and future who have given their input not only by writing stories that complement Memories, but also have got involved with all the little extras that make the CSU complete. A huge thanks to the most loyal readership that I've ever seen - all of you are awesome, and your comments and suggestions are greatly appriciated.

I'll say that this isn't the last thing you'll see tonight - but I'm no telling what is still up the sleeves of the CSU Author's Group. (Halo courtesy of Kyle)

From the CSU Authors, Cory, Kyle, JJ, Adam, and all of the rest of the characters of the CSU, we can only say THANK YOU!

Hugzzz!!!

AC

Chapter 6 of FCS:Las Vegas is live. I hope you enjoy it.

TrueFan

CSU-16 October 22, 2002 = October 22, 2018

Dear Readers & Authors,

We have received our first entry and it was perfect, it hit the nail right on the head for the theme. So the rest of you get out your keyboards, pen, and or pencils and get writing.

The 2018 Fort Family of Sites Fall Short Story Event's theme is: A Thanksgiving Dinner Surprise! ~ You and your family (who do not know you're gay) decide this year to go out for their Thanksgiving Feast. Mid-way through the meal, someone stops by your table. You are horrified to find out it was a guy you just started dating, who doesn't know you're not out to your family...

As usual, this event is open to all readers and authors of the Fort Family Sites, however, if anyone knows of an author from another site that would like to enter this even just ask them to click on the following link Story Submissions. My staff and I would love to see lots of new authors entering this year.

The rules/guidelines are as follows: Must be theme related should be a minimum of 500 words and no longer than 15,000 words. These are not carved in stone, so please submit away. Submissions are due no later than Midnight PDT on November 17, 2018. All submissions will be posted on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2018. Please include the theme title: A Thanksgiving Dinner Surprise! in the title of your story. In case you forgot the email address for submissions is A Thanksgiving Dinner Surprise!

Some pretty amazing stories have come out of the Short Story Events and some wonderful New Authors as well. My Staff and I will be busy posting the previous Fall Short Story Events over the next few weeks. 2007 has been completed and 2008 will be posted shortly.

Happy writing,

Fred The Elf

Just an update -- the server migration is completed, and we are going through everything now to make sure there were no issues.  If you see anything, let one of us know and we'll look into it.

Thanks,

AC

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to send out a quick notice to let you all know that as a part of our attempt to keep our hosted sites on fast, reliable, and up to date servers, we will be migrating our sites to brand new equipment with up to date software, including an upgraded operating system. We anticipate no operational downtime for our visitors but where we are physically moving, there may be a very short time where DNS servers may be pointing to the old server even after the new servers are brought online.

If you were planning to do a marathon reading session, go right ahead as the only change that may be noticeable would be sites responding slightly faster than usual. By Thursday if you hear nothing from us then it will be back to business as usual for us behind the scenes and you will see progress return to normal.

We will advise if this schedule changes as the request to greenlight the move is being placed tonight.

Here's to as many reliable years on newer equipment.

-Jeff P-
On behalf of DSS Hosting, CSU Productions

Dear Readers & Authors,

The 2018 Fort Family of Sites Fall Short Story Event's theme is: A Thanksgiving Dinner Surprise! ~ You and your family (who do not know you're gay) decide this year to go out for their Thanksgiving Feast. Mid-way through the meal, someone stops by your table. You are horrified to find out it was a guy you just started dating, who doesn't know you're not out to your family...

As usual, this event is open to all readers and authors of the Fort Family Sites, however, if anyone knows of an author from another site that would like to enter this even just ask them to click on the following link Story Submissions. My staff and I would love to see lots of new authors entering this year.

The rules/guidelines are as follows: Must be theme related should be a minimum of 500 words and no longer than 15,000 words. These are not carved in stone, so please submit away. Submissions are due no later than Midnight PDT on November 17, 2018. All submissions will be posted on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2018. Please include the theme title: A Thanksgiving Dinner Surprise! in the title of your story. In case you forgot the email address for submissions is A Thanksgiving Dinner Surprise!

Some pretty amazing stories have come out of the Short Story Events and some wonderful New Authors as well. My Staff and I will be busy posting the previous Fall Short Story Events over the next few weeks.

Happy writing,

Fred The Elf

Boudreaux is having some fun, and it's overflowing the borders of the Story categories!

As of now, after months of discussion where he was filling me in on the plans and plotline of "Twists of Time", the decision has been made that he unintentionally wrote another story in the Clan Short Universe.  As such, it is now listed as CSU on the Cafe, and will be updated on other sites as soon as practical.  There will be no real changes to the plotline of the story, it is just now listed where it should be.

Huggzzz!

AC

Dear Readers,

The Midsomer Shory Event with the theme of A Day In The Life Of An Inanimate Object has arrived and the submissions are now live. The Authors and their stories will be listed in alphabetical order, that is except for the very first story, and you will see why that is.

We have a New Author today with his first entry, so please welcome NCNetsurfer and his story about a well-polished object,  A Day In The Life Of An Inanimate Object: A Pet Rock.

Art West has brought us two stories, one with a British feel and one with a twist in the name,  first, we have A Day In The Life Of An Inanimate Object: Being Close, and second A Day In The Life Of Matt.

Beldro Mercier brings us a bit of fantasy with, A Day In The Life Of An Inanimate Object: Through the Looking Glass.

DouglasDD has decided to tickle your fancy with his story, A Day In The Life Of An Inanimate Object: Keying In.

The Story Lover also has brought us two entries, his first is a whimsical look into the wild and woolly world of punctuation surprisingly enough titled, A Day In The Life Of Ugo The Umlaut, followed by a foray into the bountiful word of a nature travelogue with, A Day In The Life Of 'Cap'.

Don't forget to thank the authors for the hard work by dropping them a short email, and please extend a warm welcome to our Newest Author NCNetsurfer.

Happy reading,

Fred The Elf

Dear Authors & Readers,

There is a little over two weeks left for you to get your entries written and submitted. The last day for submissions to be received is Saturday, August 25, 2018, not the 23rd! Posting will begin on Friday, August 31st giving you a four-day reading weekend. At least for the yanks.

Submissions are due by Midnight on the 25th PDT or UTC -7.

Submissions should be between 500 and 15,000 words more or less and the theme is  A Day In The Life Of An Inanimate Object, we have quite a few submissions already and there is always room for more. This event is open to all Fort Family Site Authors and Readers, you don't have to be an established author to submit an entry. There are quite a few Fort Family Authors that got their start with a Short Story Event. If you need your submission edited just let us know and we will see that your submission gets edited. First-time submitters, please give the Fort Family Sites permission to host your story. As always all submissions remain the property of the submitting author. Always include the appropriate Copyright © Info with all Submissions.

Happy writing,

Fred The Elf

P.S. We will be posting submissions through September 3, 2018, but don't tell anyone.

Dear Readers,

Due to a database crash, True's Fandom is down for repairs, due to that fact some stories that are linked from that site will show as blank chapters We will let you know as soon as the site has been repaired and is fully functional. 

We apologize for the inconvenience, and we have taken steps to ensure that this doesn't happen again.

Take care,

TSL

Dear Readers,

Our latest Short Story Event is called A Day In The Life Of An Inanimate Object.

The rules are the usual Minimum 500 Words, Maximum 15,000 Words. 

End Submission Date August 23, 2018.

Posting Date August 29, 2018, for the Labour Day Weekend for the Yanks.

All submissions should be sent to elfmail at events.csuproductions.com with A Day In The Life Of An Inanimate Object as the subject. Substitute the @ sign for at and remove the spaces.

Happy writing,

Hey everyone!

I received this message from Beaudreaux and I thought it best to pass it on before you read the new chapter of Dear Diary:

Quote: 

Yes, Dear Diary has been updated. This is a humdinger of a chapter though, so be forewarned. There are lines of dialogue from all of the wildest, craziest characters in my division. I'm not sure if our esteemed Clan Archivist (aka my editor) will recover. He seemed to indicate in the negative when he sent the chapter back to me for posting, so in case I need a new editor the position now requires a prescription for valium. If I don't need a new editor, he may need donations to help pay for his valium. Anyway, you have been warned. Read at your own risk.

End Quote

All I'll say is that any donations to help TSL recover will be sent his way!

Enjoy the new chapter!

AC

Hey all!

Just a small update; besides the events announcement below, there are a couple of other things happening today!

First is that the Fort Family Community ( https://fortfamilyforums.com ) is officially live.

Also, Timmy's Treehouse has been overhauled, ( https://csdhp.org ), check it out!

As those who have been following our two forums know, there have been some major issues due to not being able to update the software. To resolve this, we decided to take the main forum and make it the central hub of all of the Fort Family Sites that are able to be linked into it. As such, all posting announcements and news posts from the sites that are able, as well as posts of news made there directly, are available in one central location. Thanks to Akeentia for the awesome job!

On the Treehouse side, the software was in really bad shape. What we finally decided to do is dedicate the Treehouse to the most unique feature of the Fort Family - interacting with the characters of stories. Any author who wishes to participate can register themselves and whatever characters they want, and it is an open forum for authors, readers, and characters to interact with each other. We have fun doing it, and it sometimes gives us ideas!

Happy 4th!

AC

Dear Readers,

Happy Fourth of July to the Yanks.

In the Summer Short Story Parody Event, we have Major Family Parody by The Story Lover, and Sir Garret and Lincoln by True Fan.

For the Summer Short Story Fill In The Blank Event, we have TSL's Fill In The Blank by The Story Lover,  Brynmor - Fill In The Blanks by Brynmor, and Fill In The Blanks Family Secret by Art West.

Don't Forget to let the authors know what you think of their hard work.

Happy reading,

Don't forget that the deadline for submitting your short stories for the Summer Short Story Event is tonight at MIDNITE Pacific Daylight Time for you East Coaster that would be Three AM EDT.

So get your stories written and your requests for Fill In The Blanks in NOW.

All submissions and requests should be mailed to Summer Short Story Parody Event, or Summer Short Story Fill In The Blank Event

All Stories will be posted on July 4, 2018, not July 1 as previously stated!

Happy writing,

Fred

P.S. As usual the deadline isn't carved in stone, however, stories will be posted on the morning of July 4th, 2018

Dear readers,

In our continuing effort to bring revive Pyro's stories, we have a chapter of In Time and Jason for your reading pleasure. We have also given you all three chapters of That's Life.

Happy reading,

TSL

Dear Readers,

Thanks to all of your generous donations I have purchased the Mac Pro and it will be delivered Wednesday. The GoFundMe Account will remain active for a little bit longer, as there is still some software to be purchased. I will be purchasing Scrivener, Coda, and Affinity Photo, eventually, I will probably purchase Pathfinder as well.

Thanks again for all of your help, it is greatly appreciated.

Happy Reading,

TSL

P.S. ' Goos', Jonah, Joth, Just', A'exii, S'ean, and Alex say thanks as well. 

Hi guys!

Yup, I said it. PARTY TIME!!! With cake and burgers and candy and soda and hotdogs...

So this Tuesday is a big day for someone who has been like family longer than there was a Fort Family so, he just is Fort Family and always will be... Why the party? You mean besides "why not"? Hehehe. The reason is a big one and one that is making us realize just how long we've been at it out here. :O

On Tuesday, June 19th, "Comicality's Shack Out Back" turns 20 years old!  

Twenty years of friendship and foolishness, and I'm one of the many who followed the lead of a man who would teach us all to share who we are with the world; to demonstrate that when you feel the loneliest, sadly enough, there are many more who feel the same. When you feel beaten down, you are in good company. When you need a smile, it may be easier to find than you think and regardless of who you feel that you are, we wouldn't have you any other way. So what does he have in store? I have no clue! (I do but, I'm not tellin :P)

All I can say is keep an eye on the Shack for announcements. Poke through the forums over there and look at the many projects he has set up. There are big things happening and I for one, am excited that our family and his has always intertwined and with this celebration, that intertwining continues in all its dysfunctional glory, as it should be. Hehehe... More news to come but remember to mark the calendar and don't forget to show off your "C". (For those of you who know why my hat is off to you brother :)

Happy Anniversary Comicality!!! (20 years... You show off! *HUGZ*)

-JeffsFort-

Folks,

The deadline for the Summer Short Story Event is getting closer June 30th is only fourteen days away. 

So get your stories written and your requests for Fill In The Blanks in soon.

All submissions and requests should be mailed to Summer Short Story Parody Event, or Summer Short Story Fill In The Blank Event

All Stories will be posted on July 4, 2018, not July 1 as previously stated!

Happy writing,

Fred

As most of you know, The Story lover has been the driving force behind the works of a very large percentage of our stories. Be it as head editor, continuity manager or as host. He is the glue that holds us all together. Well, today he does need our assistance. We all know how badly he's been struggling to do the same level of work on some really outdated equipment. If you're able to help him out, you would be helping us all. This is what he posted on his own site. *HUGZ* Thanks for any help you can offer!

ACFan

Dear Readers,

After a lot of mental deliberations, I have come to the conclusion that is time to switch from a Windows PC to a Mac PC. Since the majority of the Fort Family Admins use Macs this will allow me to use the same software that they are using. This will also allow me to avoid any of the issues associated with Windows Ten. The new Mac will give me many more years of writing and update this site. 

If you would like to help just click on the following link ~ Get A Mac For The Story Lover

Thanks,

TSL

Hey all!

Despite the interference of real life, the boys of Clan Short got their way and Chapter 8 of 'CSV-DSM' is now live! As the Battle of Earth rages on around them, the boys deal with an issue that pops up in the chaos, and in the process tighten an alliance began by their Patriarch. I hope you enjoy it, and I can't wait to see comments y'all make on our Discord channel!

AC

Thanks to Jeff's Fort we have a brand New Story Gifts from the Crazy Cajun. This story is a bit different even for Boudreaux, so check it out you will be surprised.

Don't forget to pay the Crazy Cajun for his hard work by dropping him a short email.

Happy reading,

TSL

Dear Readers,

I am in the process of adding the Brynnhollow Universe by MultiMapper and I seriously underestimated the number of chapters involved. Unfortunately, by adding so many chapters, I inadvertently pushed a lot of other chapters off of the main page. I will hold off adding the rest of the stories and chapters until tomorrow and then I will limit the number of chapters posted.

Take care,

TSL

Dear Readers,

Due to Drummer Boy being published and at the request of the author and his publisher, the story has been removed from the site.

Take care,

TSL

Folks we are excited to announce our latest Short Story Events! Yes, you read that right I said Events, plural.

The First Event is the Parody Event, you can parody any published story on any of the Fort Family Sites. The standard rules apply, with one additional MANDATORY Rule, you must have written permission from the author whose story you want to parody and that permission must be submitted along with your Short Story. No Permission, No Story!

The Second Event is the Fill In The Blanks Event. You will get the opening paragraph and a middle paragraph and you fill in the rest. The opening paragraph will revolve around the first day as a Senior in High School or a Freshman in College. The middle Paragraph revolves around a party that the main character went to and the morning after when he/she wakes up in their bed in someone else's clothes. The rest of the story is up to you, I will supply the paragraphs to any author that wants to enter this event.

Both Events will end at Midnight PDT on June 30, 2018. All entries will be posted on July 1, 2018, here on F.R.E.D.
The short stories must be between 500 words and 15,000 words,
This event is open to all readers and authors.
Authors must authorize the Fort Family of Sites, by written permission to host their stories.

All submissions and requests should be mailed to Summer Short Story Parody Event, or Summer Short Story Fill In The Blank Event

Happy writing,

Fred 

Folks we are excited to announce our latest Short Story Events! Yes, you read that right I said Events, plural.

The First Event is the Parody Event, you can parody any published story on any of the Fort Family Sites. The standard rules apply, with one additional MANDATORY Rule, you must have written permission from the author whose story you want to parody and that permission must be submitted along with your Short Story. No Permission, No Story!

The Second Event is the Fill In The Blanks Event. You will get the opening paragraph and a middle paragraph and you fill in the rest. The opening paragraph will revolve around the first day as a Senior in High School or a Freshman in College. The middle Paragraph revolves around a party that the main character went to and the morning after when he/she wakes up in their bed in someone else's clothes. The rest of the story is up to you, I will supply the paragraphs to any author that wants to enter this event.

Both Events will end at Midnight PDT on June 30, 2018. All entries will be posted on July 1, 2018, here on F.R.E.D.
The short stories must be between 500 words and 15,000 words,
This event is open to all readers and authors.
Authors must authorize the Fort Family of Sites, by written permission to host their stories.

All submissions and requests should be mailed to Summer Short Story Parody Event, or Summer Short Story Fill In The Blank Event

Happy writing,

Fred

The Fort Family of Sites is proud to announce your One Stop Shop for all of your Fort Family Site News; the new Fort Family Community Site. All News Posts and Latest Chapters from all of the Fort Family Sites will now appear on our new Fort Family Comunity Site. Hop on over and check it out.

The Corner Cafe would like to welcome another new author to the site.

Lincoln has written his very first poem, entitled "Pain", and has decided to share it with us.

Give it a read and let him know what you think!

TrueFan

Thanks to MultiMapper we have the concluding chapter of Shadeside Book One: Part Four - In the Dark and the beginning chapter of Shadeside Book One: Part Five - Of Darkness and Night.

Have a great day,

The Story Lover

Corner Cafe is pleased to bring you another co-hosted author.

Stannie brings you "The Others" which is the first book of his continuing story "The Anonymous Blogger."

Take a look at it and let him know what you think!

Also, check out some of the other authors on True's Fandom including Comicality, Nick Brady, Shadow Assassin, and others!

TrueFan

Broken Boy by Corin is now co-hosted on Corner Cafe! Check it out and let Corin know what you think!

TrueFan

Dear Readers,

Drummer Boy Book Three ~ Mir Pacifica has been temporarily removed at the Author's request. The story will be back as soon as the author sends us the appropriate chapters.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you the readers. 

Take care,

TSL & ACFan

I have the distinct honor to inform all of you that Lindon has posted Lincoln: The Family I never Expected: Chapter 18. 

As usual, Lindon has given us another suspense filled chapter. There is a lot happening in the lives of the boys.

We hope you enjoy this chapter, and don't forget to let Lindon know what you think!

Also, if you haven't joined yet, we have a Discord Chat for the Fort Family. Join Lindon and many other authors and readers to discuss your favorite stories!

You can join the chat by following this link.

TrueFam

Hey everyone,

Chapter 18 of the story Lincoln, The Family I Never Expected has been released.

I hope you all enjoy it, but also wanted to warn you that the chapter is decently long. Anyhow, thank you for the feedback, I appericate hearing from everyone.

Cheers,

Lindon

I have the unpleasant task of informing everyone that on March 29, 2018 at 02:30am Eastern time, the Mother of one of our Authors, one of our Family, passed away.

Please keep Zarek in your thoughts and/or prayers. He asked me to let everyone know.

Zarek, on behalf of everyone whose life you have touched we offer you our most sincere condolences.

TrueFan

Chapter Five: Gordon of Aiden ~ Book I has been posted.

Please let DouglasDD know what you think of it!

True

True's Fandom IS BEYOND PROUD TO ANNOUNCE A NEW AUTHOR BEING ADDED TO THE SITE!

Over the next few days and weeks, we will be adding stories by a preeminent author... one known for some pretty amazing stories!

Please join me in welcoming:

COMICALITY

Comsie has been a mentor to me and many of the other Fort Family for many years. We are so very excited to welcome him with open arms. Don't forget to let him know what you think! Let him know where you're reading his stories. And... let me pass on the same advice he gave me... write something!

True

Dear Readers,

The Fort Family Sites is proud to announce our newest FFS True's Fandom, the new home of True Fan's Stories. He will have some stories and authors not available on our other sites.

So go check out his site, and don't forget to let me know what you think of this new site

True

On Behalf of the Fort Family Sites and Corner Cafe, I would like to welcome a new young author to our ever-growing family.

Garret D.M. has now published two poems, "Chosen" and "Insomnia" and the first chapter of his full-story, "Boise, ID" has just gone live.

I hope you all enjoy his work as much as I have.

Welcome to the Family, Garret!

TrueFan

The next installment (Chapter 5: Gonna Need A Bigger House) from FCS: Las Vegas has been posted.

I'll tell you now, there's a 'dramatic pause' at the end... But... a little suspense is good for you!

Let me know what you think of it!

True

DouglasDD brings us another of his spectacular stories.

Corner Cafe is proud to bring us another in the popular Mayfield Series by this exceptional author.

We hope you enjoy, Aiden - Book I.

TrueFan

Hey Everyone,

Hey everyone, I hope you all enjoyed Ch. 16. Unfortunately, there is going to be a wait for 17. Chapter 17, of the story "Lincoln, The Family I Never Expected" will not be posted for two weeks, maybe even two in half weeks. I will be swamped, and will not be able to write.  You can still email me at Lindon.Weztser90@gmail.com  but responses will be delayed. 

Speaking of emails, thank you so much for the support and feedback. Honestly, you all are fantastic. Keep it Up!!

Lastly, if you want to discuss or talk to some of the authors on this great website, the fort family has a Discord chat for authors and readers to communicate with each other, and we would like to invite you to join it. You can click the link below, and it will guide you through the setup. No personal information is needed besides an email, and you create your own username. I highly recommend giving the app a try! You can interact with terrific authors such as TrueFan, ACFan, TSL, Master Luke, and so many more.
https://discord.gg/KwC9bfV

You all should join the discord chat, its a lot of fun being able to interact with the authors and other readers who enjoy similar stories. 

Cheers,

Lindon 

Chapter Four of FCS: Las Vegas has been posted. I truly hope you enjoy this chapter and look forward to all your feedback.

True

Since I started writing it nearly 3 years ago, my writing has improved, as I'm told, rather significantly. As a result, I was prompted to review, re-edit, and re-release my story "Priorities."

I have been told that many of you might like to see the differences in these two releases of the story, so, as a result, I am posting a 'new' story entitled:

Priorities ~ Book I ~ (Revised)

In an effort not to deluge the listing of new chapter postings, I will be releasing one chapter of the 7 chapter 'book' every day or two. Work has commenced in  enhancing those chapters of Priorities Book II that have already been posted. I will begin posting those new chapters as is possible after Book I is complete.

I truly hope you enjoy the revised version of Priorities Book I and would love to hear your response to it.

Thanks again!

True

Also, I would like to commend Akeentia and The Story Lover for the way the move to our new server was accomplished. It seemed to go off without a hitch and I am certain we'll be much happier with this new server, whether we be reader or author.

Dear Readers,

I want to take the time to thank you all for your support. Lincoln, The Family I Never Expected has flourished to heights I couldn't have imagined. So thank you for the emails, support, and reviews. I have enjoyed reading every single one!

Now, I am officially caught up with old chapters, so chapter 16 will be brand new! Which means I won't be posting as frequently, but you shouldn't have to wait too long to read.

Once again, thank you for following along and reading each chapter. You guys are amazing!

Lastly, if you want to discuss or talk to some of the authors on this great website, the fort family has a Discord chat for authors and readers to communicate with each other, and we would like to invite you to join it. You can click the link below, and it will guide you through the setup. No personal information is needed besides an email, and you create your own username. I highly recommend giving the app a try! You can interact with terrific authors such as TrueFan, ACFan, TSL, Master Luke, and so many more.
https://discord.gg/KwC9bfV

Best Regards,
Lindon Weztser
Email: Lindon.Weztser90@gmail.com

Dear Readers,

Beldro the Magnificent will be giving the second scheduled Ask The Author Interview on the FFS Asylum Discord Channel. This interview will be hosted by The Story Lover with the assistance of the other FFS Admins.

The first interview with True Fan went really well, so get your questions ready for Beldro The Magnificant next Saturday, February 24, 2018, at 18:00 EST, 15:00 PST, or 23:00 UTC. 3:00 PM, 6:00 PM and 11:00 PM UTC.

To participate just click on the following link ~ FFS Asylum Discord Discord Accounts are free and only take a few minutes to set up.

We are looking forward to seeing lots of readers and authors next Saturday, so come and join the fun.

TSL

For those of you who are not aware, the Fort Family of Sites has a Discord Server. It's called the FFS Asylum. Come join in on the insanity!

As of now we have over 30 members, many of them are Authors of your favorite stories. ACFan, JeffP, Lindon Wezter, Beldro the Magnificent, TSL...

If you wish to join, follow this link: FFS Asylum Discord

Also...

On Saturday, February 17, 2018 at 3pm Eastern, we will host the first ever "Ask the Author" interview.

It will start at 3pm EST (noon, PST, assuming the author is awake by then) and will last until it ends, but not later than 5pm EST.

The Guest for this week will be yours truly. TrueFan.

Get your questions ready and join us... it's sure to be a blast!

True

With two more chapter of Shadeside Book Two by MultiMapper, Book Two is now complete Book Three will appear soon.

We now have Str8mayb's Fire Book Two and 316 both from the Haven Universe.

TSL

Dear Readers,

 We have an incredulous collection of Cupid missing with his arrows they range from the Romantic to the I Can't believe you wrote that. They are all a lot of fun to read. They have arrived in alphabetical order:

• It Came From Denny's: From Coffee With Love by Akeentia ~ Yes folks he is back writing!
• Stupid Cupid 's Bent Arrows by Art West
• Was It Cupid or Was It Morphine? by Boudreaux
• Cupid Lets One Rip by Brynmor
• Cupid Steps In by Jeff's Fort aka Jeff P.
• Don't Screw With My Family by Maxieplus
• Cupid's Arrows ~ 2018 by Silver Wolf
• The Twisted Princess or is it Prince? by The Story Lover
• Cupid Missed by True Fan
• Cupid's Arrows ~ 2018 by Zarek Dragon

Thanks to all of the wonderful authors for their entries, please don't forget to write to the authors and let them know that you read their stories.

Fred The Elf

All of the stories are available at the following link = https://events.csuproductions.com/?t=ENW4jjAe

TSL

Chapter 3 of FCS: Las Vegas is awaiting you! 

I hope you enjoy the next installment of life at the Desert Division of Family Clan Short! Thanks for all your feedback, keep it coming!

This has been an exciting week for all of us here at the Cafe. We've seen record numbers of chapters read, record numbers of posts, and record numbers (I think) of new Authors.

True

I have always believed that the Fort Family readers were awesome, and these last few days have proved it!

All of us site owners have access to statistics which give us a count of how many chapters have been read in stories. When a new chapter, story, or author goes live, each of us watches to make sure that they are getting exposure and not being buried. Mattering how busy it gets, that means we might make temporary adjustments to the amount of new chapters shown on the main page, or we will do a special news summary. Since January 1st, not only has the Cafe' had a record number of new chapters up until now, but I have found that even with as busy as it has been you readers are still finding previous updates and reading them at the same pace as you would in slower months.

To the Cafe' authors, I congratulate you on how well your stories have held up under this surge - it proves that you really do write awesome stories when your readership does nothing but increase in quantity and speed in accessing new chapters. You guys are the reason for the Cafe', and I'm proud of how all of you continue to gain more followers.

I would like to give a quick summary of the 2018 posts to date, just to acknowledge everyone who has contributed to this awesome start to the new year:

• Bill W: Sword Of Kings 2: Tested by Adversity (13 chapters) and Sword of Kings 3: Tempered by Fate (6 chapters)
• JeffP: Here Without You (4 chapters) and the Sentenced to Life Afterword
• Boudreaux: Twists Of Time (Chapter 6), Flea Market Sausage (Chapter 20), Dear Diary (Chapter 30), Fantasy Faire (Chapter 3), and Finding My Way Home: Book 3 - Home Life (Chapter 6)
• D. K. Daniels: Chasing Christmas (2 chapters)
• Multimapper: Shadeside: Book 2 (4 chapters), Camp Little Eagle (Chapter 12), and Universe Alpha 7: Pioneer (5 chapters) 
• Outtakes & CSU Author Group: Outtakes: What About Whales?
• Arthur: Drummer Boy Book Three ~ Mir Pacifica (3 chapters)
• True Fan: It's in his Kiss (Short Story), Priorities - Book One (7 chapters), Priorities - Book Two (24 chapters), and FCS: Las Vegas (3 chapters)
• ACFan: Memories Part 3: And A Child Shall Lead Them... (Chapter 26)
• Master Luke: Wormhole (Chapter 1)
• Lindon Weztser: Lincoln, The Family I Never Expected (7 chapters)
• Douglas DD: Rough Edges (2 Chapters)

There you have it as of now; an amazing 91 chapters in under one-and-one-half months!

Thank you Authors and Readers for chosing the Cafe'; you're all the BEST!

AC

ACFan said that I've lost my last marble? What do you say to adding a 3rd new Author to the Cafe in as many days?

We'd like to welcome DouglasDD to the Cafe with his story "Rough Edges." The first two chapters are being posted tonight and the rest will show up over the near future. Join me in welcoming DouglasDD!

If you enjoy his story, let him know!

TrueFan

Well... it seems that there's a little undeclared 'Chapter War' ongoing...

The story Lincoln and my FCS: Las Vegas both had their debut on CORNERCAFE.US on the same day. Since then we have see-sawed back and forth as to who is getting the most reads...it's a fun little competition.

So, I know I posted Chapter 1 of FCS: Las Vegas earlier today, but I went ahead and posted Chapter 2 today as well. As far as the Chapter War is concerned, Lindon has far more chapters already written than I do of FCS so I will graciously concede that he wins the Chapter War.

For those of you who have NOT read Lincoln, I sincerely recommend you do. It's one of the best stories I've seen lately and for his first ever story, he's doing an exceedingly impressive job.

A month or so ago, I chose to post exclusively on the Fort Family of Sites, deciding that other sites are of far lower quality in a) presentation and b) content. Besides readers on the Fort Family of Sites are FAR more sophisticated. 

I hope you all enjoy Chapter 2 of FCS: Las Vegas and I look forward to hearing from each of you by email!

True

I am going to second what True Fan said earlier, It's awesome getting to interact with everyone and I am honored that AC and TSL have allowed me to post my story for everyone to read!

I will try to release the reminding chapters in a timely fashion, but the process of editing is a bare and slows down the time in which I can release each chapter. Lincoln is my first and only story I have written, and I excited to share more with everyone!

Please don't be hesitant to email me about anything. If you want to discuss a chapter or just want to share your thoughts, I am always open to hear from readers. (Positive and Negative comments are accepted) My email is Lindon.Weztser90@gmail.com   

Cheers and I hope you enjoy Lincoln, The Family I Never Expected

Lindon

I would like to thank all of you readers for the welcome that you have given True Fan and Lindon!

As noted below, True Fan has posted Chapter 1 of FCS: Las Vegas. "Chapter 1: The Rescue (Part 1)" from FCS: Las Vegas by True Fan Posted February 9, 2018

By sheer luck, Lindon has chosen to post Chapter 2 of Lincoln as well! "Lincoln-2, Answers" from Lincoln, The Family I Never Expected by Lindon Weztser Posted February 9, 2018

Talk about starting the weekend right! Please make sure that these two authors know what you think - as the views of their first chapters proved, both have exceptional stories to tell, and they are both doing an outstanding job telling them!

Have an awesome weekend!

AC

Wow! You guys here at cornercafe.us are amazing.

I was very honored to be asked by AC and the other CSU authors to join their ranks, and the response to the FCS: Las Vegas Prologue literally floored me. Today, I'm posting Chapter 1 of FCS: Las Vegas and I hope you all enjoy it and the chapters yet to come.

In addition, cornercafe.us is also hosting a couple of my other stories. First is a short story I wrote a couple of years ago called "It's In His Kiss" and the other is my feature story called "Priorities" which is currently ongoing and divided into two books (so far). Book I is basically an extended prologue and Book II gets into the 'meat' of the story.

I look forward to a long relationship with all of you. If at any time you wish to let me know what you think of what I've written, please don't hesitate to drop me an email at TrueFan.

Positive feedback, as well as constructive criticism, is always welcome. 

Thanks for the opportunity!

True

Although the 'Carved in Stone Official Deadline' has passed Fred the Elf is still accepting entries of the Cupid's Arrows ~ 2018 Short Story Event. He has graciously extended the deadline until 11:59 PM PST February 12, 2018. Please submit all entries to Fred The Elf.

TSL for Fred the Elf

The Cafe extends a warm welcome to Lindon Weztser, author of the story "Lincoln, The Family I Never Expected". This is an awesome story, I highly recommend you take the time to give it a read! The first chapter is now live, with more to follow as soon as he has time to edit a few typos in the originals.

Enjoy!

AC

Look out everyone, True Fan has lost his last marble and joined the ranks of the CSU Authors! If you look at "Prologue: Abducted" from FCS: Las Vegas by True Fan you will find that he fits in well with the rest of us, and I look forward to many nights of cookies and coffee.

Welcome to the family, True Fan!

AC

Please give a warm Café welcome to Master Luke and his CSU FanFic Wormhole, this is his first foray into writing FanFic so don't forget to tell him that you read his story.

Boudreaux was also gracious enough to bring us Chapter Three of Fantasy Faire.

TSL

What happens when Davie gets involved with Orlando? That scenario gets explored in the latest chapter of Memories, and the spaghetti is flying! Make sure you stock up on popcorn, because this is one heck of a show!

AC

Attention all readers, authors and those that want to be authors, over at F.R.E.D we have another Short Story event a Valentine's Day Event called Cupid's Arrows the rules are pretty much the same as for the Christmas Event, with a slight twist.  

The Short Story should concern Cupid's Arrows missing and hitting the wrong person. Someone setting the cap for someone and ending up with someone completely opposite or different.  All unedited submissions are due by January 31st and edited entries by February 7th. All stories will be posted on F.R.E.D. on Valentines Day February 14th.

All submissions and questions should be sent to the following email address ~ elfmail at events.csuproductions.com Substitute the 'at' with the @ symbol and delete the spaces. 

Let's hope that a lot of Cupid's Arrows miss their target and we get to read all about it.

TSL for Fred the Elf 

It is now the end of the year and as good as 2017 has been to our sites, it is now time to say goodbye. What a better way to do so with a chapter of a CSU story that will finally allow us to also say goodbye to quite a few loose ends (as the subtitle suggests).

With the help of one of the best editing teams cookies can buy, "Sentenced to Life: Chapter 18 - Loose Ends" is now live on the sites and is just in time to claim the "Final CSU Posting of the Year 2017"! So if you were planning to watch the ball drop on TV or go to a local event or even go to bed early to ring in the new year, change your plans now and start reading (no, I'm not serious, unless you want to start reading now. Who am I to stop you?). 

So, from all of us at the Fort Family of Sites, Happy New Year! Let's make it one of the best ever!
*HUGZ*
JeffsFort@gmail.com

Happy New Year!

Bill W has given us 3 new chapters of Sword Of Kings 2 to keep you happy!

Also, we discovered an issue with the final two chapters of Castaway Hotel: Next Generation Book 2. The "NEXT" buttons were not working right; it was an easy fix, once we found it! The chapters were able to be accessed through the chapter listing, it was just the next button that was acting up.

AC

As today is meant to celebrate Love, it is only fitting that you get a very special chapter of The Mikyvis Chronicles: Concert Series. In this segment, the boys visit a place that is the polar opposite of their last location, leading to some very touching events occuring. Follow along as Time Touched and Platinum Habits not only learn about a new culture, but make friends who could very well last a lifetime!

Merry Christmas from ACFan and TheEggman!

Merry Christmas to all of our readers who celebrate, and Happy Holiday to those who don't.

A couple of our characters decided to get together and give you all a present! Thanks to Danny Page from Sentenced To Life and Sean Short from Memories, there is a new chapter of The Most Amazing Story Ever Written: Part Two now live for your amusement. I just read what they wrote, and quite honestly I had no idea that those two were that nuts!

Hope that you enjoy!

AC

*** NEWSFLASH***

PRIORITY: URGENT!

The Fort Family has been invaded by F.R.E.D. (Under the alias "Fort Readers Event District"). This Elf is wanted by all for hosting themed story collections and spreading holiday cheer. He was last spotted at http://events.csuproductions.com and is armed with cookies and considered harmless.

All readers are encouraged to apprehend FRED and investigate the stories he has collected. 

AC

Hey everyone! Akeentia gave the Cafe an early Christmas present...  we have just been updated to Version 3 of the site software!

From your end you might not see many changes, but the authors and owners are getting some serious stability and operational improvements. Overall it is a major upgrade, and Akeentia deserves major kudos for pulling off another well-done execution of the software he developed - despite our best attempts at sidelining him with feature requests!

Please let us know if you spot anything we missed in our testing!

AC

Sometime Saturday morning December 23^rd all Fort Family Sites will be going down for some important maintenance.  We will have all sites back up and be running better than before as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience,

TSL for The Fort Family Admins and Webmasters

Fire Book One By Str8mayb has arrived for your reading pleasure. Take another trip down The Haven Universe lane. ;)

Happy Reading,

TSL

Kurt King with his story The New Life of Xander King has joined The Annex so hop on over and welcome him.

TSL

Your authors need your help. As many people are aware, a certain chat service that specialized in advanced conference features has finally been overworked to the point of actually being unusable for our team. Since 2004, The Fort Family Authors Group, and all contributing authors to the "Clan Short Universe" series have heavily relied on this chat client and recent developments have made work behind the scenes difficult and even impossible in some cases. This means work being released can be severely delayed in some cases, which is already something that we try to avoid whenever possible.

In researching possible replacements, "Discord" is an absolute front-runner, with one glaring exception. There is a character limit placed on all servers that make it difficult to work with larger bodies of text. (That's a huge issue actually.) So, why am I posting this tonight? We need your help.

The feature change is possible but, the way Discord prioritizes its growth is through a request and upvote system. (Actually, a really cool process.) So we need to ask for your help. If you are a Discord user, please click the link below and upvote this topic. If you aren't a user, check out the chat client, it was designed with gamers in mind but is awesome for collaborating, congregating or even just hanging out. Maybe create a login and when you do, maybe give this feature an upvote...maybe < GRIN >

Suggest Character Limit Change on Discord

Thank you for your help,
*HUGZ*
JeffsFort@gmail.com

Happy Thanksgiving to all those that celebrate this holiday and a warm thanks to all of the authors and readers of this site.

Haven Book Three by Str8mayb has finally arrived.

Bill W. keeps on rolling along with more chapters of Sword of Kings: 1.

MultiMapper has joined the fun with more chapters of Shadeside: Book One - For the Night.

Jeff's Fort even snuck in another CTRL-Z Scene Children Never Forget.

ACFan and The Eggman have brought us Chapter One of The Mikyvis Chronicles: Concert Series and it is a roller coaster ride of emotions. They have also brought us the First Press Release for the Concert Series.

Enjoy your holiday reading,

TSL

Haven Book Two by Str8mayb has finally arrived at the Café, so catch up on the further adventures of Tom and Neal the Ben Gay Kid!

Enjoy your reading,

TSL

First off, I want to welcome our newest author, D. K. Daniels, to the Cafe! To start things off, his Halloween story "Light The Night" is now live, with more stories to follow!

Also, everyone please give a warm Welcome Back to Ozzy - he's been busy making up for his absence!

Bill W  has given us multiple chapters of "Sword Of Kings 1", while Arthur has given us another chapter of "Drummer Boy: Book 2"

We have a few more tricks and treats up our sleeves, so keep your eyes open!

AC

Seeing as we kinda went overboard with graphics being uploaded, this is just a reminder that there were new stories posted as well -- 

"Chapter 17E - Memories" from Sentenced to Life by JeffP Posted October 22, 2017

"Chapter 25: Dinner is Served..." from Memories Part 3: And A Child Shall Lead Them by ACFan Posted October 22, 2017

"Sometimes Bad Stuff Gotta happen . . ." from Sometimes Bad Stuff Gotta happen . . . by The Story Lover Posted October 22, 2017

"Chapter Twenty~One: Resurrection" from Drummer Boy: Book Two - The Road North by Arthur Posted October 22, 2017

"Epilogue" from Class Reunion by Boudreaux Posted October 21, 2017

"Pooped Right In" from CTRL-Z: Even More Scenes (storylover.us) by Outtakes & CSU Author Group Posted October 18, 2017

And there was a major repair to: "Chapter 23: Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Cookies..." from Memories Part 3: And A Child Shall Lead Them by ACFan Posted October 21, 2017

AC

The more the merrier! TheEggman and myself are in the process of making media available, some for the first time! Check out the new Media section under the Menu, and enjoy!

AC

* Watch for multiple Clan Short Universe story posts from multiple authors! *

Flashback: October 22, 2002

After being laid off by his employer due to staff reductions, a man decides to take the risk and post the results of a dream that had been nagging him for the last two weeks. After multiple times of waking up with the same dream clear in his head, the man begins writing it down. With the urging of another author, Comicality, the man posted his dream for the world to see on the Comicality Library.

The man is known as ACFan, and with seven small words a legend was born...

"Do you remember which key it is?"

Return to current time: October 22, 2017

It is now fifteen years later, and my dream that wouldn't stop until I wrote it down is stronger than ever. Between multiple authors and readers contributing their own dreams, and my own additions to the fabric of the universe, what started as a small story has become a major project that has had an effect on multiple lives.

As I write this, I am in conversation with quite a few of the core authors who were instrumental in turning a single story into a Universe.  In no particular order, the following authors are responsible for giving me the support and advice that made my story into the CSU: Darryl (aka Sleeping Beauty), Akeentia, TSL, JeffP, and Multimapper. As other authors have come and gone, those four have always been responsible for creating the foundation that it was all built on. With the relatively recent addition of TheEggman to the team, this core group is responsible for even more quality in the stories.

Unfortunately, we did lose one author from our group; Dave of D&B is sorely missed, and to this day we are still trying to ensure that we do the characters he created justice. Other authors have moved on to other projects or have had changes to their daily lives that preclude having writing time, but the core group is together once more and supporting each other as our characters move forward.

Most of all, thank you to the readers, some of which have been reading since the very first post. Your feedback and ideas have been greatly appreciated, and at times have pushed us towards finishing something that was stalled.

It has been an amazing fifteen years, and I'm looking forward to the next five years of story progression! Thank you to each and every one of you!

AC

Okay, I admit it, I goofed - there were two major blocks of text that somehow managed to vanish from Memories Part 3,  Chapter 23. Thanks to TSL for finding the problem and providing the missing text blocks. There were enough changes that I flagged the chapter as new, so that is why you see it in the new chapter list!

AC

Str8mayb has consented to have his Haven Universe join AC's Corner Cafe. Haven Book One is now live and waiting for your reading pleasure. More books and stories will be posted in the near future.

Enjoy your reading,

TSL

Hey everyone!

Just got through helping Boudreaux add some exciting new work for you all to check out. There is a new chapter of "Twists of Time" and he has begun a new story called "Fantasy Faire" which is beginning with a pretty long first chapter. Make sure to grab a snack before you get into it. He has also posted a new short story named "Skinny Dipping" which is a really nice story that resonates with a lot of our own teen years. Be sure to check them all out and don't forget to let him know what you think.

Until the next update - *HUGZ*
-Jeff-
jeffsfort@gmail.com

While AC is off doing whatever AC does Bill W. has been tirelessly posting his stories and chapters. So I thought I would help out a bit and post a chapter of Drummer Boy: Book Two ~ The Road North by Arthur.

Enjoy your reading,

TSL

I have the treehouse back up, but will be doing some work in the background to figure out how the problem happened - feel free to return to full use!

Just to let everyone know, Timmy's Treehouse is having issues that I'm still trying to sort out. For now, the site can't be accessed by anyone, and there's no real reason why. Watch for more as I know more!

AC

Hey all, despite the best attempts of real life, along with a case of mid-chapter writers block, I am proud to announce that the invasion of Naples is back in full swing!

Thay's right, it can only mean one thing ...

MEMORIES 3 Chapter 24 is LIVE!

This chapter's got it all: surprise visits from various divisions, raiding a trailer park, family bonding, cookie raids ... and a very special event which D&B planned to do before Dave passed away.  So much happens that you just need to read it, I can't do it justice otherwise! Please, let me know what you think!

AC

Besides the awesome updates that BillW has been doing, I am happy to announce that The Story Lover has graciously allowed us to add the entire Dragon Earl Universe to the Cafe, as well as assisting with a new Poems secion! Please check them out, there's a lot of great writing there!

As the Saints all fall over from heart attacks, I am amazed to announce the birthing of a true miracle - "Sentenced To Life" Chapter 17 has rose from the ashes and is now LIVE for your reading pleasure!!  The smelling salts are on the table to the left, and the popcorn that JeffP amazingly didn't burn for once is to the right!

Enjoy!!!

AC

While AC has been buried under tons of work the prolofic one Bill W. continues to post one wonderful chapter after another. Thanks Bill I am sure that AC appreciates all your hard work.

I did sneak in and post a chapter of Drummer Boy Book Two while no one was looking.

Take care,

TSL

Happy 4th to our American readers!

If you haven't noticed, Bill W. Arthur, and Ozzy have all been busy with new material - they've been posting faster than I can read! That is a good thing though, and I hope that you're enjoying their work as much as I am!

AC

While that sneaky magician Akeentia has been busy doing stuff in the background to help the authors, he snuck in some features for you readers too! The Authors and Stories pages now feature a "Sort by first letter" feature as well as the previous "All" view - which means a LOT less scrolling if you know what story you are looking for!

Thank you, Oh Awesome One!

AC

We have just finished updating  all of Arthur's Stories including adding new chapters and a New Story The Last Shaman Book Three: The Runner. The chapters that received the most updating in Book One of Drummer Boy are Chapter Two and Chapters Twenty-Five and Twenty-Six.

There has been a lot of rearranging and relinking of stories in the background ; if you find any errors please use the Contact Us button.

TSL

While it didn't show on the top of the list, there is a new story from Akeentia on the Cafe - it is called "Operant Unconcious Project", and is available in "Featured Stories"

Also, we are testing out a new feature that will interconnect stories on multiple Fort Family sites - occasionally there might be a story that has temporary issues due to it being converted for sharing; these issues should only last a minute or two at the most.

Enjoy!

AC

I'm honored to be able to say "Welcome" to our newest Cafe author, Ozzy! Keep your eyes open, he'll be posting his stories soon for your reading pleasure! Watch for him in the "Featured Stories" Section!

EDIT: His story "Open Hearts" now has all 11 existing chapters posted!

AC

Well it's been four days since posting APTT's finale and I gotta say, I am blown away at how many people have not only read it in that short period of time but have even emailed to say how much they have enjoyed it. Thank-you all so much for the kind words and feedback. (and sorry to the small handful who felt it was too soon for it to be "The End". The characters made me do it.) But this isn't the reason for this post...

After relaunching the CSU story "Sentenced to Life" on both http://jeffsfort.com and http://cornercafe.us I got a lot of feedback thanking myself and our in house IT Akeentia for making it possible to translate the sometimes incoherent ramblings of the little android named Joey. This has, in almost each email I received asked for a way to translate the character's early speech impediment that the site can't automatically handle. Well, I'm listening to you all and realized that thanks to a need on http://storylover.us, there was an option that I believe will make you all happy. Chapters 6, 7 & 8 now have translations encoded that allow you to read the implied comment in plain English. I still recommend ignoring the translations and reading his comments phonetically as that's how the little guy sounds but, for those comments that just aren't as obvious or for those who are missing part of the convo because of an inability to sound out the comments; click on the highlighted text in these three chapters. I used this feature to help out those who are "Joey Impaired" and think it will help out :)

Hope this helps to make the experience enjoyable for everyone!

Til the next update,
*HUGZ*
JeffsFort@gmail.com

Hi everyone! I have some great news for you all and it just may put a few of you in shock. (I'll apologize in advance for spilled drinks or bruises from falling out of your chairs...)

As I had announced on my own site, the first story that I approached prior to re-launching was the first story I had attempted ever. I felt that if I was to start "tying up loose ends" it rightfully should be the story that has been waiting the longest for it's conclusion. Originally started back in 2003, "A Penny on the Train Tracks" (APTT) has waited nearly 14 years, stalling repeatedly throughout that time and leading most to believe that it would never be finished. It includes an "Afterword" which briefly explains the idea behind the story, why I feel I began writing it too soon and for all the wrong reasons, and why I now believe that the passage of time and lessons learned in the process gave APTT the message that I wanted it to have in the end after all. I'm very happy with how the story turned out and I hope you all are as well.

This also means that it's time for me to move on to the next story... Look out CSU fans, another tree is about to get shaken and I can't be held responsible for the nuts that fall out of it! Hehehe! I hope you enjoy the read!

*HUGZ*
- Jeff -
Jeffsfort@gmail.com

Okay, now that I'm caught up with reading all of them .....

BillW Has been busy lately - multiple chapters of Butterflies Fly Free AND multiple chapters of The Castaway Hotel, Book 2!

I really hope that you are enjoying them as much as I am - and I am sure I can say that we're all waiting anxiously to see what happens next!

Have a great day!

AC

If you didn't see it next to the title for this section - there is an RSS feed to tell you when we post news. One thing that we have discovered is that some readers need to use a WWW. in front of the site name - if you have issues, try that!

AC

It seems that our favorite programmer is busy today... The Story Lover's Home just had a major design update, and it launched today! http://storylover.us

NOTE: Due to the amount of updates that go with the site launches, we highly recommend that you look at the expanded full-page list of newest chapters to get caught up on everything that has went live over the weekend!

Lookout Internet - things are about to go insane again!

The Fort Family is proud to announce the return of Jeff's Fort to the internet! Go to http://jeffsfort.com and check it out!

Don't say I didn't warn ya - awesome is back!

AC

Not only do we have the honor of Ace joining us, but we've also got the long-awaited chapter 23 of memories Part 3! Look out, the guys are having fun, and we all know what kind of trouble that can cause!

Also - I added another outtake - look for CSPRD1 in the Outtakes :)

AC

Hello everyone, my name is Ace. As AC said in the last update, I'm the new guy around here! I'm super excited to be a part of the team, it looks like I've got big footsteps to follow around here.

Hope everyone is ready for the organized chaos of my writing, I'm just getting started!

- Ace

The Cafe is pleased to welcome our new author, Ace, to the Corner Cafe Featured Authors!

I hope everyone enjoys his stories!

AC

Bill W has been busy - lots more Castaway Hotel: The Next Generation, as well as another story by him called "Butterflies Fly Free"

Check them out, and keep your eyes open, as there are more surprises coming!

AC

For those who missed it, Bill W has been busy with adding multiple chapters of Castaway Hotel, The Next Generation to his section of the Cafe! If you haven't checked it out yet, you're missing an awesome read!

AC

I'm still here - I'm waiting for one section to finish off the next chapter of Memories, and if I can stop working long enough I have the plotline for the next chapter in my head. (20 days in a row tends to kill writing time!

I just added a foreward to Memories Part 2 to help explain the "character shock" that was pointed out - Hopefully it helps a lot!

I'm pushing to get more up soon!

AC

Hey all!

Sorry about the lack of posts - but real life hit hard, including the flu!

First off, TSL has been helping out with adding new chapters and stuff on the site - while he didn't announce it, things are updated in the "Newest Chapters" area. Also, Akeentia has been doing his magic in the background, adding new features to the site like being able to look at the complete list of updates instead of just the last 5! Let's all give him a big hand for his awesome work!

Also, the "Features" section has gained another entry - thanks to our friends over at ShackNation, there is now an image gallery available, which we have already started populating. While this will take you off the Cafe and open in a new window, the ShackNation site is hosted by the Fort Family just like the Cafe, so you can rest assured that it is a quality site.

One of the new gallery images is a CGI render of Cory, Sean, Kyle, and JJ - I think you'll like it!

There is more on the way!

Hugzzz,

AC

EDIT: We dug out some files that we saved from our authors when they lost their minds - look for the scenes from the CSU under the author "Outtakes" for a good laugh!

AC

This petition is close to my heart - not only was my great-grandfather deaf, but at least 2 Cafe authors and at least 2 Cafe readers are either partially or completely deaf. Please sign the petition below to require professional music videos to have captioning. This link will take you off-site!

Require Subtitles on Music Videos

Tonight we have  three new stories from our newset author Arthur The Twilight Galaxy Motel with Chapters One and Two.  He also brings Chapters One  through Ten of Book One of The Last Shaman and Chapters One and Two of its companion story The Runner.

Well, in Franklin, NJ, it is.

Neil, Rich, Alex and Ronnie have been left alone for the evening, and the pre-Christmas fun is continuing.

Check out Neil And Rich Chapter 9 to experience the joyous times for yourself!

Hey all!

Please give a warm welcome to the Cafe's newest author, Arthur!

To start things off today, the entirety of his story Drummer Boy (the first book of the series) is in the process of being placed on the site as we speak. As of now, I have the first 21 chapters in place so that you can start reading while I'm posting the rest of the chapters!

Enjoy, I think this is an AWESOME story!

Update!

All 28 chapters of Drummer Boy (Book 1) are now live!

AC

Nothing like a little scary story to keep you warm, and Eric Aune has delivered with TWO of his stories from Halloween competitions! Check them out!

This is My Life?

You Can't Go Back

Enjoy!

AC

Hey all!!

More fun for everyone - Bill W has released the first 4 chapters of Castaway Hotel: Next Generation Book 2 to the Cafe! You can find it at the  CH:NG2 Navigation Page !

Enjoy the read, and have a great week!

AC

From all of us to all of you, have an AWESOME 2017!

To kick off the year, we have a DOUBLE-SHOT from our favorite Cajun, Boudreaux !!

• "Chapter 9 "of Class Reunion (Posted January 1, 2017)
• "Chapter 4 " from Finding My Way Home Part 3: Home Life (Posted January 1, 2017)
• Relinked so that Hawaiian Honeymoon appears in its proper place as a prequel to CSPRD

I hope you enjoy the new chapters! Have a great year!

AC

Neil And Rich Chapter 8 Pick up where we left, joining four gay teens as they celebrate the holidays.

Here's wishing all our readers the best in 2017, and a very warm "Thank You!" for 50,000 chapter views in the five weeks since we changed the site design. You folks rock!

With the holidays here, everyone needs a good Christmas story to warm their hearts. There are quite a few here on the Cafe, and a little dragon told me that The Story Lover has something up his sleeve as well! (I'll update this announcement as soon as I find out what it is!)

UPDATE  12-24-16: TSL has slipped a HUGE present under the tree! Way back when, the Fort Family Forums held Christmas Story contests ... TSL has recovered and re-posted those stories in one easy-to-use combined list. Head over to The Story Lover's Home (Opens in a new window) to check out the 40 PLUS stories - including TWO NEW ones by TSL!!!  Merry Christmas!

With that in mind, here's a short list:

• All Is Calm by Eric Aune *** This is a new Cafe posting!*** 
• Allie & Timmy's Magical Christmas by Timmy Short (As told to The Story Lover and ACFan) *** This is a new Cafe posting!*** 
• A Better Christmas by Eric Aune
• A Visit From St. Nicholas by D&B
• Dear Santa (3 parts!) by Boudreaux
• Holiday Handoff by Multimapper (Started as a short story and became a book!)
• Nicky And Nicholas by Ilúvantír
• The Bakers Dozen by the CSU Author Group

(I'm sure I missed one somewhere!)

Christmas Update!

Thanks to TSL, one of his CSU stories that was missed is now available on the Cafe!

• The Story Lover gives us A Subconscious Dream (Short Story) 

Enjoy, and may your Holiday Season be blessed no matter how you celebrate it!

AC

Happy Holidays to all our readers! We're ringing out 2016 and ringing in 2017 with our gifts to you.

• Edits to Chapters 1 through 6 of Neil And Rich and adding Neil and Rich Chapter 7 by TheEggman
• New Chapter!! CSV-DSM Part 2: Chapter 7 - Mama, I'm Comin' Home by ACFan
• Repaired missing link to "GFD: Dark Vacation" in navigation

Hey all -- This weekend we're catching up on some backlog - so there's more slipping in!

• Eric Aune is just about caught up - "Disconnected" has had major updates, and is now COMPLETED!! - Disconnected Nav Page
• The quotes page gets updates randomly without announcement - you never know who we'll pick on next!
• "Chapter 11" from Dragon Earl by The Story Lover Posted December 6, 2016 and "Chapter 12" from Dragon Earl by The Story Lover Posted December 6, 2016 posted!
• Chapter 6 of Neil And Rich by TheEggman

To celebrate the new design, new story chapters are now appearing!

I have started it off with two chapters of Memories, and there will be other stories in the next few days if all goes as planned!

AC

EDIT: The posted stories are as follows for our celebration, since as we locate small formatting issues we are updating chapters:

• "Chapter 21: Family means everything!" from Memories Part 3: And A Child Shall Lead Them by ACFan Posted November 27, 2016
• "Chapter 22: Reunion" from Memories Part 3: And A Child Shall Lead Them by ACFan Posted November 27, 2016
• "Chapter 6: Just what have we done?" from CSV-DSM Part 2 by ACFan Posted November 27, 2016

Hey all;

Welcome to the new and improved redesign of the Corner Cafe!  I hope that you find it much easier to navigate, and that it becomes your first stop for stories that are on multiple sites!

You will note that we have broken stories down into categories, as well as giving a full list of the authors on the site. Also, if you select the "Stories" entry in the top toolbar, you will get a list of every story that we host.

Many thanks to Akeentia for his hard work in making the platform the site runs on, plus even more thanks for helping me and Eggy migrate the almost 1800 chapters that make up the stories on the site.  Also, thanks to the beta testers who have helped us ensure everything was ready for a smooth launch!

I really hope that you find this design much easier to use! Feel free to drop a message to us if you catch something we missed.

Hugz!

AC