Heya all aim users! julnosprints is open and we're waiting for sprinters to join the team! Come on in!

Eww... deleting due to duplication.

Talons of the Condor is the sequel of Condor One, the fantapolitical novel by John Simpson about the first gay president of United States of America. I remember with pleasure that book, and I, above all, remember with pleasure David Windsor, Mr. President. As you know if you read the previous book, or can understand from the surname, David is not exactly some Mr. Smith throws in the chaos of the White House in Washington. He, even before being a president, was from a very wealthy family, with connection with the royal family in England, and I believe he was, as he is still, quite a spoiled man. He is not that spoiling that makes a character unlikable, but more a general attitude, o way to face all the situation, from the simple "domestic" dealing as to buy a dog-bed for his favorite Scottish Terrier, to decide if declare the WWII or not. David is a man of power, he can listen to advice, but in the end he will take his own decision. And he is used, and expects to, that every single order is taking in immediate consideration, without further postponement. He is also a man of great passions, and he can be mislead by his easily inflaming temperament. All in all, someone would almost think that David in the end is not a so nice man, but then you see the "other" David, the one who can easily get caught ogling to the bottom of some military staff, or who is content to simple lay in bed and cuddle with his young lover, special agent Shane Thompson.

The story is not so much different from the previous one, there is as before a treating to David's life, but maybe this time, the things got further and bigger. The author indeed plays a bit to fantapolitic, and imagines a various range of dangerous situation, with also some nasty consequences. And I have the feeling that he realized well over the half of the novel, that he didn't put enough danger in that first part, since the events rush one after the other, and then all together, toward an end that, from the political side will remain still "open", while instead will arrive to a nice, a very romantic conclusion on the love side. I think that the author has not yet put the end point on the story of this couple, and I have an idea to who will play the first lady role on the official visit of King William II, David's cousin, to the White House.

Another thing that I notice is that David is somewhat more "domestic" in this sequel. As I said, David is a spoiled man, quite aware to be a nice catch for every single gay man. And so in the first book, I had an impression of him like a friendly and open man, not at all scared by his sexuality. I think he was quite happy to be single and among so many handsome man. Now instead David is almost calm, satisfied, but not since he is aware of his position as president, but since he is content with his relationship with Shane. And so we also see the "daddy" David, behaving like a overprotective father for his little girl, the Scottish Terrier Mary, but also for every single gay teenager he has the chance to meet. It's almost like David's fatherly instinct were aroused at the same moment he met the man who is a good candidate to be the real deal... quite the attitude of those old-fashioned women of the good society that were raised to be good wives and mothers, and who, soon after the marriage, lose the careless of youth to suddenly became the symbol of a perfect woman.

In all of this, I lost Shane... well, poor Shane is quite the supporting character in there. He is still a good man, he is devoted and unselfish, and sometime he looses the mask of composure to let us see the real man, but all in all, it's David who shines, and Shane lives of reflected light. Where it's David who suddenly becomes "domestic" and tamed, truth be told, it's Shane who plays the perfect role of the wife of a very important man: silent and always present, ready to satisfy every single wish of his man.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/currenttitles/talons/talonsofthecondorbuynow.htm

Amazon Kindle: Talons of the Condor

Series:
1) Condor One: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/333103.html
2) Talons of the Condor

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by Dan Skinner

As was to be expected, I am quite far behind on my word count for JulNoWriMo.

On the stroke of midnight, on July 1st, I started writing a bit of the second draft of Stars Shine Brighter and I did a few hundred words before going to bed, so all was well. Then it all went downhill as I had very little time for writing on Thursday and Friday because I had to finish writing my school placement report. I spent a good deal of Thursday night on AIM, chatting to lovely sprinters who kept me sane and endured my madness. Also, thanks to lovely AIM user Notusingthezword, I now have a Nutella-topped Jaffa Cake recipe, which has to be the greatest thing in the whole universe. 

Anyways, the whole point of this point was to say, the writing on Stars Shine Brighter was going so incredibly badly tat I decided to not bother NaNoing it, and do what I knew I should have done long before and start writing a brand new story. So I now have 2291 words of a brand new, as of yet untitled story, featuring: Twenty-somethings living in London, an anonymous letter and heaps of potential French-mocking.

Word count so far: 2291 words -- 605 on Saturday, starting at 5pm and 1686 today.

I'm not very worried, as I was only at about 2600 words on the 5th last November and that was on a novel I'd been planning for a bit longer than a day and a half. 

But I am having a REALLY hard time keeping my characters under control! And my friends (non writers) don't understand...they think I'm crazy for not being able to control my own characters. Is anyone else having big problems in this area?? My MC was supposed to have this journey INTO evilness...instead, a hundred words in, he decided to be evil right now! So I had to make him a "minor character" (sort of) and give him a random son to do the evilness journey...but the son doesn't want to ever be like his father. And...I don't really know how to fix this. Any suggestions, or any one else going through the same thing?

I saw CIAO (2008) some weeks ago and was really impressed both by the movie than the actors. Ciao is basically a movie based on its characters and their acting, and so I was very glad to see an Italian actor in one of the main role... even if I was a bit perplexed. Living in Italy and being quite a movie fan, I have never heard before of Alessandro Calza. How was that? Alessandro Calza is, other than a very handome man (and at 38 years old he is a man, not a pretty boy), and a good actor, also the screenwriter. So I decided to browse the net, found out that he lives in Genoa, and that he is Italian from Italy, so the real deal ;-) I obviously grab the chance to for once speak in Italian with someone else and then asked him for a little interview (this time in English); Alessandro is a very nice man and I think we, him and me, have many things in common, but above all I think that many of my online friends will love to know him better. So, my friends, I'm glad to introduce you, Alessandro Calza.



1) Acting is not your main career, am I wrong? How did you end being an actor and also screenwriter in CIAO?

Yes, I am actually a graphic designer. Acting and screenwriting is one of the things I always wanted to do. Ever since I was a kid. But of course it takes some work to turn a fantasy like that (hard, especially for somebody italian that wants to work in the US) into reality.
Practically director Yen Tan asked me to collaborate on the screenwriting and audition for the part.

( Alessandro Calza in CIAO )

2) Between being an actor / screenwriter and a webdesigner, what do you prefer?

I have been designing/drawing since I was a kid and later on I have been designing in different fields, from architecture to web to lighting systems and so on. I guess that's in my DNA and will ever be something I do on a daily basis.

But I always disliked the idea of being forced to stand on just one side of the fence.
The industry is full packed of 'gay creativity' that works behind the stage to make the world more appealing in different areas like fashion, cinema, music, design.

Modeling and acting is the way for me to keep the balance.

( Alessandro Calza )

3) Do you have any other projects on in the movie industry?

There's a couple of things in the air but you know, it's the kind of stuff you can't talk about...we're all superstitious when it comes down with these sort of things.

( Alessandro Calza )

4) I browsed your website, and found a lot of pictures, ranging from almost personal to professional shot... but I didn't understand if you are proposing yourself as a model, or if it's only for your pleasure ;-) Could you tell me something more about those shots?

What I am doing is self portrait. Photography is about a style (the photographers') applied to different subjects. Self portrait is about different styles applied to the same subject.

Using the same subject stimulates you to evaluate different ways of seeing the subject cause you easily exhaust your palette after you start.

It has a huge load of interesting implication.

Call it... visual twittering

( Alessandro Calza )

5) I know that you are from Genoa and that you lived there when you were filming CIAO. And now? Do you still live there? If yes, how is it to live in a provincial Italian city while moving online in an international circle of friends? (I'm curious to listen to your answer to compare with my situation, I live in Padua, that, more or less, I believe is quite similar to Genoa)

I still live here. It is good and bad. Being in a very understimulating environment push you toward studying and self improvement. That's why basically monks live the way they do.

I think I unconsciously never made the choice to move somewhere bigger, more crowded and busy because I knew if I got caught in the stream of the big city, I would have never had the focus to do the things I like to do.

The internet is a good support. Today you can do things in a different way. It would have been impossible 20 years ago.

( Alessandro Calza )

6) Want to tell us something personal about you? How old are you, what do you like, who do you like (this last is probably the question my friends want to know most of all ;-) )

I'm 38, born in Genova... I like a lot of stuff, in a way I can tell you through the years, there's almost nothing I didn't like sooner or later. Music, as 95% of the people, stay in the top 5 I guess.

Who I like...you mean men? Let's stay within cinema so it is easier. I like Colin Farrel in Tigerland, James Gandolfini in the Mexican, Mel Gibson in Mad Max 1, Jeremy Piven in Entourage... a broad range. I had a thing for Takeshi Kitano, but now he's too old :)


Colin Farrel in Tigerland

( Alessandro Calza's men )

7) This year the Gay Pride parade in Italy was in Genoa. Did you attend?

It was the first time of the gay pride in Genova, it has been an important event. The parade has been fun and definitely sober, which is not surprising since Genova is the capital of understatement. Unfortunately I had to hear Lella Costa mixing up the spirit of the day with her personal views about the 2001 G8 events.

I hope this gay pride will be the starting point for the creation of a gay party which is neither left or right wing oriented but is just focused on the things we need as a communtiy.



---

Alessandro Calza is a webdesigner and has his own site www.ahunter.org and he says he is a nerd "I love Windows, I hate Mac. I love the two triads, ie Adobe: Photoshop / Illustrator / Indesign and Macromedia: Fireworks / Flash / Dreamweaver”.

The things he likes are, in order: "muscle, martini / campari, Leigh Bowery, grass, men, Levis 501, Ducati Monster 650, Microsoft, light & sound machine, I have already said men?, working between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m.". In 2005 he co-wrote and played a gay independent movie, CIAO, that is having a good audience at film festivals (gay or not) all around the world.

CIAO beautifully explores the difficult path to accepting loss amidst the hope of new beginnings. This somber and touching modern love story focuses on the incidental friendship between two strangers living in two different parts of the world. Their connection is sparked by the unexpected loss of a mutual friend, Mark. When Jeff (Adam Neal Smith) is left in charge of handling Mark’s possessions and tying up loose ends he stumbles upon one of Mark’s email conversations with Mark’s online Italian romance, Andrea (Alessandro Calza) and must tell him the bad news. With a trip already booked, Andrea decides to come and learn more about his recently departed friend. What begins as a tragedy that links two strangers from different ends of the world becomes a deeply realized friendship that may change their lives forever.



Gay Romance Movie: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/715953.html

Amazon: Ciao [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]

( Alessandro Calza )

Director: Yen Tan

Writers: Alessandro Calza (writer) and
Yen Tan (writer)

Release Date: 30 March 2008 (AFI Dallas Film Festival, USA)

Genre: Drama, Romance

Tagline: A Tale of Love.
Every ending has a new beginning.

Plot: Deeply sincere and exceedingly slow even at 87 minutes, "Ciao" involves two strangers - Adam Neal Smith as Jeff and Alessandro Calza as Andrea - who become acquaintances after the death of a mutual friend. Directed by Yen Tan, who wrote the screenplay with Mr. Calza, the story takes off (slowly) shortly after the mutual friend, Mark (Charles W. Blaum), dies in an accident. Jeff mourns, largely by staring off into space under the fixed gaze of Mr. Tan's stationary camera. The movie picks up somewhat with the introduction of Andrea, an Italian who hoped to consummate his and Mark's online flirtation with a visit to the States. Jeff suggests that Andrea stick to his travel plans. He does, and you can guess the rest. Shot in muddy video, "Ciao" weds a story that sounds (and often plays) like a pornographic quickie with a torturously ambitious visual style. Though it's a bit of a relief that someone in American independent cinema apparently knows how to use a tripod, Mr. Tan has only traded one contemporary visual cliché (dribbling camerawork) for another (the art-house long shot).

@IMDb
@Amazon: Ciao [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]
@Netflix



( more pics )

Cast (in credits order)
Adam Neal Smith ... Jeff
Alessandro Calza ... Andrea
Ethel Lung ... Lauren
Chuck Blaum ... Mark
John S. Boles ... Mark's Father
Margaret Lake ... Mark's Mother
Tiffany Vollmer ... Doctor

Without doubt this short story winks at the tv fiction Charlie's Angels. As in the fiction, an unknown man who speaks only through a phone, Simon, owns a P.I. agency lead by three different "angels", three gay men: Cary, the it nerd, Marco, the macho ex-cop, and Rafe, the former actor and make up artist.

Marco and Rafe had something in the past, but after a police case ended very badly, Marco ditched the job and the lover. Rafe has never had a real reason for Marco's betrayal, and probably he is still in love with the man. And so when years later, the agency asked him to work with Marco and Cary, I believe that Rafe accepted to have the chance to be again near Marco. In the agency the role are quite clear: Cary is the brain, Marco is the muscle and Rafe is the pretty; and so when a killer starts to target en-travesti man, it's quite obvious that Rafe will take part to a transvestite beauty pageant as bait... what it's not so obvious is that also macho man Marco will have to dress as a beauty contestant.

From that moment on, the mood of the short story is light and most of the time funny; Rafe is all coquettish on Marco, Marco has not the will to resist to his ex-lover, and he more than once surrenders to temptation. Rafe adopts the tactics to put out everything and always, to let Marco know what he is missing. And never once replies to Marco's late rebuttal with anger or offence: Rafe knows that he is in love with Marco and that he is the only man he wants, and so he doesn't see reason to hide it.

Even if there is a killer on the loose, and some casualty on the course, the mood of the short story is always light; I think the author is not taking very seriously the mystery plot, she is more interested in the love story between Marco and Rafe. And then, all the PI agency and mystery subplot is more tv fiction "fake" than realistic, wireless boobs transceiver and unbodied voices directly on the ears.

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=496

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

7/2

Today: 1977
Total: 6044
Words: 43956
Percentage: 12.09%


7/3

Today: 1454
Total: 6328
Words: 43672
Percentage: 12.66%

7/4

Today: 1452
Total: 7,780
Words: 42220
Percentage: 15.56%

I wrote part of the last two chapters today, so maybe that doesn't count, but it's the same story, so I'm letting it count even though it's out of order.

...the Pity party:

I have, I am suspicious, come down with a (so far mild) case of strep throat; whatever it is I've caught, writing has fallen down my list of priorities yesterday and today. Heck, just typing this is hard - but I feel so behind!

There will be catching up on word count for me, right?

I so loathe being sick; I'm hoping to find a way to turn it to my advantage, but so far I can't concentrate on anything but feeling bad for more than a few minutes.

:( :( :(

Encouragement would be appreciated.

AMBER ALLURE
Bottom's Up: Triplesex by Amanda Young
Buy Link
Bring The Heat by M. L. Rhodes
Buy Link

ASPEN MOUNTAIN PRESS
Berdache by Lena Austin
Excerpt: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/713832.html
Buy Link

DARK ROAST PRESS
Carnal Cravings by Keta Diablo
Excerpt: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/711943.html
Buy Link
Niko-Chan by Angelia Sparrow
Buy Link

DREAMSPINNER PRESS
Kaji Sukoshi & The Shining One by Connie Bailey
Excerpt: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/712424.html
Buy Link
Come Back to Me by Lisa Marie Davis
Buy Link

EXCESSICA
It Was Just a Kiss by A. Mistory
Buy Link
Cowboy by J.M. Snyder
Buy Link

EXTASY BOOKS
Lady Jane and the Egyptian Curse by Ora Le Brocq
Buy Link
Blood Eclipse by A.J. Llewellyn & D.J. Manly
Excerpt: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/714288.html
Buy Link
Colors of the Night by Adriana Kraft
Buy Link

LIQUID SILVER BOOKS
Unfinished Business by Etienne D'Artagnan
Buy Link

LITERARY ROAD
The Vampire King's Husband by Amber Kell
Buy Link

LOOSE ID
Don't Look Back by Josh Lanyon
Excerpt: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/713661.html
Buy Link
Ghosts of Alcatraz by Carol Lynne
Buy Link

LOVEYOUDIVINE
Black Roses by Jamie Samms
Excerpt: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/712651.html
Buy Link
Almost Human by M. King
Buy Link

LULU PRESS
Out of Balance by Lyn Gala
Buy Link
Tinseltown Blues, #1: All That Glitters by Acer Adamson
Buy Link

P.D. PUBLISHING
Hidden Enemies by Trish Kocialski
Excerpt: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/712930.html
Buy Link
Kicker's Journey by Lois Cloarec Hart
Buy Link
The Way You Say My Name by Sara Bell
Buy Link

PHAZE BOOKS
Crossroads Revisited by Keta Diablo
Excerpt: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/711710.html
Buy Link

RESPLENDENCE PUBLISHING
Extinction by Carol Lynne
Buy Link

SHADOWFIRE PRESS
A Taste of Inspiration by Moondancer Drake
Buy Link

SIREN PUBLISHING
Sex Games, Cowboy Sex 2, by Natalie Acres
Buy Link

STARBOOKS PRESS
Lusty Adventures of the Knossos Prince by Jay Starre
Buy Link

TORQUERE BOOKS
Seeds of Time 2: Bread on the Waters by GS Wiley
Buy Link
The Last Paladin 3: Devotion and Grace by Vaughn R. Demont
Excerpt: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/713027.html
Buy Link
Used, Rare and Custom Jobs 3: Tender Awarded by Chris Owen
Buy Link
Change of Plans by TC Blue
Buy Link
Rig and the Gym Bunnies: A Jarheads Short by Sean Michael
Buy Link
Renovations 1: Framework by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox
Excerpt: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/714036.html
Buy Link
Chasing Tail by Lorne Rodman
Buy Link

TOTAL-E-BOUND
Simon Says by Ashley Ladd
Buy Link
Poker Night: Slow Play by Carol Lynne
Buy Link

WHISKEY CREEK PRESS
A Woman for Zachary (Meghan's Playhouse, Book 2) by Adriana Kraft
Excerpt: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/713300.html
Buy Link

For Publishers: If you would like to be add to the weekly releases post, please contact me.

For Authors: If you would like to post an excerpt, please contact me.

Anyone else having trouble gettin' onto the forum chat thingy? That's question one. Question two is, are there any aim sprinting rooms open? If not, and you guys wanna sprint, I'll be opening up julnosprints in approximately 2.7 seconds. Laughs. Join me there if you wanna bound away with your WC's!

Sammie

My granddad's here. But I'm at 6,751 words, and I REALLY want to hit 10K today. So far I've missed watching family videos of my cousin playing the piano, (which my mom and sister both separately told me was "painful"), but that's about it. Write or Die, an epically awesome fight sequence, and trying to make my main character more interesting (because right now I really hate her, she bores me) are enough work that I think I can make it. >.> Sorry, grandpa, I've got writing to do. =D


( I made an icon, see it after the jump! )

I just felt like posting today, not that i have anything uber important to say, but i like Lj better than the forums. I'm keeping up with the daily word count really well, and i'm proud of myself. last year i wrote as much as i could to get done early, but i burned out with the plot and eventually got stuck. so this year i'm going with the slow and steady. and it's working, i think. i'm also not writing the two parts of the story at the same time, coz' for some reason they never seem to meet up when i need them to. one character didn't show up or the other character was already gone. it was a frustrating mess. so i've learned that lesson.

i still have no ending, but it's only day 4 so i'm not panicking...yet. i know i want the guy to get thrown in jail for the girl can save him, but i don't know where the jail is or how the girl will save him. did anyone ever see Nim's Island and the author is tossing her MC into a volano and the MC keeps wondering how she'll get him out of it, but she doesn't? yeah it's kind of like that. i suppose it's coz' i've never HAD to escape from a jail. :-)

slow and steady....it also leaves time for a bit of editing, at least running spell check, which pacifies the editor to some degree. ok now i'm just procrastinating.

jA nE~~~~~~~

When I read Let's Get Medieval by Jardonn Smith I was quite candid in stating that while The Bishop of Grunewald was not my cup of tea, I somewhat liked The Tortured Secutor. I like the setting, the roman empire, and I like the relationship between the two men, very explicit and "down and dirty", but with a certain degree of romance, even if not the classic "pick glasses" type of romance.

Danube Divine is on the same level of The Tortured Secuter, and it's also losely connected to the previous story. But instead of in the apex of the Roman Empire, the story is set during its decline and it's not told from the perspective of a glorious and pompous roman soldier, but from the perspective of two "barbarian", Theo and Gregoric, two of the Goth who scattered the Roman at Hadrianopolis. There is also another thing that links this story with the other one, the way it starts: Theo and Gregoric are in a warriors paradise, or walhalla, or in any other place a good warrior went when his time on earth is ended. In this way we know, from the start, that both Theo than Gregoric had a good life, and, despite everything will happen during the story, we know that they will overcome all of it.

Theo and Gregoric are cousins but their similarity ends there. Gregoric is stoic and steady, he has a bigger perspective on life than the immediate day; Theo is more easy, he enjoys the day and little think on tomorrow. After the Battle of Hadrianopolis, Theo is roaming among the dead Roman soldiers, like many other, to find a pair of boot of his size... not exactly an eroic act, but quite normal in that situation. Among the fallen soldiers he finds Drusus and Strabo, two Romans, injured but still live; they are like all the other soldiers, but for Theo they are different, thanks to the medallion they wear, Theo recognizes two fellow Mithras worshipers. I don't know if Theo saves them since they are fellow worshipers or since he is in lust with Drusus, in a way or the other, Theo kidnaps Drusus while leaving Strabo to Gregoric's care.

Gregoric is on the battlefield with Boris, a Christian priest but also a Mithras' worshiper. Boris was Gregoric and Theo's tutor, and when it was time, he became Gregoric's lover. Their relationship is more a Master and disciple one than erotic love, but nevertheless it's deep and involving. Gregoric is willing to die for Boris, but I have the feeling that Boris knows that Gregoric is fated to something bigger. He teaches him everything to let him go to his destiny.

The novel is very long but it's parted in different phases each of them told in first point of view from Theo or Gregoric, and the mood of the story varies according to the narrator. At the beginning it's Theo who told as he met Drusus, and all the focus of the story is on their erotic escapade far from the horripilation of the Battle of Hadrianopolis; there is sex, and it's playful, the mood of the story is light. Then the ball shift to Gregoric, and he remembers as he met Boris. For a good portion, Gregoric recalls what Boris told him about his past, how he was initiated to the Mithras's cult, how he arrives to be a captive of Gregoric's uncle. Then Gregoric goes down the memory lane, his love for Boris, and how he ended in the Battle of Hadrianapolis. All this part of the book is full of historic details, or history mixed to fiction; there is a bit of romance, I really love Gregoric and Boris' relationship, but it always had a sadness inside.

From that moment on, with Gregoric's narration that reached Theo's point, the story continues from Gregoric's point of view, and so it remains on a upper level, less light but more involving for the history lover. There is less sex, even if sometime the author returns to his distinctive point of view on what is sexy and erotic, Boris's torture with Gregoric that almost reveres his body it's at the same time dreadful but so full of love. In the end I think that this is one of the most romantic book I read by Jardonn Smith, and Gregoric and Boris' love is an epic one.

http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=DANUBE01

Amazon Kindle: Danube Divide

Amazon: Danube Divide

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

For those of us in the US, today is Independence Day, celebrating the day we
as a nation decided not to be ruled by England. In other parts of the world,
though, it's just July 4. But wherever we are, no matter what culture we're
currently in, today is Interdependence Day for my husband and me, because it's
our anniversary.

We got married on July 4 in Brooklyn, NY, 25 years ago, in the restaurant in
the tallest building in Bay Ridge. We chose that spot because that's where we
lived; we loved the area (the southernmost tip of Brooklyn, right before the
Verrazano Bridge, which leads you to Staten Island), and by having our
reception in that building, we could see the fireworks over in Manhattan. It was one day that we knew most everyone we wanted to invite would have off, and
surprisingly, neither the church nor the restaurant were booked. It was a lovely, sunny day (okay, it was summer in New York: It was scorching, the church wasn't air-conditioned, but the sky was a beautiful blue), and we remember it fondly still.

Eventually, we moved away -- across the country, even, to Washington state --
but we had the opportunity to go back to New York a few years ago, just in
time for our anniversary. We had dinner at the restaurant at the top of that
same building, and watched the fireworks over in Manhattan again. We remember
that fondly, too.

How is any of this relevant? Well, I write romances. And our wedding was
romantic. And it's Interdependence Day. So Happy Interdependence Day, one and all!