66 Comments

What a first chapter! I'm so glad I've gone back! I love love live the voice of your narrator and I feel so protective over little Lamb. 💜

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Thank you so much, Nicole! We're coming into the home stretch the next couple of months, but you'll have time to catch up. :) 💙

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The narrative voice is outstanding! I can’t wait to learn more about the narrator as well as Lamb. Keep going!

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Oh thank you so much Annette! I think you'll get a better picture of both Lamb and "D" as episodes go on, but also, I have a special episode coming up told completely from Lamb's point of view... ::))

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Great first chapter by Mr. Troy Ford. You'll want to read more of this serial work as I do. So glad to have found Mr. Troy.

Mr. Troy, Have you read Susan Sontag's short story "The Way We Live Now" -- published in 1987? She does a brilliant job of showing the misunderstanding, the misguided ways of viewing illness and death from AIDs. I'd love to discuss it with you. And I think your directory here is a great addition to Substack. Let the world know that love is love is love.

My favorite author is the brilliant Colm Tóibín: The Master (about Henry James), his short stories, The Magician (about Thomas Mann) and his new book of essays that deals in the first essay, strikingly with with his prostate cancer. I do believe he is poised for the Nobel Prize.

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Thank Mary! So very kind of you. I have not read that Sontag story, I will have to find that - and Tóibín has been on my list, but I think "The Magician" shall have to go straight to the top. I read "Tiepolo Blue" by James Cahill recently, which was a modern spin on "Death in Venice" which I enjoyed, DiV being one of my favorite classics of early queer lit. So glad we are now acquainted, Mary. :)

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Love your voice. I can place myself right into the scene.

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Thank you Robin!

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I am immediately into this and am so happy I finally started it, and prepared to forgo the rest of the day's duties to continue...

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Thanks Bryan - glad to contribute to your delinquency! ;)

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.. fab.. just fab.. & totally WILD !

If this was a photograph.. would describe it as:

‘clean.. very clean’ - my way of describing ‘a shot that spoke to me’

Iconic Level.. ‘all I needed’ .. and I’m a tough crowd - just by myself

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Yay I look forward to reading more! Especially without Shari Lewis in the picture- oh wait you’re too young to know who she is…. Uh yeah me too yep never heard of her!

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Oh stop - I LOVED Shari Lewis and Lambchop, one of my foundational queer building blocks - along with Wayland Flowers and Madame... 🤣❤️🤪

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Lmao well if I did not just spit a spray of Dr Pepper across my patio!! I had forgotten that wonderful Duo!!

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eFFING ridiculous - and there's Jeannie and Brooke Shields giggling at the end... 😭

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Double Knit Wit!!!! 3 & a half (in centimeters….oh my that was hilarious- and Morgan looks exactly the same now as she did then - it’s the hair I’m sure!

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Thank you thank you!! I have not had a belly laugh like that since ….. well it has been a while- I don’t want to embarrass him …..

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I’m waiting-for the next Lam and I adored this so much. I think Lam and I would have been besties- or at least fast and forever friends..... for me when I am fully involved with a story - it means the writer is talented ... I am fully involved!!

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I'm so glad, Pamela - Lambchop's working his way into my heart too :) Episode 4 drops next week. 💛💛💛

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That was amazing! Wow. That voice. Where the fuck did that come from? I'm in man. In like Flynn. This is an awesome first intro to these characters.

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And here we are.

I'm looking forward to this Troy and to giving it the time it deserves. I love the flow, and I feel a familiar era emerging here.

(I had a close friend -- Lambie, Lambchop, same thing as above -- in the 1980s who i recently met up with for drinks after 30 years.)

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That's some seriously slick writing there, Mr. Troy Ford. Love it. That narrator has just about the mouth on him he needs to get into all sorts of trouble while we hang on his every word. And here we are, indeed. Well done!

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Looking forward to the continuation of this story! Great work and great read.

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Thank you so much, Piritta! Glad to have you here.

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nice! looking forward to reading the next installment... :)

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Bravo Troy!! This is SO good. I’m reading and thinking/feeling, “Damn I know I’m going to get my heart broken with this story.” I will be hanging on hooks waiting for each instalment.

Excellent character development right from the start.

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Thanks Donna!!! I'm so pleased you like it, I'm really digging the serial format, and anticipation is a fun target to aim at and keep the energy alive. So happy you're here.

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I was expecting to love this (and I do) but I was surprised by just how lost I got in it. I had no idea how long I'd been reading for and was actually a little surprised when it finished and so much light had gone out of the day. As I'm sure you know, this is brilliant, Troy. I am excited and terrified by how much I've fallen for dear Lamb. Bring on the Fridays.

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I'm so glad, Chloe! Thank you, I think I'm falling a little for Lamb too, makes me sad what I'm going to do to him. ;) And BTW there IS going to be an episode called "Death and the Bird" in your honor. 😘

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Oh, I am deep in anticipatory grief for our sweet Lamb! 😭 While simultaneously being beyond excited and flattered to hear that D&B and I are being honoured with an episode title!!! 🥹 Bless you, dear Troy 💜

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Brilliant writing, Troy! Looking forward to more!

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¡GRACIAS, Jeffrey!

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