Birthday Week Begins!

It's a grabby day of the year, let's face it. The one day it's wholly justified for Doc Sherwood to start link-bombing the lot of you, right? "Hey liked your story NOW READ MINE" and repeat, until my copy-and-paste thumb drops off?

Or maybe not. What I thought I would do, however, is try and redress the worst "gimme gimme" excesses of my younger days (maybe you can picture it: Transformers! He-Man! Thundercats! MASK! GI Joe - yes, for some reason they were very popular this side of the pond! And Muscle Men - remember those?). So this year, suffer me to see in the auspicious occasion with a show of thanks to the fellow Vocalists who in recent months have given me the gift of a pleasant start to my morning, or a restful wind-down when the writing day is done.

Jay Kantor came to me out of nowhere, liking and commenting on an old story I'd just about given up on ever hearing anything about. Since then we've become the best of Vocal friends, and it's been a pleasure to share my work with "J-Bud" and to read his intriguing ruminations in turn. As for his generous offer of an international funds transfer to keep me in tooty fruity ice cream for the duration of the festivities, let it be known his praise and insights are far more precious to me!

No less a person than interviewer extraordinaire Mariann Carroll was good enough to look over two of my recent pieces, "Sports Day" and "Sixth Form Song." Mariann and I have been corresponding over Facebook since before there were even comments on Vocal, and I've discovered she's an appreciator of my more domestic, more grounded-in-reality writing. I really value her helping me see that there may be more to life than science fiction!

That said, Roy Stevens and I shared a number of laughs regarding Invasion of The Body Snatchers on the comments to his story, "What Kind of Monsters?" and I was delighted when he enjoyed in turn my old student drama competition script, "Doc Sherwood's Troilus and Cressida." It's always a pleasure to hear from you, Roy!

Dana Crandell, thank you for taking the time to read "Disqualification Tablet, Chapter Four" when our paths crossed briefly on the topic of a toothy grille!

Nor can I let this article go by without allusion to fellow Trekkie Sandra Tena Cole. She knows which one I mean! "There's coffee in that nebula..."

Speaking of Top Story poems, Deasun T Smyth, please accept my apologies once again for that "take wing" pun.

Lia Tariah, I'm very grateful I made your acquaintance here on Vocal, as I hugely appreciate your subscription and support. I hope you won't mind my mentioning too that the last one of my stories you liked came as...well, something of a pleasant surprise! Just to explain, I first encountered Lia via her beautiful children's story "The Magic Paintbrush." The piece of mine she liked in turn was, erm, not quite the same sort of thing, shall we say! But It's good to be reminded every now and then not to form an impression of any writer that's based on their works alone.

One comment I was very glad to receive was from Sagar Karn, on "Art and Literary Studies" which I submitted to the new Art community last week. Academic writing has been a big part of my working life, but this was the first such piece I ever posted on Vocal. Sagar's words of encouragement have made me determined to submit more material along these lines.

Muntasir, I hope you read this, because I've been trying (without success) to let you know how much I appreciated your reading and liking a couple of my latest. Of your "Ten Facts that Prove Time-Travel is Possible," I wanted to add that the Bunty Annual 1972 (a hardbound volume published in the UK that same year as a tie-in to a popular weekly comic) contained a sci-fi story which predicted a pandemic and lockdown in the year 202o. I can believe in the Swiss watch in the Chinese tomb, having read that!

Who could forget Cezanne Libellen? Her poetry and ongoing series "From Feet to Fins" need no introduction from me, but I'd like her to know how much I've appreciated the reads and likes that have come my way in turn, for recent works such as "Insinuations" and an older one, "Castle Jaw."

In addition I have Nobody to thank, if you see what I mean (and he's already told me what his real name is!) for liking "When Wolds Collide, Chapter Two" right off the bat, within the very hour it was published. Although, as Cezanne and Ian Read have already observed, you've got to be careful with the notifications from that particular nomenclature. When I took my first glance at mine that morning, I was crushed!

New England archaeologist and bug-man Ian is one of many friends I've made on the Vocal Discord channel, which has been my favourite of the innovations these last months. Other Vocalists I love hearing from during my anti-social Discord hours (because it's the middle of the night for most of them!) include Obsidian, Dwayne, Ashley, Judey, Cendrine and Kelli!

If there's anyone else out there I've somehow neglected to mention, please accept the apologies of an increasingly forgetful old writer, and know that your contribution too was much valued. The big day itself is Wednesday, the same as that of former US President Donald Trump, and English pop star of the 1980s Boy George. So unless you really want to hurt me, see you then!