In every chat and website I've had to make this announcement, I've struggled. This isn't going to be any different. Earlier this evening I received a phone call from one of Comicality’s relatives. As many of you may know, he has been very sick on and off for over a year now which was the result of a failing liver. I was informed that on Tuesday, 04/16 he lost his battle and quietly passed away, taking a piece of all of our hearts with him. He leaves many of us with the amazing work that he has shared throughout the decades that he has been “COMICALITY” to us and much like that work, I know my heart along with many others, is now forever incomplete.

We are going to have a discussion in the office and figure out what we can/should do to keep all of the projects we've worked on with him alive like this site. Almost 6 years ago I got to see firsthand how much work he put into everything he did to entertain us all when we aided in reviving his IMAGINE Magazine. His persistence and level of dedication re-lit that flame for myself and even though the magazine was supposed to simply be hosted by us, I’ve had my hand on the wheel and followed along as he pointed. It’s hard to imagine moving forward without him, but we do want to move forward for him. Myself and the entire team (real and 3D) are all brokenhearted and need our vision to clear so we can do his work justice.

– Rest in Peace Coms, We’ll continue safeguard all that you created until we join you on the other side.

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.)

Hey everyone! Yes, I am still here and doing more than just relaying news. The unfortunate part about a website where all the active authors are undead and in hiding is that it's hard to come across new authors. Well, out of the darkness R. Eric has brought us his ongoing story "Blueblood: A Dark Southern Aristocracy" which is a Southern love story that truly has a desperate undertone that will make you believe that love conquers all. Well, at least it pushes you to overcome!

So be sure to check out his new story, and tell your friends that the archive is still here and still open. I'd say we need to turn more authors to wake up the archive but, yeah, that's probably a bad idea. - Catch you all soon!

Another off for New Adventures
Posted by JeffsFort

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/

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

Let me just begin by letting each and every last one of you guys know that I love you, and I always wish you the best. It's important to say it as often as possible. You never know when it might be for the last time.

We lost another cherished member of our Shack family this past weekend. Unfortunately, our friend 'ATrueFan passed away just a day or two ago, and he will be greatly missed by us all. I wish you peace eternal, dude. Thank you for being a part of our lives, and for sharing your soul with us. Love you lots.

Ok, I'm just keeping this short for now. A new chapter of the vampire saga, "Gone From Daylight" has been posted today. You can find it at the link below, so let me know what you think whenever you get a chance. K?

(Gone From Daylight: Blood Ties @ The GFD BloodBank)

Ebook versions of this series, with all of the added scenes and extras included, are available now in the Comicality Ebook section. (https://imagine-magazine.org/store/comicality/) Grab your copies today, and look for the next big book to be released soon. That one will be a doozy.

Also, major thanks to those of you who have really been helping me out during my time of struggle with your donations to the https://paypal.me/Comsie account. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and so does my mom. You're kindness is definitely appreciated!

I've gotta run. But you'll be hearing from me soon. I'll seezya then.

Take care. And stay beautiful.

= = WORDS NOT MINE, YET MINE = =

"But they TOLD me...a man should be faithful! And walk when not able! And FIGHT to the end, but I'm only human..." -Michael Jackson

It's been a while, hasn't it?

That's right, it looks like we will be adding to the archives with the personal scriptures of a new blood who goes by the name of Silver Firestorm! He has earned the trust of Comicality himself so we expect big things from this young one. From what I've read so far, he has something very special to share with us and it appears the elders approve.

So sit down and turn off the lights and join us as we gather for the reading. Be sure to reach out to him to let him know what you think, I've made sure his contact info is available. Raiders, steer clear!

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

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*

Greetings, one and all!

I'm just sending out a short note to let you guys know that I've posted a brand new chapter of "Gone From Daylight" tonight! So if you're a fan of the vampire themed saga, run on over and check it out! This chapter has been split in half, so you'll be getting another one next weekend! But you've got this one for now! Enjoy! And, if you get a chance, leave a rating or a comment and let me know what you think! Cool?

And if this is your first experience with the series, you can start from the very beginning by looking at the "Gone From Daylight" section on my story listing page! (Gone From Daylight Series) And there are many many MORE "GFD" spinoff stories for you guys to dive into if you want to travel even deeper down that rabbit hole in the "GFD Worlds" section! GFD Worlds @ shackoutback.net

That's it for now! I'll be going to the chatroom tomorrow (Saturday) around 4 PM EST if you guys wanna drop in and say hello! It'll be good to see ya! I had a blast last weekend! And it's always a party when you guys come around, so the more the merrier, and all that jazz! Come join us! https://discordapp.com/invite/5rVAUj9

Take care, and I'll seezya soon! :)

*= = WORDS NOT MINE, YET MINE = =*

"Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet." -*Maya Angelou*

Hehehe, are you sick of me yet? No? Ok, good! I don't want to be a pest with the updates! But like I said...this series of updates is of EPIC proportions! So you've got a lot more coming! I hope you guys are keeping up! And you can expect some more surprises soon! ::Nods::

I want to thank those of you who took the time to send me emails and leave comments on my stories recently! Thank you soooo much! As you know, I read and try to respond every single day! And I love you guys for the feedback! ((Huggles)) Also, I will be answering emails this weekend in a huge marathon effort! So I hope to talk to you soon! I always answer every email personally, so my apologies if it takes me a while to get back to you. But I really do stick to my original blueprint. You took the time to write to me, so I'm going to take the time to write back. K?

Tonight's offering takes us back to the Old West, with another "Gone From Daylight" spinoff called "GFD: Children Of Sunset"! A young teen boy falls for a mysterious stranger in the dark during a time when a series of unexplained murders are happening in their town. Check it out, and let me know what you think when you get the chance! This it the seventh chapter in the series! So, if you're brand new to this one, catch up already! Hehehe! What? Do I have to do EVERYTHING??? :P

(GFD: Children Of Sunset 7)

Anyway...I'm already working my way through my own submissions for the November issue of Imagine Magazine! And it's sure to be another big success! Thanks to everybody who participated in the October issue, and you can all expect more goodies in the next few weeks! If you guys want to submit anything, just let me know at Comicality@shackoutback.net and we'll save you a spot! Cool?

(https://imagine-magazine.org/)

That's it for now! Be back soon! So happy to hear that you guys are enjoying the newest updates! Thank you! And I'll seezya soon with more! :)

*= = WORDS NOT MINE, YET MINE = =*

"The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it." -*Oscar Wilde*

Good evening, Halloween gang! >:)

"30 Days Of Night" continues tonight with a new chapter for one of the /darkest/ "GFD" spinoff stories yet! Because I'm slightly psychotic and I get a thrill out of painting this particular picture! Hehehe!

Anyway, "GFD: Bloodstained Duet" is now up! So check it out, let me know what you think, yadda yadda...! And I'm out of here! Seezya soon!

:: POOF ::

(GFD: Bloodstained Duet 5)

*= = WORDS NOT MINE, YET MINE = =*

"Nobody’s ever been arrested for a murder, they have only ever been arrested for not planning it properly." -*Terry Hayes*

Happy late night, you guys! BOO!!! Get out of bed! We've got a lot of party left in us! Hehehe!

Alrighty...

The '30 Days Of Night' updates took a short break for a few days while I was getting everything ready and polished up real nice for ya! So we're jumping right back into it tonight! There's a new completed short story that was written to just be something sweet, called "GFD: Fireside Chat" that was posted tonight! So go have a look at it, and be sure to take a few seconds to let me know what you think whenever you get the chance! K? I always love to hear from you!

(Read Here & Discussion Here)

You can also find this story in the "Scriptures" section on the GFD Bloodbank, which absolutely FULL of other vampire spinoffs and goodies of all types if you want to check them out as well! Some are extremely light hearted, some are extremely DARK! Some are full of action, and some are romantic tales of young love! All of the elements that make the "Gone From Daylight" series what it is...you can find it there! So keep your eyes out for more! Some of them may just surprise you!

GFD Bloodbank Scriptures

Take care! And I'll seezya soon! Thanks for the emails and the comments on the stories! Keep 'em coming! You guys keep me smiling all day! Hehehe!

Laters!

*= = WORDS NOT MINE, YET MINE = =*

"As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once." -*John Green*

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick announcement to let you all know that we have a new blood on the site. He's been writing a scripture of his own, and Comicality has been watching him closely. Well, today I finally got approval to add his scriptures to our archive, Known as "Myke D.", his Legends of Blood series has been added to our growing collection that is keeping slag hunters on their toes. 

Make sure to check it out!

I really am trying to get myself back on regular sleeping/waking hours, hehehe, but it takes some adjustment! Hehehe, one day is blending into another, because...pandemic. :P

Stay SAFE out there, you guys! Seriously! Don't play games with this virus. It's not worth it.

Alright...Comsie PSA is over and done with.

"30 Days Of Night" continues with a brand new chapter of "GFD: Sins Of The Father"! Dive in and give it a look! And all comments or questions are welcome! It takes place in the late 80's in Japan, and you "GFD" fans may recognize some of the characters in this one! Like I said before, it's really cool to be able to connect all of these stories in a way that I wasn't able to do before because the other stories weren't far enough along to do so. So, I feel like I've got a whole new buffet to draw from these days!

Anyway, let me know what you think! And there's more to come!

(Read Here & Discussions Here)

I'm finishing up the last few sections that I've got for the October issue of Imagine Magazine! We'll be going live on the 15th, as always! So expect more fun next Thursday! Cool? The Halloween issue will be even bigger than last years! Which is crazy! Be sure to jump in as soon as it gets posted! I'll be sure to let you know! So spread the word! And huge thanks to everyone who submitted stories of their own to this issue! I love you LOTS for participating in the effort! You're awesome!!!

(https://imagine-magazine.org/)

Alright, I've gotta run! But I've got a nice little surprise coming for you later on today! Be sure to look for it soon! Hehehe! Also, even though I'm randomly taking on 'babysitting' duties to help out the fmily these days, I will definitely be dropping by the 'Hot Tub' chatroom in the near future! (https://discord.com/invite/AbX2nn4) It will be awesome to talk to you guys in real time again! I know that it's been a while. Stay tuned to this mailing list for the exact time and day that I'll be dropping by. I miss you guys. I've just been typing my fingers down to the bone lately. Trust me, it'll be cool to take a break and just have some fun for a while! Hope to see you there!

Alrighty then! I'm gone! Enjoy the new vampire chapter! And I'll be back with more soon! ((Hugz))

*= = WORDS NOT MINE, YET MINE = =*

"The feelings that hurt most, the emotions that sting most, are those that are absurd - The longing for impossible things, precisely because they are impossible; nostalgia for what never was; the desire for what could have been; regret over not being someone else; dissatisfaction with the world’s existence. All these half-tones of the soul’s consciousness create in us a painful landscape, an eternal sunset of what we are." -*Fernando Pessoa*

Good...morning? Evening? In between? Hehehe! Sorry, my insomnia is showing again!

This is gonna be a bit of a quickie! I just wanted to let you know that you have a whole new FLURRY of vampire stories coming your way for a brand new "30 Days Of Night" update! Coming from the world of "Gone From Daylight", you guys will be getting your horror/romance/action fix from what I've got planned for you between now and Halloween! NO other story on the entire website has a bigger fanbase than "GFD"! And now that the story has progressed further, and the surrounding stories from different eras, past, present, and future, have all reached a certain point, it's a really fun challenge to weave the storylines together and show you guys more pieces of this elaborate puzzle that I've been building over the years! It makes me proud! ::Grins::

Anyway, the first new chapter of the updates, "GFD: Divine Right", has been posted! It takes place in a dark dystopian future after the 'Daylight Wars'! So check it out when you get a chance! And let me know what you think! K?

(Read Here &  Discussion Here)

And if you want to dive into any of the other vampire spinoffs, some taking place in the current day, some in the 70's or 80's, some in Al Capone era Chicago, or the Wild West...be sure to check them out in "GFD: Worlds" section! There's more to this series than you may think!

GFD Worlds at ShackOutBack.net

Also, BIG thanks to you guys who have recently donated to the Comicality Paypal account!!! I love you sooooo much! Every penny helps, especially during the pandemic! So thank you from the bottom of my heart! (paypal.me/comicality) I appreciate the help! It makes me supper happy! And more free giggles for Comsie means more free stories for you guys! Thanks! ((Hugz))

Alright, that's it for now! I'll seezya sooner than later! And thank you for the comments on the newest "On The Outside" chapter too! I'm always reading what you guys say! So I'll keep an eye out! You guys make my day!

*= = WORDS NOT MINE, YET MINE = =*

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." -*Plato*

Hi everyone and welcome to the newly redesigned GFD BloodBank! I know many have followed this site for years, some since the very beginning; and I know I have some pretty big shoes to fill. I promise I'll do my best!

So, who am I and why am I here? My name is Spencer, known in darkness as Specter as I can make my entire body look like a vapor or look "ghost-like" to one person or everyone near me if I want. It's an extra that has saved me many times and driven a few a little mad. (Trust me, no one who didn't deserve it.) Uriel, the original archivist, had been a friend of mine for many years and he did a great job making the idea of the BloodBank a reality. Then he disappeared without warning, leaving the archive orphaned. So, Comicality (Yeah, THE Comicality!) turned to his friend Turtleboy to see if he was up for the task. Not only did Turtleboy move the archive to its own server with its own domain, he completely redesigned the site and made it, bigger without changing the overall feel of the original site. Uriel would have been pleased for sure! Unfortunately, after a few technical issues and a server crash, Turtleboy had to bring in help to restore the archive. It was moved to yet another server and restored but, didn't have an archivist anymore. So, when Comicality learned that I was close to the original archivist and his sire (who was my best friend for what felt like a lifetime) he asked me if I'd take on the job and build on the work of those who built this library of darkness.

Long story short, We’re Back! It's been a long rough journey but The Bloodbank is back in action and we’ve got some plans on the darkened skyline for you all. For now, some time will be spent just cleaning up the damage from our recent redesign. I've been following the layout and additions since day one so, I just need to get the finishing touches and minor growing pains addressed. Soon I’ll tell you some more about myself and once the main archive has been completely moved in, shed some light where light hasn't been seen for eons…

As every archivist before me has said, feel free to look around! I’m sure there will be some more changes and additions in the weeks to come as we settle in and get ready to get the new blood pumping through her old veins again! But for now, we’ve got MORE stories, MORE videos, MORE pics/drawings, MORE poetry, and MORE vampire darkness than we’ve ever had before! And we are ALWAYS looking for more! So if you guys have stories or character pics or a vampire ‘whatever’, let me know and we’ll make it happen! Cool?

Also, if you wanna go back and read the epic story that made this whole site possible, be sure to read the GFD Original Scriptures which are the base of our entire group here in the shadows! (A special thank you to the Gay Authors Community for giving our leader a safe place to build our world and the Shack Outback Mirror for connecting to our archive directly to help maintain everything the great vampire mimic has to offer!

And feel free to come by and talk vampires with us whenever you like! The forum is still where you left it... just might be a little dusty ;)