Talk:The Gym Teacher/@comment-25148755-20150430000635

Well, hopefully if I say I liked this, it doesn't get me put on any watch lists.

That being said, I did like it quite a bit. I've wondered if you would ever include your namesake in your stories, and here he is...in the flesh. Or fur, I suppose. Honestly, my biggest issue with the story is the title...The Gym Teacher. Bleh. Should have called it The Humboldt Lycanthrope.

You did well establishing the characters. Danny was a believable kid in that he was very bright but did some very dumb things as well. His struggling with maturity and self identification smacked of realism. His complicated relationship with his mother and sister also came off as very believable. You did a nice job establishing the underlying sense of menace around Kirby from the beginning. The graphic descriptions added the "yuck" factor, but honestly the story would have been just as strong without them.

As with some of your other stories (The Abalone Thief) the background information into the chosen topic, True Crime in this case, was interesting and you actually have me wanting to hunt down a couple of the books you mentinoed to check them out. They might serve as writing inspiration or nightmare fuel at the very least.

Last, but not least, I really loved the Easter egg callout to The Long List with the boy scouts finding the body in the drainage ditch...I wonder if anyone else will pick up on it? Having little things like this tie my stories together is something I try to do as well, so I definitely appreciate it in someone else's work.

Good job, Humboldt! Thanks for the entertaining read.