Story RewindClosing the Barn Door

There’s an old adage that states, “It’s too late to close the barn door after the horses have gotten out.” Sixteen-year-old Neil Michaels learns this lesson on a summer afternoon when he joins his best friend on a biking adventure to the old barn on Engle Mill Road. A secret door opens, and his life will never be the same.

Story Rewind

Stuff People Do

Theme: gay conversion therapy

Matt Stevens is a normal sixteen-year-old. He goes to school and makes good grades. Even though he is being raised in an extremely religious home, he manages to do well. Then, unexpectedly, his life takes an abrupt turn late one night when his best friend, Ricky, kisses him while wrestling on the bed. Matt starts to question his own sexuality, and he begins to realize he is gay. His life starts to spiral out of control, leading to many unexpected twists and turns.  

Chapters

Story Rewind

Other Sinful Things 

Theme: transgender identity and religion

Jacob Long is the obedient preacher's son. His father is a religious zealot who interprets the Bible to conform with his narrow and bigoted views of sin. When a transgender student, Tiffany Martin, enrolls in his high school, Jacob is faced with the moral dilemma of deciding between the teachings of his father or what he feels within his heart 

Story Rewind

Np Mpre Rainbows 

Theme: coming out and parental acceptance

Artie's world is turned upside down when his father gets arrested for a sex crime. His family is torn apart by the incident. Add to the equation his own budding sexuality and his efforts to hide it from a hostile mother, and you have a story with love and hate, fear and courage, conflict and reconciliation.

Story Rewind

Losing Kevin

Theme: coming out and peer pressure

What would you do if you were an identical twin, a carbon copy of someone else, but yet different in one way? Losing Kevin is the story of twin brothers, Devin and Kevin. They shared a brotherly love until Kevin’s love for someone else almost tore them apart.

Short Story Rewind

Normal

Jake wants to invite his best friend, Dominic, to the prom. However, it isn't the normal thing to do. After a game of spin the wheel, does he finally get the nerve to ask him?

Story Rewind

Taking Off the Mask

Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. -James Baldwin

Theme: coming out

At sixteen, James has an almost perfect life. Then two boys enter his life and turn it upside down. Dion is a shy boy who James can't understand. Donovan is the star basketball player who James admires. Read how an incident with one boy will bring him closer to the other as masks are slowly removed.

Window Stories

Theme: life of an elderly gay man

 remember my life now as if I'm looking out a window. Streaks of my life flash by me. I try to open the window and catch them, but the window won't open. So, I sit and watch them, and I wonder did they really happen or was it just a dream? Take a journey back in time as 78-year-old Phil Reid relates his life experiences to 

  Story Rewind

  Dancing with Madonna

Theme: coming out, peer pressure

Buddy Ryder is sixteen years old. “Escape the pain of life you know.” Hoping to escape the realities of the world in which they live, he and his best friend, Andre, have been dancing to Madonna’s ‘Vogue,’ since they were ten. “Your dreams will open the door.” * Buddy likes Kyle Caldwell, a boy who attends his school. However, they come from two different worlds that he fears will never come together. Will he be able to open the door and make his dreams come true? * Vogue Sung by Madonna written by Madonna and Shep Pettibone Note: This story is not fanfiction. Only references to 'Vogue' appears.

Short Story Rewind

Letters fromShakespeare

Garret is a junior in high school. He is required to spend three weeks reading Macbeth in a literature class. Suddenly, love letters signed by William Shakespeare begin to appear. Are they from Maryanne, a girl who has invited him to her party? Or could they be from a secret admirer?

Story Rewind

You Promised Me A Tomorrow

Theme: coming out, drug abuse

This story begins with Randy crying over TJ's grave. What happens to the beautiful boy, TJ, he meets the first day of school? You will have to read the story until its dramatic ending to find the answer. Did T.J. break his promise?

We have lost a legend . Comicality has died. I can't begin to express how heartbroken I am. When I began to write 18 years ago, I was unsure of my writing skills. I feared that no one would be interested in what I had to say. Then along came Comsie. I had been an avid fan, but I wasn't aware that he had been following my stories on Nifty.  We began to communicate, and he encouraged me to keep writing. He supported me when I created The Mustard Jar. I was honored when he featured me in the May 2021 issue of his Imagine Magazine. I will miss my dear friend. RIP Comsie.

New Story!

Window Stories

I remember my life now as if I'm looking out a window. Streaks of my life flash by me. I try to open the window and catch them, but the window won't open. So, I sit and watch them, and I wonder did they really happen or was it just a dream? Take a journey back in time as 78-year-old Phil Reid relates his life experiences to a younger man.

Story Rewind

Reggie's Journal

Theme: coming out, peer pressure, suicide

A witty and entertaining story of a young man, Reggie Ferguson, who is assigned by his creative writing teacher to maintain a weekly journal. Follow along as he begins to understand himself better through his weekly entries.

February Feature

Finding Good Trouble

Parker Frazier attends Somerset High School, a suburban white school. Over the weekend, a fight breaks out during a basketball game against an inner-city black school. Tempers flared, and racial epithets were shouted. On Monday, protestors appeared outside the school. One young man caught Parker's attention. While driving home after school, he witnessed a police officer brutally arrest the young black man he saw that morning. Parker videotaped it with his phone and posted it on Facebook. He was not prepared for what happens next. This story deals with the sensitive issues of racism and racial injustice. Do not read if you are easily offended. (Any names or places mentioned in the story are fictional and are entirely coincidental.)

January 28, 2024: This Weeks Featured Author Is Ronyx
Posted by The Story Lover

Story Rewind 

It's Not Easy Being a Tree

Theme: coming out, danger of gay chat sites

The internet can be a dangerous place sometimes. Chat rooms can be perilous. Sixteen-year-old Woody Fields finds out too late just how sinister a place they can be when he begins chatting online with another mysterious boy.

AwesomeDude 

The story site, AwesomeDude, has been a friend of TMJ for many years. They recently changed their domain to https://awesomedude.org  Make sure to change your bookmark to the new link. Codey's World has also been changed to https://www.awesomedude.org/codeysworld.

Story Rewind

Down a Darkened Path

Theme: gay violence

Troy Neal has it all-good looks, smart and talented. Jayden Henderson's life changed two years earlier when his mother died. Fate brings them together. Discover how their lives become entwined on a collision course to a journey down the darkened path.

To my readers. I have an amazing host server who helped me create this site and has kept it running free for you to enjoy. I never ask for personal donations. However, you can join me in helping pay the cost of maintaining the site. Please make a generous donation by using the link below. Mention The Mustard Jar in the comments section. Thanks!   

Donation Form – DSS Hosting

Latest Story

Seth on the Road to Chaos

Theme: coming out, peer pressure

According to Egyptian mythology, Seth is the God of Chaos. Seth, the main character of this story, is appropriately named because his life becomes a whirlwind of chaos. He is sixteen-years old and lives at home with his mother and twin sister. He is gay. However, he tries to keep it a secret. His life begins a downward spiral when his sister’s boyfriend discovers his secret. Then, he meets a new boy in school who has a troubled past. Will Seth be able to control the chaos erupting around him?

Story Rewind

A Delicate Situation

Theme: coming out, politics, gay activism

Dorian Gale is beginning his freshman year in college. New friends encourage him to join Campus Pride, a gay organization on campus. There is only one problem: Dorian’s father is Senator Jonathan Gale. A series of events on campus might jeopardize his father’s political aspirations, and Dorian could become a delicate situation to his father’s campaign.

Story Rewind

Dancing on a Star

Jack Woolery's life was safe and secure. He was attending high school, and he had no intention of coming out to his parents or best friend, Jimmy. Then Tracy Craft moves in across the street and changes his plans. Tracy, a new student, and an aspiring ballet dancer, is strong and confident. He challenges Jack to reevaluate his life. Can Jack become friends with an openly gay boy, and yet maintain the secret life he trusts?

Story Rewind

A Mourning Storm

Sometimes life isn’t fair. Fifteen-year-old Richie Ferguson has to learn this the hard way when his mother dies of cancer and he’s forced to live with a father who left the family two years earlier for another woman. Richie’s life becomes a storm, whirling around with no sense of purpose or direction. Will the tumultuous winds destroy him or will he find a calm sea in time to save his own life?

Story Rewind

Door Number Three

There is a defining moment in everyone’s life when he or she suddenly realizes who they are. Sometimes it can be a welcoming revelation, other times it can be disheartening. Zac Barnes’s moment comes when he first looks into the brown eyes of Adrian Lewis. How will their lives be affected if Zac chooses Door Number 3?

Story Rewind

Brittle as a Bird

Joey Carpenter is a street kid. Living in his parent’s garage, he hustles to survive. Alcohol and drugs help him face the world. Rejected by his family, and an outcast at school, his future looked dim until he meets Allen Foster- who has his own problems. The special bond they form will give Joey a second chance at life.

A Bridge to Yesterday

 The sequel to Brittle as a Bird.

Story Rewind

A Different Road

Corey and Brett have been best friends since they were five. After twelve years, Brett decides he no longer wants to be involved in a relationship and must now travel a different road. Can Corey survive without Brett in his life? Find out in this story of love and loss.

Story Rewind

Birds Don't Sing Before a Storm

Casey Barrett is a sixteen-year old who lives alone with his mother. After several incidences at school, she decides she can no longer deal with his rebellious behavior. She sends Casey to live with his father who deserted the family five years earlier.

Finding Good Trouble

Parker Frazier attends Somerset High School, a suburban white school. Over the weekend, a fight breaks out during a basketball game against an inner-city black school. Tempers flared, and racial epithets were shouted. On Monday, protestors appeared outside the school. One young man caught Parker's attention. While driving home after school, he witnessed a police officer brutally arrest the young black man he saw that morning. Parker videotaped it with his phone and posted it on Facebook. He was not prepared for what happens next. This story deals with the sensitive issues of racism and racial injustice. Do not read if you are easily offended. (Any names or places mentioned in the story are fictional and are entirely coincidental.)

I want to share with you a video a reader shared with me in response to my latest story, Stuff People Do. It is titled 'Six Queer Kids.' Mike sings of homeless LGBTQ kids who have been kicked out of their homes because of their sexuality. Listen to the song, read Mike's inspirational introductory words and the lyrics to the song.  Here is the link: Mike Rickard   Thank you, Mike, for sharing this with my readers. 

Greetings to my TMJ Friends. In March, I joined the Fort Family of Sites as a hosted author. Their expert team created the new website you are now visiting. I can never thank them enough for all the hard work they do in keeping my site online. My stories are free for your entertainment. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't costs to maintain the site. The past year has been hard on on of us. The Fort Family is asking for help to keep my site and others online and free from ads. If you can spare a little- or a lot- please join me in donating to this worthy cause.  You can donate here:  DONATION PAGE   Thanks, Ronyx

Hey Gang!

I am super excited about this! Comicality has featured my story, Dancing on a Star, in the May issue of his Imagine Magazine. He also did a cool interview with me. Visit and read more about me than you will ever want to know. LOL.

Click here: May issue of Imagine Magazine

Hey Everyone!  I know it has been a long time, but I have started a new story which I hope to begin posting soon. 

Stuff People Do  by Ronyx

Matt Stevens is a normal sixteen-year-old. He goes to school and makes good grades. Even though he is being raised in an extremely religious home, he manages to do well. Then, unexpectedly, his life takes an abrupt turn late one night when his best friend, Ricky, kisses him while wrestling on the bed. Matt starts to question his own sexuality, and he begins to realize he is gay. His life starts to spiral out of control, leading to many unexpected twists and turns.

In the meantime, click on my featured stories link and read some of my other stories. And don't forget to write!  ronyx@themustardjar.com 

Hello, to all my friends at The Mustard Jar. How do you like the new look? I’ve changed to a new hosting server, and I am so proud of the new site.  It will be more user-friendly, and it will also be more compatible with all reading devices. I want to send out a special thank you to The Story Lover's Website, and members of the Fort Family: TSL, AC Fan, Akeentia, and Jeff P. for all the hard work and patience they provided me in creating this new site.

I’ve been away for a while. I hit that proverbial wall, and I stopped writing. After twenty-three stories, I felt there wasn’t much more to say. However, I hope this new site will motivate me to begin writing again. I really enjoy interacting with my readers.

I want to thank those of you who have been with me and supported me since I posted the first chapter of Apple of Her Eye. TMJ has two million visitors in fifteen years, and you have been the best readers any writer could ever hope for. Your kind emails and words of encouragement have meant more to me than you will ever know. Many of you have become great friends. We’ve shared a lot of wonderful times. Please don’t give up on me. I’m here if you ever need me.

Sit back, relax and enjoy my stories. If you find something you like, please write.  You can email me at:  ronyx@themustardjar.com