Hey Jeff,
Your story, Some Sweet Life, has been printed out and folded into my copy of Brokeback Mountain for a couple months now. One of the sacred texts (from the cult thread) far as I'm concerned. Full of feeling, but never sentimental, that same difficult, rewarding balance as in Annie's original.
In another of your stories, when Ennis goes back again to Lightning Flat, well, I don't cry hardly ever over stories in books (movies, that's different), but your words and images got me crying the first time I read The Grieving Plain, and every time since. There're a lot of lines/images I'll never get (not that I want to) out of my head, among them - when Jack's mom calls Ennis "son," when Ennis cries from the grief of "a year and more - perhaps twenty years", Jack's mom standing there waiting to go to Jack' s grave, holding "a pot of red geraniums," Ennis lying down to sleep on Jack's bed "fully clothed, without turning down the covers."
I loved the reversal in The Cabin, when Jack catches Ennis staring at him, and this time he's the one who says, "What?", and then Ennis, thank god, replies, "It's damn good to see you, Jack," instead of staying silent, or turning the feeling aside with a joke.
And then to read your AU story, No Hero, no tears now, just so happy to read that they're together, Ennis wearing his reunion shirt, Jack with his hands full of a tangle of tree lights - just perfect.
I'm going to head over FanFiction and catch up on submitting reviews there for your stories. I'm sure looking forward to your next story.