A Change of Plans

In my Review and Preview 2023/2024 I got carried away to the following statement:

The third and final chapter of Skeleton Crew is currently in the making, and I have a short (and this time I do mean short) ponygirl story up my sleeve to bridge the gap. After that I will concentrate on Ponygirl Vet.

Good plan. Doesn’t work, though. Given not only the overall length of the final chapter of Skeleton Crew, but also its complexity in terms of tone, atmosphere and technical details, I have to switch it with at least one part of Ponygirl Vet to free up some time.

Review and Preview 2023/2024

Dear Readers of weird stuff on the internet,

I hope that this, my latest Review and Preview, finds you well. If I wanted to sum up 2023, this would be the result: 26066

That is the combined word count of all literary texts I have published on this site this year, distributed as follows:

• One part of Ponygirl Vet: 1,319
• Four doses of Pony Boot Camp, including Part LX for the story’s 10^th anniversary: 14,456
• Two chapters of Skeleton Crew: 10,291

That number makes for a decent novella, but I wished it would have been spread more evenly. Keen eyes may spot that there is no new chapter of Æquinoctium, nor a concluded short story.

10th Anniversary – to be continued

My very dear and very few readers,

Last Sunday the first chapter of Skeleton Crew appeared out of nowhere, because if there’s anything this site needs, it is yet another pending multi-part story. This one, however, marks a special occasion. Ten years ago on that publishing date I had posted my first piece of work on WordPress. Back then it had been the initial chapter of the ill-fated House of Cthulhu, a story I have discontinued, but despite its faults never fully abandoned. Much thought went since then into the question of how I would celebrate my tenth anniversary here. A ponygirl story? After all, this fetish takes up an important part in my body of work. Perhaps another slow-burner like The Writer, punching way above its weight?

Review and Preview 2022/2023

It’s not looking good, guys, it does not look good…

As some of you might already have realised, the year is about to end, which calls for another highly informative review/preview routine. And especially with the output on my multi-part stories I am not happy:

• Two new parts of Pony Boot Camp (gotta pump those numbers up!)
• Zero new parts of Æquinoctium (I don’t even know what to say.)

The tragedy here lies within the fact that at least three more parts of PBC are drafted out, and that for many moons I am 1,600 words deep into Chapter IX of Æquinoctium. I can only point at time as the limiting factor.

Review and Preview 2021/2022

2021 is (almost) dead – long live 2022! I have a great feeling about the upcoming year, although many state that it can’t possibly get better than the closing one. In any case it’s time again for the inevitable review/preview dance.

2021 – What’s the damage?

• Four new parts of Pony Boot Camp

I received quite a positive feedback on pushing the escape story arc in PBC. Totally unexpected with my writing style, the word count went through the roof again, therefore Seventeen’s search for greener pastures is definitively something to be carried over into the next year. As for isolated stories, we are looking at:

Reference That!

Recently I find myself pondering over the topic of references to popular culture in stories; namely how much is just enough, and how to stay well below the saturation line. Catalyst for my rumination is a much-hyped Korean TV show currently on its peak of popularity (you think I am talking about Squid Game, don’t you? Of course I am talking about bloody Squid Game!).  So what may be the pros and cons of integrating said show and, by deduction, any pop-cultural phenomenon? Let’s take a walk.

Trixes and Tresses, or: Return of the Grammar Nazi

Recently I stumbled upon the rarely used and, in my opinion, charming term aviatrix. As it always is with the twisted paths of language, it got me thinking (results may vary).

Clearly I had encountered a lady pilot, the fairer complement to an aviator. Of course it is well within my knowledge that nouns ending on -tor (when describing an acting male person) find their female pendant by substituting the ending with -trix⁽¹⁾. Terminatrix is a rather modern example, often referring to the “female” robot T-X from Terminator 3 (2003), although being around at least since 1995⁽²⁾.

Review and Preview 2020/2021

It may be a tad early for my annual R&P, but I like to get it out of the way before everybody else starts their own laments – and laments will come!

There’s no nice way to say it. The clusterfuck of our Lord 2020 had been a low-blow chapter-wise:

• Only two new parts of Pony Boot Camp (sorry for that!), and Chapter VI of Æquinoctium (not sorry for that!)

Looking at the numbers for complete stories, we find ourselves with:

C. F. S.

Greetings, my plentiful readership!

As you can already tell, I am way behind my writing schedule. In parts – and here only indirectly – this is attributed to COVID-19. With kindergartens and schools closed, some colleagues of mine have to stay with their hell spawn fledglings, and priorities have to be set. Since I am neither a virologist nor an epidemiologist, I have no business with commenting on how to behave and what to avoid in the current situation. Yet I cannot help but notice how certain individuals and organisations are attempting to use the outbreak‘s slipstream to push their own agendas (curfews to fight the climate change, just to name a random one).

So the best strategy for this crisis and everything which may come afterwards once again boils down to C. F. S.

Common Fucking Sense.

Review and Preview 2019/2020

Greetings, fellow survivors of 2019!

With Twenty-twenty upon us, things again are bound to get a bit nostalgic. And so, as always, let us have a look at almost-last year’s loot:

• Four new parts of Pony Boot Camp

Not an impressively high number as such, but I’m content as this quartette not only closed the Gymkhana story arc, but also opened a worthy follow-up.