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.

Alterations for Pony Boot Camp (XI)

It comes to little surprise that the final part of Skeleton Crew will take some time, and I honestly see January of next year as the soonest possible release date. One cannot rush art (so why rush rubbish then?). To fill the void, let’s do some more tinkering with PBC, as Alterations X was of course a chapter in disguise.

10th Anniversary of Pony Boot Camp — “It was either this, or…”

Yep, 10 years sounds about right. Although for Seventeen it would feel more like 26 days. 7^th November, to be precise, as I cunningly use a chart with dates, key events and so on to keep track of what’s going down at the DACC.

Right now everybody’s favourite ponygirl is still stuck in Part LX, not that this is a bad thing. Much effort I put into this, the so far latest chapter to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of Pony Boot Camp. In passing it also cracked the 160,000 words barrier, which may serve as an answer as to why it took me a decade to get our anti-heroine to where she is now. My initial layout predicted about 20,000 words, and featured next to none of the intricate character relationships which now carry the narration (together with the occasional fetish overload, that is). Had I known what I was getting myself into, I would have probably opt out and done something else with my leisure time. Breeding ponies, for example.

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.

Alterations for Pony Boot Camp (VIII)

Since I did a little retconning on PBC, we can have some more fun with Roman numerals (because I once adopted them for the chapters to match the Alterations posts’ method of counting and am now stuck with ’em)!

~

Part XXX

Just for the records, I like castles and stuff. They’ve got something brooding, especially the razed ones. But I don’t wet myself over them like those “Lord of the Ice and Fire” fanboys do.

has a part added:

Just for the records, I like castles and stuff. They’ve got something brooding, especially the razed ones. But I don’t wet myself over them like those “Lord of the Ice and Fire” fanboys do. I know what I’m writing about; Sandrine’s and my next-door neighbours once had hunted us down with foam swords for intercepting their Chinese delivery. Turned out hardcore RPG nerds didn’t take well to having their level 15 Spring Rolls of Doom get nicked.

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:

Alterations for Æquinoctium (II)

Earlier on I pondered the possibility of retrofitting the chapters I – III of Æquinoctium with individual titles and was literally buried under one reply. This being approving of my idea, I now have to come up with some witty headings – because that’s how democracy works, y’all!

CHAPTER ONE

Anomalous Materials

It is with the making-up of a super-rare element called Tristanium that our charming redhead heroine sets the whole story in motion. So of course the first title is predestined to reflect this vital plot point. “Anomalous Materials” is also the first level of the video game classic Half-Life (1998), not counting the intro.

Sneak Peek: Æquinoctium — Chapter Four

With this long-overdue fourth instalment of my utter nonsense classic spy novel I have adjusted my stand on uploading chapters in parts. My general opinion remains (see Till Chaptering Do Us Part), but I will consider dividing chapters into more than one post if external factors ask for it and – far more important – if the narrative flow isn’t hampered. There will be no “write to fit”, meaning that the story won’t have any predetermined breaking points implemented. If you look at the re-uploaded third chapter – now as a single post –, you won’t be able to tell where the earlier cut had been made.