I took this one myself, discovering in the process a newfound admiration for those experienced narrators who make it all sound so damn easy.
(It is not easy.)
The title of the new one is 'Unchained'.
https://thevoice.dog/?tag=by:anhedral

One of my stories was just narrated on The Voice of Dog, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Wolves? But of course there are wolves!
https://thevoice.dog/?episode=all-o.....ky-by-anhedral

Introducing a fine writer who's fairly new to creative writing and very new to FA:  Jim_Redfoot

I got to know James through our involvement with 'Werewolves Versus'; we both had stories included in Volume 10. So if werewolf transformation done sympathetically and extremely well is in any way your thing, go and treat yourself to his story, 'Awake'. You won't regret it.

It's the finale of a unique and memorable endeavour, and our ever-amazing editor Angela has inspired the best in all 20 contributors. Go grab a copy folks, because really, why wouldn't you? Pay whatever-the-heck-you-want, from $1. Honestly, it's worth more than that for the front and back covers alone.

https://argylewerewolf.itch.io/wv10

Some of these entries will chew out your heart and spit it back in itty bitty pieces. In the best of all possible ways!

Have at it, people.

The generous and multitalented  kiyofox has sent me a beautiful gift: a brand-new piece of music inspired by my poem 'Wings'!

Once I got over the shock and delight of his offer to write it, we discussed how the piece might best be approached. In the end, given that the poem is largely about the varied and ambiguous interpretation of 'the bat' across different cultures and throughout time, we decided that Kiyo would go for a slightly unsettled vibe with some unexpected shifts in tonality. He also incorporated some very cool effects that mimic the rustling of wings and the high-pitched communication squeaks that bats produce.

And what a wonderful result! Go take a listen over on Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ss.....dYh/view?pli=1

No one's ever done anything remotely like this for me before. I am so very grateful and honoured that Kiyo would take it on.

I did a so-called poem. Have at it, people!

Wings
by Anhedral

You're blithest, yes, out in the East
Come happily in pentatonic fives
"Wealth and health! A lengthy life!
And at the last, a gentle end."

In Yucatán, you're Camazotz
Dread death-bat come on lethal wing
As bright as blood, and keen as sin
Claim sacrifice
Deign other men to die a different day.

To Cree, you're cousin to coyote,
Trickster and deceiver,
But prophet, yes, and seer
Find foresight in the deepest night.

Leviticus, in one of his strange lists,
Found you foul, unfit as food,
Because of course he did.
Afterwards, our un-read kin
In Europe's darkness of the soul,
Called you witches' consort, corruption's kin
Diabolic magicks pinwheeling
In the maddened blackness of plague dreams
From off your fickle wings.

Old Aesop, I think, nudged closer
When he saw your shrewd and savvy self
Neither flesh nor fowl, the eternal undecided
The neither-this-nor-that, forever sitting on the fence.

In Erin's autumn gloaming you flick out and in,
Weave every hyperbolic curve with flight that should not be
To Samhain pyres, when minds play tricks and veils thin
You come, an otherworldly ombudsman:
A waif, a wraith, a torn-off scrap of entropy,
Half-glimpsed by feeble human eyes as colours fade to grey.

Oh, you most liminal of spirits! You interstitial regent,
Unlikely hero of the not-quite-fitting-in;
It is no settled soul you cloak beneath dark wings.

I somehow seem to have been accepted into the final issue of Angela Quinton's amazing and long-running series 'Werewolves Versus'. The forthcoming anthology is WV10, 'Werewolves Versus Everything'.
Twenty entries for this last volume, folks, as against the normal 15. I haven't seen any of the other stories yet, but judging by Angela's preliminary comments the whole thing's gonna be absolutely heart-rending. (My own story will probably come across as something of a light relief!)

This whole big cathartic mess will be available on a pay-what-you-want basis (from $1) in summer 2023.

Needless to say, being included in WV10 just makes me feel insanely honoured and happy. My previous entries to 'WV' brought out the very best of the storytelling in me; you can check out all of the previous volumes here: https://werewolvesversus.com/issues

In the unlikely event you haven't already seen it, well... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vffu6FG4YP4

Utterly magnificent in every way.

A conversation:

Beloved Spouse: We're going the ballet in Glasgow. 'The Snow Queen.'
Anhedral: But the audience will be full of teeny-tiny 8-yr-old girls going squeee. Bleargh. On top of that, I hate ballet. These are the established facts.
BS: The music is by Rimsky-Korsakov. You love Rimsky-Korsakov.
A: Oooookay... but... ballet. I'm still not convinced.
BS: There are wolves.
A: OMFG WHEN IS THIS SHOW WHEN WHEN WHEN

The wolves were magnificent; there's just something mesmerising about insanely fit young guys doing their ballet moves while dressed up in what amounts to skimpy fursuits. They captured all the lupine movements really well! Oh, and yes, the music was awesome too 🙂
https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxy_DpQd.....C4Ky3F_Brm-hFw
https://www.ourglasgow.co.uk/wp-con.....0-1536x864.jpg

The creator of the first Wolves.Gay anthology is at it again! Dobes (aka  Van-Weasel) has just released Wolves.Gay After Dark, an 89-page e-zine exploring eroticism and queer sexuality through wolf- and werewolf-themed illustrations, short stories and poetry. The full version of my 3,500 word story 'Unchained' is included there, featuring smexy pole-dancing werewolves!

'Wolves.Gay After Dark' is a very full, and very varied, compilation. As you might expect, much of the content is sexually explicit, so if that's not quite your thing... well, fair warning. The e-zine is available for $10 over yonder ---> https://dobescrusher.itch.io/wolvesgay-after-dark

Go ahead and grab yourself a meaty, hairy pawful of werewolfy goodness! At 250 pages it's a bumper issue, chock-full of wonderful art and stories. There's even a storyboard-style comic strip in there, and a poem.

Available on a pay-what-you-want basis (from $1), over at Gumroad and Itch:

https://argylewerewolf.gumroad.com/l/wv09

https://argylewerewolf.itch.io/wv09

As with all previous editions, the production quality is really, really high; Angela Quinton is a wonderful, and seemingly tireless, editor. Brace yourself for a 110MB download!

The full version of my story 'Banlieue Blues' is included in Werewolves Versus Suburbia. I was very privileged to be included alongside so many amazing creators.

I'm really excited to report that a second story of mine has appeared on The Voice of Dog podcast:

https://www.thevoice.dog/episode/ja.....-crimson-ruari

'Jaeger' is narrated by the talented Crimson Ruari https://crimsonruari.sofurry.com/. He does great work with the German pronunciations and with the different accents, better than I could ever hope to achieve. It's no trivial matter to make a quality narration of a 6k word story, and I really appreciate all of the hard work that Crimson put in.

So yes, a big 'thank you' to both Crimson and of course to the wonderful creator of The Voice of Dog, Khaki (aka  osfer) The podcast continues with super-regular updates from a diverse range of authors, so if you haven't already checked it out, you definitely should!

...is the worst thing that's ever happened to you.

Not my words. They're from Malcolm Cross, and so very, very true: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/2019578/

'Writing is not easy. It is very hard. People will try and paint some kind of happy smiley face on this, tell you the lie that writing is good for the soul and it is your special unique happy place, blah blah blah. No. Writing is the worst thing that's ever happened to you.'

Alternatively, in graphic presentation:

https://www.furaffinity.net/view/39790842/

_{I have so many half-finished stories sitting about now, it's not even funny :(}

Andrew Cotter is a respected sports commentator on BBC TV. At lockdown, he turned his skills to commentating on his dogs, and the results are HILARIOUS. Here are my favourites, although all of his content is good:

The Dog's Breakfast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPhpJuraz14

Game of Bones:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2BZNowCXws

And this, 'Scent of a Dog', which is utter genius:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bgn_3eHP-g

Enjoy! Try not to die laughing!

The wonderfully talented Khaki (aka  osfer) has recorded a beautiful narration of my story 'Abstinence' on his podcast, The Voice Of Dog: https://www.thevoice.dog/episode/ab.....ce-by-anhedral

A civil servant in a dead-end job has an exciting second life of wings and scales. Can he keep both? And will his wife ever understand?

I'm honoured and delighted by this, more than words can say. Khaki's work is nuanced and utterly professional; through his performance, he highlights angles to my story that I never even knew were there. Go check out the many stories by different authors that Khaki has brought to life!

Just occasionally, you come across a good news story from the natural world to set against the unending spiral of decline. For me, today, that glimmer of hope came in the form of the marvellous Singing Dogs of New Guinea, now confirmed to be surviving in the wild: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/31/.....ew-guinea.html

I put my hand up: I had not come across these guys before. But I mean, just look at 'em! They're beautiful! And just listen to what they can do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhMqh9zHUBc

What really excites me here is that we get two dogs pitch-matching (it happens about one-third into the clip). And when that happens, we can just pick out the musical 'beats' that arise from the tiny difference between the frequencies of the howls. I've never heard this from wolves, but these geezers manage it just fine. It's this precise effect that's used as a mode of communication between sentient wolves in 'Schism', and when I heard it for real it put a big stoopid grin all over my face :D

Does this sound in any way familiar to anyone?

Random Non Furry Person (parent, friend, colleague): So Anhedral, what'cha been up to in your spare time lately?

Anhedral: Well, since you ask, I've been writing these furr– I mean, I've been writing some stories with anthropomorphic animal characters in them.

RNFP (very mildly curious): Oh, that sounds nice.

Anhedral (on the edge of gushing uncontrollably about his writing): It's great! Like, I just finished one that's all about incestuous werewolves! I'm really happy with it!

RNFP (edging away, as from a rabid dog): Umm... OK, I... suppose. (Brightening, bravely): So, read any good books lately?

Anhedral (adopting full-on obtuse mode): As it happens, mainly a whole bunch of furry erotica.

RNFP (adopting rapid-sprint mode): AAAARRRGGHHH!

Anhedral (suddenly panicked): Wait! Come back! Some of it is really, really good and... oh, you've gone.

It is through experiences such as these that we learn to compartmentalize our lives.