Last year, some of you may remember I posted a review and recommendation journal for Kyell Gold's 'Dev and Lee' books. That journal can be read here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6333309/

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that the ebook version of first book in the series 'Out of Position' is currently available for free. I don't know for how long it will be, but if the series is something you're thinking of checking out, this seems like a great opportunity to do so. I definitely recommend it. Here's the link: https://baddogbooks.com/?product=out-of-position

In related news, I have just noticed that the fifth book in the series 'Over Time', is now available for pre-order. I'm actually considering pre-ordering it myself, which I've never really done for anything before. It's just the thought of the cost of international postage giving me pause.

But for anyone else interested in the book, here's the link: http://swp.im/p/ot

Well, its been a while since I posted anything and we're coming up on the end of the year, so it's probably time for an update.

The simple fact is, I have not been having a good time of things lately. When it comes right down to it, this whole year has just got worse and worse as its gone on. It started out so happy and hopeful, but that has all fallen apart, from my job becoming more and more stressful and annoying, to the break up with my boyfriend after two years together, leading to me having to adapt to being single again, and the regular bouts of depression and loneliness that come with it.

There have been occasional bright spots here and there, and a few friends have been there for me through the rough times, for which I am very grateful. But overall, there's been far more bad than good this year, and I'm looking forward to 2015 being over and done with.

This year has reached the point where, for the past few months or so, I've been essentially creatively dead, with zero creative energy or motivation. I haven't been up to working on any art or writing. So, I'm sorry to anyone hoping to see more from me, but I really don't know when I might manage to do anything.

At the moment, I'm just trying to make it through Christmas and reach the New Year. I'm sort of hoping that the start of the new year will give me reason and/or motivation to make a fresh start on everything.

So, goodbye 2015. Here's hoping 2016 is goes better for me...

So, it's my birthday today. I am now 37 years old, for those of you who might be interested.

As expected, it's not been a good day. Instead, it's been a day of misery and extreme loneliness with everything bringing me down. It's not exactly the worst day of the year (that honour goes to the day of the break-up a few months back), but its certainly trying to be.

But thank you to all those of you who have wished me a happy birthday. And thank you to  kuma-chan for commissioning a birthday pic for me, I really appreciate it. The pic can be seen here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17792970/

So, after years away from it, I have decided to give twitter another try and see how it goes.

Fee free to check me out on there if you're interested:

https://twitter.com/cyberklaw

Just a few things I want to bring up and talk about...

Upcoming Artwork

I haven't spent as much time working on stuff recently as I would have liked, for a few reasons, mainly revolving around work. But I have several weeks off coming up very soon, and I will have plenty of time to focus on getting some stuff done, so look for more stuff from me soon. I will also likely try to do some streaming during that time, although I can't say for certain just yet. Keep an eye out for announcements.

Watchers

I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to all the new watchers of my gallery. I am sorry I don't have time to thank you all individually, but I do appreciate you liking my stuff enough to watch me. So, thank you, guys!

Folders

So it seems folders, or something like them, are now a thing here on FA. I have gone through my gallery and set some up, to make it easier for people to find whatever they might be looking for. I'm open to suggestions, if there's any other folders anyone would like to see.

Birthday

Well, my birthday is nearly here. For anyone who might be interested, it's on the 27th. I'm not exactly looking forward to it. It will be the first birthday in years where I'll be single and alone. That could very well lead to it being a miserable day for me. We'll have to wait and see.

A Recommendation

Interested in Master/slave stories? Then check out this, a collection of short flash fiction featuring a variety of species, ideas and scenarios. It's well worth a look: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17694693/

I really should have posted this a few days ago, but it slipped my mind. My web site is now back up, if there's anyone who wants to check it out, as I updated it just before it went down. The only real major change is the addition of a gallery for my Champions Online characters, if anyone would like to take a look at them:

http://cyberklaw.com

If you want to check it out, I'd suggest doing it quick, as it will probably be down again by the end of the month. I have started looking at new hosting for it, but I have no idea when that might actually happen.

Well, I had been hoping to tell you all how I updated my web site a few days ago, but once again, it has exceeded its monthly bandwidth limit and is currently down until the end of the month. This isn’t the first time this has happened. In fact, my site seems to do it every month. While it is nice to know people are still visiting my site, it is annoying to have it offline for a time at the end of every month.

So, I might start looking into finding somewhere else to host it. But I am unlikely to find anywhere for free and I’m not sure if I can pay too much for hosting. If anyone has any suggestions as to good web hosting services that are either free or cheap, I’m open to considering them.

As for the update itself, which you now won’t be able to check out until next week, it was really just adding stuff from FA that wasn’t there, plus adding a new gallery showing off my characters in Champions Online.

In recent weeks, I have been getting back into the game, after being away from it for years. It’s been a good at distracting me from my recent problems. And I felt like showing off my creations some. I can’t post any of that stuff here, as I believe FA doesn’t allow game screenshots. Hopefully, some of you will be interested in checking them out next week when the web site is back up.

And I wonder, are there any Champions Online players who might be interested in playing sometime? It might be good to find some friends on there.

I would also like to find a furry themed group in the game, I’m sure at least a few must exist, but I’ve had no luck in finding them. So if any CO players here know of any, I’d appreciate some details. Of course, I could start my own group, it’s something I’ve considered and I’m curious if there’s any CO players here who might be interested if I do?

Well, I suppose it's time for a bit of an update.

I finally feel like I'm starting to get better. I've still a way to go yet, but I feel like I've turned a corner and am on the road to recovery. This is definitely the longest it has ever taken me to get over a break up. I want to say thank you to those few of you who have taken the time to talk to me and check up on me during this time.

Not sure when I'll be getting back into producing art and stories, but I have started thinking about it again and making plans for the future. So we'll have to see what happens on that front.

At some point, I suppose I'm going to have to start looking for love again, but I'm not there yet. However, I am thinking I would be interested in talking to new people and trying to make some new friends. If anyone is interested in talking to me on skype some time, just let me know.

Some of your might be wondering what’s going on with me and when you might see more stuff from me. Unfortunately, you won’t be seeing any new art or stories from me for a while yet.

To begin with, I was just going through another creative dry spell. But things have taken a turn for the worse over the past week or so. To cut a long story short, after more than two years together, my boyfriend and I have just broken up. It just wasn’t going to work out, but we’re going to try and stay friends.

Even so, it is painful to break up with him, to have the relationship end. So, as you might imagine, I am quite upset and depressed right now, I’m not in a very good place emotionally. To put it mildly.

It’s going to take me some time to get over this, and while I am, I’m sorry to say that I can’t see myself up to doing anything creative. So don’t expect to see anything new posted in my gallery anytime soon. I expect I will get over this eventually and get back to things, but I have no idea when that might be.

I hope you all understand and can be patient with me while I deal with this. Thank you.

Well, it’s that time of year again, time for Hypno Bear Week! Yay! As always run by  talisment http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6522134/

So be on the look out for plenty of hypno bear goodness this week!

This year, my main contribution will be a story that I’m in the process of writing which will be accompanied by a number of illustrations. The story itself is turning out to be longer than I thought it would be and I may or may not end up splitting it into two or three parts, I haven’t decided yet. I might do a few more livestreams during the week while I work on the illustrations.

I do have a few ideas beyond that, but it’s going to be very much a matter of how much time I have this week. We’ll have to see what I can manage…

This is just something I’ve been meaning to do for a while, put together an index of my various comics here on FA, to make them easier for people to find them. I will leave a link to this journal on my profile, and will update it whenever I add new comics to my gallery.

My Comics:

Apprentice No More

Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06 / Pg.07 / Pg.08 / Pg.09 / Pg.10


The Muscle House

Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06 / Pg.07 / Pg.08 / Pg.09 / Pg.10 / Pg.11 / Pg.12 / Pg.13 / Pg.14 / Pg.15 / Pg.16 / Pg.17 / Pg.18 / Pg.19 / Pg.20


The Perfect Gift

Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06 / Pg.07 / Pg.08 / Pg.09 / Pg.10


The Corps, Chapter 1

Cover / Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06 / Pg.07 / Pg.08 / Pg.09 / Pg.10 / Pg.11 / Pg.12 / Pg.13 / Pg.14 / Pg.15 / Pg.16 / Pg.17 / Pg.18 / Pg.19 / Pg.20 / Pg.21 / Pg.22 / Pg.23 / Pg.24 / Pg.25 / Pg.26 / Pg.27 / Pg.28 / Pg.29 / Pg.30 / Pg.31 / Pg.32 / Pg.33 / Pg.34 / Pg.35 / Pg.36


The Corps, Chapter 2 (In progress)

Cover / Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06 / Pg.07 / Pg.08 / Pg.09 / Pg.10 / Pg.11 / Pg.12 / Pg.13 / Pg.14


Furry Guardians - Beginning of the Brute

Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06 / Pg.07 / Pg.08 / Pg.09 / Pg.10 / Pg.11 / Pg.12


Julius (24 Hour Comic)

Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06 / Pg.07 / Pg.08 / Pg.09 / Pg.10 / Pg.11 / Pg.12 / Pg.13 / Pg.14 / Pg.15 / Pg.16 / Pg.17 / Pg.18 / Pg.19 / Pg.20 / Pg.21 / Pg.22 / Pg.23 / Pg.24


Fallen Hero (In progress)

Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06 / Pg.07 / Pg.08


Rise of the Pumpkinheads

Cover / Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06 / Pg.07 / Pg.08


10 Weeks

Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06


Commissioned Comics:

Bear vs Badger

Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06 / Pg.07 / Pg.08 / Pg.09 / Pg.10 / Pg.11 / Pg.12


Bear vs Badger 2: The Rematch

Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06 / Pg.07 / Pg.08 / Pg.09 / Pg.10 / Pg.11 / Pg.12


Money Well Spent

Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06 / Pg.07 / Pg.08


Game Testing

Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06 / Pg.07 / Pg.08 / Pg.09 / Pg.10 / Pg.11 / Pg.12


Purple Latex

Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05


Acquisition

Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05 / Pg.06 / Pg.07 / Pg.08 / Pg.09 / Pg.10


The Wrath of Anubis

Pg.01 / Pg.02 / Pg.03 / Pg.04 / Pg.05

Well, its 2015 now, and I’ve been meaning to write a bit of an update journal. But I was away for the first few days of the year, and after that there was work and then illness and then more work. But hey, better late than never! So, let’s get on with things…

2014

First off, the subject of 2014, the year now gone. It wasn’t exactly my best. In fact I failed at most of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year. I failed to catch up on my commissions backlog and finish House of Lazarus #4. I failed to reconnect with old friends. And despite the occasional period of creativity, I didn’t do nearly as much writing or art as I would have liked. Here’s hoping I can manage more this year.

Writing and Art

I did a lot of thinking toward the end of last year, and one of the things I came to realise is that I miss being a writer. I was a writer long before I was an artist, but have let that part of me slip away and fade. So I have started making a concerted effort to revive that side of me, as evidenced by how I’ve managed to put out four chapters of a new story in the past month.

And thing is, since making that decision to make a major return to writing, I have been feeling a lot happier about myself and my life. And I’ve been keeping at it, writing not just furry but other stuff as well. My ultimate goal is to eventually have something ready enough to be published, but that’s some way off yet.

But that’s not to say I’m giving up art. My artist side is still alive and kicking and is too big a part of me to just give up on. You will still be seeing art from me, I’m just going to try and strike more of a balance between writing and art.

One change you will be seeing with regards to my art is the content and subject matter. The thing is, I have grown rather tired of the way people see me. I seem to be known just as the hypno and bondage fetish guy, and often I’m given the impression that many seem to think that’s all there is to me, all I’m good for, which is quite annoying. When the truth of the matter is that its only one part of me. I have other sides to me. I am capable of doing other things.

It is my own fault, I know. I’ve let my fetishes and kinks control too much of my creative output for so long. Well, that is going to change.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not giving up on those things completely, although there is a temptation to do that for a while. There will still be hypno and bondage fetish stuff from me, as they are still kinks of mine. There just won’t be as much. And there will be more of other things. I want to produce a greater variety of stuff, express other sides of myself. Which brings us neatly to…

That Day

This new story of mine started out as an attempt to write something a little different from other stuff I’ve produced, but it has quickly become rather important to me. I have genuinely surprised myself with how well I’m doing with it, four chapters in a month. It feels so damn good to be doing something so unlike my usual stuff.

And it’s a story that’s going to be around for a good long while. I know where it ends, but that point is a good way off and there’s plenty of stuff to get through before I reach it. And I hope I’m able to keep people interested in it along thw way.

While what reaction I have had to the story has been very positive, I can’t help but wish more people would give it a try. So, I’m just going to say, if you haven’t read it yet, please consider checking it out, don’t let the lack of yiff, hypnosis and fetish stuff put you off. It can be found here in my gallery, or on my web site: http://cyberklaw.com/thatday.htm

The Corps

Another big thing I’ve had on my mind recently is the future of my comic series ‘The Corps’. Or more precisely, whether or not to carry it on as a comic.

I have a big long epic story in mind for the Corps, but as time has gone on, and I have found it more and more difficult to find time to work on the comic, and have found it more and more difficult to draw. At the rate I’m going, I’m simply unlikely to ever finish telling the story that I want to tell. Plus, I’m finding myself more and more uncertain my artistic skills are up to doing justice to the stuff I have planned for further along the in series.

But I like the story and characters and world. I don’t want to just abandon it. I have a story I want to tell. So, I am considering making The Corps into a written series, perhaps even a series of books. It might very well be easier for me to get it done and allow me to do justice to the ideas I have in mind.

Nothing is definite at this stage, it’s just something I’m considering. What do you guys think? Would you still be interested if it were a text story rather than a comic?

Goals for 2015

Looking ahead to the rest of this year, I do have numerous things I want to accomplish, several of which are actually from last year. It’s way past time I cleared my commissions backlog and finish off House of Lazarus #4. I am just sick and tired of having them hanging over my head. I also want to try to reconnect with friends and maybe make some new ones. I would like to try and be more active around here as well. And of course, I’d like to get some of my writing to the point where it is ready to be published.

Let’s hope I’m able to accomplish more this year than I did last year.

I finally managed to get my web site back up. I finally figured out that for some reason that my limited web site creation skills won't let me understand, 'www.cyberklaw.com' won't work anymore. It needs to be simply 'cyberklaw.com' I have no idea why, I probably screwed something up somewhere.

But yeah, its all back up now, and I even did a quick update, adding a bunch of my newer stuff, including all three chapters of 'That Day'. So, if anyone is having trouble downloading and reading it on here, you can now check it out there. And I do hope more people give it a chance.

Just remember, the site is now http://cyberklaw.com

Well, here we are again, another review and recommendation from me. This time, its not a book, but a series of books. With my reading I seem to be on a real gay furry romance kick at the moment, not a genre I used to be interested in, which seems weird to say, considering I'm gay, furry and have a romantic side.

So what's got impressed me enough to make me want to write a whole journal recommending it? It's the 'Dev and Lee' books by Kyell Gold, consisting of 'Out of Position', 'Isolation Play', 'Divisions' and 'Uncovered'. A fifth book is on the way, but is, rather frustratingly, more than a year away from publication at this point.

Its a gay furry romance, a wonderfully well written story about relationships, about figuring out who you are and the search for acceptance and understanding. I'm going to try and avoid too many spoilers, but I think a few may creep in, so be warned.

So, let's talk about the story. It's about Devlin Miski a tiger who's a jock on the football team of the college he attends. One night, he picks up a vixen at a bar and goes back to her place. But then he discovers she's not a vixen. It is in fact a male fox by the name of Wiley Farrel (or Lee for short), he's a gay activist, out to humiliate a jock by tricking him into a gay experience as part of an ill-thought out revenge scheme after his best friend was beaten up and hospitalized by a couple of football players for being gay. But neither of them expected Dev to enjoy it so much, or for him to keep coming back for more. And certainly neither of them expected to fall in love with each other.

And that's just the beginning. From there, the story follows their unlikely romance and relationship as it grows and develops, through their final years of college and beyond, as Dev embarks on a career as a professional football player, thanks to Lee's help, support and encouragement. They attempt to continue and explore their relationship, but have plenty of obstacles to overcome, from disapproving parents, unwanted media attention, and Lee's former best friend, among many other things.

The characters of Dev and Lee are simply fantastically well written, there's no other way of putting it. I just fell in love with them. The relationship that develops between them is sweet and wonderful and passionate. It's not always smooth sailing with them, Dev's earnest honestly often clashing with Lee's quick-witted sarcasm, and they have their fair share of fights, but that all just serves to keep things interesting. The whole thing is written in the first person, but with different chapters being told from either Dev or Lee's point of view, allowing the reader a chance to get inside both of their heads and see how they think, a set up that works very well in getting to the reader to understand and like them.

Overall the whole series is extremely well written, juggling mature character drama and emotional complexity, exploring a wide range of issues revolving around love, relationships and homosexuality, all while telling a damn good romance story about a couple of great characters, and managing to pack in plenty of fun, touching and heart-warming moments as well.

I should say that the books do feature a fair amount of football, the American kind. As someone who is very much not a sports kind of guy, it initially made me a little hesitant to give it a try, but I'm very glad I did. I will confess I found the football stuff a little tough to follow at times, but in the end it was worth the effort. There are two brief chapters at the beginning of each book, one written from Dev's point of view, the other from Lee's, that serve as a sort of 'football for dummies' allowing those clueless about it like myself to get an idea of the game. All in all, the football stuff is handled well, and I could get caught up in the excitement of the game here and there. I'm glad I didn't let that aspect of the series put me off, and would advise not to let it put you off to, if it might.

The other thing the books feature a fair amount if is detailed gay sex scenes. But they are well done, integrated well into the story, and are used to serve as physical expression of the love between the characters.

I should also mention that the books are peppered with the occasional illustration by the artist Blotch, which are all rather cool, nicely detailed and portray the characters well. Although some are rather explicit, in case that bothers anyone. Colour versions of a few of them can be found on FA in Blotch's gallery. This one in particular depicts one of my favourite moments from the series: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5322503/

Summing up then, this is a great series and if you haven't picked up on how I feel yet, I loved it from beginning to end and am whole heartedly recommending you all check out, if you haven't already. Here's a quick rundown of the books:

Out of Position

A fantastic start to the series, introducing Dev and Lee and their relationship. While the first few chapters are good, when the story really gets going, it becomes something special, all building up to a fantastic ending.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Positio.....dp/B003PPDAXQ/
https://www.sofawolf.com/products/out-of-position
http://baddogbooks.com/?product=out-of-position

Isolation Play

One review I saw for 'Out of Position' said that one of the great things about it is that you then get to enjoy the sequel. And that's a sentiment I'd have to agree with as the second book is better than the first, upping the ante in terms of character drama and emotional depth, as Dev has to deal with being the first openly gay professional football player, and Lee has to deal with being back in the closet for the sake of his job.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Isolation-P.....dp/B006GHJ0E8/
https://www.sofawolf.com/products/isolation-play
http://baddogbooks.com/?product=isolation-play

Divisions

The continuing success of Dev's team puts him under more and more pressure, while circumstances draw Lee back into the world of gay rights activism, which threatens to put him at odds with Dev's desire to just focus on being a football player. A great continuation of Dev and Lee's story, throwing new challenges at them to deal with.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Divisions-D.....dp/B00E9N6W2Y/
http://baddogbooks.com/?product=divisions
https://www.sofawolf.com/products/divisions

Uncovered

The fourth book sees Dev and Lee's relationship put under more pressure than ever before as their different goals see them being pulled in different directions. After three books following and loving these guys and their relationship, the difficulties they face here made for quite difficulty reading in places as they are put through the emotional wringer in a major way. Its a fantastically written book that had me utterly engrossed. I literally stayed up through a whole night reading it to the end.

www.amazon.co.uk/Uncovered-Dev-Lee-.....4-ebook/dp/B00N4923SG/
https://www.sofawolf.com/products/uncovered
http://baddogbooks.com/?product=unc.....dev-lee-book-4

Another neat aspect of the series are the bonus stories. Kyell Gold has apparently promised that if any of his books sells more than a thousand copies in its first year of publication, he will write a short story connected to it and post it online for free as a thank you. The first three books managed this (the fourth has been out less than a year, but I'd be surprised if it didn't manage it as well), so there are three bonus stories out there. 'False Dawn', 'Heart' and 'Getting to Sleep'. They are included in the ebook versions of the books, I'm not sure about the print editions. But they can also be found on Kyell Gold's web site, but its probably best to have read the books first: http://www.kyellgold.com/books/stories.html

And I'll just wrap this all up by sharing this cute video I found. Yes, the animation is sort of basic/unfinished, but it still gets its point across, it matches the song well and is ultimately rather sweet, at least to me: https://youtu.be/c8G5lEk9nPE

I meant to write this journal last week, but between one thing and another, it's taken me until now to get to it.

This is going to be a bit of an unusual journal from me. I’m going to review and recommend a book to you guys. The book in question is ‘Beneath the Skin’ by Tank Jaeger.

I’m going to do my best to make this as spoiler free as possible. If any of you have read it, please avoid making any spoilery comments. I am considering writing a separate spoiler filled journal to talk about my favourite bits in more detail, but let’s see how this turns out first, see how much interest there is…

OK then. So, I’ll start off by saying that 'Beneath the Skin' is not a short book, but my first read through of it only took me a matter of days. This was a rare occasion where a book had me so completely engrossed I could rarely put it down. It was a truly excellent read that I thoroughly enjoyed. As I write this, I am in the middle of reading it a second time. In fact, reading it has been a welcome and comforting distraction this week from my depression and problems.

So, what’s it about, you may ask? I imagine, given the kind of stuff I create, more than a fair few of you are wondering if I like it, does that mean it’s kinky, fetishy, or involves hypnosis in some way? The answer is a big resounding no. Despite what a cursory glance of my gallery and works may indicate, I do have other sides to me, including a big romantic side. And it’s that side of me that this book clicked with so completely.

You see, it’s essentially a sci-fi character-based drama/romance story. It’s set in a future wherein an alien invasion forced humanity to create a race of human/animal hybrids of various kinds (known as homo varius), who helped win the war against the invaders. It’s now sometime after the war and both regular humans and varius live side by side, but still seem to occupy different worlds much of the time.

This may come across as a fairly simplistic back story, just an excuse to have a world with both humans and furries in it. While I’ll admit there may be a small degree of that, it honestly never really bothered me. A lot of thought has gone into how this world operates. There’s a lot of solid and subtle world-building going on throughout that really made it work, gradually establishing this world and easing the reader into the way it works, the problems it has, the ins and out of varius culture and social structure, etc.

The story itself centres on two main characters living in this world. Dan Blocker is a sapiens (i.e. ordinary human). He’s gay, stuck in an unhappy relationship, and working in the office of a manufacturing plant. Bo Taylor is a big muscular canine varius, both single and straight, who runs a machine in the same plant. One day, despite them being so very different from one another, they end up talking to each other and hitting it off. The book then follows things between them as they go from acquaintances to friends and beyond.

While there are an assortment of side characters and sub plots, the real heart of the book is the relationship between Dan and Bo, and was easily the most appealing part of the story, following their ups and down, their trials and tribulations. I found the two of them so well written and characterized, it was just so easy to like them and get attached to them and get caught up in their story. I loved the ways in which both they and their relationship grew and changed over the course of the book. At times, it can be really rather endearing, touching and heart-warming, but managing to avoid becoming too saccharine.

The cast of supporting characters is pretty good too and are all great additions to the story. I would say a few of the sub-plots are perhaps dealt with a little too abruptly or easily, but that’s a very minor complaint. Overall, the story and the pacing are extremely well handled.

There are some explicit sex scenes, but don’t go thinking of this as a ‘yiff’ story because it’s really not. There are only a few sex scenes overall, and they come at points in the story that make sense for them to be there. They fit perfectly where they are and help the story rather than just putting it on hold for the sake of throwing in some sex, being as much about the connection between the characters involved as about being erotic. I believe the first one doesn’t even happen until about half way through!

To sum up then, ‘Beneath the Skin’ is an excellent read with excellent characters, the story of two guys from different worlds whose lives become intertwined in interesting ways. Whatever few and far between minor niggles I might have had along the way, they were not enough to harm my enjoyment of 'Beneath the Skin' one bit. I seriously loved this book. As I said, I am already in the middle of reading it again, and I can see myself reading it again and again in future. The artist in me even feels like trying my hand at some fan art of the characters, so don’t be surprised if some turns up in future.

So, if you’re interested in reading an excellent and engrossing character-based romance with furries and some sci-fi ideas thrown in, I heartily recommend this book. Even if you’re not interested in that, I hope you consider checking it out anyway. There’s even a sample on the amazon page for the kindle edition you can check out.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beneath-Ski...../dp/B00IBLWX2I

Well, it turns out I was right. It really wasn't wise to write that previous journal. When you're feeling extraordinarily bad, it's really not the right time to go making sweeping statements about your future.

This has been quite a bad week for me overall, between illness and depression, but I seem to be recovering and getting through it, slowly but surely. And I wanted to say thank you to everyone who sent messages of support and talked to me to help me. I really do appreciate it.

And, to any fans of my work out there, don't worry, I will get back to drawing, being an artist is too big a part of me for me to ever stop completely, no matter how I may feel at times. But yeah, I can't be certain when that will be exactly.

So, here's to recovering and moving on. My next journal should be something more positive, its something I've been meaning to write since last week. Keep an eye out for it.

This time yesterday I was feeling good. I was feeling optimistic. And I was fully expecting my next FA journal to be quite positive. Had it all planned and everything.

What a difference a day makes, eh?

Life has once again decided to give me a hard kick square in the balls. With steel toe capped boots. With great big bloody spikes on them.

It’s not enough for me to fall ill since yesterday. No, I have to be once again be reminded just how much of a useless, pathetic waste of space I really am. No matter how hard I try, no matter what I do, I will inevitably do the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, end up screwing everything up, drive people away, wreck everything. It always happens eventually, given enough time.

I’m not going to go into details, it’s too personal. But suffice to say I feel like I am back to square one with my depression. Any progress I may have made with my confidence and creativity is gone. I have no idea whatsoever when I may feel like drawing anything again. Right now, I’m not sure I ever will feel like it again.

It might not be too wise to be writing this at a time when I’m feeling ill, dead inside, massively depressed, and have managed less than 2 hours sleep. But I don’t care. Screw wisdom, it’s never done me much good.

Bottom line is, don’t expect to see much from me any time soon, if ever again. I’m so sorry everyone, for wasting your time.

Well, I’m back. I’ve been away since last Thursday, staying with my boyfriend for a long weekend for my birthday, which was lovely and fantastic and relaxing, just what I needed. Well, apart from a minor back injury, which was definitely not needed or wanted, but at least I seem to be recovering quickly.

Anyway, I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who took the time to wish me a happy birthday, it is much appreciated! It was very nice to come home to all your messages!

Sorry I’ve been somewhat quiet around here yet again. After my last uploads, I hit another creative dry spell. It seems to be the way my creative energy works at the moment, brief spurts of productivity surrounded by long dry spells. Which is getting very annoying and frustrating, and I’m really not sure what I can do about it.

Anyway, in other news, it’s now exactly three weeks until my birthday. On the 27th, I’ll be 36, another year of my life behind me, another year closer to the grave.

There was a time when I used to thank everyone who watched me with a shout on their page, but then I fell behind with it and now it has reached a point where there is just too big of a backlog to do that anymore.

So, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say a big welcome to all my new watchers that I have never managed to thank. As well as a big thank you to all my watchers, new and old. Thank you for the support, for deciding that I’m worth watching. I really do appreciate it and hope you all enjoy whatever I manage to put out in future.

Sorry I’ve not been around much recently. Won’t go into too many details, but suffice to say, I’m going through one of those periods where life has been dumping a bunch of crap on me, various things causing my stress and difficulty. Hopefully I’ll get through it soon and try to get back to normal.

Some of you may have noticed I’ve once again been going through a period of not being very active around here. Thing is, I seem to have slipped back into something of a slump, and pulling myself out of it is proving to be very difficult, the creative side of me just doesn’t want to switch on, and even when it does, its not for very long. It doesn’t help that life always seems to send more stress and problems my way. So, I’m just going to talk a bit about some stuff. Maybe it will help, venting/getting some stuff off my chest.

WARNING: Possible boring journal of crap ahead. Also, please be advised, I am NOT asking for advice or suggestions, so please don’t get offended if you offer some and I don’t take it.

Homophobia

So, I recently had a homophobic complaint made privately to me about one of my pics. Believe it or not, this is the very first time that’s ever happened. And bizarrely, after all the weird and fetishy stuff I’ve done over the years, its one of the cleanest pics I’ve ever done that is the subject of a complaint about its content. It was this one: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13187660/

Now, I should make it clear that the homophobic comments were not rude or aggressive, but actually calm and polite. But that didn’t make them any less surprising and disturbing. Apparently, the guy’s problem stemmed from me calling the superhero in the pic ‘Captain Virtue’ as he didn’t like a homosexual character being thought of as being virtuous. There was also some nonsense in his message about Sodom and Gomorrah.

The fact is, when I first drew the pic, the hero wasn’t even going to have a name. He was meant to be a nameless random superhero. It was only when posting it that I suddenly decided to give him a name, and since I’d designed him with a V on his chest, I wanted a name beginning with V. Virtue just seemed a good name for a superhero. If not for that sudden desire to name him, I wouldn’t have had this first brush with homophobia. But don’t get me wrong, I have no regrets, I fully stand by the pic and my decision to use that name.

Captain Virtue was meant to be just a one off character for this pic, but after this, I am finding myself more and more drawn to the idea of drawing him again sometime, perhaps waving a gay pride flag… :)

Streaming

Some of you may be wondering when I might get back to streaming. The honest answer at this point is I don’t know if I ever will.

The last time I tried streaming weeks ago I wasn’t in a good mood, and was hoping some sketching in a stream might help pick me up a bit, as it has done sometimes before. But that stream was a huge stressful disaster that soured me on the idea of ever streaming again. Even now, weeks later, I still feel the same.

I have only myself to blame, I suppose, for trying to stream while not in the greatest of moods. It was such a struggle to focus and draw anything. And the mood I was in, most peoples comments just seemed to be more stress-inducing than helpful (like offering suggestions I didn’t ask for and then seeming to get offended when I didn’t take them). I really let it all get to me too much.

So my apologies to people who liked my streams but at the moment there is a chance I may never do it again. I can do without the potential stress.

Friends

Yeah, so it seems I have very few friends. I’m not good at making and maintaining friendships, and it’s starting to bug me more and more.

Despite the number of contacts I have on skype, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people who talk to me on any kind of regular basis. I’ve given up trying to initiate conversations with people because it’s inevitably the same result. The conversation peters out after about 10 minutes, leaving me with the impression that I’m just bothering them.

I’m getting to feel more and more like the vast majority of people I know have decided that I’m just not worth talking to, leading to feelings of loneliness, which, as you might imagine, tends to drag down my mood.

Maybe I really am just not worth talking to, maybe I’m just not very good at making conversation. I really don’t know. I just know that whatever the problem, it really gets to me sometimes…

Anyway, that’s enough of me boring people with my crap for now. Hopefully I'll pull myself together and you’ll be seeing new stuff from me soon…

Some of you may have noticed I haven't been around much or posted anything new in a while. Due to various factors (I won't bore you all with the details), I have been in a bit of a slump recently.

The good news is, I do seem to be slowly coming out of this slump. Hopefully I will be back to normal in the not too distant future, posting new stuff and maybe even streaming.

It's that time of the year again, time for Hypno Bear Week, as organised by  talisment http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12813555/

I will of course be contributing some stuff. I have something that I hope will be ready to post tomorrow. And I want to try and do a special hypno bears livestream sometime this week to work on some hypno bears pics.

I do also have another hypno bears project in mind, but I'm unsure if I'll manage to get it done, as I haven't even got around to starting it yet. We'll have to see.

So, be sure to enjoy all the hypno bears stuff that will be about this week!

OK, so I posted a new pic about a day ago, but have been somewhat perplexed by the fact that compared to most of the pics I post, there hasn't been much interest in it. But now I have found out that it didn't turn up in the inbox of at least one person, possibly due to a web site glitch, so I'm wondering if maybe that happened to others as well.

So, if you missed it, here's my latest pic: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12612369/