Well, one of my Para-Imperium RPG players wrote up a backstory for his character. But we're pretty sure it would qualify.

He actually asked me about publication.

He doesn't have much of a social media presence, but he said it was okay to share the story https://docs.google.com/document/d/.....Nx1EGBHYk/edit

I kind of registered last minute for Midwest FurFest and I don't have a hotel room. There were a couple of different people I was thinking of rooming with, but they ended up in rooms with six people.

So, kind of wondering if anyone else going has room available for Saturday night at least?

So, this coming weekend I'll be hosting my "Exploring Avenues to Publication" panel again at Aquatifur ( https://aquatifur.com/ ) in the Wisconsin Dells (Saturday, 10:30 am), and generally hanging out. I won't have a booth, but I'll have bookmarks with the cover art  donryu made to pass out and I might have a couple dozen books in the trunk of my car.

However, me and fellow Thurston Howl author Mark Engels will be splitting a table at the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books ( http://www.sewibookfest.com/ ) on November 4th.

Hope to see some of you at either event! (Buy my book, please.)

Me and fellow Thurston Howl author Mark Engels https://mjengels.deviantart.com/ are co-hosting a panel on how we got published at Furry Migration called "Exploring Avenues to Publication". We think it's Sunday at noon.

I might have a couple copies of "The Pride of Parahumans" with me for half-price. Depends on whether I hear any interest.

In the meantime, feel free to check it out on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/194524707X/ along with Mark's new book "Always Gray in Winter"https://www.amazon.com/Always-Gray-Winter/dp/1945247193/

Okay, so I went on this “ghost tour” and at the first stop, a graveyard, our tour guide brought out some K2 meters and dowsing rods, the kind that are two L-shaped metal rods with beads as handles. We got to try them out for ourselves after he seemed to establish that there was a female spirit with us that wasn’t from there and may have been watching over one of us. I tried the rods and they shifted in response to my questions:

“Are you buried here?” Drifting apart (no)
“Are you female?” Drifting together to cross (yes)
“Did you come with us?” (yes)
“Are you watching over me?” (no)
“Are you a wandering spirit or something?” (yes)
“I suppose it would be boring haunting one place all the time.” Slow drift together
“Are you human?” (no)

Apparently, while we were distracted by the other stuff my younger brother used the dowsing rods himself and put them back. Then he started walking away from the rest of us. I asked him if he got anything and he said “seems I’m the one being watched.” After the tour was over, and my dad was in earshot, he claimed he’d felt some kind of tingling, but when I came close to him it went away. He thought it was because I was a skeptic, got that impression because I like to correct him about trivia, like the pronunciation of “Samhain”.

Now, I am a little skeptical about the supernatural, but I have done a few “spirit guide” guided meditations or self-hypnosis things and usually I meet a fox, specifically a non-anthro vixen who likes to climb up my back, once I saw a gryphon but the fox was also there and wrapping her tail around my neck and hissing at it.

Back to the ghost tour, the next stop on it was a haunted house, while there I started to feel anxious and attempted to call up my apparent fox familiar, visualizing her perched on my left shoulder. At the end of the tour we went to this one room that was supposedly the most haunted, the owners were living in the house and refused to sleep in that room because people had seen the old lady of the house there. At one end of the room was a sealed door that once led to a lounge and the K2 meters were going crazy by it. I picked up the rods and asked if the famous ghost was there, swung right together, and if she was angry, crossed together.

Honestly, the thing in the haunted bedroom seemed a little convenient, like they’d planted an electromagnet behind the door or something, and when he used the dowsing rods it seemed like she didn’t want him to talk about a thing that he said he’d tell us all about once we had left. Cheap trick to build tension. We also spent a while listening to one of those “spirit boxes” that flick through radio channels, didn’t hear anything but static.

However, remember what I said about my familiar perching on my left shoulder? When the bus was driving away from the house I felt aches along my left shoulder and neck, then random aches on my legs and sides that faded quickly. Couldn’t say for sure what was happening there.

Recently, I came across a "gig economy" site called "Fiverr" which connects creative types; writers, graphic designers, interpreters, etc, with clients looking to commission them. I've seen some people there offering to ghostwrite entire novels for $5.

Experimentally, I've posted a "gig" starting TVtropes pages for works of fiction. If you know any furry writers who want to get their work out on the "All-Devouring Pop-Culture Wiki" refer them to me or show them this link: https://www.fiverr.com/zarpaulus/write-a-tvtropes-wiki-article-for-your-fiction?arrived_from_manage_gigs=true&display_share=true

I checked Amazon this morning and found that the ebook of my novella was now available. I'll be posting an audio preview of one of the chapters this evening.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071RNKPZ....._34nczbR7KNSD3

After some consideration, I've decided to make early access to podcast episodes available for just $1 a month. "Of the Collective, Chapter 2" is up now.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/8827243

As a reminder, due to running short on stories to narrate I've cut back the podcast to once a month, that episode will be public on May 7th.

On account of Russia taking over LiveJournal and instating their homophobic rules over the site I've deleted my account, all my stuff will be posted exclusively at my furry galleries, tumblr and https://paraimperium.wordpress.com/

So, I'm starting to run short of Para-Imperium stories to convert into podcasts. As such I'll be cutting back to once a month while I try to write more.

In the meantime, I'll be attempting a "trope a day" feature on Wordpress to help develop the setting and put out content rapidly. Please follow https://paraimperium.wordpress.com/ or my twitter or tumblr feeds to stay updated.

I started a Discord server for a Fate-system game I started based on my Para-Imperium universe.

I was wondering if any of my "fans" as they were had an interest in discussing the setting and contributing their ideas. Maybe even joining the game, we've only got three players.

https://discord.gg/QqXTgp4

I'd make it Patreon-exclusive if I had patrons.

Update: One of my players has dropped out, anyone interested is welcome to join.

I'm going to be at Fur Squared in Brookfield, WI from the 24th to the 26th, hope to see some of you there.

Not sure if ordering a bunch of copies of my book to show around would be a good idea, next year I might reserve a table.

Apparently, of the assorted galleries I mirror my new Podcast on, FA doesn't allow files over 10 megabytes in size to be uploaded and Part 2 of Dandelion Seeds ended up at 12 MB.

So I'd suggest listening here if you were interested: https://soundcloud.com/user-5646898.....n-seeds-part-2

I'm trying to finish up that Zootopia/Hc Svnt Dracones crossover, and I've got a podcast I've been working on ("Tales of the Para-Imperium" on Soundcloud and iTunes). But I've also got a dozen or-so other ideas that I want to write but it's impossible to find the time.

Concerning fanfiction alone I have ideas for:
- Zootopia Urban Fantasy AU: Either one that doesn't have a "masquerade" or those with magic have a damn good reason to hide.
-Zootopia/Warhammer 40K crossover:Not like those Judy Sororitas and Nick Astartes fanart I've seen, Judy fits the Arbites (or maybe Inquisition) better and Nick's more like a Rogue Trader.
- Zootopia polyamory shipping fic
- Continuation of my Zootopia/Para-Imperium crossover: "The Ambassador"
- A couple Tank Vixens ideas that I'm trying to suppress.

I also had a list of plots for an episodic series in the Para-Imperium somewhere, including "For the Collective", which I've been meaning to get back to.
Other ones I can recall:
- How the crew featured in "For the Collective" and "The Ambassador" first met. Actually started on a draft way back but trashed it when I realized it didn't make much sense.
- The hiring of a mercenary group.
- New ship drive beating them to a planet.
- Medieval planet ruled by "wizards".

Hopefully I'll be able to write half of these before I get too many other ideas.

I've been wanting to try out the Fate Core RPG system for a while but haven't had much opportunity. Eclipse Phase is a setting that I've found quite intriguing but both times I've tried playing I've ended up stumbling over the mass of rules.

So when I found "Transhumanity's Fate" I started thinking about setting up a campaign, or at least a one-shot.

Problem is I've only got two players and we're looking at starting Sunday at 6:00 pm CST. If anyone else wants to join in you can make a character (we're skipping the crossing paths part for now) or I could translate a premade character into Fate in about 15 minutes. We'll be using the "Continuity" adventure module and playing it as a one-shot, possibly developing into a campaign depending on what happens.

The Fate conversion rules can still be found on the Eclipse Phase forum here: http://eclipsephase.com/fate-conver.....nal-playtest-0

Well, I've decided to try narrating my stories and compiling them into at least one podcast a week, seeing if I can keep it up until the end of the month at least.

I've uploaded my audio version of "The Short Life of a Venusian Sky Pirate" and the first part of "A World Lost" to my new Soundcloud account, one of the few websites that will take voice memos from my iPhone:
https://soundcloud.com/user-564689846


There's also some "rough drafts" of another story or two on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Zarpaulus

There have been a number of published vore comics, but shockingly few written works. Most writers of vore stories have only posted their work publicly on the internet to sites such as this one or Fur Affinity. I will not deny that there are a few, such as the "Seek and Hide" novella series published by Swallowtail, or the "A Lady's Delights" novel currently running a Kickstarter for a paperback edition, but the selection is still rather scarce.

The furry fandom has a significant and growing market in novels and anthologies that has been going for decades now, so I find it hard to believe that there's no demand for vore fiction.

With that in mind, I have decided to compile an anthology of short stories based on vore. The first one, to my knowledge, to be published.

On to details:

- Title: To be determined, possibilities include: "Wild Appetites", "Gulp", suggestions are welcome.
- Publisher: Swallowtail Productions has expressed willingness to consider it.
- Story Length: Looking at 2,000-10,000 words. Stories slightly shorter or longer may still be considered.
- Compensation: $0.01 (USD) per word, to be paid on acceptance, as well as a digital contributor's copy of the finished product.
- B&W accompanying illustrations are welcome but not required, to a maximum of one per story please.
- All types of vore and scenarios are welcome, later volumes may be focused around a single theme.
- Please only submit new stories, no reprints.
- Rights to the stories will be retained for two years, then revert to the authors.
- The author retains rights to their characters at all times.
- For legal simplicity, fanfiction will not be accepted.
- We're expecting most stories to be furry in nature, but human stories may be accepted as well.
- Swallowtail currently does not do print distribution, will update if that changes in the future.
- Also, looking for cover artist, co-editors, and beta readers.
- Deadline for submissions is May 13th, 2017. Publication is expected sometime this summer.

Email submissions to zarpaulus@gmail.com, feel free to ask questions by replying to this journal, by PM, or email.

I continue to spread myself thin across the internet
https://www.fanfiction.net/u/8462624/

At present I have three one-shots (2 Zootopia, 1 Eclipse Phase), and a Zootopia/Hc Svnt Dracones crossover in progress posted over on FanFiction.net, feel free to check them out.

I'm sure you're all tired of reading journals about furries and their problems, I know I am, but I'm in a bit of a tough financial situation myself.

On Monday, the 3rd, I got into a car accident. My car was totaled by our insurance (Progressive, cheap sleazebags), and I had to buy a new one. I had only made one payment on the loan for my previous car after buying out the lease so most of the check they gave me went towards the loan.

I got a new car, but the down payment wiped out half my savings and the monthly payment is $33 more than before. I'm still living with my parents and even farther away from being able to afford my own place.

Incidentally, I've got two patron-exclusive stories and a few worldbuilding entries that haven't hit my main site yet up on Patreon, if anyone's interested.

Night Howler does not "revert one to their base instincts."

I have seen a lot of Zootopia fanfics and art in which Nick and/or Judy get dosed with Night Howler for real. In such cases they're often stated to "act according to their instincts", and not necessarily the prey drive, which has its' own problems.

But the thing is, that's not how the effects of Night Howler are actually depicted in the movie. Look at how Otterton and Manchas acted after being darted. Snarling, roaring, destructive. Now watch just about any nature documentary. When a predator is hunting they don't growl or roar, they certainly don't walk up slowly with teeth bared and a low grumble issuing from their throat. When an animal, any animal, does that they're giving you a warning, they want you to leave. If an animal wants to eat you, you won't hear it until you either spot it or it comes close enough to strike, then it'll be like greased lightning until it catches you.

Oh, and another thing, you might notice that Manchas only goes after Nick and Judy after they approach him, and Otterton was actually hiding when our heroes found him. That alone should tell you what Night Howler actually does, they're scared. Their inability to tell friend from foe is shut down and they're scared of everyone so they go into "fight-or-flight" mode. Heck, Judy's uncle exhibited the same symptoms as the predators and he was a bunny.

In short, that's what you should be writing about, terrified animals on drugs.

Also, foxes don't have a sex drive outside of mid-winter, their reproductive organs literally shrink.

So at 1/4 to midnight my brother who delivers pizzas calls to say he locked himself out of his car and needs me to drive 20 min to bring him a spare key for his car. Fucking idiot.
At least he gave me $10 for my trouble.

How many of you follow me for the original content I occasionally produce? As opposed to say, the art I commission?

Please answer.

Seeing how every writing advice column and podcast has said that you should have your own website, and recommended wordpress as one that's simple enough to run, I've finally buckled down and made one for my Para-Imperium universe:

https://paraimperium.wordpress.com

I'll be reposting the worldbuilding facts and stories there soon, I'll try to break the data into smaller, more digestible chunks than on my galleries and social media.

I've been thinking of starting a Patreon or something to help me raise the money to move out of my parents' place and help motivate me to write more.

Not sure what I'd offer as rewards other than a month's early access to my rough drafts, possibly podcasts of some stories too.

I'm considering offering story commissions soon. Erotic, non-erotic, mostly sci-fi or fantasy.

Or possibly using my impulse to write TVTropes articles for every work of fiction I come across to supplement my income. Got a webcomic or indie novel that could use some exposure? I'll throw it out into the Troper hivemind for you.