Spotlight: Kaiser Wrench (Poached Parody series) by Stacey Bender

I read the first two volumes of this 13 part series before my Kindle Unlimited subscription ran out for now, but I am looking forward to reading more in the future when I can.

Private investigator Kaiser Wrench finds himself gig to gig, relentlessly chasing his next suspect, often landing himself in situations he’s lucky to be still alive later.

I am quite a fan of the fast-pacedness, edginess, and the humor of these furry noir novellas. I must note however that my brain wants to re-imagine it in the context of the comic/game series Sam & Max due to it being furry noir.

I tend to read more novellas and short stories than anything, so being able to finish something in only one or two sessions is great. I read the first two volumes in about 45 minutes each.

The series is available in eBook or paperback format here. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08KGTSPG3

Spotlight: City of a Thousand Feelings by Anya Johanna DeNiro

This was the one book from the Pride bundle on Storybundle.com a month or two ago that resonated with me the most. So I’m writing about it here.

A beautiful epic fantasy transgender allegory in 100 pages. DeNiro is incredible at writing beautiful, evocative imagery. I certainly feel as if they are a thousand steps ahead of whatever I’m capable of writing. And yet, the story wraps itself up before overstaying its welcome.

A wonderful surprise because the cover art had me hesitant to read it in the first place.

City of a Thousand Feelings is available as a paperback or ebook here: https://www.amazon.com/City-Thousand-Feelings-Conversation-Pieces-ebook/dp/B0846DJZ1H

Review: Gnarl Writes a Book: Sort of… by Shaun McGrath

Note: The writer of this article was given a free copy of this ebook by the author himself.

This is seemingly a semi-autobiographical parody of a hobbyist writer trying to write books and the millions of distractions life throws at one while doing so. Making a living owning a farm, and taking care of chickens with the wife.

The scenery changes and the issues that arise are amusing enough. The writer himself falls asleep and starts dreaming of a sci-fi scenario, which intertwines itself loosely into a a dragon-slaying fantasy world, and then onto a ship sailing the sea. When the author snaps back to reality they find themselves going back into their unfinished stories from years ago, and trying to merge them into their current projects.

Reading some of their other work, confirmed my suspicion that on on a level, this story is wish-fulfillment for the author themselves. However, there’s nothing wrong with that at all.

An amusing 4 star light light read at only 76 pages. Despite some formatting issues, I was able to read this comfortably.

It is available for 2.99 as an eBook here: https://www.amazon.com/Gnarl-writes-book-Shaun-McGrath-ebook/dp/B078J4CWCL

Restless Town by Madison Scott Clary (Audiobook)

This review is for the audiobook version of Restless Town by Madison-Scott Clary. She had been generous enough to briefly give it away for free on her web store, and I felt I should give it a listen, despite me owning it in physical book format already.

Madison (sometimes going under the alias, Makyo) has often experimented with interactive narratives. One of the short stories in this collection “You’re Gone” was initially one of these experiments. 

Makyo presents her stories in the audiobook in a way that reminded me of a kind of church sermon, which isn’t too surprising considering her other work. As well, I took note that each story is presented with appropriate content warnings before the stories start. 

Each of these stories in the book is set in Sawtooth, Idaho. I would not be surprised from listening to the author’s delivery of this audiobook, that the stories themselves may be partially autobiographical. 

The story “Disappearance” is somewhat of a fantasy many queer people such as myself might feel as if they’d want to do. In the story, the main character disfigures their appearance, and over several months documents their new life. 

“You’re Gone” made me cry. A story about the loss of a life partner, and then dealing with a family who doesn’t want to acknowledge their relationship.

  Presented are a wide range of relatable queer experiences, from coming out as and embracing your true self, to coping with obsessive compulsive disorder, to dealing with vague BDSM party negotiation. Makyo’s sincere delivery of the lines, made me cry along with them, grabbing me by the heart. I honestly wanted to hug them as I kept listening.

Restless Town can be purchased in a variety of formats (physical, ebook, and audiobook) directly from the author’s website, here.

Off the Bus.

Eleven years following.
No desire to go back.
The songs don't do as much as they did.

Can barely handle sound as it is
Thought of a mass gathering, post-calamity brings anxiousness.

"Come with us, we'll set you free" the redhead preached into the megaphone.
The great American road trip.
I disassociate as I walk through the free market
Glimpsing into the dead eyes of souls whose lives have been spent chasing pleasure, experience after experience.

Great friends and memories of summers spent. 
They try to bring me back with them.
I know however that in my heart that I cannot truly return to such life again.

I wake up, drink my coffee, 
and write.

Todays Read: Melody of a Street Corner by Sean Rivercritic

This is a tiny update unfortunately, but I hope to start doing actual reviews soon.

This is the second Goal Publications “Pocket Shot” book that I have read. I am not sponsored by the publisher in any way or form to write this post.

A pocket-sized 46 page read I read while waiting on a Zoom call. Having read the description, I knew I had to check it out as it is set in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It’s a place close to where I spent my childhood summer vacations, Grand Haven.

Roland is an abandoned youth, left by their parents outside a grocery store. There, Roland grows up under the wing of his mentor, a busking homeless fox violinist named Christophe. After Christophe passes, they soon find themselves both without a father figure, and without a place to play their violin.

A comfy 20 minute read in a tiny book. I like the size of these. They’re a change of pace and as well, the shape and cover art make one curious about the contents.

This pocket sized story can be bought in physical form here at Goal Publication’s website, as well they also offer the story as an eBook.

What I have been up to

Sorry, my new job has been crazy, alongside my language study and writing projects. I’ve been trying to read literature within the furry fandom in my spare time. I have a couple short stories that I have been brewing. Hope you can read them soon.


I read the pocket sized short story Lunar Cavity by Mary E. Lowd on a work break the other day. Published by Goal Publications. Left a pocket-sized review on my Goodreads page.

Anyway, looking forward to providing some more sweet sweet CONTENT for the two people who read this. Love y’all.

Stay tuned.

The Merry Prankster

A search for familiar souls in Second Life led me to it’s longest operating venue, The Merry Prankster, a Deadhead themed venue.

“Inspiration move me brightly,
light the song with sense and color
Hold away despair”

Robert Hunter

While trying to find similar interests in the middle of this crisis, it’s been pretty painful for a fan of live music. I went to seek out the kind of crowd I am familiar with. I found a crunchy Deadhead venue.

Pictures here are from my crappy laptop, sorry. We vibin out here.

Established in 2006, this is apparently the longest running music venue in Second Life. I was told this by someone whose name I forget (there’s about five hundred jokes I could make right now about that). Where’s the bowl of Kool-Aid again?

LX (lxix.tomorrow) plays at The Merry Prankster on January 18th, 2021.

“Picker” (picker.apogee) played Ripple by the Dead and I really felt it. It has been far too long since I have been able to go to live music. You never know what you got till it’s gone I guess. Raw audio from the musicians really added to the charm. Big boomer guitar guy energy here at this venue in general, but I love it that. This is church.

“Let there be songs, to fill the air”Robert Hunter

I’m certainly grateful for everything I get to hear or see nowadays. Soon we all be back on the train, dancing our asses off.

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Bay City: Where the Sidewalk Ends

Credit, picture above taken by Morei (Furry Rage)

Being back on Second Life for the last month, after years of being away from this game, it feels as if I never left this circus. People are more socially aware yes, but there are still a lot of old internet relics that are still here. Things were not as commercialized.

Registering a new account I immediately made sure to contact my one real friend from my Teen Second Life days. Honestly sometimes it feels like we get back to our same dynamic. All I feel is gratitude. Second Life gave me hope in a time that I was too scared to be myself in real life, and that there were people who didn’t judge me.

Finally having come to terms with being a furry, I’ve decided that I am a cosmic doe on this soul planet. In the mid 2000s, I was in many online circles who would have banned me if they found out I was a furry. This included an edgy Sonic the Hedgehog hacking forum which is in hindsight pretty funny. They would often complain about kids joining their forum or getting emails from angry parents. It’s a children’s game series… I really wonder why.

Anyway, I finally feel like I have accessed a crucial part of my inner self and I feel a lot of relief because of that.

With my old friend, we reminisced about old times while cruising around in a “Party Van”. From the van we blasted tunes from Initial D, and other meme songs from the age of ytmnd dot com. Eventually we decided to pay a visit to the fort she had back in the day.

Standing on the road right outside our previous hangout, the memories flooded back. Turns out that exact land space is a cat breeding game vendor. Kind of amusing in a personal way.

Walking farther down the road, she commented on how this place looks quite a bit better than most of the mainland areas. And how there are many dead end roads in this dumb game. We sat where the sidewalk ends.

Picture of Morei (Furry Rage) by Zephyr Mang

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

Shel Silverstein

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Hi, I’m Zep.

In this blog I will be writing about my experiences and thoughts while re-experiencing Second Life.

I first entered Second Life in October 2007, at the time I was in the Teen Grid. I was 13 years old. Now that I’m back my first thoughts were honestly that the world was a lot more socially aware, but the stupid UI for the game hasn’t.

I missed being able to endlessly wander and then find a random person to bullshit with and talk about life or get into trouble with.

Sometimes you find a giant anthro Pokémon shark wearing crocs and you cuddle with him.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/657669929843294230/787193902830583808/unknown.png
I had to ask if the crocs stay on during sex. He said “Of course. A requirement.”