State of the Scribe: July 2021

Hey pones, hope everyone had a great June! After a bit of a slower last month, things are picking up again this time. Got ourselves a striped sandwich of color here, so let’s just get started.

First, we have ourselves a new story: Sisters of Willowbrook. This story will cover some ground that many of my readers will hopefully enjoy: it’s a slice of life HiE TF story, though I’ve done a fair bit to hopefully mix things up. With this story I’m trying to capture a far darker vision of Equestria (not grimdark and unfun, think more like World of Darkness).

I’ve also split Forbidden Places in two blocks going forward, rather than posting chapters back to back. I’m hoping this will give people more of a chance to stay current, since not everyone can read a chapter the day it goes up, and the more they pile up the more overwhelming it can be.

In terms of big news, some of you are probably aware that the Fine Print hardcover project is ongoing. We encountered some trouble with the spine that’s delayed printing by a little bit. I’m currently waiting on the proof of the new version, now that Ace has finished modifying it. But otherwise the book came out great!

Thanks to this delay, anyone who wants to get themselves a copy who hasn’t yet (or who wants to order any of my older books, which will be reprinted at the same time) can do so here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/fine-print-hardcover-publication#/

This will only be possible until I approve the final proof and make the actual order. Once the print run starts, we only make as many books as we make. I mention it here because of the fine print sections on that calendar. See, there was a high tier that let people ask for bonus chapters to the story. Those aren’t going to be printed in the book, but they are coming to fimfiction. I have received 3 of these so far, so those are what I’ll be sharing with you this month.

You’ll notice the return to form in terms of orange reappearing on the calendar. For my newer readers, that means a story is totally free for everyone, but it isn’t pony, so I can’t post it here. As we all wait (perhaps forever) for Genfic, I put things on Patreon primarily because Fanfiction.net, fictionpress, and others are such a pain to use. So check it out there: https://www.patreon.com/RealStarscribe

You’ll see the appearance of a new story: Together We. This story is a sequel to Fractional Salvage, a commission I posted a few months ago that I thought crossed over enough that my readers might be interested. I know it isn’t pony, so I’ll not go into too much detail.

The original was a post-magical-apocalypse story about a new race of fairies created from a single individual’s soul splitting in many ways, kinda inspired by what I did with Little Problems. Lots of TF elements in there, basically every two letter abbreviation you can think of. The unique gimmick of those fairies is that they “merge” together into a full sized human being, with personalities and skills determined by the individual fairies who merge. This is temporary, and soon enough they split back up again–forming a species that is still kinda-sorta a single individual.

Anyway, you can read the original here if you missed it: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/954305/full-story-fractional-salvage . The sequel will be posted to my Patreon starting on the 7th, with a full PDF coming when it finishes for those who would rather not follow the updates there.

The sequel will take place a few years later, showing how fairy society has developed, and following a salvage team determined to track down the last renaming members of their species that escaped at the moment of their creation. It will give us a better look at the other civilizations that share the planet with them, and the struggles fairy society will face going forward. Great cover by April, really awesome looking.

I’ll post a single blog the story goes live, but other than that I’ll not go into detail until it’s finished. I know most of you are here exclusively for Pone, and your time is valuable. Thanks for your patience as I try to broaden my writing a little.

Other than that, we’ve got the usual cast of characters in terms of Patreon-only stories. Crazy how Return to Sender has got as long as plenty of my novels at this point. That’s gonna be a fun one when it gets to fimfiction. As usual, the first chapter of all these stories can be read on my patreon right now. They will come to fimfiction for everyone as soon as they are finished.

Dreamlands: The story of a batpony who ventures into the dreamlands to try and rescue Nightmare Moon from banishment and save her outcast tribe. Read at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-story-45878879

Frames of War: A Warframe crossover in which an old-war relic is opened on Equestria, unleashing the Infestation. Their only hope may lie in the hooves of a single Tenno. Read at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-story-frames-35421681

Return to Sender: Sequel to Message in a Bottle, this story chronicles Harmony’s disastrous first contact with an alien race, through the eyes of Olivia’s descendant. Read at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-story-return-27346632

Tall Tale of Sweet Sauce: A comedy about an ancient Equestrian “villain” returning from his banishment to earth as a little colt. Adoption may get in the way of his mysterious scheme. Read at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-story-tall-46197856