Editors

Those that know me know I’m an ex-IT guy. Have you ever known anyone whose career was always IT? No, it’s not a trick question even though we tend to be reclusive, anti-social, aloof, socially inept and unapproachable. If you have ever known anyone involved in IT you’ll probably recognize some or all of those attributes in that person. There’s also one more; we tend to be horrible at the written English, or any other I suppose though I can speak to that directly, language.

I think it comes from writing code. You see, we seem to think PostalCde is just fine for a variable name and instructions to anyone shouldn’t have to consist of more than a couple words like ‘click here’ or ‘invalid name.’ So imagine someone like myself who decides it’s a great idea to start writing fantasy and science fiction.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I grew up devouring the works of Robert Heinlein, Jack Chalker, Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey, Jane Lindskold, Orson Scott Card and many, many others. I love fantasy and science fiction and have always developed my own story lines but never wrote them down. Chasing a successful career in IT was just too stressful and time consuming. Until I retired two years ago that is.

Since I have retired I have started writing. I have a number of titles selling on Amazon and, at least so far, they’ve been well received by reviewers. Take a look at my first collection titled “Changes” as an example. No, those are real reviews, not family doing me a favor. *laughs*

My problem however is editing. I review every story I write at least a dozen times. I pour over each story looking for typos, plain spelling errors, being concise and any number of other common writing blunders I can find. Unfortunately I’m not an editor. Oh, I do ask friends to read the stories and point out flaws, and they do, but they are not editors either. I’ve never used a professional editor and that’s the purpose of this post.

I’d like to hear from people who HAVE used professional editors. What was your experience? Was it worth the cost? What was the cost? Was it rated, as I expect, on the number of words in your work? What was the experience like? Would you recommend the editor you used or editing at all or do you believe an author can do a good job if they just take the time?

I would love to hear about your experience and I expect my readers would too. This site is frequented by many authors, also writing in the anthro genre, and I know many of them have never used professional editors either. If you are an editor please don’t hesitate to tell us about yourself, your services, your costs, successful authors you’ve worked for and so on. Feel free to beat your own drum here!

Oh, and if you’ve ever worked with IT people and still remained sane, I’d love to know that too!

 

Looking For Contributors

I’ve decided to branch out. While I have not posted to this blog as frequently as I should I’ve tied to keep the focus of the posts related to anthro writing, anthropomorphics, the furry community and anthro literature and art.

My lack of posting has primarily been a result of illness. I’m also using that as an excuse for my lack of writing. I suspect it is an excuse, nothing more. Oh, granted, in the last few months I have felt like hell. I have had no energy and no willingness to do anything. Call it depression or call it laziness. Both  probably have contributed. However, I think my trip to the hospital three weeks ago and the doctors saying I needed a pacemaker immediately to revive a heart that had dropped to an astounding 25 beats per minute, and still left me completely conscious and alert, might have has something to do with that. While I am now recovering from emergency surgery I still feel lethargic and, well, lazy. I hope it passes. I suspect it will. However, all of that leads to this post.

There are a great number of excellent anthro creative types out there. The authors VixyyFox, Sean Silva, Renee Carter Hall and others immediately spring to mind. Obviously there are others. The very talented people at Anthrodreams, Christopher Williams and Peter Katt, come to mind. Musicians like Luxy also immediately come to mind. I want to open this blog for guest posts by other anthro/furry writers, audio producers, musicians, visual artists, fursuit creators and others I probably have not thought of but who would be excellent ambassadors for the anthro/furry creative community. I think having a venue for known artists, and I mean that in the general sense,  to be able to express their thoughts about the fandom, writing, audio production, getting published, missteps and anything else related to creativity in the anthro genre would be helpful to the community. It’s an experiment with a very few rules:

1. The posts must be about writing, being published, production of audio, anthro/furry, etc
2. It cannot be overly negative. By that I mean you can certainly relate how hard it was getting published or how hard a certain venue to publish your works is to use but all posts cannot be negative
3. No personal attacks will be tolerated

I will start with the same criteria used by the Furry Writers Guild. In short those criteria are:

you’ve had at least one short story, poem, or novel length work featuring anthropomorphic characters/themes published in a paying venue(either inside or outside the furry fandom) at a minimum rate of less than 1 cent per word

or

you’ve had at least two short stories, poems, or novel length works featuring anthropomorphic characters/themes published in a non-paying venue (either inside or outside the furry fandom).

I’m also going to add an additional criteria of having produced at least one recording on Anthrodreams or have sold one piece of art on a site like Amazon or sold a CD of your music or videos, again on a site like Amazon.

If you’re interested in guest posting here or have additional suggestions please drop me a line at Postings@Anthrotales.com. If you would like to post send me your e-mail address and I’ll set you up with an account you can use to post from. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Help Me Find A Specific Artist

I came across a page on Facebook the other day containing this image. It greatly surprised me. If you have read my story titled “Karma” you’ll know it focuses on the actions of two wolves, Brightcloud and Midnight. Brightcloud is a pure white wolf with strangely blue eyes and Midnight is a wolf from another pack. They meet after Brightcloud decides to head off on her own after being shunned by her pack all her life, because she is the only white wolf among them. Their superstitions and bigotry do not allow them to discover the talents Brightcloud possesses.

The image is drawn as though my thoughts of how the two wolves looked were lifted from my mind. I’m trying to locate the artist to ask if it would be possible to use this image as a cover for a single short story on Amazon. If you know the artist please let me know. If you don’t know the artist please post this request on Facebook or Twitter and ask your friends to report. Let’s see if we can uncover the identity of this artist using the social media. I have requested the person owning the page on Facebook for the artists name but they do not know. They have a page where multiple people can post and someone else posted it. They are sending out a request but I have not yet heard back.

To help with this effort, I’ll give the first person posting the correct name of the artist responsible for this image my complete collection of short stories titled “Love and Honor and Other Stories.” This is a 340+ page ebook of enjoyable short stories that everyone can enjoy.

Thanks to those of you who try to help me find the artist owning the above image.

How Low Can You Go

On Tuesday night I had a life altering experience. No, I didn’t see God or walk with Jesus. While I do frequently see things that are not really there, being schizophrenic, they’re usually animals and I do a pretty good job of telling the real ones from the ones that are just in my head. Most of the ones I see have been around for years so while I’ll chat with them from time to time I do it in secluded places so as to not upset the more mundanes in the world around me.

No, the life altering experience involved my heart. OK, I’ll be honest, my heart’s never been good. Even in my 20′s it was iffy at best. On Tuesday night while I sat watching the news I felt suddenly very dizzy. No pain, nothing like that but I suddenly felt cold and dizzy. Of course, what do you do when you feel that way? You stand up, right? Well, I did and that wasn’t the brightest move I’ve ever made in my life. No, I didn’t pass out but I came damn close. Doing the smart thing I sat back down again. I have had this before and it always passes. So I waited. After 10 minutes it hadn’t passed. It usually never lasts more than 10 minutes.

Now, in the past when this has happened my heart would be racing. It’s a thing my heart does every so often. I honestly think it feels neglected and just wants some attention. Racing at over 200 beats a minute is its way of saying, “Hey idiot! I’m still here! Eat something healthy for a change will you?” Wanting to see just how irritated my heart was with me I took my pulse. It wasn’t messing around this time. My rate was around 40 beats a minute. If you’ve even done aerobics training and weight training you know that an athlete will normally have a slower than normal heartbeat. They’re in such good condition the heart just does not have to work that hard, and doesn’t. Ummm, let me just say I have not been an athlete in over 30 years. While my heart rate was once normally in the low 60′s at rest those days are long gone.

OK, so now I’m cold, dizzy AND concerned. I call my sister who lives a very short distance away and tell her I don’t feel well. In less than 5 minutes she and her husband are here and calling the neighbor who is a nurse. The neighbor comes over with a blood pressure cuff and my blood pressure is way low and my heart rate has fallen to 35. Off to the hospital I go!

Living in Tennessee can be interesting. I live in the woods. Literally. The trip to the hospital takes maybe 20 minutes and the doctor, after checking me out says emphatically I need a pacemaker; right away. My heart rate by this time has plummeted to 25. Hey, but I’m still conscious! They transfer me by ambulance to a nearby cardiac center and the next morning I’m in emergency surgery for a pacemaker. I’m back home now, on light duty and feel much better. Funny how this heart thing works. My blood pressure has always been on the high side. After the pacemaker was put in and my heart was forced to start working correctly my blood pressure dropped right into the middle of the normal range. Funny how that works.

I talked to my son yesterday after the emergency had passed and told him what my low point was for heart rate. He asked, “Dad, just how low can your heart rate go before you pass out?” He’s like me, an analyst. I responded laughing and trying to joke a little, “Well, lower than 25!” I could almost hear the nod in his voice as he responded with, “Yeah, probably 24 or 23.” Smart ass kid. That’s his way of telling me he’s concerned.

I’m hoping my heart and I will start getting along better now. I’ll try to treat it better and I suspect it’s already started treating me better. It’s on notice though that anymore of it’s wild antics from the past and I’ll be out looking for a replacement!

Free Stories and Discounts

I’ve decided to give away a few of my short stories so those of you unfamiliar with my work can get a taste of what my stories are like. A couple of single short stories are absolutely free today only and a couple of my collections are 20% off until April 20th. These stories are listed on Smashwords, and if you’ve never heard of Smashwords, you should look at them. Titles listed there are available in a myriad of formats. You can download PDFs so you can read on your computer, Kindle formats, iPad/iBooks, Nook and others. Almost anything you could imagine reading great stories on is available from Smashwords.

Now, to get the free stories or the discounts you have to order the item and enter the coupon code for each story or collection when ordering. At that point the discount will be applied. What’s available? Glad you asked!

The First Groundling Skydancer - ”The First Groundling Skydancer” introduces you to three mischievous youngsters as their father tells them a bedtime story. You meet them again, when they’re a little older, in the story “Trick and Treats” where they plan revenge on the local town bullies. The last story in this wonderful world titled, “The Flag” Veera discovers her talent and, perhaps, her future love.

20% off with coupon code KG99M until April 20th

 

Changes - Dr. Richard O’Brian decoded computer-like genetic functioning resulting in an almost invulnerable immune system. The discovery is well timed because a 100% fatal and 100% contagious disease has broken out in India. But is it? Is anyone ready for the Changes the cure will entail?

20% off with coupon code EC45D until April 20th

 

Changes, the single short story

FREE with coupon code GS32N, April 17th ONLY

 

Freefall, the single short story - Will Mason, ex Navy Seal, now captain of the AI ship Betty, ferries cargo between backwater star systems. Will’s world changes dramatically when Margaret, a small blue dragon from Danstrom 14, decides to take refuge in the cargo hold of the Betty and finds herself trapped. Unknown to Will, Margaret is a dragon from a telepathic race called the Harn and her abilities go far beyond the telepathic.

FREE with coupon code PH44V, April 17th ONLY

 

Please let any friends you know about these codes. Feel free to send them via Twitter, Facebook or in an e-mail. I’d love for you to leave comments or review the works as well. Enjoy!

 

 

Furries

Just freaking wow. That’s my reaction to the response I’ve gotten from the furry community. First, for those of you who don’t know what I mean when I say furry please let me try to explain. For those of you who are very familiar and who don’t like my explanation, well, I’m sure there are multiple definitions. *grins*

A person who is a furry feels a connection to animals or to the idea of an animal ideal. If you were to describe an animal, let’s say a dog, using only single words, what would they be? You might say loyal, dedicated, love, friendship, innocence, fun, energetic, and so on. If you were to describe a Cheetah the same way you might use words like fast, sleek, sexy, powerful, aloof, regal, beautiful, and the like. Furries are drawn to an animal ideal, or a combination of animals like a Folf, which is a combination of Fox and Wolf, and it colors their behavior and view of the world at times. Many even have fursuits made of what is called their Fursona to solidify the image they have in their mind of their connection to their furry personality.

Like every other group of people furries are stereotyped. That stereotype includes being awkward, nerdy, gay, socially awkward etc. They also tend to be very creative, usually artists, writers or musicians. Here’s a rather cheesy video capturing that stereotype pretty well.

Now, if you thought they aren’t many people who are familiar with furry or would even do this, check out this link for a Furry cruise this year. Also be sure to check out the photo gallery. If you think this is new, think again. I lived in Florida for 8 years and knew some furries there who worked for Disney. Many of the people on the grounds wearing fursuits of Disney characters at Disney World in Orlando are Furries. They love the work though it is hot and very demanding. Some of the furries I knew there would suit up once a month and go to children’s hospitals to entertain kids for a few hours. These were great people and it gives you an idea of what Furry is about.

Me? I’ve been a furry for decades but I am very anti-social and would never do what these folks do. Still, I express my inner furry through my stories which I hope present the best side of the furry world. Which brings me to the reason for this post. Being the irascible old codger that I am, a few month ago I tore into some furries about not supporting authors who work hard to write the same types of stories I do.  They read our stories purchased from Amazon then do not leave reviews. Worse, they read the stories on FA or SoFurry, are told they are selling on Amazon and will not take a few minutes to go there and try to leave a review. Yes, yes, I know that if you have not made a purchase from Amazon in 90 days you can’t leave a review unless you purchase the book. However, some authors have thousands of followers and their wonderful stories have only 2 reviews, one of which is mine. I simply do not believe every single furry hadn’t bought something from Amazon.

So I cursed, I railed against the thoughtlessness and lack of consideration for those who work so hard to create art or write a story or compose music. Then, like I usually do, I sat back and asked myself how in hell I was any different. Yes, yes, I wrote some reviews. So what? Could I do more?

That’s when I came up with the idea of creating a clearinghouse for furry themed work. I had this authors blog. I had been a computer/web guy for many years. Was there something that could be done that would help authors, artists and musicians sell their work and allow furries to easily locate furry related work? It struck me there was, through Amazon. Amazon has a great little widget that allows the creation of attractive links to works there. There are many furries selling material on Amazon. It sounded like it had possibilities so I started a page dedicated to furry work and publicized it on FA and through Tweeting.

Wow, has it taken off! In just the last 4 days I have furry authors sending me links to their work on Amazon. The list is up to almost 50 now and it’s growing. These authors are the cream of the crop. They have taken the time to figure out how to publish for the Kindle platform and sell on Amazon. They have taken the time to write a story well and to get a cover made for it that expresses the essence of the story. In other words, they are dedicated and willing to work.

There are literally thousands of Furry related works on different locations on the net. Many, I am reluctant to say, are poorly written. They tell a story but reading them is work. Those folks will never sell on Amazon. Other folk have a good story, well written, but do not have the expertise to publish for the Kindle. They lack the confidence or the willingness to take the extra step to get it done. To those folks I offer my help to get published in the Kindle format. Free of charge of course! *laughs* Some, are excellent writers, have great talent and have decided Amazon is not for them. They publish in other venues and are very satisfied with their decision. Amazon is not the end all be all of publication! *laughs* What I’m trying to say here is, just because they are not published on Amazon does not at all mean their work is inferior.

Even though there are furries not publishing at all or those that publish for devices other than the Kindle, there are still many who are and they have asked to have their work listed here. I’m simply amazed there were so many! I want to thank those that have sent me links to their work and I sincerely hope having the work listed here helps their sales. I’m hoping the Artists page becomes a point of reference to the furry community to locate written, musical and drawn artwork. I’m hoping that this site can become a clearing hourse for other furry related art like fursuits.  No, I do not have any pay to display links on the page or anywhere else on the site. Yes, I will make a little if someone comes here and purchases a work but that’s simply the way Amazon works. While it would be nice to make something that’s not the reason I’m doing this and I certainly don’t expect to make enough to even pay my monthly water bill. *laughs*

I’m doing this because I took furries to task but then didn’t feel I was doing enough. Now I do. Now I am. I hope you’ll spread the word and help make this a resource many furries can use. I don’t know where it’ll go from here but like everything I’ve ever experienced in the furry community the ride will be an interesting one!

Something for the Furry Community

Anyone who knows me knows I like to help others get noticed and make a little money. This is no exception. I have come up with an idea to help anthro authors. musicians and artists get noticed and make some money. No, this is not a scam, this is not get rich quick and it’s not without work on the part of anyone wanting to participate.

What it is, is a way to get your work out in front of millions of people. I’ve been doing it with my stories for about a year. Can I retire on what I’m making? Hell no. Can I buy a damn good dinner out once a month? Hell yes! Can it get better? Absolutely. With that said, here’s what I’m doing. First, take a look at this link: Anthro Stories, Music and Art. It’ll save a great deal of explanation. There are anthro authors already selling their books on Amazon. Amazon creates a nice little widget where those items on Amazon can be placed on a web page, as in the example link. If you are a furry artist, author or musician, AND have product selling on Amazon just let me know and I’ll get it put on this page. If you have artwork, music or stories you’d like to list on Amazon but have never done it before I’ll be glad to help you.

This is a tremendous opportunity for artists to get their work out in front of literally millions of people. You’re listed on Amazon. All sales from amazon go directly to you. If anyone buys through this page I get 4% but you, and the purchaser, still pay the same amount. If you think I’m going to rich from this just calculate what 4% of $0.99 is. *grins* Since I don’t expect this site to get as much traffic as Amazon (I wish!!!) I’m still not going to be able to retire off what I make.

So why am I doing this? Because there are a ton of authors, musicians and artists busy doing what they do best and simply do not have the time to do something like this. I’ve been an IT guy for 30+ years. I’d like to see more talented artists, authors and musicians put some cash in their pocket.

If you like this idea please spread the word to everyone you know, whether on Furaffinity, Facebook or Twitter. Obviously artwork has to be clean and stories are reviewed by Amazon so they have to be acceptable to them. If your product is on Amazon, send me a link to it and I’ll see it’s placed here. If it’s not, and you want to get it on Amazon but don’t know how, e-mail me and I’ll help you get set up. I’ve also set up a Spotlight page to showcase one work per week. It’ll change every Monday afternoon. The selection is random or has been recommended by the furry community. If you have a suggestion please leave a comment and I’ll put it in the queue.

Let me know what you think of this idea, if you like it please spread the word and let’s see if we can get something up and running that helps the anthro community!

Freefall

Onyxavia Nebet has come through again! A few day ago she delivered the cover for my short story “Freefall” and it’s exactly as I described it and pictured it in the story. The image in the picture is at the point where will, and incidentally Margaret, get to meet Mother. I won’t spoil the story for you but the image is perfect for the scene.

The short story is up for sale on Amazon as a single. I’m currently working on another story titled, “Rain and Willow” and when I finish it, hopefully by the end of the month, I’ll combine that story with “Wally’s Wish” and publish all three as a collection.

Take a look at the cover and let me know what you think.

Two Things

Today is an exciting day for me! First I received an e-mail from Will Sandborn, the creator of Anthrodreams, informing me that my story “Love is Golden” has been made into a podcast. Now, this has been in the works for months because these people are flat out busy! Will sent me an e-mail letting me know the story was now up on the site. I listened to it early this morning, over my first cup of coffee, and the reader, Christopher Williams, did a great job. It sounds good, the mood is as dark as I wanted it to be, and it all came together perfectly in the reading. Having heard this story I can’t wait for the next one, also currently in the works. I’m really excited about that!

The other cool thing that happened this morning was a piece of fan mail. People don;t usually write after reading my stories. Perhaps it’s the incessant retching they’re going through that dissuades them, perhaps a busy  lifestyle, or perhaps they just don’t consider it. However, this morning a fan wrote and told me how much she liked the book “Changes” selling on Amazon. Here’s the body of her e-mail:

Dear Mr. Wolf,

I just finished reading the book “Changes” and I absolutely love it, particularly the titular story!  I was fascinated by the entire process of the geneomorphosis and the way people changed as a society.  I cannot possibly be the only reader who would truly love to read more about those scared yet brave, wonderful people who changed, their descendants, and even the fate of Wisner in the sea.  Is there any possibility of learning any more about them?  After reading more of your stories, i found that they were also delightfully anthropomorphised creatures, and are also lovely, but I’d really like to learn more about those who actually had changed and how they managed to retain at least a modicum of sanity. I’d certainly buy that book as well!

Thank you so much for sharing your characters with me and let them know I’m nosy and want to hear more!

Most Sincerely,

Lorraine Ochoa

I’m also excited about this. It’s a well written e-mail, thoughtful and kind. I, of course, wrote back and thanks Lorraine for her e-mail and assured here there was a sequel to “Changes” in the works. I have it about half written, though I will admit, it’s been collecting dust for the past couple of months because of other stories I’m actively writing. I will get back to it however. I like those characters as much as Lorraine.

It’s been a good day so far. I’m going to get back to the story I’m working on, “Rain and Willow” and hopefully the good vibes will carry through to that writing as well.