Signal boost: Horse Music Herald

You often hear people these days complain that there's not much new pony music about. While it's true that there isn't the same huge scene that there was a few years ago, there is still plenty of new music being made. One place where you can find out about some of this is Horse Music Herald, a newish website which aims to let its readers know about the fine new tracks that are still coming out of our fandom.

There's the occasional post about classic works from the past, but the focus of Horse Music Herald is very much on new music. They also have a Twitter account, and I wish them every success in helping to publicise new and interesting pony music. I'll certainly be listening to plenty of the stuff they post about, and with any luck I may even write about some of the tracks they discover right here on Louder Yay.

Comic mini-review: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #39

Amy Mebberson's "Valentine's card" Sub cover is cuteness itself

You will probably recall that when I reviewed the first half of this Christina Rice/Agnes Garbowska arc, I wasn't too impressed. Happily, the second half of the story is more involving – not amazing, but certainly a better read than the earlier comic. That's largely because of more interesting dynamics between the various foals involved, with even Snips and Snails seeming vaguely likable at times. It's hard to get away from how old-fashioned a pre-CMC cutie marks, pre-reformed Diamond Tiara story now feels, but this does at least give those days a moderately good send-off. ★★★

Ponyfic Roundup 96: Strike a Pose on a Cadillac

Fimfiction has announced an interesting rule change: authors with two or more published stories will now not have to go through moderation when they submit a fic. Quite a few people seem to be of the opinion that "in principle, this is a good idea. In practice, it's asking for trouble" – and I rather sympathise with those people. I suspect that "two" may become a larger number in the nearish future.

One change this might make to my own reading behaviour is that I may well become warier of the list of newly posted fics, since that will be by far the most likely place to find stories that break the rules but which nobody's yet got around to reporting (and the staff to dealing with). It won't make a huge difference to Ponyfic Roundup, though, since I try to steer clear of just reviewing the latest and the greatest in any case.

Also, tucked away in the comments to that announcement is this little comment from admin Xaquseg about the forthcoming expansion of the site to allow non-pony fiction. It seems that the current plan is to let in "original fiction and a few other fandoms initially" before opening it up when they're sure the servers can take it. Like most people, I think, I'm both interested and apprehensive about this change.

Anyway, I'm supposed to be reviewing My Little Pony stories here, not rambling on about Fimfiction rules, and I have six on the slate today, which are:

A Giant Leap Forward by AugieDog
The Dragon King by MonsterMasher137
The Golden Daughter by LiamNeighson
A Taxing Evening by Admiral Biscuit
My Dear by The Poisoned Soul
Ponies and Plinians by PonyAmorous

★: 2 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0

What lies ahead for the brony fandom?

Nethesem (yes, the BUCK guy) does an interesting YouTube series called Ask a Sane Brony, and recently he posted a video called "Welcome to the Post-Fandom". It's worth watching in itself (it's only seven minutes long), but it also finally gave me the nudge I needed to make this post – one I've been thinking about making for quite some while. I'm not just copying what Nethesem did, because what would be the point? Instead, this is my musing on where the fandom goes (or, at least, may go) from here.

Patreon? No. Requests? Maybe!

I was surprised to be asked recently whether I had a Patreon. The answer is no, and the answer will remain no. There are several reasons for this, but one is what now seems to be considered a slightly old-fashioned attitude in some quarters: I'm uncomfortable with the idea of money changing hands for fanfic. I'm not even sure I'd feel happy about being commissioned. This is a pretty silly attitude given that I have no similar reservations about fanart, and generally I think authors get a fraction of the attention of artists of similar skill. Nevertheless, the feeling is there.

Of course, this has never gone beyond a passing thought, for the very good reason that I'm not a good enough writer to deserve payment for my ponyfic. I'm not terrible, and I've written some good stories, but there are others out there who've written amazing stories. Still, even if I were on that level, I think I'd still shy away from Patreon. I love the relaxed feeling that this isn't a job in any way, but purely a hobby. I have no ambitions to write stories professionally, and I think it might actually lessen my enjoyment if I started thinking about satisfying "paying customers". So there you are: no Patreon here...

...though I am open to requests in terms of reviewing stories, or conceivably even doing audio readings thereof. You're more likely to be bumped up my Ponyfics to Review list if your story is short, and even more so if you're not already horsewords famous. I'll consider looking at Mature stuff if it's not plain clop/gore (though foalcon is an absolute no-no). However, E- and T-rated fics are much more likely to get my attention. Contact me (Loganberry) via Fimfiction PM if for some odd reason you're interested in this.

My BronyBeeb "Smile" video reaches 1,000 views

( Text link )

Shameless self-promotion time! Back in September 2012 (blimey), I uploaded a video to YouTube of a little cover version I'd made of Pinkie's "Smile" song. This was my (necessarily simplified) arrangement of the thing for the BBC Micro, my all-time favourite 8-bit microcomputer. Anyway, I looked back at the video the other day and, to my surprise, realised that it was closing in on 1,000 views. I know that's peanuts to many of you, but to me it's a lot. So, now that the four-figure barrier has been reached, I'm damn well posting it here again!

Also, on a fanficcy note: I had an idea today that might actually become a story. Not only that, but I may have a notion of how to turn my one and only, not-terribly-brilliant, Writeoff minific into something I can publish, too. I may never do the Writeoff again, but if I can manage that then it will have been worth it. :)

Ponyfic Roundup 95: The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water

Maybe this is just a coincidence, but I've seen a few people recently talking about being less interested in ponyfic than they once were. As so often, then, I seem to be outside the mainstream, since if anything I'm more into ponyfic than I have been for a while. I don't have much interest in moving into writing original fiction, or writing for other fandoms, at least not right now. As for reading the stuff, I'm still excited when I start on a new story. We'll see what happens when Season Six starts, but at the moment I'm still very much invested.

This week's five stories under review are:

Remembering, Mother by IndiBrony
Sibling Snuggles by The Abyss
A Lot to Think About by chronicLurker
Winning, and Why by 8686
Here's To You by Portable Dingus