Answering Your Questions: The Cardinal West 50K Subscriber Q&A

[@delta24242]

Y'know, I haven't been watching you for very long. I picked you up back in late 2022 on the One for Sorrow Two for Joy vid, and it was super good, and as I discovered so was almost all of your content. I've really loved your stuff, I know I'll be watching for a long time to come. Good job Cardinal, you've made one hell of a channel in such a short time, and congrats on 50k.

[@inkylynx2777]

Re: Why the Algorithm favored you I remember your Hobbit video appearing in my recs back when you were a tiny, tiny channel with only two or three videos (probably late 2019). But you didn't have a lot of other content that interested me and I just moved on. But then I came across your Zuko video in a pretty dark time of my life. I was fresh on trauma and needed to be lulled to sleep with long videos with lots of talking, and that video delivered. It became a welcome distraction from the monsters in the dark. Then I saw all your other videos on xenofiction, animation, and storytelling, topics I really enjoy, and after a month or so, when I'd watched all your content that interested me, I subscribed! It's been a fun ride so far and I can't wait to see what else you got in store!

[@hyteel9262]

Just have to thank you for getting me into car seat headrest with portrait of the artist in one of your older outros. I think it was the last QnA? Always the random youtubers man, always

[@vixymix101]

I really enjoy your videos, I hope to see more deep dives and analysis videos about xenofiction and such! But if course whatever you make I'll enjoy it! I enjoy video essays a lot because they're incredibly interesting and the way you speak and the topics you cover just make it even more enjoyable! I have a small recommendation of a topic (of course you don't have to read this part or go through with it or anything but u know just something I'd like to see if you'd ever feel like covering it!) Is rudolph the red nosed reindeer and it's history, I'm not sure how much it relates to xenofiction, but I hope it's close enough to be of interest, especially with the amount of Rudolph content there is to discuss, maybe about your own personal opinions about how well it gets it's ideas and themes across, and which media does it better (there's multiple movies, a short and some books, while similar sense they're based off the same novel they still have many differing factors) I was also thinking some type of video deep diving other sorts of animals related mythology and how animals play a large part in fiction and stories and why that may be so!

[@syntheticat-3]

Very excited to hear that you have some coyote stories in the works!! I love Coyote (the mythical figure/archetype) and all his iterations, and the creature by proxy. If you like the Coyote archetype, you might get a kick out of the webcomic Gunnerkrigg Court, which had me hooked as soon as it's iteration of Coyote was introduced. (EDIT during the section about music taste--you might enjoy some of Colter Wall's music! "Sleeping on the Blacktop" would be my recommendation as it was the first of his I heard. I'm not wild about all his stuff but some of his songs are favorites)

[@BranspanChannel]

Rain world is a pretty great xenofiction game that makes the player think and behave like an animal. The creatures are fictional but feel real. It's really interesting story wise but also very difficult. Also keep up the great videos!

[@lee-likes-birds]

Hey there I figured that I would maybe help answer your aphantasia question. Quick side-note avantasia is more than just the inability to not visualize things, it's the complete lack of senses within the brain. However the range of sense experience differs from person to person. For example I experienced almost no senses within my brain from visualization to sound to taste a touch. I can't hear a song when I think of it, I can't see an apple when I think of it, I can't smell something unless it's right in front of me. The only sense I really have is my inner voice kind of doing a monologue but there's not really an actual voice to go along with the monologue. As someone with aphantasia and a aspiring writer, it makes it very very difficult to describe settings and character descriptions because you can't see them in your mind the way that other people can so I will have to constantly look at reference pictures and keep re- reading what I've already wrote down for how my settings look. So I end up writing a lot more poetically or metaphorically I guess it's the way I would describe it just because I can't physically described it so I tend to rely more on the emotions that I want to be conveyed through the scene. Having aphantasia is both good and bad, bad if you are more on the creative side of the brain just because I do have to rely on external resources more than I assume the average person has to a person without aphantasia. However I find it helpful because I am able to convey emotions easier then I think other people do, because I experienced them stronger due to my lack of ability to visualize things so I correlate emotions more than I do physical appearance. With trying to write from an animal's point-of-view I find it even more difficult than writing from a human perspective just because the way I envision it animals do not experience emotions the way humans do, and so because I rely so heavily on more emotional than description it's difficult to get my thought out in a way that makes sense for the way I want to write that point of view. But I definitely enjoy it it's a good mental challenge, and definitely forces me to do a lot of reading. I hope this was interesting or helpful or just something neat to read. I really like to talk about experiencing aphantasia because people are just starting to realize but it's a thing and I always come to help people maybe figure out at their brain is not broken just build a little different.

[@Arcaxon]

Living in Newfoundland and Labrador, it's crazy to see how many dogs came out of this province. I can tell why they exist, the climat here and up north in Labrador is very unique, super windy and wet. Also My fiancé's friend had a Lab named Zeus who had the white tuxedo! Also you remind me of my friend(& boss) who said he was "Furry adjacent" and then eventually commissioned a 3D model of his Sona for VRchat hahahah! You can only be "furry adjacent" for so long, glad to see you accepting it!~ ;3c Thanks for answering my question!

[@gorenoisebulldozer140]

Glad to know you like the Felidae novel but just so you know there are 8 books in the Felidae series

[@Croz89]

I'd definitely like to see some raccoon xenofiction that isn't for kids. I think the fission-fusion social structure and the increasingly stark differences between the behaviour and intelligence of urban and rural populations (urban are smarter and more social, rural are less smart and more solitary) would make some great starting points for a novel. The relationship with humans would also be interesting, I could see a conflict between those who see humans as generally benevolent against those who fear them as hunters for their pelts.

[@carlosobregon877]

Thanks for answering my question! Your content is great btw

[@akshaypatel518]

Nice and deserved

[@maliciouscompliance6489]

Thank you for answering my question and your recommendation, much love bro

[@ieuansmith518]

Congratulations my dude, can’t wait for what the future holds for you. Keep up the fantastic work and never give up on what you do best.

[@EmberWolfsArt]

Thank you for answering my question ^^. I am actually reading Sirius right now (Olaf Stapleton). I agree with you he is a very interesting character and I love the twists and turns I have about a third of the book left as I write this. There is another book about a Sirius-dog. The author of Howls Moving Castle: Diana Wynne Jones wrote Dogsbody. It deals with some of the same issues as Olafs Sirius but in another way. Sirius is actually the star Sirius forced to live in a dogsbody (hence the title Dogsbody) and how he is torn between the instincts of a dog and trying to remember what or who he is. The book is similar to Olafs Sirius in story and philosophies but is it´s own thing even though i suspect Dianas Sirius is/was inspired by Olafs Sirius. I know you have a lot of books on your reading-list but I warmly recommend to put it on the waiting list for future reading. It has many of the elements you like: dogs, set in the english countryside, a little philosophy, a little mythology, some existential thoughts and at times very harsh and heart-wrenching but also heart-warming and loving. Now I am going to track down a ton of your recommendations.

[@ReeshxX]

I would suggest checking out some speculative evolution projects! CM Koseman did a worldbuilding project for a world where the asteroid did not kill the dinosaurs and the (surprisingly realistic) possible evolution of intelligence in raptors. Theres a lot of variation in the genre but there is significant overlap with naturalistic xenofiction

[@zebrisky]

Congrats on the new milestone! I love the energy of the intro and I can’t wait to see what else you upload in the future, 100k will happen before you know it with your quality, keep up the great work.

[@vulpecula297]

Great way to spend a couple hours, glad to hear more stuff is on the way.

[@Arewitheyes]

Congrats!! Well deserved for the care and research you put into your vids :)

[@henrysplichal2987]

I’ve been following since around 300 subs, and it’s great to see how far you’ve come. Keep up the good work!

[@Temudhun]

For some reasons I've read cubs instead of subs and I thought it was appropriate considering the channel.

[@wj4505]

Your content is fantastic; it's awesome to see you come this far. I'm at a music festival rn so I can't watch this for a few hours 😩

[@Avarn388]

Well earned. Happy for you. Hopefully you reach 100k soon. :)

[@MusicaX79]

Congratulations!

[@aWolffromElsewhere]

Thanks for answering everyone else's questions, and mine. Congrats on 50k subs!

[@aWolffromElsewhere]

Also forgot to add. White Fang was my introduction to Xenofiction too. My 5th grade teacher has no idea the damage she did, hahaha!

[@iclynnx]

I've heard that there's few xenofiction books following birds, and I remembered there's one from a person I used to follow. SkyTalons by Sophie Torro. The author actually had a channel that uploaded videos with written text and pictures, stating facts and such about the Warrior Cats series, which many have suggested to you, haha. It's interesting to see someone be inspired to make their own books. I think SkyTalons is her debut, and while I haven't been able to read it myself, you possibly can. I don't know if it's good or not, so be aware of that, if anyone takes the suggestion.

[@manhathaway]

Aaaah, I've been waiting for this. I really like hearing about your process, it really helps me understand goes into all this. Very cool though, if I ever stumble upon something I'm passionate enough about making content for this is a huge inspiration haha.

[@maliciouscompliance6489]

For anyone that fancies Watership Down, the audible version read by Peter Capaldi is BALLER

[@Appleboxman]

One Latin American xenofiction writer I’d recommend is Horacio Quiroga. He did a collection of stories called South American Jungle Tales (similar to Kipling’s Jungle Book) and another short story called Anaconda, one of the only pieces of snake xenofiction I know of. An English translation of Jungle Tales is on Project Gutenberg.

[@maesedelta072]

There is also "The Lazy Bee" / La Abeja Haragana.

[@Bigboygamble9]

Woooooo congrats on 50k🎉 cant wait to watch more of your vids :3

[@PatchworkGirlofOZ]

For crow xenofiction, I really enjoyed "The Crow Chronicles" by Clem Martini and "Skywater" for coyotes. Skywater in particular I think you'd really enjoy.

[@bean3550]

If you do plan on covering Warriors, I'll always have a fondness for the series but know that your mileage may vary with the series as a whole. The series was originally a book packaging order done by three ghost writers that expanded to a 10+ team sometime during the 5th arc. As such the books aren't terribly consistent and mistakes/retcons are common enough to become a running joke in the fandom. Side characters have drastically changed personalities, died multiple times, and in one infamous case swapped genders. Lore will be introduced and dropped. While some arcs might claim to be good introductions to the series, they REALLY require context from previous books. And one arc infamously had spinoff books as basically required reading to understand what was going on, which SUCKS. All that being said it's a very fun series to read and has a lot of certified iconic moments (arc 1 book 6 comes to mind) but I suggest managing your expectations- the fandom has been for the better part of a decade

[@Tresspassa]

Thanks for your answer mate; I posted it more on a whim than anything so don’t be fussed about not giving a full response, it’s one for the armchair scholars I suppose. Speaking of, personally I think it’s something to do with the country itself, and the spirit of the people. Anglos have long been one of the most individualistic/egalitarian of human civilisations, and our society is quite heavily guilt-based. I think a consequence of this is an ingrained ability to manifest a greater degree of empathy and understanding for non-humans, more so than collectively-driven societies. Anyway, I’m not gonna lay out a dissertation. And thanks for making this marathon of a video. To be able to bear so much of your own being before what essentially amounts to strangers and internet dwellers must have taken some not-inconsiderable courage and I hope you found the experience fulfilling. PS. Speaking of Stephen Baxter. I read quite a lot of his books a long while ago and while his prose is a bit underwhelming he generally does some really inventive xenofiction here and there, mostly aliens but some good animal stuff too; I remember one story that had parts told from the perspective of near-sentient raptors towards the end of the Cretaceous Period. The guy who was asking about writing dinosaur xenofiction might be interested in this - God help me though; I've forgotten the name of the story! Whoops! Also, his collaborative books with Terry Pratchett, the 'Long Earth' series (at least my memory still seems semi-functional), possess a fair few chapters with a race that essentially amounts to wolf-descended humanoids. I think they are introduced in the second book, and are quite well put together - you can tell the authors put considerable thought into how a society of anthropomorphic man-wolves would work, and how one would comprehend its existence. Sounds like something that might be up your alley! Thanks again!

[@georgepatton2957]

On the subject of mythical/legendary creatures in xenofiction, if you haven't read it yet I highly recommend Thor by Wayne Smith, in which the eponymous family dog struggles with deep internal conflicts over the laws of man vs. laws of nature when his 1990s American family accidentally invites a werewolf into their home- their Uncle Ted. The book is told almost entirely from the perspective of Thor, written naturalistically as a dog would think. Was also made into a terrible 1996 movie called "Bad Moon" in which the dog is the best actor of the lot. Also regarding coyotes, you'd probably enjoy the book American Serengeti by Dan Flores, which is a nonfiction book profiling the ecology of the Great Plains right before it was obliterated by market hunting and agriculture; there's a lengthy section on coyotes and how they managed to persevere and even thrive despite the intensive efforts to eradicate them.

[@delikatessbruhe9843]

Hey man, thanks for the unique content and detailled answers and everything. Is there a chance of an audiobook release of Winter Without End? I kinda hate myself for it but I barely ever take the time to actually sit down and read anymore but I'm really interested in your story.

[@VDNKh_]

Here are some unsolicited post-rock recommendations: Godspeed You! Black Emperor: start with the songs Moya or Sleep. Their music is incredibly varied between albums, those 2 songs are a good starting point. GY!BE introduced me to the genre and made me realize how good music, in general, can be. MONO: the song Pure as Snow (NYC Live version) is my favorite, Nostalgia a close second. Burial at Sea (NYC Live version) and Lost Snow are also excellent. yind halda: Dash and Blast and Illuminate My Heart, My Darling! are my favorites but the entire album Enjoy Eternal Bliss is great.

[@iclynnx]

I have come to tell you I finished reading Winter Without End, just now, and man... it's a good debut novel! I see the inspirations from Watership Down, The Fox and The Hound original novel, and such. Made me feel things. It was a long time ago such strong emotions awoke while reading. SPOILERS BELOW The ending was really tragic, and a part of me wishes Knight and Sierra got to establish a territory and have a litter together. But from watching your videos, I know you view death as natural and not something to always fear. We instinctively keep striving for survival and eventually lose, and it's apparent in your writing that the book is about that. But before we die, we can make great adventures, find a new identity, and make a life you want to keep living for as long as you're allowed. It makes the novel tragically beautiful. Knight and Sierra have lived long and fine lives already, as we can read between the lines, and got to spend a long winter together. For them winter finally did end, and they'll never have to go through it again. They weren't sorrowful as they passed, the readers were. All we can do is hope that they're together in some form of afterlife, or keep in mind that they didn't regret a thing.

[@jankachowski]

1:55:55 for everyone who came back to rewatch the masterpiece at the end.

[@ricochet1732]

re: the crow xenofiction-- there was a trilogy called Feather and Bone: The Crow Chronicles which all the characters are crows

[@coolpilot5694]

Subscribed

[@hyenasloan8443]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer people’s questions! It’s honestly very enlightening, and you’re one of my inspirations for writing a crow Xenofiction novel. The story follows a crow named Luck who has to lead some of her Guildmates through living in a city. I hopefully will get it published on Fenris publishing in the future, anyway, thank you again for being an inspiration and being you! Best of luck on your future projects! Also I recently read Plague dogs and watched the movie. Both took my for a wild emotional roller coaster in both good and bad ways. But I honestly loved it overall

[@Clever_Catchphrase]

39:03 "There I am, Gary, THERE I AM!" What an insightful Q&A! So many good questions asked by others, it makes me wish I thought of them. Thanks to this video, I now have even more, if you don't mind answering! First- I apologize for assuming you already read the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. I watched this video the day it came out, felt really foolish for getting you confused with another youtuber, then rewatched all your videos to find out where I went wrong (Answer: it was CloudCuckooCountry who didn't like the soldier owl books (which is fine!) I just got your review of The Ancient Solitary Reign mixed up with theirs). If/when you do read the Ga'Hoole series, I hope you enjoy it! I still think only the first 6 books are worth it, and anything after that goes sharply downhill. There's also an animated movie recapping the first 3 books. Narratively, the film is decent, though I will defend that movie to the end for its animation alone. For a film that came out in 2010, it is drop dead gorgeous. On to some additional questions (And recommendations)! 1) do you have some sort of google doc listing all the books you have read/are going to read? (mostly so I know what NOT to recommend if you've read it already XD) 2) Is it possible for you to share a sample chapter of your novel/writing so readers can have a preview of your writing style? I’m curious about your book but I also want to get a feel for your narrative voice before I buy it. 3) Now knowing you have nothing against antrhro/fantasy xenofiction with mythic animals, have you read the Wings of Fire series? It’s a middle grade series about a dragon-ruled planet. The first arc is the best at depicting the dragons as wild non-human animals imo, but they do get more… civilized as the series goes on. (second arc has a prominent school setting, third arc has well established human-esque societies, with shops, clothing, vocations, etcetera). The best written book in the series is a standalone called “Darkstalker” if you only want to invest in only one book instead of a whole series. The whole fandom is as big as the Warrior Cats fandom, and just as passionate (and I believe the author of Wings of Fire was even part of the Erin Hunter team at one point?) 4) Glad to know you are aware of the summerking chronicles! That series does so well delicately balancing the animal and anthropomorphic aspects of its characters. The gryphons (or gryfons, as this book calls them) are a perfect blend of wild and intelligent, and I wish to be able to convey the same thing in my own stories one day. If you end up liking Summerking, I HIGHLY recommend another gryphon based book called “Griffin Ranger”. It’s definitely more anthro (basically a furry society of dogs, wolves, raccoons, and parrots with gryphons thrown in there) but the way the society is described and how it functions is juuuuust different enough to make this world really feel like it’s run by animals and not humans in fur suits. There are three books right now, the first two being a duology, and the third more of a sequel, that is in progress as of writing. If I had to describe the first two alone, I would say the first book is a “Western Noir Mystery” while the second is suspense/thriller novel and borderline a horror novel. I couldn’t put the second book down when I bought it, and it has been years since a book made me do that, and I want everyone who I think would even slightly enjoy it to read it so it can get a bigger fan base. 5) Xenofiction from other countries sounds like a goldmine of stories I haven’t encountered yet, and I’m glad someone brought it up because I feel so narrow-minded for never considering the idea. HOWEVER! Earlier this year, I was listening to public domain audiobooks through librivox, and one of those books was “South American Jungle Tales”. You can find the audiobook here on youtbube through librivox’s official channel! It’s translated into English, and a delightful read/listen! Its manner of storytelling is reminiscent of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, but featuring animals more associated with the Amazon. 6) Ah, xenofiction comics and Nature of Nature’s Art. I remember stumbling across NofNA back in 2009, half way through the second arc. The stories are pretty fun, and the art is phenominal for being drawn entirely in paintBBS. (I will admit, sometimes the stories can get a liiiiiitle pretentious, but I do believe they’re worth the read). I love webcomics, especially furry ones, and spent my first few months of 2020’s lockdown searching for new animal comics to read to keep be busy, and found quite a few gems! If you’re interested in xenofiction in a visual format, may I suggest the comics “Scurry” (scurrycomic.com), Fox Fires (webtoon), Golden Shrike (deviantART and comicfurry), Ghost of the Gulag (ghostofthegulag.com) and Tamberlane (tamberlanecomic.com) the first four are pretty grounded in the animal character’s abilities and behaviors, with Tamberlane being the most anthro of them all. Seeing as you like Oren’s Forge, I have no doubt you’d like any number of these as well! Scurry is the only comic that is complete as of this writing, with all the others actively updating, aside from Ghost of the Gulag, because the author is currently working with Disney as an animator and cannot work on any personal projects while he is under contract. Oh! Also Tofauti Sawa, on webtoon! It’s about a hyena using a lion to get revenge on another lion who killed her family. It’s a slow burn though, and still early in the story, despite being over 300 pages long. EDIT: how could I forget Stray Dogs?!? If you like beast of burden, you'll probably get a thrill out of this grimdark comic as well. Complete and traditionally printed, Stray Dogs by Tris and Tony is a beautiful graphic novel with a Disney-esque art style crossed with the plot of silence of the lambs (one of the comic covers even pays homage to SotL). Please give it a look! Congrats on 50k subscribers! I look forward to your remastered xenofiction video with the new additions you teased!

[@jamesfilms3389]

Hi. So far, are there any plans to make your older Q&A videos public again?

[@mr.fiction1558]

Hey, btw, do I post questions here for your next Q and A video?

[@ΚωνσταντίνοςΚατσίμπελης]

I like your channel cause of your videos telling novels using music and pictures and i have an idea what you should do, can you narrate all those novels the plague dogs, watership down,stonor eagles , animals of farthing wood series using animation and music and every word and detail of it's book?

[@ravenwarjoy]

Tea was the correct answer, thank you. Your name will be removed from The List.

[@Hannah-h1g]

Do you have a discord? You seem to have a fanbase I would love to chat with.

[@inkylynx2777]

Clarification on the works of Erin Hunter (Warrior Cats, Seeker Bears, Survivor Dogs, Bravelands, and Bamboo Kingdom): They are not in a shared universe like Hunter's Moon, Midnight Sun, and Frost Dancers. Warriors is in a nebulous pseudo-UK-USA hybrid region (the Forest Territories is based on New Forest and the Lake Territorries is a vague American summer campsite), Seekers is set in Canada, Survivors takes place in the California Bay Region, Bravelands in the African savanna, and Bamboo Kingdom around China and Nepal. There is no crossover between anything, and different ghost writers work on each series independently.

[@wj4505]

>[REDACTED] >weird books? Thank you for humoring me with a recommendation, and congratulations on 50k. I completely forgot I left that comment; I think it was a joke about Waterways (?).

[@wj4505]

Just saw the caption nvm \(*>*)/

[@ahiruppoi]

gl

[@bluebilbo3559]

(So I deleted my old comment because it was really boring) But there is a Russian film adaptation of Faithful Ruslan, but it’s not the easiest to find though I did manage to find it myself.

[@martinkois7126]

It's not the kind of xenofiction you usually get into, but Hollow City and Feral Creatures by Kira Jane Buxton are post apocalyptic xenofiction with a crow as the narrator!

[@nocountryforoldworms]

(ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ congrats!!!!

[@roberttuttle3029]

You must be one of like a dozen people your age and nationality who've never seen a full simpsons episode, that's honestly impressive.

[@ecta9604]

I think one of the coolest things about xenofiction is that it almost permanently changed how I saw the world in a way that few other genres can. Over time, the everyday world becomes dull and the sense of wonder that you might get when you’re experiencing something for the first time gets eroded away by our daily mundane routines. When we read a fantasy story or *especially* a xenofiction story like (for example) Watership Down, though, we recover that wonder by seeing an unremarkable stretch of English countryside through the unfamiliar eyes of a rabbit. If it’s a really good story, we take that experience with us the next time we look at a piece of countryside, sometimes for years. I could never look at animals in quite the same way after reading Watership Down, and even though the sensation of wonder wears down over time it still resets whenever I reread the book. Tolkien talked about this sort of phenomenon specifically in the context of fantasy and he called it “Recovery”. Personally though, xenofiction gives me a stronger sense of Recovery than fantasy does even though I really enjoy fantasy too.

[@jacobdehaas6482]

Please god tell me what happened to to “Zuko’s Story”

[@Pk-ThunderSmash]

Thank you so much for including my question! I wanted to say I'm so glad to hear your opinion on Andor. Personally, I don't watch many series but I'm an avid star wars fan, disappointed with the Disney Era. But I personally felt Andor was special after the first arc and not sure how or why... I hadn't watched a series so intricate and didn't know how it compared to other shows but my gut feeling was correct, it was well-written. And I've noticed fans who said it was boring and couldn't get into it, love all the nostalgic pandering in other series right now. That makes me sad. I actually laughed out loud when you said "ditch everything but Andor." I totally agree

[@KlutzyNinjaKitty]

I highly disagree. Andor, aside from the settings and costumes which were VERY well done, was a boring mess in terms of its espionage plot. Andor is a background character with no agency in his own show (remember his mission to find his sister that gets completley dropped after episode 1?) And the other side characters are just so bland and two-dimensional that their deaths mean nothing. Honestly, the Bad Batch episodes with Crosshair + S2 E7 and S3 E3 of the Mandelorian have handled topics of conspiracy, corruption, and espionage WAY better and in a more mature way while still feeling like it's in the same universe, not pandering to nostalgia, and actually manage to be interesting.

[@beneficent2557]

Silverwing? Sunwing?

[@purplehaze2358]

..You wanted to make a story about a now extinct dog breed, but couldn't recall how and why they went extinct with 100% certainty off the top of your head? That feels like a very important piece of information that I'm surprised you didn't keep in your noggin at all times with that kind of story idea knocking around in there.

[@syntheticat-3]

I get where you're coming from with this comment, but the plot and the "life" of the story evolved from of that point of inspiration into its own identity later on. When you're working on a longterm creative project, there come to be a LOT of facts that need to live full-time in your brain, and there's not always room for the earlier ideas to stay there. He said himself that the writing process for this book evolved over the course of several years, which is plenty of time to forget something about your original inspiration. I just think this comment is a bit nitpicky, especially since anyone can google what happened to that breed of dog and do their own research if his summary sparked interest.

[@TheSquizzlet]

Regarding the topic of alien xenofiction and furries, have you ever explored the idea of the anthropomorphic animals being aliens outright, with the subject species being humanoid creatures who evolved independent from humanity and Earth as a whole, on an earth-like world but with different enough evolutionary happenings that instead of apes evolving graspers and big brains it was some other species, even if derivative of Earth's fauna? Sorta like Avatar (the blue kind) but way more obviously earthlike and furry. I love creative worldbuilding that asks what kind of cultural norms such a race would evolve, how their clothing and technology and mannerisms and such would differ from outs, and how others in their genus would interact or if they'd be competed into extinction like our neanderthal cousins. As far as furries go I've always hated the "human with animal bits stapled on" that everyone seems to opt for, but I understand why they do it.

[@fnamelname9077]

Can we actually replace our politicians with discord ai voices?

[@ChiWillett]

Comment boost