I could have sworn I made a post about this here earlier, but apparently I didn't. So, here we go!

My current big passion project, that I've been working on since March of this year, is a story series called Mystic Heart Odyssey. It's an episodic (furry!) adventure story set in a more primitive fantasy world, with a slow-burn gay romance subplot.

Lykou is an upbeat, friendly, and adventurous konuul (a wolf-husky hybrid, basically) that yearns to explore the world beyond his (somewhat physically isolated) tribe and see all that it has to offer. Kuna is a snarky, antisocial sereva (deer, more or less) with a very troubled past that's given him trust issues, among other things. The two end up meeting when they seek shelter in the same cave during a freak magical thunderstorm that comes out of nowhere. When they wake the next morning, they find that they've been magically transported far away. Though things start off rocky, they end up working together to try and find their way home, going on a long, grand series of adventures full of magic, monsters, and discoveries. Along the way they make a number of new friends- and a few enemies- and learn more about themselves and each other as they grow closer through their adventures.

I currently have the first several chapters of episode one: Strangers in a Strange Land uploaded to Side7, and I'm waiting to see if they get any traction before I bother uploading the rest, heh. So please, please, PLEASE make sure to let me know if you read it and if you'd like to read the rest! On the other sites that are up-to-date (I can link, if you want), I'm currently up to chapter 11 of episode 6: In the Shadows of Kryckwood, with probably 2 or 3 chapters left in the episode. It's hard for me to know what works for people and what doesn't, plus, despite all the proofreading I do, I inevitably do miss mistakes sometimes, so feedback is valuable and desperately needed!

You did, but on a different subforum.

Gay literature isn't my subject so I can't speak to the genre, but what you've written is entirely competent. Lykou's irrepressible childlike optimism and Kuna's neuroticism makes for a wry Odd Couple pairing even without the furry factor. It's a bit of a slow start, and I'll probably need to read the copies off-site to get a proper sense of the story's arc: it makes sense that they'd need a few days to orient themselves in an alien world, but five chapters in I'd expect them to start snagging on plot hooks.

So yes, I'd like the rest, if only to know what we're dealing with. XD

I am mildly interested in your story as well; unfortunately, I have only read the first chapter at this point in time. Considering the world-building I have seen so far, I am curious as to where this is going and look forward to reading further. I will post any comments I have on it in the chapter itself.

Thorvald:

[You did](https://www.side7.com/forums/thread/853/), but on a different subforum. Gay literature isn't my subject so I can't speak to the genre, but what you've written is entirely competent. Lykou's irrepressible childlike optimism and Kuna's neuroticism makes for a wry Odd Couple pairing even without the furry factor. It's a bit of a slow start, and I'll probably need to read the copies off-site to get a proper sense of the story's arc: it makes sense that they'd need a few days to orient themselves in an alien world, but five chapters in I'd expect them to start snagging on plot hooks. So yes, I'd like the rest, if only to know what we're dealing with. XD

To be fair, the romance subplot is a long, slow burn in a way. Though I suppose if you're not a fan of such things you might not find all the cuddling and "totally not flirting" they do all that appealing. XD

Yeah, they're fun to write together with that dynamic. I'm glad their personalities come through well. And yeah, believe me, they get caught up in all kinds of stuff as the story goes along. And I'd like to think my writing got better over time, too. These first few chapters are from the first couple weeks that I started writing again back in March, so I was kind of rusty at the time.

I'll go ahead and upload some more chapters today, hopefully get the rest of episode 1 uploaded this weekend. I just need to make sure I get the tagging and rating right... as well as decide on which version for one or two chapters to upload. The story does have a very small number of... ahem adult scenes, but I did make alternate versions of the early chapters that contained any with the explicit bits left out, though there are still references to it. I could upload both and give people the option, or just stick to the trimmed one since I don't know that there's many folks here that'd be interested in those scenes.

I'm very happy to see someone here that's interested in my work, so thank you very much! ^^

Full disclosure: I've been liaising with a dAssaffected user scouting S7 as a refuge for the artists jeopardized by the fetish purge, so this site's demographics may be in for a dramatic shift.

Thorvald:

Full disclosure: I've been liaising with a dAssaffected user scouting S7 as a refuge for the artists jeopardized by the [fetish purge](https://www.side7.com/forums/thread/833), so this site's demographics may be in for a dramatic shift.

Oh really now? Heh, good to know. I haven't used dA since the mid/late-00s myself, heh. It's always been a dumpsterfire and steadily gotten worse over the years IMO. For the record, my story's pretty tame and for the most part won't have any content I'd consider 'fetishy' (although the one explicit scene in episode 2 is perhaps a bit... weird, given the nature of a certain character involved xD), but in any case I'm pretty rigorous with tagging I think, so it shouldn't be an issue regardless. Here's to hoping I find a new audience with the influx though. x3

Aye, I joined dA in 2012 and even back then I remember people complaining it wasn't what it used to be. Apparently that was the year they gutted their coding team, leading to the declining functionality and professional attrition that set themselves up for the Wix buyout and everything that followed. As I said before, Eclipse completely threw writers under the bus, to the point one of my friends only uploads text as PDF rather than wrestle with the built-in editor.

CHAKATS

Oof, never lose your coders! That's practically platform suicide! @_o Sounds kind of similar to the shit that's happened to FurAffinity over the years, from what I understand, heh.

But hey, PDF isn't a bad idea. That's actually how I upload to one other, newer site currently.

Thorvald:

# CHAKATS

LOL nope. Good guess though, those tauric folk WILL be coming back soon! ;P

No, if anything, the individual I'm referring to makes them look kind of mundane by comparison. xp