~domusvocis

It's the holidays, which means people out there are watching Christmas movies made by Hallmark. Some love them, some hate them, and some tolerate them.

Me? I'm not a huge fan of Hallmark movies, especially Hallmark Christmas movies. Much of it has to do with how boring and predictable they are, with some tropes that bleed together and make each film look no different than the last. I wouldn't mind it so much if the characters were all distinct and each setting not a small town that's blandly quirky, hyper-heteronormative, and incredibly saccharine. I should honestly write a furry parody next year, I've got so much to say.

But yeah, I cannot get into them. Unfortunately for me, my mother's a big fan of them, and always has the family watch at least one each Christmas season. The only Hallmark Christmas movie that I really enjoyed had to be "Holiday in Handcuffs" (yes, that's the actual title, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND watching it b/c it's batshit insane! XP). Otherwise, they're not for me.

How about you though? Do you enjoy Hallmark Christmas movies? Why or why not?

Some of us live in warm climates and others in colder climates. Then, there’s the Midwest where it can be either extreme. And by God can the cold be unbearable during winter.

If my memory serves me right, the coldest day I ever experienced happened one day in mid-January 2017. I was attending college and living in the dorms which had a parking lot on top of a very steep hill that goes not only into town but also the rest of the campus. Not only was the temperature so low (about -20 F, or -29 C) that not only did my car engine have extreme trouble starting, but driving up and down that steep hill felt like I was climbing up and down an ice mountain. It’s a miracle that I didn’t crash or slide down the hill as I tried speeding up and burning rubber.

How about you though? What is the coldest day you remember experiencing?

Besides arguing with parents & relatives about the election results?

Jokes aside, what are your plans for this year’s Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it? What do you plan to do or eat? My brothers live on opposite ends of the country and have their own celebrations planned this year, so that just leaves me and my parents. We’re gonna have a big Thanksgiving lunch, then possibly watch a funny movie afterwards while enjoying some pumpkin pie and whipped cream. Though I’m also looking forward to some turkey and stuffing with gravy. 😋

What about you? What’s your Thanksgiving plans and what food are you looking forward to having?

As a Thanksgiving treat, I've got a discount going on throughout the week: those who sign up for any tier on my Patreon, whether it's $1 or $2 or more, will get 60% off the first month they pledge their support to me. You'll be able to see all of my content but only pay 40% of what you normally would for the first month! Isn't that cool?

Come take advantage of this great deal by clicking the link below! :D

LINK: https://www.patreon.com/c/domusvocis

We all have our stressful moments and times of the week. At the end of these days, we all have our ways to relax, decompress, and unwind.

For me, after a very hard day at work, or even a stressful week, I like to immediately go home and take a nice, hot shower. I'm talking about the kind that fogs up your bathroom and makes you feel like you just stepped out of a hot tub once you're toweling off. Then, I get dressed in a comfy t-shirt and my favorite pairs of pajama bottoms along with plaid slippers. If I'm not hungry for dinner or anything, I'll make a snack with iced tea, then either sit on my recliner with a quilt to watch funny YouTube videos, a funny movie, or do all of that on my phone while lying in bed.

How about you? What do you do to decompress after a hard, stressful day?

Finally, it is done. I deleted my Twitter account and I'm now found exclusively on the place with a cerulean sky.

Ever since Elon Musk decided to turn the social media site into an even worse version of itself, I've wondered when I would ultimately decide to leave the site and never come back. After the election, I figured it wouldn't be a good idea to leave. Now that I have, it feels like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulder.

You can now find me on BS here: https://bsky.app/profile/domusvocis.bsky.social

Well, the results are in, and it feels like 2016 all over again. And if you've been keeping an eye on the news or have heard about what Project 2025 intends to do regarding adult content and LGBTQ literature, then you're well-aware that this is going to likely affect me. It's going to affect all of us.

At the moment, there's no legislation regarding the promises made. However, it would be foolish not to take Trump and the GOP's word about what they intend to do. Sooner or later, this online platform might be forced by law to crack down on queer content creators as well as adult content creators.

While I'm certain that my right to create and publish furry fiction and LGBTQ content will not be banned, it will nonetheless be threatened. The people behind Project 2025 intend to outlaw pornography and the queer community outright. It will be easier said than done for them though.

Me? So long as I can still write, and even if I have to send out my stories and novels by physical paper in newsletters, I will keep sending you stories. It's my American right to write, and so long as it remains legal, I intend to never stop. Hell, even if it does become illegal, it won't stop me.

As for my adult content, on the chance that the crackdown is successful and adult queer fiction cannot be published or distributed, I will find other ways. The American government isn't in charge of the World Wide Web, after all.

Keep an eye out for updates, should any of this come to pass. I will tell you where you can find me.

My point is, Trump returning to the White House is distressing, but it's not over. It's never over as long as I can type with confidence, "Fuck Donald J. Trump and his Puritan bootlickers" on this site without consequence. We are stronger than they know.

Dark days are coming. However, if there's one thing I can say with confidence, it's that it won't be like the previous four years he was in office. Unlike last time, let's not let them normalize it all. We can't go numb and passive, not at such a critical time in American history. And until they try to succeed in making America a dictatorship, we can still resist in different ways. We can protest, organize, perform activism, call our congresspersons, and vote like we did in this election. So long as people are willing to stand up for what is right and what they believe in, I feel like we can weather this storm going forward. We all need to stick together, and support each other, whether you're a furry, an adult creator, a member of the queer community, or feel like everything's hopeless.

I think Jon Stewart said it best when he covered the election on The Daily Show, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLiagIdA84c

Stay safe, okay?

Tomorrow is going to be an intense day, along with the rest of the week as the results come in. What's guaranteed are tears, frustration, impatience, and a sense of impending doom that shouldn't be felt every four years. It shouldn't, not in this country and not in any other. However, democracy prevails so long as we all vote and have our choices counted.

With that said, since I already voted with an absentee ballot, I'm avoiding social media like an Amish grandfather. At least, until my brothers and parents flood our group chat with texts about the results, haha. Tomorrow, my work shift will end at 8:00 AM (I work from midnight until then as a graveyard shift worker), so I'm going to go to bed shortly after and wake up later that night to see updates on the news. Hopefully, things will be less bleak by then. If not, I'm gonna make myself a nice spaghetti dinner and watch some sitcom reruns to cope until work.

How about you? What are your plans during Election Day besides voting? How do you plan to stay sane?

Happy Halloween Eve! I hope you’re doing well the night before the spookiest time of the year? :) You got any plans for the day after tomorrow, or the night after?

I’m going to rewatch a classic, “The Shining”, and post a Gothic short story to commemorate the one-year anniversary of me and  Fruitz publishing our Victorian gay romance novella “Two Souls of Fangcrest Manor”.

Keep an eye out when I post it, and have a Happy Halloween! 😉

Hard to believe it’s been over a year since me and  Fruitz published our novella together. “Two Souls of Fangcrest Manor” is over one year old as of October 22nd, can you believe it? I can’t. It feels like only yesterday that I first came up with the idea and presented it to my co-author, Who then pushed for me to write this idea out while he drew the artwork and helped me with plotting. Time really does fly.

This is the second book that I’ve written and published since I started writing fiction back in high school, but the idea for this has been around since college. The original idea behind this was that it focused on a mystical European warlock in the Dark Ages, fleeing with his dying male lover to a safe haven. When they get there, it’s evident that the lover is going to die but neither of them can except it. So, they change fate. The warlock casts a spell that will let them reincarnate over and over again until they reunite at last. The story then cuts to the present day at a college in the Midwest, where to new members of the LGBTQAI Club meet up for the first time but can’t help but look at each other like they met before…

This idea rattled in my head for years all the way through graduation and into the pandemic and beyond. When did me and  Fruitz befriended each other, and I mentioned the idea to him, we were quick to suggest different ways I could revise the spot and change the setting. I think I was the one to suggest changing the historical setting from medieval mainland Europe to Victorian England, specifically the region of Cornwall. I don’t know why I went for that but I always found the cultural location very mystical and definitely fitting for the themes. From there, the rest is history. For almost an entire year, we went back-and-forth on the plot and characters and the setting and description for the book. During that time, I wrote it out while he helped me polish things and developed the spectacular artwork (as well as compromise how to plot the narrative, which would sometimes change).

This resulted in a very good, well-written book I’m proud to have published. It had been years since I held a physical copy of something I wrote, and I am happy to have “Two Souls of Fangcrest Manor” sitting on my bookshelf. Especially with the help of a great artist, a great co-author, and an amazing friend.

Thank you for convincing me to write this,  Fruitz!

If you wish to read “Fangcrest Manor” and other books published by Fruitzberg Press, you can check them out by following this link: https://fruitzberg.carrd.co/

If you were told to spend at least one night in a supposedly haunted location, and you were given $1 million as motivation, where would you go?

For me, I would love to spend at least one night on the RMS Queen Mary. Not only would it be cool to spend a night in a supposedly haunted ocean liner (w/ someone to join me, of course) but the thought of just spending the night in such a historic ship sounds like fun!

How about you? Which haunted location would you spend the night in?

This is a reminder that while Xitter is imploding, you can still find me on BlueSky. Not only is it more welcoming, but it’s got a thriving furry fandom community too!

Here’s my handle: https://bsky.app/profile/domusvocis.bsky.social

Beware though, it’s NSFW. No minors allowed!

Some of you are familiar with my "Second Chances" stories, basically NSFW stories set 4-5 years into a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by climate change. It got its name from the titular town that was the setting for my first story. However, Second Chances isn't the only place in this wide fictional world.

Take a look at my new world’s map by pledging as a supporter before it’s made public! :)

Patreon LINK: https://www.patreon.com/posts/11375.....tshare_creator

SubscribeStar LINK: https://subscribestar.adult/domus-vocis

Most of us grew up with the opportunity to celebrate Halloween, as well as wear a costume for the spooky holiday. The first Halloween costume I remember wearing with pride was when I was in kindergarten. I'd recently watched "The Mask of Zorro" with Antonio Banderas with my Dad, being fully enraptured by the action scenes and begged to wear a similar costume for Halloween. They relented, but in order to wear it at school, my folks needed to replace Zorro's plastic silver blade with a foamy pirate sword. Seriously. I'm not even trying to exaggerate.

Jokes about an elementary school's priorities aside, what was the first Halloween costume you remember wearing? Was it something you asked to wear? How did you look in it?

Since it's October, I thought I would ask...what was your first horror movie?

Me? The one I can remember the most vividly was "The Shining". My little brothers and I were in late elementary and middle school respectively but weren't interested in going trick-or-treating that year. It was Halloween Night, and we were interested in watching a viewing of the film after seeing commercials for it on cable. So, my parents decided to join us in the living room and watch the film with us along with my mother's friend.

At the time, all I knew about "The Shining" was that it was a classic movie and extremely scary. I remembered enjoying it immensely, but the only real scene that left me scared shitless was the scene where Jack Torrance walked into the bathroom and the beautiful woman transformed into a corpse. That still makes me shiver.

On a side note, here's a little bit of personal trivia: my mother grew up in a religious farming household, and her childhood was so strict that she didn't see her first film until she left for college. And according to my mom, her first film was "Nightmare on Elm Street", haha.

How about you though? What was your first horror movie? Was it scary?

Happy October, everyone! And I'm not just saying that b/c my birthday is on October 25th, hehe.

October has everything, from enjoying the change of colorful leaves to the indulgence of candy, pumpkin spice, spooky fun leading up to Halloween, as well as less sweltering heat due to the end of summer. It's not too hot but not too cold either. Not to mention all of the cool costumes too!

What do you enjoy the most about October though? Is it Halloween? :)

Some of you may remember last year when I decided to make a themed month for October titled "Monster Smut Month", where I post on my Patreon one erotic story each week themed around a classic monster. Last year, I managed to write a few good flash fictions centered around werecreatures, vampires, alien abduction, and vampires. I really loved what I managed to write, and felt it challenged me a bit, and was looking forward to doing this again the following year. In fact, I've already had a few spooky monsters chosen for this year.

Unfortunately, shit happened to me. At the beginning of the month, I thought that I had enough time to get these stories out, but then I suddenly had a nasty cold that left me feeling really tired after work. If you know me, you'll probably be aware that I had a nasty case of pneumonia back in late 2018, and that whole ordeal left me paranoid about getting it again. As I started to get better though, I had a couple of promised story commissions I needed to have complete, so I had to then divert time to that. Maybe I could get at least one or two stories done before October...

...then I got a horrible stomach flu. Or maybe it was food poisoning? Either way, I spent at least four days confined to my apartment, feeling either bloated or like I was going to puke and/or crap everywhere if I even ate a small morsel of food. Even after feeling better, life seemed to get in the way, because a storm drain at my workplace burst and left a good portion of the loading bay unusable. This means I'll likely be working 1-2 extra hours at work each day due to the backlog it's causing. Combine that with some bouts of insomnia one night, chores for my apartment, and just living my life...time went fast for me in September.

I really, really wanted to get to "Monster Smut Month" again for October. I really, really did, and I'm sorry if you were looking forward to this. However, stuff got in the way during the past month, and I won't rush a project just so that I can get it done on time. If I can get multiple stories out on time, that's good, but I'd rather put out high-quality rather than high quantity when it comes to writing.

Even so, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna be posting stuff for October. If you want to see it two weeks early, then you should definitely keep an eye out on my Patreon and SubscribeStar this October. In the meantime, I wish you a wonderful rest of this September, and see you in October, everyone! <3

Imagine you're me; you call in sick to work because you don't feel well. Several hours later, you're puking your guts out and can't eat a crumb of food without needing to immediately go to the bathroom. So, you spend the next 48 hours in a blur, sleeping in bed and drinking conservative sips of water and tiny morsels of energy bars until you find the strength to have some soup. That's what the past few days have been like for me, overall.

Thank God, I just woke up with a normal stomach and can eat foods normally. Still, I haven't been this horribly sick since I had a bout with pneumonia back in 2018, and just like I promised myself then, I am NEVER gonna get sick again...

What makes good writing can often be subjective. Some people love extra lore, some don’t. Some people love character dives, but others prefer plot more. Because it’s all subjective at the end of the day, so too can be some mistakes of writing and storytelling that annoy people more than others. However, there can be some elements that some of us can collectively agree on.

For me, I am sick to death of stories that start off immediately with the main character saying their name, likes, dislikes, and a detailed description of themselves to the reader. Something along the lines of, “My name is John Smith. I’m a handsome timber wolf that stands 6’2” with black fur and white streaks, with glowing yellow eyes, etc.”

Whether you find this in SFW stories or erotica stories (the latter is more common than you actually think), these kinds of stories let’s start off like that immediately make me lose my interest. I feel like the writer is either too lazy to integrate all this information naturally or they themselves think their readers are too ignorant to fully picture the main character in their head. Then again, I feel like I have been guilty of this when I started off writing, so maybe I shouldn’t be too harsh about it.

How about you though? What is a writing or storytelling mistake that annoys you?

Some of us are big fans of horror, whether it's reading a Stephen King novel or playing a furry visual novel like "Echo" or its prequel "The Smoke Room". It can excite us or make us question our reality, but most of all, it should be able to scare us. With that said, what are some elements of horror stories or movies that you absolutely cannot stand?

Personally, I'm torn between two clichés out there that I can't stand. The first cliché comes down to when a story has filler. This kind of filler is mostly comprised of other cliched storylines we'd already seen a million times...or it just shows the characters wandering in the dark. I remember movies like "Alone in the Dark" and "The Purge" being filled with these scenes. Not only is atmosphere not being built up or stuff being gradually shown, but the characters already aren't ones we're not interested in.

The second cliché is when the story uses way too many jumpscares, or most of its scares are jumpscares. Anybody remember the Nightmare on Elm Street remake that came out in 2010? I remember that movie's 'scariest' moments being nothing but Freddy Kreuger jumping out of the dark with flashing lights and the camera shaking. I've seen moments like this in written form too. A jumpscare doesn't automatically make a scene scary unless there's a valid payoff, something never seen before (remember the basement scene in The Nun II? That's got a very original jumpscare!), or there's enough of atmosphere and tension built up to make it pay off. A horror story isn't scary when it's nothing but a creepy guy in makeup or a mask appearing out of the shadows or a dark room repeatedly.

Anyway, what horror cliché do you not like?

Some of us have fictional characters we like, some we dislike, others we love, others we despise, but then there are the characters we started off really disliking but grow fond of as a story continues. I can think of quite a few instances of this happening to me whenever I read a book, watched a movie, TV show, anime, etc. Too many choices, really.

If I had to narrow it down though, I'd have to end up choosing Katsuki Bakugo, from the anime "My Hero Academia". This anime started airing back in 2016 when I was a university student, and my college roommate was a massive fanboy of this series. We both loved anime, and he kept insisting that I needed to watch this show. The premise, animation, main protagonist, inspirational themes, superhero aesthetics, and voice acting did pull me in...but what almost kept me from not continuing the show mostly revolved around Bakugo, the protagonist's childhood friend-turned-bully-turned-rival. Let me be honest here and say I DESPISED this character. Not only did his constant yelling and shouting (Clifford Chapin, his English voice actor, has actually mentioned needing to end recording sessions early due to how worn out his voice gets, which I found hilarious! XD) get really grating in some parts, but I found his bullying behavior made him too unlikable. And he's not just a random bully who's forgotten about; he follows Izuku Midoriya around the main setting for quite a bit. Even when the series focused more on other characters and we saw Katsuki mellow out a bit, I didn't look forward to scenes with him. I still saw him as an angry little brat without much to keep me as invested in. If it weren't for my roommate's insistence and the show's other positives, I likely would've stopped watching the anime.

However...my opinion changed on Episode 23 of Season 3. Without going too much into spoilers, Katsuki and Midoriya get into another fight, but this one reveals a side of Katsuki that I absolutely did not see coming, and as the episode continues, the dynamic between the two characters changes in a way that is not only more positive, but actually leads to character development. By the time the later seasons come around, I'm beginning to see Katsuki as less and less of a bully, and we actually get to see him change into a more heroic and better person. Again, without going into spoilers, there's also a brilliant scene at one point in the later seasons where Bakugo acknowledges the mistakes he's made to a certain character, and it's probably the most impactful scene out of all "My Hero Academia". It's like the show's creator was planning this from the beginning, all the way back in Chapter 1. Suddenly, this leads to Katsuki Bakugo transforming from one of the most disliked characters to probably my favorite character in the show.

What about you though? Do you have a character you used to dislike, but now love?

Yet another story set in my "Second Chances" universe, this flash fic follows an unnamed polar bear living a bush life in Alaska following the apocalypse, and the jaguar he falls in love with during one lonely winter.

If you wish to read it in advance, it’s available to those who support me on Patreon and SubscribeStar, the links for both of which can be found below.​

Patreon LINK: https://www.patreon.com/posts/11061.....tshare_creator

SubscribeStar LINK: https://subscribestar.adult/domus-vocis

Those who have even an interest for fantasy have plenty reasons to love it. Sometimes it’s the story or characters or the imaginative setting itself that sucks us in.With that said, there are some tropes or cliches of fantasy stories that often annoys us to no end.

Me? There are two Fantasy clichés that I can think off the top of my head that I really cannot care for. The first is when a story is clearly ripping off another more popular one in terms of plot or magic system or even scenario. Harry potter is probably the most influential “inspiration“ for these copycats.

The other fantasy cliché I cannot stand goes as follows: a young paragon hero either born into poverty or an average background gradually gains the skills and tools necessary to take on the evil villain, but later down the plot, it’s revealed that the heroic protagonist with a heart of gold actually has an important lineage with a grand destiny. More often than not, this is an issue for story lines in anime and manga, but Western stories are also guilty of this. At least with mythology and folklore, it’s acknowledged from the start that heroes like Hercules have at least one god and one member of royalty as parents. However, I think it’s hypocritical when a fantasy story starts off with the main character spouting that their average nobodies capable of doing anything with hard work and determination…only to later learn that their father or grandfather is an all-powerful figure who is responsible for giving them said skills that make them OP. Rather than have a protagonist that is interesting and comes from humble origins like a majority of people out there who are drawn to them, it’s actually all in the bloodlines (I’m looking at you Naruto & The Rise of Skywalker), and all you have to do to be a awesome hero is to make sure you’re born with the right assortment of relatives.

How about you though. Are there any fantasy clichés or tropes that you cannot stand either? What are they and why?

I don't know about you, but it feels so good to be back online at FurAffinity! <3 These hacker wannabes think they can just keep the fandom down and screw us over, but we're a community for a reason! Even if the worst came to pass, and this website was gone forever, it wouldn't stop us from coming together. Whether it be on FA or SF or Weasyl or YouTube or Xitter and BlueSky, we are a wide group of people who come together to celebrate the fact we find anthropomorphic animals so appealing. We come together because it's what we love, and nothing can take that away.

That is why Dragoneer made this website, and this is why I'm spectacularly happy FurAffinity is back. :D

Those who have even an interest for science fiction have plenty of things to love it. Sometimes it’s the story or characters or the imaginative setting itself that sucks us in.

With that said, there’s some tropes or cliches of science fiction that often annoys us to no end. Me? I’m not fan of certain alien invasion fiction, specifically when the invading extraterrestrials in question are doing it because they require a new home world. The most recent example of this I can think of is in Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” on Disney , where the Skrulls are taking over Earth because Nick Fury failed to help find them a suitable planet.

On top of there being hundreds of billions of planets out there in the Milky Way Galaxy and trillions throughout the known universe, I can think of several planets throughout the MCU that could be suitable for a new home world. The Skrull don’t have to declare war on Earth or wipe out humanity when there’s other alternatives. This entire plot doesn’t need to happen.

This cliché is especially stupid when it’s revealed that said alien invaders have terraforming technology, like in “Man of Steel” or in the backstory of the TV show “Defiance”. These invaders have the ability to change the biosphere and climate of entire planets, and yet none of them think to terraform either Mars or Venus or any other planet outside of the Solar System? They need to kill billions of people in the process in order to make it work? You think aliens intelligent enough to cross light-years would be pragmatic.

How about you? What sci-fi cliche(s) do you hate the most, and tell us why?