Warhound Related Works 2: The Warhoundening

I made the first of these posts just a couple of months ago and it feels egotistical to make a second one so soon - but what am I to do? People keep making beautiful things, and telling me that Warhound helped to inspire them. I can't help but want to share, and it feels like the only appropriate way to thank people for allowing Warhound such a place in their hearts

I've already told you about Mal's Hekate's Call, a now-long-running mecha story that began life as a couple of Warhound fanfics. I'll make the repeat sales pitch brief: the story is about a set of mech pilots who come to be in a small mercenary outfit together, and revolves around the ever-deepening and ever-twisting set of interpersonal crushes, rivalries, and conflicts between them. It's truly brilliant as both mech action, drama and erotica. It'll do things to your heart. That's only become more true since I last posted about it here - Mal keeps escalating everything, and Hekate's Call continous to take on a life of its own in a way that makes my jaw drop with every single new chapter. Please check it out

I've also already told you about Binary System, a Warhound fic by Vivi/unyieldingUtopia. The newet part of that, entitled Faith, is so staggeringly brilliant I really can't stop thinking about it. It continues the story of Belle and Sable, but in the form of an interactive, non-linear Twine game that masterfully weaves together audio and prose, past and present, and develops a breathtakingly rich symbolic landscape that weaves its way in and out of the characters' fears, aspirations and perversions. I really can't sing Faith's praises enough. It's incredible. I beg you to experience it

Incidentally, Mal and Vivi are both beta readers for Rescue Hound, and I couldn't be more grateful for their enthusiastic, discerning, and critical eyes

OK, onto new blood! Next, I want to talk about Myrmidon, by Tamara. It's still in its early stages, but it's already really, really impressive. Myrmidon takes place in an alt-history authoritarian communist setting in which the dominant regime is exploring a sinister programme to turn its soldiers into conditioned, elite exosuit pilots. The setting is extremely vivid and gripping, and I'm particularly in awe with Tamara's take on a handler-esque character, who - quite unlike my own - is mean, churlish, lustful, nakedly two-faced and generally gross. Voss is quite something, and if you've a strong stomach I'm sure you'll love her. Tamara is also a visual artist and on her page here you can find many pieces of artwork relating to Myrmidon - and a few, I'm very flattered to say, of Warhound. I adore Tamara's style, it's so saturated and grimy and evocative, and I'm so grateful that she's bent some of her skill toward Warhound

One more! Another Warhound-inspired I've really been enjoying is Setting Moon by atra_awawa/yuridoggy (plus its ongoing sequel, Daybreak). The central dynamic, between two troubled rebel lovers who are torn apart when one of them is captured and brainwashed, is both endearing and heartbreaking, and I really admire the way these stories use the complex, trauma-informed and non-human identities of the characters to inform how they feel and what they're going through. It's a story with a lot of love - and conversely, with an absolutely merciless twisted streak, when it comes to the handler and how she deals with her victims. I highly recommend it

It's really important to me to share the love around and make sure the amazing and talented artists who've uplifted me get their own time to shine. It's richly deserved, and if fucked-up mecha is something you enjoy I think you'll find a lot to dig into with these recommendations