Big announcement tomorrow (Sunday June 23rd)!
Peter Solarz
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
todays bird
Mike Driver
Xuebing Du

Janaina Medeiros

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Aqua Utopia|海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
sheepfilms

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Three Goblin Art

Kiana Khansmith
Show & Tell
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"

blake kathryn
noise dept.
KIROKAZE

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Jules of Nature
d e v o n

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@universeinthebox
Big announcement tomorrow (Sunday June 23rd)!
Thanks for making Stray Ami. I was in University when I discovered it, I can't even remember how. But it helped me while I worked on my degree <3 Really taught me a lot on my media degree and inspired me to make more. Thanks!
You're very welcome! Feel free to share some of the stuff you've made. =)
Stray Ami Has Been Featured in SS Reed's Story Fiction Magazine!
Hi, I'm SS Reed, a writer, actor and lover of dad jokes.
I don't know if anyone still pays attention to this page or if the original members even have access to it, but I'm trying to reach whoever I can.
I just wanna let you guys know that Stray Ami and anyone involved in its production have been featured in the Spotlight Corner segment of SS Reed's Story Fiction: Volume 6 (available wherever you buy books)!
Stray Ami ran while I was in high school, and though I didn't discover it until my early 20s, it was monumental in my reinvention as a writer and storyteller. I leaned on it heavily while writing my novel Lab Cat: A Story Fiction Original, taking inspiration from the music, characters and impressionist tone. I'm not one to listen to podcasts (it's not easy for me to find ones I like), but this one I can say truly resonated with me.
I go into more details into my thoughts and feelings in the volume itself, but for now, let me just say...
Congrats, and thank you!
~SS Reed
warbalist I absolutely am [writing music], just not under this name. I'm not sure I did for Stray Ami, I don't remember. I just remember writing the main theme right after I got the news that a young friend of mine passed away, so I was crying when I wrote it. I wish I could keep writing for more episodes. Here's hoping Squeak is doing okay. I could use more of their sensitivity in the world.
I'm so sorry to hear about your young friend. *HUGS*😢
Thank you for writing the main theme, and for sharing your heart with us.
I hope Squeak's doing ok too.
warbalist
I wrote the music for Stray Ami, and I think one or two other things.
Ahh, that was you! Lovely music! Thank you so much for helping out. Are you still doing music nowadays?
crystalsuicune
Just poke me on tungle.hell or discord if ya need anything
Will do =)
wiil the eps be posted here too?
(This in an ask from forever ago)
They will! They were, actually! Here’s a handy list. (Did you know we made 12 of these?? I didn’t!)
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/stray-ami-1-birthday
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/stray-ami-2-up-early
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/stray-ami-3-dreaming
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/stray-ami-4-into-town
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/stray-ami-5-crayons-and-stars
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/stray-ami-6-a-letter
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/stray-ami-7-the-attic
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/stray-ami-9-blanc-and-the-alchizard (I think this is Episode 8 and we just mislabeled it)
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/stray-ami-9-day-off
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/stray-ami-10-old-house
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/stray-ami-11-broom
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/stray-ami-12-factory
And there are three bonus tracks. One in particular talks about Squeak’s mental health struggles:
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/you
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/squeaks-responseex
https://soundcloud.com/universeinthebox/a-life-fantastic-a-tribute-to-sir-terry-pratchett
--Sonicsuns
Hey again
Shout-out to all the people who liked and commented on my last post. Glad to know that Squeak hasn’t been forgotten. =)
Comments:
winterstraystar said: For Sonic: Thank you for still looking out for his blog, it means a lot. For Squeak: Hope you are going better wherever life has taken you. I hope you live with no regrets
You’re welcome. I should mention that I’ve done a little writing, and one of my stories is about Squeak. Here it is: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/528407/thanks-for-the-memories
I can’t believe how long it took me to get a fimfiction account. It says something about all the trauma I’ve been through.
There were a lot of us in the Box with mental health struggles of one sort or another. It was really valuable to have that space to talk, and also create! It reminds me of that one Subnormality comic...
pinkusponkus said: Squeak did so much for so many people. I miss him!
Thank you! We miss him too!
kasamari said: I miss the care and love of the whole team you guys put together. I will keep following this and Squeak’s other spaces in the hopes that I get the chance to tell Squeak that the soldier who left his pregnant wife for training all those years ago is now a proud father of 4, still married to the same amazing woman. I will always be so grateful for the story of Good Night and for the wonderful Ponies in a Box that worked to share so many stories.
CONGRATULATIONS! Hip Hip Hurray! I hope we can all be so fortunate. =)
You didn’t ask for advice, but I’m gonna provide some anyway. My favorite parenting book is Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn. Also, conventional school sucks and kids would be much better off at Sudbury Schools: https://www.facebook.com/HudsonValleySudburySchool/videos/10155951019968804/ (The teachers are better off too!) Anyway, give your kids a hug from us. And maybe show them an old PIAB video or two =)
And hopefully, hopefully someday you’ll be able to tell Squeak the news directly. I’m sure he’d be happy for you. =)
warbalist said: I miss writing music for his stuff. 😭
Oh wow, you wrote music for him? (Sorry, I don’t recognize the username!) What did you write?
I miss working with him too. I miss the sheer sense of possibility we had in 2012, in the brony fandom generally and especially with Pony in a Box. I still remember how I was on vacation and Squeak came up with the idea for The Best and within 12 hours it was fully written, recorded and posted on Youtube. Or how about that time the other boxers and me secretly made a short for Squeak’s birthday?
I miss hearing our stuff premiere on Celestia Radio. I miss reading the comments as they came in. I miss the little ARG we did for Wrong Way Backwards. I miss the feeling that anything was possible.
I’m really sad that I didn’t go to BronyCon 2013. A lot of PIAB people were there, and in retrospect that was the best opportunity I ever had to see the boxers in person. But my mom had cancer and I had anxiety mixed with self-hatred and the flight seemed too much of a risk and it didn’t seem fair to mom so in the end I didn’t go. =(
I miss my box friends. Too many of us had IRL problems at the same time, and we gradually scattered to the winds. We’ve still got a discord server but it rarely gets any activity. It’s so sad. =(
Special shout-out to Togpie, who was a vital support to me during some extremely difficult times in my life. I think maybe she burnt out, caring for me all the time. If so, I don’t blame her. She worked really hard to help me when she was already busy with her own problems. I haven’t heard from her in over a year now. I hope she’s ok...
It’s strange how Life is so much grander and deeper than it seems. Do you know what I mean? There is so much meaning and passion and joy and opportunities taken and opportunities missed just in this one little group of people. There are so many things that shaped us, so many traumas that the Box helped us face, and then the Box itself drifted away because we still hadn’t found perfect solutions to Life’s problems.
And here I am, posting this little thing that a handful of people will see. How will it impact you? What’s your story?
A good life is possible, I’m sure. The solutions involve things like Children’s Rights and Sudbury Schools and Democracy and Universal Basic Income. The solutions involve things like ponies and fandoms and community for its own sake. The solutions involve knowing that you matter and your feelings matter, and it’s ok to cry when you’re hurt and it’s ok to get mad at abusive people and systems.
I think of the billionaires of the world and I wonder why they don’t just feed the poor. I’ve had a lot of friends who deserve money, good people tied down by bad circumstances. I’ve given a few thousand myself, trying to figure out how much I can afford considering I still can’t manage a full-time job (on account of my mental health). And I wonder why anyone thinks Elon Musk is a good person, seeing that he has so much money but he refuses to help people.
I think back to a time when guys openly liking ponies would have been impossible, when this fandom would have been impossible, where the formation of Pony in a Box would have been impossible. I wonder how many wonderful memories past generations never got to experience because of their stupid rules, and I’m glad for the progress we’ve made and the hope of more progress to come, and I’m also very sad that more progress hasn’t happened already.
Every so often I google anti-aging medicine (which is a legit field now) because I want to make up for all the time I’ve lost to trauma and abuse.
In the meantime, though, I’m glad we had Pony in a Box. And I’m glad that the fandom still exists. And I hope that the choices I make today will help future generations. Maybe new opportunities will come our way, like the TARDIS fading in from the Vortex.
Thank you, my friends.
Onwards and Upwards --Sonicsuns
If you’re still out there..
Recently I got an alert on this blog, the kind you get when someone leaves a like or something. But by the time I clicked on it, the thing was gone. Maybe the account was deleted. I wonder who it was... ... Squeak, if you’re still out there, we all still miss you, and we all still care about you, and we wish you the best. I’d love to hear from you. Sincerely, Sonicsuns
Chalkboard Stray Ami (By Mary Hamer / maryhamer)
Prière pour les innocents by Xai
We here at Universeinthebox send our thoughts and love to the victims of the attack in France.In the aftermath of such attacks it is easy to turn to rage and hatred, but for now, we look to the people with love in their hearts and help on their minds as the world recovers. In this aftermath, all we can do is hope for france, hope people are safe, and will continue to be safe and that reason and love will win out over ignorance and fear.
We stand with the people of France, and hope for brighter days ahead.
Stray Ami 12 - Factory is Now Live!
A Business report reaches the shores of America with a worry, a promise, and a plan.
Click the link above to head over to the website and listen. Enjoy the newest episode of Stray Ami! And for more check us out on,Itunes,Stitcher Feedburner Youtube and Soundcloud
Misprinted: Bright Disease: A Reading
Hey! You know that Novella I wrote a while back? Well its sequel Claws Sharp will be coming out quite soon! In the mean time, a wonderful fan of the book did this lovely reading, and even did cool little sound effect touches. So if you want to refresh your memory on Bright Disease before Claws Sharp drops, this is a wonderful way to do it!
And if you haven’t read the book in the first place, this also serves as a lovely rendition, though you can buy it on Payhip and Amazon currently (Though you can get it cheaper on Payhip (Paywhatyouwant) and I get all the royalties in that case.
Though if you do read it either way, a review on Amazon helps immensely! In anycase, enjoy the reading! I reccomend it, Christopher did lovely work.
Just a quick paint fanart for the new episode of Stray Ami.
If Andale is a flower, I see Blanc as the one who waters that flower.
-Ari-angelcub
Stray Ami Episode 11 - Broom
The 11th episode of Stray Ami is now live! Head over and take a listen.
The morning after her nightmare, Ms.Lafeit takes Andale into town.
Illustration by JM Fenner
Enjoy the newest episode of Stray Ami! And for more check us out on,Itunes, Stitcher Feedburner Youtube and Soundcloud
Strange Love: An Anthology
Science Fiction/Fantasy are cornerstones of fiction. But people cry out for representation in publishing. We want to answer that cry. - http://kck.st/1JWdQeY
With your help, we will begin taking submissions to fill the pages of this book with the kind of stories people have been yearning to see for years,
Writers who submit to the anthology, if funded, will be paid 7 cents a word, for their work. (I.E If a 2000 word story were accepted, that would be $140 in the author’s pocket, plus a free copy if the book goes to print) We hope to publish the anthology by first quarter of next year, and with your help we can make that a reality. Funding will go towards paying writers and artists, along with possible publishing costs.
What your pledge helps pay for
To treat this anthology with the respect it deserves, we want to give it every chance the mainstream ones have. This means, even in ebook format (Though we hope to fund a physical run), paying line editors, copy editors, marketing and all of that’s not even counting the cost of paying writers for their work in the first place. Publishing a book on a professional level is more expensive than you’d think. and this will be a professional project. make no doubt about that.
For example
Your average anthology is 300+ pages. We’re not aiming that big, but let’s do some math:
300 pages is round about 135000 words. Paying authors 7 cents per words, that works out to $9,450 in author payouts. We’re aiming for 200+ pages of content. That’s 90,000+ words which equals up to a minimum of $6,300 in writer payouts. That’s all before paying editors and screeners. As you can see, we’re not doing this to get rich. At most, after funding we’ll break even. We’re not doing this to make money, we’re doing this for the love of fiction. But the farther over we go over our goal the bigger the anthology will be.
Excited? Well so are we!
Help us reach our goal by pledging on kickstarter! And if you can’t pledge, share your own Strange Love by spreading the word on Tumblr, Twitter Facebook, to your Grandmother’s cat….Anywhere!
https://strangelovepub.squarespace.com
Hug by Andy Price
A lovely piece of art from the always wonderful Andy Price! Absolutely adorable work.
Blanc trying to hold icecream with his paws?
Blanc is a precious baby
Adorable art from Noel.