Friend of Eggbug (18+)

feudal huh...?? what?

This post, along with all my previous wrap ups and reviews, can now be found on this website

Hi all! Thanks for your patience. Things have been difficult for me this month but despite INZ seeking to ruin my life they can't stop me from writing my thoughts of the various pieces of transfem internet fiction I have read this month.

I didn't manage to get around to reading everything I wanted to so I'm sorry if something you wrote or recommended didn't end up making it to my list this time around. I do feel bad about that but I didn't want to delay things further and I think it's important to acknowledge that it's not like these monthly reviews are crucial or load-bearing—I'm not a pillar of the community, things are not going to fall apart without me. It's okay to have an off-month.

That said, this definitely hasn't been an off-month for the community so let's take a look at some of the fun stuff that has emerged:

IRON SUNSET

by Drone6416 (link)

It took me a bit to get into this one. The start is slow in a way that didn't immediately grab me, like I could see all these things that it was setting up but they hadn't quite congealed into something exciting... And then the Behemoth appears. And it's captivating and I couldn't stop reading after that.

I'm a big fan of the dieselpunk/trenchsploitation aesthetic. People have definitely lumped in my mechsploitation stories with that genre (despite the lack of trenches) and so I do try to read everything I can that within that niche and this is actually the first of two stories from this genre I'm going to talk about in this post. Of all the ones that I've read I think this story has the best trenches, I think its the one that feels the most viscerally connected with the mud and the grime and the death experienced by the average soldiers. I love that about it and I think it stands out amidst its peers in that aspect. I also adore the descriptions of the insides of the Behemoth. In general the strong voice of the narration really pulls you into each moment and nowhere is that more keenly felt than in the Behemoth scenes.

I will admit that the MedFet stuff isn't anything I find compelling and that aspect didn't land as well with me, but that is only personal preference. On the whole I really recommend this story. There are aspects of it that I really like, aspects of it that I want to steal, and I feel like there was a lot that I can learn from it too.

Also, right, I just love Klara, she's great. Big Klara fan here. Feeling a little awkward that my upcoming story also has a Klara in it. I don't know if she's as good as this Klara. Real Klara envy hours. (She's so good)

KILL GOD 420 69 (cycle of violence)

by @brain-d0g (link)

I only found out about this comic from a passing reblog on tumblr and, you know, I'm so glad that it did reach me because this is something special. For all of my followers who are into things with angels, I absolutely recommend this.

In this story our main character is an ancient angel assigned to guard a USian politician who seems to be at the centre of some horrible nasty right wing politics. It is a situation that makes our trans angel character absolutely miserable and begins the KILL GOD 420 69 cycle of violence. It's messy and it's beautiful and I adore both the writing and the art. There's this continued invocation of A heart that X which I really like and the violence of the whole thing and the tiredness of the main character create this wonderful soup. I feel most of you already know that I really love dithering for its aesthetics and I think this comic uses it really well.

This feels to me like it will be a real cultural artefact of the West in the 2020s. I think it perfectly captures that feeling of anger and impotence and most importantly tiredness that I think so many people are experiencing.

At the time of writing there are two issues up. I loved reading both of them! You can find them on itch if you want a pdf but they're also seen them posted on tumblr and bluesky so there's no excuse not to give this a look. I strongly recommend this.

Refuge of Wire and Wing

by @bloopybloopz (link)

I really like this. It doesn't feel like I've read that many mechsplo stories that engage with disability in the way that this one does and I think it offers us a new and meaningful story within the genre. Kanara as a character is interesting from the start but the thing that I really love about this story is what happens after she gets in the mech, what happens once she has got her first taste of flight... It doesn't go well for her. Because of course it doesn't.

At the start you feel like you are getting into a fairly normal story about a wheelchair bound pilot who, in being a pilot, is given some sense of freedom of movement back—that would be the standard version of this tale—but this is mechsplo and there are no happy endings. Kanara ends up just as trapped as any other hound does. The ending is great. It's grim and you are going to be left with things to think about and it makes you feel uncomfortable and for me that aspect really elevates this story to something wonderful. I strongly recommend this one. I think more people should read it.

One More for the Road

by tarakute (link)

So I'm not into the lobotomy kink stuff. I'm really not into it. It makes me feel all squeamish and small and uncomfortable... But, as my friends now know, once I've asked for recommendations I will read almost anything put in front of me (out of a sense of obligation and a desire to be useful) and so I went and read the lobotomy hypnosis NTR story.

I feel like if I were wanting to be hyperbolic I might say something like "Wow I hated lobotomy kink but then I read this story and now I'm really normal about orbitoclasts" and like, yeah, that would have been a good tweet but its not really true. Firstly, I don't feel any less small or squeamish or uncomfortable and secondly there isn't actually a lobotomy in this story. It's probably all just simulated through the hypnosis of the point of view character. Which is nice. It's like a version of something I don't like wrapped up in a little comfortable parcel to make it more easy to hold, to make it a bit less sickening.

The story is about two (ex)girlfriends Jen and Kit and Jen is fabulous. She is the hypnotist of the pair who decides she doesn't want to be broken up with Kit anymore and I don't know but I like Jen. She's terrible but I feel we would get along. The NTR element is probably what made me consider that I might enjoy reading it despite the rest and the final segment, after Kit has been turned back into a virgin, is good. There's a lot of stuff to chew on there, lots of great imagery and the fate that Kit is condemned to is fun. I think I can recommend this one. If any of this sounds like your kind of thing then maybe check it out.

Special mentions/updates:

Flowersteel (Update)

by @punkitt-is-here (link)

You know, I think if I had held off my initial review of Flowersteel until now it would have maybe had a different tone to it. I had mixed feelings on Flowersteel when I was writing last month but Mission 3 really did get rid of a lot of those uncertainties I had. I really enjoyed it. The art is great and I appreciated the more that we get to learn about K28. I love the final spread too, it's great. I'm confidently looking forward to what is to come!

a full meal (Update)

by @meli-writes (link)

As more of this story showed up I kept loving and hating it more. Loving it because it is wonderfully written and incisive and it feels deeply real and of our moment. Hating it because it's reminding me of all the reasons that I ran away from the UK and I'm going to be back there soon and dealing with it all again (yaaay). As much as it fuelled my anxieties about returning to Britain it also reminded me that there is hope. While I might consider Britain a nightmarish place I'm reminded that there are good people there. There are people like Dolly, like Mel, like my friends who I have not seen for near a decade, like my sister. It's not going to be as bad as last time. I can make this work. (Also yesss Dolly is back!!!!! My favourite sheepgirl returns! I was so happy.)

Dressed Up to the Eyes

by @spectrechosts (link)

So this is a nice little story about a little romance between two pilots, one of which is a cyborg. It's cute and it's awkward and it's got interesting things to say. I really appreciated reading the interactions between the two and the investigation of bodies and how connected we are to them and how they define us and how they don't. Maybe give this one a look if any of that sounds interesting.

Writing Jams

So there were two writing jams that I was aware of and keeping an eye on this month: the inaugural jelly from the Erohorror Writer's Hub as well as the quarterly Mechsplo Writing Jam. I wasn't able to participate in either because my life has been much too stressful and I haven't had the time or energy to dedicate to this sort of thing. That said I do want to highlight them here even if I didn't have time to read all the entries myself.

Thankfully I didn't have to, because Bloopy did a great write up for the Grand Opening Erohorror Creative Jelly which can be found here!

I haven't seen one for the Mechsploitation June Jam 2026 yet but if someone does one then let me know and I'll be sure to edit in a link here!

What had I been up to?

nothing.

okay, well, not nothing, but it feels like nothing because I have so little to publicly show for it at the moment.

I put up two microfics this month. Which isn't nothing.

The first was Princess with a Thousand Enemies. This is a second El-ahrairah inspired story (though Song of the Mudcrab has significantly more Watership Down in it than this one) that is about a rabbit being chased by a dinosaur. It's kinda silly and I mostly did it because I wanted to practice writing a chase/action scene.

The second was as part of my writing pact with Roxy, there was only one this month because I had to call things off due to stress but the two stories we got out of it are good enough to stand by themselves this month. Roxy's story was about a captured vampire and it's really good, kinda horrible and a bit sad. You can read it here. My story, which you can read here, was definitely tapping into my anxieties about returning to Britain after eight or nine years in the Pacific. Maybe put a bit too much of myself on the table with that one but, you know, sometimes you have to exorcise those anxieties through writing. I really appreciated the reactions I got. Seemed to resonate a lot with people in being uncomfortable and in just how terrible the point of view character is in how she views her little albatross friend.

I also have managed to finish the first draft of my next story. It's been a huge undertaking, not only is this a much longer story that my usual one-shots but also, as you may have read elsewhere, I put in a lot of research. Some of that was reading books about late-medieval labour relations and glassmaking techniques and some of it involved getting out a sewing machine and recreating the outfits of these characters to get a practical understanding of sapphic activities in the era before modern underwear.

"See, it's fine! Maybe not perfect condition, but still very good! Look, I'll bump my price down to 80%."

The woman behind the counter folds her arms. "It's dead, Lira."

"Noooo," says Lira. "No, I wouldn't-" a scratching noise comes from the box, and the bones of what used to be a paw try to make it through one of the air holes. "-it's. Just a bit."

The woman behind the counter raises her eyebrow. "Just a bit... dead?"

"Yeah," says Lira, trying not to sweat. "Just a little bit. You'd hardly notice." The smell intensifies again. "Just need some incense, that's all."

"Only if I also had a prayer scroll. Lira, what the shit am I supposed to do with this?"

"50%!" cries Lira, desperately. "30%!" when the woman looks over her glasses at her. "Come on, I really need this."

The woman pokes at the box, and an unearthly hiss sounds from inside. "15%. And the next thing you bring me had better be good quality. Don't make me regret this."

Lira takes the proffered bag of coins and backs out, apologizing profusely and promising the moon. The woman sighs as the door to her shop closes, and pops the lid open. The thing inside hisses again, then cautiously sniffs the offered hand. After a moment, it rubs what used to be its cheek across her knuckles, and a clattering rumble sounds from its exposed bones.

The woman looks at the thing, looks at her now-bloody fingers, and sighs. "I'm just too soft for this business," she complains to the thing.