Okay since Shaun.v has already kinda sorta mentioned FreeRIDErs, I'll go ahead and put in my two cents. FreeRIDErs is a series of stories that is currently being posted over at Shifti.org. It takes place in the far future on another planet called Zharus which is a type of super-earth. Bigger than Earth but with similar gravity due to lesser density.
It is very much an anime style tale with animal styled powered-armor that uses nanites to help merge the AI armor and human pilot into one form. There are a lot of gender changes in the stories as a whole, although not every story has TG.
The Blood might get a little thick but here is my recommended reading order.
FreeRIDErs (Setting) by Jon Buck and Robotech_Master
FreeRIDer by Jon Buck
Deserted by Robotech_Master
Merging Traffic by Robotech_Master
Rochelle & Rufia: R&R (Robotech_Master)
This puts the story order somewhat out of the official timeline but seemed to flow better to me. The first one I put up just because it's background material. I would skip that and got right to the Jon Buck story, FreeRIDErs.
The others after this can be read in just about any order with the exception of the Integration storyline. That has to be read in order.
This is not for everyone. I know a lot of people don't care for transformation stories with cat-girls, dolphin-boys, and just about every other combination you can think of or imagine.
However, if you like anime style tales with gender changes you might want to give this one a shot.
http://www.shifti.org/wiki/FreeRIDErs_%28setting%29 This is the link to the setting, ie, an infor dump!
http://www.shifti.org/wiki/User:JonBuck/FreeRIDErs Link to the first story on my reading list.
http://www.shifti.org/wiki/FreeRIDErs_%28setting%29#.C2.A0St...
Link to the chronological order of the stories.
Enjoy!
hugs
Grover
Comments
sounds interesting.
I might check it out some time. I really don't mind fantastic settings at all. I quite enjoy well-imagined ones.
Abigail Drew.
FreeRIDErs!
Thanks for the info!
May Your Light Forever Shine
Thanks!
Hey, thanks for the kind words. This has been a really fun setting to write, and Jon and I are having a blast hammering out new episodes. We're also open to new people coming to write in our world, and are generally available to give feedback on story ideas and things. The really fun part comes after new writers get characters established in the setting and we can see if there's a good opportunity to have the stories cross over.
I'd echo the suggestion to read the stories before the setting background material, as some of it could be pretty confusing if you don't already have the stories to draw on. I personally tend to recommend starting with Deserted, Merging Traffic, R&R, and then FreeRIDErs the story, but (except for R&R which was backfilled) they were basically all written at the same time so it sort of doesn't matter. Then, as you say, the order after that doesn't really matter either.
No Thank You!
I've enjoyed the FreeRIDErs universe and setting. It's real easy to see an anime or manga of this! I know how hard it is create a universe from nothing and you and Jon did one heck of a job.
It did take me a while to wrap my head around the fact the great dry sea is treated just like any sea or ocean today, international territory or more accurate no man land. The Q-mines are like deep water oil drilling platforms.
After I got that, I kept waiting for sand-worms to appear, but so far nothing! :)
Thanks again!
Grover
FreeRIDErs Universe
I too have enjoyed the Universe, hence the creation of that cover. I wanted my eBooks to stand out a little.
Grover, as to the Sandworms, think of a certain Tiger / Wolf combination in Jetfires' The Lady of the Tiger.
Good work to all who write in that Universe. Especially Jon and Robotech for creating it.
I really liked the story I
I really liked the story I read so far. It was the FreeRider Story grover reccomended. I wonder, is there a reccomended reading order, or should I read them by chronological order?
Reading order
I would read these next.
Deserted by Robotech_Master
Merging Traffic by Robotech_Master
Rochelle & Rufia: R&R (Robotech_Master)
Also, I would read Jetfire's stories in order starting at the top of the list and going down the chronological list. Since this is a separate storyline, you could read these before the rest of Robotech's works.
In answer to Sandworms, I kinda see Tiger and Wolf from "The Tiger and the Lady" as Pirates of the worst sort. Kidnappers and murders who deserve all they get.
I will say this is a very interesting series since you get to see how this society is adapting to not only sharing their world with AI's but gender changes as well. Oops, my gender got switched, but in three years I can get switched back, no big deal.
The good and bad are shown with some not being able to accept how their world is changing while others are embracing it. There are some uneven parts here and there given the number of authors, but not many.
Hugs
Grover
Reading Order
As Gordon suggested, I'd recommend to read "Deserted", then "Merging Traffic" and "R&R", then possibly glance at FreeRIDErs again to refresh your memory, then go on to Integration. You could simply read Integration all the way up to #13 and then go back and read everything else, or alternate, reading the first few chapters then read a little of something else. They're separate stories in the early chapters, so just read them chronologically within each author's own works.
Either way, you should probably be all caught up with Jetfire's stuff before you read Integration #14, which is going to come out later today, as we start crossing over heavily with JF at that point. :)
Whatever order you read them in, I hope you enjoy them. And feedback and comments are always appreciated! Each story on Shifti has its own talk page where you can leave them.
Thanks!
New updates
In addition to posting Part 14, I've gone ahead and moved the background material to its own page, and added a map and universe timeline that previously only the working authors had access to. Hopefully that will make some of the things in the setting easier to visualize for everyone.
Thanks to Grover and
Thanks to Grover and Robotech_Master for the reccomendations. I have a problem though. When I was reading the integration series yesterday and I wanted to read the next part I got 404 error.
I'm not sure if that's a problem with Shifti, or if it is a problem on my PC, does anyone of you have an idea how to fix it?
Beyogi
Wiki error
I just double-checked the links and it's definitely still there. Sometimes Shifti barfs a little bit. When that happens just try again in a few minutes.
FreeRIDErs "Integration" story arc concludes!
We've just finished the main story arc, "Integration," of FreeRIDErs! Over 350,000 words about gender-changing transforming robotic fursuits.
I need to go lie down now.
(Needless to say, we're not done writing in the universe. But if you haven't read it yet, this is a good time to hop on!)
Say, do you guys... or girls
Say, do you guys... or girls have a forum of your own? I kinda wanted to leave praise for your stories but didn't know how.
Anyway, thank you for writing all your awesome stories,
Beyogi
Comments
Shifti is based on the same MediaWiki software that powers Wikipedia. That means that each story on the site (and generally most pages in general) have a dedicated "Discussion" page for leaving comments or asking questions. With our current, custom skin you'll find a link in the footer - 'Discuss' - that will take you to that page (or let you create it if it doesn't yet exist).
(and yes, I'm one of Shifti's administrators and a long-time BigCloset reader)
Thank you. Did I miss it or
Thank you. Did I miss it or do I need to register to be able to comment? Anyway, I'm going to check it out.