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SHOWHOUND (Patreon)

Published:
2025-11-16 22:32:29
Imported:
2025-11
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As is customary, here is all three chapters of the now-complete story, strung together and formatting appropriately for all of your reading and archiving pleasure! And as is also customary, here's the synopsis:

How much of the real Sartha Thrace remains? Sartha herself wonders - but as Handler brings her to the Empire's heart to play power games that will stretch her mind to its limits, there is no time to dwell on the question.

The show must go on.

With that, this chapter of WARHOUND is at an end. Thank you all for reading! SHOWHOUND is certainly a little more out-there in a few ways than the previous parts of the story, so I'm grateful to you all for giving me a chance and providing me with the opportunity to attempt things like this. It's important to my vision of WARHOUND, but just as important to me is hearing what all of you think. I'm very keen for feedback on SHOWHOUND (both positive and negative - I want to improve!) so please, don't hold back. If you'd prefer to be anonymous, you can use my Tetratto askbox here

I think all that remains is to offer my deepest possible thanks once more to Maggie, Olivka, and Esme for their beta reading and editing assistance

Comments

Kitty Litter

I personally very much liked this chapter!! While I didn’t like it as much as other parts of warhound, it has its own appeal for sure

Yasha

My head is still spinning. This is a hugely different experience. Lots to think about here, things that worked and things I didn’t enjoy. The first thing is that this is a wildly different genre. That’s immediately obvious - the shift from ruined cities (where WARHOUND, HUNTING HOUND, and possibly RESCUE HOUND open) to the circus signals to the reader that this is going to be a whole other adventure. I used to read RESCUE HOUND listening to Danger Days; this would be better suited to a queasy late Romantic symphony to start, and Shostakovich’s 10th at the start of Ch. 3. The question isn’t whether it meets people’s expectations, it’s whether it ignores them in a rewarding way. For me, the best part is the interaction between Sartha and Kione. Learning that Sartha was about to say yes to Kione (or, at least, that she thought she was) broke my heart in a way that leaves me craving more. A close second is the fight with Kosterion. By contrast, none of the new characters we meet are developed enough to give me the visceral pain that RESCUE HOUND built to. But that’s not surprising - SHOW HOUND is less than a third the length (I’m guessing it’s around 30k words). I’m afraid to say that Sartha’s dark night of the soul doesn’t work for me. There are so many fascinating possibilities here - the increasing vulpinity of Sartha’s leashed form, the appearance of Sartha’s idea of her hero Thezea, the idea that somewhere inside her a fragment of her pre-Handler self has kept count of her kills - but none of them are given the space and exploration which I feel they’d need. Put simply, this is a story about Sartha disappointing herself, and for me that doesn’t carry the same weight as Sartha letting down others. I found myself drawn to WARHOUND, and particularly to RESCUE HOUND, by the sheer inexorable pressure pushing you towards disappointing people you care about. That - and the fact that it was set up over 100,00 words, with plenty of time for me to see it coming - made me sick with anxiety, and I loved every moment of it. Some of this is truly excellent - the fight in the circus is a fascinating opener and gives us a chance to see what’s going on in Sartha’s head after a couple of years away. Kynilandre is well-executed; sparing brushstrokes nevertheless give the reader plenty to work with. The lore is marvellous; we’re finally learning more about the setting and I enjoy it immensely. You described this as “a little more out-there” and that’s how it feels; experimental, almost a new medium. There’s so much potential here, but unfortunately I don’t buy the core conceit. Sartha lasted weeks or months without Handler; now, in Her presence, she has cognitive dissonance so strong it disables her? Maybe I’m buying into the mythos of Handler myself, maybe the Imperial court is taxing Sartha’s programming more than I understand, but it feels too easy. I’m hesitant to get into “what I would change”, because I tend to find that type of critique of my own work really irritating. But I also don’t want to just give unconstructive feedback. I guess, if you’d like my thoughts I’d be happy to share them. And please know that I am enormously grateful for your willingness to share your work - thank you, Kallie <3

Eff

Poor old Sartha. Poor old LEINTH, for crying out loud! Not Kione though, fuck her. This was an absolutely heart-wrenching read. The way you craft image and metaphor, your use of the unreliable narrator, the more impressionist style... absolutely sublime. Fantastic read. I simply can't wait until the next one!

Matthew C Snow

I recently got into the series (certainly messed with my brain chemistry while reading) and I really did enjoy this chapter. Not only you had good imagery that showcased her psychology, but how the fascist control was making them miserable despite being able to “let go” was very interesting

Nil

I think SHOWHOUND does a good job of fleshing out the Empire and characters like Handler/Kione without being too expository or revealing. It balances the power/kink of it all with the perpetual misery that Sartha, Leinth, and even Kione are stuck in as the Handler's bullshit reaches new heights. Also, the way that it highlights the hollow core of the Empire and how the Handler's ideology and control leaves people just as empty. It was one of the more miserable entries (affectionately, of course) and I enjoyed the return to Sartha's POV. I want to give criticisms/ more constructive feedback but I don't really have any atm, if I think of something I'll likely comment it in the future.

MoonFlud

I loved this so much, it was fascinating to get a look back into Sartha's mind and see her programming stretched to its breaking point. My only wish is we got another few chapters in before the end, but I could say that about a vast majority of your writing. I know good ends normally aren't in the cards for your protagonists, but I'd love to see Handler get a bad end some day; She mentioned in Hunting Hound that both Sartha and Leinth "Would gladly kill her given the chance" and neglecting Sartha's programming seems like the perfect opportunity for some dramatic irony~

Oceanus Thetitan

A lot of lore drop , the part that intrigues me the most is the former group of sartha , such a valiant defiance. Sadly the god dont care for such heroic and only the strong(in every definition )thrive

Rose Murray

Will this be released on AO3 like warhound was if so when I have friends that loooooooved warhound and I’ve been hyping up showhound to them and they’re really excited to read it!!!!

C.C. RED

Ahem Excuse me but I am going to write an essay about WARHOUND now. Thank you for your patience in this matter. In all seriousness, it's hard for me to even know where to start, especially because my thoughts and feelings are still swirling around like a maelstrom. I only started WARHOUND like a week ago and blitzed through the series in a feverish haze- half enraptured, half utterly screaming on the inside the entire time. And then almost the same day I caught up, SHOWHOUND dropped, lmao So maybe it's best I start there. I get the sense that SHOWHOUND was written, at least a bit, with people like myself in mind; people who want to see inside Sartha Thrace's head again, and know that at least one moment of her life since being captured was genuinely warm. And boy, does this deliver, and then some. How much of Sartha Thrace remains? Here, we see that the answer is complicated, which is obvious in some ways and a relief in others. I adore the easy you've characterized Sartha through the eyes of those around her up till now. More than once, someone has declared the truth of Sartha to be a great, yawning black hole with nothing at the center. Which, as an aside, has been such a thematic goddamn banger every time it's come up. As others have mentioned, SHOWHOUND feels really experimental, but I think this is exactly the right moment for the series to stretch out and play like this. You've married the different sides of the story more than ever, in this one, and like all marriages, that comes with some confusion at first. But it feels right for this to act as the introduction to “volume 2,” by returning to Sartha at last, to reset the tone and expectations for the story going forward. There's a sense that this one might have been a strain on you, trying to thread the needle of the different “modes” this series encapsulates. There's the literary and storytelling “mode” that demands a certain integrity to narrative and theme; the dark, lurid fantasy of the smutty “mode,” which beckons towards yet further depths; and there's the “mode” of the writer, who's gotta please an audience with a hundred different desires, who's gotta make a living. All of these come with their own set of expectations and I'm sure it was tiring working so hard to piece them all together just right. Not unlike the feeling of everybody looking at you like a Big Damn Hero, I imagine, come to think of it… I really want good things for poor Sartha Thrace. And yet my literary writer brain tells me this story is too bleak; he best we're gonna get is her going down in a blaze of glory, and that's if we're very lucky (and very very good for Handler IMEANWHAT) Meanwhile, my smutty writer brain tells me the hottest thing is (probably??) for the Handler's hold to be redoubled and redoubled again, a thousandfold, into a sort of nauseating pleasurable future, wherein all of humankind is Sartha Thrace, muzzled tight, collar choking her lifeless, still-screaming corpse. But SHOWHOUND feels like the first time we've had a vision of a different way things might go. I really do appreciate how this installment confirms there are embers of Sartha's selfhood remaining. I'm a firm believer that you can't ever actually, completely, destroy a person unless they are quite literally dead. I dunno if I'd go so far as to call it a soul, but if nothing else, our brainmeats are really goddamn resilient and can reformat from almost any amount of destruction. (ask me how I know lol) Hell, that's almost certainly what Handler counts on, in her methods. But I also know what it's like to be so…so…so tired. Maybe not of being the Big Damn Hero obviously. But I think being a person, in general, is harder and more exhausting than it has any right to be. Especially nowadays. So my heart bleeds profusely for Sartha, knowing that she's so exhausted, and that there might be nothing left of her besides that exhaustion and the great black void. It bleeds out just as badly, though, knowing that she *is* in there. I get why she wants oblivion so badly. And yet SHOWHOUND offers a glimpse at something better. I can't even express to you, Kallidora, what the scene with Thezea means to me. I'm not even sure I know what I'd be expressing! The symbolism of the whip was incredible, in my opinion, as a counterpoint to Handler's leash around Sartha's neck. A whip has the aesthetics of a leash; a long, thin implement to assert authority, to dole out punishment and pleasure, as the wielder of that authority sees fit. But, crucially, the whip is not a binding implement the same way as a leash. Not that we don't love a bit of bondage, mind you, but in terms of visual metaphor, the whip is something that gives as much as it takes. It leaves marks of ownership without taking away choice. And that's exactly what Thezea tells Sartha, in her crazed fantasy. Of course, Ancyor showing up to interrupt was perfect, as a reminder that the darkness is never, ever, ever going away for Sartha Thrace, no matter what happens to her now or in the future. I think the two halves of the scene are an amazing, immaculate way of relieving some of the pressure cooker built up by the misery and darkness of this series, without deflating the pillars of wicked sexy and horrid fascism on either side. Even if things do turn out horribly for Sartha- even if those last embers of her identity are truly swallowed by the horror (because in fiction all things are possible)- there will always be a woman in the dark, with a leash that cracks like thunder and a warm gaze, and she's waiting for Sartha to come to heel in the morning. I am unimaginably moved by how this repudiates the Handler's ideology, reasserting the beauty of sincere consent, intimacy, and kink in our lives. In my humble opinion, you've really flexed your muscles here. It feels like watching an ace in the cockpit of her beloved mech, picking the exact right path to victory, and setting herself up so that the pieces fall exactly where she wants. Whatever you decide should come next, I legitimately think this story deserves to be considered a literary classic, because it's just that good. Thank you so much for this piece, Kallidora; you've written something really, truly special. It doesn't matter in the slightest that it's smutty sexy sexsmut, and in fact, it wouldn't be nearly as powerful if it wasn't. As I said on bluesky, I think this healed parts of my soul I didn't even realize needed healing, and I hope you got as much out of writing it as I did reading. I can't fucking wait for whatever comes next. P.S. no seriously I could go on for hours about this series without getting bored; I didn't even find the space here to get into all the tiny character details I picked up on and loved, bc I wanted to cover the broad scope of my feelings, and just UGH this is so good wut th ffyck kallieeeeeeee

Tumble Weed

Unfortunately I don't have an eloquent critique to share but I do want to say that what I feel after finishing SHOWHOUND is probably similar to how a rebel pilot surviving an Ancyor rampage feels. 🫠 Thank you for your writing, I am in great pain and despair.

C.C. RED

Coming back to this for a reread a couple weeks later, and I just gotta say, without my literary analysis goggles on...gods damn fuck this part is hot: “Nnnooooo,” Sartha drools happily. Handler starts raking Her nails gently across her scalp, and she gasps. “I dooooon’t… I’m bbbbaaaaadddd.” Somehow gets me every time 🥵

Doni

Part 3 felt like a mushroom trip in the most sincere way possible. The darkness the fear the wander the summoning of strength and desperation and fears coming back and then reality settling in again and it all comes back again, like it never even happened <3

13th Starling

It's already been said much better by prior comments, but I just wanted to say that this is a truly sublime piece of fiction and a real treat to read. Your writing provides a reading experience like nothing I've ever felt before - I was literally shaking by the end of reading SHOWHOUND. You have an incredible knack for depicting terrifying, putrid acts of evil in a manner that is consistently shocking, but never becomes overly gratuitous. I struggle to find the right words to express it, but there's a way in which you merge individual character perception into the descriptions of events and environments that lends itself incredibly well to the exploration of self that is a through-line throughout all of WARHOUND. In a story that tackles the question of how much of Sartha still exists, having a chapter in which she has to question how much of what is going on is truly real fit well. The avatar of her prior idol (who she possibly killed in chapter 1) being the figure that rises up in challenge to the Handler within her mind felt right. I did predict the resolution to the "killing the general" problem more or less as soon as Sartha started worrying about it, but if anything I feel like that helped to highlight Sartha's mental state well. WE can probably guess that the death of this general is going to be unimportant, but Sartha's not able or capable of seeing the big picture because of all the crazy stuff happening to her (and maybe the fact that part of her really wants the kill to mean something). The one *singular* piece of critique I had was that I felt like Athina's end came a little out of left field. The horror of it was executed perfectly (the decision to have her reconditioning come in the much more visceral from of lobotomy was a great call), but I did suddenly have to scramble back through the prior stories to try and figure out what her exact crime against the Handler was. Maybe this one is just on me for forgetting. The pacing is consistently phenomenal, with scenes flowing naturally into one another with really commendable deftness. The flow never dragged and it never felt like we moved too quickly; we always had just enough time to drink in the atmosphere before the next big gut punch happened. I found the ending offered up a good mixture of conclusions and new questions, although it felt more "final" than the endings to RESCUE HOUND or WARHOUND proper. I don't think this is a bad thing, it tees up the shift back to Kione in the next entry well. You've (yet again) made something really special here, and you should be incredibly proud.