Welcome to Talking Ponies!

Talking Ponies is a virtual refrigerator for racs folks to tack stuff on using virtual magnets.
("racs" is an acronym for rec.arts.comics.strips, a remarkably congenial Usenet newsgroup.)

This webpage actually has nothing to do with ponies, talking or otherwise, but as long as you're here, you might as well have a fun time looking at these magnificent specimens.  They are stallions at the Connemara Pony Show, Clifden, Ireland, in August of 2006.


This website is intended for racs denizens to post one-offs: panels, strips, artworks, stories... whatever won't work on the newsgroup itself for whatever reason (usually, probably, because of the text-only nature of racs).  While it technically belongs to Brian Fies, it is actually operated by someone else -- think of it as the Garfield model.  Or, perhaps, Wales.

Tack your stuff on the refrigerator door here (proviso: inclusion depends entirely on the whim of the webmaster and his bandwidth restrictions.)


News flash: ronniecat's pets  gallery now lives here at Talking Ponies!

Pets gallery page 1

Pets gallery page 2



Contributions -- Click on the thumbnail image to be taken to the real deal:



  Mike Peterson shares some of Will Elder's gems. 
(Click on each thumbnail for the pages.)


Mike Peterson's fossil.  (That's right, no "a".) 


  This is not a pet.  This is a Command Module Pilot.


In a moment of Loony-cee, Paige takes off on Sir Paul Macca. 


  Exclusive to Talking Ponies: a slice of life from Brian Fies.


  On the inception of Talking Ponies, J.C. Dill noted that  
"IMHO the Talking Ponies ... site should at least link to the singing horses."
Done, but be aware that these horses are singing in German.


  Sherwood shares one of his most closely-kept secrets about fine barbeque.



Talking Ponies background (from Sherwood Harrington):

In December, 2006, some regulars of the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.comics.strips ("racs" for short) gave copies of Brian Fies's Mom's Cancer to relatives as Christmas presents.  An e-mail interchange among Mike Peterson, ronniecat, Sherwood Harrington, and Brian included these lines from Sherwood (who had recently lost a family member to cancer) and Mike:

SH: Thanks [to] Brian, whose work has helped us all and, crappy as life can be, will probably do so again.
MP: I'm almost apologetic at this point in saying that I'm giving Brian's book to my kids at Christmas but did not ask him to sign it, since I expect that they will, at some point, want (need) to give it away. I think you need to do one about talking ponies now, Brian.  [Emphasis editorial.]

Sherwood pressed the suggestion (if "I think you need to" from Deacon Peterson can really be termed a "suggestion") by registering the domain "TalkingPonies.com" and giving it to Brian with the clear intent that he fill it with stuff.  Such a gift: "here's a big rock, now carry it around and be grateful for it."  As ronniecat wrote, "I am trying, and failing, to imagine the expression on Brian's face as he reads that.  'What in the HELL am I going to do with talkingponies.com?'"

Graceful as Brian is, though, he's embraced the concept in a very nice way:  In January, 2007, he wrote this about the "Talking Ponies" project, heretofore a solution in search of a problem:  "I think it'd be pretty great if through the site we could all share work, keep in touch, etc."  And he proceeded to put his walk where his talk is by submitting an original slice-of-life strip.

So here's "Talking Ponies" for racs-ites.  Let's have some fun with it, and hope that it becomes even half as enjoyable as ronniecat's pets pages have been for us.