Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
The Dragon Tax, by Madison Keller
Portland, OR, Hundeliebe Press, June 2016, trade paperback $9.99 (141 pages), Kindle $2.99.
This lighthearted little book is an expansion of the short story that appeared in the RainFurrest 2015 charity anthology, A Menagerie of Heroes; now out of print. Sybil Dragonsbane, a young professional dragon slayer, is called to the Kingdom of Thima. It has a dragon problem – but not the usual kind:
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Fairytales Written by Rabbits, by Mary A. Parker. Illustrated by Michelle Cannon.
Melbourne, Vic., Australia, Ferox Publishing, September 2015, trade paperback $12.99 (x + 228 pages), Kindle $2.99.
Despite the charming cover by Michelle Cannon, “Fairytales” is a single word everywhere except on this cover.
Its countryside world seems very familiar —
“But first they must catch you.” (p. 1)
With a major difference –
“The dus
Submitted by Fred Patten
Doglands, by Tim Willocks
NYC, Random House, September 2011, hardcover $16.99 (308 [+1] pages), Kindle $9.99.
This has been published by Random House Children’s Books, but packaged to look like an adult title. Most reviews (non-furry) have compared it to London’s The Call of the Wild crossed with Adams’ Watership Down. The dogs in it talk to each other, which qualifies it for reviewing here.
“Once upon a time in the Doglands, a blue greyhound gave birth to four pups
(Continuing yesterday’s Part 1.)
Here’s the thing – most of the anger towards Fursonas is because it wasn’t the doc we expected, or to some, what they wanted.
A lot of that comes with the general history of the fandom. How media took our hobby and portrayed it as a pagan cult of sex crazed orgies, by animal-suited maniacs. From Vanity Fair, CSI, MTV, etc portraying us as a fetish rather then a community of artists, writers, dancers, and more. The way they just don’t get what we are about is
(Note from Patch: thanks to the site’s valued long time contributor, Pup Matthias. As site manager, I don’t put a leash on writing, and this came from his self-motivated effort. Therefore, I’ll add a disclaimer that Matthias is sole author, independent from my previous posts and relationships or understandings with others. I had considered doing a followup about poorly-done mainstream Fursonas coverage called “furry is not a cult,” but then decided that enough conversation was already happening.
Submitted by Fred Patten
The 2015 Cóyotl Awards, presented by the Furry Writers’ Guild for four categories of the Best Anthropomorphic Literature of the 2015 calendar year, were recently announced at a presentation ceremony at the Rocky Mountain Fur Con in Denver, Colorado.
The winners and runners-up are:
Best Novel
Winner
Barsk: The Elephant’s Graveyard by Lawrence M. Schoen (Tor Books, December 2015)
Runner-Up
Forest Gods by Ryan Campbell (Sofawolf Press, September 2015)
The
On this podcast, host Fingers Malloy talks about his visit to Rocky Mountain Fur Con in Denver. It starts 20 minutes in. Thanks to Kieran for sending this.
It’s a gentle outsiders’ look. Fingers has a pastime of making fun of politics, but furries are spared overdone mockery. (“They’re not hurting anyone”, he says). He mentions past negativity and compares it to picking low-hanging fruit.
Enough Already is for pop culture and conservative politics. In fact it shares some serious connections
Remember when everyone went nuts about Zootopia’s animators talking to furries, and even nutsier when it came out that they were intentionally marketing to us? They noticed us!
But could the conspiracy go even deeper? Have you heard other furs wondering if we have insiders in the media (even celebrities), or Secret Furry animators making movies we love?
Here’s an interview with one of those animators. For obvious reasons, identifying details are protected. I can’t reveal where they work,
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Legacy: Dawn, by Rukis. Illustrated by the author.
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, June 2016, hardcover $29.95 (383 pages), trade paperback $19.95.
This is a mature content book. Please ensure that you are of legal age to purchase this material in your state or region.
Legacy: Dawn is a standalone novel by Rukis, set in her world of Red Lantern (Sofawolf Press, March 2012) and Heretic (FurPlanet Productions, January 2013)
This is different, yet it’s familiar. Say one day you are walking down the street doing your business when someone catches your eye. They look human. They have the eyes, nose, lips, skin, but that’s not what grabbed your attention. It was the ears for they are not human, but of an animal. Your first though is of a cat. Then you look down to notice a tail. You want to know more about this person. What they are, why they are like this, and maybe, just maybe, you want to explore more. That is what
Submitted by Fred Patten
Song of the Summer King, by Jess E. Owen. Map.
Whitefish, MT, Five Elements Press, July 2012, hardcover $30.00 ([viii +] 246 [+2] pages), paperback $12.99, Kindle $4.99.
“Shard is a gryfon in danger. He and other young males of the Silver Isles are old enough to fly, hunt, and fight–old enough to be threats to their ruler, the red gryfon king. In the midst of the dangerous initiation hunt, Shard takes the unexpected advice of a strange she-wolf who seeks him out, and
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Dream Jumper. Book One, Nightmare Escape, by Greg Grunberg & Lucas Turnbloom.
NYC, Scholastic Press/Graphix, July 2016, hardcover $24.99 (203 [+1] pages), trade paperback $12.99, Kindle $7.99.
In this adventure fantasy recommended for grades 5 to 8, middle school student Ben Maxwell is failing because he keeps falling asleep in classes from exhaustion. He has nightmares every night about monsters chasing him and his school
The More You Know is a new video podcast hosted by Victor Dimitroff. Season 1 Episode 4: Media in the Furry Fandom talks to guests Pup Matthias (David) from Dogpatch Press and Makyo from [Adjective][Species]. While Victor is still in the beginnings of building his channel, I see a lot of promise in his approach to finding guests and planning notes for good conversation of interest to furries. Take a look.
This is about media by furries, not outsiders. Specifically the kind that covers what’s
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Les Ailes du Singe. T.1, Wakanda, by Étienne Willem.
Geneva, Switzerland, Éditions Paquet, May 2016, hardbound €14,00 (48 pages).
This is another fine entry in Lex Nakashima’s & my project to bring American furry fans the best of new French-language animalière bandes dessinées. We covered Étienne Willem’s previous four-volume L’Épée d’Ardenois, set about the 13th century with knights in armor. Les Ailes du Singe, The Wings
Ahmar Wolf’s profile pic
I have an impression that “Furry News” sources are limited to a very select handful of ones with general focus (Flayrah, Adjective Species, or Dogpatch Press). There’s also a few specialized ones (Furstarter, Gaming Furever, Furry.today for videos, or some literary ones with inconsistent presence.)
Furry Times only recently came across my radar. It was by direct outreach from Ahmar Wolf (the founder who may work with a contributor from time to time). It escaped my n
Good day Fluffer Nutters. Around Anthrocon, we did an article highlighting all 25 books being released by Furplanet, but there were and are still more Furry books being released that we didn’t cover from the many other publishers and self-publishers. This list covers the rest that I can find. If you know any that I missed, feel free to mention them in the comments. Hope you enjoy your next furry obsession.
SOFAWOLF PRESS
Franko, Fables of the Last Earth by Cristobal Jofre and Angel Bernier (Ge
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Fred writes: three or four reviews of furry books that I wrote in 2003 or 2004 have vanished from the Internet. I wrote them for the first version of Watts Martin’s Claw & Quill site, which he has apparently taken down. Here they are back online.
Hoenix, by Ted R. Blasingame.
Morrisville, NC, Dennier Publishing/Lulu, August 2004, trade paperback $12.49 (343 pages).
For about a quarter-century from 1925 to 1950, millions
Art by SabretoothedErmine
War. War never changes. Obvious Fallout reference aside, and yet it’s a subject that our fandom never fully explored. Especially in an anthology, but that changes. The new war theme anthology The Dogs of War is OPEN FOR SUBMISSION. Headed by our own Fred Patten, this anthology, as stated, covers the topic of war, but that doesn’t mean every story has to be your typical “war” story.
These [stories] may be serious or humorous, featuring battle action or the boredom of
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Fred writes: three or four reviews of furry books that I wrote in 2003 or 2004 have vanished from the Internet. I wrote them for the first version of Watts Martin’s Claw & Quill site, which he has apparently taken down. Here they are back online.
It’s More Fun When You’re Not Allowed: Namir Deiter, Year One, by Isabel Marks. Fredericksburg, VA, Fuzzy Kitten Comics/Studio Ironcat, September 2004, trade paperback $11.95 (128
Submitted by Fred Patten
Fred writes: a few reviews of furry books that I wrote in 2003 or 2004 have vanished from the Internet. I wrote them for the first version of Watts Martin’s Claw & Quill site, which he has apparently taken down. Here they are back online.
Rats, Bats & Vats, by Dave Freer & Eric Flint. Maps by Randy Asplund.
Riverdale, NY, Baen Books, September 2000, hardcover $23.00 (388 pages), Kindle $6.99; September 2001, paperback $7.99 (448 pages).
The Rats, the Bat
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer. Fred writes: three or four reviews of furry books that I wrote in 2003 or 2004 have vanished from the Internet. I wrote them for the first version of Watts Martin’s Claw & Quill site, which he has apparently taken down. Here they are back online.
Leaping Beauty: And Other Animal Fairy Tales, by Gregory Maguire. Illustrated by Chris L. Demarest.
NYC, HarperCollinsPublishers, August 2004, hardcover $15.99 (197 pages, Kindle
From Cornbread’s photo gallery
Sports fans are notoriously devoted. Fursuits are incredibly photogenic. Mascots and fursuiting make a powerful crossover when they meet.
It happens at games when fursuiting fans get noticed for national TV. Sometimes a furry gets to be a mascot with the sweet moves and personalities that seem to spring naturally from our cons. There are even official, high-profile team characters commissioned from fursuit makers.
That’s all covered in the article series
The National Mascot Hall of Fame is coming in 2017. This mainstream event might deserve furry attention. It’s a series here:
1) The beginning of mascots and fursuiting. 2) Fursuiting crossover with pro sports. 3) The National Mascot Hall of Fame.
Could a full time mascot-based tourist attraction include furries somehow? Maybe they will indirectly benefit. Imagine an exhibit dedicated to hobbyist costuming, and how it’s an institution in places like Pittsburgh. If that happened, Uncle Kage
We are in the heart of summer. The pools are open, the grills are cooking, and for us writers, Sofawolf’s long running anthology Heat is OPEN FOR SUBMISSION for their fourteenth volume. One of, if not the longest, and the most prominent, anthology in the fandom; Heat is once again open for all of your erotic encounters. But outside of being an erotic anthology, Heat never does a yearly theme like its contemporaries like Roar, Fang, or Trick or Treat.
Heat does not, and has never had, a theme be
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
The Fuzzy Conundrum, by John F. Carr & Wolfgang Dietr.
Boalsburg, PA, Pequod Press, May 2016, hardcover $32.00 (421 pages), Kindle $7.99.
The Fuzzies’ story goes on! For the record, this is the sixth approved novel in the series. They are: Little Fuzzy (1962), Fuzzy Sapiens (1964), and Fuzzies and Other People (1984), by H. Beam Piper; Fuzzy Ergo Sum (2011), and Caveat Fuzzy (2012), by Wolfgang Dietr; and The Fuzzy Conundr
