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Mark your calendars: End-of-the-World date set for March 15, 2011
Holy smoke! He’s a toon!
Bait and Switch
By Austen Crowder
Anthropomorphic Dreams Publishing
Anyone who’s ever been a teenager knows that those years are full of awkward changes, and not just in a “Peter on The Brady Bunch” way. You’re starting to become an adult, but you’re not there yet. Your relationship with your family starts to warp dramatically. You have a really tough time figuring out what you do and don’t want.
Some of us have even more drastic changes that we go through. In Bait and Switch, our protagonist Fenton Cobbler has to cope with the fact that he’s turning into a cartoon fox.
This isn’t your typical furry book set in a world populated by animal-human hybrids; instead, this is a world where humans live alongside actual cartoons (picture Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and you have exactly the right idea). The twist: the whole toon thing is a fairly recent development, and the toons themselves don’t just spring out of nowhere—regular people turn into them.
The whole toon thing is the story’s obvious LGBT parallel (and admittedly so). A few years back, Fenton’s best friend Benny turned into a cartoon rabbit, and while the rest of their crowd all turned their backs on him, he and Fenton are still good friends. There’s the worry, of course, that continuing to hang around with Benny will cause him to turn into a toon, as well, leading into the societal debate as to whether becoming a toon is something that’s an innate part of you, or just a choice that you make.
To further complicate things, Fenton’s father is spearheading the anti-toon movement. A whole lot of people are riled up by toons flaunting their antics in public (and, much like the real world anti-gay movement, most of the reasons they cite are unfounded B.S.), whereas other people find the whole toon thing charming and harmless. There’s even a subculture of people called “painters,” who paint themselves up to look like cartoons and hang with the toon crowd, resulting in something that’s equal part fursuiter and fag-hag.
The story itself is fairly straightforward coming-out material: Fenton in slowly becoming a fox, he’s in denial about how much he truly wants it, and he’s afraid of disappointing his anti-toon father. A small number of friends try to convince him to just give in and be himself, while the rest adopt an attitude of, “It’s cool if you are, but it still weirds me out.” Also, a close family friend runs a program that attempts to “Realize” toons back into humans, though the results are less than reassuring.
For the most part, the whole “toon” thing works pretty well from a narrative standpoint, though the analogy isn’t a perfect one, and the way it fits in with the setting isn’t completely flawless. Even as far as a third of the way into the book, the details on how Toon and Real interact are still subject to further explanation, and in the end, it’s still not completely clear if the toon world exists alongside the real world, or in its own pocket dimension, or possibly both. It is pretty fun, however, and it’s clear that the author has a lot of passion for “old-fashioned” cartooning, which isn’t something that you see much anymore.
Perhaps the most glaring thing is the way that toon antics are handled. The book makes it blatantly clear that toon-style “gags” are both their equivalent and substitute for sex. Sometimes it’s played off innocently, but even the characters still maintain that that’s what it is. This leads to the occasional disconnect, such as in one scene where two toons force each other to (harmlessly) swallow grenades in the living room in front of their human friend, and are then completely surprised by his shocked and disgusted reaction at their having effectively having had sex right in front of him, after it’s already been established that that’s basically what they just did. Also, the main point raised by the anti-toon brigade isn’t that they want to ban toons altogether, just that they don’t want them to be performing gags in public—I still can’t tell if that’s an unflattering portrayal of gay pride, or a brilliant bit of social satire about homophobic fears.
(Also, for some reason, whenever an example of a gag is brought up, nine times out of ten, it involves grenades, which makes me wonder if there are people with a grenade fetish out there.)
Still, in the end, the narrative is a solid one, and the logical inconsistencies that are bound to arise from such a fantastical premise don’t detract much from a pretty poignant story. In particular, the resolution of the main plot is quite satisfying in its non-cheesiness. Folks looking for a unique take on a coming-out story could do worse than to pick up Bait and Switch, especially anyone who might currently be dealing with sexuality or gender-identity issues in their own life.
FurAffinity gets Hijacked; Site Pulled
The Art of Camilla d’Errico
Camilla d’Errico is a fine artist and painter, widely known for her pictures of anime-style young women posing with animals. Her work has been seen in publications like Hi-Fructose, Kid Robot, and Juxtapoz. You can view more of her art, often referred to as “pop surrealism”, at her web site. Now Dark Horse Comics are set to release Femina & Fauna: The Art of Camilla d’Errico, this coming March. It’s advertised as “the largest and most comprehensive book of Camilla’s art ever published”. Well at very least it’s more than 100 pages of art in a large-format hardcover book. You can order it now at Amazon too.
image c. 2010 Camilla d'Errico
Cat vs Alligator
Stranger in a Strange Land: Furry Style
A Dirge for Prester John: Volume 1 – Habitation of the Blessed
By Catherynne Valente
Night Shade Books
I have to admit that what hooked me on this book was the book video. I’d read Catherynne Valente’s Palimpsest and enjoyed it, but the myth of Prester John–which I’d never heard of–was really interesting, and Valente sells it well in her video. With Star Wars and comic book figures.
In brief: Prester John is the supposed ruler of a fantastic kingdom which includes the Fountain of Youth, fabulous creatures, and untold riches. A letter, purportedly from him, was sent to the Emperor Manuel I of the Holy Roman Empire. It circulated throughout Europe and fired up imaginations, sparked quests and adventures, and began many religious arguments–Prester John was supposed to be descended from one of the Three Magi, and was a Nestorian Christian (they believed that Christ was a mortal man and that the spirit of God was a separate part of him, to over-summarize it).
So: we have a mythical kingdom that has inspired men for centuries, a sort of Dark Ages version of Shangri-La or El Dorado. And how can an author possibly do this justice?
This is only book one of three, but so far, Valente does an admirable job. In her hands, Pentexore, the kingdom of Prester John, has an element of wonder that is rare in modern fantasy. We expect dragons and wizards; Valente gives us blemmyae and panoti. She takes the various myths of the Prester John stories and weaves them together into an enchanting world where there really is a fountain of youth, where strange creatures live peacefully side by side, where the demons Gog and Magog have been imprisoned, where the ground is so fertile that anything buried in it will sprout a tree: beds, dead bodies, and books.
It is to a tree of books that the narrator of this tale, Brother Hiob, is brought by a mysterious woman in yellow. From the tree, he takes three books, which turn out to be Prester John’s own story of how he came to Pentexore, the story of Hagia, the blemmye who becomes his wife, and the story of Imtithal, a nurse to three royal children whose tale has become famous throughout Pentexore. Through Prester John’s eyes, we see the mystery and wonder of Pentexore; through Hagia’s, we see Pentexore’s bemusement and attempt to integrate Prester John into their traditions; through Imtithal’s, we come to understand the history of the land and how its traditions came to be.
Having reached this land of wonder, Prester John attempts to integrate it into his Christian mythology, with varying degrees of success. His quest in this first book is to find the tomb of Thomas Didymus, who supposedly came to Pentexore and died there. That quest carries the story through the first book, but it is really impossible to convey in a short review the sense of beauty and wonder that infuses every page of this book. For a furry audience intent on furry characters, there is plenty to love: a gryphon named Fortunatus who gives wise advice and a red lion named Hadulph who loves Hagia are among the wondrous creatures we meet.
Valente herself is (according to various bios) pretty familiar with various types of fandom groups, though not specifically the furry fandom. But the culture of Pentexore reminds me in some ways of the culture of fandoms in general: diverse, open, accepting to a fault, and fairly unashamed about sex. Into this mix she throws Prester John, the symbol of the establishment, trying to fit the land and its people into the preconceptions he has rather than accepting them as they are. The blemmyae are people who have no heads; their eyes are in their chests, where nipples would be, their mouths in their navels. The women therefore must bare their breasts, of course, and this disconcerts John to the point that he views them as sinful and avoids talking to them. But of course, it is with these most strange of creatures that John eventually falls in love.
Habitation of the Blessed is volume one of a trilogy, and while it tells a fairly complete story, it also leaves the reader anxious to find out what happens next. The tension of the story does not suffer from knowing the eventual end, not one bit. It is a lovely, beautiful story that leaves the reader with a lot to think about, and I would recommend it to any lover of modern fantasy.
Season 5 - Show 30
PELLET STOVE
Only Monday guys, hope this will brighten your week. (sfw)
Old skool furries
The Age of Reptiles Omnibus
It may seem only sideways anthropomorphic, but Ricardo Delgado’s Age of Reptiles comic book series earns a place here by virtue of its viewpoint: Life seen through the eyes of dinosaurs, and many species of dinosaurs at that. Besides, Ricardo Delgado himself was a guest speaker at several early furry fandom conventions! Now Dark Horse Comics is releasing the Age of Reptiles Omnibus, collecting the long out-of-print Age of Reptiles original series, the Age of Reptiles: The Hunt follow-up, and the never-before-collected third series, Age of Reptiles: The Journey. It’s a full-color trade paperback, and it’s coming to stores this February.
Warner Bros Literally Kills Yogi Bear
I don’t know if it’s the most brilliant viral marketing ever, or some animator that had too much free time and a sick sense of humor, but the “alternate ending” to Yogi Bear is the most fucked up thing I’ve ever seen.
Despite the fact that it claims to be a parody video, the production value on this looks too good for it not to be involved with the studio in some way.
It’s kind of sad that BooBoo shooting Yogi in the back of the head has guaranteed I’m going to see Yogi Bear when it hits theaters on December 17.
Balloon animals
The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo
By now you’ve likely heard of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first book in Stieg Larsson’s award-winning and wildly successful crime-drama trilogy. It, and the other books in the series, have also been made into successful movies. Well it seems that UK fantasy writer Adam Roberts could not leave well enough alone. He’s gone and written his own book entitled The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo, and it’s available now in the UK from Gollancz. Here’s the cover blurb: “Larssonous? Or out-and-out burglary? You know how dragons feel about burglars … Lizbreath Salamander is young and beautiful. Her scales have an iridescent sheen, her wings arch proudly, her breath has a tang of sulfur. And on her back a tattoo of a mythical creature: a girl. But when Lizbreath is drawn into a dark conspiracy she will have to rely on more than her beauty and her vicious claws the size of sabres . . . A dragon has disappeared, one of a secretive clan. As Lizbreath delves deeper into their history she realizes that these dragons will do anything to defend their secrets. Welcome to the world of The Dragon With The Girl Tattoo. A world of gloomy Nordic dragons leading lives uncannily like our own (despite their size, despite the need for extensive fireproofing of home furnishings), a world of money hoarded, a world of darkness and corruption. A world where people are the fantasy.” You can find out more about all of this at Adam Roberts’ new blog.
image c. 2010 Adam Roberts
Woman Provides Sanctuary for Big Cats
8 Vote(s)
Panda costumes used to fool four-month-old cub
8 Vote(s)
a4Meet Bucka4 by Team Cerf
8 Vote(s)
National Alliance on Mental Illiness
11 Vote(s)
Woyro's Warren episode 112---Foreign Furry Cons
A very productive weekend!
Been feeling a little down lately. I guess it comes with the cold weather and such.
BUT, i managed to crank out a new episode of Woyro's Warren. This one is a little longer than usual. Partly to make up for the last short episode.
This time around i talk about cons i'm planning to go to this next year. Plus i'll be talking about furry cons outside of the US. this will take several episodes. I also added some music to the middle of the show. a song called "ConSuite" by Max DeGroot. you can find more of Max's stuff at the Fump (Funny Music Project) Sideshow (thefump.com), at maxdegroot.com...or by googling Max DeGroot.
the show is available through iTunes, at woyroswarren.mevio.com, or from divshare. here is the divshare download link:
http://www.divshare.com/download/13481953-8ab
and here is the player thingie so you can listen right now: