Feed aggregator
Tailless, by Erin Quinn – book review by Fred Patten.
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Tailless, by Erin Quinn
Las Vegas, NV, Rabbit Valley Books, May 2016, trade paperback $20.00 (284 [+ 1] pages).
Dolores, a young tailless vixen, is a waitress at Max’s lower-class diner. When she is molested by a drunken rat customer, Max (a fatherly bear) moves in to protect her; but she can take care of herself.
“Dolores clenched her serving tray to her side and took a step forward. Her heals clacked against the wooden floor. The diner became quite. ‘I wasn’t done with ya, sweetie. How about bring that bare bottom back over here?’ She toyed with the idea of clawing his face, but her father’s words echoed between her ears: ‘Young ladies do not raise their claws.’” (p.1)
The problem is that they are in the city of ‘Lo, Lyndon, and Lyndon lost the Common War with Ulick a year ago. King Scottsburg (lion) is furious and is executing most of his old advisors, their families, and anyone else he doesn’t like as traitors. Dolores and Max cannot afford to do anything that will bring themselves to the attention of his Royal Guard. Dolores is something of a mystery woman:
“Ever since they met Max had been curious about her. She arrived six months ago with little more than the clothes on her back. The easy option would have been to turn away a girl who had no work history, no credits to buy a meal, and a vague explanation for why she was in the city. But she was eager to help and wanted very little in return. Max couldn’t say no.” (p. 3)
It’s not giving away much of a spoiler to reveal that Dolores is really Belladonna Sinclair, daughter of a minister personally executed by King Scottsdale. While the Sinclair family was in favor before the war, Dolores/Belladonna was in a close friendship with young Tym Timmons (gray and black tabby cat). Since the war, Tym is the new Minister of the Interior, in charge of finding and executing the king’s enemies. He dares to plead for Belladonna’s pardon since she was innocent of her father’s treason, but King Scottsdale is adamant that she be publicly killed. The missing Belladonna/Dolores’ hiding is helped by the fact that nobody knows that she lost her tail in the war (“‘I just got caught up in a scuffle. It wasn’t too bad. Honestly, I’m sure whoever swung the sword wasn’t aiming for my tail.’” – p. 29), but it does make her stand out. She is now in hiding in ‘Lo, helped by her taillessness and the fatherly Max, and by James Euclid (skunk), the handsome son of her former (slain) university professor.
Tailless (cover by Robbye “Quel” Nicholson) is a combination of a soap opera and an adventure novel, with three story lines. One features Dolores’ new life as a waitress, with new friends like Max, Gretchen Went (brown squirrel), and James Euclid. Now that she is old enough to be interested in romance, she wonders if her friendship with Tym was more than just friendship, or if she is developing a romance with James – or with Gretchen. A second is with Prowl Milton (middle-aged wolf), a former minister now in hiding in the port city of Dret to escape King Scottsdale’s soldiers, and trying to get out of Dret before his disguise as humble Willow Grey is uncovered. The third is with Tym Timmons, leading the manhunt for Milton and Belladonna, to execute the wolf but hoping to spare his old friend.
My summary of Tailless is “eh”. It’s a good story, with Quinn cleverly holding back several secrets to be revealed one at a time. (Minor spoiler: lizards enter the story on p. 120.) But the basic setup makes it never convincing. The characters are each random fuzzy mammals (raccoons, ocelots, rabbits, cheetahs, deer, tigers, horses, etc.) who could just as easily be humans. A vixen trying to decide whether she loves a housecat, a skunk, or a squirrel? A cute child is a hybrid: “Her features could not be ignored, the fox like tail, the cat whiskers, the red and grey colors melding fur coats of diverse species parents.” (p. 21), making you wonder why all the animal-peoples of this world of Azul are not homogenized by now.
Tailless is horribly proofread, or more likely not proofread at all. On the first page alone, in addition to “heals” (heels) and “quite” (quiet), there are “Dolores folded her ears back and shook her head, she yearned […]”, “[…] buried his face his in paws.”; and “The rat’s eyes were in faraway state […]” Other errors include “The idea of the rabid praying on her” (“rabble” and “preying”), “When her tailed was grabbed”, and “what are people are scared of?” Never mind the literary merit or lack of same; the typographical and spelling errors make this a “grit your teeth and plow ahead” book.
Why do the kings have such names as King Scottsdale and King Grayson? Scottsdale’s full name is given more than once; King Richard Scottsdale the Third. This is done too often to be an error. Everyone should know that kings and queens are known by their personal names, not their dynastic names. Is this deliberate to make the furry world of Azul more exotic? It just looks weird.
Read Tailless if you’re really desperate for furry fiction.
Pointy, Furry Ears
New from Retrofit Comics comes Elf Cat In Love, a new hardcover black & white graphic novel by James Kochalka (creator of American Elf and Johnny Boo). “When the incredibly conceited Elf Cat goes on a quest for the Ice Sword with his magical friend Tennis Ball, they will face dragons, magical hot dogs, snowflake princesses, and confront their feelings! If you find love in many places, can you see it when it is right in front of you?” Mr. Kochalka’s drawn a few interesting stories with cats… Previews has all this and more, of course.
image c. 2016 Retrofit Comics
TigerTails Radio Season 9 Episode 52
Let’s talk about publishing: contracts
New small presses explicitly targeting the furry market have been springing up over the last few years, while some of our older presses have been producing more titles. Meanwhile, the number of furry authors has grown steadily. Submission calls that might have received only a couple dozen submissions even three years ago receive three or four times that in mid-2016.
As fantastic as this growth is, the furry publishing scene is still tiny. Not only do writers know each other, writers tend to know publishers and vice-versa. For the most part, we’re all friends with one another, and we’re all figuring out this “creating a market” thing as we go. As far as I know, all the editors and publishers in furrydom became editors and publishers by fiat; some of us might have worked at college presses, but I’m not aware of anyone who worked for a major fiction publishing house or periodical, even as a slush reader. A lot of business gets conducted in…let’s call it a relaxed fashion.
As it turns out, “handshake contracts” are surprisingly common in the literary small press world, particularly poetry journals that pay in contributors’ copies rather than money, to the point where there’s a de facto industry standard for it. But when money changes paws, it’s important for both parties to nail down exactly what they expect of one another.
So let’s talk about contracts. What a publishing contract should do is fairly straightforward:
- Define the rights the author grants the publisher. In most cases, these are first publication rights—the story hasn’t been published anywhere else, including archive sites like Fur Affinity—with limited exclusivity: after an amount of time given in the contract passes, the author can publish the story somewhere else that accepts reprints. A six-month period of exclusivity is typical. (Note that magazines buy serial rights, but books and anthologies buy rights to a geographical region: North American rights, World rights, etc. You’re free to sell the book again to other publishers outside that geographical region; this is why novels often have different publishers in the US and Europe.)
- Define the amount the publisher is paying for those rights, how they’re paying it (check, Paypal, doubloons, etc.), and when they’re paying it. If you’re being paid by the word, the total amount you’re being paid should be specified here. Some contracts specify payment on acceptance; many specify it on publication. In either case, the contract should give a window (“within 30 days of publication”).
- Cover appropriate electronic and subsidiary rights. If the contract allows the publisher to archive your work indefinitely on a web site, do you have the right to withdraw it after a certain length of time? If this is a novel, are you granting the publisher rights to produce the ebook? (Some authors, like Kyell Gold, self-publish their ebooks.) What about any other subsidiary rights, like audiobooks?
- Give the publisher a deadline, so they can’t sit on the work indefinitely (“if the publisher fails to produce Great Furry Stories within one year of the execution date of this contract, rights revert back to the author”).
- Guarantee approval over content editing changes. The publisher should be able to fix spelling errors without running them by you, but not change your grizzled Vietnam vet protagonist to a twelve-year-old kid.
- In furry, it’s not unheard of for authors to end up paying for art out of their own pocket and have the publisher repay them. If you do this, get the reimbursement amount of the art in the contract, too, even if it has to be a single-paragraph addendum.
What a publishing contract shouldn’t do is also straightforward: it shouldn’t take any more rights than necessary, and it shouldn’t leave anything significant undefined. If the answer to “when do I get paid” or “when can I sell reprint rights to this story or put it up for my fans on FA” isn’t answered by the contract, there’s a problem. And it shouldn’t ask you to assign exclusive rights in perpetuity. (Carefully consider assigning even non-exclusive rights in perpetuity, especially for a flat rate.)
The SFWA Model Magazine Contract runs 8 pages, but there’s extensive annotation explaining each clause—and a few somewhat unusual clauses. In practice, most publishing contracts, at least for magazines and anthologies, don’t need to run more than a couple pages.
If you’re concerned about a clause in a contract, ask. If you’d like a clause changed, bring it up with your publisher and explain why. Contracts are negotiations, not “take it or leave it” propositions. And if a publisher insists on a clause you’re worried about, bring it up with the Guild. We may not be able to negotiate on your behalf, but we can let other members know about potential issues.
And one more thing. Contracts should be signed before work starts. Before the publisher sends the author any money, before the publisher starts going back and forth with the author on editorial changes, and for the love of Judy Hopps, before the publication goes on sale. If your story is a month away from publication and you haven’t seen a contract, ask the publisher. Better yet, ask when it’s two months away.
I suspect the advice in this column may make some publishers tear their fur out, and I’m sorry. But I’ve been sent contracts when—or even after—books and magazines went on sale. Sometimes I’ve never received a contract. As far as I can tell, my experience isn’t unusual. The more the furry publishing scene grows, the greater chance being lackadaisical has of causing serious problems for publishers, writers, or both.
Because we are all friends with one another, this subject can be hard to talk about. But getting contracts right helps everyone, publishers and writers alike.
I’ll talk about other considerations for publishing in other articles, including marketing, production and editorial. These are good for writers to know—and it’s good for writers if publishers know them, too.
The Mancer Series (Books 1-6): Book Review by Fred Patten
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Pyromancer, by Don Callander. Map by the author.
NYC, Ace Books, May 1992, paperback $4.50 ([v +] 292 pages)
Aquamancer, by Don Callander. Map by the author.
NYC, Ace Books, January 1993, paperback $4.99 ([v +] 289 pages)
Geomancer, by Don Callander. Map by the author.
NYC, Ace Books, January 1994, paperback $4.99 (v +] 257 pages)
Aeromancer, by Don Callander.
NYC, Ace Books, September 1997, paperback $5.99 ([iii +] 289 pages)
Marbleheart, by Don Callander.
NYC, Ace Books, July 1998, paperback $5.99 (278 pages).
The Reluctant Knight, by Don Callander.
Cincinnati, OH, Mundania Press, June 2014, paperback $12.95 (204 pages)
Curious … The first five of these were published without a series title, between 1992 and 1998. They were reprinted by Mundania Press in 2013 as the Mancer Series, with a sixth in 2014. By Don Callander, but ISFDB says that he died before that. Donald Bruce Callander, March 23, 1930 – July 26, 2008.
What’s more, the copyright dates of the first three 2013 reprints agree with the Ace editions, 1992, 1993, and 1994. But for the last two they are 1995 and 1996, not 1997 and 1998 when the Ace editions were published, and with The Reluctant Knight © 1995 (and Marbleheart © 1996) even though it wasn’t published until 2014.
Ace Books published a lot of whimsical light fantasies in the 1990s, by authors such as Piers Anthony, John DeChancie, Esther Friesner, and Craig Shaw Gardner. Most of them have talking animals in supporting or minor roles, such as Gardner’s 1990 Revenge of the Fluffy Bunnies, but none are really memorable. (Maybe Scandal, the wisecracking kitten, who is a major character in Friesner’s Majyk trilogy.) But Callander’s Marbleheart Sea Otter, a furry sidekick in the original series, was popular enough to win his own starring sequel in 1998.
I won’t say that Callander’s fantasies are bad — they aren’t, really, for those who like light fantasies. But they are very – I’m not sure whether “cute” or “twee” fits them better. They are the type of fantasies that other fantasy writers make fun of; full of singing and dancing pixies and elves and fairies and friendly animals. And furniture & utensils. Here is dinnertime at Wizard’s High, a wizard’s cottage:
“Shortly they sat down to a feast and were regaled by the antics of the salt and pepper shakers and the serious, droll sayings of the Gravy Boat, who also chanted Sea songs and seamen’s ditties for them.
A pair of fire tongs did a clattery clog dance on the hearth, and Blue Teakettle herself acted as ringmistress over it all and kept the good food hot and savory, coming at just the right pace and intervals. Toward the end the entire chorus of pots and pans sang old favorites with the crocks and cutting board humming along in perfect harmony. And never once did Douglas consider how odd this little household was.” (Pyromancer, p. 10)
Douglas Brightglade, a lively and cheery lad, answers a wizard’s advertisement:
APPRENTICE WANTED
To learn the MYSTERIES and SECRETS of
WIZARDRY in the Discipline of FIRE
From a MASTER MAGICIAN, SUPREME SPELLCASTER
WONDERFUL WIZARD
AND PRESTIGIOUS PYROMANCER!
And learn Douglas does, from the wizard Flarman Flowerstalk over four novels and five years. He meets all sorts of talking animals and objects, from Flarman’s busybody, clattery Bronze Owl doorknocker, to the seagulls Cerfew, Tratto, and Trotta (she’s a girl; a Gullfriend), to the porpoises Skimmer, Leaper, and Spinner, to Oval, the Giant Sea Tortoise, to the evil Ice King’s spies:
“‘It is best we become more circumspect in our comings and goings from now. I’ve seen some suspicious crows hanging around the top of the High lately.’
‘Yes, I noticed them and told Bronze Owl about them. He said he didn’t like the cut of their pinions.’” (Pyromancer, p. 81)
In Pyromancer, Douglas meets the above as he and Flarman Flowerstalk (who soon becomes Flarman Firemaster) join Augurian Watermaster to lead the free men, faeries, Dwarves, and other peoples of this world against the would-be world-conquering Frigeon, the Ice King, and his armies of orcs, ghouls, witches, banshees, goblins, and similar cruel monsters. Douglas also meets the beautiful island maiden Myrn Manster, who becomes his fiancée and Augurian’s Apprentice Water-Wizard. But Marbleheart isn’t in Pyromancer.
In Aquamancer Douglas, now a Journeyman Pyromancer, is sent by Flarman to journey to Old Kingdom, a part of this world he has never seen before, to investigate a rumor that a Coven of Black Witches is seizing power there. Douglas learns not only that the rumors are true, he’s captured by them (or seems to be). Myrn goes to his rescue!
But well before that, Douglas is swept overboard in a storm and meets Marbleheart.
“‘A river’s mouth?’ he [Douglas] wondered, aloud. Talking to himself was another habit he had acquired from Flarman, who kept up running conversations with himself while he worked. ‘And if so, is the river nearby?’
‘Not far away,’ said a cheerful voice, startling him by its nearness. He missed a stroke and submerged completely for a moment. He hadn’t seen the long, brown, sleek-bodied animal floating on its back in the water ahead of him, forelegs folded on its chest.
‘Sorry!’ said the animal, waving one forepaw. ‘I didn’t mean to startle you.’
Douglas trod water and examined the creature apprehensively. It had a narrow, streamlined body covered with luxuriant fur. Including tail and whiskers, it stretched at least five feet long in the water. Its narrow, pointed face was pleasantly rodent [rodent?], with a pert and upturned black nose and wide-set, intelligent eyes above flaring gray whiskers and sharp, white teeth. (Aquamancer, pgs. 34-35)
Douglas and Marbleheart immediately hit it off. The sea otter has explored the seas thoroughly, and is eager to see the inland areas. Young man and young otter not only become best friends, Douglas teaches Marbleheart some basic fire magic and the otter becomes his familiar. By the end of Aquamancer, Marbleheart is a full member of the wizardly coterie.
Geomancer begins with Douglas going north to a melting glacier. Naturally, Marbleheart goes along. This paragraph shows Callander’s penchant for using flowing multiple descriptors:
“From all around them came the rushing, gushing, gurgling, and tinkling of water dashing over stones and minor falls, hidden in cracks and crevices or dashing across smooth, flat slabs of dark blue gabro granite. Where their way crossed an icy streamlet or skirted a shallow pool of meltwater, the Otter paused a moment to splash and dabble. Cold or not, water was his preferred element.” (Geomancer, p. 6)
When a living stone giant seizes Douglas and a companion and carries them under the glacier, Marbleheart quickly follows them. The otter realizes that the magic involved is dangerous and above his level, but he doesn’t let that deter him from trying to help Douglas; even when it means following him to one of the driest deserts in the world. “‘Even if he hates waterless deserts,’ muttered Marbleheart under his breath. ‘No water! No fish!’” (p. 78) Marbleheart’s diet, by the way, throughout the series includes pork chops, which I can understand a sea otter liking, but also such dishes (at different times) as pancakes with lots of maple syrup, curried carrots, ice cream with strawberry sauce, and hot, sugary coffee.
“They were met by Clangeon, much relieved to see them again, and shortly the capable steward had set a tasty meal before them: fresh-caught, broiled Sea bass, watercress salad, spicy crab-cakes, and excellent corn bread, all of which Marbleheart declared were superb.” (Geomancer, p. 84)
“Marbleheart enthusiastically supervised the cooking until he was good-naturedly shooed away by the village wives for sampling the berry pies, marble cakes, and cookies too liberally before dinner.” (Geomancer, p. 183)
“‘Speech! Speech!’ called Marbleheart. He reached for the last piece of banana cream pie.” (Geomancer, p. 244)
He’s called by another character in Geomancer “the cuddly Marbleheart” (p. 60). Unfortunately, there’s a further reference on page 106 to him as a rodent:
“‘The heat is getting to him, poor rodent,’ Wong, who was beginning to learn to tease, said gently.’”
The first three Mancer novels (covers by Daniel R. Horne) were each published a year apart from 1992 to 1994. They cover Douglas Brightglade’s beginning his training, his meeting Myrn and his engagement to her, and his meeting Marbleheart Sea Otter, up to Douglas’ and Myrn’s planning for their wedding. Aeromancer (cover by Don Clavette) wasn’t published until 1997, three years later, and it begins with Douglas and Myrn married for some time and Douglas bouncing their two two-year-old twins, Brand and Brenda, on his knees. It feels like there’s a novel missing here.
A possible complication was that between 1992 and 1994, Ace Books was a subsidiary/imprint of The Berkeley Publishing Group. In 1996 the entire Berkeley Publishing Group was “acquired” by Penguin Putnam Inc. This must have been “in the works” and known by Ace’s editorial department for some time before it was finalized. Was Callander’s Mancer series put on hold between Geomancer and Aeromancer, and did the new ownership decide against any further Mancer novels except Aeromancer and Marbleheart which were already contracted for?
In Aeromancer, a flying-horse filly colt comes to Wizard’s High (now Wizards’ High), presumably for help; but she can’t talk:
“‘No comment, eh?’ the web-footed animal [Marbleheart] said, sighing. ‘Well, that makes it more difficult, doesn’t it? She not being able or willing to speak, as it were.’
The beautiful little horse trotted over to greet him shyly, nodding and pawing the damp earth in a pleased-to-meet-you fashion.
‘Is it that you can’t speak?’ Marbleheart wondered. ‘Or that you don’t care to?’
The horse, given the choice, managed to indicate her complete inability to speak.
‘Was it ever thus?’ asked the Otter, shaking his head sadly.
The filly shook her head also.
‘You could once talk? Is that it?’
The little horse nodded vigorously.
‘And you miss it, don’t you?’
The horse signaled a definite ‘Yes!’ by bobbing her head up and down several times.” (Aeromancer, p. 12)
A friend is magically kidnapped to this world’s Nearer East, and their own magic indicates that only Myrn can save him. She and the flying horseling, who Myrn dubs Nameless, go after him; but after a warm and friendly welcome by the Sultan and Sultana of the Arabian Nights country of the Empire of the Midday Sun, Myrn is suddenly abducted and carried off to be sold into slavery. Nameless follows her and the kidnappers. So do Douglas and Marbleheart when they learn about it, with Douglas disguised as a desert tribesman and Marbleheart transformed into his pet black monkey. Aeromancer shows how Marbleheart has become an equal to all the humans:
“Marbleheart Sea Otter, taking a break from being a monkey, stretched himself full length in the still-warm sand, listening to their talk and putting in comments when he felt the conversation needed a boost.” (p. 160)
Aeromancer is also about Nameless’ adventures with the talking Nearer Eastern animals, and a twenty-foot-long dragon:
“‘A flying horse, as I live long and breathe fire,’ exclaimed Lesser Dragon. ‘Don’t fear, dear filly. We won’t harm you. Sit here by my side until the storm falls off [a fierce desert sandstorm], and let me introduce you to my friends…’
The Dragon’s head turned and as he named the beasts about him, his words were delivered with short, pale flashes of pure flame and welcome warmth.
‘Here’s an old friend: Riantor the Jackal. He lives in the heart of High Desert and raises his family on its hot sands.’
The striped, black-and-yellow doglike beast grinned broadly at the horse and nodded in greeting. Beyond him were his mate and a litter of lately bora puppies, gazing at the horse over their mother’s ruffled mane. They grinned and chuckled softly.
‘By my right hind-leg is Oliver, Patriarch of all the High Desert Hares, and his six wives and twenty-seven kinder,’ continued the Dragon, puffing pink, peppermint-scented smoke rings their way. And here is …’
He introduced a dozen other animals, all of whom nodded and spoke to the little horse pleasantly, urging her to come close and settle down near the Dragon.
‘Without young Lesser here,’ explained the mother of a large family of desert rats, ‘well, some of us would not survive these storms, and it’s so much more pleasant to be here with our friend, safe and warm.’” (p. 118)
The friendly Nearer Eastern desert talking animals whom Nameless meets include an elderly lion, dik-diks, ocelots, zebras, wild goats, pronghorn antelopes (there are antelopes in the Near East, but pronghorns? Well, this is the Nearer East), hyenas, and more. In Aeromancer the two adventurers finally join together, Nameless’ real name is learned, and she and Marbleheart join Douglas and the rescued Myrn in defeating the Dark Servant.
After four books, Aeromancer ends:
“‘It’s all over,’ Douglas told Marbleheart.
‘Which means,’ Marbleheart chuckled, ‘knowing things around here, that new things are just about to begin to happen.
‘Dinner first, however,’ the Sea Otter added, following the Wizards Brightglade and their whooping children across the lawn to the front door.” (p. 288)
Callander must have known as he ended Aeromancer that he had a contract to extend the series for at least one more novel. Marbleheart followed Aeromancer one year later; 1997 and 1998. However, in book time five years had passed. Douglas’s and Myrn’s twins, who were two years old in Aeromancer, are seven years old in Marbleheart.
As Marbleheart begins, the Sea Otter has been a resident of Wizards’ Rest for the last five years and he is bored:
“Now the furry Familiar’s time was filled with serious study, with careful reading of ancient, musty, dusty books, of sneezing from fumes of bubbling retorts, peering through murky magnifying glasses, conjuring up columns of acrid smoke, and enduring endless discussions of wizardly Ways and Means.
‘All very important and very useful and all that, I admit to you,’ Marbleheart said to a largemouth bass, who came swimming by on his way to the reed beds below Augurian’s Fountain.
‘What’s the matter with you?’ snapped the startled bass, watching the Otter warily from a safe distance. ‘you eat regularly, don’t you? No having to hunt for your supper in ice-cold water!’” (p. 2)
Bored, bored, bored! But not so bored as to throw over his studies when the tiny (one and a half feet tall) child Prince Flowerbender of Faerie wants the Otter to join him in running away going questing:
“‘Something told me you might be … well, that you might welcome … er … that I might persuade you to go Questing with me. I need a companion, you see, and you …’
‘Impossible!’ cried Otter, pretending shock at the very idea. ‘I’ve much too much very important work to do! Douglas needs me! Myrn and the twins need me! The Ice King’s enchantments and everything! Why … !’
‘Oh, pooh!’ sighed the fairy in disappointment, drumming his heels against the side of the wooden bucket. ‘I hoped that you … and I heard what you just said to yourself. ‘Bored,’ you said. I heard you!’
Marbleheart drew himself up, gathering a suitably firm but polite and tactful refusal. But one that would, in effect, leave the door open for negotiation.
‘‘Tis bad luck to lie to a fairy! Especially a Prince of Faerie like me,’ the tiny Prince warned.
‘Well …’ the Otter sighed after a further moment’s pause, ‘I admit to being … sort of … bored and suffering itchy footpads and …’
‘Fine! I hereby appoint thee, Sir Marbleheart of Briny Deep, to be my boon companion in adventuring!’
The Prince leapt from the bucket bottom and landed lightly on the slate paving.
‘So… let’s be off!’ he said in a businesslike tone. ‘You’ll be my courser, too, as well as advisor and counsilor and picnicking companion! You love to eat. I imagine you’re a pretty good campfire cook, too?’” (p. 12)
Marbleheart persuades him, as his advisor and counsilor, to stay for dinner first. During dinner, Marbleheart contacts the Prince’s parents. They agree, since the Prince wants to go adventuring, to let him do so in the company of a responsible adult like Marbleheart, whose advising he has shown he will listen to. Marbleheart doesn’t mind, as long as he is the senior member of a team – and not a steed.
“‘Let me ask, if you won’t be insulted,’ Marbleheart said before they had gone far. ‘Last time I met your folks, they were both as tall as Douglas – taller than Flarman. You’re a fifth that size, at best. What is your normal altitude?’
‘Oh, just about any convenient size. Papa says he once made himself a giant, fifty feet tall! I’d like to’ve seen that!’
‘So would I. So, you can pick your favorite size, can you?’ Marbleheart asked, truly interested.
‘All fairies can do that! What size would you prefer?’
‘We’ve a longish way to tramp, m’boy. Longer legs and more stomach-room’ll get you further at regular boy-size, don’t you think?’
‘I was, actually,’ Ben said wistfully, ‘planning to ride Otter-back.’
‘Ho! Make your very best friend do all the walking and carrying … is that it? Let me tell you, young Flowerbender, Questing has to be a cooperative enterprise, each for the other, and one for all!’” (p. 28)
Considering an Otter’s regular galumphing land-gait, I don’t know how comfortable it’d be to ride one. At any rate, they go through Marbleheart as a full-sized boy of nine or ten, but with transparent blue wings, and a six-foot-long but four-legged Otter – Prince Flowerbender (Ben) not as the gauzy-winged creature on Dan Horne’s cover (or Niki Browning’s on the 2013 Mundania Press edition, which makes Ben look girlish to boot).
Their Questing is educative rather than dramatic. A good ruler of Faerie needs to know much, which is the main reason that Ben’s royal parents have agreed to his going Questing under Marbleheart’s tutelage. Marbleheart starts out as a travelogue by ship to where the adventures in the previous books took place, now that those places have become peaceful. However, Marbleheart and Ben never get there, due to a violent seastorm:
“Marbleheart appeared from deck, puffing and blowing lustily. The companions ate without talking, not because there was nothing to say but because the shuttering, shivering, shattering, creaking, groaning, snapping, rasping of ropes and timbers, and the constant howl of wind and hiss of water, made conversation impossible.” (p. 71)
… followed by shipwreck, becoming castaway with the captain – a pretty lady captain, Lorianne – and drifting ashore onto a strange land. Meanwhile, Douglas, Myrn, and their children back at Wizards’ High are menaced by pirates – rather, the villains from Pyromancer, turned to piracy and back for revenge. Actually, the villains, although nasty, are so inept that Douglas, his wife, the seven-year-old twins, the animated cookpots and tableware, Flittery Chipmunk, and Papa & Mrs. Thatchmouse are more than enough to take them in hand. Callander shows an unusual skill at keeping everything quite adventurous for 278 pages while making it clear that the main characters are never in more danger than being mildly inconvenienced and pass the strawberry jam, please. All the wildlife that both parties encounter are very friendly … well, the carnivores are at least polite:
“‘Leave us to our sleep until we wake in the morning,’ Otter said. ‘Do you plan to spend much time down in the mouth?’
‘Just ‘til first light. We’ll probably be hungry again and come seeking some breakfast. If you’re still here …’
‘You’ll find a good, hearty breakfast waiting for you,’ Marbleheart promised. ‘But you won’t find us.’
‘Wise Sea Otter,’ rumbled the lead alligator, nodding his head slowly. ‘I’ll even give you a word of warning. Watch out for a gang of fierce hippos, upstream. Frightening, terrible, ravening monsters! Pink, if you can believe that! Not at all trustworthy nor even very bright, either. Danger by the ton!’” (pgs. 142-143)
The “horrendous hippos”, who prove to be quite friendly, pass them on to a forest porcupine named Toothpick; and … well, they have more adventures, including an unexpected one in which Ben and Marbleheart save an entire kingdom! Ben as a full-sized boy gets to demonstrate his wings (which are gauzy but powerful); old friends are met in unexpected places; true romance blossoms; and Callander manages to find a couple of loose threads from the previous four novels and tie them up here. Marbleheart (cover by Dan Horne; presumably the same Daniel R. Horne who painted the covers of the first three books) seemed to be a fine coda to the 1992-1998 series.
However, as noted above, the five Ace Books were reprinted by Mundania Press in 2013-2014 after Don Callander’s 2008 death, as the Mancer Series, Books 1 through 5, and with a new Book 6 added, The Reluctant Knight. Did Callander try to sell this to Ace Books during his lifetime and have it rejected? There is no explanation, though one can be guessed at.
It is clear that The Reluctant Knight follows Marbleheart, because Brand and Brenda Brightglade, who were seven years old in Marbleheart, are eight years old here. It begins with the inhabitants of Wizards’ Keep noticing a lone knight in full armor slowly riding toward the Keep. Knights are unusual, and this one is doubly so because his armor bears no coat-of-arms, blazons, escutcheons, or other markings. The knight arrives just as a violent storm breaks out, and as they are about to invite him indoors, he is struck by lightning.
“A blinding flash of lightning filled the hall, all Valley and, it seemed, the whole world!
Bronze Owl screeched in alarm and tumbled beak-over-tail feathers to the floor slates, brilliant blue electricity leaping all around his metal body.
[…]
The Otter’s fur stood on end and he hissed like Teakettle at the sight of the glowing figure in the hall. Myrn covered her eyes against the glare and cried, ‘Douglas!’ but kept running down the hall after the Pyromancers.
[…]
‘Owl? You all right?’
‘A bit blackened about the wingtips, I fear,’ gasped the bronze bird. ‘Shocked me, only. Help the poor man!’
Flarman, taking in the scene in a glance, stepped past Douglas and the Owl and dropped to his knees beside the smoking, armor-clad figure sprawled across the threshold.
‘Seen this before, a few times,’ he snapped to the younger Pyromancer. ‘Careless! Should’ve shed his armor the minute it started to thunder!’
‘But … is he alive?’ Myrn gasped.” (pgs. 18-19)
The knight is alive, but he has complete amnesia. He does not remember his name or why he came to Wizards’ Keep. Chestnut, his talking charger, doesn’t know, either.
“‘I’m sorry; he never told me his name. I call him either ‘Master’ or ‘Sir’. It served our purposes well enough … until now.’
‘You’ve not been with him long, then?’
‘Seems like a long time but I wasn’t keeping track,’ the stallion explained apologetically.’” (p. 24)
Okay, this is the first improbability. Callander has obviously gone out of his way to keep the knight’s name and purpose unknown.
Since the inhabitants of the Keep have to call the knight something, they temporarily dub him Sir Galad. He is horribly embarrassed for his amnesia, and offers to help out at odd jobs until his memory comes back. But it doesn’t, and the Wizards are too busy at other important work to help him out.
“Myrn, increasingly chubby with her unborn child, gradually let her more active chores be taken by Galad; such things as harvesting her kitchen garden. He prepared lawns and flower beds and vegetable plots for the winter and spoke eagerly of springtime planning and planting.” (p. 37)
This is the second improbability; that everyone would allow Sir Galad’s real name and his mission – which was presumably important – to be pushed aside for days, then weeks, and finally months. Not just at Wizards’ Keep, as Galad makes himself useful throughout the Valley of Dukedom, even becoming the Acting Captain of the volunteer Valley Patrol.
Callander lets Galad’s story become increasingly minor as he switches to what the Wizards are so busy doing. Pyromancer is about the battle against evil Frigeon, the Ice King, who is finally defeated. There are mentions in the subsequent books that the reconstituted Fellowship of Light have been concentrating on finding Frigeon’s old evil spells and nullifying them, when they are not involved with the adventures of each book. In The Reluctant Knight, the Wizards and the story concentrate upon these forgotten but still active spells, which is why they do not have time to concentrate upon restoring Galad’s memory or tracing his past.
After about a year, the Wizards are drawn toward the unknown Littoral Kingdoms of the far East. They discover that one of them, Sulleña, may be where Frigeon sent Thorowood, the missing father of Thornwood, the present Duke of Dukedom. Coincidentally, Sulleñna may be improbably where Galad and Chestnut come from. By now the reader will have guessed there is a magical reason why neither Galad nor Chestnut can remember anything. Flarman, Douglas, Augurian, Myrn, Marbleheart, and the whole gang gather for a lengthy solving that ties everything up but is extremely complex – maybe too complex for Ace Books.
So the series ends. And apparently Callander and his editors never did learn that otters aren’t rodents:
“‘Wonder where the horse got to?’ Douglas asked, pausing at the rickety old gate that stood opened onto River Road. ‘If you were a badly frightened horse, Marbleheart, where would you bolt?’
‘Tell the truth? I’d find a hole to hide in. But that’s an Otter’s answer. We’re basically rodents and rodents hide from danger in holes. Deeper the better! Let me see …”” (The Reluctant Knight, p. 22)
Plant-Eater Wear
Your ever-lovin’ ed-otter attended the Animal Rights National Conference in Los Angeles this weekend. Lo and behold, there was actually some good anthropomorphic art to be found there, mostly on t-shirts. One set that especially caught our eye came from CompassionCo.com. They employ the services of a few really good artists in the creation of their organic-ink t-shirts for people who want to brag to the world about their veganism. Think that plant-eaters are wimpy? Tell that to a rhinoceros! “We believe that the best way to affect social change is to lead by setting a positive example and creating opportunities for conversations with others. We want everyone to feel proud about where their clothing came from at every point during production.” Visit their web site to see more of what they have currently, plus you can sign up for their newsletter and get notices about their new upcoming designs.
image c. 2016 CompassionCo.com
Episode 320 - Mostly BS
Episode 321 - Buttocks Akimbo
FC-239 Ziplining For Jesus - We review our Anthrocon experience (it was awesome this year!) and cover a bunch of news.
We review our Anthrocon experience (it was awesome this year!) and cover a bunch of news.
Watch Video Link Roundup:- Furlandia Tweet, Google Street View Fursuits
- Dash and Mangy in the Morning – Episode 2
- [WTAE] Beyond the Suit: The World of Furries
- Nuka’s FurScience Website & eBook
- Matt Light’s Furries!
- [CBS Pittsburgh] Four people shot downtown following fireworks
- KDKA Morning News Tigers
- [Kinkly] Polyamory: More than enough love to go around
- [BBC] Polyamorous relationships may be the future of love
- Is Virtual Reality The Future Of Porn?
- Petition to Re-name Fire Ants to “Spicy Boys”
- Giant Noah’s Ark Attraction In Kentucky Features Caged Dinosaurs
- Kimba – “Anthrocon and the Shitty Stickers”
- Mipsy – “Moving out and taur-ducks”
- Harrihu Inkpen – “Non Furry Convention Panels”
FC-239 Ziplining For Jesus - We review our Anthrocon experience (it was awesome this year!) and cover a bunch of news.
We review our Anthrocon experience (it was awesome this year!) and cover a bunch of news.
Watch Video Link Roundup:- Furlandia Tweet, Google Street View Fursuits
- Dash and Mangy in the Morning – Episode 2
- [WTAE] Beyond the Suit: The World of Furries
- Nuka’s FurScience Website & eBook
- Matt Light’s Furries!
- [CBS Pittsburgh] Four people shot downtown following fireworks
- KDKA Morning News Tigers
- [Kinkly] Polyamory: More than enough love to go around
- [BBC] Polyamorous relationships may be the future of love
- Is Virtual Reality The Future Of Porn?
- Petition to Re-name Fire Ants to “Spicy Boys”
- Giant Noah’s Ark Attraction In Kentucky Features Caged Dinosaurs
- Kimba – “Anthrocon and the Shitty Stickers”
- Mipsy – “Moving out and taur-ducks”
- Harrihu Inkpen – “Non Furry Convention Panels”
[Live] Ziplining For Jesus
We review our Anthrocon experience (it was awesome this year!) and cover a bunch of news.
Link Roundup:- Furlandia Tweet, Google Street View Fursuits
- Dash and Mangy in the Morning – Episode 2
- [WTAE] Beyond the Suit: The World of Furries
- Nuka’s FurScience Website & eBook
- Matt Light’s Furries!
- [CBS Pittsburgh] Four people shot downtown following fireworks
- KDKA Morning News Tigers
- [Kinkly] Polyamory: More than enough love to go around
- [BBC] Polyamorous relationships may be the future of love
- Is Virtual Reality The Future Of Porn?
- Petition to Re-name Fire Ants to “Spicy Boys”
- Giant Noah’s Ark Attraction In Kentucky Features Caged Dinosaurs
- Kimba – “Anthrocon and the Shitty Stickers”
- Mipsy – “Moving out and taur-ducks”
- Harrihu Inkpen – “Non Furry Convention Panels”
French Furry Feels Her Community Is Becoming Less Creative, More Materialistic
I have a strong concern to share with you:
I have been part of the furry community for about 6 years now and so far I think I made the right decision (My coming-out has been well-received, even from my parents and friends).
However, since my arrival, I was preoccupied for what I've interpreted as a consumerist way of life from my furllows, as I did expect to find more people interested in activities like draw, paint, build, compose music, writing poetry, in one single word: CREATE. And many of them get to the point where their efforts are being rewarded and they became luminaries (or commonly say: popufurs)
Unfortunately, I see more and more of others furries that aren't interested at all at create anything to be famous or recognized for their contribution to this community but rather for what goodies they own, which important peoples they meet, etc.
It kinda depresses me to see that this Do-it-yourself feeling is no longer present in the modern day fandom, but maybe I'm wrong and it was the same back in the premises of it...
I've seen it with my own eyes with the French furries I've met, but from what I've heard there's also some cases of this phenomenon in the US community but I won't presume that's a real thing. I know that the French-fur community has a bad reputation in the fandom for being over-the-top materialistic and drama-trigger compared to its German neighbor but then again, prejudices can be really tough.
So, Pap, is that correct?
Hurlelune (age 20, France)
* * *
Dear Hurlelune,
Since I have not done a study on this, nor have I seen one, it would be quite difficult to say with any kind of authority that furries are creating less and obsessing more about owning things and being seen with popufurs. The phenomenon might be localized to your personal experience. What I see online and among my furbuds is the same amount of creativity I’ve always seen. I constantly see people posting about their art or stories or whatever other artistic endeavors they are involved in.
That said, not everyone can be creative and talented. I suppose that it could be frustrating for many furries who can’t draw or sew or write to be in this fandom, and since they can’t do these things themselves they, instead, buy them and become fans of artists and such.
But there actually are ways to have fun in the furry world without being a talented artist. Papabear isn’t an artist, but, for example, I have fun fursuiting (in a fursuit I did not make myself). Another area where furries can have creative fun is gaming, which is extremely popular. Many games allow you to create your own character and have adventures in the virtual world. Still another way to be an active fur is to become involved with organizing, running, or volunteering for a furry convention. Furcons and furmeets run on the gasoline of valuable and generous volunteers without whom these functions would not exist. Giving of your time at a furcon will be very much appreciated, believe me.
Despite such opportunities, you’re probably correct that many furries find value only in crass materialism. I do not believe this to be a furry phenomenon or a French phenomenon, but, rather, it is a symptom of life in modern, developed countries. I’m not familiar with French culture, but I can say for a fact that many (I daresay the vast majority of) Americans have lost their souls. They believe that the only thing that matters is money, power, owning stuff, often to the exclusion of family and friends. Greed has destroyed my country. Greed is why our prisons are full; it is why we bomb other countries; it is why we have career politicians; it is why our environment has been destroyed; it is why we are sick and dying. I guess it would be incredibly naïve to believe that this metastasizing cancer in humanity would not touch upon the furry community, even though the furry community is, I thought, supposed to be an escape from humanity.
What can you do? Well, my thought would be to not worry so much about what others are doing. Instead, become a shining example of what a furry should be and don’t be shy about it. Perhaps if other furries see how happy you are being a furry of the soul rather than of the bank account they will want to be more like you.
Blessed Be,
Papabear
Watch Out for the Wicked Wolf
Here’s one we nearly missed, from Amigo Comics: A full-color one-shot comic called Sidney Hammer Versus The Wicked Wolf. “Sidney Hammer, the scantily-clad, sardonic, grind-house reporter is back! She only wanted a cold beer, but Sidney has found herself looking for a missing girl and being hunted by a big bad werewolf! And this time Sidney doesn’t know if the tabloid she’s working for will pay for the investigation of this spooky case! Spanish artist Massacre returns with the sassiest hack of all.” That all comes to us directly from Previews. Look for it on the shelves now.
image c. 2016 Amigo Comics
Save
Save
Waterways is why I Love the Furry Fandom
I love the Furry Fandom. I love how weird, crazy, silly, creative, and open-minded the fandom is. Just like how every other fandom says they’re weird, crazy, silly, creative, and open-minded. But in all seriousness, I do appreciate what the fandom is and what it keeps trying to do. I am indebted to the Furry Fandom. My life would not be where it is today because of it. If I had any regrets in life, one of them would be to wish I knew about the fandom earlier so I could spend more years exploring it, but that’s wishful thinking, and in all honesty, would undermine my personal growth.
The first time I’ve ever heard about the fandom was during a countdown on Animal Planet’s “Weird, True & Freaky” around 2008. Before that, I knew I loved the concept of anthropomorphic animals. Mainly through the Redwall book series and TV show, which was my only “Furry” fix growing up. I don’t really remember if there were other factors like Disney’s Robin Hood or Bugs Bunny, Crash or Ratchet, Swat Kats or Road Rovers. But I do know when Weird, True & Freaky showed Furries I wanted to know more.
I don’t remember much about the segment. I know it was talked about during a countdown of humanimals, looks at how far humans include animals into their lives. The fandom only made number 4 or 3 out of 7, and while it did bring up the topic of sex, it wasn’t the main reason it made the list. Just the whole, “Can you believe people dress up in fursuits? Look at how quirky and weird these Furries be…” blah, blah, blah. In hindsight, considering what most media depictions of Furries were like at the time, this one was fairly open. But once it aired I didn’t really look into it more. I was a senior in high school. My life was more focused about college, scholarships, and getting ready for our high school production of Grease.
It wasn’t till after I started college in the fall of 2009 that I remember the segment about Furries, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember what the fandom was called. So I had to do some really weird Google searches to remember what those fluffy people in suits that pretend to be walking, talking animals called themselves. I began to find results through the web comic scene with works like Better Days, Jack, and Fur-Piled. Which in term lead to me discovering what these weirdoes called themselves and the creative sites dedicated to them. I had found the Furries.
The first Furry site I became really involved with was SoFurry, or Yiffstar as it was called at the time to prove my old school Furry cred; and I devoured everything. Visiting the site every day to look at the art, read the stories, maybe check out a song or two, etc… And most of it was porn. Gay porn to be exact. I would spend hours going through the M/M tag and know God was ringing his bell of shame on me. Oh please, don’t give me that look.
One thing you have to know about me is that at the time I was in the closet. I’ve had fantasies about being with other men, but when you’re growing up in a small suburb in Cleveland, Ohio who went to church to hear how the things in my head were not only wrong, but also a ticket to hell. Yeah, for a young teenager in the early 2000’s who can’t express his sexuality to anyone without fear you look for a release in any way you can. So when you discover something you like (walking, talking animals) with something you really like (sex) and combine them together…OMG what do you know I really like this. What a shocker! My brain can’t even.
Of course part of me didn’t like it. Part of me absolutely hated it. Part of me was disgusted with myself. How dare I think about sex with another man? How dare I look at gay sex between fake anthro animals? How dare I enjoy something that the public already decided for me was wrong and therefore must be punished with my own hate and self-pity? How dare I think about being happy? How dare I choose to be weird? Why can’t I be like everyone else?
There were many nights I went to bed angry with myself. Sometimes I even cried cause I knew I could never be the perfect normal person everyone was hoping for me to be. I tried. As God as my witness I bloody tried. I tried looking at straight porn. It didn’t work. I tried looking at “Lesbian” (for straight people) porn. It didn’t work. Sorry to all the ladies, but I never found the female body sexy.
I tried to keep my mind off it by doing as much work as possible. It didn’t work. I tried praying to God. It didn’t work. I’m sure there is someone out there reading this saying, “You should of tried harder.” Honey, I gave it my hardest. It was to the point I was telling myself “I like gay sex, but I’m into women” excuse. I was so far in the closet I was playing in Narnia. Don’t you dare cum to me saying I didn’t try. I did, I tried to pretend I was something else, and guess why? It didn’t work!
So here I was a confused, frustrated, even miserable college freshmen who discovered a fandom he likes, but was only using it to fill his base desires. To be fair, it was not always about sex. I’m not a complete pervert. Maybe 80%. I did enjoy several non-sexual works, but my search history would tell you otherwise, and I can’t pretend this wasn’t my main interest back in the day. Well one day, I was searching for some “good” stories and SoFurry had this recommendation feature showcasing what most people on the site considered was the best. Through there I would find an author who became my go to writer, Kyell Gold.
It seems clichéd to talk about Gold. For those you not in the know, Kyell Gold is the most popular Furry writer. His book sell like hotcakes, he’s praised all the time, and was awarded so much he actively banned himself from winning any awards just so other writers could have a shot. He’s kind of a big deal. One of the biggest factors that made his work popular was they focused on gay characters usually having sex. So when I discovered all his works on SoFurry I was hooked.
I was in it for the sex, but as I read more of his stories, I discovered I like them more then just the sex. That unlike others I’ve read, his had an actual story and character behind it. It made me realize the difference between porn and erotica. Porn stories are focused only on the sex and how quick they can get to it. Erotica tells a story that features sex to help develop the plot and characters. Most of Gold’s works is erotica. There are expectations and lord knows there are other writers outside of Gold, but at the time, this was my Gold standard. Pun intended. #NOREGRETS
Everyday, I would go through his archive, discover a new story, and love it. Then one day I decided to look at a short story about a high school otter and his relationship with a fox. The story was called ‘Streams’ and that story changed my life.
Art by Cooner
‘Streams’ is the second of three novellas Kyell would combine to form Waterways. The plot is simply. Kory, a teenage otter, is having a hard time at school. He broke up with his girlfriend, is hounded by everyone about what college will he go to, and is being bullied cause he wrote a poem and what kind of guy would even write a poem, bro? He tries to relax at a public pool when he bumps into a fox. His name is Samaki and after the two hang out for the day, Kory begins to realize he may have feelings for the fox. But Samaki is a boy and Kory is a boy. Uh oh.
All of that is actually from the first novella, Aquifer. I didn’t know Streams was a sequel, but when I started to read it I couldn’t stop. Kory and Samaki are in a relationship, and yes they did it. No not ‘it’, but it. However, the only other person who knows is Kory’s little brother and Samaki’s family. Samaki is open about his sexuality, but Kory is scared. He lives with a religious mother and is always looking over his shoulder when he’s with Samaki. There’s more that happens in Streams. The boys volunteer at an LGBT runaway house, Kory starts to confront people about who he is, and he is working super hard on getting into college.
There are 118 pages to Stream, the longest of the novellas, and I read all of it in one night. I don’t remember how late, but I did nothing else the entire night but read that story. The reason was simple. I discovered I was Kory. The thoughts, fears, and love Kory showed in Streams were the exact thoughts, fears, and love I’ve always had in my head, but to that point I only pushed it away. Reading Waterways was a watershed moment. Pun intended again. Sue me.
I read a lot of books. Ever since I was a kid, I read books of all kinds. I must of read over 1000 at this point in my life, but I’m not keeping track. There were books I formed an attachment to like Harry Potter, The Giver, Redwall, whatever Sci Fi/ Fantasy series binge I was on, but none of them have affected me like Waterways.
Art by Chac Xib Chaac
Reading about Kory was like looking at a mirror, but not a regular mirror. This mirror was cracked and broken; encrusted with my blood from all the years I tried to destroy it. Hating what I was seeing. Seeing a man who is gay. How dare I see that I’m gay? I can’t be this. No one likes this. I must hide it. Never admit it. And whenever I saw who I really was in that mirror, my only reaction was to punch it till all I could see were fragments of myself. After I came to the end of Streams, which was like six hours I think, I was looking myself in that mirror again, but instead of punching it, I finally decided to put the pieces back together and really take a look at myself.
I don’t remember sleeping much that night. My brain was processing how a fictional otter’s love for a fox of the same sex was affecting me so much. But again it was simple, Kory’s feelings were my feelings, and his fears matched mine. A fear that’s followed me through out my life. Reading about Kory’s experience made me realize I didn’t want to live with that fear any more. I didn’t want to hide anymore. That night I thought then said the words in my brain, ‘I’m gay,’ and my sexuality journey began.
I prayed that night as well. I’m not a religious man, but I do believe in a higher plain and while I don’t go to church, I do pray to God when I feel I need guidance, comfort, or just put my thoughts out into the open. I’m not sure if there’s a grand design, but the next few days I noticed more stories about LGBT being accepted then before. It felt like a sign, take it for what you will, but whoever up there was looking out for me was telling me ‘yes, you are on the right path,’ and I thank that being with every ounce of my body.
Soon I was going to my local LGBT centers coming out group and let me tell you, everyone says the first step is the hardest one, but no one tells you what a bitch the second one is. Especially when you walk into a coming out group where you expect to see mostly 20 something’s only to find a group of men all about twice your age. Believe me, part of me just wanted to turn around and forget everything. No way was I walking into a lion’s den being the youngest by twenty years. Fresh meat boys.
Art by Chac Xib Chaac
But I stayed and I came back every other week and started to form friendships with the people there. They helped me understand that being gay does not define me. It’s just a part of me who is made up of so much else. It also gave me a bigger perspective cause many of those men were dealing with coming out as well. Some were even married and had kids. They made me realize just how far we go to pretend to make others happy when we must recognize our own happiness. Thank you all for teaching me and to think I was afraid of you cause they were older. Then I came out to my sister.
She was visiting me during college and the night I finally said the words, I was scared. I did not know if my sister would accept me. That I might go down the path Kory went, but I knew I couldn’t be happy with myself, but hide it from others to make them comfortable. My sister was taken back at first. She brought up how I seem to have this crush for a girl in high school, but I never had to guts to move forward with it. I liked her, but it never felt like I loved her. I just started to mechanically think who would be the best match for me cause that what straight people do right? Thank God, I never went forward with that.
I told my sister the basics and then she asked if I told anyone else, I didn’t. Then my sister said something I never thought I hear her say. We’ve gotten along, but before I came out, I always felt we were a little bit separate. She was the out-going one, I was the quiet one. She played sports, I played theater. Etc, etc… I always saw my sister as the strong, brave one. That night she told me she always saw me as brave and strong. I cried. I couldn’t hold back the tears hearing her say that. She accepted me for who I was, we were both crying like little babies, and gave each other the biggest hug knowing our relationship has become closer. Then my roommate walked in on our hug to see what was going on. I told him we were having a brother-sister moment and he let us be.
Soon I was out to my roommate, and everyone at college, the last hurtle for me was the hardest for everyone, parents. It took me years to finally come out to them. It wasn’t till I moved out to LA that I finally said enough is enough. One rule I put on myself was I was never going to get involved with anyone till I was open to my parents cause I didn’t want to put whoever I was in a relationship with to go through the same crap Kory put Samaki through. But I couldn’t say the words. I was still afraid they would hate me if they knew their little boy was gay.
I never said the words, I actually wrote them. I left a letter to break the ice during the night around New Years Eve for them to read in the mourning. It was my way to finally get it out there. Let me tell you, I should have said the words cause I know for a fact I didn’t get any sleep that night. My brain was a battlefield of leave the letter be or take it and hide for their comfort. Over and over my head played all the scenarios of love and hate. Just a waking sleep that never seem to end. The letter stayed and the next mourning they read it. We finally talked about it and they accepted me for who I was.
A lot has changed for me since then. I’m out and involved with the gay community in LA. I’m more confident with myself. I’m more outgoing then I’ve ever been before. I’m even working on making an impact in the fandom that helped me in anyway I can. Kyell’s story had inspired me to write again. I got involved with a Furry Podcast that never got off the ground, but I was recommended by the creator of Culturally F’d to help out with Dogpatch Press with Patch and Fred Patten. First working on formatting Fred’s many book reviews, but now working on my own articles. I’ve gone to my first fur cons last year and hosted panels discussing about furry media. I just got accepted in my first anthology. I…I… I am happy and it is all thanks to a little book I discovered on a furry website that was a gay erotic story between an otter and a fox.
Art by MV527
The Furry fandom helped me. I won’t say save me because I never felt I was in danger of taking my life. But I feel I would not be where I am today if I didn’t read Streams. It would have been at least more boring. Hell, if I told high school me what life would be like for him he would think I’m crazy. This isn’t a review, but to anyone who is unsure about their sexuality, read the book. To those who want to understand the mindset of LGBT people, read the book. For those who are just looking to reading something different, read the book.
The Furry Fandom can sometimes be hard to explain to those outside it. In general it’s about people’s love for walking, talking animals, but beyond that is a lot. It’s a place for people to explore who they are by creating their own Fursona characters. It offers artist to create, whether it be art, stories, games, dance, fursuits, music, etc… It’s about community as you find people who share your interest. And it’s also about sex. Not for everyone (I’m contractually obligated to write that) but anyone who has been apart of the fandom for a while can tell you that the fandom has helped so many people be comfortable with who they are sexual. Hell, Kyell wrote a comic explaining that and what’s wrong with being happy with whom you are?
I actually got to meet Kyell Gold during Rainfurrest 2015 and thanked him personally. I even brought my copy of Waterways for him to sign, but I never got him to. I felt weird asking for his signature without thinking of myself as Spongebob. I even did a video review of the book when I started my web show, don’t watch it, I had no idea what I was doing at the time. And no I didn’t bring it up with Kyell. Again, it felt weird telling a man who has a life of his own to remind him of a little Internet video you made two years ago. Let alone I wasn’t the only one who embraced his sexuality cause of Waterways. My story isn’t that unique. Again, didn’t want to feel like a Spongebob.
The Furry Fandom is weird. We are a bunch of weirdoes with a hobby most people don’t understand both from people outside and inside the fandom. But when you realize you’re a big dork who loves books, movies, video games, anime, comic books, manga, discovered your sexuality through a gay love story between an otter and a fox, and is a Furry. Weird is in my DNA and the Furry Fandom fits me like a glove. Thanks to Waterways I am able to look at myself in the mirror, and no matter what life throws at me, I can look at myself and smile cause I know who I am and I’m proud to be me.
Thank you Furry Fandom for providing a community for weirdoes to explore themselves. I will support you till my dying day. Thank you Kyell Gold for writing a story for those confused and those who don’t know how to swim like an otter. Thank you to my family for accepting me for who I am. Thank you to everyone who have helped me and supported me. Thank you Kory and Samaki. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Thank you for your time and don’t forget to be awesome. Be amazing. Be you.
My Fursona, a DragonElk. Art by Zhivago
-Matthias
How and Why Coyotes Have The Best Tails - Join us in this episode as we talk tails, and often try and convince Levi that his tail might not be the golden-fured standard!
Join us in this episode as we talk tails, and often try and convince Levi that his tail might not be the golden-fured standard!
Metadata and Credits How and Why Coyotes Have The Best Tails
Runtime: 30:31m
Cast: KZorroFuego, Levi, Wolfin
Editor: Wolfin
Format: 128kbps AAC Copyright: © 2016 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0.
How and Why Coyotes Have The Best Tails - Join us in this episode as we talk tails, and often try and convince Levi that his tail might not be the golden-fured standard!
Join us in this episode as we talk tails, and often try and convince Levi that his tail might not be the golden-fured standard!
Metadata and Credits How and Why Coyotes Have The Best Tails
Runtime: 30:31m
Cast: KZorroFuego, Levi, Wolfin
Editor: Wolfin
Format: 128kbps AAC Copyright: © 2016 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0.
FA 026 Living For Yourself - Does the Pope like gay people? Should you tell people to fuck off? Does sex make the relationship? All this and more on this episode of Feral Attraction
Hello Everyone!
We open tonight's episode with a discussion about the Pope. Why does everyone seem to like this Pope, and what exactly did he mean when he told reporters that Christians should apologize? We rely on Viro, our resident recovering Catholic, to break the secret code and tell us why we should care, or if this is just false hope from the Pope!
Our main topic is on how to Live For Yourself. Really, though, this episode is about the power of telling other people to fuck off. As you can imagine, this episode contains adult language, so enjoy.
We discuss various strategies you can employ to ensure that people stop having control over your life and, really, why should you care what that stranger on the bus thinks about you? We talk science, philosophy, and butts on this exciting, casual episode of self-empowerment and profanity!
Our listener question for the week is about whether you can be polyamorous but only want to have sexual contact with your primary. We talk a bit about non sexual significant others and what that can mean for you!
For more information, including a list of topics, see our Show Notes for this episode.
Thanks and, as always, be well!
FA 026 Living For Yourself - Does the Pope like gay people? Should you tell people to fuck off? Does sex make the relationship? All this and more on this episode of Feral AttractionPersimmon Takes On Humanity, by Christopher Locke – book review by Fred Patten.
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Persimmon Takes On Humanity, by Christopher Locke
Los Angeles, CA, Fathoming Press, February 2015, trade paperback $14.95 (477 pages), Kindle $1.99.
Persimmon Takes On Humanity is blatantly a didactic novel. But it’s a powerful one. In its first few pages Persimmon, a happy-go-lucky raccoon; Scraps, Persimmon’s younger brother; her reluctant best friend Derpoke the opossum; and Rawly, an arrogant rival raccoon dare each other to venture from the safety of Oak Tree Forest to cross the river to the human land, from which no raccoon has ever returned.
“‘Having fun?’ Rawly, an imposing raccoon, stands over them on his hind legs asserting his dominance. He glares at the playful pals. Derpoke goes limp with fear.
Persimmon lets go of Derpoke and leisurely rolls onto her side to face Rawly. ‘Well, well, well, if it isn’t Grumpykins.’
‘Grumpy?!’ Rawly replies, incensed. ‘How about rightfully annoyed that you’re in my territory – again? You think you can just gallivant around all over my trees?’
‘The forest is big enough for all of use to share,’ Persimmon responds defiantly. ‘I’m not intimidated by the silly rules you males force on everyone around you by rubbing your butts on everything.’
[…]
‘The most ridiculous thing about you jumping between those trees is that you were doing it to show off to your puny brother and this cowardly opossum.’
Persimmon pops up, indignant. ‘They both have more heart than all of the other raccoons combined. Besides, I did it to prove to myself that it could be done – and maybe to taste the thrill of it.’
‘Huh. Well, if you warriors are so brave, then why don’t you venture past Oak Tree Forest on the other side of the river?’ Rawly provokes.
‘You’re absurd,’ Persimmon jeers. ‘As if you’re courageous enough to venture there. No raccoon has ever gone past that point and lived to tell the tale.’” (pgs. 4-5)
So they all cross to the other side of the river, to see if there is any truth to the rumors of human pollution and death. They find a human world where wildlife like raccoons and opossums are considered to be vermin, to be killed as soon as they are seen. They find a meat farm where humans raise calves – baby bulls — in cramped, filthy cages to be slaughtered while they are still babies to create tasty veal. Persimmon is horrified. She persuades the others to join her in helping the calves to escape from their cages and run back across the river into the forest and freedom.
The big escape is a naïve and almost fatal failure within the first thirty pages. Persimmon and her friends realize that even if they had gotten the calves into the forest, the humans would have immediately come after them. They need to enlist more forest animals to help them, and they need a more practical final goal for the released calves. And that’s just one meat farm.
Persimmon’s ad hoc adventure evolves into a grim, long-term, often depressing, better-planned war between the forest animals and the humans. She learns that it’s too easy to predict 100% victory with no casualties — in warfare there will always be casualties on your side.
Persimmon Takes On Humanity is a curious novel. It’s rare in being written in the present tense rather than the usual past tense:
“Derpoke, Scraps and Bruiser stand at attention facing Persimmon, who is perched on top of a boulder. The squirrel couple, Chloe and Tucker, are in attendance as well, but they’re listening from a tree – Persimmon has vouched for Bruiser, but they’ve had one too many close calls with dogs in the past to make them feel totally safe.” (p. 78)
It’s a curious mixture of fantasy and realism. At the beginning, all animals are noble and all humans are evil. (They do hear about friendly humans later on, if Animal Rights activists can be defined as friendly humans.) The humans casually kill their pet dogs as easily as the wildlife, which even Persimmon knows is extreme:
“Persimmon steps onto the dirt and inches her way toward the dog. Even sitting down, he is imposing. It would take three raccoons stacked on top of each other to reach his height. As she nears him, though, she whiffs in a horrendous stench. That’s when she notices the pile of droppings next to him. Ugh, he’s sitting in his own feces and urine. She has a heartbreaking flashback to the calves. What has happened here? Would a human do this to a dog? … But they love dogs.” (p. 65)
Persimmon realizes it’s hypocritical to blame the humans for killing animals while many of the animals themselves are carnivores and omnivores who prey upon each other. But her attempt to persuade them to all become vegans seems seems quixotic, while the animals’ arguing over adopting a catchy name for themselves just seems frivolous:
“Scraps cuts in, but this time it’s not about fish. ‘Wait, we have to come up with a name for our team.’
‘Oh, right.’ Persimmon scans the group. ‘Does anyone have any suggestions?’
Scraps immediately blurts out, ‘Savvy Saviors!’
‘I’m proud of you for using the word savvy, Scraps,’ Persimmon commends him. ‘But let’s keep brainstorming.’
Scraps shouts again, ‘Rascal Raiders! Hairy Heroes!’
Derpoke jumps in. ‘What is it with you and alliteration? Do you really think anyone is going to take us seriously with names like that? ‘Hi, we’re here to save your life? We’re called the Hairy Heroes.’’
Scraps pouts and challenges the opossum. ‘Okay, know-it-all, do you have anything better?’
‘Well …’ Derpoke hesitates for fear of being shot down. ‘I did come up with one possibility. What about Critter Manumitters?’
The other team members stare at him quizzically.
Scraps bursts into laughter over this silly-sounding word. ‘Oh, that’s much better, Mr. Vocabulary.’” (p. 81)
This review seems to be emphasizing the rare humorous scenes in the novel. They are outnumbered by all the scenes of drama, disgust, despair, and death. Yet Persimmon never gives up her fight, personally and as the leader of a movement, to save all animals – including humans, since humans are just another mammal – from squalor and death. She also learns to be practical, as when she addresses two fierce guard dogs at a fur farm:
“She looks directly at the Rottweilers with a stern expression. ‘Listen to me very carefully. I want to help you, but there are two of you and thousands of minks, and they’re suffering immensely. I’ve heard horrible things about what they’re forced to endure. Right now some of them have open wounds. Some don’t have any water. And some are going slowly insane because they’re trapped in stifling, barren cages. It’s unbelievably cruel, and we’re here to put a stop to it. You’re either with us or against us.’” (p. 146)
Persimmon Takes On Humanity (cover by L. A. Watson) is not a fun novel, but it is a taut adventure. Not everyone will agree with author Christopher Locke’s premise, but he knows how to tell a gripping story. It is realistic enough in its apparently-hopeless drama about a handful of forest animals taking on all humanity through meat farm, fur farm, and especially urban circus settings, to keep you wondering how/whether they can succeed – or survive. There is mounting drama, with major surprises, until almost the last page.
And this is only Book One of The Enlightenment Adventures. Those who read it through to the end will not be able to resist going on to Book Two.