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April 20, 2015

Godsfire, by Cynthia Felice – Book Review by Fred Patten.

by kiwiztiger

Godsfire, by Cynthia Felice. Map.
NYC, Pocket Books, June 1978, paperback 0-671-81472-9 $1.75 (264 pages).

downloadI am surprised by how many people have included this book’s cover by Boris Vallejo on their lists of “Only the worst Sci-fi/Fantasy book covers”, or “25 Worst Book Covers of All Time”, or “I Am Judging You By Your Cover” (16 book covers with snarky feminine hygiene comments). I could come up with at least twenty-five covers worse than this with no trouble. And to wax sexist for a moment, can any cover with a shapely naked cat-woman be really bad?

But this is a review of the novel, not its cover art. Planet of the Apes notwithstanding, 1978 was still before intelligent non-humans were common in science-fiction, judging from the book’s blurb: “Feline creatures in charge and humans as their slaves!”

Godsfire is narrated by Heao, the sixteen-year-old protégé of Academician Master Rellar on a planet inhabited by anthropomorphic felinoids. The opening pages make frequent mention of the characters’ sinuous tails, sharp claws, and other feline characteristics.

“I was prepared to leave, but the man had the most mischievous twinkle in his eyes that I’d ever seen. Then the tip of his tail began to twitch. Without the smiling eyes, that twitch would have warned of battle, but now I realized it was an invitation to play. I laughed.” “His boldness was nearly frightening, yet there was no malice in his eyes and his tail was coiled casually around his ice-laden coat.” “Baltsar delicately slit the belly of the choicest fish with his index claw, and, after a slave took away the entrails, he slivered the tender flesh for me.” “I speared a sliver with my eating claw and chewed gratefully.” “His tail was twitching again and he was smiling. Why had he ignored my shaking tail while we ate?” “I smiled, coiled my tail demurely about my waist, and said, ‘Thank you, Baltsar.’” (pgs. 4-8)

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April 18, 2015

Cat’s Pawn and Cat’s Gambit – book reviews by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

“Dear Patch; Here is an unpublished old review, written years ago for Cubist’s Anthro site and left unpublished when Anthro folded.”

Cat’s Pawn, by Leslie Gadallah.
NYC, Ballantine Books/del Rey, March 1987, paperback 0-345-33742-5 $2.95 (262 pages).

Cat’s Gambit, by Leslie Gadallah.
NYC, Ballantine Books/del Rey, March 1990, paperback 0-345-36478-3, $3.95 (247 pages).

1eb34310fca09d58533ba010.LDespite being action-packed, this duo of space operas is unusually pessimistic, even despondent. Cat’s Pawn begins with a framing story set on Terra centered on Talan, the Oriani ambassador to Terra, glumly failing in his mission to win support from the Terrans in their struggle against the interstellar spreading Kazi. Symptomatic of the problem is that the Oriani do not wear clothes and look like large, bipedal housecats; and what Terran can take a funny-animal cat seriously?

The majority Terran attitude is similar to the American isolationists in 1940 who did not see any need for America to get involved in World War II. Talan stoically watches a TV interview with an average Terran:

“‘Now, you see, that’s just what I mean. They’re not people at all; they’re furry sons-a-bitches. They’re all over the place, trying to take over – furry ones, scaly ones, long ones, round ones, and some with nineteen legs. I tell you, mister, I like my people to look like people. And that’s all I got to say.’ He relinquished the mike, waved at the camera, and strode off.” (p. 11)

Cat’s Pawn opens with Melissa Larkin, a Terran woman who needs to see Talan because, fifty years earlier, he knew her now-dead grandfather, Bill Anderson, one of the few Terrans who ‘went native’ on the Oriani homeworld, Omnicron Orionis. Talan cannot help her, but the query introduces the reader to the Oriani:

“She was determined not to stare, though talking person to person with someone who looked a lot like a big-headed pussy cat gave her a funny feeling. Of course he was rather large for a pussy cat. The tips of his big ears came level with her nose and would have been higher except for the slightly forward posture balanced by the long, swinging tail.” (p. 1)

and

“55 kilos of highly intelligent being with long fangs that hung down below the line of his mouth like ivory daggers was nothing to giggle about.” (p. 5)

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April 17, 2015

Carl Barks’ Duck: Average American, by Peter Schilling Jr. – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Carl Barks’ Duck: Average American, by Peter Schilling Jr. Illustrated.
Minneapolis, MN, Uncivilized Books, January 2015, trade paperback $12.95 (122 pages).download (3)

Furry literature is all well and good, but it’s important to remember that furry fandom did not invent it. One of the most important influences that led to furry fandom, and furry literature today, was the Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck stories written and drawn by Carl Barks (1901-2000) during the 1940s and 1950s. Today, those comic-book stories are all being reprinted, and are the subject of serious literary analyses. Here is something that is a little lighter.

“Critical Cartoons is a series of books on comics with a new approach. Cut loose the smartest writers on the whole of comic book history: classic comic strips, superhero epics, independent masterpieces, underground transgressions, obscure gems by well known masters, and more. Each volume of Critical Cartoons is long-form criticism that’s passionate, idiosyncratic, provocative and entertaining.” – (publisher’s blurb)

From this example, Critical Cartoons is a series of small, thin books of literary criticism about comic books, each by an expert of sorts. Peter Schilling Jr. is the author of Mark Twain’s Mississippi River: An Illustrated Chronicle of the Big River in Samuel Clemens’s Life and Works, a combination 19th-century travelogue and third-person nostalgia piece, and The End of Baseball: A Novel. Schilling identifies himself in the Introduction as a lifelong hater of “comic books”, but as a youth he made an exception for the Donald Duck comics by “the Good Artist”. Eventually, as he grew up and comic-book scholarship began to be published, he learned who Carl Barks was.

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April 14, 2015

Griffin Ranger. Volume 1, Crossline Plains, by Roz Gibson – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Griffin Ranger. Volume 1, Crossline Plains, by Roz Gibson. Illustrated by Amy Fennell.
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, January 2015, trade paperback $19.95 (369 pages).

Roz Gibson is better known as an artist than a text author, but she won the Ursa Major Award for Best Short Fiction of 2013 for her novelette “The Monkeytown Raid”. Now with the first volume of her first novel, she shows that she is an excellent text author for longer works as well.unnamed

Griffin Ranger is set in a totally alien alternate universe. The land masses are the same as on our Earth, but the life forms and civilization that have evolved are dominated by birds. (The reader will have fun identifying both geographical features such as the Twin Continents, the Alpha River, the Five Lakes, and the Endless Ocean, and the cities and towns like Defiance, Flatlands City, and Foggy Bay. Griffin Ranger’s publication was funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign, whose donors got a large color map of this alternate Earth. It would have been very helpful to readers if this map had been included as an illustration in the book, even in reduced black-&-white.) Since birds don’t have hands, the main intelligent landbound mammals are the raccoon/lemur-like “hanz” that are their symbiotic partners, and two species of canines: the wild wolfen, and the more domestic herders that have evolved from them. This Earth’s civilization is dominated by the griffins, who are the principal inhabitants of what the reader will recognize as the Americas, Europe, and Asia. But in the last few hundred years the greenies, an aggressive bird species, have erupted from the Emerald Isles (New Zealand) to spread over the world. The griffins of the Northern Continent have allowed the greenies’ partial settlement there under strict supervision, but there are suspicions that the greenies are preparing to take over totally.

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April 11, 2015

Goddess, by Arilin Thorferra – book review by Fred Patten.

by kiwiztiger

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Goddess, by Arilin Thorferra
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, January 2015, trade paperback $9.95 (141 pages).

“This is a mature content book.  Please ensure that you are of legal age to purchase this material in your state or region.”

When furry fandom began to develop in the 1980s, one of the first “subgenres” to be seen in traded cartoon art wGoddessas the furry macros – giant anthro animals striding Godzilla-style through cities of tiny-by-comparison furries. Yet when furry literature appeared, this subgenre quietly vanished.  Or went underground.

Here is what may be the first professionally-publicized furry macrophile novella: Goddess, by Arilin Thorferra, “the founder of ‘The Giants’ Club’ and an acclaimed macrophile storyteller.” (blurb)

Russell Rittenhouse (cougar) is the young librarian at Bennett University, one of the leading West Coast private universities. He wants to become a literature professor (with tenure), and has just begun the slow climb of the academic social-political ladder there. He gets a courtesy invitation to an exclusive reception for the visiting King of the small Pacific island of Uli Hahape, near Hawaii. Cornelius Bennett (rabbit), a sixtyish railroad and hotel multimillionaire and benefactor of the university, has arranged the reception to unveil his model of the ritzy superhotel that he hopes to build there, if the king will permit it. King Aremana (otter) is polite but clearly not impressed.

Russell drops out of the social soiree to a sofa to reread one of his favorite novels, The Great Gatsby. He is joined by the king’s daughter, who is also a Fitzgerald fan. They spend the rest of the evening discussing literature. The next day Bennett corners him in the library. Bennett suspects that King Aremana is about to reject the hotel, and he noticed Russell’s and Princess Kailani’s friendly conversation at the party. If Russell will continue to see the Princess, and subtly promote the hotel project, Bennett will make sure that he gets that professorship. Read the rest of this entry »

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April 9, 2015

Legacy of the Claw, by C. R. Grey – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Legacy of the Claw, by C. R. Grey. Illustrations by Jim Madsen. Map by Kayley LeFaiver.download
NYC, Disney•Hyperion, October 2014, hardcover $16.99 (295 [+ 1] pages), Kindle $9.99.

 Legacy of the Claw is Book 1 of the Animas series, described by reviewers as like a combination of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. In the Kingdom of Aldermere, all humans are magically bonded to an animal from birth. A human is known by the animal that he is bonded with; Animas Cat, Animas Horse, and so on. People travel with their life-bonded Animas padding, hopping, or flying with them; Longfoot the hare, Dillweed the badger, etc. “Civilized” people – farmers, townsfolk – have domestic or small forest animal companions.

Bailey Walker, 12 years old, has just graduated from his local school and been accepted by Fairmount Academy, the most prestigious institute of higher learning in Aldermere. He is enthusiastic about going there, and scared because he will be traveling alone. Bailey is an orphan, adopted as a foundling baby by the Walker farmers; and although they have been loving foster parents, they could never get Bailey to bond with an Animas. Bailey hopes that the teachers at Fairmount can help him find his Animas, but he is equally scared that not having an Animas will be grounds for expulsion, or will make him a freak and a social outcast during his adolescent years.

Bailey, like Harry Potter, travels to Fairmount on an impressive fantasy train:

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April 7, 2015

French Anthropomorphic Animal Animated Features, Part 3 – by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Series: French Anthropomorphic Animal Animated Features, Part 1 and Part 2.  There will be four parts.

Continuing from where we left off …

l_2279083_8fbe683dLes As de la Jungle – Operation Banquise, directed by David Alaux and Éric Tosti. 58 minutes. December 31, 2011.

When a band of walruses terrorizes the South Pole, stealing the penguins’ eggs, the penguin brother and sister Ping (Tommy) and Pong travel to the jungle where “the Great Tiger Warrior” lives, to ask him to rescue them. The Great Tiger Warrior is Maurice, a penguin raised and striped like a tiger who believes he is one. Maurice agrees, and summons the rest of the Jungle Aces (the Jungle Bunch): Miguel the poetic tap-dancing gorilla, Fred the singing warthog, Gilbert the tiny paranoid tarsier (the brains of the team), Al & Bob, the two frogs of unknown talents, and last but by no means least, Junior the little tiger fish, Maurice’s adopted son (he travels with Maurice in a fishbowl) and kung-fu expert. On their way to Antarctica, they meet and add Batricia, a bat, to the Aces. Each fights the walruses with his or her own specialty, until the grand finale free-for-all. A children’s feature, for the 6+ age group.

Les As de la Jungle – Operation Banquise (The Jungle Aces – Operation Ice), also titled Les As de la Jungle – le Film, was an original CGI feature following David Alaux & Éric Tosti’s Toulouse-based TAT Productions’ Les As de la Jungle TV series of October 23 – November 4, 2011; 26 1½-minute episodes. It was shown as a TV movie on New Year’s Eve 2012, and released theatrically on April 10, 2013. Les As de la Jungle has been popular enough to return as Les As de la Jungle – A la Rescousse (The Jungle Bunch – To the Rescue) in 11-minute TV episodes from December 29, 2013. The movie has been sold as a theatrical or DVD feature to over 150 countries. In the U.S., the feature is a DVD as The Jungle Bunch: The Movie, with John Lithgow voicing Maurice. The movie won the Procirep French TV producers’ award in the animation category; the Audience Awards at the 7th Animpact Max (November 28 – December 2) in Seoul, South Korea and the LUCAS International Children’s Film Festival in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany; and the 2013 Kidscreen Award in New York; and was nominated for a 2014 Emmy.

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April 4, 2015

The Godson’s Triumph, by M. C. A. Hogarth – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

The Godson’s Triumph, by M. C. A. Hogarth. Illustrations; map by the author.
St. Paul, MN, Sofawolf Press, June 2014, trade paperback $17.95 (viii + 227 pages), Kindle $5.99.

FotGG2_CoverFront_lgBesides being the sequel to Flight of the Godkin Griffin (reviewed on Flayrah on 14 June 2012), this is The Godkindred Saga, Book 2. Collect ‘em all; they are very good reading.

Flight of the Godkin Griffin introduced Mistress Commander Angharad Godkin, a middle-aged griffin (but totally unlike traditional griffins) and her furry world. Angharad is a military commander in the army of her semi-divine sovereign, the Godson, ruler of the greatest (but unofficial) empire this world has ever known. She is also distantly related to the Godson. She expects to retire after a grueling career of conquest. Instead, she is appointed as the new provincial governor of recently-conquered Shraeven. To quote from my review:

“In just the first two pages, Hogarth establishes that this is another world (with three moons), that Angharad can fly (her wings were injured in the battle for Glendallia; also, “A warm breeze presages spring and sweeps my fine hair off my shoulders, tickling my wings.” – Angharad wears a backless blouse with breeches), that the creatures of this world can interbreed and do not look like each other, and that the royal court is REALLY anxious for the politically inexperienced Angharad to take command of the large province of Shraeven (until recently an independent kingdom) as soon as possible. She is promised all the additional troops she wants, a new support staff, an almost unlimited expense account – but she, personally, has to be the new Governor. Angharad suspects that the “newly pacified province” is in fact a hellhole, and that she is expected to fail – but who wants her, personally, to be a scapegoat?”

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April 3, 2015

Publishing for Furries; a Look at Mainstream Writing For and About Furries, by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

This is a companion piece to Fred’s overview of The History of Furry Publishing.  See Part One: Beginnings – and Part Two: Current Publishers.  

This looks beyond publishing by-fans/for-fans, to books you might find in stores.  There are very few because fans make a tiny market for a mainstream publisher.  I’ve often said that I think it’s worth ambitiously hoping for a “Furry Bible” coffee table book (like a Taschen book) worth selling in stores one day.

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Publishing for Furries; a Look at Mainstream Writing For and About Furries.

 

Okay, we’ve covered the specialty furry publishing companies. What furry books have there been from the non-furry publishers?

Most of them are either s-f & fantasy novels about talking animals, or how-to-draw books. You can probably find the former in the Literature or Science Fiction/Fantasy sections of bookstores, and the latter in the Animation or Art sections.

51NXqOETpYLLITERATURE. The s-f & fantasy selection at bookstores is constantly changing. You can usually find such classics as: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, by Lewis Carroll (1865 and 1871); The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame (1908); Animal Farm, by George Orwell (1945); and Watership Down, by Richard Adams (1972), in Classics or Literature.

There have been so many s-f novels over the years that I won’t try to list them all. One that many furry fans have cited as particularly inspiring them is The Pride of Chanur, by C. J. Cherryh (1981). It and its sequels have been reprinted many times, and are likely to be easily available. A more Young Adult fantasy, usually in Children’s Books, is Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O’Brien (1971), which will probably always be in print because it won the Newbery Medal.

The only non-furry anthology of furry short stories is Furry!: The World’s Best Anthropomorphic Fiction!, edited by Fred Patten (2006), still in print despite belief in furry fandom that it is out of print today.

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April 2, 2015

Jungle Shuffle – CGI Feature announcement by Fred Patten.

by kiwiztiger

Tip: Courtesy of Ace Eldritch.

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

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The Jungle Shuffle Mystery

We get questions. Patch said, “Someone has just asked me about this…” and sent me a YouTube link to a trailer for Jungle Shuffle. It’s an animated feature full of anthro – red pandas? “Nope. It’s news to me. Let me look into it.”

Okay. Jungle Shuffle, or The Jungle Shuffle, is a 85-minute computer generated imagery (CGI) animated feature, with coatimundis, not red pandas. It was a South Korean and Mexican co-production, directed by Taedong Park and Mauricio de la Orta.

The plot: in 1960 in the dense Lacedon jungle in southern Mexico (the Mayan area), Manu (boy) and Sacha (girl) are two coatimundis in a village tribe led by Sacha’s father. Manu is a typical loner, barely tolerated by anyone but Sacha. Manu’s rival for Sacha’s paw is Artex, a smarmy wise guy who is really trying to become the chief’s successor. Artex persuades the chief to have a big protective totem made to scare off the humans who are starting to invade the jungle. Manu accidentally destroys the totem, and is banished from the coati’s village to live alone in the jungle. When Sacha is captured by the human hunters of Profesor Loco (who is conducting experiments with captured local animals to develop a super-chicken), Manu tries to rescue her; but he runs into Balaam the jaguar, whose mate Kim has also been captured. Manu and Balaam get in each others’ way, resulting in Manu making another enemy. But Manu does mange to rescue a monkey, Chuy (a comic-relief wannabe kung-fu fighter). Together the two manage to rescue both Sacha and Kim, and Manu becomes everyone’s hero.

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