More storm warnings and new books

[altivo]

Severe thunderstorm watch here all afternoon and evening. All we got was a little spattering of rain and a lot of clouds, though. I guess central Illinois got plastered with the tornado warnings and heavy rains. It looked very impressive on the radar about 3 or 4 pm.

When I got home at 8:30 (this is ugly Wednesday, the day I have to work late) there was a box from Sofawolf Press waiting. Three books I'd ordered and am eager to read through. First is volume one of Leo Magna's Fur-Piled comic. I'm sure almost all is the same as what is on his web site, but I believe in supporting artists I like where possible. Besides, I love his art and storylines so much that I wanted a more permanent copy. Maybe I can get him to sign it some time.

The other two are Kyell Gold's Volle and Pendant of Fortune, about which I've heard many good things and I figured it is time to read them myself. Yay, furry fiction. The best kind.

[Edit: Just as I was about to shut down for the night and go to bed, the weather radio went off again. Storm watch is reinstated to run through 7 am tomorrow. Goody. ;p]

Comments

[lobowolf.livejournal.com]

Volle is quite excellent, although I haven't read Pendant of Fortune yet.

Kyell Gold has an LJ account under his pseudonym (what else?) kyellgold.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remembered that you were pretty enthusiastic about it. I went to buy Fur-Piled and saw it there and remembered I had wanted to read it. Figured I might as well get both while they were available, as Sofawolf is kinda notorious for doing short press runs and not getting around to reprinting.

[lobowolf.livejournal.com]

I need to pick up Pendant of Fortune. I've been sidetracked lately by Jane Lindskold's books.

I forgot how much I enjoyed reading; no computer will ever replace a good book.

[doc-moreau.livejournal.com]

You guys are STEALING ALL OUR STORMS! Stop it!!!! :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Somebody stole all of ours last year. We're just getting even.

[marzolan.livejournal.com]

Rain has been short here lately, but then it appears to be a nice nationwide drought. But I won't say it... *coughglobalwarmingcough* Hrrm, excuse me, something in my throat. Anyways, Fur-Piled is a good comic, I just wish he updated a bit faster. but then artists have lives outside of there stories and can only draw/write as their finances allow. If I could I'd purchase some things from a few artists... but well.... maybe one day.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You'll be able to encourage artists more eventually, don't worry about it. If he didn't want people to see it without paying, he wouldn't post it all to the web as he does. The print images are larger, but essentially the same. I love it just as much in the print format.

Leo Magna is a student (college I assume from his photo) and therefore his time for drawing and writing is limited of course. I agree, faster updates would be nice, but he seems to have it all plotted out so things come together nicely in the end. The cliffhangers do bug me a bit. It really is a soap opera. "Will Husky get back together with Saetto?" "Who was that strange young lion that Andy cruised in the supermarket?" "What will happen to Car now?" "Will Chris ever discover his own sexuality and take an interest in others? Boys or girls?" ;p

[marzolan.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* Yes, he does have a knack for the dramatic...and you're right... reminds me a lot of most soap operas, heh. Well, we'll find out eventually. And incidently I'm pulling for a Husky/Saetto makeup.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

And incidently I'm pulling for a Husky/Saetto makeup.

Absolutely. As I said on the Fur-Piled Forum, if they don't make up and get back together, I'm going for Saetto myself. He's adorable. It's an interesting but more dramatic parallel to the triangle in Carpe Diem when long absent Trent returns unexpectedly to find that Burt gave up on him and is now with Kevin. Only there everyone is still speaking and we don't yet know what's going to happen. The tension is building though...

In Saetto's case, I don't expect him to stay permanently mad. He left because he didn't want to do something "stupid," i.e. punch Car in the muzzle the way he put his fist into that refrigerator door. There's bound to be at least an opportunity for a resolution between Saetto and Husky, and Husky had better make a clear declaration of his commitment. Lacking that, I think he's going to lose his chance.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

There was also a Saetto bit in one of the "heat" comics by sofa press.

Whenever I hear "Leo-Magna" I always now think of a Mitsubishi Magna we had in the late 80's ^.^

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*snicker-whicker*
You're such a gear-head. ;p

"Leo Magna" means "Great Lion" to me, and I'm waiting for more revelations about that lion who owns the dance club frequented by his characters...

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

It was a good car though,
Quiet when new, although because they were assembled in OZ they tended to rust after 5 years and the 2.6L Astron II engine was a throwback from the Sigma a far too big engine for a 4cylinder which had balance issues after 5 years and added to Mitsubishi's reputation of pre 96 engines chewing piston rings and blowing smoke.

I kind of wish my highschool/university days were more interesting like his stories at least if my friend's lives had been It would've been good. However they've been rather...well samey.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. My high school days were unpleasant and not worthy of comics. University was different, though. I love the scenes where Saetto climbs in the window, for instance.

In my junior year I shared an apartment with two guys and had big crushes on both. One was a high school hero and never quite got it, but the other was a sometime lover. More than once he slept in my bed, and when he realized that the other roomie was already awake and about he would climb out the window and go round to come in the front door, pretending to have been out all night with some girl. ;p

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Ahh the things people do to keep up appearances XD
Since my uni was in the city I just took a bus or drove in.
And its fairly rare unis to have oncampus accomodation. You tended to live in share houses off campus.

I've never shared a room with anyone except my brother ages ago.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Hee. An experience no one should miss.

I've shared lots. When I was about eight, I shared a single large attic room with both my brothers. Older brother was 7 years ahead of me, so when there got to be space he had his own room. Then I shared with younger brother (2 years behind) for most of the remaining years at home. In college I always shared with one or two other guys, though for about three months in junior year I did have my own bedroom in that shared apartment.

After that came the theological seminary, where we all had private cell-like bedrooms (tiny!) but usually two or three of those shared a common sitting and study room.

And after that, any roommate I ever had was at least a sometimes bedwarmer as well as room-sharer. ;p

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Naughty horsey. :3

You went to Theological seminary? I must say I'm rather surprised, what did you do there?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I studied to be a priest (Anglican/Episcopalian). I have a university degree in religion too. We all do foolish things when we're young, I guess.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

O.O When did you realise it wasn't for you?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Long story. I think it's lined out in one of the early posts in my LJ.

My bishop managed to have me forced out of seminary because I "failed" the MMPI (it showed that I wasn't sufficiently "masculine" rather than that I was actually gay.) I went back to grad school in comparative literature on the advice of the dean of the seminary, who said anyone with a Phi Beta Kappa key should become a professor. Bleah.

I continued to serve in the student chapel in all sorts of capacities, and still hoped to return to seminary. Crazy me. Walked out of there after a visiting priest made some inappropriate remarks about gays in his sermon.

Later I moved to Chicago and was lonely enough that I started going to church again. It seemed that half the choir was lesbigay, and certainly the organist and the priest were. Then came the day when the priest was forced to read a statement in church from the House of Bishops, which said, among other things, that it was inappropriate for gay males to act as priests. Imagine being a gay priest and having to read that crap! I walked out again that day, and have never gone back. I note with some glee that the US Episcopal church now ordains women and gay men as priests, and even has a legitimate and openly acknowledged gay bishop, but the whole experience taught me something about the hypocrisy of the Christian church, and I'll never be able to take it seriously again.

More than you ever wanted to know, eh? :)

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Not at all :)

And you said you weren't worldly :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Worldly? Me? I don't think so. A lot of experience, yes. But if I were worldly, I'd be like my brother and have a large income and even large debts.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Who wants that o.O I think you're far better off :)

[pioneer11.livejournal.com]

There is a sore lack of a good, consistant, furry publishing house.

You /can/ do it in sf or fantasy but they have there own shelves to
fill at Borders and B&N.

Is it possible, maybe, to get a Furry plaque back in the SF Ghetto?

I dunno, but it would be nice. Maybe I should refocus from my
attempts at furry fiction to furry publishing.

Its a HUGE market, sorely underrated.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

SofaWolf does pretty well in terms of consistent quality but they aren't big enough yet. You really think there's that much market? I somehow have the impression that most furries don't read much. They are film, television, and music oriented, but those media are so much more costly to produce that we won't see a lot there.

[pioneer11.livejournal.com]

I've submitted something (circa 2003) to Sofa and have had no
decision one way or the other.

I'm of the opine that Furry Genre Fiction is a literary explosion
waiting for a fuse.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, as I said, Sofa's output is not huge. I have no way of knowing how large their backlogs or slushpiles might be, nor what their editorial and selection process is.

A lot of furry fiction manages to get out through regular publishers. The general audience stuff (non-erotic) appears everywhere. Transformation and science fiction stuff comes out of publishers that regularly deal with those specialties. Werewolf stories seem to be almost as hot as vampires now. Even Harlequin Romances have been releasing stuff in that vein and also with Lora Leigh's erotic romances have gotten into the human-animal hybrid field. (By the way, I recommend Leigh's book Megan's Mark for those who like adult erotica. Lion-human and coyote-human genetic experiments...)

Gay stories and comics, like Leo Magna's Fur-Piled might just as easily have made it to print through Alyson or another gay-oriented house. So Sofawolf does have competition. I suspect they are pretty conservative about their decisions, as everything I've seen with their imprint is of extremely high quality.

Not to say there isn't room for another furry publishing firm if you've a mind to give it a try. Printing and binding is probably cheaper than ever now. Distribution is the difficult and costly thing to tackle.