Why furry fiction?

[altivo]

*taps keyboard to see if it is on*

I admit I'm not entirely sure whether to take the Amazon Author Central invitation seriously. I've been writing for quite a while, but only a tiny bit of my fiction has ever made it to general publication. I'm confident that most readers would have little interest in my non-fiction, and it's all out of print now anyway.

The question of why anyone would write anthropomorphic fiction comes up pretty regularly. People who devour Patterson, Higgins, and Grisham usually do not find fantasy or science fiction suited to their tastes. Those of us who write in this narrower genre have an equally narrow audience.

We do have some very well known writers as models, though. Richard Adams (Watership Down and other novels,) William Horwood (Duncton Wood and many others,) and Brian Jacques (Redwall and sequels) come to mind as modern exemplars. Looking back through the years, we can't omit Orwell's Animal Farm, or Salten's Bambi, or Grahame's The Wind in the Willows either. I find it interesting that all but one of these authors was British, and all but two of them wrote with an adult audience in mind rather than children. Critics and educators alike have a tendency to lump all fiction that features anthropomorphic characters into children's literature, just as they often assign all animated films to the children's audience. I think those critics and educators are short sighted and very unimaginative if they can't see the adult messages that underlie works like Watership Down or Bambi.

Human history and prehistory is filled with stories that use talking, rational animals as their enactors. There is something that links those legends and tales directly to our souls and makes them stick with us (or at least, with those of us who aren't critics and educators.) The Native Americans told each other about Coyote and Loon around the fire or under the moonlight, and Aesop taught his lessons of ethics and wisdom by using animal characters more than two millennia ago.

We are all animals, after all. No matter how much we try to separate ourselves from our animal brethren and cousins, they manage to remind us that they share a good portion of our heritage. When the protagonist in a story is a coyote or an owl, it lets us skip past some of the assumptions we make about humans, and see things in a different light. Or at least, I think it does and strive to make use of that leverage in my storytelling.

For those with deep curiosities (or idle ones for that matter) I can be found on Twitter (Altivo) and have an older website that links to some of my podcasts and reviews: The Clydesdale Librarian. I do try to respond to questions and comments when received.

Comments

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

There is plenty of scope to examine more themes with the use of anthro creatures than the "beard-strokers" give the genre credit for. A lot of the stuff I write examines the geo-political relationships between different species types when advanced (human like) intelligence and tool using abilities are added into the equation. How would a society which is not "upright ape" based have evolved? Just how different would it be? Would they be sadly all too similar? Thus is advanced intelligence a corrupting influence on morality?

The use of anthro characters can be a lot more subtle, and less overt as well. Art Speilgman's graphic novel, "Maus" used the differing species as merely metaphors for different nations.

Though I do find the intellectually maligned escapism of sci-fi/fantasy to hit the spot more often than not. Probably simply because it IS escapism. I do my day job, and deal with bills and trivialities in my life. I don't want to read about more of them.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

While a good chunk of speculative and fantasy fiction is indeed escapism, I'm not ready to write all of it off in those terms. Fable, allegory, and other forms are often dumped into this same heading.

When we come right down to it, the writing of Stephen King, James Patterson, or W.E.B. Griffin is escapism too. The only difference is that it takes a somewhat different angle on the escape. I'd much rather associate with people who fantasize about being transformed into foxes or even dogs than with the ones who daydream about blowing up ocean liners and government buildings.

Spiegelman's Maus is a remarkable work in many respects, though the fact that it is a graphic novel tends to override any fantasy or furry aspect for most readers. I've encountered those who sneer at the idea of animal characters having anything important to say, and asked if they ever read Animal Farm or saw the play. Usually they cough a bit and say something like "That's different." But it isn't. ;p

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Critics and educators alike have a tendency to lump all fiction that features anthropomorphic characters into children's literature, just as they often assign all animated films to the children's audience. I think those critics and educators are short sighted and very unimaginative if they can't see the adult messages that underlie works like Watership Down or Bambi.

Hear, hear, yes. And those are probably also the same people who put all comics into the children's section - after all, there's pictures and drawings, so it's not for adults, right?

(Of course, my idea of comics tends to be more influenced by the Franco-Belgian comic scene than Marvel and DC...)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

As mine is influenced by Rabbit Valley and Sofawolf. Definitely NOT kid stuff. Circles is tame in the artwork but not in the concepts. Associated Student Bodies or Coyote River though... Even Fur-Piled and Dog Days Afternoon stray pretty far from the "funny animals" notion of what a comic book should be.

I can't comment on superheroes, they never did much for me at all.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Not for me, either. I did have a couple of Superman comics when I was young, and I did read them occasionally, but I was really just interested in them for the sci-fi aspects (such as futuristic technology), alien worlds and, shall we say, unusual villains. Today, though, they wouldn't do much for me anymore; even the better ones, such as Neil Gaiman's "Sandman", are ultimately predictable (in the sense that they all follow a certain basic pattern) and, more often than not, relatively interchangable art-wise.

Not that I have many comics, of course, or regularly read them - I really rather like the Donjon series, generally speaking, and there's also a bunch my local library had, such as the Acquefacques comics, Valerius - der Comic-Agent or Franquin's idées noires, and a couple I ended up buying myself, such as the earlier volumes of the de cape et de crocs series or Le Grand Pouvoir du Chninkel; I think I have a couple of issues of Schwermetall lying around, too, but I'm really not a comic buff. (In Germany, BTW, a lot of credit is due to Carlsen, a publisher who's been making many great Franco-Belgian comics available in German.)

But yeah, furry comics are another good example, too.

[flamekist.livejournal.com]

Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" hooked me instantly with it’s artwork and unusual storyline, but you’re right about it’s predictability. Halfway through the series I realized it really wasn’t too different than the horror comics I’d occasionally read when I was a kid, and at that point I started losing interest.

These days I follow a couple of webcomics. Some for the interesting artwork or storylines, others because the artist is one I remember from when I was a teen. What I find interesting is how much the quality of the artwork changes through the years. One of the artists is developing her style so fast that her work from five years ago is so different from her work today that you wouldn’t believe they were from the same person. But the artist I remember from 25 years ago is completely the same then and now. If it weren’t for his interesting storylines I’d have to say his work had gone stagnant.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Oh, webcomics can be great (although not all are, naturally) - there's definitely a couple of gems out there. I'm curious, too, are there any you'd recommend in particular?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

My favorite is Faux Pas.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Oh, that still exists? Neat - I haven't actually checked it out in goodness knows how long. :)

Hmm, no RSS/Atom feed, though, it seems - that's a pity.

[flamekist.livejournal.com]

My outdated office web browser won't let me insert links, so you'll have to do the old-fashioned cut-n-paste. I apologize...

Boy Meets Boy by K. Sandra Fuhr. Gay-themed, obviously. A continuous storyline but usually with a punchline at the end of each strip. Sandra's early work and the drawings are pretty sketchy. Good character development. This comic concluded several years ago but is still available online. http://boymeetsboy.keenspot.com/d/20000926.html

Friendly Hostility by K. Sandra Fuhr. Picks up where BMB left off. Two minor characters from BMB are now the main characters. Excellent character and artwork development. A continuous storyline but usually with a punchline at the end of each strip. Recently concluded a few months ago. http://friendlyhostility.com/d/20040108.html

5ideways by K. Sandra Fuhr. Extremely dark and surreal with amazing artwork. A continuous storyline with no punchlines. Currently on extended hiatus but Sandra promises to start again. By far her best artwork. http://5ideways.com/2005/20051013-1.php

Other People's Business by K. Sandra Fuhr. Picks up where FH left off. The two main characters from FH are back to being minor ones here. A continuous storyline with few if any punchlines. Just recently started. http://www.otherpeoplesbusiness.net/comic/issue-1/page-1

Girl Genius by Phil Foglio. I first found a graphic novel by this artist about 20 years ago and loved his artwork, so I was very pleased when I recently found him online with this comic. To my surprise, his artwork hasn't changed one bit in all that time. Interresting steampunk storyline with rich background artwork. http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021104

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Oh, Phil Foglio - that's a name I recognize, too. (He and his wife Kaja did a couple of Magic: The Gathering card illustrations, IIRC, and there was also the "What's New with Phil & Dixie" comic in the Duelist; that, and he put out his own card game called XXXenophile, IIRC, but I never actually got that, unfortunately.)

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

I was surprised to find that our schools had added The Stonekeeper (Amulet, Book 1), by Kazu Kibuishi. It is, after all, in comic book or manga format. Interesting, too, is that this is a Scholastic entry.

I saw in my own childhood and that of my kids that most of the 'furry' based literature (other than sci-fi) faded away by sixth and seventh grade: like, puberty begins and animal lit is taboo. Our 5th graders can read Squirrel World: A Park Pals Adventure (Park Pals Adventures), by Johanna Hurwitz, but by 8th grade it's The Man Who Was Poe (Avi) and Life As We Knew It (Pfeffer).

My own favorite books and movies are animal based, more on the Grahame model of adventurous critters than the Watership Down narrative. I've recently found some of the manga enjoyable, getting direction from that Stonekeeper book and the author's editing of Flight Comics: you must check out Michael Gagne's sweet fox at http://www.gagneint.com/

Why furry fiction? ah, because the stories can make one feel so... connected.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Manga are so "in" now with the kids that Scholastic has to have them. As you no doubt realize, not all manga are suitable for the subteens, but fortunately more are being produced that are acceptable now.

I generally like the long narrative, and Watership Down is a favorite for me, but The Wind in the Willows and Black Beauty color my earliest memories. My mother read those to us as bed time stories, along with Mother West Wind's How Stories and Kipling's Jungle Book. My grandmother used to read Joel Chandler Harris to me. Now he's considered so politically incorrect that you can hardly find him.

I think furry fiction makes me more wistful than connected much of the time, but I keep writing it anyway. XD

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

The first 'furry' gift I received in the mail was a box containing a large Baloo and a Complete Tales of Uncle Remus book (among other sundry items).

A memorable gift from my grandmother was a book by J. Allen Bosworth, Voices in the Meadow. I lost that little treasure over the years and finally ordered one to read through the library (McHenry Public actually has one, according to das net). Though not a milestone in children's literature, it was nice to read again, and eventually I bought a copy online.

Wistful works.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Wistful for me is especially Thornton W. Burgess, most specifically his longer books in which Peter Rabbit goes to visit the seashore and the big meadow and learns all about the real plants and animals found there. Gods, I loved those.

I can't read Black Beauty or Bambi without hearing my mother's voice and picturing the room I shared with my younger brother at the time. It had ugly wallpaper. ;p That room is also associated with having measles and having to stay home from school, which made me pretty miserable at the time.

We have some furry authors today who are superb writers, though alas, I feel some of them focus too much on erotica. They would be capable of works to exceed those of Richard Adams if they turned their efforts in that direction. Of course, they are probably doing better in terms of popularity and income with the erotica, so I dare not criticize too heavily. Meanwhile my own non-erotic writing languishes for want of a market...

I don't know J. Allen Bosworth, but I'll look him up. And if you liked Grahame's The Wind in the Willows then I strongly recommend Jan Needle's The Wild Wood to you. It's hard to find in the US, but worth the effort. Needle retells Grahame's novel, but from the viewpoint of one of the ferrets, dovetailing his account of the other side perfectly into the incidents Grahame related. It's fantastic, and beautifully done. The ferret, whose name is Baxter, was actually an employee of Toad for a while, and was the chauffeur who drove up to the door in the new car on the day on which Badger arrived to "take Toad in hand." Baxter was sent away, the car rejected, and his job lost. My longer review is here.

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

Erotica: it's a matter of where you start looking from as to what you'll find. I used to hop about the net looking for various furry stories, and kept finding myself on yiffstar. hmmm. Not my grandmother's furry for sure.

I think you'll understand that the beauty of working at a library is access. Though I don't have any more access to the media than any patron we serve, I do see a lot of books come through circulation and can make spontaneous choices from this large selection. Today it was The bear: a novel / James Oliver Curwood. Just because... well, the book was mentioned on another Curwood book, Baree, The Story Of A Wolf-Dog. I'll give it a go.

But when OSL fails, there is HELIN, and from HELIN I will order The Wild Wood (tomorrow, as the ref librarian has bailed already).

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Indeed, access is nice. Though I'm getting a bit disappointed with using OCLC to make ILL requests. Half the time they send the wrong thing. ;p

Curwood is grand. I loved Baree but haven't read The Bear yet. Let me know how it is, I can probably find it.

Yiffstar isn't *my* furry either. ;p Do you know Fur Rag? While you can easily find the erotica there as well, there seems to be quite a bit more writing in other genres, all with furry characters. You'll even find excerpts of my own stuff.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Aha! The Bear is a retitling of The Grizzly King and I did read that years ago. Still, do let me hear what you think of it. XD

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Allan Dean Foster wrote a three book series about how humans came to help animal type races in the universe..it doesn't paint a good picture of humans though.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. Foster is incredibly prolific, so it's going to be hard to pin that down unless you can come up with a title or something. I tend to think of him first in connection with the Spellsinger stories, but those are deliberately humorous and make everyone look silly. I particularly liked the gay unicorn in those. He was a minor character but very amusing.