Eep!

[altivo]

The January/February issue of Anthro is now online. As always, it has some good stuff in it. But the thing that made me jump was a review of Bad Dog Books' ROAR volume 1 by none other than Fred Patten himself. The grand old man of furry fiction says this about my story, which appears in that volume:

The best story from an anthro viewpoint is the first, A Close Port of Call, by Altivo Overo. When zebra dockmaster Mark Partine of Valden 4’s orbital space station meets visiting lion spaceship Captain Teftawn, he discovers that his ancestral instincts against predators are stronger than he realized. Should Partine consciously ignore them as atavistic and unrealistic, or is Teftawn really a threat to himself and his space station? This story makes good use of the bioengineered characters’ original natures.

Maybe I shouldn't feel so bad about rejections after all.

Comments

[atomicat.livejournal.com]

Right on! Hey, now that winter has set in and I actually have a livable abode, did you post that story somewhere? I'd love to read it now that I have the time.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It was never posted by me, no, since the publisher was buying first publication rights and I agreed not to put it elsewhere until a year after publication. However, last time I checked (it's been a few months) it was readable online. Go to the Bad Dog Books website, and follow the links to their online bookstore at lulu.com. There is (or was) a "preview" there that just happened to contain my story.

[atomicat.livejournal.com]

And there it is! Thanks!

[cozycabbage.livejournal.com]

Noooes, it stops at the good part!

It was very well-written! Heh, I've been going through something I wrote back in grade 9 (transcribing it to my computer), and your story was just such a HUGE contrast to mine that I had to appreciate it.

The savannah scene, though, seemed a bit rushed. Did you have a word cap?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, there was sort of a cap, though not a hard and fast one. If I post the story online when the one year limit is up, I'll probably expand that part a bit.

[marzolan.livejournal.com]

Not too shabby there Tivo. *chuckles* That had to be a double-take moment.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was a bit of a shock. Rather like being a newbie science fiction writer whose first story just appeared in a second rank magazine and having someone like Asimov or Bradbury single it out for a favorable comment.

[marzolan.livejournal.com]

*grins* Well, talent knows talent is usually the case I think. Nicely done.

[dongstyle-ltd.livejournal.com]

Wow! I too am in awe.

There's the so time-worn sayings about writing and rejections, which one should I quote? Maybe none, for they seem to have amalgamated in an incoherent jumble in my head, 'sides I'm sure you're familiar with them, heh.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Of course it's also true that he had some unkind words for some of the other work in the volume, so in fact being singled out as the "best" may be rather faint praise. ;p

[dongstyle-ltd.livejournal.com]

Or maybe even stronger praise, for he had nought but good things to say about yours! 8D

[altivo.livejournal.com]

There is that, I guess. I'm just pleased to be mentioned by name. ;D

[typographer.livejournal.com]

Coolness!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes. I was sort of taken aback. It's been out since AC and this is the first real review I've seen.

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

It's quite an excellent read, and worth the praise too. I don't know if it's the size limit that keeps the pace running pretty fast, but it suits nicely to my kind of scatterbrain who can't seem to concentrate on anything these days. ;-)

Interestingly the back story about the genetic division in the past is pretty similar to what I've been slowly constructing in my mind, as something that has at least some connection between the fiction and the real world. I've been wondering if that is a more common theme in anthropomorphic stories too... it's always nice to know who have had the same brilliant ideas before. :-)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was trying to stick to a reasonable size limit. They will accept longer stories, but I think the odds against acceptance go up as the story gets longer. I'd have liked to have spun the tension out longer and in more detail. Perhaps I'll write something more about those two characters eventually, though certainly they will be friends by then with the tensions mostly resolved