This brings back memories. Foster's Spellsinger books sure did make an impression on me when I was 12 or so, in 1990. I can't imagine I would find them of very high literary merit today, I would probably find them clumsy and pulpy, but I still have great memories (such is the nostalgia lens.) It's cool how certain books have that kind of power at a certain age, and there's nothing wrong with writing like that.
It's amazing that there was a furry BBS in 1983!
One thing that strikes me is how dedicated fans were to putting fan culture in print, at the time, with the independent comic boom of the 80's. It reminds me of hunting down zines and doing lots of mail ordering, pen pal mailing, and tape trading during the 90's boom in DIY zines. I'm a little sad that a lot of it has faded behind the internet's easier to access, but more ephemeral things. (This blog is a great resource though.) Webcomics are certainly widely read and nicely made, but I don't feel the same energy from them (I don't read any). I dislike gaming/second life/etc for being walled-in.
That comes with awareness that "furry" isn't centered on a brand owned by Disney or a large corporation, and that's great. Looking at this list, many things look like they cross over pop culture and fan culture in a more potent way than today, when things are published to the internet and its' static noise. The 80's independent comic boom made it possible for something like TMNT to become it's own huge property that was started by indie artists. How possible is that today?
I could be wrong about those qualities of "furry fan media", but these days I feel like live events is where the most energy is. (Living in the SF bay area is making me feel like that.) I think the quality of fursuits and amount of suiters you can see in one place is evidence of that.
This is just fantastic. Thank you!!
This brings back memories. Foster's Spellsinger books sure did make an impression on me when I was 12 or so, in 1990. I can't imagine I would find them of very high literary merit today, I would probably find them clumsy and pulpy, but I still have great memories (such is the nostalgia lens.) It's cool how certain books have that kind of power at a certain age, and there's nothing wrong with writing like that.
It's amazing that there was a furry BBS in 1983!
One thing that strikes me is how dedicated fans were to putting fan culture in print, at the time, with the independent comic boom of the 80's. It reminds me of hunting down zines and doing lots of mail ordering, pen pal mailing, and tape trading during the 90's boom in DIY zines. I'm a little sad that a lot of it has faded behind the internet's easier to access, but more ephemeral things. (This blog is a great resource though.) Webcomics are certainly widely read and nicely made, but I don't feel the same energy from them (I don't read any). I dislike gaming/second life/etc for being walled-in.
That comes with awareness that "furry" isn't centered on a brand owned by Disney or a large corporation, and that's great. Looking at this list, many things look like they cross over pop culture and fan culture in a more potent way than today, when things are published to the internet and its' static noise. The 80's independent comic boom made it possible for something like TMNT to become it's own huge property that was started by indie artists. How possible is that today?
I could be wrong about those qualities of "furry fan media", but these days I feel like live events is where the most energy is. (Living in the SF bay area is making me feel like that.) I think the quality of fursuits and amount of suiters you can see in one place is evidence of that.