Fred's stories

2003 Ursa Major Awards winners
Wed 30 Apr 2003 - 09:26

[This news was e.mailed as a press release from the Internet Room at ConFurence 2003 last Friday. Now that I am home and using my own computer, here it is again from me.]

The winners of the second annual Ursa Major Awards (formally the Anthropomorphic Literature & Arts of the Year Awards), for the Best in anthropomorphic/"funny animal" literature and art first published during the calendar year 2002, were announced at a presentation ceremony on Friday, April 25 at ConFurence 2003, the 15th annual International Anthropomorphic Convention held at the Hilton Burbank Airport and Convention Center in Burbank, California on April 25 - 27, 2003.

Editor's note: this piece refers to what are now known as the 2002 Ursa Major Awards.

Another of "those" articles about Furry fandom
Sat 19 Apr 2003 - 23:43

Here is another newspaper profile on Furry fandom for the general public, in the new "Los Angeles Alternative Press". At least this one is reasonably objective. It also includes a URL link to the website for ConFurence 2003, next week -- dunno whether this will hurt or help the ConFurence...

24 comment(s) – read more

Blacksad vol. 2 published
Fri 28 Mar 2003 - 10:55

After three years, the second "Blacksad" album by Juan Diaz Canales (writer) & Juanjo Guarnido (artist) has been published by Dargaud (March 22). "Arctic-Nation" is a Furry kidnapping/murder mystery involving a white supremacist (polar bears, arctic foxes, etc.) hate movement. All in French, but check out the art samples on the bd.net website. Let's hope it is not another three years before volume 3 (announced as "Red Soul") is finished.

The Klysadel is back!
Sat 22 Mar 2003 - 11:22

Those who were around when Furry fandom was starting up from the late 1970s to the early 1990s will remember Fara Shimbo and her Klysadel stories, told in over a dozen fanzine text stories and comic strips, about Wargentin College on the Moon several thousand years in the future, and its bizarre faculty and students mixing humans, talking animals, and Furry aliens, notably the satamuri (roughly a cross between cats and baboons). Shimbo also entered paintings of her characters in the Art Shows of the first couple of Furry conventions. Then she dropped out of fandom.

She has just returned with her own website, where everything is being posted including a 70+ page color comic book. For those of you who want to catch up with the adventures of Thobo the Hat, Fara Maki, Dark Jon and the others, go to http://klysadel.net/

1 comment(s) – read more

3rd "Sam the Cat: Detective" novel published
Tue 11 Mar 2003 - 09:50

"The Maltese Kitten", by Linda Stewart, the 3rd novel in her talking-cat spoof of tough private detectives, was published in December. The first two are "Sam the Cat: Detective" (1993) and "The Big Catnap" (2000). All three are illustrated on their website.

New fantasy cat novel series
Mon 3 Mar 2003 - 14:25

A new fantasy adventure series featuring feral cats began publication in January with "Warriors: Book 1, Into the Wild", by Erin Hunter. HarperCollins, 272 pages, $15.99. "Warriors: Book 2, Fire and Ice", is scheduled for June 2003. Readers who enjoyed "Tailchaser's Song" by Tad Williams and "The Wild Road" by Gabriel King should like these.

Furry novel news
Thu 20 Feb 2003 - 12:52

"Firewing", by Kenneth Oppel, the third novel in "The Silverwing Saga" which was published in Canada in April 2002, was published in February in the U.S.: Simon & Schuster, $16.95. "Silverwing" is also due to become a TV cartoon series, animated by Bardel Entertainment in Vancouver, on Canada's Teletoon channel in September.

"Cat Seeing Double: A Joe Grey Mystery", by Shirley Rousseau Murphy, the latest (eighth) in the series about talking cat detectives, was published in January: HarperCollins, $24.95.

"Rancher Ferrets on the Range", by Richard Bach, the fourth of his "The Ferret Chronicles" set in a world of anthropomorphic ferrets, was published in February: Scribner, $15.00. Vol. 5, "Teacher Ferrets in the Classroom", is scheduled for September publication.

"Between Darkness and Light", by Lisanne Norman, the latest installment of her "Sholan Alliance" novel, was published in January: DAW Books, $6.99.

"Snowball's Chance", by John Reed, a "revisionist" version of "Animal Farm" that has the George Orwell estate threatening legal action, was published in November 2002: Roof Books, $19.95.

2 comment(s) – read more

Four new fanzine issues at Further Confusion
Tue 11 Feb 2003 - 00:26

Four Furry fanzines debuted their new issues at Further Confusion at the end of January: Fur Plus (#17), Fur Visions (#27), North American Fur (#11), and Yarf! (#66). Devoted readers of those fanzines may want to contact their publishers to buy copies, or order them from Rabbit Valley Books.

Ursa Major Awards for 2002: Final ballot
Mon 13 Jan 2003 - 14:55

Nominations for the second annual Ursa Major Awards, for the best in Anthropomorphic Literature and Art of the calendar year 2002, closed on January 7. Here is the final ballot, consisting of the five titles receiving the highest number of nominations in each category.

1 comment(s) – read more

2002 Recommended Furry Reading List - final update
Wed 1 Jan 2003 - 20:33

The 2002 Anthropomorphic Recommended Reading/Viewing List was first posted on November 1st. This is the fourth and final update, adding the recommendations sent in during the last half of December. There were complaints that the 2001 Recommended List got confusing with too many separate updates, so this year all the additions are being added to the same List.