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'Cats and More Cats' anthology to launch at Further Confusion 2016

Edited by GreenReaper as of Thu 14 Jan 2016 - 13:55
Your rating: None Average: 3.6 (7 votes)

Cats and More CatsCats and More Cats; Feline Fantasy Fiction, edited by Fred Patten, is launching at Further Confusion 2016 in San Jose, California over the January 14-18 five-day weekend. The book can be pre-ordered online from FurPlanet Productions. It will be for sale on the FurPlanet online catalogue afterwards.

Cats and More Cats is a reprint anthology of 14 short stories and novelettes of feline fantasy fiction (“the best of the best”) from 1989 to the present, most of them out-of-print today, plus a new essay and an extensive bibliography of cat fantasy books. This is designed to appeal to both science fiction and fantasy fans, and all cat-lovers.

FurPlanet Publications, $19.95 (261 pages). Wraparound cover by Donryu. ISBN 978-1-61450-297-5

Contents

"Trouble", by P. M. Griffin (from Catfantastic; Nine Lives and Fifteen Tales, 1989)

"Bomber and the Bismarck", by Clare Bell (from Catfantastic II, 1991)

"… but a Glove", by John E. Johnston III (from Catfantastic III, 1994)

"Born Again", by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (from Catfantastic IV, 1996)

"Masters and Students", by Bryan Derksen (from the Transformation Stories Contests website, 1997)

"Trixie", by Lawrence Watt-Evans (from Catfantastic V, 1999)

"Destiny", by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (from Creature Fantastic, 2001)

"Three-Inch Trouble", by Andre Norton (from A Constellation of Cats, 2001)

"Defender of the Small", by Jody Lynn Nye (from Turn the Other Chick, 2004)

"The Luck of the Dauntless", by James M. Ward (from Furry Fantastic, 2006)

"After Tony’s Fall", by Jean Rabe (from Catopolis, 2008)

"Magtwilla and the Mouse", by Mary E. Lowd (from Allasso volume 2, 2012)

"A Spoiled Rotten Cat Lives Here", by Dusty Rainbolt (from The Mystical Cat, 2013)

"The Emerald Mage", by Renee Carter Hall (from Hero’s Best Friend, 2014)

"Furry Fandom and Cats", by Fred Patten (original, 2016)

"A Bibliography for Bast", by Fred Patten (original, 2016)

Comments

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Glad to see feline characters get some due, but... an avian-centered anthology would be even better!

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You want "Flights of Fantasy" edited by Mercedes Lackey, published by DAW Books in 1999.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?14000

Fred Patten

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If you’re interested in avian fantasy novels, there are:

“The Ancient Solitary Reign” by Martin Hocke, and its sequel,

http://anthrozine.com/site/lbry/yarf.reviews.6.html

“The Lost Domain”, about barn owls.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?43337

If you want “a Watership Down with ravens”, there’s “Raven’s End” by Ben Gadd.

http://www.amazon.com/Ravens-End-Novel-Ben-Gadd/dp/1578050944/ref=sr_1_5?s=books...

Of course, there are “The Guardians of Ga’hoole” novels by Kathryn Lasky, about owls and harp-playing snakes – 16 of them.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Capture-Guardians-Gahoole-Book/dp/0439405572/ref=pd_si...

Fred Patten

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I thought about asking you outright about this, but you picked up on what I was wondering. Thanks for these suggestions.

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I suppose that you know about avian fantasy movies like "Free Birds", "Rio", "Rio 2", the Ga'hoole movie, and so on. (I can't think of "Happy Feet" and "Happy Feet 2" as being about avians. Have you seen the horror of "Tappy Toes"?) What about the 2010 Argentinian "Plumiferos" that pits a sparrow, a canary, a hummingbird, a pigeon, and a bat (a bird wannabe) against an arrogant CGI lookalike of Bill Gates? Or the oldest of all; the live-action 1950s "Bill and Coo", with trained lovebirds vs. an evil crow?

Fred Patten

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I've seen the movies you mentioned in your opening sentence, but "Plumiferos" I have not (and "Tappy Toes" is probably best left unseen). I found "Bill and Coo" on YouTube, so I can skim it over.

I just reminded myself of "Yellowbird" (aka "Gus") from a couple years ago. Don't know if its any good though. Not too many reviews out there.

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I saw "Yellowbird". An interesting art style, but a predictable juvenile plot. Worth watching but not memorable. (I forgot to mention it.) The publicity said that it was the first theatrical feature of a new French animation studio that had practiced by making animated TV commercials for the previous ten years.

Fred Patten

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I still want to catch "Yellowbird", even if the plot isn't anything to write home about. I like how the birds' feathers appear almost like trimmed paper.

... and speaking of French films, "Le Jour des Corneilles" (Day of the Crows) was another one, though I heard that the crows are only peripheral characters and not the focus of the story.

At this point I want to apologize to any feline Furry fans out there who are initially excited by the comments popping up for this article, only to find a bunch of bird-talk instead. :)

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Yes, "Yellowbird" does have a cut-paper look, quite unlike any other CGI anthro-animal animation. The birds look good, but not realistic. As I recall, one of my questions about the story was what were all those airplanes (including a passenger jet) doing at the North Pole at the end?

"Le Jour des Corneilles" is an excellent movie, but not really anthropomorphic. The boy (called Monster Jr. by the townsfolk -- he's raised like a wild animal, and animals don't have names, but they have to call him something) sees the spirits of the forest, or ghosts, or something, who appear very briefly as animal-headed humans, but it's not clear whether they are real or only in his imagination.

Fred Patten

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Here are trailers for “Yellowbird” and “Le Jour des Corneilles”.

We've really gotten away from cats, haven't we?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06Zy0F9keJA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09PUtsdbHt4

Fred Patten

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Yes, we have gotten away from cats, but the felines who are following these comments are probably licking their lips over the amount of birds being discussed! (Maybe we should move on to rodent-themed films)

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Ack! Mice, rats, chipmunks (AAALVIN!), guinea pigs, hamsters, squirrels -- what else? There are no films about anthro capybaras or chinchillas that I know of.

Fred Patten

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Rio 2 had some notable guest capybaras, but that's another bird movie.

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