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Stranger in a Strange Land: Furry Style
A Dirge for Prester John: Volume 1 – Habitation of the Blessed
By Catherynne Valente
Night Shade Books
I have to admit that what hooked me on this book was the book video. I’d read Catherynne Valente’s Palimpsest and enjoyed it, but the myth of Prester John–which I’d never heard of–was really interesting, and Valente sells it well in her video. With Star Wars and comic book figures.
In brief: Prester John is the supposed ruler of a fantastic kingdom which includes the Fountain of Youth, fabulous creatures, and untold riches. A letter, purportedly from him, was sent to the Emperor Manuel I of the Holy Roman Empire. It circulated throughout Europe and fired up imaginations, sparked quests and adventures, and began many religious arguments–Prester John was supposed to be descended from one of the Three Magi, and was a Nestorian Christian (they believed that Christ was a mortal man and that the spirit of God was a separate part of him, to over-summarize it).
So: we have a mythical kingdom that has inspired men for centuries, a sort of Dark Ages version of Shangri-La or El Dorado. And how can an author possibly do this justice?
This is only book one of three, but so far, Valente does an admirable job. In her hands, Pentexore, the kingdom of Prester John, has an element of wonder that is rare in modern fantasy. We expect dragons and wizards; Valente gives us blemmyae and panoti. She takes the various myths of the Prester John stories and weaves them together into an enchanting world where there really is a fountain of youth, where strange creatures live peacefully side by side, where the demons Gog and Magog have been imprisoned, where the ground is so fertile that anything buried in it will sprout a tree: beds, dead bodies, and books.
It is to a tree of books that the narrator of this tale, Brother Hiob, is brought by a mysterious woman in yellow. From the tree, he takes three books, which turn out to be Prester John’s own story of how he came to Pentexore, the story of Hagia, the blemmye who becomes his wife, and the story of Imtithal, a nurse to three royal children whose tale has become famous throughout Pentexore. Through Prester John’s eyes, we see the mystery and wonder of Pentexore; through Hagia’s, we see Pentexore’s bemusement and attempt to integrate Prester John into their traditions; through Imtithal’s, we come to understand the history of the land and how its traditions came to be.
Having reached this land of wonder, Prester John attempts to integrate it into his Christian mythology, with varying degrees of success. His quest in this first book is to find the tomb of Thomas Didymus, who supposedly came to Pentexore and died there. That quest carries the story through the first book, but it is really impossible to convey in a short review the sense of beauty and wonder that infuses every page of this book. For a furry audience intent on furry characters, there is plenty to love: a gryphon named Fortunatus who gives wise advice and a red lion named Hadulph who loves Hagia are among the wondrous creatures we meet.
Valente herself is (according to various bios) pretty familiar with various types of fandom groups, though not specifically the furry fandom. But the culture of Pentexore reminds me in some ways of the culture of fandoms in general: diverse, open, accepting to a fault, and fairly unashamed about sex. Into this mix she throws Prester John, the symbol of the establishment, trying to fit the land and its people into the preconceptions he has rather than accepting them as they are. The blemmyae are people who have no heads; their eyes are in their chests, where nipples would be, their mouths in their navels. The women therefore must bare their breasts, of course, and this disconcerts John to the point that he views them as sinful and avoids talking to them. But of course, it is with these most strange of creatures that John eventually falls in love.
Habitation of the Blessed is volume one of a trilogy, and while it tells a fairly complete story, it also leaves the reader anxious to find out what happens next. The tension of the story does not suffer from knowing the eventual end, not one bit. It is a lovely, beautiful story that leaves the reader with a lot to think about, and I would recommend it to any lover of modern fantasy.
Season 5 - Show 30
PELLET STOVE
Only Monday guys, hope this will brighten your week. (sfw)
Old skool furries
The Age of Reptiles Omnibus
It may seem only sideways anthropomorphic, but Ricardo Delgado’s Age of Reptiles comic book series earns a place here by virtue of its viewpoint: Life seen through the eyes of dinosaurs, and many species of dinosaurs at that. Besides, Ricardo Delgado himself was a guest speaker at several early furry fandom conventions! Now Dark Horse Comics is releasing the Age of Reptiles Omnibus, collecting the long out-of-print Age of Reptiles original series, the Age of Reptiles: The Hunt follow-up, and the never-before-collected third series, Age of Reptiles: The Journey. It’s a full-color trade paperback, and it’s coming to stores this February.
Warner Bros Literally Kills Yogi Bear
I don’t know if it’s the most brilliant viral marketing ever, or some animator that had too much free time and a sick sense of humor, but the “alternate ending” to Yogi Bear is the most fucked up thing I’ve ever seen.
Despite the fact that it claims to be a parody video, the production value on this looks too good for it not to be involved with the studio in some way.
It’s kind of sad that BooBoo shooting Yogi in the back of the head has guaranteed I’m going to see Yogi Bear when it hits theaters on December 17.
Balloon animals
The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo
By now you’ve likely heard of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first book in Stieg Larsson’s award-winning and wildly successful crime-drama trilogy. It, and the other books in the series, have also been made into successful movies. Well it seems that UK fantasy writer Adam Roberts could not leave well enough alone. He’s gone and written his own book entitled The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo, and it’s available now in the UK from Gollancz. Here’s the cover blurb: “Larssonous? Or out-and-out burglary? You know how dragons feel about burglars … Lizbreath Salamander is young and beautiful. Her scales have an iridescent sheen, her wings arch proudly, her breath has a tang of sulfur. And on her back a tattoo of a mythical creature: a girl. But when Lizbreath is drawn into a dark conspiracy she will have to rely on more than her beauty and her vicious claws the size of sabres . . . A dragon has disappeared, one of a secretive clan. As Lizbreath delves deeper into their history she realizes that these dragons will do anything to defend their secrets. Welcome to the world of The Dragon With The Girl Tattoo. A world of gloomy Nordic dragons leading lives uncannily like our own (despite their size, despite the need for extensive fireproofing of home furnishings), a world of money hoarded, a world of darkness and corruption. A world where people are the fantasy.” You can find out more about all of this at Adam Roberts’ new blog.
image c. 2010 Adam Roberts
Woman Provides Sanctuary for Big Cats
8 Vote(s)
Panda costumes used to fool four-month-old cub
8 Vote(s)
a4Meet Bucka4 by Team Cerf
8 Vote(s)
National Alliance on Mental Illiness
11 Vote(s)
Woyro's Warren episode 112---Foreign Furry Cons
A very productive weekend!
Been feeling a little down lately. I guess it comes with the cold weather and such.
BUT, i managed to crank out a new episode of Woyro's Warren. This one is a little longer than usual. Partly to make up for the last short episode.
This time around i talk about cons i'm planning to go to this next year. Plus i'll be talking about furry cons outside of the US. this will take several episodes. I also added some music to the middle of the show. a song called "ConSuite" by Max DeGroot. you can find more of Max's stuff at the Fump (Funny Music Project) Sideshow (thefump.com), at maxdegroot.com...or by googling Max DeGroot.
the show is available through iTunes, at woyroswarren.mevio.com, or from divshare. here is the divshare download link:
http://www.divshare.com/download/13481953-8ab
and here is the player thingie so you can listen right now:
Episode 112---Foreign Furry Cons - Woyro talks about cons he'll be going to next year. Also talk about cons outside of the USA. Music: "Consuite" by Max Degroot
Scientists in Panda suits? There's method in their madnes
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peterwedderburn/100067202/scientists-in-panda-suits-theres-method-in-their-madness/
Don't know if this is really furry furries, but its an interesting use. Plenty of potential problems with the panda scheme, though. What if the head falls off in sight of the baby panda? What if the baby panda becomes bipedal?
FC-21 Frizzling Foxes - Frizzling foxes fuck federal faculty fervently as FurCast furs fling flame at failing RAM, furthermore the freaking chat flamed Minecraft for the fifth time until fatigue forced them to fornicate to the sounds of Stryder's winning
Frizzling foxes fuck federal faculty fervently as FurCast furs fling flame at failing RAM, furthermore the freaking chat flamed Minecraft for the fifth time until fatigue forced them to fornicate to the sounds of Stryder’s winning station-id.
Topics used:
(note: this list does not include listener-sent emails, and/or spawning sub-topics from these sources. Also, this list may not properly represent the context of topics discussed on the show, and instead merely indicates directly copied content from the Google Moderator system.)
- “Why do u think that it is that they wont let u be yourself at school for example I wear a tail collar and ears yet the school took all of those from me! Also in art class i drew a furry ref for someone and the teacher told me it wasn’t allowed”
- “What does ‘yiff’ mean to you? How would you explain it in detail to someone outside of the fandom? [Please don’t give me the generic answer.]“
- “Media over time. Has it become less harsh with regards to the fandom over time?”
- “Hot Topic and the Fandom. Hot Topic has been known to make things trendy, but makes it worse for the original fanbase. Your thoughts?”
- “how would a human react while a therian is going through a shift and they dont know anything about the fandom”
- “furrys, what would they do if they find a human mate. would they accept this mate as a human who does not understand the fandom?”
- “Alien fursonas, such as those that identify as aliens and have multiple limbs, wings, and unnatural fur coloring (such as iridescence.)”
- “Furries; Don’t Ask, Don’t Tail.”
FC-21 Frizzling Foxes - Frizzling foxes fuck federal faculty fervently as FurCast furs fling flame at failing RAM, furthermore the freaking chat flamed Minecraft for the fifth time until fatigue forced them to fornicate to the sounds of Stryder's winning
Frizzling foxes fuck federal faculty fervently as FurCast furs fling flame at failing RAM, furthermore the freaking chat flamed Minecraft for the fifth time until fatigue forced them to fornicate to the sounds of Stryder’s winning station-id.
Topics used:
(note: this list does not include listener-sent emails, and/or spawning sub-topics from these sources. Also, this list may not properly represent the context of topics discussed on the show, and instead merely indicates directly copied content from the Google Moderator system.)
- “Why do u think that it is that they wont let u be yourself at school for example I wear a tail collar and ears yet the school took all of those from me! Also in art class i drew a furry ref for someone and the teacher told me it wasn’t allowed”
- “What does ‘yiff’ mean to you? How would you explain it in detail to someone outside of the fandom? [Please don’t give me the generic answer.]“
- “Media over time. Has it become less harsh with regards to the fandom over time?”
- “Hot Topic and the Fandom. Hot Topic has been known to make things trendy, but makes it worse for the original fanbase. Your thoughts?”
- “how would a human react while a therian is going through a shift and they dont know anything about the fandom”
- “furrys, what would they do if they find a human mate. would they accept this mate as a human who does not understand the fandom?”
- “Alien fursonas, such as those that identify as aliens and have multiple limbs, wings, and unnatural fur coloring (such as iridescence.)”
- “Furries; Don’t Ask, Don’t Tail.”
FC-21 Frizzling Foxes - Frizzling foxes fuck federal faculty fervently as FurCast furs fling flame at failing RAM, furthermore the freaking chat flamed Minecraft for the fifth time until fatigue forced them to fornicate to the sounds of Stryder's winning
Frizzling foxes fuck federal faculty fervently as FurCast furs fling flame at failing RAM, furthermore the freaking chat flamed Minecraft for the fifth time until fatigue forced them to fornicate to the sounds of Stryder’s winning station-id.
.postlink:link { color: #ff9900; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; } .postlink:visited { color: #BB5500; } .postlink:hover { color: #ffBB00; } .postlink:active { color: #ffffff; }Download MP3 (Right-click, Save)
Topics used:
(note: this list does not include listener-sent emails, and/or spawning sub-topics from these sources. Also, this list may not properly represent the context of topics discussed on the show, and instead merely indicates directly copied content from the Google Moderator system.)
- “Why do u think that it is that they wont let u be yourself at school for example I wear a tail collar and ears yet the school took all of those from me! Also in art class i drew a furry ref for someone and the teacher told me it wasn’t allowed”
- “What does ‘yiff’ mean to you? How would you explain it in detail to someone outside of the fandom? [Please don't give me the generic answer.]“
- “Media over time. Has it become less harsh with regards to the fandom over time?”
- “Hot Topic and the Fandom. Hot Topic has been known to make things trendy, but makes it worse for the original fanbase. Your thoughts?”
- “how would a human react while a therian is going through a shift and they dont know anything about the fandom”
- “furrys, what would they do if they find a human mate. would they accept this mate as a human who does not understand the fandom?”
- “Alien fursonas, such as those that identify as aliens and have multiple limbs, wings, and unnatural fur coloring (such as iridescence.)”
- “Furries; Don’t Ask, Don’t Tail.”
"The Saga of Rex"
7 Vote(s)