Furry Tales

Tales featuring anthropomorphic animals have been around as long as there have been storytellers to spin them, from Aesop’s Fables to Reynard the Fox to Alice in Wonderland. The genre really took off following the explosion of furry fandom in the 21st century, with talking animals featuring in everything from science fiction to fantasy to LGBTQ coming-out stories. In his lifetime, Fred Patten (1940–2018)—one of the founders of furry fandom and a scholar of anthropomorphic animal literature—authored hundreds of book reviews that comprise a comprehensive critical survey of the genre. This selected compilation provides an overview from 1784 through the 2010s, covering such popular novels as Watership Down and Redwall, along with forgotten gems like The Stray Lamb and Where the Blue Begins, and science fiction works like Sundiver and Decision at Doona.

The late Fred Patten was a noted expert with awards in animation and science fiction, and one of the founders of the social subcultures of furry fandom and Japanese anime fandom. He lived in Los Angeles, California.

Fred Patten
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 236
Bibliographic Info: 47 photos, appendices, index
Copyright Date: 2019
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7598-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3704-4
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vi
Foreword by Kyell Gold 1
Preface 7
Introduction 9
The Texts 13
Appendix 1: Nonfiction Works 201
Appendix 2: Author and Chronological Lists 202
Appendix 3: Awards 205
Appendix 4: Furry Specialty Publishers 211
Index 217

• “A thoroughly researched work and an expertly written reference”—Shout Outs and Short Takes
• “As close to indispensable as you can get”—Critical Mass