Howdy, folks! I’ve released a new free game (with graphics and sound) on itch.io called Red Dog and the Endless Spaceship. Give it a whirl over here: https://fontainepen.itch.io/red-dog-and-the-endless-spaceship
I made this silly little game with Adam Le Doux’s Bitsy Game Maker. Bitsy is a very accessible game editor; even if you have no programming experience whatsoever, you can quickly and easily use it to make a simple game. Try it out! https://ledoux.itch.io/bitsy
Happy Furry Book Month, everyone!
Furry books are books that feature anthropomorphic animals. These animals could live like humans, with clothes and houses and cars and such (as in The Wind in the Willows) or be similar to their real-life counterparts in behavior and lifestyle, only sharing with humans their intelligence and/or language (as in Watership Down).
As you can tell from these two examples, anthropomorphic animals are prominent in classic literature. However, our history of telling stories about such characters predates even these beloved novels, going all the way back to the fables of Aesop and Jean de La Fontaine—and still farther, to ancient mythology.
What’s exciting about furry literature is that it is timeless. Humans have always wondered what it would be like to slip into another creature’s skin, to see through the eyes of other beings that share our planet. We still wonder this, even today. Over the years, zoologists have given us invaluable insights into the perception and cognition of nonhuman animals, and we are continually learning more. But ultimately, I think a lot about the lives of our fellow creatures will always remain mysterious to us. That’s where imagination comes in.
Furry literature is still here, and in fact there are now several publishers who specialize in furry books, not to mention a Furry Writers’ Guild and awards unique to the furry writing community. October has been chosen as a time to celebrate and promote anthropomorphic animal literature, with the goal of sharing our love for it and making more people aware of its ongoing relevance.
With this goal in mind, furry publishers often run discounts on their books this month. Goal Publications is one of these publishers. Goal Publications is offering 15% off all the books in their online store this month, both print and ebook (excluding bundle deals), if you use coupon code FBM2019 at checkout, from now through the end of October. This deal includes my hyena novelette Beyond Acacia Ridge and two furry anthologies that feature my stories, A Glimpse of Anthropomorphic Literature and The Daily Grind, the latter of which I helped to edit. If you’re interested in getting 15% off on these or other great furry books, please check out their store: https://www.goalpublications.com/storefront.html
This month, I hope to finally read Watership Down and to also read Nexus Nine, the newest novel from one of my favorite authors, Mary E. Lowd. What will you be reading for Furry Book Month?
Today is the start of the judging period for the Interactive Fiction Competition! See IFComp’s announcement here: https://blog.ifcomp.org/post/188069134484/the-25th-annual-ifcomp-is-here There are eighty-two entries this year! My entry is a Twine game called Break Stuff.
Break Stuff cover art
In Break Stuff, you make decisions for a troubled young woman who just broke up with her boyfriend. When your old friend from high school comes over, she invites you to vent your negative feelings by breaking stuff. Who could resist?
Break Stuff is a brief foray into depression, lost love, feminism, growing up, and the brokenness that makes us human. Please see the content warnings listed with the entry on the site before you decide whether to play it or not. Break Stuff can be found among the rest of this year’s games on the ballot here: https://ifcomp.org/ballot I hope you will enjoy it!
Amy Clare Fontaine 