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Charles Read Academy Library and Furry Titles

/ Amy Clare Fontaine / Leave a comment

I am delighted to see Beyond Acacia Ridge among the other great titles on this queer pride YA bookshelf at the library of Charles Read Academy in England! It is both encouraging and humbling to see my books being enjoyed by people around the world. Thank you kindly, Huskyteer, for spreading the love of furry books! ~Amy Clare Fontaine

Furry Writers’ Guild

We would like to shout out to Huskyteer for helping to organise this.

The Charles Read Academy in the UK was seeking new YA titles for their library, with a particular focus on queer/LGBTQ+ content. Huskyteer helped arrange things with both Goal Publications and FurPlanet to get a number of furry titles included in this library. By all accounts, they have been a great success so far! The school library wasn’t even able to share a picture of all the books because they were being checked out so quickly!

Not only is it a wonderful thing to see a school library actively seek queer books for their library, but it is great to see young readers enjoying reading them as well. Thank you to the staff at Charles Read Academy for doing this, and thank you to Huskyteer for ensuring that furry fiction has been included.

https://twitter.com/CraLibrary/status/1455597392129110017

The furry titles…

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Witches, Wands, and Winged Wolves: Dogbumps Academy Now Open!

/ Amy Clare Fontaine / 1 Comment

Hear ye, hear ye, magical folx! Dogbumps Academy of Wayward Wixards, a new fantasy anthology about an enchanted college that celebrates diversity, has just been published by Thurston Howl Publications!

This anthology features my short story, “The Esteemed Magixzoologist, Fakhir Saleh,” about a Black transgender magic student who conducts research on winged wolves while trying to suppress her feelings for the graduate teaching assistant of her class. You can buy it in paperback from the publisher here or from Amazon here. An ebook release should follow soon.

I hope you will enjoy my story⁠—and the other charming stories in this book!

Fox Spirit: A Two-Tailed Adventure Wins a Leo Literary Award!

/ Amy Clare Fontaine / 1 Comment

Hi, my dear friends! I have exciting news. I am proud and honored to announce that Fox Spirit: A Two-Tailed Adventure, my interactive novel from Choice of Games, has received a Leo Literary Award for Novels!

The Leo Literary Awards celebrate exceptional works of literature in the furry fandom: writings that feature anthropomorphic animals. Published authors nominate works from other authors. A panel of qualified judges then evaluates each nominee, and a benchmark score from the judges wins the piece a Leo Award.

This is the first award I have ever received for my fiction or game writing. I am so thrilled and grateful that my fellow authors nominated and voted for Fox Spirit!

Thank you to Thurston Howl and all the other folks from Furry Book Review who run the Leos (especially the judges!). Thank you to Ian Madison Keller, who hand-crafted the delightful lion plushies for the awards. Thank you to the Choice of Games team for taking a chance on this story and helping it shine. And a special thank-you to all the wonderful readers (like you!) who’ve enjoyed and supported my work. You encourage me to keep sending it out into the world, like messages in bottles tossed out to sea, hoping these gifts I offer will find a place to belong.

Congratulations to all the Leo winners and nominees–including Paola Tuazon, whose cover art for Fox Spirit was also nominated! Her artwork for the game is breathtaking, and I’m so glad it graces the pages!

If you haven’t read Fox Spirit: A Two-Tailed Adventure, you may do so here. You can play the first three chapters for free before purchasing the rest. I hope you will enjoy it!

New, Free Story! The Dragon Maker

/ Amy Clare Fontaine / 1 Comment

“Griselda made dragons out of words. No one knew how. One moment she’d be hunched over her desk, scribbling furiously, only stopping occasionally to dip her quill or suck on it thoughtfully, her chin lifted and her eyes somewhere else. And the next moment...“

Read the rest of my new fantasy story “The Dragon Maker” for free on the e-zine Zooscape here: https://zooscape-zine.com/dragon-maker/ And be sure to check out the rest of Issue 9: https://zooscape-zine.com/issue-9/

Thank you for your interest! 🙏

Foxy News! Fox Spirit: A Two-Tailed Adventure has arrived!

/ Amy Clare Fontaine / 1 Comment

Hiya, friends! Today has been a whirlwind of joy. I have exciting news to share, possibly the most exciting writing-related news I’ve ever had.

Today, my interactive fantasy novel Fox Spirit: A Two-Tailed Adventure released from Choice of Games.

I’ve been working on this game since 2018. It’s been a wild ride, but a fun one, and the process has taught me so much as a writer and a human. I’m thrilled that Fox Spirit is out in the world at last. The glowing feedback I’ve already received from kind players around the world has warmed my heart and spurred me on to an even greater desire to create fantastic stories and share them with you.

This day happened thanks to a lot of great people, so I want to give them a shout-out here. A special thank-you is due to my lead editor Rebecca Slitt, for her encouragement, suggestions, and support throughout the development process, as well as the rest of the fabulous Choice of Games team. Paola Tuazon made the truly dazzling cover art, which I adore from the bottom of my heart; you can find more of Paola’s work here: https://paolatuazon.format.com/

Thank you to the creators of the gorgeous trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XdBLnlslP4) and the lovely chapter headings. Thank you to copyeditor Kate Lascoutx, my many beta testers, and the wonderful sensitivity reader Sachiko Burton from Salt & Sage Books. Thank you to all the players who’ve reached out to share their excitement and praise, especially Valentina Wottke from Germany who streamed the game live for four and a half hours today (and will be streaming the last chapters tomorrow starting between 9 and 10 am PST; follow Valentina’s channel here to join us then: https://www.twitch.tv/lucario162). And thank you, of course, to my family, especially my mother Beverly and my aunt Becky. Your love for my work (and me!) has kept me grounded and on track and inspired me to keep writing.

You can purchase and review Fox Spirit through the various platforms shown here: https://www.choiceofgames.com/fox-spirit/ It’s 33% off until October 22, and you can play the first three chapters (and part of the fourth) for free. You can also check out my author interview on the Choice of Games blog earlier this week: https://www.choiceofgames.com/2020/10/author-interview-amy-clare-fontaine-fox-spirit-a-two-tailed-adventure/

Thank you all so much for your support! It has truly meant the world to me.

Nowhere to Go, my new, free Twine game!

/ Amy Clare Fontaine / 2 Comments

Hiya, friends! Today marks the release date of my newest free Twine game on itch.io, titled Nowhere to Go.

Nowhere to Go is an interactive fiction game about being stuck in quarantine. Find healthy ways to cope with reality or engage in avoidance behaviors. Will you uncover hope amidst your sorrow or sink deeper into grief?

You can play Nowhere to Go for free at the following link: https://fontainepen.itch.io/nowhere-to-go Please read the CONTENT WARNINGS before deciding whether to play. I hope this game will bring you some small measure of light in the darkness. Stay strong, my friends. ✨

Happy Release Day! The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy by Dr. Arik Kershenbaum

/ Amy Clare Fontaine / 1 Comment

Hiya, folks! Today marks the release date for the first book of my friend and fellow researcher, Dr. Arik Kershenbaum: The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy! This nonfiction book discusses how life evolved on Earth and how what we’ve learned about organisms on our own planet might apply to life elsewhere in the galaxy. It’s sure to be an interesting read for animal lovers, science fiction fans, and every curious human who’s ever looked up at the stars at night and wondered what’s out there!

You can order Dr. Kershenbaum’s book through the various links here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/314/314542/the-zoologist-s-guide-to-the-galaxy/9780241406793.html I look forward to getting my copy in October. Congratulations, Arik!

Long-Term Animal Research Seminar Series: Hyrax Talk

/ Amy Clare Fontaine / 2 Comments

Hello, friends! I just wanted to let you all know that there’s a cool talk coming up tomorrow in the Long-Term Animal Research Seminar Series! My advisor for my upcoming MSc at Bar-Ilan University, Dr. Lee Koren, and Dr. Amiyaal Ilany will be discussing the rock hyrax project in Ein Gedi Nature Reserve that I will be joining this fall, and the many findings they have gathered from monitoring the same populations of animals over twenty-two years. The link to the talk can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOwv_iVOyF8 It will be streaming live on Zoom at 9 am PST, but you can also watch it on YouTube anytime afterwards. It’s going to be a great presentation, so I hope you will all tune in!

Oxfurred Comma: An Anthropomorphic Literature Convention (October 17th-18th)

/ Amy Clare Fontaine / 1 Comment

Hey friends! Check it out! The Furry Writers’ Guild is hosting a free online convention called Oxfurred Comma on October 17 and 18! My graduate school classes start on October 18, but depending on the timing I may still get to swing by. Maybe I’ll even apply for the Author’s Corner or submit a panel if I can. In any case, I hope you’ll attend this if you’re able! Best wishes, Amy

Furry Writers’ Guild

Oxfurred Comma Is Comming Soon!

You’ve been hearing about Oxfurred Comma, but now we have all the details! Oxfurred Comma, an online anthropomorphic literature convention, will be taking place on October 17th-18th. We’ll be talking a bit about the convention here, and full details can be found on the Oxfurred Comma Website.

Convention panels will be streamed live on the officialFWG Twitch account. We will also be hosting special chats and dealer’s den rooms on theFWG Discord. We have several features, panels, and events to consider submitting to including:

We hope to see many signups for our events, panels, and features. Please be sure to share this with all of your friends, fans of…

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Announcement! Fox Spirit: A Two-Tailed Adventure Now Listed on Steam!

/ Amy Clare Fontaine / 2 Comments

Heeey, friends! I have exciting news! Remember that interactive novel about magical foxes that I’ve been working on for the past two years? It’s now listed on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1324420/Fox_Spirit_A_TwoTailed_Adventure/

Cover art by Paola Tuazon

The game releases on October 15. You can add it to your Steam wishlist now or order it later through the Choice of Games website or app. This has been a true labor of love and I can’t wait to share it with all of you!