Tag Archives: Fred Patten

Furry Footnote In Flaunt

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Flaunt COVER-471x614Fred Patten and furry fandom got a mention in the November issue of Flaunt, a high-end glossy fashion magazine that sells for $15.95 a copy.

Blogger “Patch O’Furr” at Dogpatch Press paged through their special Nine Lives issue that profiles cats and the Haute Monde, including furless sphinx cats and trendy Cat Cafés around the world, to find —

…Amidst all the cats, mentions in tiny type on page 81 of Mary E. Lowd as a furry fiction writer specializing in “cats in space”; “furry fandom founder” Fred Patten about what furry fandom is really like – Anthrocon, and furry conventions and other meetings around the world like Zillercon, an annual winter furry skiing event at a lodge in the Austrian or Swiss Alps (Patten says that most furry fans prefer to identify with feral animals, but they have cats as pets); and a profile of Dennis Avner (“Stalking Cat”), who had himself transformed surgically into a big cat (tiger).

Apparently the coverage passed muster with Patch, who has a long memory for any slighting description of furry fandom by mainstream media and demonstrates it by reciting half a dozen examples, like the one from Vanity Fair that reported furry cons are about “fans in fursuits having nonstop sex together.”

Just a suggestion, but people who want their corner of fandom treated with more respect don’t help themselves by giving a signal boost to ancient material. The whiff of resentment encourages the idea there’s some reason not to ignore the report.

Call For Anthropomorphic Listings

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Image by EosFoxx

Image by EosFoxx

By Fred Patten: There are less than two months left to recommend titles for the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association’s 2014 Recommended Anthropomorphics List. See the Ursa Major Awards website for the current 2014 Recommended List. The next update will be on November 30. If you have read, seen, or played anything furry-fantasy related that you liked, that was first published or released during 2014, and it is not already on the Recommended List, please recommend it yourself before the end of the year.

Nominations for the 2014 Ursa Major Awards will open on January 15, 2015 (the first day of Further Confusion 2015), and will remain open until February 28, 2015. Fans often use the previous year’s Recommended Anthropomorphics List as a guide to what is worth nominating. If there is anything that you consider worth recommending, don’t wait for someone else to recommend it. Speak up!

Furry Future Updates and Issues

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Anthology editor Fred Patten sent this status report about his current project:

I’ve accepted eight stories so far for The Furry Future, from J. C. R. Coates, Dwale, M. (Maggie) C. A. Hogarth, David Hopkins, Mary E. Lowd, T. S. McNally, Watts Martin, and Michael H. Payne, for about 80,000 words of FurPlanet Productions’ requested 120,000-word minimum; all G-rated. I’ve accepted several more proposals, and I expect the finished stories to really start streaming in during November.  

Patten also made an interesting point about an issue confronting some of his authors:

A couple of furry fans who haven’t appeared in books before are dithering over revealing their real names or not. At least one has a real reason not to. I’ve edited a previous furry anthology to which a good author declined to contribute because he said that his superior of his multi-year job was looking for any excuse to fire him. When I pointed out that he would have excellent grounds for a wrongful-termination-of-employment lawsuit in that case, he replied that he’d rather not be fired in the first place. I’ve assured them that they can continue to use their fursona names even in their copyright statements.

Do writers of anthropomorphic stories have more risk from becoming identified with their work than the sf writers who historically adopted pen names to conceal their authorship of pulp stories or keep it separate from their professional work in another field?

Patten Seeks Stories For “The Furry Future”

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fplogoAnthropomorphic fiction expert Fred Patten is editing The Furry Future, an anthology of original fiction, for FurPlanet Productions. He’s still looking for proposals, though the window will close in a couple of weeks.

The theme is the future, with furries. Utopias, dystopias, dramas, comedies, on Earth or in interstellar space, all furry or how the first furrys are bioengineered, why humans bioengineer furrys, how the human public reacts to furrys, furry scientists inventing the future, marketing for furrys (what products will a furry population want to buy), and so on. We would prefer stories set in a strong furry or mixed human-furry civilization, rather than strong s-f in which the characters are only incidentally furry, or “funny animal” stories where the characters are obvious humans just superficially anthro animals.

fred-patten

Fred Patten

Patten’s deadline to accept proposed submissions is November 1, 2014, and the deadline for finished stories is December 1, in order to allow the book to go on sale January 15, 2015.

The Furry Future will be 120,000 to 150,000 words, with from ten to fourteen stories by different authors. Additional specifications —

Length:  5,000 to 20,000 words preferred.  Shorter is okay if you have a good idea.  Longer than 20,000 words – let’s discuss it.

Payment:  FurPlanet’s usual ½¢ per word, upon publication, plus a copy of the book. Authors may buy additional copies at a 30% discount.

Fred adds: “This is an open submission anthology, so we expect many authors who have not been in one of my anthologies before.  If you have any friends who would like to submit a furry short story, tell them about this.  If you would like to recommend a writer, tell us about him or her.”

He can be contacted at fredpatten (at) earthlink (dot) net

[Via Dogpatch Press.]

New Book From Anime Historian Patten

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funnyAnimals-sbFred Patten’s Funny Animals and More: From Anime to Zoomorphics is out from Theme Park Press —

In Funny Animals, Fred Patten shares the history of anime in America, from the primitive VHS tapes to the blockbuster movies, as he experienced it, and often as he made it happen. You’ll read about the major anime series, the talented (and often eccentric) artists who created them, and their success—or failure— in America. Fred also looks at the anime industries in other countries, such as India.

Patten also has something to say about that 500-pound gorilla in the animation field, the Disney Studios, from the ambition of Japanese company Sanrio to become “bigger than Disney,” to the debate about whether Walt Disney met Adolf Hitler during a 1935 European vacation, to the latest on Disney’s planned “funny animal” movie, Zootopia.

Fred Patten Writing Up a Storm

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Fred Patten

Fred Patten

Fred Patten co-founded the first American anime fan club, the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization, in 1977, won Comic-Con’s Inkpot Award in 1980 for introducing anime to American fandom, and for several decades has been one of the animation field’s most prolific reviewers and researchers. Despite the lasting effects of a stroke suffered in 2005, Patten continues to write at a pace few fans can equal. 

Fred contributes a weekly column, “Funny Animals and More” to Jerry Beck’s Cartoon Research site. A recent installment was devoted to “Debunking the Myths” about Crusader Rabbit’s first air date, and Walt Disney’s racism and anti-Semitism.

He’s also a critic for Animation World Network, where he complemented the Disney article with a review of two books about Song of the South —

Although very similar in subject matter, they are very different in theme.  Disney’s Most Notorious Film, from the University of Texas Press and filled with scholarly footnotes, starts out with the preconception that Disney’s combination live-action/animation feature Song of the South, made in 1946 when Walt Disney was very much in charge of his studio, was a blatantly condescending racist film, an embarrassment that the studio has been trying to cover up while continuing to cash in on as much as possible.  In other words, the book is an academic exposé. Who’s Afraid of the Song of the South?, by a longtime Disney studio employee and fan, argues that it is not racist, and that the Disney company should stop suppressing it today and release it on home video.

And Fred’s news and reviews are available on Flayrah: furry food for thought. 

Sometimes Fred himself is the newsmaker. He’s been an active editor, with two anthologies out last year — Already Among Us: An Anthropomorphic Anthology (Legion Printing, June 2012); and The Ursa Major Awards Anthology: A Tenth Anniversary Celebration (FurPlanet Productions, June 2012) – and another anthology coming from FurPlanet this July.

Fred remains a favorite interview subject of anime historians. Otaku in a Bottle talked to Fred about the early popularity of anime in America in a March 2012 post.

LASFS Showcase 9/23

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Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society moved into its new clubhouse a year ago. They’ll be celebrating at the Science Fiction Showcase on September 23 where the following distinguished local sf personalities will speak:

  • Scientist Dr. James Busby
  • Film Maker Mike Donahue
  • Author David Gerrold
  • Author SP Hendrick
  • Emperor Charles Lee Jackson II
  • Author Larry Niven
  • Author / BNF: Fred Patten
  • Author Jerry Pournelle
  • Author Tim Powers
  • Humorist and Writer Phil Proctor

The event runs from 2:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at 6012 Tyrone Avenue in Van Nuys. Admission is $10.

John Hertz: Fred Patten Ends
44-Year Streak in APA-L

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An Iron Man Steps Down
by John Hertz
reprinted from Vanamonde 817

Marty Cantor phoned at nine or ten o’clock at night.  He never does that; he rises by dawn; this is a terrible hour for him.  It must have been important.  It was.  As Official Collator of APA-L he had just heard from Fred Patten that Patten was no longer able to continue a weekly Lzine.  “The world,” said Cantor, “has come to an end.”

The Amateur Publishing Association of Los Angeles began in October 1964.  Since then L has been collated and distributed every week (except one break of a few months in the 1960s).  Before the rise of E-mail and the Internet that was almost unheard of; it is still breathtaking.  It remains unparalleled.  Patten has been in every distribution.  APA-L 2279 contains No. 2279 of his fanzine ¡Rábanos Radiactivos!

The science fiction community has since earliest days been enlivened by the amateur publications by fans, for fans, which we call fanzines.  Fanzines are our joy, fanzines are our delight, fanzines are our heart of gold.  But notoriously they come and go.  They last a few years, or a few issues.  Into long runs gaps creep.  Fanziners drop one title and take up another. “A frequent fanzine” is a rallying cry.

An apa collects and circulates its contributors’ zines.  Apazines at best sparkle with the interplay of wit and reflection, the interchange of comments and of comments on comments.  Like other sapient beings we in apas do not always rise to our ideals.  We find it hard enough in most apas, quarterly or monthly.

Over almost forty-five years Patten’s Lzine was faithful and sound.  He noted, reviewed, commented.  He was outstanding — and he was mild.  His wit and reflection thus interplayed.  Of him “prosaic” was praise.  He was a founder of the Down Under Fan Fund (visits between Australia – New Zealand and North America), he chaired Westercon XXVII (1974; s-f convention in the North American west) and Loscon XIV (1987; Los Angeles — incidentally, his had the highest attendance to date), he was a worthy fanhistorian, he became an international expert on animé, all with a place in his zine, as is the fannish way.  We could read him for his view of what we were not ourselves interested in.  That’s writing.

In 2005 Patten suffered a stroke. He was not a lumberjack, or a pianist; his enterprise did not rely mainly on his bodily health.  He had already retired as a librarian.  He had to give up his s-f collection, and his apartment.  But he continued fan activity by other means.  He was indomitable — but not, it has at last and bravely appeared, indefatigable.  He has done more than dozens, or hundreds.  Long may he wave.

Update 1/23/2009: Corrected to 1974 Westercon. (The Roman numeral was right — I know for sure 1978 was 31 and could count back, after all…) 

The Power of Both

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Two former Hillary Clinton staffers started Vote Both.com after the primaries, a site advocating a unity ticket of Clinton and Obama. Key backers of the “dream ticket” include Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York.

I mention this because Westercon begins this week in Las Vegas, one of the rare conventions that changes sites each year as voted by the members, and I’m reminded that somebody once had the bright idea that “Both” would be the perfect solution for a pair of Westercon bids. Let me tell you how well “Both” worked for us. Then you may consider yourselves warned.

From File 770 #35, August 1982:

Even on the morning of its last day, [the 1982] Westercon had not exhausted its bag of tricks. Prelude: When Portland and Phoenix announced their 1984 Westercon bids, fans noted they were not bidding for the same days – one would have started before July 4, the other after. Certain pundits, who shall remain namelex*, conceived a campaign for BOTH. Let them both win. Let them both put on a Westercon. Let’s go to both. Witty, computer-typed flyers advocated, “If you are a Phoenix local or a Portland local, this is a great opportunity to get more con for your money: You can attend the portion nearest you if you’re on a budget; You can attend both cons for little more than if you were going to the con farther away; LA locals can check on their cats on their way to the other con.”

After a weekend of people running about asking each other whether they voted for “Both,” the bidders agreed to count the ballots after Site Selection closed 7 PM Sunday, and not release the results until the next morning’s Business Meeting. Randy Rau (Phoenix), Craig Miller, Ben Yalow, Pam Davis (Portland) and Bryce Walden (Portland) were the counters. After the counting session, Rau, who was also chair of the ’82 Westercon and therefore custodian of the ballots, walked from the room down the fire stairs to the con level (the most efficient way of getting around, given the elevators). By the time he got to the bottom, somebody came up to him with a rumor that a bid had won by one vote.

Seeing as one of the bids had, indeed, won by one vote, Rau was infuriated. Other Phoenix fans, figuring they had lost by one vote, mobbed the Business Meeting Monday morning demanding to exercise their right to vote at the Business Meeting (which seemed unclearly provided for in the bylaws). Now it was the second year in a row that a breakdown in the site selection process forced the Business Meeting to get involved in who won. (The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society Board of Directors is the last-resort custodian of Westercon, who had actually been forced to take a role in the ’81 meeting. Since many members of the Board were also bidding for this little thing called the Worldcon, the last thing they wanted was to have to arbitrate this emotional mess.)

“Bullets, not ballots,” suggested Seth Breidbart. After extended private huddling between the bidders and parliamentarian Fred Patten, a decision finally came forth. Rather than risk having to let the meeting vote whether to reopen balloting (which it easily would have done, considering the pack of irate Phoenix fen), Randy Rau announced that the Phoenix bid withdrew. Portland was proclaimed winner. Chairman of the meeting, Bruce Dane, revealed 374 votes were cast; now being rushed to the shredder. There was much applause. Westercon rules actually mandated the release of the voting info, but everybody pretended to forget that in the interests of peace. What had really happened? Milt Stevens’ analysis of the situation led him to believe that the “Both” bid had won. If Portland had won by one vote, the matter could have been resolved by merely sticking to the agreement that balloting was closed the night before. If Phoenix had won by one vote then they wouldn’t have had to pack the Business Meeting. They wouldn’t have had to withdraw their bid to resolve the crisis. (“Both” ceased to exist when one bidder folded.) Nor would there have been such haste to destroy the ballots.

As she was preparing to leave the con, Genny Dazzo loudly announced that she was going back to New York and start a Phoenix in ’84 Worldcon bid, to repay the “Both” bidders for their hubris.

[* A reference to Lex Nakashima, the alleged mastermind.]

The Moral of the Story: “Both” seemed a clever idea to just enough Westercon voters to make the election three times as controversial as it otherwise would have been, and to leave the winner just about as unhappy as the loser. The saving grace in 2008 is that party delegates are much less likely to try and force “Both” on unwilling candidates.

LASFS Cuts the Birthday Cake

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The Los Angeles chapter of the Science Fiction League (No. 4) began meeting in 14-year-old Roy Test Jr.’s family garage in 1934. On October 28, the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society celebrated 70 years of friendship and fanac. Founding member Forrest J Ackerman performed the duty of gaveling the 3,507th meeting to order with President Van Wagner’s pink plastic lobster.

For Ackerman, Len and June Moffatt, this was their second consecutive day of celebration. A group of eofans gathered on October 27, the real anniversary, at their old stomping grounds, Clifton’s Cafeteria in downtown LA. Local TV news covered the get-together because it also included those teenaged fans who grew up to have stars in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen.

The October 28 club meeting drew around a hundred fans, about evenly divided between the usual crowd of active members and old-timers from bygone decades. The more widely-known regulars included John Hertz, Joe Minne (who introduced me to LASFS), Rick Foss, Matthew Tepper, Elayne Pelz, Drew Sanders, Charles Lee Jackson 2, Marc Schirmeister, Marty Massoglia, Christian McGuire (L.A.con IV chair), Francis Hamit, Leigh Strother-Vien, Ed Green, Liz Mortensen, John DeChancie, Marty Cantor, Tadao Tomomatsu (“Mr. Shake Hands Man”) and Mike Donahue. Some of the graybeards present were notables in national fandom back in the day, like Arthur J. Cox, and others remain well-known, like Fred Patten, John Trimble, William Ellern, Dwain Kaiser and Don Fitch.