The winners of the 2008 Ursa Major Awards were announced this weekend at All Fur Fun 2009 in Spokane Valley, Washington.[1]
Nominees and award winners were chosen by popular online vote. Over 270 ballots were received from 16 countries for the final vote — an 34% increase over the previous year.[1]
Nominations have begun for the 2009 Ursa Major Awards, furry fandom's popular award for excellence in published works. But new rules intended to safeguard the reputation of the Awards and its sponsoring events will exclude works which won nomination in previous years.
While nominees and winners will still be chosen by popular vote, the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association intends to block material they deem "obscene, libelous, or otherwise detrimental to the integrity and good standing of the Ursa Major Awards and the anthropomorphics fandom."
Their definition includes "works of a predominantly sexual nature, or which include explicit sexual situations involving characters which may be underage or non-anthropomorphic animals."
The furry homoerotic fiction writer Kyell Gold is now officially the most acclaimed furry writer ever, having won more Ursa Major Awards than anyone else.
Gold (his fursona, not his real name) won "Best Novel" with Out of Position and "Best Short Fiction" with Drifting. This brings his total number of awards that he has won since their creation to eight, making him the most successful individual in their history, beating previous holder Stan Sakai, creator of Usagi Yojimbo, who has six.
Also, Gold wrote for Heat #6, which won the award for "Best Magazine", and the cover for Out of Position, designed by Blotch, won "Best Published Illustration".
Furry publishing house Sofawolf Press got a shout-out today from Penny Arcade's Tycho, who was across the aisle from their booth at last weekend's Comic-Con:
I'm not familiar enough with Gay fiction or Furry fiction to know that they are often a package deal, and I told the guys at Sofawolf Press that I would be back to buy something, and never got the opportunity. I don't like doing that, and I feel bad.
Tycho outlined Volle (the work of award-winningauthorKyell Gold) as "gay, bipedal foxes having sex in a castle," calling his inability to envision this "a failure of my imagination."
Argaea is Kyell Gold’s Renaissance-like fantasy world of a rich, multispecies anthropomorphic culture, introduced in his 2004-5 short novel The Prisoner’s Release.
The world has been developed in Gold’s three novels and one short fiction collection, Volle, Pendant of Fortune, The Prisoner’s Release and Other Stories, and Shadow of the Father. Now here are five new short tales of Argaea.
Four of the five tales are set during, or are connected to, Gold’s four previous books. The fifth, “Stolen Away”, is a new story that Gold says will be expanded in the future.
Like the earlier Argaea stories, these have a very strong homoerotic element that has FurPlanet and Rabbit Valley restricting sales to adults (18 or older) — although Amazon.com (possibly misled by Sara Palmer’s innocent cover) have no such restriction.
FurPlanet Productions, June 2011. Trade paperback $11.95 (viii + 161 pages); Kindle $5.99.
Yes, this is another adult book. But it’s lighter than Gold’s usual X-rated fare. This is a collection of seven superhero stories featuring his League of Canids, three revised from earlier magazine versions and four original. “… and fortunately, mixing superpowers and sex is great fodder for comedy”, Gold says in his Foreword (p. ix).
Here are the adventurous and amorous exploits of History Channel (dingo), Blink Coyote, WonderWolf, Vicious Vixen, Red Lightning (red fox), MultiWolf, Ice Queen (arctic fox), Crypto (red fox), Scope (fennec), Power Coyote, Simpático (Hispanic grey fox), and Polly (wolf); a dozen superheroes, their foes, their public, and their significant others.
In the Doghouse of Justice is intended for an adult audience and contains sexual material of male/male, male/female and female/female nature. It is not for sale to persons under the age of 18. Illustrated by Alexander Roman. Sofawolf Press, August 2011. Trade paperback $15.95 (x + 197 pages).
Kyell Gold is a well-known author of anthropomorphic fiction. How well known? He currently holds the record for the most Ursa Major Award wins by an individual — for novels, short stories, and story collections combined. Usually his work is known for two things: Eroticism, and a male-to-male emphasis. However, his latest novel is considerably more straight — straight romance, and straight horror. The Silver Circle tells the story of a woman named Valerie, who heads off into the woods on vacation after a messy divorce. She’s determined to try and relax, in spite of the warnings of deadly wolves infesting the forest. Then, she comes across a mutilated dead man, a young man with an arrow in his side… and a hunter who insists that the wounded young man is a werewolf. From there, things get complicated. The Silver Circle is being released as a Kindle e-book from Amazon Digital Services this month.
image c. 2012 by Kamui
Solomon Wrightson, a wolf senior at Midland’s Richfield High, is in trouble. During his childhood and early adolescence, he was a bit of a loner but basically just one of the kids with his classmates. In high school, the wolves have tended to be the jock gang, going out together on the school baseball team. The coyotes also hang together, although they are looked on as second-class wolves.
But in their senior year, it all starts to fall apart for Sol. He had realized the year before that he is gay, and had joined a gay e-mail group where he formed a relationship with Carcy, an older ram living four hours away in Millenport. Sol thought that he had kept this a secret except from his study partner who is also his only friend, Meg Kinnick, a sardonic otter goth girl; they are two loners hanging out together. They have planned to go to Millenport together the next summer when Sol gets a car; Meg to get a job away from her parents, and Sol to move in with Carcy.
Sofawolf Press, March 2012, trade paperback $19.95 (vii + 263 pages). Illustrated by Rukis.
This is the last interview for a while, I swear! I had the pleasure of interviewing Kyell Gold on his latest publication, 'The Silver Circle'. My questions and comments are not to be taken seriously.
Isiah Jacobs: Good evening, Kyell Gold! Thank you so much for joining me tonight. It's nice to have you on the show, at last!
Kyell Gold: Thanks! Glad to be here.
Isiah Jacobs: So, you've recently come out with your latest book, The Silver Circle. I assume that's a term for some sort of gay cult?
Kyell Gold: Actually, you are correct. It's an underground society of homosexual activists that was formed in northern Germany in the late 1800s to attempt to bring back the Holy Roman Empire. But that's not what this book is about. In this case, it's an allusion to the moon, and the metal silver, because the book is about werewolves.
Isiah Jacobs: But having read it, it has more than just werewolves, doesn't it Kyell?
Kyell Gold: It does. It also includes female characters. It even stars a female character.
Isiah Jacobs: And a straight relationship.
Kyell Gold: Potentially two, in fact.
Isiah Jacobs: Who are you and what have you done to the real Kyell Gold?
The winners of the 2011 Ursa Major Awards for the best anthropomorphic literature, artwork and websites published in 2011 were announced June 2 at a ceremony during Califur VIII.
1,782 ballots were cast in this year's voting, an increase of almost 30% on last year.
Only the winners were announced at the ceremony. However, due to a policy change voted upon by the ALAA Committee, the vote order of all nominees is available on the UMA website.
Read on for results. The story includes contributions from Fred Patten.
Isiah reviewsThe Silver Circle by Kyell Gold, after his recent interview.
Isiah takes a closer, in-depth look at his recent reviews.
Isiah sits down with Kyell Gold to discuss his latest novel, recently reviewed by Fred Patten.
Isiah's comments and questions are not to be taken seriously.
Isiah Jacobs: Welcome back to the show, Kyell! It's nice to have you back!
Kyell Gold: It's a pleasure to be back!
Isiah Jacobs: So, your first publication for the year was back in March, with the release of Green Fairy. I assume it's a story about a gay environmentalist?
Kyell Gold: That's an excellent guess, but most people think about absinthe first, especially with the theme of FWA being "Moulin Rouge".
Isiah Jacobs: In fact, half of Green Fairy takes place at the Rouge.
Kyell Gold: A little less than half, but yes.
Isiah Jacobs: But your story and the convention wasn't the only things with the Rouge-like themes. Rukis also came out with Red Lantern AND both your story and hers were released at FWA. So that's triple the dose of Moulin Rouge, AND you were both guests of honor. Was all of this planned?
Kyell Gold wrote The Silver Circle as his first entry into the paranormal romance genre. As such, it is not a category-anthropomorphic novel as much as a category-werewolf novel, or a category-transformation novel. But it is Furry enough to please most anthro fans.
Valerie Creighton, a mid-level career businesswoman in her mid-thirties, has just had a mini-nervous breakdown. She is recently divorced from her husband who never did support her; she is trapped at a large corporation where she watches men all rise to executive positions above her; and when one more big account is handed to somebody else (male), she blows up at a company conference and rants until she gets a nosebleed. Martin, her supervisor who, despite not promoting her, clearly does not want to lose her, suggests that she take two weeks leave to relax, and even offers to let her use his vacation cabin at Lake Wahya.
Val, who is taking her maiden name of Michaels back, arrives at the lakeside grocery store just in time to encounter two unusual men; a taciturn older man with a thick Eastern European accent and a silver ring on his middle left finger, and a handsome man about her own age whom the storekeeper clearly does not trust. The next day, kayaking out to a little island in the midst of the lake, she finds the just-killed body of the older man with his throat torn out, and the other man dying with two silver-headed arrows in him.
This is a mature content book. Please ensure that you are of legal age to purchase this material in your state or region. (publisher’s advisory)
FurPlanet Productions, June 2012, trade paperback $11.95 (vii + 141 pages), Kindle $4.99.
Isiah had the chance to interview most of the contributors to annual adult anthologyHeat 9, published by Sofawolf; some could not be reached. Related interviews: Whyte Yote & Alastair Wildfire– Camron & Vantid– Alopex– Huskyteer– Kandrel & Scappo– Tempe O'kun
Isiah Jacobs: Good evening, Nimrais, thank you so much for joining us tonight! It's nice to have you on the show! Kyell, always a pleasure!
Nimrais: Good evening, it's a pleasure to talk to you two!
Kyell Gold: Likewise! Thanks, Isiah, for setting this up.
Isiah Jacobs: Obviously, you two produced content for Heat 9 this year; a story called "Rewind". Before we discuss the story itself, I'm just curious. Have you two heard of each other before this?
UK furry convention ConFuzzled has namedKyell Gold as its second Guest of Honour for 2013. Gold is a prolific and popular furry author whose work includes the Out Of Position series and contributions to Heat. (See Flayrah's coverage.)
Gabapple, furry artist and creator of the webcomic Dangerous Cute, was the first 2013 GoH to be announced.
ConFuzzled 2013 will take place Thursday 30 May–Monday 3 June in Hinckley, Leicestershire.
Twelve-times Ursa Major Award winner Kyell Gold has announced his withdrawal from the Best Novel and Best Short Story categories this year, and for "a few more going forwards", to ensure that other authors win:
There is precedent in other awards for frequent winners stepping back. One of the people on the Ursa Major committee told me that in a musical award, when someone wins three years in a row, they are retired from that category by the award. That's not how the Ursas work: they have been very hands-off and admirably resistant to public opinion. When Stan Sakai won the Best Comic award multiple years running, they assured people that in time, other comics would win, and they were right. In response to my multiple wins, they have assured people that, in time, other authors will win.
I have no doubt that they are correct, given the profusion of talent in the fandom. In fact, each of the last two years I have been convinced I would not win one of the two awards (perhaps neither). But I have also observed that it would probably be better for the writing scene if that day comes sooner rather than later.
Divisions is set in Kyell Gold’s Forester universe (Waterways, Green Fairy, Winter Games, etc.), and is the third in the series featuring the tiger Devlin Miski and the fox Wiley Farrel (Out of Position, 2009, and Isolation Play, 2011). The series is narrated in the first person by both Dev and Lee in mostly alternating chapters.
Each novel documents a year in their life. In Out of Position, 2006, the two seniors at Forester U. meet, become secret lovers, and at the conclusion Dev, on Forester’s football team, becomes the first “out of the closet” football player. Isolation Play, 2007, starts immediately after Out of Position and deals with the aftermath of Dev’s and Lee’s revelation: Dev’s hostile teammates, shocked parents of both, a reporter determined to use them in a sensationalistic story, and facing life after graduation.
Now in Divisions, 2008, Dev and Lee pursue equally their professional careers, their personal lives, and the results of their open homosexuality.
Divisions is a romance novel intended for an adult audience only and contains some explicit sexual scenes of a primarily Male/Male nature. It is not for sale to persons under the age of 18. (publisher’s advisory)
Sofawolf Press, January 2013, trade paperback $19.95 (xvi + 367 pages; on Amazon). Illustrated by Blotch.
I was preparing this announcement, but GreenReaper has given away part of it on Newsbytes.
Fred Patten, who has been writing Furry book reviews since 1966, and who edited the first anthology of anthropomorphic short fiction, Best in Show, in 2003, has edited two new anthologies of anthropomorphic s-f & fantasy that will both premiere in June 2012.
Isiah reviews Kyell Gold's latest novel, "Red Devil", set in his Dangerous Spirits universe.
