In praise of Kindle... and a few more Furries

Two saturdays ago, my husband decided to go out and do a little shopping. I said to him: "bring me back something nice." He asked, "what would you like?" and I cannot remember what I answered, but I was thinking - like a chocolate chai, or maybe a bit of cake or something. So, imagine my surprise when he walks in an hour or so later and says "here, I bought you a kindle." We had been discussing ebooks for a while, and I had specified an interest in receiving one for Christmas. So, I guess Christmas came early (and I now have to get an extra special present for him ^^).

Anyway, after downloading several self-published works and playing around with it for a bit, I decided to transfer my stories onto it. I haven't got them in mobi form - well, only one, the one that you can buy from Amazon, the others I translated into pdf and transferred across. And began reading them. I was a short way in when I realised there is something really nifty you can do with the kindle 3g - you can add footnotes. So, I began editting my story as I read it. This is an excellent use for a kindle - because I have difficulty reading my stories on the computer - too many distractions for a start, and I hate the idea of using so much paper to print it out. So, now I've highlighted all the errors (over 100 in all) and can go through and fix them up.

I have discovered one problem with my Kindle though. When walking and reading, I pay less attention to what is going on around me than when I read a normal book - I think because I don't have to worry about the pages flapping in the wind, or phyiscally turn the pages. And therefore I am more likely to get run over - or given that this is Christchurch, trip over on a broken piece of footpath and hurt myself.

Anyhow, to all of you writers, I highly recommend a Kindle - you can't edit directly on it - but you can mark the errors you find, and even "share" them (whether this emails to you or puts it on Facebook, I don't know - I haven't played with that yet).

This means that "Lemurs: A Saga"* will eventually be available on Ebook.

And now for some art:

Daniel Galbraith, Teknomage and musician. Abigail's father. Here in the Galbraith Clan colours.


Kataryna Lemusu, Abigail's mother. She died before Abigail was conceived. It's a long story (and one which is partly written and online, here although you don't get the good bits, cos I never got that far, sorry).


Aeturnis Christie, a female mage with a powerful singing voice.

Jacques Moufette, Scavenger and apparently swashbuckling. Although I cannot recall whether he actually swashed any buckles in the story. Still, he makes a handsome swordsman. If you like 'em furry and potentially smelly...

* title suggestions welcome, puns encouraged. I've so far contemplated "Lore of the Ringtails" and have been referring to it as "Epic Lemur Novel" but have decided that "Lemurs: A Saga" has a good ring to it. OR maybe a good ringtail to it. I'll shut up now.

Scavengers of the Deadlands

In 2003, I participated in NaNoWriMo and wrote a novel entitled "Scavengers of the Deadlands". I "won" NaNo, and went on to write 95,000 words before stopping about 5,000 words before the end. I do not know why. The story had problems, but I just kind of abandoned it.

I feel bad about this.

Anyhow, the characters have stuck with me, and when the theme "Aristocratic Animal People" came up in AFA, I decided it was time to reinvent them. Coupling this with my recent interest in Steampunk, I decided upon a Victorian theme for their attire.

So here are four of the cast:

This unusual looking lass is Abigail Delilah Galbraith. She is the daughter of Daniel Galbraith and Kataryna Lemusu, my original Furry pairing. This means that she is in fact a lemur/wolf. Following in her father's footsteps, she became a student at Tirra Inle, University of Magick. Until she was captured by pirate slavers.

And this is Kameryn Grey. He's a grey/bat-eared fox hybrid. He was taken as a slave at the age of 8 and acquired by Captain Morgan - wherein he became a Scavenger. It is his job to explore the desolate deadlands in search of relics of the lost civilization, which are then sold to collectors.

Captain James Morgan is the captain of the pirate ship, Sanguine Star, which deal in artifacts and also in slaves. He is a tiger with the golden tabby colouration.

Luka is a numbat, with no known surname. She was raised in an Orphanage until she caused trouble, wherein she fell in with the wrong crowd. When they dissolved, she roamed alone until Captain Morgan found her and took her on as his mistress. She is a pyromaniac and somewhat crazy.

I think the fact that I have hardly drawn at all in the last month has actually improved my art, and these are certainly the best furries I have drawn in... well, maybe ever.

Now to ressurect this story.