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You Should Read This: Walt Kelly's Pogo

Image of Pogo the Possum, created by Walt Kelly.
Reading idiosyncratic dialogue like that of Pogo and his peers is key to learning how to craft that kind of dialogue yourself. If you're interested in a workshop aimed at helping with dialogue, check out my online classes.
Pogo the Possum was created by Walt Kelly in 1943, continuing on for 32 years (two year past Kelly’s own death). It’s a lovely cartoon, involving the denizens of a swamp: possums, skunks, turtles, squirrels, mice, alligators, and more. They live their lives, which sometimes oddly echo our own, or rather the politics of their time in which they were written, commenting on J. Edgar Hoover, McCarthyism, and muckracking.

What: Pogo is a comic strip. You can find plenty of compendiums for sale or you can seek out samples on some of the online sites devoted to Walt Kelly’s work.

Who: Writers interested in twisting language to their own ends should seek out Pogo, in whose pages it is beautifully wonderfully made coherent gibberish that delights the ear and cries out to be read aloud. Here, for example, is a Christmas carol that’s been Pogo-fied:

Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla Walla, Wash., an’ Kalamazoo!
Nora’s freezin’ on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower alley-garoo!

Don’t we know archaic barrel
Lullaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou?
Trolley Molly don’t love Harold,
Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Polly wolly cracker ‘n’ too-da-loo!
Donkey Bonny brays a carol,
Antelope Cantaloupe, ‘lope with you!

Hunky Dory’s pop is lolly,
Gaggin’ on the wagon, Willy, folly go through!
Chollie’s collie barks at Barrow,
Harum scarum five alarum bung-a-loo!

Dunk us all in bowls of barley,
Hinky dinky dink an’ polly voo!
Chilly Filly’s name is Chollie,
Chollie Filly’s jolly chilly view halloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Double-bubble, toyland trouble! Woof, woof, woof!
Tizzy seas on melon collie!
Dibble-dabble, scribble-scrabble! Goof, goof, goof!

Why: Read it because of the way gentle humor, sharp political insight, and sometimes grave disappointment in the state of America have all been combined in the lives of a cast of characters that manages to combine charm and cynicism.

When: Read it when you want some new characters to people the chambers of your head: earnest Pogo, the scowling Porkypine, too ingenious for his own good Albert the Alligator, and wanna-be trickster Churchy Lafemme.

Where and how: Read it somewhere that you can laugh freely and smile to yourself or even read a scrap (maybe more) aloud just to hear the cadences.

#sfwapro

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An Armload of Fur and Leaves

In the last year or so, I found a genre that hadn’t previously been on my radar, but which I really enjoy: furry fiction. Kyell Gold had put up his novel Black Angel on the SFWA member forums, where members post their fiction so other members have access to it when reading for awards, and I enjoyed it tremendously. The novel, which is part of a trilogy about three friends, each haunted in their own way, showed me the emotional depth furry fiction is capable of and got me hooked. Accordingly, when I started reviewing for Green Man Review, I put out a Twitter call and have been working my way through the offerings from several presses.

Notable among the piles are the multiplicity by T. Kingfisher, aka Ursula Vernon, and two appear in this armload. Clockwork Boys, Clocktaur War Book One (Argyll Productions, 2017) is the promising start to a fantasy trilogy featuring a lovely understated romance between a female forger and a paladin, while Summer in Orcus (Sofawolf Press, cover and interior art by Lauren Henderson) is aimed at younger readers and will undoubtedly become one of those magical books many kids will return to again and again, until Vernon is worshipped by generations and prepared to conquer the world. Honestly, I will read anything Kingfisher/Vernon writes, and highly recommend following her on Twitter, where she is @UrsulaV.

Huntress by Renee Carter Hall (Furplanet), which originally appeared in 2015, and whose title novella was nominated in the 2014 Ursa Major Awards and Cóyotl Awards, is a collection of novella plus several shorter stories. I’d love more in this fascinating and thought-provoking world, particularly following the novella’s heroine, the young lioness Leya, and the sisterhood of the huntresses, the karanja.

Always Gray in Winter by Mark J. Engels (Thurston Howell Publications, October, 2017) demonstrates one of the difficulties with furry fiction, which is the reader’s uncertainty where to site the fact of furry characters, primarily whether to take them as a given or have some underlying science to it, such as bio-modified creatures. Here Pawly is a were-cat, but the unfamiliar reader is forced to spend so much time figuring out whether this is something people take for normal or not that the story sometimes gets confusing, and with multiple POV shifts, the reader keeps having to re-orient themself. It’s tight, sparse military SF that readers familiar with the conventions of the genre will find compelling, entertaining, and quickly paced; newer readers may find themselves floundering a bit.

The Furry Future, edited by Fred Patten (Furplanet, 2015) is a solid and entertaining anthology that showcases how widely ranging the stories that use the rationale behind the existence of anthropomorphic beings as part of the narrative can be. Authors in the collection include Michael H. Payne, Watts Martin, J. F. R. Coates, Nathanael Gass, Samuel C. Conway, Bryan Feir, Yannarra Cheena, MikasiWolf, Tony Greyfox, Alice “Huskyteer” Dryden, NightEyes DaySpring, Ocean Tigrox, Mary E. Lowd, Dwale, M. C. A. Hogarth, T. S. McNally, Ronald W. Klemp, Fred Patten, and David Hopkins with illustrations by Roz Gibson and cover art by Teagan Gavet. This book is one that scholars writing about furry fiction will want to be including on their reading lists for reasons including its focus, its authors, the snapshot of the current furry fiction scene that it provides, and the variety of approaches to anthropomorphic body modification.

Along with the furry fiction, I wanted to point to an indie humorous horror collection that is one of the most specifically themed I have yet encountered, Ill Met by Moonlight by Gretchen Rix (Rix Cafe Texican, 2016), which features evil macadamia nut trees, including “Macadamias on the Move,” “Ill Met by Moonlight,” and “The Santa Tree” in a lovely sample of how idiosyncratic a sub-sub-niche can get. The production values of this slim little book show what a nice job an indie can do with a book and include a black and white illustration for each story.

You can read this review at http://thegreenmanreview.com/books/armload-of-fur-and-leaves/

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Favorite Reads in 2024

Books that I read to blurb or edit are not included in this list. I read over 200 books in 2024, counting books read for editing and feedback as well as for pleasure.

My Top Reads of the Year

Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjel-Brenyah is near future SF focused on the prison system, and is a gripping, savage indictment of the way we treat criminals.

The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso is modern day fantasy with gorgeous worldbuilding and a great queer protagonist.

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (and all the subsequent books) are amazing examples of LitRPG, and if you like to play games, you will love these books. This was originally an indie book, but it’s been picked up by a major publisher and is very available.

Menewood by Nicola Griffith is the sequel to her amazing book Hild, and is just as beautifully written.

The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings is fantasy set in a post-Katrina New Orleans and it is gorgeous. I interviewed Alex for If This Goes On; Don’t Panic. You can find the episode here.

The Last Shield by Cameron Johnston is Diehard in a castle with a strong female protagonist and I ate this up.

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim is a horror thriller that is transfixing.

Liberty’s Daughter by Naomi Kritzer is near-ish future SF that shows you what a libertarian state really would look like.

Metallic Love by Tanith Lee is the sequel to The Silver Metal Lover so if you loved that book the way I did, you’re welcome.

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky is wonderful SF that feels very timely.

How to Be the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler is funny as hell and well worth picking up. I’m really looking forward to the sequel.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell is cozy horror and an utterly delightful love story.

Letters against blue skies read: The more that you read, the more that you'll know. The more that you know, the more places you'll go. Dr. Seuss

                     

Other 2024 Reads I Really Enjoyed and Highly Recommend

The Poisons We Drink – Bethany Baptiste
Ancestral Night – Elizabeth Bear
Necessary Poisons – Andrea Blythe
The Savage Detectives – Roberto Bolano
Fortune’s Fool – Angela Boord
The Outcast Mage – Annabel Campbell
The Fall is All There Is – C.M. Caplan
Ring Shout – P. Djeli Clark
The Mercy of Gods – James S.A. Corey
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario – Matt Dinniman
The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook – Matt Dinniman
The Eye of the Bedlam Bride – Matt Dinniman
The Gate of the Feral Gods – Matt Dinniman
The Reformatory – Tananarive Due
The Spell Shop – Sarah Beth Durst
Dr. No – Perceval Everett
God’s Country – Perceval Everett
Under the Skin – Michael Faber
Victorian Psycho – Virginia Feito
Shades of Grey – Jasper Fforde
Dragonslave – Dominque Glass
The Unstrung Harp – Edward Gorey
Hild – Nicola Griffith (reread)
This Princess Kills Monsters – Ry Herman
Still the Sun – Charlie N. Holmberg
Dead Set – Richard Kadrey
Fateless – Julie Kagawa
When the Tides Held the Moon – Venessa Vida Kelley
A Sorceress Comes to Call – T. Kingfisher
The Bones Beneath my Skin – TJ Klune
The Poppy War – R.F. Kuang (reread)
Station Eternity – Mur Lafferty
Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor 1) – Mark Lawrence
Grey Sister (Book of the Ancestor 2) – Mark Lawrence
Holy Sister (Book of the Ancestor 3) – Mark Lawrence
The Scarlet Throne – Amy Leow
Six Crimson Cranes – Elizabeth Lim
Black Mouth – Ronald Malfi
Legacy of the Brightwash – Krystle Matar
Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear – Seanan Mcguire
The Fifth Veil of Salome – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Tusks of Extinction – Ray Nayler
The Witchstone – Henry H. Neff
Hum – Helen Phillips
Haunt Sweet Home – Sarah Pinsker
The Book of Doors – Gareth Powell
Hells Acre – Lilith Saintcrow
The Incandescent – Emily Tesh
Camp Damascus – Chuck Tingle
Womb City – Tlotlo Tsamaase
State of Paradise – Laura Van den Berg
The SafeKeep – Yael Van der Wouden
Saga, Vols 2, 3, 4, 5 – Brian Vaughn
Horse of a Different Color – Howard Waldrop
Wheel of the Infinite – Martha Wells
The Witch King – Martha Wells
The Staircase in the Woods – Chuck Wendig
The Nickel Boys – Colson Whitehead
Firewatch – Connie Willis

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