Tag Archives: cynanthropy

Strange Case of the Half-Boy Half-Dog Baffles Scientists: A Clever Wizard Explains

Interviewers have a knack for getting Lita to confess all sorts of things. Here is more tittle-tattle about Clockpunk Wizardry.

Lita Wrote Her First Fantasy Story

In a recent interview, Lita chatted with the folks over at Authors’ Cave. After an exhaustive interrogation that required a pound of fine chocolates for medicinal purposes, out came the truth. The details may surprise Gentle Reader, or for the skeptics, it might sound like the usual fantasy worlds claptrap. You decide.

Yes, Girls Can Be Wizards Too

This scandal started decades ago when Lita wrote her first fantasy story and shared her masterpiece with family and friends. Oh, how they wrinkled their noses when the young heroine, who Lita called a wizard, helped a lost dragon find his way home.

These affectionate critics shouted that girls couldn’t be wizards. Witches, perhaps, or enchantresses. Sorceresses. “The whole concept was silly,” they said. Lita explains in the Authors’ Cave November 2014 eZine how she fixed that sorry state of affairs.

A Chocolate-Laced Interview Reveals the Truth About the Magical Causes of Cynanthropy

Shocking Proof About the Half-Boy Half-Dog

Much of this chocolate-laced interview had to do with Clockpunk Wizardry. It was time for Lita to come clean about the mysterious case of the half-boy half-dog cynanthrope.

At first, Lita shrugged and tried to gloss over the specifics. “Anything can happen in fantasy worlds,” she said. Further questions brought out the truth.

The Authors’ Cave eZine for November 2014 has the first chapter proof concerning the boy/dog story. Lita describes the outrage of young science geeks writing made-up stories. Also learn about the surprising dangers of gardening mandrake roots, and why you should keep your pets far away.

Bestiarum Vocabulum: Cynanthrope

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The Bestiarum Vocabulum is the wizard’s encyclopedia of faerie beasties and mundane crossovers living in the lake and forest near Lita’s castle.

Cynanthrope

cynanthrope [sy-nan’- thrōp] noun, c.1680; Gr kun-, kuōn ‘dog’ + anthrōpos ‘man’ < Fr cynanthropie (after lycanthropie ‘lycanthropy’); also cynanthropy (the spell that causes the transformation) and weredog.

Denizen of the Clockpunk Wizard world.
A shapeshifter who alternates between dog and human forms.
Personages: Furgo in Forever Boy, Ephraim’s Curious Device, and Old Bony Blue Eyes.
See “Treasure Under Furgo-Boy’s Bed” and “Go Fer and Furgo“

Not Just for Werewolves Anymore

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Hello, Captain Obvious. Let me duck! Ouch. Too slow.

I have been working on the first novella (Ephraim’s Curious Device) in my forthcoming Clockpunk Wizard series. All was going well until I started the second round of editing, when an idea smacked me on the forehead.

Well, what happened is Captain Obvious pointed out a central character of the series who doesn’t appear until the end of the first story. Well, duh. So I smacked myself on the forehead–ideas can’t do smacking. Just to be clear.

Let’s Talk Shape Shifting

A popular sub-genre of fantasy is “YA High School Angst with Vampires and Werewolves.” Werewolves are cool, no doubt, but I wanted to explore a shape shifting character with a bit gentler disposition. How about a dog who shape shifts into human form? That fits better in the Clockpunk Wizard fantasy world.

Cynanthropy

A cynanthrope is a human who shape shifts into a dog. Or in the case of the Clockpunk Wizard fantasy world, it is a dog who shape shifts into a human boy. While in dog form, this character has all of his dog senses. While in human form, he is a boy. But we’re talking magic here, so there are limitations. The biggest limitation is this character will never grow up into a man. He is fundamentally, and always will be, a dog.

Introducing Forever Boy

To introduce this cynanthrope to the Clockpunk Wizard fantasy world, I’ve written a novelette called Forever Boy. This story will be the first in the Clockpunk Wizard series. Ephraim’s Curious Device will be the second story in the series.

Apologies for the confusion. Stories, and the characters within them, have a mind of their own. I am merely their humble scribe. To make it up to you, Gentle Reader, I will release both titles, Forever Boy and Ephraim’s Curious Device, in October.

Glad we straightened that out. I must run. Ephraim’s Curious Device and Forever Boy both request my attention. And I hope there’s no more forehead smacks from Captain Obvious.