Tag Archives: shape shifter

Dramatis Personæ: Furgo

The Dramatis Personæ is the roster of conjurers and sentient magical creatures staying in the many rooms, grottos, and byways of Lita’s castle. Here is an entry in the guest book for the Clockpunk Wizard Wing.

Wizard Familiar Furgo

Furgo [fər ɡō] proper noun, c.1400; Sanskrit pāti < Greek pōma < Old High Gr fuotar < Gr fuerre < An-Fr furrer < ME furren; c.900; Gr gehen < Old High Gr gēn < OE gān < ME gon; also Furgo-boy, Furgo-dog

Profession: Animal familiar for Wizard Kadmeion and Assistant Bright
Race: Sentient Magical Creature Cynanthrope (dog/human shapeshifter), male, 9-16 years old for human form, middle age for dog form, and an intermediate combination form
Appearance: brown eyes, black/brown hair, slender build
Full Name: Furgo
Formal Title: Wizard Familiar
Honorifics: Sir Wizard Familiar
Education: No formal schooling; human intellectual abilities acquired through magical binding to a wizard
Milieu: Furgo is a denizen of the Clockpunk Wizard world

Dog-to-Human Shapeshifting

Furgo is a rare dog-to-human shapeshifter rescued by Wizard Kadmeion during a mandrake root extraction on Holcomb Island. Furgo’s default form is a small black dog. He has a rarely used intermediate form of a brownie-sized fur-covered human.

Furgo can alter the apparent age of his human appearance, presenting a handsome lad of nine to sixteen years old. Because Furgo has an unusual situation with his human soul, he cannot age beyond his teenager years. This is another rare magical state called “Forever Boy.”

The cynanthrope’s caretakers sometimes use the names “Furgo-boy” or “Furgo-dog” to summon Furgo’s requested form. Kadmeion enchanted the cynanthrope to remember a silly spell that empowers Furgo to switch forms at will. The cynanthrope willingly wears a wizard’s medallion to display his Familiar role, and to focus his benefactor’s magic.

A Cynanthrope Retains Dog Traits in Its Human Form

While in human form, Furgo retains his dominant dog traits, namely loyalty, protectiveness, and happy nature. When in his dog form, Furgo retains some of his human intellect. In all his forms, Furgo’s most remarkable trait is his adorable puppy-dog eyes.

See Treasure Under Furgo-Boy’s Bed, Go Fer and Furgo, and Bestiarum Vocabulum: Cynanthrope for more about Furgo and shapeshifting.

Find out more about Furgo’s many adventures as Wizard Kadmeion’s familiar in the Clockpunk Wizard stories:

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

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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.

Announcing the Release of Forever Boy

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Everyone is partying at Lita’s place until our paws turn white.

It’s time to break out the silly party hats and set your dessert on fire. Clockpunk wizardry is here.

I am pleased to announce today’s release of Forever Boy. In the novelette Forever Boy, a dog flees his cruel master, befriends a wizard, and discovers his shapeshifting magic.

Forever Boy is the first story in the Clockpunk Wizard series. These stories feature Wizard Kadmeion and his clockworks assistant Sir Bright. They are magicians-for-hire in a world of airships, floating islands, and homunculi powered by minor demons.

Magic in the Clockpunk Wizard world is twisty, inverse, and just not logical. Even certain vegetables can animate and kill a man. It is a place where Da Vinci’s doodles have become science. A wizard’s curses have leather-like wings and torment the magician assistants. You will see that Luck is no lady.

But before you discover all of this, you must first meet Go Fer. He is a cynanthrope who digs for deadly mandrake roots and wants to become Kadmeion’s familiar. Tick tock. Time is running out for Go Fer. Forever Boy will explain why.

Forever Boy is an eBook, available now for downloading and immediate gratification from Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble.

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.