First Keep

This site and all contents copyrighted 1997-2001 by T. Susman.

First Keep is a story set in a medieval world of anthropomorphic animals. As of April 1999 (see here for an update), I have written about 99,000 words in this story, but it's far from being finished. To round out my own view of the characters and the world, and to gauge the interest of other people, I've set up this web site as a home for the story, my illustrations of the characters, and potentially any other supplementary material I come up with. As of now, three chapters and the first "interlude" are available on the site (clean version of #2 coming sometime--email me if you're really interested in it). If you're interested in the story, I recommend that you subscribe to the mailing list. Starting with Chapter Three, currently online, chapters will be posted to the web but not linked from these pages, and the URLs given out only in emails to the mailing list (so that I have a better idea of the number of actual people following the story).

This is a work in progress, so feedback is welcome, especially in the form of telling me what aspects of the story you like. Pointing out inconsistencies or mistakes I've missed in my proofing is also welcome, and that leads me nicely into saying that the versions posted on the web are subject to change. There shouldn't be anything big, but I will smooth out any inconsistencies I find.

Five illustrations are now up on the web, with (perhaps) some brief character backgrounds soon to come. Chapter Two (wild version) is here! Next item will be Chapter Two, clean version.

Meanwhile, thanks for visiting, and come back again if you're interested!

Mailing List

IMPORTANT: if you were subscribed to the old ListBot mailing list, you should have been moved to the new YahooGroups mailing list already.

To subscribe, you must be 18 or over, because the story contains mature content and I don't wanna be responsible for the corruption of your young innocent minds (I'll leave that to the media). By clicking the "Join Now" link below, you affirm that you have read this and are 18 or over.

The Story

Okay, here's the Story So Far. The story in its natural form contains some material for mature audiences only, rather arbitrarily defined as anyone 18 or over. This is the "neutered and declawed" version, safe for kiddies and anyone who objects to explicit sex and violence. Well, okay, there's a little violence, but mostly of the punching variety. And there is implied sex, so there's the potential for you to get offended by some language if you're the type who's offended by that sort of thing.

Click on the picture of the fox reading #1 to go to Chapter One. Chapter Two is only available in the natural form.

Chapter 1 PDF format
Story Progress Chart and Schedule
Hey, if you have JavaScript enabled, you can get a list of the characters in Chapter one in a separate browser window that will stay open while you read the chapter by clicking here, or if you don't want another window or can't run JavaScript, go here, or get the PDF version to print.

Why Anthropomorphic animals? WHAT are anthropomorphic animals?

Anthropomorphic means, literally, "shape of man." More generally, it means "having human characteristics," and is applied to non-human animals and things. Anthropomorphic animals, or "morphs" for short, are creatures that can range in looks from the rabbits of "Watership Down" to the beast-men of "The Island Of Dr. Moreau" or the animal-headed gods of ancient Egypt. Usually, when we talk about morphs, we mean an animal that has some physical human characteristics in addition to some power of speech and human-level intelligence. The morphs in my story have human builds, with some residual characteristics of the related animal (see my illustrations). The main characters are "foxes," and have fur with the fox colorations that are familiar to us, long tails, and fox-like heads.

Why morphs? Why not just write the same story with humans? After all, people relate better to the familiar, and here I am creating not only an unfamiliar world, but one completely devoid of humans. There are a lot of reasons.

It's easier to highlight cultural differences by making the cultures different races as well. And rather than make up entirely new races, why not just use animals people are familiar with? Animal characters also encourage the invention of different customs -- for instance, the Ancestors' Cloths in the fox homes -- and provide patterns for those customs. For instance, foxes (and other species) rarely fight seriously among themselves, but do fight with other species.
When you read about humans, you have lots of preconceptions about them. This is good in some ways -- it lets you relate to them more closely. Anthropomorphic characters break down some of those preconceptions. The author can choose to include a range of human traits, and include some of the traits traditionally attributed to that animal -- for example, that foxes are cunning. In this story, the characters are fairly human mentally and emotionally.
It's a gimmick to get people to read the story. It's something different.
It's my story, and I like them, dammit.

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