Opal Wine

by Alan Loewen

A collection of anthropomorphic-themed stories compiled for Morphicon 2012. This collection represents a period from 1998 to 2011, four of the stories being published in this collection for the first time. Stories The Substance Of Things Hoped For; The Clockwork Cat; Sawyer; Fox Hunt; Festival Of Masks; Wild Carrot; A Fairy Tale; My Pretty Pony; Nightmares; Storyteller; Lair Of The White Rabbit; Pick’s Model; and Coventry House.

123 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2012

About the author

Born in late 1954 in Easthampton, New York, Alan Loewen is the product of a long line of German Mennonite farmers on his father's side and a long line of Episcopalian whalers and fishermen on his mother's side.

In his early years, Loewen became an avid reader, devouring fantasy and science fiction as fast he could read. His favorite novels to this day will always be H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds along with Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. Loewen knows that his writing did not originate in a vacuum and acknowledges he stands on the shoulders of giants who have inspired him over the years: C. S. Lewis, H. P. Lovecraft, Alan Garner, Robert Holdstock, and many others.

Loewen also makes no bones about his writing: he writes solely to entertain, his first desire to be a storyteller. If the reader discovers some great universal truth in a Loewen-crafted tale, that's icing on the cake, but as Loewen has said, "I want my readers simply to enjoy themselves in a story of my own creation. If they feel their time has not been wasted and they liked the story, I have achieved my primary goal."

Loewen's stories come from a plethora of experience he has gathered over the years in working as a factory worker, inner-city security guard, park ranger, youth worker, radio personality, stage actor, stage and parlor magician, an ordained member of the clergy, computer salesman, counselor for mood disorders, life coach, and a host of other vocations.

A lover of cinema, cats, neolithic survivals, oriental cuisine, gardening, used book stores, old houses, and sacred architecture, Loewen presently lives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Married and with adult three sons, he shares his home his wife and way too many cats.

Reviews

[Jeff Chapman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opal Wine is a furry collection. Every story features animals and most of those are anthropomorphic. Loewen offers twelve short stories and a novella in this collection. Most of the stories are very short, closer to flash fiction. My favorites are the longer pieces: "The Clockwork Cat," "Fox Hunt," and "A Fairy Tale." "The Clockwork Cat" has the feel of a classic fairy tale. The opening sentences set the tone. "A long time ago in a city not far from here a young orphan girl lived with her grandfather. Her name was Briar and though her grandfather was a toymaker and made the most beautiful toys, he was quite poor" (p. 6). The story turns on the distinctions between rich and poor and the mechanical versus the biological. "Fox Hunt" is the best piece in the collection. It's a science-fiction tale about a wheel-chair bound security manager (he directs an army of robot sentries) who does battle with a part-human, part-fox burgler. Both meet their match in the other. "A Fairy Tale" is about a couple human private detectives and a sprite that agree to help a pooka rid herself of a goblin stalker. The goblin proves far more resourceful and determined than anyone expected. "Coventry House," the collection's novella, begins with an interesting premise: what if the Nephilim were the basis for some of the old pagan gods and the Nephilim are still around. Five of them are living on a secluded estate in England under the protection of the British government, which rescued them from the Nazis. "Coventry House" is not about the Nephilim though, it concerns the transformation of Molly Ladanyi, a physically and emotionally scarred young woman who becomes the new caretaker of Coventry House and its unusual guests.

[Luke Barnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very well-written. The stories are unique and compelling. Each has characters with distinct personalities. Loewen has a good imagination for fantasy, sci-fi, and urban fantasy alike. Some of the stories were a little too short for my tastes, but still well-written in themselves. He has a good mix in this collection of humor, suspense, and mystery. "Fox Hunt" is perhaps the best of the collection. This and other tales like "Clockwork Cat" go in directions that are not typical, cliched, or expected. This aspect is the most appealing as one gets tired of the same old predictable storylines.

One or two of the stories seemed to have no point or were a little too confusing in a particular scene. "Clockwork Cat" falls into this latter category, though I am quick to say, it was still well-written and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[R.A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great great collection of stories. I love the variety here. Some of them are downright dark, some are beautifully light-hearted and some are laugh-out-loud funny. The ebook was so good that I bought the physical copy to add to my list. I think my two favorites are the story about the fox-thief and the human convention, though the mechanical cat is also a great one. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fun stories, whether they like animals or not.