Patterns in Frost: Stories from New Tibet

by Tim Susman (Editor), Dark End (Editor), Ryan Campbell

Return to the icy grip of New Tibet in Patterns in Frost, the third volume in this series. It has been fifteen years since the previous volume, Shadows in Snow, and seventeen years since the first, Breaking the Ice, introduced this cold, desolate world to our readers. In that time, a new array of talented writers has risen to the challenge of illuminating this world of winter.

This even-longer-awaited third volume features:

A Soft White Damn by Ryan Campbell
The Catch by Huskyteer
Pack by Sparf
The Bells of St. Mary’s by Dark End
The Squall by Lloyd Yaeger
A Prison of Hope by Tim Susman
Cover art by Nic Champagne (aka: “Loafy”)

156 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2019

Reviews

[Alice]

OK, sure, I have a story, The Catch, in this anthology. But I unbiasedly loved and fangirled everyone else's.

The planet of New Tibet is icy, unforgiving, run by big corporations and crime syndicates. Most inhabitants are desperate to leave, and few will make it. All the authors in this collection take this basic premise to very different places.

Ryan Campbell offers a tale of two snowshoe hares. Sparf brings a page-turner with rival gangs and a mysterious disappearance. Dark End's story is set in a poor neighbourhood where nuns do their best to help out. Lloyd Yaeger follows a wolf chef who gets mixed up with the polar bear mafia. Finally, in Tim Susman's A Prison of Hope, you can take the snow leopard out of New Tibet but you may not be able to take New Tibet out of the snow leopard.

The New Tibet universe is a part of furry publishing history, and I'm so glad I got to be involved in this third volume of short stories.

[Packwolf Lupestripe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world of New Tibet is grim, there's no getting around that, but Patterns in Frost brings out themes of kindness and community that cut through the bleakness. Its central themes are becoming increasingly pertinent in our world today, with many of these stories being allegorical.

All six stories have their strengths and it's impossible to single any one out. All six left a lasting impression and yet all six are also quite different. They also introduce different aspects of New Tibet, but of course they're connected by common themes.

I've read the other two volumes set in New Tibet too and it's clear to see why this third one was so highly anticipated. It's certainly the best one yet. Pick it up if you can.