I have read the Otherkin chapter in Wicker’s book. My take on it is that while it could have been a lot worse, it could have been a lot better. It struck me as very….hmm….”touristy”. She really just kind of skimmed the surface and, IMO, totally missed the point. She seemed so wrapped up in the “exotic” aspect that I didn’t really feel like she figured out that we’re just people who have certain beliefs about ourselves. However, given that her audience was the general public, most of whom have probably never have even heard of Otherkin, and since she was covering a number of other topics in the book, it probably limited how much she could go into. It basically struck me as a very long newspaper article that you might find in the “odds and ends” section.

Still, she didn’t pull a “They’re all crazy!” stunt, and she did a good job of being relatively objective. Like I said–could have been worse, could have been better.

Lupa
http://www.thegreenwolf.com

Actually, most reporters would prefer the charity event (I speak as a member of the news-side of the press for eight years). The reason? We already deal with a ton of nutjobs, and would likely view the Otherkin as mentally ill, especially as few of them seem to group together for public purposes. Reporters understand the concept of a charity event and, while they prefer quirky, steer clear of the folks who seem seven bubbles off plumb.

Just a thought from my own experience, anyway.

My turn now First off, thanks again for taking the time to do the reviews, as well as address concerns.

Now as to this particular review…I’m glad you liked it overall. I wanted to try to write something besides the usual totem animal dictionary; I was a little uncertain at first as to whether to include some of the more controversial topics, particularly the chapter on the modern practice of animal sacrifice. However, I appreciate that you, as a vegan and person concerned with animal welfare, approved of how I handled the topic. I figure I’ll still get people who panic over its inclusion, but as I said in the intro, I wrote this from an amoral (not immoral) stance–I don’t get to make the ethical decisions of others for them.

I’m just going to address Otherkin in general, both in “Fang and Fur” and otherwise. While I am both pagan and Otherkin myself, I can’t speak for everyone in either group. In my upcoming work “A Field Guide to Otherkin” which you mentioned (and, for those interested, is slated for a March ‘07 publication date) I set myself the task of presenting an overview of that particular community with both Otherkin and non-Otherkin as an audience. A lot of this is because Otherkin are becoming more noticed in other subcultures, including the neopagan community, and there are sometimes misunderstandings on both ends as to the motives and definitions all around.

The fact that she is also writing a “field guide” to this subculture seems to show a growing maturity among Otherkin (a maturity I have had trouble finding when I went looking at online communities).

I think the Otherkin community (as with any other group) has the issue of having some very loud people with very strong opinions. I know pagans have talked for years about “Witch Wars”, but the thing is, this is normal behavior for all groups of people. I know quite a few Otherkin who I would consider to be very mature individuals. And keep in mind, too, that this is the internet–people in general have a tendency to be much bolder in their words when there’s the psychological “safety” of the computer screen; Gods know I’ve typed and hit send before I thought out what I was really conveying more times than I think even the Gods themselves can count!

As to my own writings, I try to make it very clear that I’m writing from my own perspective; the therianthropy material in FFBB stems from my own magical experimentations with that part of who I am, and is additionally quite unorthodox. The Field Guide, on the other hand, is my attempt to present a sampling of examples of what Otherkin believe and why we believe it, rather than being “The Ultimate Authority on Otherkin!!!” This particular subculture is highly individualized, so much so IMO that it sometimes makes the pagan community look almost monolithic. This can make it hard to really put a finger on who and what Otherkin are, because there really is no single standard or common thread beyond “We identify as something other than human in some manner”. Again, this can lead to misunderstandings, including the idea that “Otherkin” is a religion, that we all think we’re reincarnated royalty, etc. So I’m hoping that the Field Guide will help non-Otherkin get a little better idea of just what it is we’re about without coming across as dogmatic. I also included a complete annotated bibliography for further research, since the Field Guide isn’t intended to be the do-all and end-all of information on this particular subculture.

Anyway, enough rambling on that. I appreciated the feedback, both on my book and my comments on your review of Taylor’s books, as well as the mention of the Field Guide. Thank you again

Lupa
http://www.thegreenwolf.com