May 10, 2021

2020 Cóyotl Award Winners

The votes have been tallied and the winners have been announced!

  • Best Short Story: "Water" by Utunu on The Voice of Dog (Part 1 Part 2)

    Utunu has been making video games since the early 90s, and currently works at BioWare. He likes gaming (especially boardgames and good old-fashioned pencil & paper gaming), African fauna, playing squash and proper football, commissioning artwork, languages and linguistics, writing, worldbuilding, commissioning more artwork, long sentences, and the Oxford comma. Unfortunately he has time for very few of these.

  • Best Anthology: A Selection of Anthropomorphic Regalements, Vol 1 edited by K. C. Alpinus, published by Goal Publications

    A young phoenix whose flame burns brightest while in the service of others. A kelpie who will lure you to a watery ride, though it might be your last. A dragon who sees the best in everyone except the one who matters most…In the start of a brand-new anthology series, you can find 11 tales of the impressive, the haunting, and the courageous. May the wondrous worlds and fantastic creatures contained with it cause your spirit to SOAR!

    Kirisis “KC” Alpinus, the happy-go-lucky dhole with a penchant for peaches, tea, hummus, and Asian cuisine. A magna cum laude graduate of Tuskegee University, she’s a Political Scientist by day, and eclectic author of erotica and neo-noir by night. SoFurry & Furaffinity: Kiris Twitter: @Darheddol

    Goal Publications was originally created in late 2015 to publish A Glimpse of Anthropomorphic Literature, a furry webzine that even today serves as a great starting point for readers new to furry literature.

  • Best Other Work: The Voice of Dog podcast, spearheaded by Khaki

    This podcast started soon after the COVID-19 pandemic began closing down vast swaths of the world as a way for readers to find new stories. With its focus on uplifting works, it has been a bright spot to my week, as well as for many others. Khaki and the other readers breathe life into works, taking on characters, and letting us read even when we’re driving!

    While the podcast is the work of many constituent authors and a good number of other readers, recognition must still be given to Khaki for spearheading this effort, with nearly 200 episodes now. Khaki is a retired writer, editor and publisher who once founded Bad Dog Books, FANG and ROAR, won an Ursa Major for writing Heathen City and who now embraces the furry fandom through story readings at The Voice Of Dog podcast and photography. Twitter: @khakidoggy

  • Best Novella: Rightful Salvage by Frances Pauli, published by Goal Publications

    A strange ship lands on Paris V, ten years after the plague world has been abandoned by all except one left behind General Labor android unit. All GL wants is to be free, but when the crew of the Sleuthstar discovers her stowed away on board, she’s confronted by a trio of suspicious ursines and a very uncertain future. Can GL convince them to let her earn her passage? Can she find her place among the Sleuthstar’s crew? At this point, she’d settle for not being thrown out of the airlock.

    Frances writes furry novels and short stories and posts her work on social media under the name Mamma Bear. Her website is francespauli.com

  • Best Novel: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher, published by Argyll Productions

    Fourteen-year-old Mona isn’t like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can’t control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt’s bakery making gingerbread men dance. But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona’s worries…

    T. Kingfisher is the vaguely absurd pen-name of Ursula Vernon, an author from North Carolina. In another life, she writes children’s books and weird comics. She has been nominated for the World Fantasy and the Eisner, and has won the Hugo, Sequoyah, Nebula, Alfie, WSFA, Coyotl and Ursa Major awards, as well as a half-dozen Junior Library Guild selections. This is the name she uses when writing things for grown-ups. Her work includes multiple fairy-tale retellings and odd little stories about elves and goblins. When she is not writing, she is probably out in the garden, trying to make eye contact with butterflies.