Fred Patten

Fred Patten (born December 11, 1940 - died November 12, 2018), was a writer, media critic, editor, fandom organizer who lived in Southern California, USA. He was considered one of the main founders of the furry fandom.

Biography
Patten was born in Los Angeles, California on December 11, 1940 to Shirley Marie (Jones) Patten and Beverly Walter Patten. He learned to read at a young age, starting with comic strips in both the Los Angeles Times and Examiner, and later was introduced to Walt Disney's Comics and Stories around 1945. Much of his early reading also came from magazines and books, and he showed an interest in Superhero comic books as well.

Science fiction became a key interest around age nine, and Patten began to collect books from Ace Books, Ballantine Books, and other publishers around that time, as well as major science fiction magazines including Astounding, F&SF, and Galaxy Science Fiction.

In the late 1950s, he became involved in the science-fiction fandom. He entered the University of California at Los Angeles in 1958, and its graduate School of Library Science in 1962. He became active in fandom after discovering the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society in 1960. By the time he graduated with a Master's degree in Library Science in 1963, he had been writing for science fiction fanzines and publishing his own stories for three years. His Master's thesis was on the books of Andre Norton.

Fred was a CAPSer, a member of CAPS or Comic Art Professional Society, an association of comics professionals.

Fred's activities in the fandoms were curtailed by a stroke he suffered in March 2005. Although still under medical care at a convalescent hospital, he continued making regular contributions to CAPS, Flayrah and other fandom or comic review/news sites. He donated hundreds of boxes containing his library of furry books and fanzines to the University of California, Riverside library, and visited to help organize them.

Science Fiction
Fred had been a long-time member of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (whose clubhouse has often been used for collating issues of Rowrbrazzle), and was a founding member of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization; the founders of ConFurence were also members of C/FO.

Anime
Fred was considered one of the founders of anime fandom in the United States, and one of the country's leading experts on anime and manga. He was an employee for Streamline Pictures, a dubbing company for Japanese anime titles, from January 1991 until it went out of business in 2002.

Furry
Fred was the official editor of the Rowrbrazzle APA from 1989 to 2005, having joined the APA in 1984. He has also been active in Furthest North Crew and North American Fur, amongst other places.

Fred had been writing furry book reviews since 1962. He was the furry book reviewer for Yarf! (1990-2003), Claw & Quill (2004-2005), Anthro (2005-2008), Renard's Menagerie (2008), Flayrah (2011-2018), and "Dogpatch Press" (2014-2018) magazines.

Fred was also the founder of the Ursa Major Awards in 2001. He won its award for Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work in 2003 for the furry anthology Best In Show, and its award in 2016 for the furry anthology "Gods wth Fur". He was inducted in absentia into MiDFur's Furry Hall of Fame in 2011.

Fred was the Fandom Guest of Honor (in absentia) for RainFurrest 2013.

Convention attendance

 * Anthrocon - 2001
 * Califur - 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
 * Further Confusion - 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
 * WorldCon - 1958, 1961-1964, 1966-1986, 1988-1989, 1991-2004, 2006

Filmography

 * Tekkaman, the Space Knight, (1984, TV) – Writer/adapter
 * Robot Carnival (1991) – Publicity
 * Fist of the North Star (1991) – Publicity
 * Vampire Hunter D (1992) – Marketing and Promotion
 * The Castle of Cagliostro (1992) – Translation
 * Nadia (1992-1993, TV) – Story Editor
 * Neo-Tokyo (1993, featurette) – Unit Publicist
 * Silent Möbius (1993, featurette) – Unit Publicist
 * The Professional: Golgo 13 (1993, featurette) – Unit Publicist
 * Wicked City (1993) – Unit Publicist
 * Lupin III: Tales of the Wolf (1993-1994, TV) – Story Editor
 * Crying Freeman (1993-1995, featurette) – Publicity
 * Doomed Megalopolis (1993-1994, featurettes – Story Editor
 * Dirty Pair: Project Eden (1994) – Story Editor
 * Dirty Pair: Flight 005 Conspiracy (1994) – Story Editor
 * 8 Man After (1994, featurettes) – Script Editor
 * Lily-C.A.T. (1994) – Publicity
 * 8 Man (1995, live-action) – Script Editor
 * Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo (1995) – Story Editor
 * Crimson Wolf (1995) – Story Editor
 * Babel II (1995, featurette) – Story Editor
 * Casshan, Robot Hunter (1995, featurettes) – Story Editor
 * Barefoot Gen (feature, 1995) – Story Editor
 * Megazone 23, Part 1 (1995) – Story Editor

Literature
Fred authored An Anthropomorphic Bibliography in Yarf! (three editions from 1995 to 2000), and "Furry Fandom Conventions, 1989-2015", McFarland & Co", January 2017, and edited fifteen anthologies of furry s-f & fantasy short fiction:


 * Best in Show: Fifteen Years of Outstanding Furry Fiction, Sofawolf Press, July 2003; reprinted as Furry!: The World's Best Anthropomorphic Fiction, iBooks, February 2006
 * Already Among Us: An Anthropomorphic Anthology, Legion Publishing, June 2012
 * The Ursa Major Awards Anthology: A Tenth Anniversary Celebration, FurPlanet Productions, June 2012
 * What Happens Next: An Anthology of Sequels, FurPlanet Productions, July 2013
 * Five Fortunes, FurPlanet Productions, January 2014.
 * Anthropomorphic Aliens: An Interstellar Anthology, FurPlanet Productions, July 2014.
 * "The Furry Future: 19 Possible Prognostications", FurPlanet Productions, January 2015.
 * "An Anthropomorphic Century: Stories from 1909 to 2008", FurPlanet Productions, September 2015.
 * "Cats and More Cats: Feline Fantasy Fiction", FurPlanet Productions, January 2016.
 * "Gods with Fur: And Feathers, Scales, ...", FurPlanet Productions, June 2016.
 * "Dogs of War", FurPlanet Productions, January 2017.
 * "Symbol of a Nation", Goal Publications, June 2017.
 * "Dogs of War II: Aftermath", FurPlanet Productions, December 2017.
 * "What the Fox?!", Thurston Howl Publications, March 2018.
 * "Exploring New Places", FurPlanet Productions, July 2018.

Media

 * Fred Patten interview on Otaku in a Bottle

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