News

An unusual elk was spotted in the highlands, and I was part of the hunting party racing to its last location. From the back of our journeykin, we pounced the elk and it fought with leyline-infused techniques. We were making progress, when it started running, forcing us to remount our journeykin and pursue it! We readied harpoons with chains to slow it as it zigged and zagged, trying to throw us off. It took several attempts but we stopped it and continued the assault. As before, we waylaid the elk, exhausting its vitality before it began to run again. This time our pursuit led us to another situation, a wolf pup was sickened and the kodan needed help gathering herbs to fight the sickness. It was looking rough, there weren’t enough people to hold off the titans and gather herbs. Trusting the party that began the hunt to finish it, I broke off and went to the pup’s aid.

This series of events is exactly why I love playing Guild Wars 2. You begin one of the many tasks that unfold in the world and it intercepts another task. These events are built to engage you with the world and convey the themes of each map. The Lowlands map doesn’t have a meta event, relying on small local events to convey kodan culture, from hunting and gathering to agriculture and combat. You tend to basic chores around towns, and maybe get an unusual request from a cryptozoologist, however, a strange rot spreads, and you’ll investigate the underlying threat while fighting its effects on the ecosystem.

In 2018, a group in Japan gathered together artists from around the world to celebrate Dr. Osamu Tezuka’s 90th birthday — by creating new works based on some of his most famous and popular manga. Now, finally, both volumes of Tezucomi have been released in English.  “600 pages of extraordinary content by popular contemporary comic book authors from around the world pay tribute to Tezuka’s enormous body of influential work. The stories feature characters from Tezuka’s history, such as Astro Boy, Unico, Black Jack, Big X, Dororo, Songoku, Kimba, and more.” Both volumes are still available from Magnetic Press.

image c. 2024 Magnetic Press

We just learned of a new upcoming furry movie, thanks to Animation World Network: “Jason Isaacs, Jimmi Simpson, and Russell Peters have joined the voice cast of the musically-driven animated feature Pierre the Pigeon-Hawk, Variety reports. The first of six projects in a co-production and co-financing deal between Toonz Feature Film and Gold Valley Films, the film also stars Will.I.Am; Jennifer Coolidge; Luis Guzmán; Jennifer Hudson; Snoop Dogg; Whoopi Goldberg; Alison Jaye; and Howie Mandel. In the film, a mixed-breed Pigeon-Hawk sets out on a quest of self-discovery. While embracing the things that make him different, he finds the courage to change the world he lives in. John D. Eraklis and Tara Whitaker direct from a script by creator Ciaran Crampton and Jay Dowski.” There’s no word yet on a release date.

image c. 2024 Toonz Feature Film

Sometimes it really is best to just let the publisher describe something for us… “A John Doe slaying lures a journalist into a world of political intrigue, a wi-fi-enabled grotto, and a station locker full of secrets. For Bucky, an editor of the crime beat at “The Truth,” it’s all in a day’s work… but he also happens to be a deer. Will he chase down his last story in this antler noir series?” No way we can top that, honestly. Deer Editor is written by Ryan K. Lindsay, with art by Sami Kivela and Lauren Affe. It’s also available now from Mad Cave.

image c. 2024 Mad Cave

Welcome to "Fresh Fur!" Our weekly installment going over the newest game releases, and which ones you can expect to find anthros/furries in!

Check the list below for all the games we could find with animal/anthro influences and characters.

New Releases for the week of November 11-17, 2024:

• The Rise of the Golden Idol (PS5, XSX, PC, PS4, NS) - November 12, 2024
• Is this Game Trying to Kill Me? (PC) - November 13, 2024
• Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake (PC, PS5, XSX, NS) – November 14, 2024
• Lego Horizon Adventures (PC, NS, PS5) – November 14, 2024
• Farming Simulator 25 (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC) - November 12, 2024
• Tetris Forever (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, PC) - November 12, 2024
• Temtem: Swarm (PC)

*Bolded games have furry/animal influences/characters

Furry & Animal Steam Game Finds:

These games were found in the New Releases section of Steam this week and will be updated as more come out throughout the week!

Welcome to "Fresh Fur!" Our weekly installment going over the newest game releases, and which ones you can expect to find anthros/furries in!

Check the list below for all the games we could find with animal/anthro influences and characters.

New Releases for the week of November 4-10, 2024:

• Metal Slug Tactics (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, PC) - November 5
• Monarchy (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PC) - November 6
• Planet Coaster 2 (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC) - November 6
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate (PC) - November 6
• Magical Bakery (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PC) - November 7
• Mario & Luigi: Brothership (Switch) - November 7
• Metro Awakening VR (PSVR 2, Quest, PC VR) - November 7
• Sengoku Dynasty (PC) - November 7
• Taiko No Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC) - November 7
• Slitterhead (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, PC) - November 8

*Bolded games have furry/animal influences/characters

Furry & Animal Steam Game Finds:

These games were found in the New Releases section of Steam this week and will be updated as more come out throughout the week!

2024兽无限「兽与地下城」在全新环境享受刺激冒险

台灣大型獸聚活動-獸無限Infurnity於10/25~27號，在台中麗寶福容大飯店進行為期三天的活動，參加人數也創下新紀錄達2712位。本屆主題「獸與地下城-無限之門」採用TRPG（桌上角色扮演遊戲）的題材，讓參加者們感受到一場大型的TRPG遊戲，並從中去了解活動方為參加者們準備的故事。

本屆活動的毛毛大合照。圖／Infurnity獸無限官方授權提供 活動開幕式由毛毛羅恩演唱《序章。啟程》，為活動揭開序幕。圖／藍風攝 參加者在活動第二天開始進行任務解謎，以蒐集點數換取獎品。圖／藍風攝

本次不僅邀請酥魚和Larp Bear冒險者公會、LARP道具屋等多位合作夥伴為活動進行內容協助，也邀請繪製本次主視覺圖的日本知名繪師村山龍大到現場進行座談分享。另外本次活動也有許多參加者進行panel講座，精彩豐富主題讓許多參加者到場聆聽。

圖為由佛戈爾與伊凡進行的「神與廟的副本任務-進香」panel。圖／藍風攝 主辦方邀請日本專業繪師村山竜大老師進行座談，分享其美術創作的經驗分享。圖／藍風攝

活動現場除了能在飯店內看到各種冒險主題的裝飾、立牌與獨特打扮的NPC之外，本次攝影棚也有一個大寶箱怪與大量道具讓毛毛扮演者們能進行拍攝。

活動中有許多符合主題的物件等待參加者去發掘互動。圖／藍風攝

本次活動表演也是十分豐富，無限展演秀這次共有27組表演，從舞蹈到音樂演出應有盡有，另外獸團隊Live部分則有二足步行、爆菊、音隅オトズミ等共六個樂團上台演出，DJ趴活動也分成周五和周日晚上，由蜥蜴、大聲貓、Jeff Hazama、泥鰍、TAKA、Sorami共六位DJ分別進行，炒熱活動現場。

樂團Live活動讓表演者在台上賣力演唱。圖為樂團「音隅オトズミ的演出。圖／藍風攝 圖為毛毛夏蒙、IceBall、Aku、タカル帶來的舞蹈表演。圖／藍風攝

本次販售會有多達102個來自國內外的創作者前來擺攤，展現出多樣的商品。本屆首次有台灣的文創作者「虎爺實習中」與「町町噹噹狗生活」前來。町町噹噹狗生活的作者表示，他從好幾年之前有聽過獸無限，直到今年6月首次在Furrymosa擺攤後，覺得目前的作品跟商品可以來挑戰看看，也對於獸無限有別於販售會，是以交流為主，讓他很想去跟毛毛拍照。虎爺實習中的作者也是受到町町噹噹狗生活的邀請下首次報名獸無限並參與販售會，至於對其他活動如以茶會毛的販售會，也表示有興趣的會嘗試報名看看。

本次販售會的攤位商品種類豐富。圖／藍風攝

本次公益抽獎活動也受到許多參加者的支持，最後總募款金額為950800元並捐贈給台灣猛禽研究會、另外也首次舉辦慈善委託攤，讓參加者可以找心儀的繪師並委託，費用則全數捐給官方合作的動物公益組織團體。

圖為本次公益抽獎活動中，抽到毛裝的中獎者。圖／藍風攝 本次共有20位繪師參與慈善委託攤活動。圖／藍風攝

活動閉幕式上官方也公布明年的主題為《萬獸方城市》，時間將訂於2025年10月31號到11月2號，地點則跟今年一樣在台中麗寶福容大飯店。

明年活動主題，預告視覺圖由繪師玄少繪製。圖／藍風攝

Furry Family Ofrenda on VRchat

It seems appropriate to write about losing things and carrying on, after a doomful week in America…

Hydraheads, an artist in Canada, is a player of Flight Rising, “a social web-based activity site featuring dragon breeding, adventuring, combat, and collecting.” You get your own clan of dragons and work with other clans. It’s more than solo fun, it was also a family connection. Hydraheads joins Dogpatch Press with a story:

Recently, Flight Rising closed my own account and my deceased mum’s account. I adopted and inherited from her before she passed.

It happened when someone attempted to hack in, and I couldn’t reset my password, so I started a trouble ticket and they investigated. They closed my account and hers, because they considered it an unfair advantage in the game to have two accounts. I had been active on both, and it’s against their TOS.

I appealed anyways, because I didn’t really want to lose my mum’s account or dragons she gave me; but you can’t exactly merge accounts or transfer progen dragons. My appeal was denied and I permanently lost both. They issued half-hearted condolences to my mum and said I could start a new account. It stung, mainly because I used her account to set it up as a comforting memorial for myself. We used to play it together and it was our thing.

This made me recognize and reflect on how furries on a wide scale put importance on and have tendencies to memorialize our lost members, friends and family, in ways that I think are uniquely touching. It says so much about how we value each other and are connected. Community ties can be so widespread through a single furry, and make support for one another when facing mortality… The more I look, it’s everywhere. A lot of us live very digitally. For some furries that were more isolated, this was their life. Maybe it was their only way to participate in the fandom.

Be it shrines on Second Life, or VRchat, obituary posts, or the ∞ of Furaffinity (RIP Dragoneer), you can see the outpour of friends and strangers coming together for someone like Dogbomb when they pass, and the continued memory for furs like them kept alive by the rest of us. It’s a beautiful thing.

Furry Family Ofrenda on VRchat

Losing an important account like that says something about the difference between corporate owned spaces, and things we make and own. Having a choice of how to keep things private also brings to mind an experience for Patch O’Furr:

Go back 5 years, when my girlfriend then brought me into her favorite things, before I brought her into mine. She helped found a huge monthly Bike Party event years before I met her. It brings 1000 people to the street on festive lit-up bicycles, like a rave on wheels, with music speakers on trailers, and dance party stops in special places. We started going together, and I figured out how to mount a fursuit head on my bike handlebars and ride in partial suit or bring a full suit on a trailer for the stops. Then she joined me for street fursuiting events. She even volunteered to be a helper and dressed fabulously for our furry contingent at San Francisco Pride, and fit perfectly as a non-furry.

In 2021, she died, and hundreds of people rode bikes for her memorial. Only a few dozen private furry followers got to read about it and see our photos together, because I wanted to keep it personal.

Around then, there was a glitch with this news site. I’m not the admin and it’s purposely kept minimal, like an old-school paper zine put on the web. The glitch wasn’t immediately solveable and I was busy. Then an insistent stranger who claimed tech expertise got upset that I wasn’t personally fixing it immediately, talking down to me without knowing how the site was set up. They assumed I was admin and had the latest install of WordPress instead of a version with a legacy theme on purpose, which couldn’t accommodate what they expected. Since I wasn’t fixing things right away, this person called in friends and led an online harassment dogpile campaign while I was busy helping my girlfriend’s mom. As hate posts poured on, I wasn’t looking. I was saying goodbye with her family at the edge of the San Francisco Bay closest to where she grew up, and scattering her ashes on the water.

Her memorial was huge on the street, but it stayed purely for those involved because I wanted it to stay private. Now the bike party runs every month and everyone there is carrying on for her. I’ll keep photos to myself, except this one was us…

Till next time, LA pic.twitter.com/oUvm6I1x0U

— [adult swim] (@adultswim) November 17, 2019

Hydraheads adds:

Sorry to hear about your girlfriend, goodness. It’s people like them that are still a part of our community by extension, even if they weren’t a furry, they were loved among and by furries. My mum thought furries were cool AF, even if she didn’t fully understand it, haha, but she was so supportive too.

That’s beautiful despite the circumstances occurring, I’m genuinely relieved that your IRL friends could do that for you to preserve her memory. And I like where this topic is going, about perseverance and strength, and trying to find and make those things in the shadow of uncertainty that comes after death. A friend shared this one with me and it has helped me cope: “When someone you love passes away, the things they leave behind or the qualities you remember them by are now gifted to you, and become your qualities. That’s how they live on through us.”

We continue to try and live and honor those things and carry forward through bad times. With your personal story about your girlfriend, it’s important that we ourselves as a community recognize the reach we have to one another. Good and bad. Whether our family and friends were furry or not. They were a support for you alongside and part of that network or our community too.

Considering the elections and what everyone is now facing going forward in America, more than ever we need the strength of each other, and the memories we hold of each other helps to propel us towards the vision and keep our focus. The importance of why and who we stay strong for. Ourselves, our family. For those ahead and after us, and in honor for those that have already departed.

One of the best keepers of memories is Changa, who is deeply involved on VRChat with the Furality event, and founded the Furry Family Ofrenda. Since 2020, it has collected memories of departed fandom members to view with a Dia de los Muertos theme.

Have you ever had a close call with death, and did it make you think about instructions for what to do when the time comes? If you have a very active life online and with a fursona, should your identities be remembered all together, or kept separate just for those in the know?

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

It harms pets too, never overlook animal abuse as a red flag.

In 2018, I told Dizzy he shouldn’t come to a furry party at a club in San Francisco. I was one of the organizers who keeps an eye on who is coming. He was a soft-looking guy who acted persistently pitiful about it, so I let him know it wasn’t because of something I knew he did, or any personal issue. It was for caution and to keep things harmonious, and there were other events he could go to. If he had a bad reputation, he could change it by doing good at other ones. I just wasn’t going to be pliable to begging for pity. If you don’t respect someone’s “no”, that’s a red flag itself.

To my confidential knowledge, the caution was because of multiple people tipping me to beware of someone abusive who they were uncomfortable being around, who they said would try manipulating for sympathy.

A few years before this, some other manipulation pulled me in to being a victim of a con artist. (He was judged liable for fraud and elder abuse after I had to defend whistleblower retaliation, cross-sue and beat him to stop it, winning a $32,000 judgement. When people sue me for defamation, I don’t settle and I bankrupt them.) The con artist was a monster with a lot of power over others, who were viciously whipped up against me for reporting abuse by their then-trusted manipulator. The experience of being the only person to point at The Emperor’s New Clothes and fighting for vindication made it easy to say no to Dizzy, stay firm, and watch what happened.

We had no more contact until it just came up again. Now I see things got worse after 2018 for Dizzy (AKA Hushpuppy, real name Brooks Buncher). A lot of Beware evidence was gathered by other people and got him removed from many groups. An elder abuse lawsuit also comes up and a TV news report that interviews him about being homeless in San Jose, CA. There’s allegations of rape including pets. Then he was charged with serial domestic violence causing the 2022 murder of a furry named Fin, who I had no idea existed until now.

One source talked to me about having an experience in common with many others, with being convinced into sex by Dizzy and then pressured and disturbed by possessiveness. It involved a super sketchy abandoned house and “hardcore guilt tripping rants”:

I was both surprised and not surprised when I saw the murder charges, and it seems like a lot of people who knew him had similar reactions. Dude is crazy and the venn diagram of domestic abusers, zoophiles, and rapists is basically a circle.

I don’t know how many people knew or tried to help Fin, but even many police and hospital visits didn’t do it. It’s so disturbing and sad. Maybe that doesn’t mean to blame the furry community for failure, but it reminds me — I never see helpful action from anyone who reacts to Bewares with counter-complaints about terms like “witch hunt” — which I see a lot when trying to report patterns of behavior. Superficial social media often has knee-jerk reactions to single offenses that may be mischaracterized, but petty offenses are different from allegations of abuse. Patterns is a good word, because there are often many victims before an abuser is caught once. It’s very helpful to apply a little pattern recognition, which is often dishonestly omitted from complaints about “witch hunts”. I will never trust anyone who presents callouts as a problem with false equivalence to abuse.

Some people tried to do something about an abuser here, but not enough. Now the least I can do is tell what happened and pay respects to Fin.

I’m sick of organizers who don’t take charge of supporting more than escapist fun while they pass off decisions to police or others and say it’s not their job to judge. Actually it is. When you run a group, you can just tell someone “no”, then see if they respect it. Whether an organizer is even capable of saying “no” is a test of competence itself. I’m not talking about conventions taking liability, I’m talking about the pure social level and social fallacies about who is welcome.

Next: a nice story about memorializing.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

The crowdfunding campaign for "Paws and Leave" just kicked off! In it, you'll follow "Me" the fox on his final journey to rediscover his memories. By his side is a charming butterfly named Ani, who will help you, sometimes more, sometimes less. Me relies on his senses, like smelling, to locate his memories in the realm between life and death.  The Kickstarter campaign has lots of stretch goals and exclusive opportunities for backers to have some of the most treasured memories immortalized in the game itself. It looks like a wonderful little adventure, full of surprises and cute (and mysterious) critters. Check out more details below and on their official Kickstarter Page.

🦊 Play as "Me"
Experience the emotional journey of a young fox in his final tale. Get guidance from a charming butterfly named Ani, who helps you on your last journey. Use Me’s senses, like smelling, to locate memories in the world in-between.

😢 Emotional Storytelling with Fearful Elements
A deeply moving narrative that includes darker and dangerous moments to reflect the protagonist's fading life. Meet various characters, uncover their stories and retrieve hidden memories.

🎣 Unique Gameplay Activities
Engage in activities like fishing for keepsakes on the back of an ancient wise turtle.

⛄ Beautiful World with small open world zones in different seasons
While the game has a strong linear storyline, players are free to explore the breathtaking world at their own pace to uncover secrets, collect keepsakes and unravel new tales.

💬 Personal Keepsakes
Discover and collect player-submitted keepsakes, such as messages, images or videos, scattered throughout the world.

👻 Whispering Echoes (Twitch Integration)
🔒 FEATURE UNLOCKS AT €55,000
Let your community engage with your adventure using our Twitch integration to interact with you and your journey in specific zones.

Here comes a new hardcover graphic novel for young readers called Birtle and the Purple Turtles. “Everyone is a turtle in Turtletown. So Teeny thinks she must be a turtle, too. But when Teeny sprouts feathers, she begins to wonder… is there a teeny possibility she’s a… Birtle? Tootie loves tag, but the other turtles in Turtletown don’t like to play. That is, until Tootie meets Teeny. Teeny loves tag. They have tons in common! Except one big thing: Teeny may not be a turtle at all. This adorable graphic novel is about being true to yourself, friendship, and most of all, celebrating differences.” It’s written and illustrated by Tara J. Hannon, and it’s available now from Andrews McMeel.

image c. 2024 Andrews McMeel

Two arrested during preparation for a big party

On 9/26/2024, a popular furry event organizer (Frisky Hyena) and another group leader were arrested together for child sex crimes. They have been in jail without bond since then. Both had furry scene influence in the San Francisco Bay area, after Frisky relocated there from Las Vegas. This report features Steven “Frisky” Darling as the owner of Party Animals West (PAW), with an LLC registered in Nevada.

Frisky’s organization used a team of helpers to throw parties around the year, sometimes with rooms at conventions, or partnered with other furry brands or DJ’s. PAW also hosted a chat group of 1000 followers who would mobilize support across furry spaces. Their larger events would attract hundreds of paying attendees, using venues with professional light and sound, like a barcade chain with locations in several big cities. Many gave support without knowing Frisky’s secrets, but after he was jailed, his partner Scoop stepped in to play one of his surrogates for actions that are very controversial now.

For the last weekend of September, supporters were looking forward to a huge occasion in San Francisco. Folsom Street Fair would draw hundreds of thousands for kink-themed activities, including many furries to the PAW barcade party on 9/29/2024. As it approached, on 9/27/2024, Frisky’s surrogate Scoop decided to tell the PAW chat group that Frisky’s phone was broken and he couldn’t answer. His accounts were allegedly accessed for impersonation messages to tell close contacts he was taking a break.

Frisky has a slew of serious charges with a long history

Frisky’s surrogates knew, and weren’t telling, that he was jailed the day before on charges of:

• Sodomy with person under 16
• Oral copulation with person under 16
• Lewd Act Upon A Child
• Penetration By Foreign Object: (V) Under 16
• Contribute To The Delinquency Of A Minor
• Arranging a Meeting with a Child for Lewd Purposes
• Attempting to Contact Minor w/Intent to Commit Offense
• Distribution or Exhibition of Lewd Material to a Minor (with Prior)

After keeping people in the dark to take support for Frisky’s event, over the next month, the arrest news started to circulate. It shocked many, but others were upset that it was being reported at all (neglecting aid for victims to come forward). If that isn’t messy enough, hindsight and connecting dots finds a history of red flags, where sources report complaints were suppressed in Las Vegas for a long time until history repeated in San Francisco.

Since 2017, complaints went without action even from the police

In Las Vegas, Frisky had built a reputation of unreliability and failing to pay debts, until relocating to California to resume parties there. Around 2017, an apartment sharing debacle led to discovering illegal media on devices Frisky kept there. He was known for preying on minors, but reports to police in Las Vegas had no results. Allegations have come out about furry groups enabling this situation by favoring cliquish friends.

More recently in the SF Bay Area, details of the arrests match a situation of risky people being allowed in groups, putting all members at risk while certain organizers shift blame and act like others should do their job for their meets. The problem started with letting risky people in at all especially after being warned and overruling it. These negligents have a chronic history of sympathy for offenders, rejecting responsibility and overlooking problems until police intervene, if ever. This reporter has been experiencing that behavior since 2018 while negligents turn their backs on protecting their groups.

Party promo – lives were ruined.

Suppression surrounded Frisky’s arrest for a month to keep his PAW organization operating, instead of accepting that it’s fatal to things under his name. Some people did work against the in-group pressure. Las Vegas Fur Con (LVFC), other events, performers, and associates ended their relationships. Finally, there was a grudging statement about dissolving PAW from operators like Scoop whose credibility was lost.

How soon could this have been stopped? Abuse might have been prevented if complaints were heard and leaders took responsibility. It could have been easier to prevent at the gate instead of trying to fix it after. We don’t yet know the extent of the problem, with multiple offenders and ties to other suspicious people. The whole situation has legal action pending, with sensitivity about it being undermined on behalf of offenders and helping them to escape consequences again. Therefore some information is protected for security and this report is edited to be a general summary.

Furry space can be for predators to access victims, and leaders to prioritize selfish fun over ruined lives, with negligence about red flags. Or…

You can take action

If you have any information about abuse in the community, or enabling by organizers, and are reluctant to come forward without confidentiality — Dogpatch Press has an established role of working with whistleblowers, making legal privilege from being compelled to disclose private information. That gives ability to report what others can’t. Even if police aren’t helpful, solutions may start with carefully documenting what’s suppressed. (Be careful, because even people who slept with Frisky didn’t know about problems made worse by leaders suppressing things.)

Police don’t manage your community. YOU DO. Protecting it doesn’t have to wait for years of processing while suppression makes things worse, and there is no entitlement to invitation into its spaces. It can be run with care instead of making it so open that anything can crawl in.

To understand harmful management patterns, also check the recent article about Garden State Fur the Weekend and what it welcomed in.

Some sources

PAW chat group: now closed (a full export is on file.)

https://ghostarchive.org/archive/BEg4f

https://archive.ph/Mrd1n

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

Look, sometimes we can’t explain things, we can only tell you that things exist. Things like the Acid Chimp vs. Business Dog one-shot from Ahoy Comics. “Business Dog controls the wealth of nations! Acid Chimp has been abducted by crooks who want him to kill the canine trillionaire with corrosive acid! And why wouldn’t he? Splashing acid is the only thing that Acid Chimp enjoys!” Okay, we’ll try to fill you in about what’s going on here… Business Dog is a character from a popular indie comic called Billionaire Island, while Acid Chimp is from a popular indie comic called My Bad. The creators of each met up and decided it would be fun to set their two weird characters against each other. And so writers Mark Russell and Bryce Ingman enlisted the help of artists Peter Krause and Steve Pugh, and here’s what we get. Major Spoilers has a review that helps it all make more sense… maybe. We can’t make promises.

image c. 2024 Ahoy Comics

Furry Book Month has drawn to a close for another year. Hopefully everyone who wanted a copy of the 2024 book bundle had a chance to download it.

For those of us who participated in the first Furry Novel Jam, congratulations! Even if you only wrote a handful of words in October, those were words you hadn’t written before. I didn’t finish my novella, but I wrote over 15,000 words total and feel really good about my progress. The Furry Novel Jam doesn’t have to end if you don’t want it to end!

Awards season is coming up fast, so if there are recently-published books on your to-read pile, this is a good time to bump them to the top. If you have recently-published works, this is also a good time to send in updates for your guild member profile and the suggested reading lists. If you have a book coming out soon, let us know so we can list it in future posts. Make it easy for potential readers to find what you’ve written!

Here are the current open markets for your short stories:
Paw Anthology: Volume 2 – Deadline November 21st 2024
Spirit of the Wolf – Deadline March 31st 2025
The Second Hayven Celestia Anthology – Deadline July 15, 2025
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full

Please also check out the latest releases from our members:

Shadow Sun, by Jess E. Owen. Released August 30th
Legend of Ahya: Broken Empires, by Matthew Colvath. Released October 2nd 2024.

Happy writing!

Kate Shaw

What do you do when you’re in need of inspiration for your writing? Why, you take a much needed break and visit the creepiest abbey in town. This is the premise of Mercury Abbey. Players step into the paws of Harrod, a character based on a gray wolf who’s a struggling writer. At the start of the story, Harrod is working on his latest novel and feeling pretty pessimistic about it. Sales have been lackluster since an influx of competition from similar works have flooded the market including a cyberpunk style adventure featuring a cat as a protagonist. Harrod isn’t given any peace to work or stew as he receives a call from his sister, who tells him that she's dropping off his nephew Willie with him. It’s at this point, the game finally starts. 

This year at the annual Lightbox Expo we met the artist Naomi VanDoren. Recently they’ve been branching out as an author, and after successful Kickstarter campaign they’ve released their first illustrated book, called Naiya and the Foxdragon. “Naiya is a young teen who has been hiding from her past and her unkind uncle most of her life until she befriends a foxdragon named Aru. When the last of the magic orbs that once powered their city is depleted, she faces her fears and embarks on an unexpected journey into the heart of the jungle to save her home. Along the way, Naiya discovers her own self-worth as she and her foxdragon friend navigate the treacherous jungle and learn about her own relationship with the world’s magic.” Visit their web site to see more.

image c. 2024 by Naomi VanDoren

While at a local vegan festival, your ever-loving ed-otter met up with author Bill Muir, also known as Sgt. Vegan. During his time in the U.S. military, Sgt. Muir served ably while maintaining a plant-based diet, which is no mean feat in itself. Since then he has become well known as a vegan body builder and nutrition expert. But one little side project bears discussion here: He wrote a children’s book, The Adventures of Sergeant Piggy, which was illustrated by Hayden Fowler. The book details Sergeant Piggy’s travels around the world to meet a variety of animals, while also teaching young readers the value of a plant-based diet and green living. And now it’s available on Amazon too!

image c. 2024 Sgt Vegan Press

Turns out the re-invention of Disney properties continued this year with the new Lilo & Stitch comic from Dynamite — the first continuing comic for them in English, actually. “Life seems to have calmed down for Experiment 626 and his new family on Earth – at least until evil aliens come hunting for everyone’s favorite blue-furred troublemaker. The kicker? They’re using giant robots that are powered by Stitch’s own DNA! Will Lilo’s beloved pet be able to take on these villains and lead them away from his adopted planet and loved ones? And even if he succeeds, will he be able to find his way back home?” It’s written by Greg Pak, illustrated by Giulia Giacomino, and issues are still on the shelves.

image c. 2024 Dynamite Comics

After a mismanagement crisis was excused with PR statements, New Jersey furries are sick of more deception from the same broken leadership. 

Garden State Fur The Weekend was set to have their first convention in May 2024, but in January, their organization was rocked by a staff revolt. It leaked out with a Dogpatch Press report — Grassroots action: Leadership changes and weeding out hate at Garden State Fur The Weekend. The inside story can now be told in more depth, because cautious community members who stayed quiet before have come forward to ask for new reporting. GSFTW’s own PR person quit and reports being lied to. Numerous sources with deep involvement spoke to Dogpatch Press about how a chronic problem was “fixed” by moving it higher:

Many sources spoke on condition of whistleblower privacy.

Trouble before launch

The mismanagement was insufferable, especially by the con Chair, Dashing Fox. Dashing and his sympathetic board were enabling nazi-furries who infested GSFTW chat groups, like the Furry Raiders, with their child-preying leader Foxler in Colorado. The infestation got nothing but excuses. Who were these assholes coming in from outside and making themselves at home, like they had permission to make the place their doormat or were secretly in charge?

It was like that from the beginning. GSFTW was registered in February 2020. In April 2020, Dashing tried to put Foxler’s right-hand man Aeveirra on staff. Dashing was warned of their toxic nature by a vigilant staffer who understood the security risk. A month later, he still went on the Furry Raiders podcast to promote the con, as if he was bent on making a shit magnet for the worst of the community. The podcast blatantly named him a friend of Aeveirra.

Warned in April, ignored in May during con startup. The corruption was baked in since 2020 and persisted for 4 years with numerous instances of ignoring it.

The problem wasn’t drama over petty differences or “politics”. These nazifurs are a security threat to anything they touch, with a long history of sabotage and crime at cons. January’s report linked evidence of their malice like this:

• Had a secret plot to bring Proud Boys street violence to Midwest Furfest 2019, forcing MFF to head it off with bans.
• Ardently defended sex-offending friends, causing multiple arrests with conviction for witness intimidation and retaliation at this reporter.
• Publicly embarrassed Anthrocon with political hate symbols in the fursuit parade, forcing AC to make new policies to prevent repeats.
• Funded Free Fur All, the nazifur convention, which fell apart due to competing factions having to put up with each other’s insufferable trolling.
• Free Fur All’s mission was to host “canceled” people like the Confederate Fursuiter; main suspect in the chemical attack on MFF that hospitalized 19.
• Schemed for control of regular furry groups and cons, and abused power when they got it, driving away the real community.

This threat pattern was openly documented since at least 2017. Dashing’s enabling for it irritated the community for years about meets he hosted, but it didn’t boil over until GSFTW launch was near. The pattern predicted future disaster, unless it was forced to change against resistance at the top.

The entire board is the problem

Who else stood in the way of change? Inside GSFTW, Dashing’s loyal board knew and enabled problems for years. Then they treated the Aeveirra incident as old news from 2020, while nazifurs kept making themselves at home under their watch.

This raised scrutiny on who some of the board members were; not New Jersey furries, but transplants from Megaplex in Florida, allegedly motivated against COVID masking after a board rift there.

COVID badly delayed many cons in 2020, so the Aeveirra incident wasn’t actually that distant. Isn’t that interesting timing to grab opportunity to start a con? It also wasn’t the only red flag about problematic people getting on staff; and there was more mismanagement concern than that.

Staff faced problems about money with budget numbers hidden, unlike at other cons run by the same staff. Money questions are extra shady when Dashing’s friend Aeveirra funded the Free Fur All nazifur con, a “spitecon” started after the founders failed bid to run an Oklahoma convention in 2020.

The purpose of GSFTW came with strangely competitive talk about taking the place of other furry groups and events, against the nature of nonprofit, volunteer-based fandom. (Below, Furrydelphia’s management talks about hostility by GSFTW.) But let’s return to January…

“The inaction of the board is deafening” — a staff ultimatum, walkout, and removal of Dashing.

Rifts about nazifurs grew with GSFTW management as staff attempted to get them to see reason, without success. This led to a January 10 staff ultimatum to remove Dashing and problem people. On January 11, the pressure forced the con to make a statement against nazifur activity. Evidently words weren’t backed by action. With the ultimatum ignored, on January 12, the Dealer’s Den team, Registration Dept. and others walked out. Here’s before and after messages from then by Hospitality lead Osiris Adustus:

At least 15 staff joined the revolt. One whistleblower says:

“Over the course of those few days, various people tied to the con and its leadership continued to tell on themselves, essentially handing us the evidence of who they really are. Given how GSFTW was able to somehow bounce back from that in such a short time frame… it gives the appearance they had people on standby or secretly had people on the downlow already and misled staff on who was who.”

The next day, January 13, the con was forced to act again, with registrations and money at stake. Now Dashing would step down as Chair, and be replaced by new chair Shy Matsi. Finally some nazi-furs were removed from chat groups (but not banned from the con). Dashing excused himself as being uninformed about them, and blamed sickness for resigning a day after a staff revolt.

Later in May, Dashing also blamed his Furry Raiders podcast appearance on “poor research”, which omits how it called him Aeveirra’s friend, and the warning he ignored about it from his own staff.

Dogpatch Press made many requests for comment after the revolt, and got a little PR and a lot of stonewalling. Dashing blew deadlines to respond. Despite serious misgivings, the January report put a charitable spin on the forced action, and did hard work to avoid harming the con and engage anyone willing to do better. GSFTW got back to business, as if benefit of the doubt is deserved for people who just learned that nazis are bad… (and need to keep learning, again and again)… Meanwhile, Dashing’s sickness excuse stayed the only official removal reason, at least until the coast was clear.

A month before launch, GSFTW changes from a nonprofit to a for-profit LLC — owned by Dashing — without comment. 

Why didn’t the con really fix things? In April, the step to “remove” Dashing was walked right back.

From April 2024, ownership makes Dashing the responsible public face in the open government record naming him.

What’s the point of switching to a for-profit LLC, besides making Dashing’s removal a revolving door for his ownership? Did anyone even catch on to it becoming the toy of someone who misused the community so badly? The switch was so close to launch in May, that hotel and travel plans would be done for many goers, so was this timed to suppress awareness and let them believe it was nonprofit, while diverting support to Dashing’s private benefit? We could ask, but GSFTW and Dashing have already been evasive.

The greasy gambit worked. In May, the launch proceeded. You may be thinking… did the con make some people happy? The average con-goer doesn’t scrutinize leadership when there’s fun to be had; but that low standard and PR about “new” leadership hides how a chronic problem continued with Dashing’s replacement Chair, Shy Matsi.

Evidently, Shy Matsi just played Dashing’s right hand. After Dashing had blown off questions and used the sickness excuse, he wasn’t too sick to be spotted in Con Ops, run main stage events, and be front and center at the closing ceremony.

Tweet by Zero, a deeply involved community organizer and con staffer.

Dashing publicly and openly resigned as Chair while citing his health as the reason, but remained as the CEO, contract holder, and de facto leader. Shy Matsi played a figurehead, a cardboard cutout for Dashing to stand behind while remaining in charge and protecting all of his problematic friends. They think they can take community support for granted by fooling you with a title switch!

Excuses from the puppet Chair: nazifurs can be LBGTQ too, so let them in?!

Shy Matsi does more ass-covering than just for Dashing. After a staff revolt and forced statements — after the con was over and it wasn’t even crucial time for PR — he proceeded to deflect responsibility, pile up excuses, and beg tolerance for alt-right trolls as if hateful malice just makes different opinions equal to the targets. It made the con PR about zero tolerance mean “except when they’re our friends, or use their identity to excuse their toxic beliefs and behavior”.

January 11, 2024: Official PR by con during staff revolt

May 8, 2024: Shy Matsi excuses alt-right hate by prevaricating.

Zero Jackal collected a Google doc of chat logs of trying to reason with Shy Matsi right after the con. (Full log images.) The chat was in a group of friends including community mods and con staffers who had worked with or known him for a very long time, but distanced over time as problems grew.

Several whistleblowers have discussed the long history of enabling before GSFTW existed:

“Shy Matsi has harbored nazis, far right extremists, and all sorts of other unsavory folks in this really fucked up mentality of “giving a home to everyone”. This insistence on ignoring issues and “just being nice” doesn’t work. Shy is wholly incapable of ever telling bad actors to go away. He’s repeatedly made excuses for awful people, or allowed people banned from local chats into furmeets, as to not be “mean”. I used to respect the guy but he enables this stuff. Locals who have known him for literally 2+ DECADES are cutting ties with him as he refuses to explain why.” — More logs collected from the mod chat:

Shy Matsi is of POC and LGBT identity. This raises eyebrows in the community in light of the enabling for threats towards POC and LGBT people, like the crimes and definition of “collaborator” in the January reporting.

Critics of the enabling include the targeted identities; and to underscore the incongruity of Shy’s collaboration, Dashing made conflict with other furry groups for being in support of Black Lives Matter, while spreading partisan political narratives against it. (Circa 2021):

Shy Matsi was even more than just an enabling friend of Dashing. They roomed together with another cause of complaints, an alt-right troll named W0nderdawg, a fellow meet host, making very personal corruption in handling of the problem.

The nazifurs they let in… who used GSFTW to put politics on Fox News.

After GSFTW did damage-control in January about removing nazifurs, security sent messages to several: W0nderdawg, Astral (a NY-based Furry Raider who waved a hate flag in Anthrocon’s parade), and Astral’s friend Peter. They were banned from the con chat, but not the con.

Astral and Peter were then photographed at the con. Not just attending, but being interviewed on Fox News. The Fox demographic has one relationship with furries: mocking them for anti-LGBT propaganda, including hoaxes about litter boxes to dehumanize them in “joke” form. Letting Fox use GSFTW for their entertainment would be like slamming yourself in a locker when you see a bully coming.

Below: Astral, his friend Peter, and a clip from a Fox News Jesse Watters show, where Peter declares: “Trump 2024 baby!”

A whistlebower claims “The Watters crew WAS tipped off about the con from an insider, but I’m told they just showed up and started filming with no press pass.” At least, that’s what staff would think when hit by surprise… but what if the GSFTW board secretly colluded with Fox?

The Fox News clip of Peter also shows Shy Matsi, the Chair, on his left near the con ballroom. Clearly the cameras weren’t hiding, press pass or not. They got comfortable to hang out. We know because Peter went on the notorious alt-right Kiwifarms hate forum to boast about how they interviewed him longer.

Besides helping Fox News push politics on the fandom, Peter says he brought many friends and did A/V work for GSFTW, and there he is with camera.

More problematic staff

Here’s a few staff who had been officially listed. Turbulent staff turnover, as you will see below, may or may not apply now — it’s hard to trust the con’s PR — the point is this was the quality of who was trusted to run this con at some point.

• Arctico, IT lead, spread inflammatory MAGA sentiments. GSFTW claimed Arctico didn’t show up for the job after this drew public criticism.
• Zade, DJ coordinator, who follows numerous nazifurs. A tipper says “I have no idea how this man has been allowed to remain socially in the fandom for as long as he has, despite being an overt racist and nazi apologist. His twitter is a cesspool.”

“We were lied to”: PR lead Pawsouls quit GSFTW, wished the work was for a “more deserving boss”

Pawsouls was PR staff in January, when contacted for comment by Dogpatch Press without much result while GSFTW did damage control. Whistleblowers had their own criticism: “Pawsouls constantly defends Dashing’s actions, attempting to sweep it under the rug, instead of addressing it. They were asked, had their chance to explain and didn’t…”

After the con, Pawsouls had a change of heart, and quit GSFTW with statements that shed light now:

May post-con tweets: (1) (2)

October tweet

This shows how staff goodwill would be misused by a non-transparent Board. Pawsouls followed up with gracious replies for this report:

“PR was told Dashing would be stepping away from a front-facing and leadership position, as he was recovering from mental and physical stressors and being in the hospital. Only for that to be twisted into him stepping back on stage, without confirmation from anyone that such a thing would be happening, which was then left for PR to handle blindly. And that’s not including having Fox News at con without PR Dept. approval or oversight. I know registration also wasn’t aware.

The sudden wave of changes a day or two before the con, and then during the con, was insane and we found disrespectful. I got into an argument with Dashing during the con, and the Board, about how it seems everything seemed to just done without following the con’s own CoC (which a fellow member of the PR team helped in writing). It was met with Dashing just stating excuses and throwing blame on me and my team.

At that point, my focus shifted into making sure my friends were safe during the con overall. A lot of staff were local furs I know and friends of mine. Which why when I left, a lot of staff left. I believe it’s almost all new people on staff now.”

It’s murky how Fox News even knew about a small, local, first-year con, and succeeded in filming there without a pass. Pawsouls says:

“In terms of approving them, that was left with the board. They seemed to know what was going on and didn’t notify anyone on staff.”

Who quit after the con in May, making a new staff collapse?

“To my knowledge, all of PR left, head of Reg, head of Dealer Den, original head of the gaming room, head of Security, multiple floating volunteers, and I believe one or two board members.”

Pawsouls was used by Dashing for diligent service, while under fire without quitting for personal interest so the con could happen with safety for friends. Some involved were critical of not getting support before, but Pawsouls didn’t have to come forward now about being misled, and do the same diligence in speaking for public interest. The candor is valued.

Budget and finance sketchiness raises questions

Lack of transparency has been a common whistleblower complaint. For example, staff requests for budgets were stonewalled, with instructions to provide Amazon wishlists for the board to pick what to approve, when every item was needed.

Some leaked discussion with Kiba, the GSFTW treasurer at the time:

Whistleblowers questioned the finances and official attendance, before and after con:

(Before) “If their first year is anything like similar cons, they’re looking at at least a $30,000 hotel contract, plus service charge and tax. Plus their AV needs, equipment, etc, they’re going to need at minimum 60k to get their event off the ground. Their reg is $65. That means they need almost a thousand people to make it happen. I don’t really see them getting that many folks. Same exact thing that happened to CCFC. That’s the problem with a lot of new cons. Eyes are bigger than their stomachs so to speak.”

(After) “Their numbers ain’t adding up. Nearly 1k attendees (but sure didn’t have that in person). They had to have had outside benefactors artificially boosting their reg numbers on paper and secretly funding the con so it wouldn’t go belly up. U said it yourself, Aevierra and Foxler are no strangers to propping cons up financially like Freefurall.”

Official attendance was 957, but there were claims about the con being empty, including the Saturday rave at peak of con. Is 957 accurate, and not inflated with Reg Dept turnover making it hard to detect? Claims of sparseness may not be easy to verify, but would make it murky if the budget was covered, what it was, and from what source. Can you trust what they say? Even their own PR person came out to say they lied.

The bottom line: This is how hate finds a home, unless the community says no.

Incompetence at the top risked the first con’s ruin by causing a staff revolt, but it wasn’t enough to get better care inside. Note Pawsoul’s complaint of what it was like to run PR after January PR apologies. It puts red flags on any future cons.

Even with an appearance of a nice regular con, the idea of growth for GSFTW is tainted with reports of spite and competition towards nonprofit community, and harboring staff that other cons dropped for good reason.

Tweet by the Chair of Furrydelphia.

Dashing, Shy, W0nderdawg and others in this report continue to inhabit local organizer chats and grasp influence. Those who came forward are fed up and would like the public to give no more chances. “Why not let it die, and make a new con with a better team, instead of the one that let nazis fester?”

Afterthought: A pattern where Shy Matsi’s site was so insecure, it leaked revenge-porn.

Here’s a story that was left out of January’s report to avoid bias, showing HOW CHARITABLE the reporting was.

Around 2017, I had personal adult images made with a partner for fun, kept privacy-locked on Furries Xtreme, a hookup site owned by Shy Matsi. They were leaked as revenge porn to retaliate at Dogpatch Press reporting. A Furries Xtreme admin would have access to locked profiles, and one was in Nazifur groups who targeted enemies that way. Put 2 and 2 together.

When told, Shy Matsi did nothing. Zero Jackal says: “This tracks. I have receipts of multiple people in his chats (most of whom myself or other mods have kicked for GOOD reason, like sending us death threats), have notified him to do something about it, and he’s refused / outright ignored us.”

Imagine if you were harassed with revenge-porn leaked under Shy Matsi’s watch… and still gave him neutrality about becoming chair of GSFTW, with responsibility for the con’s trust and safety. The owners had so much leeway to improve after Shy was talked to in January, and Dashing blew off questions. This reporter is still doing the job, after harassers thought they could run off reporting for public service. Now that includes a personal opinion:

If you expect cons to be trustworthy and safe, and you were thinking of going to GSFTW in 2025, don’t. Save your money and tell your friends to Beware.

UPDATE: more cronyism, and insight about shady finances and the greasy LLC switch

Showing their true colors:

In a new hilarious turn of events, since apparently he has nothing to say for himself, Shy has now adminned Dashing on the NJ Events Chat (bottom). At this point I'm calling it, and he's 100 percent in bed with the nazifurs. Seriously mental behavior. pic.twitter.com/3v6D2U7J4v

— Zero Jackal (@Zero_Jackal) October 25, 2024

If the con’s official attendance number was inflated up to the break-even point for estimated cost of this con, when allegedly many less people attended… Who paid for the hotel deposit? And how can the attendance be verified?

Notice that no official fursuit photo has been seen. This is a point of pride for legitimate cons. Proportionally, a con of around 1000 furries would have 200 fursuiters.

A tipper supplied more visual clues of sparse numbers:

Next, an explanation for the greasy LLC switch. There’s one logical, reasonable, sensible reason why anybody would turn their event from a 501 nonprofit to an LLC, changing the entire organization structure just a month before the event. Tip:

“I was talking with some very high up people who work in the convention scene, and in this conversation we put two and two together.

As a 501 organization you’re only allowed to accept a certain amount of monetary donations from a singular source. I believe it cannot be any amount over $5,000 or more than 20% of the overall revenue generated from an event.

However an LLC is allowed to take in as many donations from any source that they want, as long as they are put on their books as taxable income.

So what I think happened is they were getting very close to the convention and they did not have nearly the amount of money required to fulfill the deposit necessary on the hotel reservation. So they get in touch with some of their right wing friends to bankroll the event… but one problem, they can’t accept the money as a 501. So they as fast as possible switch to an LLC, which allows them to take in as much dirty money as they need to in order to fund the event.

In other words they never had the attendance required to fund the event, so they had to have external funding in order to make it run. There was never a thousand people there or registered for the convention.

There is a pitfall to being an LLC which in their shortsightedness I think they fail to understand. As an LLC you are an official business and everyone who works for you is an employee that requires payment. You are not allowed to have any type of volunteers or non-paid staff as an LLC. This also means that if they were in LLC during the time of the convention, then they essentially had people working illegally for them as unpaid employees.

This can be easily verified through a quick Google search of the IRS website.”

GSFTW is now a for-profit business, and by mismanaging it, they are now taking gambles with all of the community’s support and payment. Remember whose decisions brought it to this point while watching what happens next.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)