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September 2014 Newsbytes archive
It's been a long almost 2 years and I may not have advanced as far as the likes of /u/FXScreamer, but here's my progress!
First ever drawing on a drawing tablet.. It's just a headshot but I'm still proud of it.
I was trying to argue that being a furry wasn't extremely sexual, when they sent me this. I gave up.
A while ago I asked you for your responses to the accident at MFF.
I have been reluctant to show the finished article because my teacher claimed that it was funny. I notified him and he seemed to not care and still thought it was funny for people in an emergency. I'm now making the decision to share with you the finished article.
Trouble at a Convention
Imagine being at a convention enjoying your time when suddenly, you’re forced to evacuate outside the building along with thousands of other people. That is how the guests of Midwest FurFest felt on the early morning of December 7th 2014. During the weekend of December 5th to December 7th 2014, a convention held annually at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Rosemont Illinois named Midwest FurFest was underway. The convention consists of the celebration of anthropomorphic characters, also known as Furries. Their art, literature, and music are demonstrated and appreciated at the convention as well as the common sight of dressed fursuiters. These conventions are held all over the world and are quite popular. The worlds largest furry convention, Anthrocon, had an attendance of 5,861 the summer of 2014. Specifically, MFF is the second largest furcon in the world. It reached an attendance of 3,904 in 2013. Anything can go wrong at these conventions with this large amount of people. Sometimes the case is just a simple pull of the fire alarm. But on the early morning of December 7th, a complaint of an odor of chlorine gas was filed to the hotel. Rosemont firefighters and paramedics responded to the hotel at 12:47am to the complaint of a broken bottle emitting a strong chemical, chlorine like smell in the ninth floor of the hotel. Reddit user mwishosimba said, “People started shouting at us to get outside. I automatically assume that it’s just some idiot pulling the alarm again. Someone mentions that the air smells weird, I agree.” The Hyatt engaged an immediate response of evacuating all personnel from the building. Thousands of people and fursuiters flooded the streets in the evacuation. ”I was in a fursuit and just took a few steps off the escalator when people were trying to keep a clear path for the EMT. The EMT reappeared with a stretcher in tow and someone yelled out, “Everyone needs to leave the building.” Within a second or two the fire alarm went off and the crowd was pivoted and headed towards the door,” Said reddit user zortech. Reddit user stylishg33k said, “People were being carried out of the hotel in stretchers; most people didn’t have proper clothing and it was freezing.” Inside the hotel, hazardous materials technicians found a broken bottle with white powder in a stairwell at the ninth floor that had a heavy chlorine scent emitting from it. Firefighters contacted the EMS Box Alarm and HazMat alarm. User mwishosimba also goes on to say,” I saw an uncountable number of ambulances, police cruisers, firetrucks and most alarming of all, hazmat vehicles; it is then everyone knew that this was no joke, especially when there were vehicles from many towns over.” The EMS Box Alarm was raised to a third alarm, which calls over 15 ambulances to the scene. The news of the situation reached far outside the hotel space. #MWFF2014 was trending on twitter in the number 6 spot in the world. According to mwishosimba, “Around 3am, word gets around that the attack was intentional. Everyone is pretty quiet at the point as they discuss recent events. Nobody is certain of the injuries at the point, it was rumored around 20.” In total, 19 people were transported to hospitals with complaints of nausea, some people coughing up blood, and other problems from the chlorine. User zortech also said, "I ended up acting like a living blanket to a fur that didn't have a coat and had a very thin shirt for at least a half an hour. Eventually actual blankets arrived." Some people retreated to other buildings to get away from the cold and some stayed outside the Hyatt. At one point, people were allowed to enter back into the dance area and lower convention space, but the dance room was deemed unsafe at that moment so people were evacuated back out of the dance room. User SikeRed said, “My job was to listen to the EMS dispatch and relay information. Thanks to that, we were able to get a lot of information out and available (And especially because we were able to have HAMs help do crowd control, get EMS where needed, and get those ETAs out).” HazMat teams measured the air quality after the chlorine was cleaned up and an all clear was given at 4:21am for all staff and guests of the hotel to return back inside. There were no casualties that morning and the convention resumed to normal that day. On behalf of MFF’s statement on the evacuation, “We ask you to continue to be patient, and remember that the volunteers who make Midwest FurFest happen intend to give 110% to make sure that the fun, friendship, and good times of Midwest FurFest 2014 overshadow last night’s unfortunate incident.” User deathbyrats said, “In the end, I have to give credit to everyone involved, con goers, staff, and emergency workers as everything was handled calmly. Directions were loud and clear, and there was no pushing or shoving.” Clearly, this was a large event but because of the mishap, no one’s spirits were brought down, people stayed focused and in result, no one died. It is unfortunate for this to happen to innocent people but, Midwest FurFest will continue to strive every year it starts and ends.
submitted by ShadowFur17[link] [6 comments]
Friends
Hello fellow furries this is kind of weird but I'm a 16 year old guy looking for a furry friend I've got steam, facebook and my phone to message through. I know that's kind of vague so ask me anything you'd like to.
submitted by Samfiller[link] [3 comments]
The reason I had my 'sona as my iOS lock screen
Five Fortunes, an anthology of novellas
Five Fortunes
Edited by Fred Patten
Cover Art by Terrie Smith
415 pp., $19.95
FurPlanet Productions, January 2014
This anthology is a collection of five furry novellas, each about 80 pages long. The theme? All the main characters are taking steps forward to choose and shape their own futures. I’ve read work by all of the contributing authors before, but for most of them it’s been a while, so I was curious to see what their recent output would be like.
“Chosen People” by Phil Geusz:
This is set in a universe previously established in Geusz’s story collection, The First Book of Lapism, which I haven’t read, but there’s enough exposition here that it’s not a problem. Lapism is a new religion in the U.S. in which people can have themselves bio-engineered into anthropomorphic rabbits, as a statement of peace, kindness, and striving for personal betterment. The procedure is expensive, and has been mostly limited to people with very high incomes. (Supporters who can’t afford it wear ears and tails.) Still, enough people have made the transition that they’ve started their own upscale town in Nevada called Oaktree Village.
The protagonist is Juniper, a world-champion marksman who’s made the change to Lapism and has been hired as the Village’s new sheriff. While still being relatively new to this level of responsibility, he’s professional, approachable, and outgoing. (Small nit-pick, I never got an impression of his age.)
Part of the story involves character- and universe-building, plus a crime to be solved. Juniper is also faced with a more long-term problem: the surrounding communities resent the Lapists’ higher economic bracket, and many Lapists are starting to feel superior and isolationist. So the sheriff makes a dedicated effort to integrate himself not just into the local community, but into the surrounding communities as well.
The main excitement, however, comes from having to deal with an unexpected, local emergency. With a lot of people’s lives threatened, I was very much caught up with how Juniper managed his situation. Nicely tense! There’s a lot going on in this story. While the crime-solving element was a bit underplayed, Geusz still balances everything pretty well. And furry? Definitely; there are lots of references to how Juniper’s form affects his daily routines, right down to a discussion of shoes, or lack thereof.
“Huntress” by Renee Carter Hall:
This is my top pick from the book! Imagine a more primitive Africa with anthropomorphic lions and wild dogs, engaged in hunting and trading. What impressed me the most was the amount of depth and scope squeezed into this novella – not just establishing the details of the lions’ tribal culture, but how it follows the life of a young lioness, Leya, from her teenage years all the way into adulthood. It covers quite a long period of choices and personal growth.
More than anything else, Leya wants to join the nakaranja, a special caste of nomadic huntresses. But this new way of life also requires sacrifices, and Leya questions whether her choices were sometimes the right ones. Has she lost the chance to fall in love? What happens if she loses those few people to whom she’s gotten close? In a society where the kinds of roles a person can fit into are limited, Leya never quite fits, and the main arc of this story is how she tries to find her place in the world.
I really have to praise the detail that went into this, like the tribes’ spiritual beliefs and mythology. (Although I never figured out what social role an “aumah” held.) I especially liked how the many secondary characters all got more development and depth added to them along the way, with some honest surprises. Leya’s life and her difficulties were very touching and believable, and I say this as someone with a background in anthropology. The ending felt a little too ideal in terms of being able to easily break from societal norms, but wow, her story was really hard to put down.
“Going Concerns” by Watts Martin:
Gibson Scava is a cat with disposable income, who works as a detective for the Ranean Guard. He’s good at his job, but his forthright, independent and (most of all) eccentric nature don’t endear him to his superiors, especially when he’s willing to take matters into his own hands. Annie Swift is a professional accountant who’s recently moved to the city to find work, but her wolf stature and no-nonsense attitude intimidates people during her job interviews. Together, they’re going to fight crime!
Not that they have a choice. Annie was hoping to leave her past behind her (she accused her former employers of illegal activity), but now someone wants her dead. Gibson is working her case, to the detriment of Annie’s patience and sanity. This is essentially a buddy-cop story, two opposing personalities being forced to cooperate to solve a crime. Gibson encourages Annie to participate in his detective work, while also making use of her forensic accounting skills.
Gibson is also constantly flirting with her. On one hand he appears to be serious; on the other it seems to be part of an effort to break down Annie’s walls and make her laugh. For a buddy-cop story this feels typical; in this furry story it feels cliché. I don’t know why… I’ve read other furry stories with one character pursuing another romantically, and I haven’t minded, but in this case there’s something… commonplace about it. I’ve got some kind of subconscious bias here that I don’t know how to articulate. But honestly, I don’t think anyone else will have a problem with it. Regardless of my brain, to remove this element from the narrative would cause serious damage, and vastly reduce the tale’s charm.
Seriously, this is the most downright fun story to read in this anthology. Gibson is entertaining and quite the character, but he’s no clown. He’s deeply concerned with stopping criminals and keeping Annie alive. Underneath the comical elements, there’s genuine danger and tension at a whole bunch of points. The combination works really well. I feel kind of sorry for the Ranean Guard; the law and bureaucracy are more of a hindrance than help, at least when it comes to organized criminals who know what they’re doing. This is what propels Gibson and Annie into taking unexpected risks, and it really fuels the story.
When it’s all over and settled, there’s the potential for Gibson and Annie to have future adventures together. I definitely look forward to that, if more should appear! Also, I should mention that Watts Martin’s writing in the fandom goes all the way back to the early 1990s, a time when furry fiction was much scarcer. His stories were certainly among the better ones at the time, and his skills haven’t diminished since. So if you’re interested in reading more of his work set in the world of Ranea, I can definitely recommend one that was very popular during the fandom’s early years: A Gift of Fire, A Gift of Blood (revised in 2013).
“When a Cat Loves a Dog” by Mary E. Lowd:
This is set in the same world as Lowd’s earlier Otters in Space novels, in which Earth is inhabited by anthropomorphic cats, dogs, and a few other intelligent species. Cats are still second-class citizens who are slowly gaining more civil rights. The main character in this story is a cat named Lashonda, who works in a university research lab. Going against social taboos, she legally marries Topher, a dog and stand-up comedian. Both of them have to deal with the resulting prejudice. Topher’s stand-up career takes off, but at the expense of making depreciating jokes about cats. Lashonda’s job suffers due to extreme discrimination by the dog members of the research team she works with.
Despite initially not wanting children, Lashonda changes her mind and begins researching the possibility of adopting puppies or kittens, only to be turned down on all fronts. Finally a long-shot possibility presents itself, involving experimental medical reseach. Lashonda manages to become pregnant, but there’s a high risk of failure, and the stress is increasingly difficult. (Biology fail: the fertility of her offspring is never discussed.) The last third of the story is an emotional rollercoaster about having to deal with unknown pregnancy complications.
Things take an unexpected, dangerous turn when a betrayal by the one of the medical staff puts the whole operation in danger from protests and riots, requiring everyone to flee to the more technologically advanced and more progressive space station run by the otters. Regardless of the changes to the legal system for cats, dog society simply isn’t prepared to deal with new social boundaries.
In fact, I’m amazed this society manages to progress at all. The main cat character (both in this story and in Otters in Space) gets constantly distracted by emotional speculations and daydreams. Dogs seem prone to 180-degree prejudicial mood swings that completely override any intelligence or logical reasoning. The betrayal I mentioned earlier literally comes out of nowhere: a huge wrench given almost no context, caused by a minor character who was barely described, and only occasionally seen. The final conflict feels artificially imposed, with otter society as a sort of Deus ex machina.
That sounds pretty harsh, but if you can forgive the weirdness of this story universe, what this novella really has going for it are two things: an exploration of how prejudice can effect people’s lives, and the psychological stresses of getting pregnant for the first time. For everything else, you need to suspend a certain amount of disbelief. I’m no longer fond of this story universe, but I really liked how the conflict gradually built itself up over the course of the narrative; I felt very sympathetic for Lashonda’s situation from start to finish.
“Piece of Mind” by Bernard Doove:
Reviewer honesty: I’ve never especially liked Chakats or the Chakona Space story universe. Now that I’ve compromised my objectivity here, this story is still a good contribution to this anthology, regardless of my own biases.
Arrak is a young Caitian who’s immigrating to the Chakat homeworld and taking on a new job as a geologist. For safety purposes he’s teamed up with a Chakat named Windrunner in case there’s an emergency in the wilderness. Aside from Arrak finding out that a number of assumptions about his new life were wrong, there’s not much character development.
I made some assumptions too, that Windrunner would have no significant negative character traits, that Arrak would fall into a relationship with them by the end of the story, and that Arrak’s integration into Chakat society would solve all his problems. I was right; although the way that the latter occurred wasn’t quite what I’d guessed. Good curve-ball, Doove! Also, thanks for only one reference to the characters’ breasts; I appreciate that.
The driving force of the story, the part that held my interest the most, was an extended flashback explaining how Arrak ended up immigrating in the first place. There’s a nice bit of world-building going on here, and Arrak is truly the victim of the universe dealing him a bad hand.
Growing up on the Caitian homeworld, Arrak discovers he’s a natural telepath. However due to an earlier brain injury, he’s unable to tune out the thoughts of other people around him. To make things worse, Caitian society despises telepaths, to the point of ostracism and violence. Arrak gets some help, except he retains an emotional flaw which gives him away on multiple occasions – despite having years during which he could have practiced more self-control. Suspension of disbelief is necessary for this, because without this flaw, there’d be even less plot conflict.
Still, due to his situation it’s best if he immigrates to an established colony of fellow Caitians who’ve given up on their close-minded homeworld. A Caitian news article describes the colony as being populated by the “bizarre and perverted”, however Arrak “discovered that the colonists were basically people whose lifestyles clashed with the hidebound morals and prejudices of Caitian society”, such as openly gay couples. As a reader, I couldn’t help myself from thinking that the Chakonan settlement sounded more like an escapist utopia for furry fans than a haven for Caitian pariahs.
It’s not essential to have a working knowledge of Chakona Space to enjoy this story, although knowing a little in advance can bring out some extra details. (For example, I’m not sure if the story explicitly mentions that Caitians are a kind of feline.) Doesn’t matter; Doove is a very clear, descriptive writer and I never felt left out. Although between my first and second read-throughs, I went and refreshed my memory as to how he ranks the different levels of empathy and telepathy.
I found most of the story to be rather simplistic; well-written if slightly predictable. Although it didn’t do anything to change my attitudes towards Chakats, I enjoyed reading about a hidden layer within Caitian society, and the tale of Arrak’s tragic background.
There are some notable similarities between Doove’s Piece of Mind and Geusz’s Chosen People. Both involve people entering into a new line of work. Both protagonists show a slightly exagerrated lack of self-confidence, an angsty trope that’s fairly common in furry fiction. Both involve moving into a self-made, partially separate and idealized furry society. But while Doove’s story ends with an incredibly convenient and almost-perfect solution to the protagonist’s problem (if initially a bit awkward), Geusz’s story doesn’t have an easy fix to its underlying conflict. The Lapist society’s relationship with its larger, surrounding non-furry community still looms, and there’s no simple solution. It felt all the more realistic because of it.
Overall:
Five interesting story universes, five very different writing styles, all commendable and engaging in multiple ways, with my favorites definitely being the first three, especially Renee Carter Hall’s Huntress. Good long reads all around; I think the novella format really suits what the authors wanted to express. I don’t have any problems recommending this book as a whole; I really enjoyed the variety, and the positives definitely outweighed any of my quirky personal preferences. Definitely check it out!
(Disclosure: Watts Martin, one of the contributors to Five Fortunes, is Claw & Quill’s head editor.)
Nintendo Furs 24 Hour Gaming Marathon for Charity by Pedigree -- Fur Affinity [dot] net
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How many of you are in boyscouts? :3
Just made Life Scout. I'm currently at an Order Of The Arrow camp to get into brother hood.
submitted by Foxes281[link] [36 comments]
Guest post: “Subconscious Themes” by R. A. Meenan
by R. A. Meenan
Let’s start by looking back to the last English class you took… For some of you that’s way back in high school. For some it was a college level class. Some of you might actually be in an English class right now.
Now think of some of the things you did in that class. Chances are, if you analyzed any kind of literature, you looked into the subconscious mind of the author in order to better understand why he or she wrote the literature that they did.
For example, why did Shakespeare write Hamlet? Many people claim it’s because Shakespeare’s own son died young. Or why did Ray Bradbury write Fahrenheit 451? It’s a well known fact that Bradbury feared that technology would take over our way of life and become so ingrained in our culture that we would one day stop learning.
Literature classes often encourage looking into the author’s mind while analyzing their work. But what about our own work?
We often write themes that we didn’t intend. People who read our books or short stories will get things out of the writing that we never thought possible.
When you look a little deeper into it, those themes become obvious. But those are just themes. They are large overlaying elements to a story. They generally take huge chunks out of the story. It’s what the story is “about” if you will.
But what about smaller elements? What about story elements that pop up unexpectedly? How does your subconscious affect your writing?
I learned something about my writing the other day. Let me explain a little.
The other day I was listening to a song that talked about the fantasy of childhood and the reality of adulthood. One line of it really struck home because it spoke about fathers. It said,
“My father said…
Don’t you worry, don’t you worry child,
See heaven’s got a plan for you,
Don’t you worry, don’t you worry now…”
So on and so forth.
I don’t know how many of you know, but my father passed away when I was only 12. My mother, by choice, did not remarry, so I haven’t had much in the way of father figures.
As I daydreamed about the song (I often daydream stories and events from my novels or with my characters while I listen to music) I realized something… None of my major characters have much in the way of father figures either.
Six of my major and important characters without fathers. That’s a lot.
And it got me wondering. Did I do that on purpose? Is my subconscious trying to tell me something? Is this a way for my mind to cope with the fact that my father is dead?
I wasn’t sure, until I took it a step further. Two of those characters above (I’m not saying who) get their fathers back. Is that my mind telling me it wishes my father could come back?
I know I didn’t do that on purpose. My father died a long time ago. I don’t really think about it much, at least on the conscious level. It’s really interesting to see how my subconscious has played a role in my writing. And I know this isn’t the only example of such.
Do you have subconscious themes in your writing? Take a look at your own writing. Look at a novel, a short story, or whatever, and see if you can find your own subconscious working on elements in your story. This could be based on previous experiences, events in your childhood, your preference in writing or reading… all kinds of things.
Good luck!
This post first appeared at R. A. Meenan’s blog. You can see the original post here.
