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Remember the comic series Franklin and Ghost from last year? Well now from the same universe — and the busy busy mind of writer/creator Garrett Gunn — comes the new one-shot Warcorns: Combat Unicorns For Hire. Now there’s a title you’re gonna notice! Here’s what they say in Previews: “After having successfully evaded two complete dispatches of Retrieval Bots from Defilion, Franklin and Ghost are sent by their female accomplice, Delilah, to retrieve a rare weapon that is instrumental to the destruction of Defilion. Warcorns Special Forces Group Alpha is dispatched, at the behest of General Erich Badguey, to intercept Franklin and Ghost and return them to Defilion dead or alive.” Illustrated by Kevin Stokes and Nicolas Touris, Warcorns should be available at comic book stores and sites any time now.

image c. 2020 Source Point Press

Welcome to another interview with a member of the Furry Writers’ Guild! Before we get started we’re obviously discussing things that are NSFW today as we discuss erotica writing so readers be advised.

At the Furry Writers’ Guild, we’re not afraid of adult writing. Erotica can sell well anywhere, especially within the fandom, with some of our biggest anthologies produced every year being erotic in nature. However, not everyone is experienced in writing such spicy stories and might not know where to start or if they should at all.

While writing adult stories isn’t for everyone, we have some wonderful insights from those who may want to try from FWG member Gre7g Luterman. Gre7g recently won a 2019 Cóyotl Award for “Fair Trade” which is a safe for work novel set in the Hayven Celestia Universe. Today however, we sat down with Gre7g to discuss writing his debut erotic novel “Long Way Home” to discuss his adventures in the adult writing space.

Enough introductions, let’s get to the interview!

 

FWG: Let’s start at the beginning, tell the guild a little about yourself in case readers don’t know you.

Gre7g: All right. My name is Gre7g Luterman. I started writing in the late 70s. For a little while in the 90’s I was known for running a website called “The Temple of Luna” (I was huge into werewolves back then!) and then I made a chat site called “Wolfhome” which was popular in the early 2000s. Back in the 90’s, I wrote a novella that was moderately popular called “Ley Lines” and I wrote my first novel, “Monstrous Motives”. It was awful. I ran a couple writing contests out of the Temple.

Then in the mid-2000s, I wrote a serial novel called “Brick and Mortar” for the World of Warcraft fandom. In ’09, I moved to Alabama and wrote a trilogy of books based on Rick Griffin’s short story, “Ten Thousand Miles Up”.

The trilogy was really well received in the fandom and just recently, the third book in the trilogy, “Fair Trade”, was the first story to win all three of the fandom’s awards, the Ursa Major, the Coyotl, and the Leo Literary Award. I also wrote a SciFi murder mystery and an erotica in the same universe, and I helped Rick edit an anthology of short stories from various authors in the same universe.

FWG: Long Way Home was your first erotic novel correct? What inspired you to take the leap into writing erotic fiction when your previous works were all safe for work?

Gre7g: Well, I have written some erotic short stories previously. “Long Way Home” was just the first novel-length story.

So, anyhow, a couple years ago, my wife and I went out drinking in Chattanooga. I got very drunk and—those who have seen me drink at cons can verify—I’m a really loud drunk. So there I am, in this restaurant, boohoo-ing at the top of my lungs about how much effort I put into my stories, but no one ever gives them a chance because they’re not porn.

And Ky—who is eternally unphased by anything—just says, “So, write a porno.”

Then I spent like the next hour shouting about, “Okay, I will!” But I really didn’t want to do one of the “You’re not the usual pizza delivery guy!” Pornos that are so common in the fandom. I wanted the story to come first, to write a real adventure… that just happens to have a lot of graphic sex in it.

FWG: We’ve all heard “sex sells”. It’s a common message especially across the furry fandom that you ‘need’ to write erotica to get noticed. Seeing as how this was partially your motivation to write the novel be honest, has it sold better than your other books?

Gre7g: Yup. It has proven to be my best-seller. Not a real shocker, but a confirmation. But even before I wrote it, I had always told people that my evil plan to get a readership was to write a bunch of non-porn stories that I was super proud of, and THEN to write an erotica.

My thinking was that readers would be all, “Ooh, furry porn!” pick it up, love it, and then say, “What else has he written?” and then without even realizing that the others weren’t porn, they’d scoop them up and I’d sucker them into reading something more substantial.

FWG: In general has that been an effective strategy you might suggest to other authors who normally might not want to write erotic fiction?

Gre7g: It’s still a little early to say if that plan has worked out. Like I said, “Long Way Home” continues to be my best seller. But it can’t hurt, right?

What I do feel confident in saying is that there’s an old adage that everyone has a million bad words in them. Until you get those out of the way, you can’t get to all the good words to follow. So keep writing no matter what. Even if everyone hates the stories you’re writing now, it may just be that you’re still working through the bad words to get to the good ones.

FWG: So onto marketing the book itself, you’ve said Long Way Home is “too hot for amazon”. Is this just a marketing ploy or is there a story behind this? In general, what changes in marketing do you have to make when promoting Long Way Home instead of your other works?

Gre7g: Well, so there’s a funny thing about illustrations in erotic novels—they all tend to show what happens RIGHT BEFORE you get to the good stuff. You might see a furry undressing, or a butt, maybe the back of a boob, but certainly not the main event. Though, if you look at what gets posted on Twitter feeds and popular furry sites, it’s obvious what the fans really want to see.

So, when it came time for the illustrations, I asked Ky for the good stuff, the best moment of each erotic scene. Well, long story short, it turns out there’s a reason why erotica is illustrated the way it is. The text can be incredibly graphic, but as soon as the illustrations are too dirty, Amazon won’t sell it.

They, actually, sounded quite pissed in their e-mails. They locked my account, made me promise to never do it again, threatened to watch anything else I submitted to them with ADDITIONAL SCRUTINY.

Anyhow, I definitely didn’t want to waste all of Ky’s amazing artwork, so I decided not to change the art, not to add censor bars or anything, to have the books printed privately, and sell them through my website (https://gre7g.com/). True, I’m now missing out on Amazon’s amazing reach and how they cross-promote books, but oh well, the book remains intact and available for people to buy.

FWG: Independently selling your books isn’t a new thing for you by any means. Before the pandemic, you used to attend a lot of southeastern conventions. With so many publishers and distributors at those conventions, why did you choose to sell at your own booth? Are there advantages to doing so authors should be aware of?

Gre7g: Well, what I’ve found is that it’s nightmarishly hard to break into writing! It seems like there’s only a handful of authors with name recognition whose books will sell whether people have heard good things about them or not. The rest of us are left to squabble over the few readers who are willing to try an unknown. And INSIDE the fandom, instead of a handful of authors, it’s more like two.

If a book says “Ursula Vernon” or “Kyell Gold” on the cover for example, then it’s sure to sell great, but for anyone else, the book has to be actively promoted before it will sell.

Like you said, there’s a lot of publishers and book distributors going to cons that you can sell your books through, but if a dealer’s got books from two dozen different authors, how much is he going to promote yours? Will he even have read it?

Besides, conventions are one of the few times I EVER get to talk to readers and other aspiring authors. I love giving talks on the craft and blathering on to anyone who stops by my table. And I love getting feedback from fans. I want to know what worked and what didn’t so I can make my next story perfect.

Sadly, you don’t get a lot of feedback as a published author. Readers are moderately quick to leave comments on stories posted online, but as soon as it’s a printed book or an e-book, a lot more people read them than actually tell you what they thought!

FWG: So this is a way to get some reviews in a specific way, things like if your cover design is doing well, your sales pitch is solid, things like that?

Gre7g: No, it’s not anything quite so formal. The biggest thing about writing is finding a way to keep motivated. Writing a novel is a little like being a radio DJ. You’re out there, giving it your best shot, but your audience is way far away. You can’t hear them laugh, no matter how hilarious a joke you tell.

Same thing. I can write a book that brings the audience to tears, brings them to their feet and they cheer, but will I hear it? No. So, I’m just sitting there in my basement, typing away. I get a royalty check from Amazon every month, but does anyone actually like the stories? Why am I even doing this?

But you go to a con and there’s one single fan who runs up to the table all tongue-tied that wants to tell me about how much they love the story, and NOW I want to run home and write more. Yeah, sure, sometimes people will put that love out in an Amazon review, but it’s not even nearly the same as talking to someone in person. That recharges your batteries and makes you want to do it again.

FWG: You recently started a Patreon, how has that been going? Has it had a similar effect of allowing you to connect more directly with fans?

Gre7g: Yes! I love Patreon! You can find me at https://www.patreon.com/gre7g and I get that same feedback high there in spades! Initially, I was afraid to try it because I didn’t want to put myself in a position where I owed the subscribers stuff, but now that I’ve taken the plunge, instead of waiting to finish an entire novel, got it edited, illustrated, and published, I can just dash together a crazy idea for a scene and toss it up.

It can even be in a totally different universe or something strictly NON-canon, and that’s okay. I’m not breaking a rule of our universe because it’s just for fun and not published. Sometimes the readers love it and sometimes they don’t, but I get that feedback right away. I even let them suggest things that they’d like to see happen and I write that.

Oh sure, now I’m writing on a dozen different storylines and it could be ages before one turns into a completed book, but I’m having fun and I think my Patrons are too.

FWG: Especially as we’re discussing erotica a bit today, are you worried about how Patreon has been locking certain accounts of adult content posted not only on Patreon, but on other websites?

Gre7g: Yeah, that is frustrating! It doesn’t directly impact me since there’s often ways around it. If I, for example, write an erotic scene that I want to share with my readers, I can still make a Patreon post and include a link to my own website where I can host whatever I like. Then Patreon is still faultless and I’m taking responsibility for my own content.

But I’m not just a producer. I’m a consumer too. I love seeing things that creative make, regardless of whether it is G rated or X. I don’t want to see some politician or some investor impose an agenda that dries up the content I would have otherwise enjoyed.

FWG: So for our readers, especially as many are authors themselves, do you have any tips for any that want to try writing something on the erotic side for the first time? Anything to offer from your own experiences trying this as something newer?

Gre7g: Well, I suppose my advice would be to find an avenue where you can get that instant feedback, like I have on Patreon or that other authors are getting by posting their stuff on AO3, SoFurry, or the like. Whenever you’re going to try something new, get that feedback nice and early. Don’t worry about hiding it away so that people will have to buy it when it’s ready.

The worst thing that could happen is that you invest the zillion hours to write a whole novel and then for it to not sell because you’ve gone off in a direction that the readers aren’t into.

That was always a huge fear of mine when I first started writing, that someone would steal my story, or that they wouldn’t buy it because they’ve already read it for free on the internet. But money isn’t the end-all-be-all and there’s always more readers out there. Your priority as a writer is to keep that motivation going so that you enjoy creating and so that you keep creating.

FWG: That about wraps up the general discussion, do you have any upcoming projects you’d like to tell folks about? Anything in general you want to promote?

Gre7g: I don’t actually know what my next book will be at this point! I’ve got about a third of a murder mystery written and a chunk of a new Kanti book and various chapters of other stories.

I’m excited about all of them and I love how readers seem excited but I’m still kinda poking at each to see which will catch fire. You know that wonderful sensation when a book catches fire and you can’t wait to finish work each day so you can spend a few hours giving it some love?

None of them are quite there just yet, but when one does, I’ll be on it. For those that want to keep an eye on my progress, Patreon is 100% the best way to do it. Not only can you see what I’m messing with for a measly $1/month, but you can suggest and give me feedback on what you think too. I love talking about it and anything that helps me connect to the readers (or other authors) is great.

We want to thank Gre7g once again for sitting down to talk with us. You can find him on Twitter and his works on his website. We hope this interview helped provide some insights on writing and marketing your erotic works. Until next time, may your words flow like water.

七月轉眼間接近尾聲了，這也代表著我們的夏日祭典活動已經過了一半囉！在七月的最後幾天，皓然要為各位帶來的是由繪師Arvie所繪製的作品：Coconut Juice。

在熱到不行的夏日中，來上一杯現剖的椰子汁，享受那清爽解渴的感覺，真是讓皓然我嚮往萬分啊！就讓我們一起來欣賞Arvie的作品吧！

作者：Arvie，https://twitter.com/Red_Arvie

作品名稱：Coconut Juice

Resources, Social Media & Donation Links

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It's not often I get to chat with gun enthusiasts let alone black ones and Crassus doesn't disappoint with his enthusiasm delving into the topic. We share our opinions about the state of the union and why people should be considering suiting up as well as the way news outlets spin a story to make reality fit a false narrative. 

Crassus is new to the fandom, and officially joined earlier this year. Even in his short time he's seen casual racism from white furries showing just how prevalent it is. Outside the fandom we share experiences of discrimination on a broad scale. 
 
If you want to listen to BIPOC voices this is the one to listen to! Thanks for listening.

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Interview With Crassus - Guns, Birds, & Racist Furries

WHAT MAKES A WITCH by Linnea Capps follows a rat named Greer who is down on his luck and living (barely) on the streets. He eventually finds his way to a forest and the welcoming arms of an exiled witch named Addison. Both have their secrets which are eventually revealed as Greer observes and experiences a world he didn’t know was there before: a world of magic. The one caveat to this is that magic is only available to females in this world. Mostly. This riveting story starts off a little slow as the characters and world are introduced but quickly picks up with the introduction of Addison and her personable accent. Her accent along with her mannerisms make for a vivid character that you could nearly see standing before you, cane and all. Addison is easily one of the highlights of this story and sends the plot speeding along right from her introduction. The way that transgender themes are woven in and expressed are relatable and interesting, regardless of the reader’s specific circumstances. It’s almost as if the reader is going on Greer’s journey with them, discovering their identity and the magic inherent in the world. This is the true strength of this story. WHAT MAKES A WITCH depicts an impressive journey of figuring out complex emotions and finding one’s place in the world. The characters are expressive, and you can almost cheer for them as they navigate through difficult situations. Though the intro can be dense, I urge you to wade through it and get to the juicy middle of the story. It’s delectable and well worth the read. For me it’s 4 paws out of 5.

It's time! The end of the season! Roo, Tugs, and Nuka get together to discuss how the season went and tease some developments for FWIW Season 9!


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MUSIC

Opening Theme: RetroSpecter – Cloud Fields (RetroSpecter Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2018. ©2011-2018 Fur What It’s Worth. Based on Fredrik Miller – Cloud Fields (Century Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Space News Music: Fredrik Miller – Orbit. USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Patreon - The Tudor Consort, Inflammatus, Creative Commons, 2010
Closing Theme: RetroSpecter – Cloud Fields (RetroSpecter Chill Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2018. ©2011-2018 Fur What It’s Worth. Based on Fredrik Miller – Cloud Fields (Chill Out Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!) S8 Episode 28: Finale - It's time! The end of the season! Roo, Tugs, and Nuka get together to discuss how the season went and tease some developments for FWIW Season 9! NOW LISTEN! SHOW NOTES SPECIAL THANKS - Timid Grizzly Kit - PATREON LOVE

Hairy Horny Freedom

Media was different in the 1980’s. There was a TV channel just for music videos. Furry fans got their fix from Saturday morning cartoons or cult films on VHS. Smartphones, Twitter and Facebook didn’t exist. Sharing a meme could need paper mail or a fax.

On MTV, there were lots of metal videos with men who acted macho but looked like hot women. Think: bikers in mascara who switched meth for hairspray. They sang about love over widdly-diddly guitar wizard pyrotechnics. (They were rockin’ like Dokken.) There was an arms race to be the most Glam until Grunge bands stole their place. But first, they were challenged by disco DJ music, minus the hair farming and augmented by rapping and controversy.

In Miami, a club scene rose up that thrilled crowds with rappers doing porn lyrics. Horny young people loved it. The rappers were a few young guys in the Air Force with a music hobby named 2 Live Crew. A recent rap history podcast (Mogul) tells the story of how their song “Me So Horny” went huge even without MTV. It helped rap cross from black to white people, and also pissed off a lot of them.

Think Of the Children

In a similar way, heavy metal started raising record sales with more sex and Satan. And while black music rose to share the limelight, they all had an enemy in common: fossilized moralizers who wanted to make a name for themselves. It was a little like how callouts work on social media, except for political votes instead of “likes”. Instead of mobs demanding apologies, there were powermongers using concerned parents (the Karens of their day) to keep society whiter, straighter, and more full of jesus instead of fun.

While some of the media pushed free expression, artists had fascist conformists trying to ruin their careers, and even getting people arrested for dumb reasons. 2 Live Crew faced obscenity trials. Rappers N.W.A. were targeted for their political message in “Fuck the Police”. So was punk rocker Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys, who beat obscenity charges while mocking the moral manipulators. (A few years ago, Jello hung out with furries when he DJ’d their party.)

It wasn’t just about music. Government attacks on free expression hit art museums and libraries. Conservatives targeted TV shows. “Satanic Panic” lead to horribly injust prosecutions. Fans and nerds of the time were even under fire for Dungeons & Dragons and adult comics. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was founded to win a First Amendment fight that started with a 1986 bust for selling the erotic furry comic Omaha The Cat Dancer.

For as long as furries have been around, they’ve been derided for weird kinks even if they don’t hurt anyone. In a way they’re on the same side with rappers and rockers who opposed freedom haters. (However I doubt most of these people would have sold out for real fascism, unlike dishonest furry shock jock 2 Gryphon who would falsely claim to be like them after killing his own career.)

Trouble Within

Even today, fandoms have occasional conformist prudes, led by grifter Gryphon types. Opposing them has worked pretty well in furry fandom — although the design of social media itself now makes a worry about going past supporting oppressed people, to supporting censorious puritanism itself.

• Dogpatch Press — Fight the Beigists! Furries defend the National Fun Reserve.
• Worst Year Ever — How The Furries Fought The Nazis and Won
• Medium — The New Moral Majority, Same As The Old Moral Majority: On the allure of censorship

The old culture war has new battlefields. When social media pits people against each other, circular firing squads raise traffic and the arms dealers profit. In other words, the owners of Twitter/Facebook/etc win even from friendly fire. It’s a sign of how much power has consolidated. That’s a topic for another time, but let’s look back at a simpler time, and a forgotten incident of 1990’s Karenism.

For the first time, you can see how a “think-of-the-children” mindset did big damage to the first furry con!

Snitch Faxes From the Moral Police

1989: 2 Live Crew was targeted by ultraconservative crusader Jack Thompson. He faxed lyrics of their album As Nasty As They Wanna Be to 67 Florida Sheriffs. (The story is at 20:00 on the Mogul podcast.) A judge ruled the music was obscene, so the musicians sued the police to have it proven free speech. In court they played hardcore porn as evidence… and then they couldn’t ask the audience to stand up. Sex won.

1999: Confurence 10 was days away when the staff got a fax preventing the con from selling anything pornographic. It caught the hotel and staff by surprise, because the hotel itself was selling Playboy magazines in the gift shop. The prohibition fell under the liquor license that covered the entire facility. But the complaint wasn’t due to drinking problems. It was against all furries.

(Record unearthed by Changa Lion, archivist at ConFurence.com):

The key page after the liquor policies.

Can’t Stop Us

Wow, that’s a find with artists who are still active and popular now, and threats to warn churches about them. (God was out of lightning bolts.) Here’s the vintage 90’s Furnation porn that shocked the poor churchmouse, by Max Blackrabbit (NSFW). Spoiler: it’s just drawings. We were promised worse. Report abuse if it does exist, but an entire adult industry with real humans makes this tame.

• Welcome, Furverts!
• “Enter at the back”

It made me wonder if the fax was an internal complaint or did a non-furry send it? What affect did it have?

Changa Lion said it came from an outsider close to an insider. (Details have to stay private, but there’s a reason for the history I wrote!) And:

This came in right before the con and essentially at the last minute we were not allowed to have any porn visible. The Town and Country was a resort, so the license covered the entire property. They had had problems in the past with losing their license so they were very nervous. Stuff came in for the art show that couldn’t be put up. One artist had a pair of jeans up on his panel with a note that read something like “I got here and this is all I can display”. This was the first time I ever saw very creative use of post it notes in a furry dealers room.

This was one of those problems that contributed to Mark [co-founder] to throw up his hands and walk away from the con. The loss of staff caused by moving con 100 miles south and drop in attendance from the move were the major reasons, but I expect this didn’t help.

That’s pointlessly annoying sabotage, because there’s more cons than ever now. Smart people would stop trying… wouldn’t they? But then there’s the nazifurs.

Notice that they attack people who just dress weird, because these losers don’t care about kids or improving cons. They want power and hate when gays are visible. The problem is allowing them in cons to do sabotage. But from the 1990’s to now, nobody stopped drawing, cons shot up in attendance, and consenting adults are still having sex. In the future we can just look back at them as more silly fossils, like they are right now.

Thanks to Changa Lion for his archiving and go watch The Fandom documentary for much more history.

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

经过许多惊天动地的兽展之后，南非展South Afrifur当然也不能落后了。他们自发组织了Fursaverance（本地网展），并为慈善事业筹集了不少资金。

点击此，读中文报道 Hello there, and welcome to July’s episode of Digging Up Positivity. This month we will cover some amazing members of our community, lovely videos, and our featurette is a wonderful artist from Berlin known for her outstanding artwork for individuals and companies alike. Fursaverance Following many amazing conventions, South Afrifur could not be left […]

日頭赤炎炎！炎熱的夏日就是要來上一根冰涼的冰棒消暑！今天我們要為各位帶來的，是由白極所繪製的《小巷》。皓然嘴裡咬著一根西瓜冰棒，在小巷中飛快地穿梭，後面緊跟著不久前才被搶走冰棒的白極。

就讓我們一起來欣賞白極所帶來的作品吧！

作者：白極

作品名稱：小巷

So furry fans (and many others) have been going crazy lately creating new art in celebration of Spyro the Dragon — new art of many sorts, of course. Well if they need some more inspiration, they could do a lot worse than The Art of Spyro: Reignited Trilogy, new from Blizzard Entertainment. “In 2018 Toys for Bob Studios thrilled fans worldwide by releasing Spyro Reignited Trilogy, a faithful remaster encompassing all three titles from the beloved Spyro trilogy introduced in 1998. The Art of Spyro is a meticulously crafted compendium filled with in-depth behind-the-scenes content, insightful quotes from top illustrators in the industry, anecdotes from the game developers, and a dazzling assortment of incredible concept art, some of which has never been seen by the public. It is a must-have for art lovers, gamers, fans… and the fun-loving adventurer in all of us.”  Compiled by writer Micky Neilson (Pearl of Pandaria), The Art of Spyro book is available now in hardcover.

image c. 2020 Blizzard Entertainment

I don’t feel so grape.

FurCast is sponsored by Twin Tail Creations. Use coupon codes REDWOLF or BLUEFOX to save 20% on silicone products during checkout. Free FurCast Themed Colorations are also available which can be applied as a color choice to your toy purchase.

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Link Roundup:

• Paradox’s interview with Hiyu about VirtualFurence VRChat designs
  • Hiyu’s Related Tweet
  • VirtualFurence Trailer
• Tutorial from Zebra North, Voxian and Jesse Pup on taur avatars in VRChat
• Virtual Anthrocon’s fursuit dance competition is posted
• Anthrocon’s A/V team got their hands on a LIDAR scanner
• BLFC rescheduled
• KFC testing lab grown chicken nuggets
• Telegram has photo editing features
• Whitehouse thinks Paw Patrol is canceled
  • Tweet 1
  • Tweet 2
  • Tweet 3
  • Tweet 4
• Minute Earth’s video on why people don’t like hyenas

News:

• Man Steals Massive Dong

[Live] Raisin The Steaks

This week: The Army retreats, Twitter plans to implode, bi men confirmed to exist, and we discuss "The Last Bronycon: A Fandom Autopsy". LINKS Said youtube video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fVOF2PiHnc Behind The Bastards Pat Tillman episode:   https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/the-bastards-who-killed-pat-tillman-68845749

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Southpawscast

Episode 470 - Fear Of A Bi Planet - This week: The Army retreats, Twitter plans to implode, bi men confirmed to exist, and we discuss "The Last Bronycon: A Fandom Autopsy".LINKSSaid youtube video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fVOF2PiHncBehind The Bas

MOOBARKFLUFF! Click here to send us a comment or message about the show!

This week we visit with furry author and artist Rukis. We hear a few jokes, and learn about prime numbers (no they are not numbers you get from Amazon Prime!).  Join us for our weekly furcast!

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Thanks to all our listeners and to our staff: Bearly Normal, Rayne Raccoon, Taebyn, Cheetaro, TickTock, and Ziggy the Meme Weasel.

You can send us a message on Telegram at BFFT Chat, or via email at: bearlyfurcasting@gmail.com

Bearly Furcasting #13 - Special Guest Rukis, bad jokes, and Math

Woo, here’s a complicated set-up! Listen to the pitch for Hyperbreed, a new full-color science fiction comic from Storm King Productions: “Byrr, Fext and Cammo: Hyperbreed human-animal ‘splices’. They’ve been given a cushy assignment: Board an ancient freighter, transport valuable Explosive Ore to a mining colony, and earn a large delivery bonus. But when they drop out of spacefold, Mak pirates — robot monsters wearing the body parts of vanquished enemies — attack. Fighting against cruel odds, with Mak Yik crystals infesting their ship, our heroes begin to suspect that their lucky break is really a setup for annihilation.” Written by Louise Simonson and illustrated by Guy Dorian, the whole series is overseen by horror great John Carpenter. Issues are available now.

image c. 2020 Storm King Productions

Welcome to another interview with a member of the Furry Writers’ Guild! Recently, Bound Tales released an anthology called Sensory De-Tails. Before we go any further this is an adult anthology that is most certainly NSFW that we will be discussing today. However, it’s not simply the adult nature that makes this anthology one worth exploring.

Bound Tales offers a deluxe edition of the anthology which includes things like cologne samples, faux fur, and a music CD. The idea is to allow readers to interact with the stories presented in the anthology. Today we’ll be talking to the editor of Sensory De-Tails, Thurston Howl, to discuss multimedia fiction ad how the anthology came to be. He has edited works like The Electric Sewer, Infurno, and more. He’s also made several anthology appearances including some in ROAR, FANG, and HEAT.

Enough with the introductions, let’s get to the interview!

FWG: First for the folks that might not know you, tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing.

Howl: Sure! So, I’m Thurston Howl. I’m an editor for Sinister Stoat Publications and the lead anthology editor for Thurston Howl Publications. I founded the Furry Book Review program and have received both Leo Literary Awards and Ursa Major Awards for my writing. I typically work in erotic horror, both inside and outside the fandom. I’ve been a judge for the Silver Falchion Award and the Claymore Award, both horror awards in the Killer Nashville program. Personally, I am a bigender person living with HIV and work with a lot of activism regarding that.

FWG: What inspired you to make an anthology like Sensory DeTails?

Howl: So, before Sensory De-Tails, I’d edited a lot of furry anthologies. What bothered me very often, even with big-name furry writers, was that canines couldn’t hear someone turning the corner up ahead. A feline couldn’t smell musk until they were right up against a body. A snake didn’t have any taste buds different from the canine or feline. And for me, it wasn’t a matter of “accurate” biological representation. It was about untapped potential.

In non-furry erotica, sensory details are great for immersion in sex scenes. In furry erotica, usually not much had changed despite heightened senses. So, I started the anthology as an exercise for furry writers and readers. Show off furry senses in unique and erotic ways.

FWG: So when was it that you came up with the idea to add an interactive element to the anthology? Where did the idea come from?

Howl: Well, it’s not the first time I’ve gone for something interactive. 12 Days of Yiffmas had an erotic holiday music album to accompany it, for example. The stories in Sensory De-Tails begged for an interactive component. When Al Song describes how erotic a classical piece of music is, you kind of have to hear it to believe it. When Linnea describes why you’d want to rim a beaver, well, we need to taste that, too. It just seemed totally natural to do.

FWG: Since you obviously have a well storied writing career, pun somewhat intended, you’ve edited quite a few anthologies over the years. From what you have seen, have multimedia anthologies, or multimedia fiction in general, gotten more interest from audiences? Sold more? Generated more interest?

Howl: It’s a hard question to answer. About a year ago, I wrote a blog post about how anthologies generally don’t do well. Period. Talking with other publishers, that seems to be the standard (though each of our definitions of “well” might vary). I can’t say that multimedia anthologies have done any better sales-wise. But when they are read and reviewed, people always comment on how enjoyable those components are and how they really make the reading a full experience.

FWG: So in general, the audience benefits, and that gets more people possibly interested in furry lit?

Howl: Perhaps. I don’t think I went about the anthology explicitly trying to get more people interested in furry lit. But I think that’s part of the drive for producing anthologies in general.

FWG: Let’s take a look then at how making a multimedia anthology works then. Other than picking the stories, formatting, and things seen in typical anthologies, what kinds of challenges were there in getting the deluxe edition out there?

Howl: For scents, I worked with Shoji Tiger. They work with making colognes already as a small hobby business. I had them read the stories, and they crafted scents based on the way that smell appears in those stories. One was easy, a very sweet smell. The other was a bit tougher, “muskier.” That one took a lot of trial and error.

For sounds, I just had to make a CD featuring classical songs related to the stories. Not as bad.

For sight, an artist read the stories and focused on the ways colors mattered in them, making colored art prints based on them.

For touch, I went to a hobby store to pick up textured fabrics, faux furs, and leathers in order to match the featured species of those stories. A bit tough to get it just right, but I think it’s at a good point now.

For taste, I actually had a barista turn flavor profiles from those stories into latte recipes! They taste great.

FWG: So if another editor, publisher, maybe even a self publisher, wanted to add interactive elements to their book, what suggestions might you have for them?

Howl: For starters, I’d say only do it if you want to for non-financial reasons. I’ve seen too often people pay for exquisite art, bookmarks, posters, etc. for their book, and it sell under ten copies, and they’ve been devastated. If you want to do interactive stuff, do it because it’s just fun for you. And because you want those ten people to have a good time.

FWG: Do you think there’s any smaller ways individual authors might be able to make their own stories interactive? Like a playlist to go with their story or something similar?

Howl: For sure! Playlists are one easy way (we did that with Electric Sewer). Little recipes, too. If your story has a world-building element, throw in a “Which Nation Would You Be From?” quiz. If you ship your own works, add little things like stickers, textures, Valentine’s Day cards from the characters, etc. There are so many options, and they largely depend on what kind of story you’re telling. But by all means, go for it. A little goes a long way!

FWG: Before we wrap up on things, any last bits of general advice to writers, editors, and publishers out there?

Howl: Be safe. Be well. Keep fighting against oppression. Keep being creative.

We hope you enjoyed our interview with Thurston Howl and learned a bit about multimedia fiction in the process! In lieu of our usual social media promotion for those interviewed, Thurston requested that we ask readers to check out Difursity.  It’s an anthology that features stories written only by furries of color, many of which are FWG members. That’s all we have for you today so until next time, may your words flow like water.

夏天到了當然就是要去海邊涼快一下啦！今天要為各位帶來的，是由死兔所繪製的《海灘的大貓》。在炎熱的夏日中，穿上清涼的海灘褲坐在沙灘上吹著舒服的海風，也可說是獸生中的一大享受呢！

就讓我們一起欣賞死兔的精美作品吧！

作者：死兔

作品名稱：海灘的大貓

And more new series we’re finding out about thanks to Animation Scoop: “Joining the HBO Max lineup this Thursday July 23rd is the new Cartoon Network-produced animated series Tig n’ Seek. It’s about an eight-year-old boy, a cat, and their quirky co-workers at the Department of Lost & Found. Myke Chilian not only provides the fun as show creator, but also as the voice of the main character, Tiggy.” Along with an interview with Mr. Chilian, check out the preview video in the article — this is definitely one strange pup, er, kitty!

image c. 2020 HBO Max

Loggerhead is a new apocalyptic monster comic by Bryan Silverbax. “The world as we knew it changed after the last of the great wars leaving a large portion of North America a dead wasteland. It’s in that wasteland that tales of a monster only known as Loggerhead exist. Within this wasteland valuable elements and minerals have been unearthed creating a hotbed of illegal mining and overrun with scavengers. When some children find themselves endangered while witnessing an illegal scavenger mineral hunt, a protector rises from the murky depths of the wasteland to exact retribution.” Issues (and other merch!) are available now from Scout Comics. There’s a preview video up on YouTube also.

image c. 2020 Scout Comics