Feed aggregator

Have you heard about Dogs Are People Too: A Collection of Cartoons to Make Your Tail Wag? We hadn’t! It’s a collection of full-color dog cartoons (duh) the syndicated panel-comic Speed Bump that writer and artist Dave Coverly published a while ago in book form. Well now, perhaps to give equal time, he has brought us Cats Are People Too: A Collection of Cat Cartoons to Curl Up With. Published under the Square Fish imprint, you can check out a preview over at MacMillan Publishing. Both books should be available now.

image c. 2020 Square Fish

 Content warning for discussion of predatory behavior in the fighting game community. 

We crawled out of our pits of despair to record this week. The bronies are at it again, Texas realizes they've really screwed us, furries of color are going to make a convention of their own and that's a cool good thing, and me too comes to the gaming world again.

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

Episode 467 - Pony Struggle Session -  Content warning for discussion of predatory behavior in the fighting game community.  We crawled out of our pits of despair to record this week. The bronies are at it again, Texas realizes they've really screwed us,

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

No guest this week but we have a great time talking about various subjects and Taebyn has a laughing fit during storytime! Tune in and have a laugh with us!

Support the show

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 #10 - Our 10th Episode! Independence Day!

Be sure to see Alkali Friday doing standup on Anthrocon Online! Podcast #230 - The Earl Of Bradsbury - Be sure to see Alkali Friday doing standup on Ant…

夏日祭典活動開跑啦！從今天開始，我們將每三天發表一幅繪師們精采的作品，讓各位獸們在炎熱的夏天中大飽眼福，享受夏日的美好！

在祭典開催的第一天，首先要為各位帶來的是由刺刺所繪製的作品，《夕陽下的夏季》！

作者：刺刺
作品名稱：夕陽下的夏季

Premiering JULY 3, 2020 at thefandomfilm.com.

When the media shows furries, do they get it right?

It’s a constant furry worry. In 2017 it was announced that CNN was making a show about them. Backlash rose about sensationalism, but few critics gave a fair shake to the producers of This Is Life with Lisa Ling. Then it came out and it was “a flat-out advocacy piece on behalf of Furry“, said Joe Strike, a fan since the 1980’s who wrote a book that covers the subculture’s run-ins with bad media.

Joe Strike’s Furry Nation is the essential fandom history book.

Positive response didn’t satisfy every critic. Some asked why the 3 fans featured by CNN didn’t include more diverse people. But the show (with an asian-american woman journalist) got backlash while asking volunteers to raise their paws and be counted. That seems like damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

In answer to this, The Fandom is a documentary made by the fans. It features outstanding writers (like Joe), artists, animators, musicians, costume designers, event organizers and founders. It celebrates the roots with pro quality and appeal for outsiders who might not have given a fair look before.

For decades this subculture has thrived despite adversity. Bad media is one kind, but not the only kind. Some is internal. Some is homophobic. Some is happening right now with this screwy year. There’s even a villain to tell you about.

$10 million worth of trouble

Anthrocon is the 2nd largest furry convention, led by Uncle Kage (Dr. Sam Conway), the longstanding CEO and fandom public relations figure. It was due to bring $9.9 million to Pittsburgh’s economy in 2020. Now it’s among 70 furry cons canceled by COVID-19. The movie is launching anyways on the con’s dates, without opportunities that could have won distribution. (No film fests either.)

In the parallel universe where COVID-19 never materialized, parallel me is at this very minute climbing into a van with my parallel crew, headed to parallel Pittsburgh.

— Uncle Kage (@Unclekage) June 30, 2020

That makes this all-crowdfunded movie even more special and timely.

Time marches on, founders die or get forgotten, and it gets more important to share their stories of how a fandom got its identity. One of them, Mark Merlino, co-founded ConFurence as the first furry con. Imagine seeing one con rise to hundreds! He talks about branching out from other fandoms: “They couldn’t tell what to make of us” (because it’s not based on just one genre or property like Star Wars).

Mark and others define the nature of the beast. Each thread starts with archival sources, then ties them together with current fan interviews.

The story

• Zines: 1970’s-80’s fans started with APA zines where they could see and be seen. Mail was like “slow motion internet” where a reply could take a month. Furry Library curator Summercat talks about it. (More: Unearthing a cool fossil — A 1980’s letter shows furry fandom before the net.)
• Conventions: Mark Merlino and his partner Rod talk about meeting each other as fans, and how many felt alone until they met each other and saw “you draw like this too?” Meetings became parties, clubs, and ConFurence. (More: A brief history of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization, America’s first anime fan club.)
• Internet: Early BBS and MUCK activity brought furries together before the Web, making them one of the first subcultures to rise with it.
• Queering: For artists, using characters as ideal selves helped develop freedom to come out with role play, and band together in their own space.
• Growth: Over time these threads merged into a movement. Artists make a living from it. There’s a new wave of fans turning the old con masquerade into up-close raging dances. Bubbles, the manager of five cons, talks about being one of just a few women among all the leaders.
• Controversy: Growth and freedom pushes limits, and leaders face hard questions. They say sex is something any humans do. The first fursuiter was kinky and gets compared to pin-up art that’s normal to comic fans. Joe Strike talks about bad media and Uncle Kage talks about the challenge of answering it.

It’s not so much a narrative with stakes and a payoff but it does lead up to a conflict.

The villain

Media relations make Uncle Kage bemusedly address rumors of furry cons being “like a Pride fest on acid”.

Kage isn’t the villain, unlike in some media that have painted him like a “family values” propagandist. You can really empathize with his viewpoint when he asks if you’d like to step in front of a camera and answer sex questions while your grandma watches.

You might miss one of the movie’s most key moments if you don’t think about it. A 1990’s group bent on purifying the fandom is featured: the Burned Furs.

In old video, Burned Fur Eric Blumrich says: “I’m not asking people to behave differently than general society, I’m asking them to behave LIKE people in general society.”

His long-gone group isn’t the villain, though. It’s not publicity-hungry media, or even bigoted judgement. The villain is part of a conflict about losing identity:

UwU

— U.S. Army Esports (@USArmyesports) June 30, 2020

That’s a verified brand and a US Army recruiting project using furry fanspeak. Imagine recruiters setting up shop in a con dealer den and making predatory pitches. That’s hyperbole, but it helps show the villain lurking on the edges of The Fandom. It’s conformity.

CONCLUSION

I keep an eye out for all media about furries, and often call the Furry 101 kind boring. The Fandom raises the bar by giving an intimate tour with quality and heart. It’s 95% positive celebration.

Documentaries can show more drama or criticism or bad sides than this really does. But how much negativity do you need in these times? Not to say that this documentary has no opinion — it’s strong advocacy.

The strength in The Fandom comes in context of past fighting about things that come out gently now. They’re natural roots here. In the very beginning it points out that furry fans are heavily LGBT. That developed during the AIDS crisis, and they faced internal member homophobia. But times changed. Elders in the movie are often cis white males, but it also features POC, female and trans members from a newer wave of fans. Publicity about the movie points out the all-LGBT crew, and the director, Ash, is reinventing a career after transitioning and feeling distanced from the industry.

Sex isn’t ignored and that brings up a funny thing. For a few seconds, a vintage 1990’s video lingers on Uncle Kage’s badge and a certain fursona name. It’s like a “dogwhistle” only furries will notice.

The Fandom is recommended to show your friends or family or have a furry movie party. It makes the history time-capsule-worthy. They got it right.

• See it on July 3: thefandomfilm.com
• Papermag.com: This Doc Answers All Your Questions About Furries
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: New documentary ‘The Fandom’ chronicles history of furry nation
• Fuzzball Storytime: “The Fandom” A Documentary About Love and Acceptance

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? Share news on these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for anything — or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here.

在这个月里，由于新冠病毒继续发展，来自美洲、欧洲和亚洲的12个兽展被取消并推迟到明年。

　　

亨嘉家的控肉飯。圖/肯尼提供

由繪師肯尼與其家人共同籌畫的小吃店「亨嘉家」即將於7/6至7/8在台中大肚區試營運！根據肯尼的說法，亨嘉家是一間專門提供臺式料理的小吃店，主打餐點為國民美食爌肉飯、滷肉飯以及燉湯。除了主打的幾樣菜色以外，亨嘉家也提供了多樣化的小菜，供想要換換口味的消費者們享用。

燉湯。圖/肯尼提供

人參雞燉湯。圖/肯尼提供

多樣化的小菜。圖/肯尼提供

　　餐點美味之外，亨嘉家的整體裝潢也相當明亮清新，採用了藍色與白色作為餐廳的主色調，提供給消費者明亮、寬敞的用餐空間。喜歡肯尼或是喜歡國民美食的獸友們，不妨在亨嘉家試營運時前去捧場喔！

亨嘉家的櫃台裝潢。圖/肯尼提供

營業資訊

營業時間：周一至周六，11:00-14:00、16:30-20:00

地址：臺中市大肚區平和街58號

電話：0965-132-585

粉專：https://www.facebook.com/%E4%BA%A8%E5%98%89%E5%AE%B6-106559887767862

亨嘉家的菜單。圖/肯尼提供

Hello there FWG members, it’s time for another monthly newsletter! We’ve got a good bit of news for you this month, so let’s hop right into it!

First we’ll be streaming the Cóyotl Awards Ceremony on July 8th at 8 PM CST! We know you’ve all been waiting, but we’ve finally managed to get all of our things together for our trophies and managed to get safe shipping set up. We’ll be streaming live from our Twitter account via Periscope, so keep an eye out there for the stream. 

Second, we would like to give a warm welcome to our newest guild officer: Moonraiser! They will be taking over as Markets Manager. If you know of a furry market that should be listed in our Furry Writers’ Market contact them and we’ll get it added.

Don’t forget we have a wonderful beta reading program taking place on our Discord. This month @KILL!Roy beta read the most stories! We had 15+ reads officially documented through the program this month and we hope next month we can have even more.

Last month was Pride Month so we featured several FWG members all across the LGBT+ community. We encourage you to check these out to not only learn more about your fellow guild members, but to learn a bit about how various identities can affect writing.

• Al Song 
• Dan Leinir Turthra Jensen
• Hugo Jackson
• Madison “Makyo” Scott-Clary
• Herr Wozzeck

We would like to remind everyone once more about our Microfiction Monday initiative. Any writer, non-members included, that can write a Tweet sized story has the opportunity to have it featured on our Twitter! You can learn more about the program and how to submit here. We almost ran out of submissions this month, so any stories that get sent in will almost certainly be featured! Take this opportunity to try a writing challenge and get a shoutout.

—

Last month we accidentally missed a few titles that was released and wanted to fix that! Anyone publishers or writers, with books going out should email us at furwritersguild@gmail.com with any books that are coming out to help us not miss any titles. This includes any self published work! With this in mind, the books we missed include:

• Ninja Wolf Saizo by Saber Grey
• Kawokee by Reid Minnich & Stacy Bender
• The Right to Belong by Reid Minnich & Stacy Bender
• Bad Sushi and Other Tales by Reid Minnich & Stacy Bender
• I, the Tribunal by P.C. Hatter
• My Claws are Quick by P.C. Hatter 
• Retribution is Mine by P.C. Hatter

We also have some other new releases from this month! Be sure to check these out:

• Electric Sewer edited by Thurston Howl
• Sensory De-Tails edited by Thurston Howl

—

Part of our website update was making our Furry Writers’ Market better than ever before! You can find all of open markets for furry writing we can track down here: https://furrywritersguild.com/furry-writers-market/

Currently, these anthology markets are open:

• The Furry Gameshow Network (Deadline: July 10, 2020)
• Leave The Lights On (Deadline: July 20, 2020)
• Dread Volume 2. (Deadline: August 7, 2020)
• Swept Under the Fur Rug (Deadline: October 1st, 2020)
• 1921: Furries In Fedoras (Deadline: October 31, 2020)
• Dogbumps Academy of Wayward Wixards (Deadline: November 1st, 2020)
• Reclamation Project: Year Two (Deadline: October 31, 2020)
• Electric Sewer 2: Boogie Nights (Deadline: December 1, 2020)
• The Howling Dead (Deadline: December 15th, 2020)
• iPawd – A Furry Music Anthology (Deadline January 10th, 2021)

Consider checking out our page for details and writing up a story for one of these awesome anthologies!

—

One last thing before I sign off for the month. We said it on Twitter but I’ll say it here once more: Black Lives Matter. The Furry Writers’ Guild stands in support of all of our Black members as well as any other members of marginalized groups within our ranks. We always want our members to feel safe and to do our best to uplift their voices. If there’s anything the guild could be doing better in this regard, please get in contact with me right away: it’s a top priority. Until next month, may your words flow like water.

– FWG President Linnea “LiteralGrill” Capps

Furries are getting younger. Well we mean, the fandom is getting younger. In two studies conducted in 2011 and 2020, the fandom’s median age has gotten younger. That said, more minors – people under 18 – are joining the furry fandom. Demand for SFW-only spaces steadily rose. The “fluffies”, or “fluffy fandom” came to prominence […]

Chinese article – 点击这里查看中文报道 This month, 12 furcons from the Americas, Europe and Asia reported cancellations and postponements to next year, as the coronavirus continues to develop. In the Americas, Canfurence, Golden State Fur Con, Denfur, Furrydelphia, Western PA Furry Weekend, Furry Migration, Furvana are canceled. The same goes to Rusfurence, Furcation and Golden Leaves […]

// Follow Viogoat (Sound Engineer) // Follow Hy // BLM Resources // BIPOC Telegram Chat // Support The Show // BLM Resources Furry Group // BIPOC Furry Discord //

June 12th 2020 I got to sit down with Hy and it was tons of fun! We got into all kinds of topics from dragons fucking cars, police brutality to Chipotle burritos. Don't forget to pay your respects to the Pulse Nightclub, that on the day of this recording, was shot up by a man who shall not be named.

JUSTICE FOR BREONNA TAYLOR!

Thank you for listening.

Support the show

Pre-Season - Interview with Hy (Crocuta Mane)

Seems as if we’re never far away from a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles project. We just found this article: “Deadline has learned that Nickelodeon is rebooting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the big screen with Point Grey Pictures’ Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver producing, and Jeff Rowe (Gravity Falls, Connected) directing. Brendan O’Brien (Neighbors: Sorority Rising, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates) will write the screenplay. Paramount will be handling global distribution on the film.” This would be the first time since Imagi Pictures’ TMNT from 2007 that we’d have a fully CGI Ninja Turtles feature film as opposed to the recent CGI/live-action hybrids.

image c. 2020 Imagi Studios

Welcome to our final FWG spotlight for Pride Month! We’ve featured a lot of awesome guild members this month, and we’re certain this last interview won’t disappoint. Today we’ll sharing our interview with Herr Wozzeck who’s pronouns are he/him. Enough with our introductions however, let’s let him introduce himself!

 

FWG: Tell the guild and our readers a bit about yourself.

Herr: So my name is Herr Wozzeck, and despite the fact that I have a German pen name I’m actually fully-blooded Cuban, born in Miami and now trying to spice it up in Boston. I got my start in writing and snarking fanfiction, before I found furry through the Furry Basketball Association, and I eventually made the shift from fanfiction over to here. I’m also a musician and composer: I play with Trio Menagerie, write opera criticism on the side, and hope to add to the operatic repertory at some point (quite possibly with some furry-inflected opera, if things go my way!) And that, is in addition to my fictional writing!

FWG: What is your favorite work that you have written?

Herr: Oof, isn’t that the question of the century? I find myself coming back to my Agundio Atti-Morales stories that I wrote while still with the FBA: there are definitely things I would change about them, but I feel like it was the first time I actually found comfort in my own literary voice, in a strange way.

FWG: What do you think makes a good story?

Herr: I feel like most great stories really have to start with having good characters: as I’ve said sometimes in the past, you can get away with a surprising amount of implausibility if your story is populated with characters people are interested in, whether they’re repulsed or they relate to them.

FWG: You’re new to the guild right? How has your time with us been so far?

Herr: It’s insane, actually, and it’s provided some validation that I never knew I needed. As a self-taught writer (and someone who used to do fanfic snarks), the impostor syndrome can get very strong. The fact I’m in the guild at all just motivates me to go further than I have before, and it’s awesome to chat with a bunch of like-minded authors and feel like you’re good enough to be part of the big boys, y’know? I mean, Christ’s sake, Kyell Gold is right there!

FWG: What does Pride mean to you?

Herr: Honestly, a part of me is still figuring that out, considering how late in my life I’ve blossomed on this front, but at this moment in time Pride is very much a time of year where I find I can celebrate my gayness just a little more than usual, and for me it includes celebrating how I view my sexuality in more than just the “I like guys” sense. But it’s also a time where I think we need to look back and remember those that paved the way for the rest of us to feel comfortable in our own skins. And it’s also a month to galvanize, because for as much progress as we’ve made, we still have a long way to go!

FWG: You’re not only gay but also a part of the pup and leather communities, right? What is it that you enjoy about these communities?

Herr: Both helped me grow to accept myself in my sexual liberation. However, there are other things that I enjoy about them.

So first, I think I’ll go ahead and use the term “pet play” to refer to “puppy play” throughout the rest: in addition to puppies, some people also will do similar things with cats and even horses, and as my titleholder friend would say we don’t want to exclude anyone! But me, pet play is very much a way to step back and not worry so much about the complexities of the world. Whenever I get one of my pup hoods on (yes, I have two), there’s just something about the way you physically perceive the world that shifts how you interact with it: all sound is muffled inside those things, and you have to speak extra loud to be heard, and something about that forces me to take things more instinctively, more gesturally, to just go with the flow a little more. There’s something about that which is incredibly freeing, and it can induce your stress to melt like nobody’s business. (Note that this does not speak for everybody’s experience: you don’t need gear to be into pet play. This only reflects my experience.)

As for leather, my interest in leather is due to something deeper, far less primal. Men in leather exist in a strange oxymoron: they project a rugged, strong, sometimes violent image of masculinity, but perhaps because of the violence inherent in some of the fetishes related to leather they’re also often the most tender, understanding men on the planet. The best people in the leather community exude a masculinity that portrays caring, nurturing behaviors as a kind of strength, and it’s kept my interest alive because it has helped me rethink what masculinity should be.

FWG: There are leather and pup pride flags out there. What place do you think these kinks and communities have within the LGBT+ community at large? Are these things a part of your gay identity or just another facet of yourself as a gay person?

Herr: I think leather and pet play stand as facets of myself as a gay man, but it is an important facet to celebrate during Pride. One thing that I think is lost in the corporatization of Pride is that, in its origins, Pride never shied away from more open expressions of sexuality beyond the standard “I like the same sex” or “I am not the gender I was assigned at birth”: some would call this a reason people didn’t take us seriously, but considering how part of my journey was breaking past my own sexual repression I say it is an absolutely necessary part of Pride. Leather and pup pride flags are an extension of this, and in my eyes it is an extension worth celebrating.

At the same time, as well, it’s important not to claim leather and pet play as exclusively part of my gay identity: to do so would be to discount women in both, as well as to discount the experiences of my trans brothers and sisters in both communities. Leather and pet play communities have a very predominant gay male lean, but as my titleholder friend would put it, both are for everyone within the LGBTQ+ community, and it should be celebrated as such.

FWG: Was there a bit of a journey or story to you uncovering your identity? If so, would you be comfortable sharing with us? (If not it’s totally understandable!)

Herr: I actually already shared part of my journey in a semi-fictionalized form on my FurAffinity account, so sure, let’s fill in some blanks!

So growing up Cuban Catholic, I found myself having a lot of negative reinforcement thrown my way about the gayness from two angles: the angle of Catholicism, and the angle of how the family used to perceive it.

The first thing: something a lot of people don’t really get about Hispanic cultures is that Catholicism reigns very supreme in all of them, and in my particular case it should say something about how strong a vein it runs in the culture that even Fidel Castro couldn’t kill Cuban Catholicism despite his best efforts. Because of that, I was born into an environment where any kind of sexual expression outside of the norm is frowned upon and considered universally dirty and unsafe, even when it’s heterosexual sexual expression.

Within my family, the first exposure to queer cultures mostly came from the disapproving whispers and eye rolls, including those told to my face: I remember one time when my family and I went to see the touring production of The Producers when it came to Miami that mom pointed out the two men in the row in front of me and pointing them out being like “look at that”. Incidents like that peppered in there over a long period of time, and there was one particular incident when I was 16 that sticks in my mind forever.

These things really set me up for a rocky start for my journey: I was one of those “bi now, gay later” kids in my journey, and in hindsight a big part of the “bi now” was a side effect of the repression that comes with most Catholic upbringings. And that sexual repression was reflected in a lot of what I wrote: I won’t shy away from it, my fanfiction prior to when I finally grew comfortable with my sexuality broached some very messed up territory sexually, and while some of that can be chalked up to ‘dark and edgy’ I also think it was a symptom of how I looked at sex as being inherently bad since I kind of didn’t like my own relationship to sex and my sexuality.

It took until I was 23 and living in Cleveland, just after I’d first encountered the furries and met the man I eventually lost my virginity to. I won’t disclose his name here, but he was a rather older gentleman who was extraordinarily good to me. What I remember most about him, however, was the last time we met: when we were cuddling on my bed, he began talking about his love life. And when he did, part of me got the sense that a reason the relationship he was talking about failed was because he was very deeply entrenched in the closet in some ways: even today, I have no doubt he has never mentioned his trysts with men to anyone else in his life. And I remember asking myself ‘do I want to be like that the rest of my life’; that was the moment I sort of came to terms with myself, and resolved to come out of the closet. It ended up happening in Thanksgiving to my parents (technically before I was ready, but dad popped a question about it and the rest was history), and ever since I’ve started to learn how to be confident in myself as a gay man.

And that has been a slow process, but being part of furry fandom has definitely helped me learn how to express myself considering it is a space that doesn’t simply crush the conversation about sexuality the way Catholicism does. It helped really break me out of the sexually repressive mindset I was born into. What remained of my self-repression finally melted away after I encountered the Boston leather community when I did: I moved back in February of 2018, and encountered the bar party Fascination run by Michael Flowers, back when it was still in the basement of Jacques’ Cabaret. I’d never really had a group of in-person gay friends before, and the leather community provided exactly that. And then through that I met a puppy, got introduced to that circle, and the rest is history!

It hasn’t always been super easy afterwards, though: my family, while ultimately well-meaning, still kind of doesn’t completely get everything about how it is to be gay in that environment. I will also say, there is one thing that happened behind the scenes in November that really rattled me to my core and threatened to reverse all the fandom did to help me grow in that regard.

But on both of those things, there are also aspects that keep me going. I will say my family is a damned sight better about the gay thing now than they were in my teenage years! Part of it is that I’m not the only one in the family to fit under the queer spectrum (one of my cousins is a lesbian), but physical distance also doesn’t hurt that either. And as for the fandom, well, my support system in the fandom and the leather community has been so supportive that it overrode that incident significantly.

So now, I’m much more confident about my sexuality, and am proud to call myself a gay Latino furry. Still, as the old song goes, “don’t tell momma what you saw”…

FWG: How do you think being gay has inspired your stories?

Herr: A lot of times, I think of storytelling as being very therapeutic for me: Agundio Atti-Morales came when I was figuring out my relationship to God, family, and sexuality, my Colton and Darren stories are expressions of my joys and fears surrounding sexuality, Whip and Boot was very much a celebration of what I love about the leather community and what it did for my own identity…

…When you put it that way, I think it’s inspired quite a bit of my storytelling, really! And not in the least because of what protagonists I commonly write these days!

FWG: Do any of your stories feature leather or pup play?

Herr: My novel Whip and Boot is all about leather, and does include some of the kink involved with it! I haven’t written any fiction featuring pup play yet, and right now I don’t really have anything in the cards for that. I do have a chap book of poetry on the backburner about my friends in the Boston pet play scene, but I think I need to edit that a little more and try to add a couple more poems to it before I’m comfortable releasing it to the world. 

FWG: Do you feel like the issues that affect the outside world involving your identity affect your writing or publishing within the fandom or not?

Herr: My Agundio Atti-Morales stories were my therapy involving my identity as a gay Latino with a complicated relationship with his Catholicism, actually: the character and his family were conceived around the time I left Cleveland, and he ended up being the way I sorted out a lot of my feelings on sexuality, religion, and family. Outside of my sexuality, too, I have felt my writing affected by politics related to being a second-generation immigrant. One of my other FBA characters touched on this aspect of myself in the wake of Donald Trump’s election and what it would mean from an immigrant perspective.

FWG: Do you have favorite queer authors and has their literature affected your writing in the fandom?

Herr: I’m going to go with two answers, because I actually have very different answers to this.

For queer writers in general, I would say I’ve always loved the poetry of Federico García Lorca, because how do you have that kind of relationship with Salvador Dali and not find yourself on the queer spectrum somehow? His use of poetic image has been a pretty big influence on my poetry, but I haven’t graced the fandom with that yet so I can’t say it influenced my writing within it. My puppy chapbook idea that might fix that, though…

For queer writers specifically in the fandom, I have to go with Kyell Gold. It may sound like a standard answer, but he’s one of the most venerated furry authors working now for a reason! While I can’t say it’s affected my fiction in the fandom, I will say that one of my current backburner projects is an operatic adaptation of his novel Green Fairy, and it is one that I am hopeful I will have in a state to be workshopped by the end of the year!

FWG: If you could convince everyone to read a single book, what would it be?

Herr: This is going to stray so far away from queer writing that some folks will probably balk at it, but I would highly, highly recommend anyone interested in writing to pick up the Lexicon of Musical Invective, by Nicholas Slonimsky. It’s a collection of reviews of all the major composers, primarily the scathing reviews: if you need a dose of reality on how harsh some critics can be even to the greats, well, it’s a great book to have on your shelf! Also, old-timey critics have a gift with words that’s just indelible to witness.

FWG: Any last words for our readers and guild members?

Herr: Just wanted to take this moment to give a quick shout-out to queer opera, which is finding a foothold in the operatic repertory as of late. With operas like As One and Fellow Travellers finding a place in the modern operatic repertory, as well as companies commissioning operas like Wuorinen’s Brokeback Mountain and the Stonewall opera that premiered in last year’s New York City Opera season, it’s never a bad time to start looking into the world of how queer storytelling has started to permeate one of the oldest forms of theater in the world!

We would like to once again thank Herr Wozzeck for this fantastic interview! He can be found on FurAffinity, SoFurry, and Twitter @HerrWozzeck. You can also support him and his writing and musical works on Patreon. For more on his musical pursuits follow @TrioMenagerie on Twitter, or visit their Facebook page at Trio Menagerie. His newest book Whip and Boot from Bound Tales is currently available here.

We hope you enjoyed this spotlight as well as all of our other spotlights for Pride Month! We hope to keep featuring our members in the future. If you have ideas for a member spotlight, please contact our guild president Linnea “LiteralGrill” Capps. Until next time, may your words flow like water.

 

UNITED STATES (FLAYRAH) – As conventions have been closed, the charitability of the fandom marches on as Pibble, Chise, Nas, and Wolf (aka Kind7ed) lead a fundraising effort collecting nearly $9,000 for Project Okra and the Navajo Nation. They did this during the stream on Picarto where they played Jackbox games while hanging out and […]

Resources, Social Media & Donation Links
Follow Dyson
Join Rhyner’s Telegram Channel
Guest Application Form
BIPOC FURRY EVENTS

On June 28th, 2020 I interviewed a "furry model" so to speak. He's got a wardrobe full of endless outfits, the ever mysterious tiger-elk Dyson! This one was a fun ride, and though there were serious moments, it's was still packed full of goofiness. As you'd expect! We talked about everything from goo monsters, to racial injustice, to being the 'favorite sibling. Buckle in for episode #2 of the "What's the Fuzz?!" podcast. 

If someone sent you this link so you can understand the BLM movement, or are a BIPOC furry yourself and feel lost in the world right now this is where you need to be. I think this will shed some light on the issues plaguing our communities and country right now. 

Thanks for listening! 

Support the show

Interview With Dyson

Resources, Social Media & Donation Links
Follow John
Join Rhyner’s Telegram Channel
Guest Application Form
BIPOC FURRY EVENTS

On June 20th, 2020 I interviewed a good friend of mine whom I speak with regularly. It turned out to be one of the deepest, and heart wrenching interviews yet where I found myself learning more about him as the interview went on. It's a great start to the official, "What's the Fuzz?!" podcast!

Since I am mixed, black and Mexican, and John is a black man it didn't take long into trading stories things started to get heavy. I learned things about my friend through this interview that, honestly, I didn't think I'd ever know otherwise. Though it may prove difficult to be a white listener as we share experiences and talk about what the BLM movement means to us, I'm asking you to let things turn over in your mind.

I was asleep for a long time before I woke up. 

If someone sent you this link so you can understand the BLM movement, or are a BIPOC furry yourself and feel lost in the world right now this is where you need to be. I think this will shed some light on the issues plaguing our communities and country right now. 

Thanks for listening!

THEY* for Sonicfox. Apologies. 

Support the show

Interview With John

Hi Papabear! 

I don't really know who else to ask this, as not many people listen or respond or don't really know. I'm 16 year old furry from the Czech republic, striving towards being artist.

I'm looking forward to moving to the US when I'm older and I was thinking.. how possible is it to work full-time as an artist/fursuit maker? I don't know how my degree is going to help me because degrees here in Europe work differently. I will leave with woodcarving degree.

I'm more than willing to get a job outside the furry fandom, but being a furry is big part of me and art is one of the only things I genuinely enjoy and value in life. I really want to like my job.

I worry there's already too many artists/fursuit makers, so there's no need for me to do the same thing and provide the same services. And also I'm worried if the fact that I wouldn't have art degree would make a difference. A lot of people say that I'm talented and could already make living off of what I do, but I'm honestly very unsure. I'm afraid there's no possible way to fulfill my dreams. Then, also, I have friends who would gladly help me out.

I'm feeling a little lost about this issue; it keeps me very unmotivated. So, thank you for advance!

Mika Kay (age 16; Czech Republic)

P.S ; I love what you do, its very wholesome to help people like this.

* * *

Dobrý Den, Mika Kay!

In the fandom, you will find that pretty much all fursuit makers and artists are freelancers and do not work for a corporation of any kind. Even the larger, more successful fursuit makers are small operations that aren't, generally, seeking new employees. This is because, unlike many other products, fursuits are pretty much all custom-made to match people's fursonas. Therefore, fursuits are not made on an assembly line, which would make such a business more conducive to becoming larger and hiring more people. Now, there are costume companies (many in Asia) that make standardized costumes, but these are all quite inferior in quality. Yeah, they are cheaper, but they are terrible. Odin Wolf has posted a couple of hilarious videos about counterfeit and fake fursuits from companies like Alibaba (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP_u3HaFYyM) and even Walmart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDPX4t-8zdQ). You are not going to get quality from such places, and you do not want to work for them if you have any self-respect.

No, fursuit makers are typically individuals or, sometimes, small family operations, and it is very difficult to make a living at it. Even my maker, Beastcub, who is extremely talented and sells quality (and not inexpensive) fursuits, has trouble getting by (I highly recommend her, by the way, to any of my readers). Similarly, there are not companies that put out tons of furry art like some kind of firm that hires starving artists to paint oils for hotel lobbies. No, artists are freelance individuals, too.

Your concern should not, however, be a fear that there are too many fursuit makers. One can never have too many quality makers in a fandom in which waiting queues for fursuits are typically 6 months to a year or longer. If you're really excellent at making fursuits, then you will find customers. You will, of course, need to advertise your services, which is a whole other subject.

With your background in woodworking, you're going to need to be a freelancer for that, too, unless you want to do something such as architectural carving. This is a really cool field to get into, in my humble opinion, and there are companies you can work for who do it. What this entails is making carvings for things such as corbels, columns, mullions, staircases, brackets, and so on that are used in high-end construction. If I were you, I would look into it. See if companies such as Art for Everyday, Inc. (artforeveryday.com) are hiring (note: most such companies that I've seen are in Canada, not the United States). Another option is making wooden furniture. Again, there are many good Canadian companies (are you dead-set on moving to the United States or might Canada be an option for you?)

Anyway, when it comes to the arts such as painting, fursuit making, and wood carving, most people go freelance and/or open their own small companies rather than work for a large corporation. My recommendation for you would be to research how to start your own small business. If you are asking about U.S. employment because you want to obtain a work visa with employer sponsorship, then, again, I would recommend Canada over the United States, especially in your field of work. If you can find a Canadian firm to sponsor you, this will help you a lot in getting a Canadian visa, and, as I said, there are more opportunities in woodworking in Canada than in the United States. Another way to get a visa, of course, would be to become a student here. That would have more possibilities for you, if you were interested in attending university in the States.

In the meantime, I would recommend that you work on your carvings or fursuit design in the Czech Republic and build your portfolio. You can also start building your reputation in the furry fandom by accepting commissions from Americans. Because of our internet culture, you don't have to live in the United States to sell products here.

I hope this was helpful. Good luck!

Papabear

Animation World Network let us know that a sequel to the hit animated film Chicken Run is finally in the works. (Did you know that Chicken Run was the highest-grossing stop-motion animated movie ever?) “The unnamed sequel is set to enter full production in 2021 with Sam Fell (Flushed Away, ParaNorman) at the helm. Aardman co-founder and creative director Peter Lord, long-time Aardman producer Carla Shelley (Shaun the Sheep Movie, The Pirates! Band of Misfits) and Karey Kirkpatrick (Smallfoot) are returning as executive producers; Steve Pegram (Arthur Christmas) is producing. The script is being written by Kirkpatrick, John O’ Farrell and Rachel Tunnard. Nick Park, the Oscar-winning creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, will consult on the film… The sequel will revisit the world of Ginger, who has finally found her dream – a peaceful island sanctuary for the whole flock, far from the dangers of the human world. When she and Rocky hatch a little girl named Molly, Ginger’s happy ending seems complete. But back on the mainland the whole of chicken-kind faces a new and terrible threat. For Ginger and her team, even if it means putting their own hard-won freedom at risk – this time, they’re breaking in!” Stay tooned for more information on a release date as we get it.

image c. 2020 Aardman Animation