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submitted by ReturnOfTheMacAuley
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Moooooooo!

Author: Dear Papabear, How have you been? I came to ask you for help regarding the way I am feeling. As you know, I have been a furry for many years now, but an unfortunate, personal event in my life, which was caused by the lack of understanding of other Portuguese furries when I was […]

submitted by PowerRaptor
[link] [34 comments]

Sniffing Out An Agent

by Huskyteer

 

Everyone seems to be a writer, these days, and everywhere – at least, every town in the UK – seems to be having a Literary Festival. The second week in September, it was the turn of Battersea, in South London, and among the many events offered to readers and writers in the area was an ‘Agent-Led Dog Walk’.

Approaching a literary agent can feel intimidating. It’s a relationship that may last the whole of an author’s writing career, so it’s important to get things off to a good start. Yet agents are busy people who may not have time to spare for answering questions while they’re at work, and may not feel like it during their leisure hours. Nobody wants to come across as pushy, or be That Writer who backs an agent into a corner at a party and shoves a manuscript under their nose, but many of us have things we’d like to find out.

The dog walk was a chance to chat with an agent in a less formal environment, while also getting some exercise and having some fun. There’s nothing like a dog for creating an informal atmosphere and a topic of lively conversation. The £5 event fee would go to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.

As a dogless writer, I’d happily have signed up for a charity dog walk even without the additional carrot (or bone) of chatting with an agent. Besides, perhaps dog-friendly agents would be more receptive than the average to my talking-animal stories? I went along to find out.

The Sunday of the walk turned out to be a beautiful morning, and a couple of dozen literary hopefuls gathered in Battersea Park. We were introduced to the four dogs and their agents, then we split into groups for an hour of walking and talking.

I had checked the agents’ websites beforehand, but none of them stood out as the perfect match for my writing, so I went by dog. My pick was Maisie, who had brought Jo Unwin of the Jo Unwin Literary Agency. She (Maisie) was a medium-sized brown dog with setterish ears who looked like a bundle of high energy fun. Sure enough, I was to spend much of the next hour throwing an increasingly soggy and ruptured tennis ball and remembering every now and then that I probably ought to be networking or something.

Jo very fairly made time to talk to each of us individually, and we also sat down as a group to drink coffee, ask questions and receive advice. I also seized the chance to bestow some scritches on Maisie, who was initially glad of the rest after jumping in and out of the duck pond but quickly grew bored with all this talking.

Some of what we were told was familiar to me from my obsessive reading around the submissions process, but it made a big difference hearing it in person. I might not be able to reproduce that experience, but here’s what we learned:

 

• Be professional. Find an agent who works with your genre, and address them by name in your cover letter.
• Identify what’s unique about your book. Imagine you’re in the pub, talking about a book whose title you can’t quite remember; what’s your book’s “that one with the…”?
• Sell yourself – but be relevant. List publications, prizes, and any background information that shows you’re especially qualified to write the book you’ve written, but don’t talk about your lifelong dream of being a writer, or how much your kids loved the book.
• Should you say your book has series potential? That depends if it does; is what you’re planning a true sequel, or are you too lazy to think of a new scenario, or too fond of your characters to let them go?
• Only submit when you think your manuscript is as good as it can be. It won’t be, but don’t send a draft you know is flawed and expect an agent or editor to leap at the chance of sorting it out for you.

 

As well as a deeper knowledge of what agents might be looking for, and how they like to be approached, I’ve gained an opening should I ever have a project I feel would be a good fit for Jo (“It was so lovely to meet you on the Battersea dog walk. I was the one who threw the ball for Maisie over and over and over again”). It was also lovely to swap notes with other local writers on works in progress and how far we’d come.

You might not be lucky enough to find a similar event in your own neighbourhood, but if you’re involved in a local arts festival, why not try setting one up? And if you’re a literary agent with a canine friend, consider turning your daily dog walk into an opportunity to help up and coming authors while also publicising your agency. The writers will thank you, and so will your dog.

 

Fursuit portraiture is getting ambitious.  It’s more than an inward-focused service just to make con-goers happy.  It’s starting to be treated as documentary art to publish and put in galleries. These photographers often give special focus to fursuiters, a sub-section of this subculture.  Furry is about more than costumes, but it makes sense to emphasize their unique, non-replaceable […]

Let’s be clear:  Furry is an art and fiction thing, not a sex thing.  It’s always been a sensitive topic.  In the earliest days of organized furry conventions, many felt that they were derailed by advertising in bad places.  Media exploitation and nasty “hit pieces” deepened resentments. Without forgetting this background, sex is a topic that can’t be dismissed. Adult activity is […]

submitted by CarligerCarl
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This November Oni Press brings us the first issue of Terrible Lizard, a new full-color all-ages comic book miniseries by writer Cullen Bunn (The Sixth Gun) and illustrators Drew Moss (In the Dark) and Ryan Hill (Stumptown). “The touching story of a girl and her T-Rex… with a healthy dose of collateral damage and monster conflict on the side. When the scientists of Cosmos Labs punch a hole through time and space, they pull a ferocious dinosaur into the present. The dinosaur imprints on teenage Jessica, proving  to be more mischievous than vicious. But he is not alone. Strangely mutated prehistoric monsters begin attacking our world. What’s a girl and her dinosaur-fighting dinosaur supposed to do? ” Read the article over at Comicocity to find out more.

image c. 2014 Oni Press

submitted by tenpoundpen
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submitted by MizzMara
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submitted by TheFoxThatIsSilver
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The longer I live with that fact I'm a furry, the more I realize that a lot of the world seems to hate us. We're the butt of a lot of jokes, and there are lot of people who I know that would probably stop talking to me if they knew what I liked. And the more I see people acting this way, the more I wonder if they're right. It is a pretty weird thing to like, and it's undeniably close to bestiality...

Is it a bad thing to be a furry? Or are people just dicks to us?

submitted by WatUpMyShubNiggurath
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...On a scale of 1 to 10, how pathetic is this? Can somebody here please tell me that I'm not alone in doing this? /)\~\(\

submitted by ToaOrka
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Since I'm sure /r/writingprompts would downvote this to shit, I'll post it here.

Also, hi, new furry I guess, lurked for a while, decided to make a new Reddit account to post here. Sup.

Anyways, here's my writing prompt.

You wake up one day to see that you have turned into your fursona. (edit: it doesn't necessarily have to be waking up, it'd also be cool if the character was awake while it was happening, like a werewolf, even better in a public area or with friends while it's happening to other people too. Basically, just be creative!) I'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not that you are the only one who turned into a furry character, or if it's the entire world or a percentage of the world. Personally I think that the percentage of the world one would be the most interesting. Would furries turn into ther fursona, or would it just be a random species? I'll also leave that up to you.

It would also be interesting if you talked about the media and government reaction. What would news anchors say? The CDC? Non-furries in general? The furry community? I'm also a sucker for always thinking about how Reddit would react to hypothetical situations, and Reddit's reponse would be a hilarious thing to write about. Those suggestions are for the stories where this transformation affects a large percentage of the population/all of the population, though.

I know this isn't a new thread idea here on /r/furry, but I want actual stories, not just the top comment being some sexual joke.

Speaking of that, no sexual or erotica stories. Keep it clean. This isn't fetish fuel, I've always wanted a genuine, interesting story about this subject that isn't super immature. The social aspects of this would be super interesting. But of course adjusting to the new body would be a big part of the story as well (in a clean way!). Would human language still even work?

Have fun :D

EDIT: I'm working on my own story now, but since I have to go right now in the middle of writing, I'm just gonna post it here for a sneak peak I guess. Also because I don't wanna put in on my computer and have other people find it and have them think I'm crazy.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

"Stupid alarm clock..."

I got up very groggily to turn off my alarm clock. I thought that damn thing would improve my day to day routine, but at least for the whole "actually getting up part", it really sucked.

As I got out of my bed, I realized that the regular frequent sound of cars and busy traffic was missing. It was a Saturday, but there was still usually some cars. I get up and turn off the alarm clock and take a look out the window of my apartment. Here I was, at 7:00 in the morning, with no cars or traffic to be seen. Down the road there looked to be several abandoned and crashed vehicles, as if people were trying to get out of their cars in a hurry. Not even the usual pedestrians or the early bird joggers. There was also a lot of trash, garbage, and clothes on the ground. What happened? Some sort of riot?

I get on my computer and go to Reddit as usual.

CDC ADVISES EVERYONE TO STAY INDOORS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

submitted 32 minutes ago by 720YesScope to /r/news

Holy shit, did some new ebola outbreak happen overnight?

All of the other titles on the front page were just a bunch of panicked induced typing.

WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO ME

submitted 41 minutes ago by IDislikeEthan to /r/AskReddit

I just woke up, what the fuck is going on?

submitted 35 minutes ago by SitesToGawk445 to /r/OutOfTheLoop

There were posts even on the subreddits that have nothing to do with news. There was even an AMA on /r/iama.

I am someone transformed by this incident, AMA

submitted 38 minutes ago by TransformThrowaway to /r/iama

"Transformed? What the fuck?", I thought.

Just as I clicked the top thread, I hear my doorbell ring. I open it up and it's my good friend Greg, and he's carrying bags of food and other survival supplies. He walks right in without saying a word. "Greg, what the fuck is going on? I just saw a bunch of panicking titles on Reddit as you were at the door. Why did you come over? The CDC said to stay indoors." As Greg was still unpacking all of his food and supplies, he explained it to me. "Everyone is transforming, dude. I saw it happen to some random guy on the street. Like a fucking werewolf". Shocked, but also intrigued, I reply "Transforming into what?" He looked at me, knowing I was clearly interested in this. "The guy I saw transformed into a wolf, like a furry, anthropomorphic wolf. I bet you're probably fucking excited about this, but we still don't know what's happening. It literally just started happening half an hour ago."

I could hear the panic and fear in his voice. Even as a furry, I was still concerned about this. Do the transformations leave your mental state intact? How does is spread? Is it a virus? I start to panic. "Well, uh... okay... shit. Well I just opened up the article on Reddit about the CDC advising everyone to stay indoors, let's see what it says." Greg put down his large pack of supplies to come over and look at the article.

CDC Advises everyone to stay indoors because of transformation epidemic until further notice

The CDC has just released a statement saying that everybody should stay indoors because of this urgent transformation epidemic that has people physically transforming into animal-like creatures. They said that they still are unaware as to what is causing this, but they assume it is some sort of virus, and they said that it is urgent that you do not go outdoors until further notice. If you begin showing symptoms of transforming, remain calm. The spokesperson said that as far as they know it does not affect your memory or mental functions in any way. If you feel like something is going wrong while transforming or if you feel like you need to be voluntarily quarantined, please contact the CDC at this number.

The spokesperson said that they estimate about 25 percent of the world's population has already been transformed in some way already and it shows no sign of stopping. For more information about the transformation itself and what to do if it is happening to you, read the CDC's official list of symptoms and everything else related to the transformation.

"Holy shit, dude", I said as I leaned back in my chair after reading that. "So I guess we just stay here and see if it happens to us?", Greg asked me. "I guess so, man. There's not much else we can do." Greg grabbed another chair from the kitchen and sat down next to me on the computer. "Let's look at some of the other Reddit posts to see if there is any more information."

I go back to the front page of Reddit, and literally every single post on my front page is related to this incident. "Let's read the /r/OutOfTheLoop post", I said. "Somebody probably compiled all of the important information."

I click on the post, which already has about 10,000 comments on it.

I just woke up, what the fuck is going on?

I seriously just woke up, and I'm hearing about people transforming because of some sort of virus? What the fuck is going on?

11,541 comments edit share save hide

astronautinplace 34,673 points 31 minutes ago*

First of all, congratulations on your post being the one that everyone is upvoting and discussing this on in the whole sea of these posts on /r/outoftheloop, enjoy your karma!

Anyways, onto what the fuck is going on. I'm honestly shaking right now, but I compiled all of the information from the CDC's offical guide/release/whatever thing on this.

Basically, people are randomly transforming into animal-like creatures. Basically, furries/anthropomorphic animals (I bet furries are happy right now!). They do not how it spreads, or if it even spreads at all. The end result of the transformation can be any of these species of animals, there may be more but these are the recorded ones right now.

Fox, wolf, dog (of multiple breeds), cat (mostly leopards/lions), bears, pandas, reptiles (there's a whole variety of these transformations, but they are all very reptile like), bats, raccoons and there will probably be more by the time this is over. Nobody knows if you can transform back. My friend actually texted me, freaking out, saying he transformed into a wolf. He said it was he couldn't speak english or anything resembling human language at all, and he had a hard time texting with his new paw-like hands. I asked him what the transformation was like but it took him forever to type on his little phone screen and that he would tell me on a keyboard later. So far the fox, wolf, cat, and dog transformations are the most common.

There's not much information on what the transformation process is like, but if I transform I'll edit this post and tell you guys.

The CDC document as you all know said stay inside, don't come in direct contact with anyone, and to basically just wait till this whole thing blows over. They didn't say it was illegal to go outside or anything, so I'm sure you could go to the store to get food if you need too, or something.

That's pretty much it, there's not much information in it since this whole thing has only been happening for about 35 minutes. As I said, I'll edit with any new information.

EDIT: Guys, I just transformed into a fucking fox. I'm freaking out, I can't actually speak english, but it's not too hard to type so I'll do my best to describe it to you guys. The first thing I noticed was a sensation where my tail now is, like something pushing out. I knew what was happening right away. I looked down at my hands to see them literally smush into orange and white paws. It hurt a lot, but it wasn't overwhelming. I could feel the bones literally being transformed... sorry for using literally so much, I'm just kind of in shock since it just happened. The fur from my paws spread up my arms, and I was overwhelmed by the sensation.

Can't wait to write more of this, stay tuned!

submitted by NewFurryIGuess
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This week’s illustration is from Hiorou’s  webcomic, Eorah, now on Indiegogo. 

Good grief, it’s been an interesting week for furry-inspired tabletop RPGs, with two compelling projects–the first, Ultimum, is more interesting for what it threatens to do to the RPG industry (I really don’t know enough about the game’s story to get a read on it), and the fascinatingly weird and surreal post-apocalypse game, Genestorm. And I can absolutely rabbit on about TRPGs for hours, so…I won’t. Maybe later.

Instead I want to talk about two semi-relevant projects that are kind of neat. The first because of its crazy high pledge level, the second because, well, it’s an anthology comic that’s welcomed some furries into its fold, and that’s pretty neat.

Let’s start with those ears.

This is a fur-friendly accessory–headphones with outward-facing speakers (neat, probably a little tinny, but neat), LEDs in a range of colors, and kitty-cat stylings. And they have made…can you believe it? over $1 million in pledges. I can’t believe it. I’m frankly agog. There’s been other neko-themed headphones, but this one’s really taken off. The ravey lights are probably a factor, and the unusual outward-facing speakers, too–it’s kind of a neat “everything” project, well worth a look. I’m pretty sure I’ll be seeing the Axent Wear Cat Ear headphones at Texas Furry Fiesta, I’ll be looking for them.

This is a neat “furry gone mainstream” project, and I’m excited to see it. Okay, kitty ears aren’t really furry, are they? More anime? Maybe, that’s probably where they started, but the energy of the kitty cat ear may be one of the things that’s pulled our little fandom into the mainstream. Cat ears broke the ice. Next, kangaroo tails. Mark my word.

Next, Armorous–and I have misspelled that so many times! Armorous is not specifically a furry story or product,, although “furries” and “erotic fantasy comics” go hand-in-paw (sure, hand) for a long way back. But it is very furry-welcoming, with three furry artists on board–in particular Grisser,  Brandon Zuckerman, and Redic Nomad, with at least 10 artists besides, and a host of monsters and not so monstrous monsters by the non-furs, too. Medieval fantasy is generous to anthro fans.

The project is an erotic fantasy anthology comic, maaaybe smut, maaabye just playful romp. Hard to say, could easily be both. The promise of the comic is to be a light treatment of a wide variety of sexuality in a medieval fantasy mode–not any one orientation. Though there does seem to be a lot to love for people who like big, brutal, and musclebound, so there’s that. It looks a bit like the weight of the book is evenly distributed between bricks and feathers.

Anyway, playful, friendly, and furry-inclusive without being furry-specific. I look forward to seeing this project in print.

Reviews this week: I’m apparently a sucker for historical comics. This week is the 1929 historical/humor webcomic, Rudek and the Bear.

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For a “complete” list of furry/fur-friendly crowdfunding projects, check out the Project Page and Patreon Page! New Projects Children’s Products

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Bear (Ends: 11/12/2014)
Another adorable children’s book about adorable bears. It’s pretty cute.

Comics/Graphic Novels

Rudek and the Bear V1 (Ends: 11/13/2014)
Web-to-print of Rudek and the Bear, an historical/humor anthro web comic set in 1929 Poland

Eorah the Webcomic (Ends: 12/5/2014)
Fundraiser for the Eorah fantasy webcomic by Hiorou

The Golden Week (Patreon ongoing funding)
Furry slice of life webcomic, available in *so* many languages
So really, I’m just in love with his lion character.

Costumes/Crafts

Axent Wear Cat Earphones (Ends: 11/7/2014)
Cute kitty headphones with little external speakers and glow effects, in a rangeo f colors.
Can I just say, $1,159,000? Really? Wow. This is not the first cat-ear headphone project I’ve seen, but it’s the most wildly successful.

Events

F3 Convention (Ends: 11/4/2014)
Crowdfunding for the F3 furry convention in Missouri

Film/Animation/Theater

The Last Remaining Ocelots (Ends: 11/15/2014)
Documentary about the two remaining populations of ocelots in Texas

Tabletop Games

Werewolf: Dystopia (Ends: 11/14/2014)
A gritty, grungey urban variant of the Werewolf: Public Domain Card Game
So tired of werewolf. So tired of werewolf.

Genestorm (Ends: 11/15/2014)
A surreal post-apocalypse tabletop RPG with GORGEOUS B&W art by Dirtiran
Ohmigosh, the artwork here is strange and evocative. Wow. By the designer of the ‘Albedo’ RPG.

Ultimum (Ends: 12/13/2014)
Tabletop scifi/fantasy RPG with rich and seamless RPG support, humanity returns to earth after long millenia of absense.
Most of the kickstarter project page focuses on the tech side, I’m a little unsure of the setting. There’s a bit more on their website, though.

Toys

Fruitimals Plush Toys (Ends: 11/20/2014)
Cuddly fox-oranges, pigmelons, squidples, and aubergenuins

Video Games

The Land of Eyas (Ends: 10/29/2014)
A charming puzzle/platform video game, a little Binding of Isaac and a little Where The Wild Things Are.

Savages – The Inner Beast (Ends: 11/15/2014)
Sort of Sasquatch: The RPG, a video game about finding your inner monster.

Adult

Armorous (Ends: 11/7/2014): A fantasy erotic comic anthology featuring, among others, the work of Grisser and Redic-Nomad

…Just for fun

Bacon’s Bow Ties (Ends: 11/16/2014): This is cute little bow ties for kittens. Right there is your elevator speech.
Giger’s Universe (Ends: 12/6/2014): A virtual museum of Giger’s media and art. You know, the Alien’s ‘Xenomorph’ guy, one of the world’s creepiest artists.

 What’s Corbeau Backing This Week?
This month is oh-so-expensive! But I shook my couch cushions a little and got enough pennies to get a copy of Armorous when it comes out.