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RainFurrest is tonight. Right now I'm sitting at my desk, surrounded by monitors and keyboards with endless spreadsheets, databases, and more acronyms than the human mind should be reasonably expected to comprehend. In 6 hours I'm going to be in a hotel only a few short miles away with a tail pinned to my butt, surrounded by a veritable hurricane of color, fursuits, and friendly smiling faces. The taboos and social complications of everyday life are going to be turned head over heels as I completely succumb to what feels like a whole other universe for the next 4 days. Sometimes... it's really indescribable. I don't have any question for you all, just sharing my musings on the crazy dichotomous life I lead.

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I guess they can say poop!

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I've really been wanting to get my own yarn tails. I would need two, but a lot of the places I could buy them from seem so expensive. Since I'm in college, there's little cash for me to buy whatever I want. Of course, my first thought was to find tutorials on how to make them. Two methods that seemed the most common were to crochet a tube, stuff it, and then knot more yarn into the tube before brushing that out until it's fluffy and fur-like. The other one was to braid a yarn core and either sew the "fur" to it and brush that out, or (again) thread it through to make a knot and brush it out. I have 0 experience with crocheting or sewing, so I don't know if the first option would be a good idea. My question is this. What do you recommend I do? What's the best/easiest/cheapest way I can make a yarn tail? There isn't too much of a rush, since I don't plan on wearing them until MFF in December, but I really want to have them by then.

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1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?

My most recent publication was the pair of poems featured in the anthology Will of the Alpha. They were sort of an on-the-fly kind of pair but I think they came out nicely.

Current projects include a piece that I am going to submit for Heat that I’m hopeful about. I’ve had it proofread by a friend who adored the piece. Inspiration for that actually came from a role-playing game of all places but definitely took on a mind of its own after I began.

I’ve also got a set of novels I’m brainstorming about right now. One of them I’ve started and restarted probably seventeen times now. I just start getting into it and then hating all of it. Hopefully that will rectify itself soon though.

The theme behind it is acceptance. It’s going to have a lot of self-doubt for the main character to work through and the environment itself will help set the stage for key events in the plotline. Without giving too much away now I will say it’s about a woman named Rachel, otter, and her relationship with a mysterious woman whose name I haven’t nailed down yet. She’s a possum. The working title for the project is “Storm Warning” so take that how you will.

2. What’s your writing process like? Are you a “pantser,” an outliner, or something in between?

A lot of getting frustrated and starting over. Random fits of creativity where I actually produce something halfway decent and planning that just sits around until I remember it exists.

3. What’s your favorite kind of story to write?

Poetry, by far, is one of my favorite things to write. I love dark romance as well. Something about tapping into the darker aspects of human nature that people deny themselves is just exciting. Looking into the primal, the brutal, the things that make you really empathize with the main character.

Not to be all doom and gloom I do quite enjoy writing lighthearted pieces. While not my best written piece my favourite tale to date is “Fitting Roles.” It’s silly but nice.

4. Which character from your work do you most identify with, and why? Can I point out the stories involving my own sona? Those aside, however, I do relate to a few characters. I’d rather not say who though and let others figure it out for themselves. 5. Which authors or books have most influenced your work?

Watership Down was a big one for me. The way Richard Adams conveyed the supernatural aspect while maintaining this world where you genuinely want the main characters to survive was fantastic.  I have looked at books like Silverwing as well. Oh, and the novel Blood and Chocolate is one of my favourite sources when dealing with the idea of shapeshifters.

6. What’s the last book you read that you really loved? That’s a tough one honestly. I’ve taken up reading a lot of creepypastas lately as well as several short stories. In terms of actual books I have recently been reading through Bewitching the Werewolf. I’ve also been rereading the Out of Position series by Kyell Gold. 7. Besides writing, how do you like to spend your free time?

I help run a werewolf game with friends and do other LARP games as well! It’s a great creative exercise.

8. Advice for other writers?

Keep writing. Write anything; even if you think it sucks. The more you write the better you get. You will write hundreds and hundreds of lackluster pieces before finally getting to the point where you start getting really good. Just keep working on it.

9. Where can readers find your work?

The easiest place is on FurAffinity under the username Lapso.

10. What’s your favorite thing about the furry fandom?

The diversity and ability to be whoever and whatever you want.

 

Check out Elijah Lapso’s member bio here!

What is suitable furry attire? By and large it is clothing-optional, but sometimes accessories work “just so” for characters. Meanwhile in the real world, a group of mangy mutts talks dressing up and looking good for various events and discusses what makes the best wardrobe. All in all, it’s a scary episode.

Metadata and Credits WagzTail Season 3 Episode 38

Runtime: 30m

Cast: Braniff, Levi, Wolfin

Editor: Levi

Format: 128kbps ABR split-stereo MP3 Copyright: © 2014 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0. If distributed with a facility that has an existing agreement in place with a Professional Rights Organisation (PRO), file a cue sheet for 30:00 to Fabien Renoult (BMI) 1.67%, Josquin des Pres (BMI) 1.67%, WagzTail.com 96.67%. Rights have been acquired to all content for national and international broadcast and web release with no royalties due.

Podcast image belongs to Jeffery “Wolfin” Core. Used with permission. Dressing for the Occasion? - What is suitable furry attire? By and large it is clothing-optional, but sometimes accessories work "just so" for characters. Meanwhile in the real world, a group of mangy mutts talks dressing up and looking good for various events and discusses what m...

What is suitable furry attire? By and large it is clothing-optional, but sometimes accessories work “just so” for characters. Meanwhile in the real world, a group of mangy mutts talks dressing up and looking good for various events and discusses what makes the best wardrobe. All in all, it’s a scary episode.

Metadata and Credits WagzTail Season 3 Episode 38

Runtime: 30m

Cast: Braniff, Levi, Wolfin

Editor: Levi

Format: 128kbps ABR split-stereo MP3 Copyright: © 2014 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0. If distributed with a facility that has an existing agreement in place with a Professional Rights Organisation (PRO), file a cue sheet for 30:00 to Fabien Renoult (BMI) 1.67%, Josquin des Pres (BMI) 1.67%, WagzTail.com 96.67%. Rights have been acquired to all content for national and international broadcast and web release with no royalties due.

Podcast image belongs to Jeffery “Wolfin” Core. Used with permission. Dressing for the Occasion? - What is suitable furry attire? By and large it is clothing-optional, but sometimes accessories work "just so" for characters. Meanwhile in the real world, a group of mangy mutts talks dressing up and looking good for various events and discusses what m...

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submitted by 64682
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For those of you that don't know. Molten-WoW is a World of Warcraft private server. It is free to play. (Unlike retail.)

Link for the lazy and or curious. https://www.molten-wow.com/

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Apparently linking to FA images here on /r/furry currently results in no thumbnail. This is disappointing. This is something FA has to fix, right?

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Back in the 1960′s and 1970′s the late Jim Henson and his associate Jerry Juhl wrote many interesting screenplays for development as projects for The Muppets, and many of them were never produced. Among the latter was a story called The Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow, which went like this: “Turkey Hollow is a picturesque town where hundreds of years ago, unbeknownst to the citizens, a meteorite landed nearby a small brook on the outskirts of town. One Thanksgiving, while young Timmy Henderson practices his guitar, he’s accompanied by strange, unearthly, musical sounds. That meteorite wasn’t a rock at all but an egg holding seven furry, goofy monsters, each with a unique musical sound. After the initial shock, Timmy befriends the lovable creatures following him all around Turkey Hollow. Not everyone takes a liking to the visitors though and it’s up to Timmy to protect his new friends and save Thanksgiving!” Now Archaia Comics have partnered once again with illustrator Roger Langridge (Snarked, The Muppet Show) to bring these Musical Monsters to life in a brand new full-color graphic novel coming in hardcover this October. What’s more, according to an article in USA Today, Lisa Henson (Jim’s daughter and CEO of Henson Company) has confirmed that the original script is being developed into a holiday TV special — possibly for release as early as this Thanksgiving!

image c. 2014 Archaia Comics

Dear Papa Bear,

I'm a relatively new hat in the furry fandom by which I guess I mean to say I still find it odd to be a furry. I sort of joined the fandom because a friend of mine joined. Ever since joining I haven't really had any desire to wear fursuits. I really love my spotted hyena fursona Harleen though and I've met so many good people I get on well with in the fandom so I don't want to just quit because I moved away from my furry friends. The furries in my area (or at least the ones who attend meets) are a bit well ... odd and a bit snobbish so I don't really have furries to hang with in my area. 

I suppose the reason I feel so uncomfortable in the fandom is because of the notorious oversexualizing, the constant pornography and glorification of things such as rape and other questionable fetishes I see in the fandom, especially on sites such as FurAffinity where many of my friends are. I would love to attend cons but constant horror stories have kept me away. Is it possible to enjoy the fandom without having to fursuit and having to deal with the overall well ... strange side of it? You seem to have been to many cons before, what was your experience with them?

I really hope this question doesn't offend I suppose I was just hoping to hear an opinion from someone who's been in the fandom for a while. 

I really appreciate your time and hope you are having a lovely day!

Harleen (age 23)

* * *

Dear Harleen,

There are really several questions in your letter, but let’s tackle them as efficiently as possible, tackling them from easy to more complex.

The easiest is fursuits. No, you do not need a fursuit to be a furry. You don’t even need a fursona, if you don’t want one (though, in your case, you do). The only real “requirement” for being a furry is that you enjoy stories that include or feature anthropomorphized animal characters. That’s a very broad definition, and therefore includes a diverse range of people from fans of novels that non-furries love too (e.g. C.J. Cherryh’s Chanur books or Richard Adams’ Watership Down) to followers of My Little Pony, and from innocent tales starring Winnie-the-Pooh or other Disney characters to the most lascivious furporn on the Internet and everything in between.

I really cringed when you said that furries glorify rape, but I am not offended by your query, for the record. I hear this stuff a lot from people new to the fandom. I don’t think what you said is true at all, however, nor do furries glorify pedophilia or zoophilia. Anyone who promotes that stuff already had a preference for it before they joined the fandom, in my opinion. Saying otherwise would be like saying the fandom makes people turn gay. The gay people in the fandom were already gay when they discovered furries. Same with people who enjoy porn. If there were no furry fandom, such people would be looking at other types of porn.

The furry fandom is what you make of it. If you wish to look at furporn and have fursuit sex, well, there are certainly ways you can do that in the fandom. If you wish not to, then don’t. There are many amazing people in the fandom who are super examples of the latter. Three who come immediately to my mind are Dogbomb http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Dogbomb, Tycho Aussie http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Tycho and Brownee Bear, the last two of whom are on my Pal’s list http://www.askpapabear.com/papabear-pals.html. These furries do things like perform at zoos and at children’s charities, making people smile and laugh and doing wonderful things. 

There are also many fine furry authors and artists that are suitable for all audiences: Albedo, really the furry anthology sci-fi series that helped start the modern fandom,  Havoc, Inc., Ebin & May, and an online comic I’m getting into called Pride of Life. You can explore a lot of these on your own by going to a site such as Rabbit Valley and searching on titles for general audiences.

That said, let’s talk about furcons. As you’ve surmised, I’ve been to several, including Further Confusion, Califur, Midwest Furfest, Further Convention North (now replaced by Motor City Furcon), and Arizona Furcon. Next spring I am planning to go to Biggest Little Furcon in Reno for the first time. I’ve heard good things about it and am looking forward to the visit. I don’t know what you have heard about furcons, but I assure you they are very safe places to be. The organizers are very cognizant of the fact that they have many underage attendees. Most larger furcons consist of a number of scheduled forums on various topics, a stage show or two, a game room, a movie room, a fursuit parade, a dealer’s den and artists’ gallery and, often, auction, and they often support an animal charity. If you’re hearing “horror stories” about rampant sex, the only sex that would be going on would be in private hotel rooms, and the only way that you will come across that if you go to a furcon is if either you host a sexual encounter in your room or you are invited to somebody’s room for sex, which, by the way, is true of pretty much any adult convention there is, whether it is a convention for car salesmen or radio broadcasters or university professors. I’ve heard stories about each type of convention that would make Bacchus blush. In short, the only way you’re going to have sex at a furcon is if you arrange for it, so don’t blame the furcon.

As for socializing, I’m sorry you find the furries in your new home area to be snobbish. I’m not sure what that really refers to (are we talking rich snobs or furry elitists?), but I’m sure not all furries in your area are like that. The ones in the particular group might be that way because the person leading the group attracts a certain type of crowd, so that means the furries who are nicer just don’t hang with that group and it will be a bit more work to find the ones you like. What I would suggest is you join sites like Furry4Life.org and start putting the word out that you’re looking for furries in your area.

It’s nice that your friend introduced you to the fandom and that you have enjoyed some aspects of it, including creating your Harleen fursona. Just as with the creation of that fursona, you are the one in control of your experience in the fandom. There is no pressure to fursuit or do anything you don’t wish to do; do the things you enjoy; look for people who share your interests, and hang out with them. Go to a furcon! They are a blast, especially if you have friends to go with you. And don’t just ingest what others put out there; create some furry stuff of your own, if you like, whether that is writing a story, drawing something, doing some crafts, whatever floats your boat.

I hope that helps ease your mind.

Hugs,

Papabear

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