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And more bears — this time in a very different setting. Space Bear is a wide-format full-color graphic novel from Boom! Studios, written and illustrated by Ethan Young (Major Lazer). “Pilgrim Finch is an adventurous astronaut bear who explores the cosmos with a mission to bring samples of life back to his home planet. But when he crash lands on a new planet full of surprises and danger around every corner, Pilgrim will be forced to question his orders and learn that there’s only one mission that matters – compassion to all living creatures no matter the stakes!” The book is available in hardcover later this month — and check out the preview pages over at Comics Beat as well.

image c. 2020 Kaboom!

Kodi is a new full-color graphic novel written and illustrated by Jared Cullum — an artist known for his lush watercolor paintings. “Katya and her Meema are spending another summer at their cottage in Alaska, when a chance accident leaves Katya face-to-face with the biggest creature she’s ever seen… an enormous kodiak bear with a gentle heart and a knack for fishing. But when Katya must suddenly return home to Seattle, the two are torn apart, leaving Kodi to do whatever it takes to reunite with his fragile human friend. It’s a wild journey packed with breathtaking views, brave new companions, and adventure around every turn.” Kodi Volume 1 is available later this month from Top Shelf.

image c. 2020 Top Shelf

Lots of catch-up from recent events and a huge roundup. We tried turning off the noise gates for this episode, which means all the mics in the room were on no matter who was talking. Does that make things better or worse? Let us know what you think.

FurCast is sponsored by Twin Tail Creations. Use coupon codes REDWOLF or BLUEFOX to save 15% 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:

• Jib’s amazing animation covering systematic racism
• #UnderneathTheFursona
• Furrydelphia Canceled
• Golden State Fur Con Canceled
• Beastars basically
• Beastars Season 2 delayed due to COVID-19
• Some podcasts apps getting removed in China for not censoring enough
  • Pocket Casts Related Tweet
• RedRookShep & Bishop will not be police dog fursuiters anymore
  • Photo of them previously
• Vox: How tigers get coronavirus but not your dog
• Cassidy showed up in the Eurovision Celebration video
  • Cassidy’s Twitter
• Trump asks supreme court to make it legal to ban gay adoption
• Telegram updated with a better editor
• Zen made a VRChat version of Joshua
• Soatok wrote a blog post to help furries find tech jobs
• Introspective Furry Anime Are Having A Moment
• Colorado Springs Indie Article about furries
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse game
  • IGN Article
• Ratchet and Clank character designers knew what they were starting
  • Tweet 1
  • Tweet 2
  • Tweet 3
• Claims that Capital City Fur Con is embezzling money
  • Tweet 1
  • Tweet 2
  • Shadow The Wolf’s Video
• Virtual Feralcon
• TheOdd1sOut mentions going to a furry con
• 1500 Indie Game Charity Bundle

News:

• Petition Calls For Statue Of GWAR’s Oderus Urungus To Replace Robert E. Lee
• Pepsi Armed Robbery
• Man Emerges from 75 Day Retreat asking if he Missed anything
• NYC Recommends Glory Holes for Sexual Contact

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

This week we hear the continuing story of math paradoxes and we spend some time with Blue Hasia!  Join us for some 'Pawsome' fun!

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 #7 - Tails, Blue Hasia and Paradoxes

This week Fuzz and Savrin are joined by Hashna and Tempest, two tough gals who have been down on the streets of Seattle this last week. We discuss what it's like in the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, Tempest shares her quite harrowing personal account of police brutality, are educated on pepper spray and tear gas mitigation, and what this could mean in the long term. This is a long episode, so buckle up! LINKS Progressives Everywhere Bail Fund -  https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bailfunds 

Northwest Community Bail Fund -  https://www.nwcombailfund.org/  

Community Bail Fund of North Texas -  http://communitybailfundofntx.org/ 

Telegram fan chat - https://t.me/joinchat/CGL2Zj9oiYOXkOOhQ-MT9g 

Episode 466 - CHAZ Act 1 - This week Fuzz and Savrin are joined by Hashna and Tempest, two tough gals who have been down on the streets of Seattle this last week. We discuss what it's like in the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, Tempest shares her quite harr

Back in the day Marvel Comics started up a special imprint called Star Comics, intended for younger readers. One of the premier titles on that line was a Richie Rich-style funny animal comic called The Secret Life of Top Dog. Well now, Marvel have collected 14 issues of Top Dog together in one paperback, Star Comics: Top Dog — The Complete Collection, Volume 1. “Discover the secret life of Top Dog, the world’s smartest, funniest – and talking-est – dog! That’s right, Top Dog can talk…but don’t tell anyone! One of the biggest names in Marvel’s 1980s Star Comics imprint, Top Dog and his best pal, Joey Jordan, shared hair-raising and hilarious adventures together – and now you can relive them all! When Mervin Megabucks, the richest, meanest kid in town, discovers what Top Dog is capable of, he sets out to dog-nap him! Our clever canine is accused of being a foreign spy and put behind bars – but what is the truth about Top Dog’s past, and what will that mean for his and Joey’s future?” Take note: According to Amazon, publication has been held up until this fall.

image c. 2020 Marvel Comics

Dr. Peter Venkman : This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.

Mayor : What do you mean, “biblical”?

Dr. Raymond Stantz : What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff.

Dr. Peter Venkman : Exactly.

Dr. Raymond Stantz : Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!

Dr. Egon Spengler : Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes…

Winston Zeddemore : The dead rising from the grave!

Dr. Peter Venkman : Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!

Mayor : All right, all right! I get the point!

– Ghostbusters (1984)

Can you feel it? The Covid-19 pandemic makes it dangerous to give hugs (the furry handshake.) A new Great Depression might be on the way with millions unemployed. People are rising for justice while cities burn.

Uncle Hugo’s burned. It was a book store in Minneapolis, the oldest independent science fiction book store in the USA. One of the furry fandom’s original members worked there since it opened in 1974. Ken Fletcher was co-founder of Vootie, the voice of “The Funny Animal Liberation Front”, which helped to launch the furry fandom. He’s out of work for now (and might do a Q&A with me soon).

Directly south of the store, nine blocks down Chicago Street, was where the fire got a reason to start. On the corner at East 38th, Officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. Viral video of the incident showed bystanders begging for help while other police stood in the way. It spurred national outrage against a white-on-black power flex. Soon, nothing could hold back the wrath of half a city rising against injustice, and burning a police station and more.

Oldest Independent Science Fiction Bookstore in the US Burned Down in Minneapolis Riots https://t.co/b2p8CCanBY

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) June 9, 2020

Here’s what’s known about the book store loss. (Thanks for tip from Billy D Bunny.) Ken Fletcher wrote:

Saturday, 30 May, about 3 am, an arsonist (probably) went down a half-block on an arterial street setting a row of small businesses afire. The bookstore was one of them. At that time (so I have heard) there was no police presence, and it took about an hour (?) for the fire department to show up (a lot of business fires in part of the city that night). Rumor has it that there is a posted video of a masked white-guy setting the bookstore on fire. Many of the small businesses looted or burned were black or Asian-owned. Actual motivations unknown.

Quick points:

• It’s not all “rioting” — Minnesota officials believed that white supremacists were using these events for sabotage in hopes to start a race war.
• When police stop attacking and just retreat, peaceful protest organizing makes a whole other topic about where the violence comes from.
• It’s bigger than a death; it’s about police trained to kill and consuming the lion’s share of public funding, while school and social services get crumbs.
• This led to Minneapolis government pledges for change that generations of electoral politics couldn’t get for downtrodden minorities.
• Defunding police (and refunding education and social services) is now a national topic.
• It’s not just black/white, it’s rich/poor; Rioting won America’s independence too.

Here’s a crowdfund for Uncle Hugo’s. Don Blyly, the owner, is posting official news here and here.

Uncle Edgar's Mystery Bookstore and Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore in Minneapolis had been burned to the ground during the riots. I honestly don't have the words… pic.twitter.com/XhLTA52Lxz

— David Housewright (@DHousewright) May 31, 2020

Vootie co-founder Reed Waller: “No matter who lights the fuse, we know who the real bad guys are.” — 2007 panel from Omaha the Cat Dancer. (Waller was a Minneapolis native while creating Omaha, a key comic for furry art and free expression that helped start the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.)

The scale of events puts fandom in perspective. Furries couldn’t save Uncle Hugo’s. They’re not immune to Covid-19. Furry art won’t fix the economy or end racism alone. It isn’t like a cartoon where they simply beat the bad guy. It would be nice to escape into fantasy and live all the time like a weekend convention, but those are closed for now. Furries are just people with a hobby and a subculture, not a culture, more like a bubble floating on the wave of life. It’s OK to say hobbies matter less than lives.

But this isn’t an occasion just to mourn or wish about going back in time by turning off the news. There’s plenty of support happening inside fandom. Personally I would rather be out in a local community, so I haven’t been doing much furry news but have been supporting protests.

One of those protests synched with Bike Party, on the East side of the San Francisco Bay. Bike Party is a regular street takeover for hundreds of cyclists with rolling sound systems. It really is a moving party on the road with no police or permits — more free and harder to shut down than an underground warehouse party. It’s friendly enough to bring families too, and usually avoids messages. This time they rode for Black Lives Matter. On short notice it brought some of the biggest attendance ever (I heard guesses of 5-10,000.) It showed the power of subculture to bring people together peacefully. From 1960’s civil rights protesting to now, music and art has tied to movements like this.

Rolling pic.twitter.com/JuPCcuLC5g

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) June 8, 2020

Meanwhile there’s serious conflict of protesters and journalists being brutalized and police acting outside of the law. How can you do anything about it?

On the small fandom level, there’s outsized power in DIY ethic. Doing It Yourself means not needing official permission — to organize for charity, create support art, or spread the word about people’s needs.

• There’s a hashtag #UnderneathTheFursona started by @Renegade_roo to support POC creators.
• For virtual event organizing, The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund posted a Virtual Event Safety info page.
• Here’s a benefit for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Community Bail Fund:

This bundle includes many MANY very furry games including the acclaimed Night in the Woods: https://t.co/s5FidGs8yj

— Culturally F'd! (@CulturallyFd) June 9, 2020

To stay informed, here’s a news thread about debunking current hoaxes. And here’s a question that could make a discussion about progress:

January 2018….

I still remember. I simply could not fucking believe what I was reading. And not a single other soul in the chat seemed to care at all.

I decided to just stay quiet. I didn't want to cause a fuss. I was weak and easily intimidated.

I should have spoken up…. pic.twitter.com/MKNPbDMBkH

— Schmozy yaps: BEE ELL EMM (@Schmozy) June 8, 2020

So what do you think, how would you tackle big problems like this in your own way?

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.

Today we have a packed panel of furs, all discussing with us the current events surrounding the BLM movement, as well as their experiences with the subject. Follow Witchiebunny on Twitter: https://twitter.com/witchiebunny And Jakebe: https://twitter.com/jakebe And Kayfey: https://twitter.com/kayfey And Teddy: https://twitter.com/TeddyWynton Find us on Twitter: @South-Afrifur, https://twitter.com/southafrifur, on Tumblr, http://south-afrifur.tumblr.com/, and on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/southafrifur Also, for more local news, check out the Zafur forums! http://forum.zafur.co.za/

同為繪師的當事人-傻瑟(https://www.plurk.com/arthurinu)

近日（6月9日）獸繪師─傻瑟，在著名社交軟體「噗浪」的偷偷說上，發起「逆點圖」；沒想到著名繪師竟一一親自現身贈圖，讓在場的獸友們直呼羨慕。

繪師 : 鈦22 (https://www.plurk.com/titanium7331)

「噗浪」的偷偷說功能，由於其獨特的匿名性；因此衍生出許多獨特的次文化。那何謂「逆點圖」呢？不同於一般繪圈的「點圖」，「逆點圖」則是由繪師主動來繪製委託人的圖，而非由委託人指定繪師來繪製。又因為噗浪偷偷說的匿名性，所以委託者可說是「抽獎」般獲得不同風格的成品圖。

而實際發起「逆點圖」也很簡單，發文者（噗主）於貼文頂端放上自己角色的設定（大多使用偷偷說系統），財力允許的人通常會依個人喜好程度回贈若干枚噗浪獨有的貨幣「噗幣」作為謝禮。

噗幣示意圖(https://www.plurk.com/coin)

至於這一次的「逆點圖」，傻瑟於噗浪上表示，自己對於下方的贈圖全部都喜歡，選不出來要多給誰噗幣，所以給全部有參與的繪師噗幣。

傻瑟事後則向獸時報表示:「大家的圖我都好喜歡，所以很難取捨。」

繪師 : HIKARU(光姐) (https://www.plurk.com/neohikaru)

「我主要也是忽然很想看看別人筆下的自己到底是長甚麼樣；結果每個人畫的都很有特色，不管完稿程度如何，都覺得被畫得很讚；能夠有這麼多人願意參與逆點圖，我怎麼分得出高低（哭顏），所以全部都雙手奉上噗幣。」

「能夠看到這麼多不同的自己出現，真的非常高興！之後開逆點圖要三思，我都會忍不住想給噗幣」

傻瑟

繪師 : 蒼海 (https://www.plurk.com/kemono73137)

另外，繪師骨凱也有參與這一次的「逆點圖」；但不是在匿名串那邊放上，而是另外開一串噗文放上去。
對此，今天下午傻瑟也藉吃飯空檔繪製骨凱穿著史蒂芬款吊嘎的圖回贈。

繪師 : 骨凱 (https://www.plurk.com/love_dog_529)

當事人-傻瑟 給骨凱的贈圖(https://www.plurk.com/arthurinu)

本文圖片非經同意，請勿轉載

繪師 : 歐藤 (https://www.plurk.com/kiwi960727)

繪師 : Ricker (https://www.plurk.com/rickerwei)

繪師 : 銀月( https://www.plurk.com/silvermoon0419)

繪師 : 山蓮 (https://www.plurk.com/whes95s4807 )

繪師 : 達瓦兒 (https://www.plurk.com/dasoowolf)

繪師 : 阿賜 (https://www.plurk.com/a8765438)

匿名串：https://www.plurk.com/p/nv3kl1
骨凱贈圖：https://www.plurk.com/p/nv52kk　
傻瑟回贈：https://www.plurk.com/p/nv61f5　

獸時報FB：https://www.facebook.com/fur.times.official/

The issue of race in America has come to a head once again, as a black person by the name of George Floyd was recently killed by a police officer who knelt on his neck. This ignited large protests around brutal responses by the police in both inside and outside of the United States. The […]

Furcon cancellations around the world have reached a new milestone as the virus continues to prevail, with a total of 60 globally as of today. This week, Furrydelphia, Denfur, EAST and Rusfurence has announced that their events will be held next year. On June 4th, Denfur said in a tweet that their host hotel prematurely […]

Werewolf By Night is a legendary horror comic from one of Marvel’s golden ages, the late 1970’s. Now it has returned in a new incarnation, this time written by Taboo (of the band Black Eyed Peas) and Benjamin Jackendoff. From Marvel’s web site: “The pair previously worked together on a story for Marvel Comics #1000 that focused on Red Wolf and will now be teaming up with acclaimed comic artist Scott Eaton on Werewolf By Night. The series will introduce a brand-new character to the Marvel Universe in a story set in Arizona. The new Werewolf will be a young man named Jake who will be dealing with the effects of a family curse while trying to protect his people. The events of the story will also be driven by the outcome of March’s Outlawed one-shot.” Issues of this 4-issue miniseries are on the shelves now.

image c. 2020 Marvel Comics

Roo and Tugs continue the Coronavirus/COVID-19 trilogy by looking at it from a new angle with the Moms of Furries!


NOW LISTEN!
SHOW NOTES
SPECIAL THANKS

The Moms of Furries - Check them out at https://mofurries.com/ 
Kit

PATREON LOVE
The following people have decided this month’s Fur What It’s Worth is worth actual cash! THANK YOU!
Get Stickered Tier Supporters
Nuka goes here  
Kit, Jake Fox, Nuka (Picture Pending), Ichi Okami, Taz
Fancy Supporter Tier

Rifka, the San Francisco Treat and Baldrik and Adilor
Deluxe Supporters Tier

Guardian Lion and Katchshi and Koru Colt (Yes, him)
Plus Tier Supporters

Skylos
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Simone Parker
Ausi Kat
Chaphogriff
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Bubblewhip
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McRib Tier Supporters

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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 27: Moms and Rona - Roo and Tugs continue the Coronavirus/COVID-19 trilogy by looking at it from a new angle with the Moms of Furries! NOW LISTEN! SHOW NOTES SPECIAL THANKS - The Moms of Furries - Check them out at https://mofurries.com/  Kit -

What does a secret cult, a shapeshifter, a femme fatale, and a penis-stealing opossum have in common? Well, it is that they all appear in this book! Burnt Fur is an erotic/horror anthology by Blood Bound Books themed around animals (ironically, not all of them furred). From talking animals to shape-shifters, and all the way to humans in costumes, this collection explores not only the horror of being hunted as a prey by a non-human being, but also the one that even we as humans can cause against ourselves.CW: This book contains graphic depictions of gore, cannibalism, torture, mutilation, rape, bestiality, among others. The anthology opens with "The Moon in her Eyes" by Sarah Hans. This is the story of an aging werewolf who meets Hannah, a human girl, after she escapes from her abusive father. Compared with the rest of the anthology, probably one of the tamest stories when it comes to the violence or scare factors, but easily makes up for it with what it is and does: a somber character development story with a solid outcome. Next comes "Mallard's Maze" by Joseph Sale. This is the tale of Phaedra, a girl on the run after watching a murder committed by a man in a duck mask. For starters, Sale's story stands out for me because not only is it the only story in the whole anthology written in present tense, but, more importantly, the all-around feeling of paranoia that permeates it really settled well with me. However, the ending, while satisfactory, did feel like it came a little out of the blue. In "Salivation" by Theodore Deadrat we follow the thoughts of our protagonist, an unnamed goat who gets an unhealthy fixation on a deer he meets every day at the subway. What starts as a simple fascination turns into something more sinister as our protagonist thinks more and more about his prey. One of the shorter pieces in the anthology, and the page-turning writing makes it feel go even faster. "The Hamford Pigs" by N. Rose is when things start getting more graphic. In this story, Toby, a police officer, gets invited to join a club founded by his late father, one which demands absolute secrecy and for him to wear a pig mask as they go on their activities. While I'll admit that maybe it's not the best story to read in the current political climate, the story does pose some interesting questions about, as another reviewer once noted, “duty, morals, and responsibility.” Next is "The Willingness of Prey" by Paul Allih, a tale about three friends who share one interest in common: vore—but what will happen to this trio when one of them reveals a way to fulfill their fantasies? Without going into much spoilers, the multiple POVs in this story really help to crank the horror since we, as the audience, are the only ones getting the complete picture of everything that's happening all the way to its satisfactory conclusion. Next comes "6 Dicks" by Rachel Lee Weist, a black comedy about Wax, an opossum on a mission. Said mission: to steal six human dicks to craft a skin suit from them. Overall, a pretty fun read, though it might be the only one I'd consider to be a little gratuitous given one very specific scene near its end. In "The Others" by C. M. Saunders we see a difference between the protagonist and the narrator. In this story, James meets Marilynn on a blind date, a girl with the ability to see things that others can't, one of which is a very mean and jealous panda. While reading this, I couldn’t help but to get vibes of r/NoSleep, given the casual tone of the story and how most of it read as a second-hand experience. Next comes "Randall Rabbit." In this story by Elliot Arthur Cross we follow Fred, a young man who recalls his life in a foster home after one of his clients shows up dressed in a bunny costume. While the ending was more than satisfactory, it also felt like most of the horror in the story came from the ending alone. The morale of this story is simple: Don't fuck with rabbits. Dealing less with horror and more with the erotic side of this anthology we have "A Concubine for the Hive" by Rue K. Poe. This is the tale of Lora, a woman in an unhappy marriage who decides to take advantage of her husband's bee allergy to get rid of him, which leads to several unforeseen consequences. Sweet sex scenes notwithstanding, Lora's ultimate fate did leave much to be desired for me. #TeamRandyForever A mix of erotic and body horror come together in "Five Nights With Teddy" by Thurston Howl. This be-careful-what-you-wish-for story deals with Dante, a furry fan who goes to meet the eponymous Teddy for a chance to be transformed into his fursona, each night getting closer to his goal, for better or for worse. A very unsettling story, with the main character's way of coping making it even more so as the nights go on. Next comes "Oh Piggy, My Piggy" by Matt Scott. In this story, John is awakened by Potter, his pet pig, who has recently gained the ability to talk and... well, let's just say that the title of this story sets the right expectations from the go. In some ways, this story reminded me of "A Concubine for the Hive," especially in how John also deserved better than what he got. In "Ware the Deep" by Stephanie Park we follow Zachary, a werewolf who's on the lookout for his next meal and ends up picking a girl he meets at a bar, one with an obsessive for and unusual interest in sharks. Extremely well paced, this cat-and-mouse story will have your eyes glued as you wonder who'll come out triumphant. Well, who am I kidding? We all know who was going to win, but, as the saying goes, "The journey, not the destination matters." Featuring transformation horror at its core, we have "The Molt of a Diminishing Light" by Michelle F. Goddard. In this tale, Amara, a shape-shifter, decides to go back to her original form after the "magic" disappears from her relationship with her human husband. Most of the story deals with Amara's painful transformation as she takes a walk down memory lane, unaware that her husband is on his way. Will he be able to accept her for what she is or are things doomed from the beginning? Somber and nostalgic. Last, but definitely not least, we have "The Victims" by James L. Steele. In this story, a female wolf recounts to one of her newborn pups about a yearly ritual that he'll eventually have to take part in. Every year, for one day only, evil spirits are given full control over their bodies and in exchange these spirits leave the world alone. As expected from this kind of spirit, what they decide to do with their new, temporary bodies and the aftermaths of it make up the bulk of the story. Body horror, dread, and somberness are all over the place, more than making "The Victims" a great way of finishing this collection. Overall, a fun and disturbing anthology with a wide enough variety for fans of horror. This book will make you cringe, will make you sad, will make you root for some heroes while hating some of the others, and will keep you on the edge of your seat most of the time. However, as much as I liked several of the stories, I have to admit that I'd have mixed feelings recommending the anthology as a whole due to some of the subjects contained within it and the way they were handled. If any of the tagged warnings might offend you, this might not be the best book for you. If, on the other hand, you think you can stomach through all of them, pick this one up. I can assure that you'll have a beast of a time.

Furry Galaxy 75 Book One: Pandora’s Box is a novel of “a clean anthropomorphic space fantasy” written by Van Hill Millvele. It’s a family friendly novel designed to “introduce family members to the furry fandom.” I received an advance copy for review. The story seems to be about ancient prophecies and three people who must come together to release Pandora from a magical/technological set of boxes that are actually ancient pottery?It’s not often I have to use a question mark in a review like that, but unfortunately that’s the case with this book. It’s incredibly hard to follow what is going on and why half of the time for various reasons. These boxes I mentioned, that are really ancient computer pottery, seem to have viruses mentioned that can mess with them but somehow also magic maybe preventing some people from using them? It’s too confusing to fully understand. The writer has a habit of suddenly throwing huge concepts at you with minimal explanations. In the first few chapters the idea of being able to come back to life after dying exists, tons of races, what seems to be an important government and religious system, magic, science, robot people, smart AIs in computers, alternate universes, and time travel are all things mentioned. Oh, and I guess for some reason some people’s timelines can be locked down somehow? There’s so much information being dumped at once it’s almost impossible to keep track of it all. It doesn’t help that some of that information doesn’t even seem important either. The exact kinds of sugarless gum flavors a character likes as an example, why did that need such a specific attention? Then there’s so many characters thrown at you so quickly there’s no way to remember them all. I think at least 20+ characters were mentioned by name within the first few chapters. It’s unfortunate too as almost all of these concepts are explained in dialogue. Unfortunately the characters don’t speak to each other like regular people making it extra awkward to read what is supposed to be so important. The story in general also feels so erratic, it’s hard to focus on what is happening or even know what is important. Out of nowhere, a character is suddenly dumped as they find out the person they are dating MARRIED their friend with absolutely no warning, as an example. Another issue I found was how simplistic the writing was in general. It reminded me of the kinds of books I read to my daughter when she was five, though honestly a bit clunkier. “Toby walked slowly to the shuttle bay. He was a Lycan and looked sort of like a husky. Toby had fur but no hair, but his markings made him look as if he did. He was dressed in black pants and a blue shirt.” This is the first sentence you see in the book as an example. It’s choppy and certainly doesn’t get people excited to read forward. Which, if the book has the goal of introducing family to the furry fandom, is a very bad sign. I personally found the book exhausting to try and read. Now, the goal of the book is to introduce furry to family members while keeping clean. I would say it doesn’t succeed purely because of how exhausting it is just to read the book. Even in the attempts to explain furries have so much hand-holding it feels overkill.“Furry fingers looked different from Human hands because they had paw pads. Some Furries had only paws, but most had fingers.”In a world with Zootopia, The Secret of Nimh, Watership Down, Robin Hood, and even the Warriors series of novels people can understand anthropomorphized animals without needing it explained that simply. Or if it needed to be, it could be done so more subtly. Perhaps he shakes hands with a human and feels the skin under his paw pads then says how it’s interesting it always is feeling a hand so different than his own. I do not want to leave this entirely negative however, so let’s try to leave some strong constructive feedback. First, the idea in general of a clean novel designed to help transition people into reading furry writing is honestly a marvelous idea! So would potentially having a book designed for younger audiences specifically: there’s furries out there with kids too after all. Second, the general concept of interesting ancient technology could be an interesting draw. Or a prophecy of some kind. Or multiple universes. Or the differences between magic and science. Or government versus religion. There’s FAR too much going on here and here needs to be more of a focus. Also, if a character isn’t completely vital to the story they shouldn’t be in it. Pick a single lane and try to keep more focus on it while only using a couple of these other things if they are needed to tell the story.Finally, the writing in general needs to be far more fluid. Even if this does end up focused to be for young readers, there’s plenty of examples out there that show they don’t need such strong hand holding. Catwings is a phenomenal example, while also keeping quite furry in nature.So to be blunt, I could not bring myself to finish the entire story. It simply was too confusing, written too choppily, and was not engaging enough for me to do so. Life is too short to read through books you are not enjoying. However, this was an advance copy. So perhaps some work could be done to try and clean it up so it can be something better before release. If it comes out without major changes, I hate to say I cannot recommend purchasing or reading this book.

Hello readers and welcome to our next Furry Writers’ Guild spotlight for Pride Month! Today we’ll be interviewing Den Leinir Turthra Jensen! Their pronouns are either they/them or it/its. We could tell you more about them, but why when they could do it themself? Let’s get to the interview!

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

Leinir: I’m originally from Denmark, but moved to the UK about a decade ago, as my better half is from there and it was easier for me to relocate. We now live together with a good friend, and our pet two legged rat in a doer-upper bungalow in the English Midlands. Usually, I’m a pretty relaxed sort of person, and quite enjoy cooking a bit of food. Especially for people who enjoy it, which luckily is the case most of the time.

I’m not a full time writer, so my everyday thing is being sponsored to work on free and open source software, primarily in the KDE project, where I work primarily on the KNewStuff, Calligra Gemini, and Peruse projects. Recently, I also became involved with The Tail Company (guess what they make… no, not just tails, but yes, also those), for whom I maintain their Android app, for controlling their DIGITAiL and EarGear animatronic gear.

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

Leinir: Oh no, the scary question! They’re my babies, I couldn’t possibly chose… One of my favourites, though not only for the story itself but also everything else surrounding it, is probably my story about a society where we have carnivores in a modern society very similar to our own, and the kind of effects that might have on society. It is set in a Denmark, where the first pack of wolves in over a century recently established themselves. That is to say, that has happened in our world, but it functions as the catalyst for the story as well. This story started out really just with that in mind, and without any proper plot behind it, the way most of my stories do.

What developed as I wrote was a bonding tale that made one beta reader tell me, whatever else I did to that story, to not change the ending as they thought it had made them a better person. If I never make another person think that, I will be contented to know that i at least made one person feel that way. The story, and the recipe that goes with it, can be found in The Furry Cookbook, which exists only as a frankly glorious hardcover version the creation of which I am proud to have been a small part.

FWG: What do you think makes a good story?

Leinir: Characters. Believable ones, with more depth than you encounter in the story itself. The ones that leave you wanting to know more, about them, and about their world. The ones who can keep a conversation that isn’t necessarily just for the plot.

FWG: How long have you been in the guild, and what changes have you seen with regards to how writing is handled since joining?

Leinir: I’m a brand spanking new member, with my actual membership proper less than a month old. I have, however, been hanging out in the guild spaces for several years now, and I have seen the guild go through a couple of series of changes. When I joined, the guild seemed in a little upheaval, and since then it has pulled itself together substantially. When I joined, it was really mostly to hang out with a bunch of people who also write, but what I found was not only friends, but encouragement and help with building skills that have come in more than a little handy since.

Until joining, I had no real desire or plans to attempt to write anything for publication, and here we are now, with several stories in a variety of anthologies, a small set of contributor copies on my shelf. Even a recipe to go with one of those stories, thanks to The Furry Cookbook I mentioned before.

FWG: You are agender correct? Can you explain what that means to you to the folks reading this interview?

Leinir: Certainly can! Usually, when describing this, I will just say that it means I don’t have a gender, but of course that is something of an oversimplification. Gender, it seems, is a case of multi-dimensional geometry. The simplistic view on it tends to be the idea that there is just one axis with male at one end and female the other, which at least on many companies’ websites sees to be interpreted as absolute values, so you can only pick one of those.

My own version, which also is a simplification, but which catches at least a fair bit more of the nuances of reality, is to have three axes: The male/female axis, to put you anywhere between the two. An inclusive/exclusive axis, which lets you suggest whether your position on the first axis is a mix of either extreme, or an absence of the one to which that position is nearest. And finally, the strength axis, which lets you position the strength of affiliation with the position on the first axis.

Given that bit of geometric fiddling about, for me, I fall fairly in the middle on the first axis, and on the second axis somewhere fairly near to the exclusive side, which puts me at more or less having an absence of gender, rather than having one. And then we get to the strength axis, which is where I feel occasionally like a bit of an impostor. Not in a terrible way, not really, but more because the strength of my gender identity is not particularly high.

What this means is that while i was born with male primary sexual characteristics, I do not really suffer very much from dysmorphia, or even dysphoria. That is to say, I would prefer not to have these things, but from there to actually being disgusted by them like some are, or it having any kind of effect in my day to day life outside of everybody calling me him a lot, it doesn’t affect me any great deal. That is not to say that it doesn’t have some semblance of effect, because of course it does – see for example my textual facepalming above about binary gender choices in random web registration forms and the like. It simply means that, really, for me, day to day, it is at most an inconvenience and a disappointment that the world is so stuck in a binary, when the real world is so much more fuzzy.

FWG: You’re also asexual! What part of the asexual spectrum do you fall under and what does that mean to you?

Leinir: This is a slightly more… new discovery in myself, so I’ve not thought as deeply about how to describe it as i have with my gender… But, with that in mind, there is a similar thing going on here with the axes, though I’m not sure how to label them. However, one thing that made me think I was not asexual in the past was that well, I do occasionally do the sexy stuff, and I do enjoy that when it happens. I greatly enjoy wearing slinky clothing, like spandex and the like, and I have been a rubberist for longer than i can remember. Rubber being, of course, one of those materials that seems to have all manner of sexual connections, with people having this funny idea that if you wear rubber, it’s a sex thing. For me, then, being asexual is not really a case of being repulsed by sex the way some are, or anything like that, rather for me it means that it is not something I desire, not something I seek out.

I am a highly tactile person, and those materials I mentioned earlier play into that. My entire thing is about hugs, cuddles, stroking, brushing and raking hair, that sort of thing, in that kind of way which means it could involve sex or not, and I really could care less about that. The same for the various aspects of kinkiness that you might encounter, like bondage, even vacuum beds: Everything that I actually do seek out, such as those things, are not sexual in any real way, they are, in effect, about comfort. They are about calm, relaxed pleasure. Nothing more, and nothing less. Sexytimes? Sure, that can be fun, I guess, but I just… don’t really care, i guess.

FWG: What does Pride mean to you?

Leinir: Pride to me means, well, a few different things.

For us, now, where we live, at least to a degree, it is mostly a celebration that we have for the most part arrived at a point where we are not discriminated against in any real kind of big way. There is more to be done, but this seems to be mostly a kind of reluctance to just remove legislation wholesale which has some semblance of reasoning, without having something more reasonable to replace it with. And I kind of get that. Blood donations for gay men, weird requirements about self identification, and other nonsensical things like that notwithstanding.

It also means fighting, and solidarity. We may well be sort of mostly okay where we are, but that does not mean it is like that for all. Pride for me, for us, is then also a way of showing our support for people who do not share the privilege we have for living in a country that at least tries to do these things with some semblance of humanity in mind. Where we are considered people.

With that in mind, it also means memory. It means that pride today, where we live, is remembering that those who came before us fought for our right to be who we are, without having to apologize or hide, without having to fear for our lives.

FWG: Was there a bit of a journey or story to you uncovering your identity? If so, would you be comfortable sharing with us? 

Leinir: Unlike the story told by so many, my journey has been a calm one, supported by those around me. Going through thinking I was bisexual, and even gay, and finally discovering that it is… not quite straightforward enough for that kind of labeling. Because what’s it called when your husband married someone they thought was male, because they didn’t really know any better at the time, and who doesn’t really seek out sex anyway? Gay doesn’t perhaps seem to fit that, but there’s not much in the way of terminology to match, and so queer, in its vagueness, kind of fits. But even that feels not entirely right, and so I simply keep discovering and learning. Maybe that is where my own little part of this huge journey is a little different: I do not feel these things strongly enough for it to be something that stops my life, and with those around me supporting me, it is much easier to explore it, and simply let the discoveries happen when they want to.

FWG: How do you think being agender and asexual has inspired or affected your stories? Have you written agender or asexual characters into your works?

Leinir: I imagine it must have a strong effect on my stories that I do not seek sexual gratification, and that I am tactility… if not obsessed then certainly attached. My stories tend to have a lot of affection in them, but while I have had a whole range of different types of relationships in them, they are never strongly seeking, they are never fiery passionate, not in the way that one might see them in a lot of popular work. Not even going so far as some of the various almost-porn (with which there really is nothing wrong, don’t @ me ), it just is not really something that tends to pop up in my mind as a motivation point for the characters.

Some of them certainly turn out to have desires, and those do get fulfilled – even if usually after fading out, or perhaps refused because motivation and no you don’t always get to have the thing – but it is usually a motivator in the story. I sometimes wonder if this reduces the scopes of what stories i can tell, but also, as such motivations don’t really work for me as a person, I would feel uncomfortable trying to work them in. It would feel, perhaps, a little disingenuous. In other words: Yes, my asexuality has most certainly affected my writing, and being agender means I have, well, a few characters with either entirely unspecified gender, or explicitly no gender, and a bunch of varieties on that whole handwavy thing.

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

Leinir: Frankly i am not sure. The parts of my writing which are, I guess, sociopolitical in nature tend to focus on other things than sexuality and gender identity, and for those it rather has a tendency to sneak in, because, well, in my head there just isn’t anything wrong with it. That is not to say no conflicts arise, because they do, but it tends to not really be a main motivational factor for any antagonist, or even protagonist, it just is a thing which is there.

In my less deliberately commenting work, conversely, it does seem to sneak in more often. Not so much the gender related ones, but rather the asexuality ones I mentioned just before; the hugs, just casual cuddling and contact. With the social distancing that is currently so front and center (and likely will be with us for a very long time, and rightly so), it feels like maybe I need to think very carefully about how to frame that in the future.

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

Leinir: Well, that is a question and a bit! A couple spring to mind, I’m sorry, I cannot do only the one.

One being the Helliconia Trilogy by Brian W. Aldiss, which was my first proper entry into serious, highly conceptual sci fi. The thing is nearly as old as I am, but that doesn’t stop it from being the thing which made my young mind go all funny with idea. That it is also the book I was reading when our house burnt down in 1995 might have had some effect in cementing it in my mind (and no, that was a long time ago, we’re all out the other side and all we lost was belongings, everybody was safe, including the animals).

The other book is The 40,000 At Gehenna, by C J Cherryh, which is not as religious a book as the title suggests. It is, without going into it too deeply, a story about a colony of artificially grown and, effectively, hypnotically programmed humans who were in essence dumped on a newly discovered planet and, due to some social upheaval at the other end of their supply lines, ended up having to fend for themselves on a world where life already existed before they landed. The programming included some base stipulations to ensure they would love and take care of that world, and the book explores what that means and how that kind of broadly termed instruction might be interpreted.

Finally, I will mention that i am right now utterly engrossed in a book by fellow FWG member, JFR Coates, whose space stoats and the immense hardships they live through in Reborn and the sequel Traitor are currently bringing me as close to tears as anything has for a long time. I am not yet through book two yet, and already hunger to spend more time in this world, and consequently am delighted to know there is a third book on the way. It is astonishing, and if you haven’t grabbed copies yet already, you absolutely, definitely should go and do so right now. Perhaps finish reading the interview first, but definitely go and grab that.

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

Leinir: You should be immensely proud of the wonderful, supporting place that is the Furry Writers’ Guild, and furry in general. When I joined in the late 90s, this was a much maligned community, which mostly just ignored the trite commentary by others about these weirdos and their fluffy or otherwise animal things with human type stuff also going on. As time passed, I got to watch, and experience in person, how this evolved into one of the most welcoming and aware communities out there.

When the internet went insane and people realized just how prevalent, shall we just say certain political thoughts, were, we were able to look around, frown, and be a bit confused, all the while the world outside praised us for being the one place that had really not allowed that lot to spend any amount of time with us outside of a few, scattered, and decidedly tiny and unwelcome parts. It is a wonderful thing. Be proud. Furry or not, just the fact you made it to here means you have some interest, and have at least some awareness of that fact.

We would like to thank Leinir again for this wonderful interview! You can find a list of their published works on their Goodreads account and follow them on Mastodon. Stay tuned for next week when we feature another member of the guild for pride! Until we meet again, may your words flow like water.

 

 

Let’s face it: Furry fans are going to notice a manga with a title like Reborn As A Polar Bear (aka The Legend of How I Became a Forest Guardian). Check out this description: “After devoted mountain climber Kumakichi Kumada falls into a ravine, he wakes up in the middle of a forest in another world… as a polar bear! Now this tough Ursus maritimus is looking after six werewolf sisters on the run from the humans tyrannizing their clan. Keeping his wits about him and using his knowledge from his past life, the next ‘mountain’ for him to climb will be making a comfortable life in the forest for everyone!” It’s written in by Chihiro Mishima, and illustrated in black & white (with some color pages) by Houki Kusano and Kururi. Take a look over at Yen Press.

image c. 2020 Yen Press

We’re excited about the new open source AV1 video & image codec. Nearly every major tech company seems to be behind it, so what’s the motivation? Our sysadmin doggo Riley and software developer wolf s0ph0s join to go on a deep dive on the history of AV1, what features it will bring, when it will start to appear, and how it even works.

FurCast is sponsored by Twin Tail Creations. Use coupon codes REDWOLF or BLUEFOX to save 15% 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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Discussed:

• AV1 is a free video codec with more intelligent image compression that takes advantage of how good computing power is getting, while being 50%+ more efficient in bandwidth than most existing solutions
  • Developed by Alliance for Open Media
  • Backed by: Amazon, Apple, ARM, Cisco, Facebook, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix, NVIDIA, Samsung, Tencent
    • More support from: BBC, AMD, Adobe, Hulu, CableLabs, Polycom, VideoLAN, Vimeo, Twitch, AND MORE….
  • Built off a foundation of Google’s already deployed VP9, Google’s planned VP10, Cisco’s Thor, and Xiph’s Daala
• Existing codecs:
  • Today’s older H.264 is a licensing nightmare, the successor H.265 is even worse
  • Apple didn’t like VP9’s licensing or battery consumption
  • DVD uses H.262 (MPEG-2), Blu-ray uses H.264, and UHD Blu-ray uses H.265
  • Cisco’s OpenH264 decoder announced in 2013 saved Mozilla $9.75 million a year
  • H.265 carries 23 patents
  • NVIDIA’s matrix of codec support for encoding & decoding on various GPU models
• AV1 is already here!
  • YouTube has a beta setting you can enable, plus a playlist of videos known to support AV1
  • Netflix has started deploying AV1
  • LG’s latest gen SmartTV models have native AV1 decoding
  • AOM’s timeline has hit phase 4.
  • It is rumored Apple will announce AV1 support at the next WWDC or hardware release
  • Chrome and Firefox are getting AVIF support
  • AV1 bit-stream frozen in December 2018
  • AV1 encoding with SVT-AV1 is now faster than H.265
• AV1 uses Opus for audio by default, which sounds good compared to other codecs
• Netflix wrote a tech blog on using AV1 for images, aka AVIF format
  • Farm photo example
  • Barn door photo example
• AV1 is very smart
  • Perceptual Vector Quantization
  • Variably Sized Blocks
  • Lapped Transforms
  • Chroma from Luma Prediction
  • Support for new motion types such as warped motion
  • Film grain synthesis
  • and much much more
  • JPEG in comparison primarily uses Discreet Cosine Transform
  • Do I look like I know what a JPEG is?
• Three encoders:
  • Reference encoder (proves every concept but very slow)
  • rav1e backed by Xiph Mozilla and Vimeo
  • SVT-AV1 backed by Netflix and Intel

[Tech] The New AV1 Codec

According to the Wikipedia page, Jungle Beat is a CGI animated TV series out of South Africa, featuring the dialogue-free adventures and antics of various African animals. Later, the series was expanded into the adventures of Munki and Trunk. (No prizes for guessing what species they are…) Well now this year Munki and Trunk are on their way in their own feature film as Sunrise Productions presents Jungle Beat: The Movie. “One morning, the animals of the jungle wake up to discover that they can speak. They’re even more amazed when they learn the reason why: There’s an alien in the jungle! Little Fneep has come to conquer the planet and has brought some crazy tech with him, including a translation device that lets them talk for the first time. Unfortunately for the intergalactic Scaldronian empire, but fortunately for the jungle, Fneep is a terrible conqueror: He’s homesick, he’s crashed his ship, and he’s no match for the antics of Munki, Trunk, and the gang.” Keep your eyes open: The producers are planning a world-wide on-line release party at the end of this month.

image c. 2020 Sunrise Productions