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So we were talking about new games. Also at Long Beach Comic Con we came across the creators of Dogtag, “the attention-grabbing card game for dog-people”.  Here’s how they describe it on their web site: “The inspiration for Dogtag came from Los Angeles, where finding people who have tens of thousands of followers on Instagram is a casual occurrence. Anywhere you go you’ll see people posing in front of walls, taking pictures of food, and sneaking selfies. Showing off the highlights of our lives is a trend we all can relate to, and it only makes sense that we decided to create a card game following these themes. DUH. A splash of pop culture here, and a bucket-load of dog puns there, and this is what we get: A fun satire on social media packaged into a heckin’ cute card game.” Which is available now. The web site has video previews too.

image c. 2018 Dogtag Media

First off, never screw with a raccoon. Second, video game universes are kinda screwed up. So this short seems to be for appears to be for an unreleased phone game that is probably coming out soon: http://trilobitesoft.com/games/wilds.html [1] [1] http://trilobitesoft.com/games/wilds.html
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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Ragged; or, The Loveliest Lies of All, by Christopher Irvin. Illustrations by Conor Nolan.
Boston, MA, Cutlass Press, October 2017, trade paperback, $16.00 (250 [+1] pages).

“Cal sat along the riverbank atop a wind-swept pile of dry, dead leaves. Bare feet at the water’s edge, pea coat buttoned to his chin. The ancestry of his mixed breed had been lost to time, but if you’d been fortunate to be in the company of a variety of the Canis lupus familiaris, you might think his facial features resembled that of a beagle: dusty white from nose to top of skull blending with a reddish-brown along the sides of his face and lower jaw, eyes sharp with a tinge of sadness, and long ears that dangled near his shoulders, that at first glance might cause one to mistake his nature for more playful than it was. Cal would deem himself a proud mutt, but when you’re head of the sole family of dogs to make their home in the Woods, you become the dog; the definition your face, your actions. All in all, it was a mixed bag – especially considering his past. When you grow up with an exiled raccoon with a penchant for poaching for a mentor, life in the Woods is an uphill battle. Cal clutched a makeshift fishing rod loosely in his paws – a slightly gnarled branch with a bit of moss-dyed twine […]” (p. 11)

Well, this paragraph goes on for another half-page. Author Irvin describes Ragged as like “Fargo meets Wind in the Willows”. The back-cover blurb begins, “In a feral twist on crime fiction, Cal, a mutt with a criminal past, must avenge the death of his wife and protect his pups from the inherent darkness of nature and the cold cruelness of the looming winter.”

As you can tell, Irvin has a laid-back, wordy writing style. Considering the rural backwoods setting, and the animal cast – Duchess, the old hedgehog who runs the General Store, Roderick rabbit with his 26 children (he’s almost immediately killed), Gil the argumentative catfish, Maurice the sly raccoon, head of the Rubbish Heap gang, Billiam Badger the officious town bureaucrat (“I’m the elected official of the Woods […]”), Nutbrown Squirrel the matronly schoolteacher, Ted and Helen Pig, Hugo and Mol Otter, Hank and Myrtle Tortoise, and many more, Ragged at times seems more like Walt Kelly’s swamp community in Pogo. But then:

“Old Brown [a bear] burst from the river, paws outstretched for Cal, who was tense and ready this time, yet Old Brown’s reach was too long and he snatched Cal by his coat as he tried to back away, popping a button loose, wrenching him to the river’s edge, face-to-face. As Old Brown pulled him in, Cal ripped the pistol from his pocket, pulled back the hammer and pressed it into the side of the bear’s skull. The rivals snarled, bared their sharp teeth with clenched jaws.” (p. 21)

Calvin’s wife Winifred has gone away from the Woods. Cal pretends that she’s just on a trip, but he knows that she has been bitten and given an incurable and horrific disease (rabies is hinted at). She has left in secrecy to die before she can give it to anyone else, especially to Franklin and Gus, her and Cal’s rambunctious young pups. Cal is faced with having to raise them as a single father while finding out who or what bit Winifred and avenging her. Plenty of ominous things happen:

“Something round hurtled toward Cal’s left. It rebounded off the side of the house and landed on the porch with a wet thunk. He crouched down to examine the object. It appeared roughly round at first, like an under-inflated leather ball, but when he poked at it with a paw he knew otherwise, and he took a step back from the threat. A small severed head lay on its side. It had been expertly skinned, leaving it devoid of features except for the vacant eyes, which thankfully stared away from Cal at the porch floor, for he almost instantly recognized them.” (p. 56)

There is suspense:

“Cal heard a cry overhead and opened his eyes, startled to catch a glimpse of a broad-winged hawk circling nearby, its head cocked to the side, one eye on the ground. Cal quickly glanced at his surroundings – all naked trees and decaying leaves. Nothing thick enough to hide behind, or layered to burrow under. Then, up ahead he spotted a squat cluster of evergreens, improbably punching out from the base of a short cliff. Beside them, a large oak had fallen, uprooting its base of dirt and roots and creating a narrow tunnel between it, the evergreens, and the cliff face. Cal ducked to stay low and ran forward, hoping his timing was good as he slid over a floor of pine needles and took cover underneath the evergreens. He looked up through the branches and tried to get a bead on the hawk, but the view was obscured. He’d have to expose himself to the sky to see. His mouth ran dry. Trapped.” (p. 103)

And violence:

“At some point, a well-intentioned animal had cut a burlap sack into a sheet and laid it over the body. Unfortunately, gore had soaked through the makeshift cover in several spots, forming a thick glue-like adhesive, and forcing Cal to place a paw on [spoiler’s] shoulder to hold the body down and peel it off. Immediately he understood why others felt ill at the sight of her. [spoiler] was a mess – her throat ravaged, small bites had torn chunks from her arms, her apron ripped away, the contents of her insides splayed about, as if something had rooted around, unable to find what they were looking for despite having full access. Whoever – whatever – had attacked her had been out of control. Or had wanted to appear that way…” (pgs. 179-180)

Ragged (cover by Matthew Revert) is compared here to the movie Fargo, to The Wind in the Willows, to Watership Down, to Pogo, to Roald Dahl/Wes Anderson, and more. It’s its own thing. Read it for a grisly murder mystery. With cute funny animals.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Cutlass Press
• Buy on Amazon

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Thanks to Animation World Network we’ve learned that the ever-popular Care Bears are back again — this time exploring more of their world and its inhabitants. “Premium subscription streaming service Boomerang is set to unlock the imagination of the next generation of Care Bears fans as the official domestic home and world premiere destination for Care Bears: Unlock the Magic, a brand new 2D animated series from Cloudco Entertainment… A current take on The Care Bears that also plays homage to iconic brand elements like “The Care Bear Stare,” Care Bears: Unlock the Magic sends the Care Bears on the road for the first time, exploring wonderful, never-before-seen areas surrounding Care-a-lot called The Silver Lining. And as a result, the bears will get to meet new creatures and employ their powers and wits like never before.” Only thing we don’t know yet is a launch date. We’ll find out!

Image c. 2018 Boomerang

it's a new podcast we will be doing! Xander the Blue & Chris the Comedy Bunny talk about and review the new release 3D Child+Robot movie, Next Gen! We really loved doing it and we hope you like it too. Patreon: www.patreon.com/thedraggetshow www.draggetshow.com Be sure to check our website for all Things Dragget Show! Podcasts, videos, merch and more! Also, don't forget we stream the D&D sessions Sunday at 7pm Central on YouTube! YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/DraggetShow What The Flix?: Next Gen Review - it's a new podcast we will be doing! Xander the …

Did you know we have been experimenting with domesticating foxes for 60 years?
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This is seems very mongrels inspired PSA, it's good idea to go get those cats fixed before you have too many cats to take care of. https://cattherapyandrescue.com/ [1] [1] https://cattherapyandrescue.com/
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The crew joins up once more to fill your ears with words and Kaar discusses an op ed piece that is getting all the attention Episode 43 - Shark editorials

The full crew is together this week to go over the weeks happenings..if they don't get side tracked Episode 42 - Shark Daddy

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Dissident Signals, edited by NightEyes DaySpring and Slip Wolf.
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, July 2018, trade paperback, $19.95 (349 pages), Kindle $9.95.

“Everyone wants to create a perfect world.

Whether crafted by benevolent computers or drafted in the boardrooms of corporations that own all we ever know, shining cities and indomitable Empires have risen to reveal the very best of us. The leaders we choose, and those forced upon us, can create hell or paradise. Sometimes they create both at the same time.” (blurb)

Of course, things don’t go as intended. This anthology contains “sixteen dystopian stories about greed, power, and control from worlds like ours but not ours. Stories about hope, despair, and those willing to stand up to their oppressors to resist.” (blurb)

The frame, created by the editors and illustrated on the cover by Teagan Gavet, is of a nameless individual holed up in a ruined building, broadcasting sixteen accounts of what went wrong all over the world.

In “0.02%” by Faora Meridian, 0.02% is the amount of the world population that is immune to Core’s brainwashing additive to the air, called Whimsy, making everyone happy and peaceful and docile. Since Core can’t Whimsy-fy the entire atmosphere of Earth, people are brought inside enclosed Colonies all around the world. The 0.02% of the population who are unaffected by Whimsy are considered unmanageable and warlike, and are regretfully euthanized. Jordan Mulley and her brother Blake are freedom fighters among the 0.02%, trying to infiltrate Core Colony Sixty-Two to rescue a youth about to be tested for his susceptibility or resistance to Whimsy. The characters debate whether a world where 99.9998% of people are happy and peaceful in a idyllic setting is bad, if the other 0.02% are killed.

“Chasing the Feeling” by Mog Moogle is like the previous story, but much bleaker. Mirra is also inside an enclosed dome, but the entire world outside is uninhabitable:

“The reddened sky dissipated over the wall. Behind the emitters, the deadly cloud was repulsed and the original shades of night stretched on in its place. With a hiss, the access hatch opened and the vixen crawled in.” (p. 39)

Again, everyone is brainwashed, but the regimentation is much harsher. Mirra also fights against the system, but subconsciously rather than deliberately, and it is implied that it is too late to oppose the system if any life is to survive. “Chasing the Feeling” is better-written than “0.002%”, but more depressing. Both “0.02%” and “Chasing the Feeling” are funny-animal stories. Their characters are described as anthropomorphic animals, but they might as well be humans.

“Losing Yourself” by George Squares does feature humans, in a society where wearing fursuits is mandatory. Okay, they’re enclosed costumes including helmets with a holographic overlay. Macie Owens looks like a “graceful looking orange tabby cat with a dainty pink nose made from holographic light” (p. 57). Inside, she’s sweating to death:

“‘It’s not the fucking animal that’s the problem. I just don’t want to spend the majority of my time in a glorified football mascot.’

Jonas’ costume pupils [he’s a coyote] slit in that angry, predatory way to show that he was about to say something serious, but Macie was so used to it by now that the feature didn’t even phase her. ‘Three centuries of peace and prosperity is nothing to balk at. Especially,’ he hissed, ‘considering the era we woke you up from.’” (p. 58)

Macie has spent 400 years in medical dormant sleep, and the society into which she emerges is what she considers needlessly flamboyant:

“At the entrance of the room was a podium near a red belt fence, and Macie couldn’t help but gawk at the security guard. He stared at her and Jonas as they entered and Macie stared right back. He looked to be at least eight feet tall, and he was… mostly a zebra. He had the arms and legs and tail of a crocodile, and leathery bat-like wings that hung to his sides. They seemed stiff, so they probably weren’t functional. But most distracting were his muscles. He had so many sinews that his body reminded her of a lobster, but probably not as delicious. She looked back and forth from him to Jonas in disbelief. Jonas was ignoring her, and apparently, the security guard was too.” (p. 60)

Macie finds an uninhibited old woman who explains to her what the rules of the new society are, instead of just talking at her like Jonas did. Macie decides what she has to do.

In “The Melting Pot Has Frozen Over” by T. D. Coltraine, enthusiastic but naïve Diana Mondeline, a new Washington, D.C. bureaucrat (human) in the future, decides to visit her district and survey her constituents. She finds that the slum reality is nothing like the reports she has been getting:

“‘It was my idea. I thought it would benefit everyone if I came to Independence District personally and spoke directly with the citizens. It’s something that hasn’t happened in far too long.’

[…]

‘But there’s polling data and election results!’ She picked up her tablet again and pointed at a page of numbers, dozens of them, in tightly packed rows almost too dense to read. ‘This is from just last month. The residents approved a six percent tax on luxury items to fund air quality improvements.’” (pgs. 80-81)

Low-class rabbit factory worker Rue Nikolades shows her the reality:

‘But it ain’t what you expected, is it.’

Diana nodded with an uncharacteristic sigh. ‘Everything I’ve heard and seen today is exactly the opposite of my expectations. Worse, it’s the opposite of everything the party says.’ She ran her fingers through her hair then turned her screen towards Rue. ‘Like this. Just last calendar year, we put a full 170 million credits into transit programs. I can’t even find any sign you have the systems the money was meant to upgrade, let along the upgrades.’” (p. 91)

The factory workers are all anthro animals, the descendants of bioengineered soldiers in a war several hundred years earlier, so there is a purpose for their being furry.

“A Road of Dust and Honey” by Searska GreyRaven is set on an Earth turned into a wasteland studded with infrequent Farms under sealed domes. The remainder of this world runs on both machines and magic; a repairman of a cobbled-together rig is a magi-canic. There are a few humans left, but most of the survivors are combinations of human and an animal, called “splices” derogatorily. The stars of the story are Vex, an adult bearkin, and Kine, a juvenile foxkin; the villains are a human and assorted canidkin:

“She rolled up to the next Farm just after dawn, dust settling on her long coat and boots as she hopped from the cab and shouldered Wilson, her rifle. Frick and Frack, her pistols, hung from holsters on her wide hips, polished metal gleaming in the sun. Tucked into her belt was a Y-shaped slingshot, and next to it dangled a small leather pouch cinched shut with a drawstring. Her rig shuddered as it shut down, letting out a wheeze and a belch of blue smoke. Vex grumbled back, entirely unsurprised by her rig’s outburst. She plopped a wide-brim hat atop her head and swept the gauzy veil back out of her eyes.” (p. 105)

Vex is part trucker, part cowboy (that’s sexist, but cowwoman is misleading), and telling what her magic talent is would be a spoiler. The villains are particularly nasty and deserve what happens to them. A well-told story.

“Protecting the Code” by TJ Minde is unusual in that all the characters are a single species, pine martens, rather than the usual variety of funny-animal species. Dixion is a minor bureaucrat in a completely regimented society where doing practically anything without permission is forbidden grounds for being “disappeared”. When Dixion’s kid sister gets pregnant without being married, he helps her to escape into the next country where the people are all wildcats, even though propaganda says the wildcats eat pine martens. The story is smoothly written, but how many stories (usually not furry) are there about characters in repressive totalitarian societies who try to escape to freedom?

“Gilded Cage” by Jelliqal Belle is narrated by Meg Airedale gens, a harem breeder in a militaristic expanding canine Empire at war with the Catkin nations:

“Mother Xaviera was an upright Poodle gens who wobbled on two legs. There was no pleasing her. You were too loud, too soft, too brusque, too uninteresting, or too know-it-all. We mocked her funny walk behind her back.

Xaviera taught us the right way to howl the patriotic songs that we only half-knew from hearing the soldiers march by to fight the Catkin Celts, or the Tigris Tigers, or whomever we were battling at the time. The Empire had many enemies. That was the price of being the greatest empire in the world: everyone else was jealous of our greatness and wanted to tear us down.   In those lessons, we learned my sister Tabs had a powerful voice. Who knew? Xaviera suggested that she could train for musician as her second vocation.” (p. 160)

Matriarch, a “grey-muzzled Labrador gens”, explains further:

“‘I encourage you to listen to the nurse; follow her advice on what to eat. Do the exercises you learned in training, even when you don’t feel like it. You’ll stay healthy longer.’

‘You mean have more babies,’ barked a cynic in the back.

Matriarch rose from the cushion, helped up by a nearby lute player, and leaned into her cane. ‘No, I mean it might help prevent your bones from shattering from the frequent pregnancies, or help you not bleed to death in labor. Having litter after litter takes a high toll on your body. I don’t know what your life was before you came here, but you will be dreaming of it as paradise before year’s end.’” (pgs. 164-165)

The bitches, or “chew toys”, are baby factories for the Empire, ordered to have as many litters as possible, as quickly as possible. The males are bred for cruelty and viciousness, which makes them more effective soldiers but brutal lovers in the harems on their furloughs. Meg and her twin sister Tabitha learn that Mother Xaviera walks funny because her hip was broken and her leg dislocated by Alpha Pilus Spike, a powerful Bulldog gens who likes to play rough. The females of the Empire, whether they are in harems or factories or labor farms, do not enjoy themselves.

In “The Tower” by Gullwolf, Thistle, a jackrabbit, is a messenger because he is so fast:

“Thistle’s ears shot up, knocking his hat off his head as they swiveled, straining behind him.

[…]

Thistle ducked to snatch the hat, sweeping the cap over his ears as he tucked his head underneath the door frame and dashed out, breaking one of his cardinal rules of never traveling faster than the surrounding citizens. Using the full length of his stride was always bound to cause undue attention, and as he sprinted along the edge of the sidewalk, several canines and felines were glaring at him in his wake for interrupting their meandering stroll. He didn’t stop until the shadow of the skyscraper crossed over him, and the temperature dropped several degrees. The eye was unblinking now, the slit pupil sliding to and fro to keep a watchful eye over its citizens. Thistle shifted the package under his arm and folded his ears back as he shook his identification bracelet on his wrist, reviewing the message once more.” (p. 189)

Thistle lives in a regimented city of mammals watched over by the eye of SECURNET atop the tallest skyscraper in the city. It is enclosed by a fence that everyone is forbidden to go outside, although why anyone would want to is unexplained:

“Thistle’s breath caught as he stepped back. The fence was a good thing. It kept those others away. It kept away those whose diets had razed the land to the barren wasteland it was now, it kept those away those whose needs had swallowed the precious resources for the collected whole, it kept those away who had gutted his ancestors over differences in blood and claw. It kept everyone inside safe. If he didn’t look, the others wouldn’t be there because they knew about the fence. The skyscraper watched and if anything approached from beyond, it would let the citizens know. They were safe under the skyscraper and its ever-watchful gaze.” (pgs. 190-191)

Those outside are the avians and the reptiles. “The Tower” has an eerie ambiance, and the characters are certainly more than funny-animals.

“The Preacherman” by Stephen M. Coghlan is set in Australia. The narrator, Joshua Ezekiel Thompson, is a badger imprisoned for the murder of his stoat best friend. The Preacherman is a hellfire-spouting Tasmanian Devil as the prosecutor, forcing the accused to march in chains through the desert to the next town to be tried before God and the townspeople, with his two announcers (revolvers) as the judge to deliver God’s verdict. But the Preacherman loads the announcers, one chamber to six. The cast may be funny-animals, but this is a powerful fantasy of a bleak, God-fearing frontier community where both all hope in God, and there is no hope.

“Forbidden Fruit” by Detroit follows Turner, a bobcat junk dealer specializing in electronic parts, in a decaying Memphis, TN of the future:

“Turner lived in South Memphis, and he would have to take three separate buses to reach his destination. They were rolling north now along Riverside Drive, headed towards downtown. They’d passed the old exit for the I-55 Bridge into Arkansas, which had collapsed into the Mississippi River a decade ago. The river itself had disappeared from view well before that. The lack of plant life meant hellish erosion of the river’s watershed, rapidly worsening the already notorious flooding o the Big Muddy. Now Riverside Drive traveled alongside a massive dike built of dirt and rubble. Here and there, recognizable pieces of debris poked out from its ugly sides. Memphians had been so desperate to stop the flooding that they had piled whatever could be spared into building the wall: smashed homes, old trailers, cars, and the constantly eroding, infertile dirt. Turner had traveled this way enough times that he instinctively knew where to look for the most recognizable pieces: a hunk of an airplane fuselage, half of a faded beer billboard, the burnt hulk of an old dump truck. The bus shuddered and jarred as it rattled over the long trails of eroded dirt snaking across the crumbling road. Soon the bulldozers would be back out, pushing the dirt up against the dike yet again. Massive walls of compacted earth and rubble surrounded the rest of the city, offering some protection from the hellish dust storms that regularly swept the denuded countryside. The walls allowed Memphians to cling to life, but they kept much of the city shrouded in darkness.” (p. 223)

“Forbidden Fruit” is the scariest story so far, because its leadup to this ruined future America through the consequences of climate change is so plausible — despite the unnecessary nature of its funny-animal cast.

In “Photographs” by Televassi, the protagonist is Val, a former revolutionary in his youth who is a middle-aged establishment history teacher today. Val is also a horse Chimera in the Haven, a domed society in a ruined future Earth society of humans and three Chimera breeds – horses, wolves, and fallow deer – the descendants of bioengineered soldiers:

“‘Right now [Kira says] my research focuses on Chimera’s physical imperfections. We all know wolves lack the hand structure for delicate work thanks to the dewclaws, but it’s not actually a purpose bred trait from their design. We need to stop believing our genetic engineering is so perfect. It’s a neglected interaction between the human and lupine alleles, that causes roughly two-thirds to get them instead of thumbs – in short, they were made to be the unfinished product.’” (p. 250)

Val, a horse, is married to Edna, another horse Chimera whom he does not love. He still loves Kira, who had been a fellow revolutionary in their youth; but she is a deer, and Chimeras are not supposed to marry outside their breeds. Then, after decades, the Underground contacts Val again…

“Gloves” by James L. Steele is set in a modern world of anthro lion prides. The males sit at home, nude, and spend all day fucking their factory-laborer wives (they take turns going to work, and staying home to be fucked) and taking their paychecks:

“‘Males tell us we’re living in modern times. Our factories make computer systems and automobiles. Medicine has saved countless lives. Technology eliminated the need to live in prides, where the females did all the hunting and males merely guarded their territory from intruders. Now we herd the animals we used to hunt and we have leisure time to pursue our interests. But we still live in prides. The lionesses still do all the hunting, and the males do nothing but sit at home and collect wives. They keep us in this role because they benefit from it. We have not advanced beyond our primitive nature, and things are worse than ever because now they know what they are doing. Before, it was instinct. Now it is deliberate.’” (p. 280)

Flora, the lioness narrator, is sullen but she does not know what to do about the status quo. Ant introduces her to the feminine revolution. It can get bloody.

“The Reclaimers” by Joseph Vandehey takes place in a far future where humanity has concentrated in sybaritic artificial mid-ocean cities, and the land has been abandoned to raising food to feed those cities:

“The Vermin are genetically engineered rats, ferrets, raccoons, and otters, with the occasional badger or other species thrown in. They stand a meter tall, with hunched shoulders, and brains pre-programmed with a certain task and enough intelligence to carry it out. A Vermin farmer waters a cornfield. A Vermin plumber fixes the water pipes when they leak. A Vermin picker harvests the corn. A Vermin loader monitors the corn being packed into crates. A Vermin driver takes the crates to the train. A Vermin stevedore offloads the crates onto boats. They are the new domesticates, the wheels by which humanity lives a life of luxury.

But their minds are limited. The same farmer who happily waters corn would be flummoxed by wheat. They have no inkling of the world beyond their pre-programed task, the most basic of problem solving, and the necessities for survival.” (p. 286)

The nameless narrator is a human “scientist”, really a bureaucratic “assessor” assigned to find out why the manufacturing output in what was Eastern Europe has dropped. So he ventures into the ruined towns and finds …

What he finds is described in a letter to his colleagues. It’s eerily colorful, an “unintended consequence” of the Vermin’s programming. Whether it is encouraging or horrific is up to the reader. It might be better if the letter-writing narrator was less histrionically Lovecraftian in his descriptions.

Dissident Signals by Black Teagen

“Coffee Grounds” by Thurston Howl begins with an unforgettable brief paragraph:

“Some say the world will end in fire; some say in ice. They never would have guessed it would end in coffee.” (p. 297)

That’s such a great paragraph that I won’t describe the story any further. Just read it.

“Not All Dogs” by Mary E. Lowd is set in her Otters in Space world, and is specifically a spinoff of the scene in Otters in Space III where Petra Brighton (cat) is arrested on a trumped-up charge by a dog policeman. Here her husband Lucky (terrier), one of the dogs not prejudiced against cats, is persuaded to join the protest march outside the police station. He has to bring their three kitten children (adopted) with him for lack of a babysitter:

“It wasn’t that Lucky didn’t support cats’ rights. Of course, he did. He was married to one, wasn’t he? But there’s a difference between voting for equal wage laws and standing outside [the police station] with a poster board sign. Democracy depended on voting; protests were for when democracy broke down. And as far as Lucky knew, democracy hadn’t broken down in in the Uplifted States since the Dark Times after the humans left Earth. In fact, given that they’d elected their first feline president last year, democracy and cats’ rights seemed better than ever.

‘You’re here early!’ Cassandra meowed, marching out of the crowd to meet Lucky. ‘And you’ve got all three kittens! That’ll look great on camera.’

‘You sound surprised…’ Lucky woofed. ‘Were you not expecting me this early? Or to bring the kittens?’” (p. 314)

Lucky had been naïve before the protest march about the canine establishment’s prejudice against felines. Not afterwards.

“A Better America 501(c)(3)” by NightEyes DaySpring is also about a degenerate, rundown future America. X35670, a.k.a. Hunter, is a manufactured coyote morph working for the charity A Better America in Washington, D.C. It, and the morphs working for it (technically owned by it), are constantly harassed by the authorities because their increasing charity work makes the establishment look bad. What happens can’t be easily summarized because of too many legal twists and turns, but Hunter – who prefers X35670; there are too many Hunters while he is the only X35670 – volunteers for a dangerous scam to take at least one of the corrupt government rulers down.

The sixteen stories are all powerful. They start out with the destruction of the planetary biosphere, or at least of civilization, and end with a positive note. The last two stories just feature a corrupt America which could be redeemed. The best story My favorite story is “Gilded Cage” by Jelliqal Belle, followed by “Losing Yourself” by George Squares, “A Road of Dust and Honey” by Searska GreyRaven, “Forbidden Fruit” by Detroit, and “Not All Dogs” by Mary E. Lowd. You may prefer others; I’m prejudiced against funny-animal stories where the characters could as easily be humans, while if you don’t mind them, there are some fine ones here.   A technical quibble is that the front ¾ of the book is admirably proofread, while the last two or three stories don’t seem to have been proofread at all.

Dissident Signals (cover by Teagan Gavet) is overall a very good furry anthology. You’ll enjoy it.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Fur Planet
• Buy Ebook on Bad Dog Books
• Buy on Amazon

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

And then, there were those two guys wandering around Long Beach Comic Con in sheep costumes… Turns out they were busy plugging a new card game called Sheeple, which was developed by Aaron Smith. According to the web site, Aaron ” … needed a way to tweak his game, and found inspiration from the book he was reading at the time, Animal Farm, by George Orwell.  While Animal Farm is a sad, dystopian book about an animal-led Communist revolution gone wrong, the idea of animals walking on two feet inspired him.  ‘Sheeple’ is normally a non-favorable term for people who act like sheep; who are docile, compliant, or easily influenced, and do not think for themselves.  However, spun the other way, ‘Sheeple’ could also mean sheep who are trying to become more civilized and people-like, a positive.  It would be a great way to theme a game about thinking like others.  Some sheep puns could even be thrown in there for good measure.” Having finished a successful Kickstarter campaign, chances are this will all make more sense when the game comes out in mid-September. Baa!

image c. 2018 Smith Games

There is always a bigger fish.
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Photo: twitter.com/thebecwar

When you’re tiny, less is more. When you’re a real-life 4-legged guinea pig named Tiny, having a convention named for you is a big honor. And for a moderately sized community, a smaller con can bring outsized fun.

That’s the vibe I got from my trip to this 2nd-year convention in Danbury, Connecticut. It drew around 300 attendees. Where I am in the San Francisco Bay Area, “the world’s greatest concentration of furries per square mile” (wikifur) has casual monthly meets that bring hundreds. It can be too much to keep up with. Do you ever get that feeling? Try events where furries are less dense. It’s like a throwback to a fresher, younger fandom.

Organizers K’gra and Nobody bring lots of positive energy for that. It cuts through negativity of current events like a rainbow laserbeam. They laughed about me being a mild, laid-back California dog person, and said “I can’t believe you came all the way here for this!” I said, “I can’t believe you invited me!”

Being a Guest of Honor came with a duty to support the con. The panel I did on self-employment (and DIY power of fandom) was well attended.  Other well-known furry names gave support too. Meeting Uncle Kage and Boozy Badger made me appreciate them for bringing their mix of long experience and newer yet super vocal membership. And not just themselves, but their family and friends.

One of the most common comments about this year's camp was the amount of programming we had available.

Well that is thanks to all of you who took the time to develop and hold panels! We cannot thank you enough!

— Counselor Tuck (@CTPTuck) August 22, 2018

Some cons are party cons, but @TinyPaws_Con is def a con of crafts, creation & spaces that are designed to let kids have fun & be kids!

Me personally i love when theres an art jam & kids are loudly schooling us all on how to draw. Some of that confidence is infectious

— @hi_cial@hyenas.space (@Hi_Cial) August 19, 2018

Welcoming kids and families makes sense in a fandom that started over 30 years ago. It doesn’t always please people who want a party vibe, but there’s already dozens of cons with special focus, from waterparks to casino activities, so why not let kids and parents have just one?

Sometimes there’s also attitudes that furries can’t handle themselves well enough (often from people with no connection to events, no kids or reason to criticize). But of course they can.  Every parent does grown-up things to have kids, and then they raise them. That’s THEIR job.

Every kid I saw seemed to love their parents for letting them come and hang out with friends their size, including when I helped judge them in the talent show. Otherwise I stayed on the sidelines and hung out with the older crowd in this article (who had their own things to do, including room parties), but it was super nice to see them wear the cartoon art I did for the con:

Heck ye @TinyPaws_Con pic.twitter.com/xiJ3Wi4Pzr

— Seaka / Tea (@seafloof) August 26, 2018

When I was a kid and first discovering the furry fandom, I would have loved to have conventions like @TinyPaws_Con and have older furries like @BoozyBadger to talk to. – @DaltonRaccoon

Anyone who’s been paying attention to Furry fandom’s demographics knows the average age has been trending younger over the past decade. Kudos to folks providing safe and age-appropriate programming so kids won’t be left out. Our fandom will keep growing and thriving as a result. – @XydexxUnicorn

More than the programming set this con apart. It might not be obvious until K’gra made a topic that got some good answers.

Serious question...

Are there any other female furry conchairs out there (or even any in any other fandoms you know of)? I am referring to women who serve in the primary executive position of a con.

Similarly, what is the highest-ranking female at our furry cons?#VisibleWomen

— Camp Tiny Paws (@CampTinyPaws) August 20, 2018

At Tiny Paws, everything was all right. If you hear noise online about “the fandom is divided” or that any certain group is unwelcome, look at this growing event. If new, experienced, young, grown-up, male, female, and different people can all make a healthy mix, the future is in good paws.

More pics – check out the adorable kids in the talent show!

The @TinyPaws_Con camp photos are now posted up at the camp's flickr account! Check out the photos from some of our many panels and events, and some of the many amazing fursuits that we had this year.https://t.co/aRr4GvBcGo

— theBecwar (@thebecwar) August 23, 2018

Summercat and The Furry Library – a collection from the 1970’s to now, with stuff like the con book from ConFurence 1.

LET'S GET TINY! At @TinyPaws_Con with @Bengaley and his Furry Library. pic.twitter.com/pu0j0S0ilK

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) August 17, 2018

Sure it was the very last event but I finally did get to suit at @TinyPaws_Con . At just under 300 people it's the smallest con I've attended, but I've had a lot of fun.

I was invited as a guest of @DogpatchPress but Im seriously considering the 5 hour drive for next year, too. pic.twitter.com/bnVNTe5sjK

— Summercat (@Bengaley) August 19, 2018

Beeton Nukicoon – won “Koda’s Choice” (and secretly, my top vote) in the talent show for a song from Newsies. It was so good people cried.

Happy #FursuitFriday courtesy of @TinyPaws_Con
Me, doing what I do best! Singing my heart out for all of ya'll!! pic.twitter.com/QuyM2HiqqS

— A Cute Thief in the Night (@Beeton5) August 24, 2018

Saiko Kitty’s first furry con and cool new shades.

She’s from East Hampton CT, and told me she does go to others like Dragon Con. She said these events can be exciting and overwhelming and hot but she was having fun for sure. (From xSaikoMaikox on Furry Amino:)

While it was a super small con, (hence the name) it was actually kind of nice at the same time. You got to know everyone there and that’s much different from what I’m used to since I usually attend conventions with 15,000+ people. At larger cons you never see the same person twice, but here everyone had a familiar face and that was definitely a welcomed change for me! I ended up leaving happily with some loot in hand, (a travel sized fursuit tail for Saiko and some cool new shades) and can’t wait to go to another furry convention soon! x3

Brer Badger of M&T Comics – watching the fandom evolve.

His specialty is furry comics. Based in New Jersey, he mostly does furry cons east of the Mississippi. He saw the registration double in the 2nd year and hoped the dealer den would pick up. He was at the first FurFright (organized by some staff of Tiny Paws) and has been friends with K’gra for a long time. He did a “history of the fandom” panel for Tiny Paws.

Brer Badger sees the fandom constantly evolving. New generations come in, from age 16-30, but there’s also long time members in their 60’s like him staying with it. He said Furry would grow and change unlike others, because ones like SF fandom have a base in very structured TV shows and movies. If you went to a Star Trek show and wore the wrong shirt and insignia, you’d catch a lot of criticism. But here you can be a yellow and pink dragon with purple polka dots and you’re not wrong, everyone loves it.

Saba (King Sabear) – I bought that shirt.

@kingsabear told me that everyone is so friendly.  Saba came to the con with 2 friends from Long Island. They got into furry when they happened to meet at Mochafest (an indie comics show in NY City). They had furry art and recognized each other was into that.

Ed from Dragon’ Lair: grew up in retail, and Anthrocon is his biggest setup.

(Online shop: Anddragonsohmy.com – Facebook: @plushizoo.) Ed told me he’s been in business for almost 35 years. He does about a dozen cons a year (geek, fantasy, and furry) and is otherwise retired from teaching computer sciences for 40 years. He came to support Tiny Paws while it’s still getting started.

The business is run by Ed, his wife, and a few helpers. He’s interested in doing a panel: “are you nuts to go into retail?” He grew up in it. He says con dealing is different from a 7 day a week business – if you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. He refined it a dozen times over the years since starting at a flea market. It’s had products in and out of fashion from bumper stickers to kitchen gadgets, fantasy figurines, ceramics, shirts and plushes. There’s some net sales but most happen in person. Some shows don’t make a profit with a lot of costs including travel, tables and paying help. The biggest setup they do is Anthrocon.

Matt & Darce from RCSI Publishing – met on alt.fan.furry and got married.

(Web: rcsipublishing.com – Twitter: Darcsowers). 5 years ago they moved to the area from Boston. They were out of the con scene for years, after trying to print comics with others but there was a business setback. They loved AC for the parade. Putting cons in summer is weird because it must be hot in the suits! Furry is a friendly welcoming group to them. Finding it came after being into stuff like Redwall and Ducktales, but they didn’t even realize it was furry until learning there was a scene from alt.fan.furry. One commissioned the other for a furry logo, they started dating and got married.

Rainbowz Pinata – being furry is really being human.

(Twitter: @RainbowzPinata) Her local scene is near Washington DC, where she teaches. She loves the fandom and having a creative place for kids to express themselves, especially people with no outlets because everyone needs one. She said we’re all people having fun, and anonymity can help people be more human with less judgement. When you get to choose a species we can laugh about it and it doesn’t matter.  The real world is often divided by race but being furry is really being human.

Rainbowz met a Jewish woman who brought her kids because she heard about the con but didn’t know what furry fandom is. They came to find out and had a blast. They couldn’t participate in work and tech because the Sabbath is a day of rest, so it was perfect to do crafts and get face painting. Having a family oriented craft room was good for kids and the panels were good for parents.

The kids loved hugging her and she got dogpiled by 3-4 of them. Her suit is personally made. She paid about $500 for fur and did hand sewing while her husband did machine sewing. The hooves were made with a folder from the dollar store.

Grandpaw – a multi talented fur with beekeeping, American Sign Language, and fursuiting.

(Twitter: @deaftech99) He loves helping the community, and works for the largest Beekeeping supply company in the US. (Technically it’s livestock agriculture.) They donated a bee box for the charity auction, that’s a starter hive costing $125-150 and was one of the most bidded on items. It will help the con to have year 3. He donated honey for dealers and passed out candy from his work.  He also will have a member of the beekeeping society come do a panel (every area has one, they teach hobbyists how to keep bees). I joked about bringing their best behaved bees and he said they bring an older comb to explain how they are built.

Grandpaw has hearing loss so knows ASL for that. He’s the polar bear that signs, and does lip reading with cues. He did an ASL panel that got the largest crowd of all panels he’s done and filled the room. He will definitely do it next year. @graysonAwelch made silent suiter tags (it crosses over to fursuit pantomime acting). There are a number of deaf furs, and he and Indigo from Furthemore love educating about it. It helps people feel more normal about getting out in the community. So does furry.

He got seriously into fursuiting by trying on a suit borrowed from a friend. They were friends for 7 years before meeting face to face the first time. He says it’s wonderful to give others the experience of being in a suit. It helps when there is anxiety in the way of talking to people. After that it feels good to be outgoing and talk without panic attacks.

Effluvia and Scents Fur All – those look good enough to eat

(Shop on Etsy)

Look what’s in store for next year (a fighter for a better fandom).

I'm so incredibly excited to share with you all that I'll the the guest of honor at @TinyPaws_Con 2019!

Find me there with @CadmiumTea, @BuddyGoodboyEsq, @KgraTinyPaws, @NobodyTinyPaws and so many others for a fun and relaxing furry weekend! pic.twitter.com/0hH9nsZtJL

— Deo (@DeoTasDevil) August 19, 2018

It's official!

Camp Tiny Paws will next be held on
August 9-11, 2019
and
August 14-16, 2020
at the Crowne Plaza Danbury!

Pre-reg will be opening 1/1/2019! Keep an eye out the week before for a chance to win a special prize!

Dealer applications will be opening 2/1/2019!!

1/

— Camp Tiny Paws (@CampTinyPaws) September 9, 2018

Our crew visited the Long Beach Comic Con, and as usual the Artist Alley did not disappoint. Among our discoveries were Rachel Walker and David Cone, two artists who paint (and make other goodies) under the name Edge of the World Art. “We are purveyors of things strange, magical, and fashionable.” And, it seems, big fans of cats — especially black cats. Visit their web site and see what we mean. As you can see, if you’re in Southern California you might find them displaying at several locations around the area regularly.

image c. 2018 Edge of the World Art

Species: Foxes was published in 2018 by Thurston Howl Publications and edited by Thurston Howl himself. The anthology holds thirteen short stories centered on one of the the cleverest species, the fox! The book opens with the first and oldest tales about the fox. It is from those that we can see where the myth of the cunning and clever fox originates—a kitsune tale, a story of Reynard, and an Aesopian fable—before coming to the modern furry stories, starting with Mary E. Lowd. “Fox in the Hen House” by Mary E. Lowd is where the fox stories turn to modern authors, though the story’s exceptional quality could easily mark it as a classic. Henry, the newly orphaned fox, is adopted by Henrietta and the other chickens in her coop. The story tackles the nature of a fox and raises the question of can we really choose to become anything other than what we are? Told with a nostalgic style, this story reads like a modern fable or folktale. It is easily one of the best-written in the collection. Next is “The Harvest Moon Ceremony,” written by NightEyes DaySpring. The first time reading the story left me confused, though a second reading managed to clear things up. The story shifts between perspectives of Maleekie and Rata, and it is not distinguishable right away who we are following, as the time also shifts between past and present. Coming from the White Moon tribe, Maleekie is Rata’s rival, a fox capable of magic and a protective brother. Tying their paths together is their love of Aki, a songstress. After forbidden love ends in tragedy, it splits the two foxes even further apart. While the shift in perspectives and time skips are troublesome, I say the story itself is worth a read. “A Part of The Family” by Kittara Foxworthy was an interesting story. It’s a futuristic story, though that’s not immediately apparent. While it doesn’t do much for the story besides the setting, a sentence about a fourteen-year-old bearing a child made me pause, just from the sheer lack of set-up. Victor and Terry return from a family trip with their kits to discover that Terry’s grandmother has passed away in their absence. Being gay and therefore the black sheep (or fox in this case) of the family, Terry and his partner are distanced from the family. Though a nice story, with a message of love and acceptance, there wasn’t much reason why it centered on foxes. “Face Value” by Jasen Devlin Jaden Drackus is set in the era of the the Mafia bootlegging business. Sam, a fox thief, is hired to disrupt Salvatore Russo’s, who is top of the gangster food chain, ball and allow for Caprio to take over. Sam however has other plans. In the true nature of the fox archetype, the story holds a cunning twist. The author himself was clever to use animal senses to lead to this story’s reveal. “A Trustworthy Fox” by Colin Leighton leads the reader into the story by playing the “untrustworthy fox” card but keeps the reader in with twists that follow through until the very end. Another art thief, this time by the name of Lesley Delavinge is preparing to make his name as a member of the Granger Gang. Gaining the trust of Alec Granger, the master thief, Lesley has to lead the thieves into Lord Redmayne’s estate and make off with his artwork. The story stood out to me because, just when you think you have the plot figured out and the story is about to end, it keeps going for another jerking twist and leaves the reader satisfied by the end. “Songs in the Garden” by Matt Trepal is written as delicately as a painter’s brush movements on a canvas. The world in which it takes place appears alive and pops out of the pages with its details. The construction of the story made me feel that there was more history to the work than presented, like it was part of a novel. Brolio, a traveling musician, is invited by the Duchess herself to perform at the palace for the Summer Festival, where an evil plan is to be enacted. While the story’s plot is simple, it is well-written and satisfyingly executed. Taking a slightly different and darker turn, “Street Fox” by SignificantOtter surprised me for its theme and how it dared to be different. Maple is a con artist, forced by his addict father to hustle on the street with his games and sleight of hand. A change happens in Maple’s life when Danny offers to team up with the fox and save enough money for a better life. The story deals with abuse, addiction, and hurting yourself to protect the ones you love. I thought this story was not only relateable but also memorable for its boldness and satisfactory for its concept. “The Fox-Man” by Amy Fontaine is the only story in the anthology to feature humans, though the story is not to be taken lightly. Muties, animals with the ability to turn into humans, are at war with their creators. Hidden under a force field in an abandoned theatre, the group of actors practice and perform plays for an invisible audience. The Fox-Man has a unique plot and fits well with the theme of the anthology. It holds fragments of a Greek tragedy, and the story is written like a play that could be performed by the actors themselves.“Pictures” by TJ Minde calls the phrase ‘love thy neighbour’ to mind, and it makes me mad because we all know that one person who is exactly like the character Frank Jones in this story. Jack Thomason’s story is told in a time shift between past and present. We watch the fox find joy and lose it. Jack holds onto memories through his photographs, the present reminding him of his past. When Frank Jones turns out to have alternative motives, I found myself rooting for the the main character, hoping that they would find a way to win. TJ Minde does a fine job in making the reader care about the characters and the crosses they bear.Species: Foxes features many good stories, and, while they vary in quality and memorability, they all make for an enjoyable read. Most stories play on the stereotype of the trickster fox, the clever one who is always trying to put one over everyone else, but others only scratched the surface of that idea and instead focused on going in a whole other direction. Thurston Howl from Thurston Howl Publications has done an excellent job in picking the featured stories and editing the anthology, and I am sure he will continue to do so in the future.

Now there’s a new full-color graphic novel for young readers, written and illustrated by Graham Annable (director of The Box Trolls). Peter & Ernesto: A Tale Of Two Sloths — pretty straightforward, yes? “Peter and Ernesto are sloths. Peter and Ernesto are friends. But Peter and Ernesto are nothing alike. Peter loves their tree and never wants to leave, while Ernesto loves the sky and wants to see it from every place on Earth. When Ernesto leaves to have a grand adventure, Peter stays behind and frets. The two friends grow even closer in separation, as Peter the homebody expands his horizons and Ernesto the wanderer learns the value of home.” It’s available now from First Second.

image c. 2018 First Second

A full spec episode, plus a live interview with the creator of an upcoming art commissioning platform and escrow service.

Download MP3

Watch Video Interview:

Fox from Artconomy.com joined us to discuss his upcoming art commissioning platform and escrow service.

Link Roundup:

• Photos of CJ being a Good Boy
• Bad Dragon sponsors race car
• Jury Fines Man $1 USD For Punching Charlottesville Rally Organizer
• Bojack Season 5 Returns September 14th

News:

• Virginia man erects electrified fence near school bus stop to keep kids off property
• Horny Dolphin Causes French Beach to Close
• Police Arrest Man For Allegedly Having Sex With Dying Beaver While High On Methamphetamine
• Mystery Kangaroo in Austria still on the loose
• Googly Eyed Fish Fraud
• The Never-Ending Race To Concoct The Bluest Blue
• Extremely Unlucky Beachgoer Gets Hooked In The Genitals By A Stingray

Emails:

• Kodi – Thanks for everything!
• Lieutenant Foxx – Just a few things I’d like to say…

FC-306 Pineapple Centrist - A full spec episode, plus a live interview with the creator of an upcoming art commissioning platform and escrow service.

A full spec episode, plus a live interview with the creator of an upcoming art commissioning platform and escrow service.

Download MP3

Interview:

Fox from Artconomy.com joined us to discuss his upcoming art commissioning platform and escrow service.

Link Roundup:

• Photos of CJ being a Good Boy
• Bad Dragon sponsors race car
• Jury Fines Man $1 USD For Punching Charlottesville Rally Organizer
• Bojack Season 5 Returns September 14th

News:

• Virginia man erects electrified fence near school bus stop to keep kids off property
• Horny Dolphin Causes French Beach to Close
• Police Arrest Man For Allegedly Having Sex With Dying Beaver While High On Methamphetamine
• Mystery Kangaroo in Austria still on the loose
• Googly Eyed Fish Fraud
• The Never-Ending Race To Concoct The Bluest Blue
• Extremely Unlucky Beachgoer Gets Hooked In The Genitals By A Stingray

Emails:

• Kodi – Thanks for everything!
• Lieutenant Foxx – Just a few things I’d like to say…

[Live] Pineapple Centrist

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