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FC-296 Monkey See Monkey Sue - Was gonna write about this just being a normal episode of the show into this description area, but then again are we ever normal?
Was gonna write about this just being a normal episode of the show into this description area, but then again are we ever normal?
Watch Video Link Roundup:- Howlr App coming, in beta
- Bucktown Tiger returns to ‘Jeopardy’ to defend 3-day winning streak
- SawRex Sergal: Furdu 2018
- TwoFurryBros: Explaining furry to my entire school
- TwoFurryBros puts “Rock Dog” as “number 1 furry movie”
- Two Mermaids Swimming at the Pool – Gyarados Mermaid Tail
- Fox and Eagle Play Tug-Of-War with Rabbit
- Reindeer see in the dark, changing eye color
- “Radioactive Puppies” From Chernobyl Are Going Up For Adoption In The US
- Woman Says She Took Home ‘Kittens,’ Only To Find Out They Were Bobcats
- Amazon Birds Form Multi-Species Gangs For Protection In Dangerous Neighborhoods
- Man Discovers Handgun Impaled In Front Bumper Of Car
- Florida city sends mass text alert warning of ‘zombie activity’ during power black-out
- London Police Shut Down A Rave In An Abandoned Toys R Us
- No, A Monkey Can’t Copyright His Selfies, Federal Appeals Court Rules
- Library Shut Down After Stinky Fruit Mistaken For Gas Leak
- Sugar Crash: After Tanker Flips, Chocolate Bars Traffic On Polish Highway
- Antares – Sightseeing Suggestions
- Jamie – WARNING: possibly a long email
[Live] Monkey See Monkey Sue
Was gonna write about this just being a normal episode of the show into this description area, but then again are we ever normal?
Link Roundup:- Howlr App coming, in beta
- Bucktown Tiger returns to ‘Jeopardy’ to defend 3-day winning streak
- SawRex Sergal: Furdu 2018
- TwoFurryBros: Explaining furry to my entire school
- TwoFurryBros puts “Rock Dog” as “number 1 furry movie”
- Two Mermaids Swimming at the Pool – Gyarados Mermaid Tail
- Fox and Eagle Play Tug-Of-War with Rabbit
- Reindeer see in the dark, changing eye color
- “Radioactive Puppies” From Chernobyl Are Going Up For Adoption In The US
- Woman Says She Took Home ‘Kittens,’ Only To Find Out They Were Bobcats
- Amazon Birds Form Multi-Species Gangs For Protection In Dangerous Neighborhoods
- Man Discovers Handgun Impaled In Front Bumper Of Car
- Florida city sends mass text alert warning of ‘zombie activity’ during power black-out
- London Police Shut Down A Rave In An Abandoned Toys R Us
- No, A Monkey Can’t Copyright His Selfies, Federal Appeals Court Rules
- Library Shut Down After Stinky Fruit Mistaken For Gas Leak
- Sugar Crash: After Tanker Flips, Chocolate Bars Traffic On Polish Highway
- Antares – Sightseeing Suggestions
- Jamie – WARNING: possibly a long email
The Dragon Throne?
And more from AWN. (They’ve had lots of good stuff lately!) “Game of Thrones author and producer George R.R. Martin is bringing his fantasy game to animation, with Warner Animation Group set to adapt his 1980 children’s book The Ice Dragon into a feature. Though dealing with dragons, the book and the feature have no connection to either the A Song of Fire and Ice novels or the Game of Thrones TV series. According to Deadline, which reported the news first, the book tells the tale of a young girl who befriends a rare ice dragon, whose help proves decisive when an army of dragons invades her city.” No word yet on who’s directing or when it might be released.
image c. 2018 Tor Books
Small World, by Gre7g Luterman. Illustrated by Rick Griffin – Book Review by Fred Patten
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Small World, by Gre7g Luterman. Illustrated by Rick Griffin.
Lansing, MI, Thurston Howl Publications, April 2018, trade paperback, $11.99 (301 [+ 1] pages).
Small World is Luterman’s The Kanti Cycle, Book 2. Book 1 is Skeleton Crew. Luterman says here that The Kanti Cycle is a trilogy, to be completed in Book 3, Fair Trade.
Skeleton Crew seemed to end with a definite conclusion, but Small World continues the plot in a new direction.
Skeleton Crew is set on the generation exploratory starship White Flower II, populated entirely by 10,000 furry geroo and one giant dragonlike krakun, Commissioner Sarsuk. The protagonist is Kanti, one of the geroo.
400 years ago, the krakun came to the overpopulated primitive world Gerootec and offered to hire thousands of geroo as their starship crews. The geroo who went into space and their descendants would never see Gerootec again, but they would live in luxury compared to the backward geroo on their homeworld. After 400 years, the geroo are asking if the krakun are their employers or their slavemasters. The White Flower II would be a paradise for the geroo, if it weren’t for the krakun’s cruelly arbitrary representative, Commissioner Sarsuk. It doesn’t help that Commissioner Sarsuk openly refers to them as slaves. In Skeleton Crew, matters build to a flash point, but Kanti, a lowly deckhand, maneuvers Sarsuk into seriously injuring himself before he can slaughter any geroo. The Kanti Cycle, Book 1 ends with Sarsuk returning to the krakun homeworld to recuperate, leaving the geroo on the White Flower II in peace — for awhile.
Small World begins with Sarsuk returning to the starship. He’s not happy, and he’s going to make as many people suffer as he can.
“‘On my shuttle you will find a cage. Fill it.’ Commissioner Sarsuk clipped his strand back onto his necklace. ‘I know that you love to agonize over choices, trying to make the perfect decision. So in the infinite compassion that I have for you –’ He rolled his eyes. ‘—I am giving you some extra time.’
‘Fill … a cage …’ the captain said quietly. ‘With?’
Sarsuk crossed his arms and leaned on his elbows so he could comfortably lower his face down to Ateri’s level. ‘You’re smart. At least you always act that way. What do you think? What’s the one thing on board this ship that has any utility at all?’
[…]
‘My crew?’
‘Fifty slaves should do, Ateri,’ Sarsuk said. ‘I had a ringel cleaning crew previously, but I can’t see any reason to buy more of them. Fifty geroo would be a nice perk considering how much I’ve had to endure for the company recently,’ he added, his eyes filling with self-pity.” (pgs. 4-5)
The blurb summarizes the setup: “The commissioner accidentally let his last cleaning crew starve to death, so now Kanti and forty-nine of his teammates will have to spend the rest of their lives living in a one room barracks with only a single airlock protecting them all from the planet’s poisonous atmosphere.”
Kanti and forty-nine fellow geroo are taken from their vast starship and brought to Commissioner Sarsuk’s home on Krakuntec to become the permanent cleaning crew for his apartment. The huge krakuns’ planet has a corrosively sulfurous atmosphere that would be instantly fatal to other species, so they are given one room of the apartment with their own atmosphere to live in. Theoretically, anyhow.
“Kanti studied the display next to the airlock. ‘The interior status is in the blue,’ he said.
‘So it’s safe for us to go in,’ Saquel proclaimed.
‘Not so fast,’ Kanti said, grabbing Saquel’s arm. ‘The air is safe for someone to breathe, but not necessarily geroo.’
The big male turned to face him, looming over the scruffy, junior engineer. ‘What are you saying?’
‘Well, what species did the commissioner use as his last cleaning crew?’ The other three shrugged. ‘We should presume that the systems haven’t been configured for geroo yet. Just look at the text on this display – it’s not geroo or krakun. I can’t read any of this. This blue indicator means that it’s safe for them to breathe, but what about us?’” (p. 75)
They are expected to emerge in sealed environment suits at night when the Commissioner is asleep, to clean his huge home – for the rest of their lives.
“‘Practicality is important,’ said Kanti. ‘It’s not hard to imagine what would happen fifty years from now if the air processor breaks down and no one knows how to fix it. But I think we need to preserve our culture too. What if, in a few generations, no one even remembers that we used to live on a star ship? That we still have cousins out there, somewhere, traveling between the stars? What’s the value in our continued existence, if we lose everything we once had?’” (p. 255)
Of course, things get more complicated than that. But as with Skeleton Crew, it’s impossible to go into more detail without giving away major spoilers. Life for Kanti becomes even more dangerous than he expects, with an unexpected menace within the geroo crew itself, and unknown allies – maybe – that nobody knows about.
“He closed his eyes, his head drooping. ‘Tasty Frooties, Tasty Frooties,’ he whispered idly. It sounded so familiar, like something that the commissioner bought.
His eyes popped open, as the realization hit him. He was inside a plastic bag. He had dragged giant, discarded bags like this one to the recycler chute – clear, plastic bags that Sarsuk had tossed to the floor after he had eaten all of his Tasty Frooties.
‘Hello?’ Kanti rasped again. ‘Why am I in a plastic bag?’” (p. 282)
Unlike Skeleton Crew, Small World does end on a cliffhanger. It is actually the first half of a single novel. The last half is The Kanti Cycle, Book 3, Fair Trade, coming soon.
Cover Art by Rick Griffin
Small World (cover by Rick Griffin) is hard-science s-f; it’s a tense mystery; and it’s furry and scaly — and more. It has unexpected surprises every few pages. Get it.
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.
More Adventures with the Illiop from Rillonia
We’re going to lift this one wholesale from Animation World Network, because it’s cool! “Alchemy II has teamed up with The Jim Henson Company to develop an animated fantasy adventure series for kids ages 3-7 based on the popular Teddy Ruxpin property. The new Teddy Ruxpin series will have an all-star team, including showrunner John Tartaglia (Splash and Bubbles, Johnny and the Sprites); producer Russell Hicks, the original head illustrator for Alchemy II during Teddy Ruxpin’s initial launch; global master toy partner Wicked Cool Toys; and The Jim Henson Company led by executive producers Lisa Henson and Halle Stanford. World-renowned Jim Henson’s Creature Shop will bring the series to life with its Emmy Award-winning Henson Digital Puppetry Studio (Sid the Science Kid, Word Party), which allows performers to puppeteer animated characters in real time allowing for more organic and natural movement. The new series will focus on important themes and skills like fostering self-esteem, empathy, and individuality.” Good stuff all, that.
image c. 2018 Alchemy II
Buying cartoon cats on the blockchain.
I haven't put a tech story here in a long time and it's cryptokittes! I wonder if there are other furry endeavors we can use the blockchain for?
View Video
Surviving a Broken Heart
I feel absolutely destroyed and need advise from someone outside of my own personal friend circle who can offer insight on my predicament. I was in a relationship and engaged to a wonderful dragon. We rarely argued and when we did we were always able to overcome with patience and compromise. it took a lot of work and effort to get to our level of love/trust and I really thought we were going to make it for the long haul. That's why it was so surprising and painful when it all started slipping. I tried literally everything I could do to save us, but he stopped helping. He started spending all his time on telegram and twitter and started caring much more about his looks and his friends... and the whole time he said he was the bad guy and I was doing nothing wrong when i pointed out how it was hurting the relationship. He stopped talking to me.
I don't understand what happened. He was never very sexually driven. I knew he was Pan sexual and could have a desire for men, but we were open. He could RP online or go play with someone if he wanted I just wanted to keep the love and he agreed. He used to tell me that "This is the best relationship I've ever been in" and "you still give me butterflies". Everything came down in the span of a month. It went from so serene, tender and loving to "I have no love left for you" so quickly. Even worse he says I did nothing wrong. He leaped from loving fiance to I'm only into men and want to uproot my entire life in a Flash. He said he felt guilty so why didn't he try to save us? Why did he totally stone wall me when I was trying to figure out what had happened? Why didn't he mourn or come to me sooner when he started feeling bad? So many whys.
Its been a couple of months now and I'm still so torn up inside. I feel like it didn't matter that I gave him literally everything I had and that I was willing to give the rest of my life to him. It didn't matter that I was patent, loving, flexible, always there when he needed me, and so many other things I thought he deserved out of the relationship... How are you supposed to move on and build up after giving so much? How do I keep it from happening again.. because it felt like a big part of the break up was... because I'm not male. And why do I still love him and want to be with him even after all of this pain and after hes made it abundantly clear that he had nothing for me?
I'm sure time is an answer to this... but I sure would like to feel like I will survive this instead of death by great bleeding heart. Advise on the short term healing or maybe recommendations on long term relationships for next time?
Broken Hearted Blue (age 26)
* * *
Dear Broken Hearted,
I'm sorry you are going through this. I might be able to give you some insight into this because I am familiar with what I think is his side of it from a personal level. Not sure if you read much of my bio in this column over the years, but I was married to a lovely woman for 22 years. I went into the marriage honestly believing I was straight, but when I was forty I figured out I wasn't (long story short, I had a sheltered childhood and though all gay men were effeminate, which didn't appeal to me, but later I discovered the bear community and instantly identified with it). Anyway, after four long years trying to deny it to myself and to her, I came out to her. We both cried and, of course, this led to her divorcing me. The good news is that we remain friends and I still have a lot of love for her, but we could never be married again.
It might be that your dragon experienced something similar, only that he initially felt he was pansexual and later it dawned on him that he was only into men. Such revelations can come over time, or they can come quite abruptly, as seems to have happened with him.
Now, this only has to do with sexuality. There's a difference, as you know, between sexuality and love. What rather disturbs me about what he said to you (if I am understanding this correctly) is that not only does he no longer have a sexual interest in you, but he also no longer loves you. If, to him, sex is the same as love, then that speaks poorly of this young man. If, on the other hand, he is saying "I don't love you anymore" as a way of, perhaps, breaking things off more cleanly and permanently so as not to lead you on in any way, then that is still a rather cruel thing to do, but a little more understandable.
Either way, he has hurt you, and to be that cold to someone you professed to love is a dark path to walk. It makes me not like him very much, but then I don't have to.
Answering your questions: 1) Yes, you will survive this. You are 26. Every young person goes through heartbreak at one time or another. It is part of life and part of learning about relationships. Learn from the experience and take your new wisdom into the next relationship you have, but also don't sell the good memories short; it's okay to have fond memories of someone you are no longer with—good memories can make us stronger just as surviving bad ones can. 2) On the short term, the best thing for you to do is spend a little time focusing on you as an individual and not as half of a relationship. Remember, what happened (and he said this himself!) is not because of something wrong with you but, rather, something amiss with him. Spend the next few months contemplating who you are as a person, what you want out of life, and how to achieve it. Do this in terms of only yourself and not as a partner or spouse. 3) In the long term, it will help immensely if you become—from this experience and its aftermath—someone who knows who they are and what they want out of life; someone who is self-assured and confident in themselves; someone who has love in their heart but is not codependent or seeking a codependent relationship just to get by. Such people are immensely attractive. It's the ones who reek of desperation or neediness that chase potential suitors away. Then, as this confident person (not arrogant, confident), you will be much more likely to find someone who is better mate material. No guarantees, but that's life!
Hugs,
Papabear
Griffin Ranger: Crossline Plains, by Roz Gibson
Roz Gibson’s Griffin Ranger duology is the story of a world ruled by mythical beasts and populated by assorted species of sapient animals. We are first introduced to this world in the first book, Crossline Plains, which will be reviewed here. The Twin Continents of this world host seven sapient species: Griffins, raccoon-like Hanz, canine Herders and Wolfen, massive Thunderbirds, feline Longtooths, and the belligerent tech-using parrots known as “Greenies.” The Northern Continent is patrolled by the Griffins’ titular Rangers who have a tenuous peace with the Greenies who rule the Southern. But that peace might be threatened as Ranger Harrel White-Shoulders receives reports of Greenies hunting Thunderbirds and selling their guns to Wolfen raiders. When a flight of sub-adult Griffins disappears near Greenie territories, including Harrel’s own daughter Aera, Harrel has enough and starts an investigation into the Greenies’ activities. He is soon joined by veteran investigator Kwaperramusc (Kwap for short), a tropical griffin based on a bird-of-paradise rather than a bird-of-prey and who escaped from the Greenies’ territories; and Tirrsill, a Hanz apprentice photojournalist assigned to document their adventures. As the group near the Greenie city of Kaerling, they are set upon by successive waves of assassins. Now, Roz Gibson is known in some circles for her morally ambiguous if not outright evil protagonists, and, while Harrel’s goals are sympathetic, make no mistake, he is very brutal in his methods, and many of his enemies end up with their bones shattered and guts spilled out on the grass. This is no kids’ book. Crossline Plains makes a good introduction to an alternate world where humanity never arose. It manages to show us the assorted facets of the world without resorting to a story-breaking infodump as tends to be endemic to speculative fiction. Gibson also manages to build this setting without falling into common traps like the “always evil species” or “technology levels.” The party meet a fair number of Greenies who aren’t antagonistic to them and even one or two who actively assist them, and there are some Griffins in the villain’s employ who are outright sadistic.SPOILER ALERT: The bad guys are working with humans. Whitehead built an interdimensional portal and started trading oil and young griffins for weapons. While I don’t fault Roz for going with the “humans are monsters” trope, especially when only a few human characters have been seen so far, I do take issue with the resort to Lovecraftian descriptions for them. Strange anatomy by itself just doesn’t evoke the sort of feelings of “unnaturalness” characters remark around humans. Now, if Roz had mentioned that the “Monsters” look like they’ve been plucked like a Greenie under stress, that might have been understandable. SPOILERS CONCLUDED.While the Hanz and Greenies have developed maglev trains and Griffin-portable deflector shields, photography still relies on chemical film, and telecommunications is limited to short-range radio and cables. If you’re a big fan of Griffins, and don’t mind venturing into the dark places where Roz Gibson’s writing is known to venture, I would recommend buying this and its sequel, The Monster Lands. Furry Dance Parties in Europe – A look by Soffy
Independent dance parties by furries, for furries: the concept has been growing around the world since the late 2000’s. It can spin off from cons, but doesn’t depend on them. It’s more ambitious than informal meets and events that happen once. Those can stay inner-focused, but dances bring new partnership and support from overlapping communities and new kinds of venues. It crosses a line to public space, so a stranger can walk in and discover their new favorite thing. It encourages new blood and crossover. It makes subculture thrive. It’s a movement!
Parties that give a Q&A get a featured article. See The Furclub survey for questions and party list.
The big list recently got enough entries that it needed to be split between continents. It brought a tip about a bunch of Euro and German parties that hadn’t caught notice, too many for an article for each. There are already well established ones on the main list, so this is just the extras. Most seem to be once-a-year, which makes it great to find so many. Soffy, a journalist and furry in the UK, stepped up to collect them. (Thanks Soffy!)
DUTCH FURDANCE, Nieuwegein, Netherlands (2017 – NOW)
The Dutch Furdance is a relative newcomer to the circuit. The first year was a roaring success but it can only get bigger and better!
- Website http://www.dutchfurdance.nl/
- Twitter https://twitter.com/dutchfurdance
- Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DutchFurdance/
FURSTRIKE, Witten, Germany (one off date: October 6th 2018)
A brand new event for Euro furs is coming to Witten, Germany, late this year. Taking place at the WERK ° STADT club in the heart of Witten, it promises to be an event which is not to be missed! A furdance organized for Furries from Furries! The venue is furry friendly with no stairs, separate bar area for resting and an outside area to cool off (and in October, cool might not be the word I’m looking for. Brrrrr!).
- Website (in German) http://www.furstrike.de/
- Twitter https://twitter.com/FurstrikeNrw
NORDIC FURDANCE, Hamburg, Germany (2010 – NOW)
This is one of the biggest furdances to go to on the EU continent! Almost 10 years in operation!
- Website (in German) https://www.nordicfurdance.de/
- Twitter https://twitter.com/nordic_furdance
- Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NordicFurDanceofficial/
SAXONY FURDANCE, Leipzig, Germany (2013 – NOW)
Operating out of Leipzig, Germany, Saxony Furs organize multiple events throughout the year for furries in the Saxony region of Germany (notabley Leipzig and Dresden) ranging from a summer camp to furdances.
- Website (in German) https://www.sachsen-furs.de/
- Twitter https://twitter.com/sachsen_furs
- In the news http://www.sz-online.de/nachrichten/raubtier-alarm-auf-der-prager-strasse-3341145.html
- Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sachsenfurs/
SOUTH STATE FURDANCE, Stuttgart, Germany (2015 – NOW)
South States FurDance is the biggest fur event in the southern Baden-Württemberg region of Germany. South State furs also hold other events throughout the year so, if you are local, check them out!
- Website https://www.s-s-f.de/
- Twitter https://twitter.com/SuedStaatenFurs
- Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SuedstaatenFurs/
BERLIN FURDANCE, Berlin, Germany (2018)
I can’t find much out about this particular furdance. You’d probably be best of checking out their website and social media platforms for more of an insight.
- Website https://berlin-furdance.de
- Twitter https://twitter.com/berlinfurdance
BAYERN FURDANCE, Bayern, Germany (2014 – NOW)
Bayern Furs organize multiple furdances across the year in Nuremburg in March, June and November (venues vary).
- Website https://www.bayern-furs.de/
- Twitter https://twitter.com/BayernFurs
- Youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/bayernfurs
DUNKEL.FELL.TANZ, Essen, Germany (2015-NOW)
The best way to describe Dunkel.Fell.Tanz is… not your average furdance! Playing anything from EBM to Noise Techno, this event encourages darker furs to come out and play.
- Website http://dunkelfelltanz.de/2018/en/home
- Facebook https://www.facebook.com/dunkelfelltanz
- Twitter https://twitter.com/Dunkelfelltanz
HALLOWEEN FURDANCE, Wolfsburg, Germany (2018-NOW)
Info pending – they’re setting up as this posts.
- Website http://halloween-furdance.de/
CREATURES OF THE NIGHT, Vienna, Austria (2016-NOW)
I can’t find much out about this particular furdance. You’d probably be best of checking out their website and social media platforms for more of an insight.
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.
Do Superhero Movies Make Young People More Violent?
I'm not in the furry fandom like most of the teens who write to you. I'm in the Marvel fandom.
You probably heard of the movie Avengers: Infinity War, which came out a few weeks ago. I really want to watch it, but my mom thinks it's a bad influence (like it's too violent, etc). But we watch OTHER movies similar to Marvel, like Star Wars. They have violence too, so what's different about Infinity War?!
Also my mom is pulling my best friend into this. She's also a Marvel fan. My mom thinks that she's influencing me into "idolizing" movies and actors and all that crap. I mean, I love Marvel, but I'm not letting it get between me and school and church!
She thinks I'm going become a serial killer because of the violence.
She also thinks I want to watch the movie because of peer pressure; all my friends are watching it, so I've gotta watch it too. Well, NO. I'm not watching it because of peer pressure. I want to watch it because (and this may sound dumb) this movie is important to me. I'm in the fandom! I'm attached to these characters! I've cried and ranted over them! I see even myself in some of them; I can relate to some of the problems they face.
I'm careful. I'm not stupid; I know what movies I should and shouldn't watch. I even have Christian friends who've gone and seen Infinity War. CHRISTIAN FRIENDS. I really don't understand at all.
I'm sorry for all the ranting. I hope you understood everything. Thank you.
Jasmine (age 13)
* * *
Dear Jasmine:
It is true your mother is not being consistent. Like you said, why is Star Wars okay but Avengers isn’t? Makes no sense. Have you asked her to explain herself? If she doesn’t like superheroes, does she also have a problem with Harry Potter movies? How about crime dramas or war movies? Why or why not?
Getting back to superhero movies. Your mom’s idea that they can make children more violent does not come out of the blue. Studies such as this one have shown that kids exposed to the violence of superhero movies can exhibit (but don’t necessarily exhibit) more violent behavior. The influence on kids is likely stronger if they are exposed to the films at a younger age. The kids were between 3 and 6 years old, for the most part, in this study.
Also, the argument that such films, which feature characters doing violent things for noble causes and who are motivated to help people, translate into kids who are also more socially minded and concerned about the welfare of others does not fly. With regard to acting more protectively and charitably to others, there was no change before and after watching such films.
It must be repeated, though, that you are 13 now and, at that age, less likely to be so impressionable. You seem like you have a good head on your shoulders, and one argument you could give your mom is, “Hey, Mom, you raised me better than that; you raised me to understand that violence is bad and be a good Christian, and I’m not going to go against that just because of some movie.” That said, I do understand where your mom is coming from. When I was your age, my parents wouldn’t let me see films like Jaws and The Exorcist. However, by the time I was 15 I was allowed to see Superman.
Your mom is trying to be protective of you, which is good. Better that than a mother who doesn’t give a damn about you, right? But have a conversation with her about what I said above and see if you can get a little more consistency and understanding from her.
Hugs,
Papabear
Play Is Serious Business
More illustrated books for young folks, this time from a well-known writer in Hollywood. Toy Academy is a new series from Scholastic Books, written by Brian Lynch and illustrated by Edwardian Taylor. “Welcome to Toy Academy: Where toys learn to play. This is where action figures train to battle, stuffed animals study the art of the hug, and collectibles practice standing very, very still. Though Grumbolt isn’t really any of those things, he’s determined to fit in. But when the Evil Toy Academy threatens to bring down his school, it’s up to Grumbolt to go where no good toy has gone before and prove he’s truly a great toy after all. This laugh-out-loud chapter book by the writer of Minions and a writer of The Secret Life of Pets is a classic in the making.” You heard it here!
image c. 2018 Scholastic Books
Kiba’s BLFC 2018
Wonderful con and cool video. I'm not just saying that because our giant Skiltaire plush shows up at 2:14 on the left. OMG!
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Furry Fiction Fan Is Searching for Furry Literature with Lots of Action
I've been in the fandom for quite a while, but also I've been a fan of other things like video games and anime. As I browse through some furry mediums like comics, literature and animation I've noticed something: the action genre is almost non-existent. Someone might argue that there's plenty of action on these mediums, but I would ask if they've even taken nods to stuff like Devil May Cry, Fist of the North Star, Yakuza, Bayonetta, Time Crisis, G-Gundam, Tekken, Guilty Gear, Ys, Die Hard, Streets of Rage, I could go on. The best I could find is this comic series on FA called This Primal World. It's a good read, worth checking out. So my question is, why is action the least tapped-into genre in the furry fandom?
Thanks,
Pete
* * *
Hi, Pete,
I really didn't know the answer to your question, so I asked Watts Martin, who is president of the Furry Writers' Guild. Here is what he wrote back: Hi! So, I asked around the Furry Writers' Guild Slack and got more or less nothing useful when it comes to furry action comics, and not a lot for action stories/novels; I suspect the problem is that while it's easy to think of "action movies," we don't really talk about comics and especially fiction quite the same way. (Yes, I know Superman first appeared in "Action Comics," but that kinda kicked off "superhero" as a genre, right?)
I can think of a few furry comics off the top of my head that certainly have action in them, at least:
- Dan Abnett & Ian Culbard's "Wild's End," a furry-ish take on "The War of the Worlds"
- Juan Diaz Canales & Juanjo Guarnido's "Blacksad," the pulp detective series
- Stan Sakai's "Usagi Yojimbo," the long-running samurai comic
For fiction, it's a bit easier to find stuff. Bad Dog Books' ebook site, for example, has an Action/Adventure category. Ones I see there I'd consider looking at include:
- Ursula Vernon's Black Dogs duology
- Mark Engels's Always Gray in Winter, a novel about werecats
- Roz Gibson's science fantasy Griffin Ranger duology
- Sasya Fox's sci-fi adventure Theta
Hope that helps,
Papabear
A&H Club, Volume 1, by Rick Griffin – Book Review by Fred Patten
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
A&H Club, volume 1, by Rick Griffin. Illustrated.
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, April 2018, trade paperback, $18.29 (unpaged [82 pages]).
Popular furry writer/artist Rick Griffin has two Internet comic strips. Housepets! is the one that everyone is familiar with. Once a year he collects them and publishes a Create/Space album.
A&H Club is his other Internet strip. In one way it’s just more familiar high-class Griffin anthropomorphic art, and jokes about not wearing any pants. In another it’s the opposite of what Griffin does in Housepets! It’s serious, not comedic, even if it does view today’s society as semi-comedic. It’s realistic, not fantastic; aside from featuring anthropomorphic animals who walk about nude below the waist. Its two main characters are a pair of lesbian lovers (Adrian is really bi), one of whom is a single mother. It consists of full pages rather than strips.
Griffin first collected his A&H Club into three comic books of between 22 and 28 pages each. Now he has gathered those into a CreateSpace album of 82 pages including the three front & rear covers.
A&H Club began on the Internet on June 19, 2015. This album collects all the strips from then to April 7, 2018, or the first three comic-book collections. The two main characters are Adrian Gray, an unwed gray kangaroo (and her young son Ali, about 2 years old), and Hildegard Rothschild, a wolf. Both are slightly punk; Adrian dyes her hair blonde, and Hilde dyes hers an electric turquoise, cut into a Mohawk. The strip’s double-meaning title refers to both Adrian & Hilde, and to the A&H (Athletics & Health Club) where they both work – Adrian teaches self-defense, and Hilde is a yoga instructor. Books 1 and 2 are black-&-white, and Book 3 is in color.
The strip begins (Book 1, “If There Is A Place”; 24 pages) with Adrian and Hilde having lunch at a food court. Adrian is distraught because she was barely making ends meet and now her rent has gone up, which she can’t afford. Hilde invites her to move in with her – only temporarily, but you know how that works. A little background is given on the two. In Book 2, “The Invitation”; 28 pages, Hilde runs into an old college friend, Henry Jones (bear), and he invites them both to dinner & to meet his wife, Eliza. She turns out to be an aggressively evangelical Christian who is determined to convert both A&H into church-goers. Ali is traumatized by a hand-puppet on a Christian children’s TV program. Griffin experiments with his art: “This issue I’m dropping the halftones and just going to flat grays, with noise and possibly added textures. In doing this I’m also trying a few different other things–there’s only 3 levels of gray for instance, 50%, 30% and 10%, so it’s easier to keep track of. (It’s also basically the most gray you can differentiate without getting too dark)” Book 3, “Negative Energy”; 22 pages), is the first to show the A&H health club, and Adrian in action teaching self-defense.
A&H Club is funny, tender, and heartwarming. As with most Internet comic strips, you can get the whole thing for free by logging onto it online and going to its Archives; but it’s so much more convenient to get this album. Speaking personally, I don’t find everyone’s being nude below the waist (Griffin keeps his art SFW here, but check out his online Shop) as eyebrow-raising as his showing a kangaroo walking rather than hopping.
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S7 Episode 14 – BOY! Get out of the way! - Roo and Tugs are joined by Michael Sanders to discuss leather, kink, and STI awareness in this steamy episode. Things get CRAZY in here - with all kinds of naughty confessionals, questions, and deliciously awkwar
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Special Thanks
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Music
Opening Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Century Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller– Cloud Fields (Radio Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Potty Break: Ben Sound - Sexy. USA: 2017. Used under a Creative Commons license.
Space News Music: Fredrik Miller – Orbit. USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Closing Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Headnodic Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. 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!)
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Next episode: Chinese furries! We'll visit the world of Chinese furries and explore the interesting differences between western Furries and Eastern! Send your emails by May 25, 2018! S7 Episode 14 – BOY! Get out of the way! - Roo and Tugs are joined by Michael Sanders to discuss leather, kink, and STI awareness in this steamy episode. Things get CRAZY in here - with all kinds of naughty confessionals, questions, and deliciously awkwar
Trailer: Mowgli
TigerTails Radio Season 11 Episode 05
Let's Try Not to Lose the Standards of Fursuit Etiquette, Shall We?
I have a question to ask and its about speech and fursuiting. I noticed that wile out of fursuit no one talks to me or acknowledges my presence. I just shrug my shoulders and think that maybe they are just too busy conversing with others. So this is normal for me. But as soon as I put on that head it seems like now everyone wants to talk to me. It gets me all confused because its like why talk to a fursuiter when you know that it hard to talk with them. They say something like "What? I can't hear you. Speak up!" It's quite hard to speak up with something is one's mouth. It also over times strains and bruises the vocal cords when trying to yell as loud as I can to make the non fursuiter here what I have to say. Then as I take off the head they stop talking or just walk away. It's like what is this? Are they playing some sort of mind game?
I just don't know if the non-suiters find it offensive when it comes to speech other than vocal. Friendly gestures while fursuiting can be a part of speech too. I experienced that scenario a few weeks ago at a furmeet. No one wanted to talk but as I got dressed up and put on the head that's when they wanted to say something. This one person kinda found it offensive just the way she used her tone of voice. "It's like why dont you converse or talk with others?" I'm like duh I'm in fursuit here. Stuff like that just ruins the magic and fun of being in character. Didn't want to say anything to the admin. staff about because I didnt want to ruin their happiness. She did that quite a few times too. I guess thy just have no idea how to RP in real life situations. I don't like to talk that much and that is why I use the fursuit. It's sort of like when you have your head phones are ear phones. Turn on the radio or listen and watch movies on the net and yup! People start making conversation and it's like "Hello! I'm listening to something here. I can't hear you" It's like do I have a sign on me that says please talk to me when I'm busy. I've seen people do this to others with fursuits. Not all but some. The person doesn't have fursuit on yet and nobody's around, but put it on and now everyone wants that person to say something. These people had a lot of time and opportunity to talk to that person beforehand but wasted that time doing something else.
I guess what I 'm trying to ask is Why do non suiters not use the time wisely to talk to the suiter before they walk around and perform?
Cave (age 29)
* * *
Hello, Cave,
As the fandom grows, it is apparent that the fursuiting etiquette that was once common knowledge is being increasingly abandoned or just forgotten (or not taught at all). Now, I have only been fursuiting since 2010, but even then these things (below) were told to me about proper fursuiting, so it seems to be very recently that this has gotten out of hand.
To all of you out there, fursuiters and non-suiters alike, here is a quick list what used to be, at least, fursuit etiquette:
- You DO NOT dehead in public (except in cases of emergency, such as you are going to pass out from heat exhaustion unless you dehead). If you are getting overheated and don’t want to completely remove your fursuit, that is the reason furcons provide the headless room, complete with fans and cold water. Dehead there, cool off, put the head back on and go outside again. Why is deheading forbidden in public? Because by keeping yourself in fursuit you are creating a fantasy that comes to life, which is at the core of the fun of fursuit performance. Deheading destroys the fourth wall, as they say in theater, and ruins the illusion of your being a furry.
- Unless you are very experienced as a fursuiter (and sometimes even then), you should always have a handler nearby. Handlers are buddies who help you not run into things, trip over stuff, negotiate stairs, and keep people from being annoying—such as touching, hugging, kissing, tugging on you without permission.
- Similarly, fursuiters should not approach, hug, etc. people unless they are okay with it. This is especially true with children unless parents are fine with it.
- Non-suiters should always ask permission to take photos.
- NEVER sneak up behind (or even to the side) of a fursuiter and then make contact with them. Fursuiters have bad or no peripheral vision, and this can be very startling and unnerving.
- When you are in fursuit, you should be IN CHARACTER. You are no longer Bob Smith or Jane Jones. You are now your fursona and you should behave as your fursona.
- Talking: It used to be that almost no fursuiters talked while in character, and communication was always done with gestures and maybe some animal noises or (a la Telephone) cute squeaks and such. This was in the tradition of Disney mascotting in which characters such as Mickey Mouse never spoke to guests even though the cartoon mouse could talk. Another reason was that most fursuit heads did not have articulating jaws, so it looked weird to talk. That has changed somewhat now, especially with improvements to costumes (Grubbs’ jaw moves, for example), but when you speak you really should do so in character.
- Non-suiters note #7: If you want to chat with the performer as him/herself, do so when they are not in character; if you want to chat with the fursona, that’s fine, but don’t expect a conversation from that person as their real selves.
The reason why you find people wanting to talk to you in your fursuit, Cave, is this: fursuits break down the communication barrier by making people more at ease. You see, when an unfamiliar face approaches someone and tries to initiate a conversation, this is a very real thing and can be intimidating to some people, especially for those who are socially shy, which is a common issue in the fandom. Furries (and mundanes) tend to form cliques and circles of friends with whom they are comfortable and then pretty much ignore everyone else. This is a type of defense mechanism.
But when you are in fursuit, you suddenly become an object of fascination, a fantasy character who has come to life, and this is, obviously, very appealing to a furry fan. They don’t feel intimidated anymore because your fursona is attractive and they want to get closer to you. It is also true, in my opinion, that because you are a fantasy being at this point, you are more approachable because you aren’t, in a sense, real. Therefore, you are not threatening to them, if that makes sense.
One of the things I enjoy about fursuiting is just this thing: it breaks down barriers. People come up to me and hug me! And they would never do that if I was just walking around as Kevin Hile. So, don’t be annoyed by people wanting to converse with you in suit; think of your fursuit, instead, as a tool for breaking down the wall between people and connecting to them. If they want to talk to you, talk back—but do it as your fursona. Keep the magic alive. That’s the fun of fursuiting!
Hugs,
Papabear