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Bear with me, I’m going to mention that old CSI episode “Fur and Loathing” again. Few media portrayals have upset furry fandom so much. A fiction show about murder should get a license to exaggerate for entertainment, but the public somehow took it as a documentary. It made impressions that a furry convention for good natured nerd stuff, like drawing cartoons and getting dinner with friends, is a weekend long furpile for sex-mad fetishists. Other sensational media was even more responsible for spreading the impression. Of course to be fair, so are some furries.

Fursuit Modded With Power To Pull Bad Dragon Products Into Tailhole From 25 Yards Away

— Dogpatch Clickbait (@DogpatchNewsBot) February 12, 2018

This was on my mind when I found a thread about Fay V’s worst convention ever. It’s a wild trip with 78 tweets about eldritch horror pudding and orgies.

Alright, I'll open this up to followers in general because this is a really fun story.
My worst con experience EVER! (1) https://t.co/wVxCaGDYur

— Fay V (@FayVFox) February 12, 2018

With that in mind, here are some of the more unusual kinks among furries, which I’m totally not making up at all.

(Art: Bencoon)

• Vore and Rooting

Vorarephilia is a fantasy interest in having one character consume another.  Rooting is where a character like a snake goes in one entrance and out another at the same time.

• Elebating

The infamous “elevator incident” at ConFurence 8 (all the way back in 1997) memorialized this scandalous behavior. A con-goer was disturbed by a mysterious ectoplasmic substance that migrated from an elevator wall to his pants leg. Witnesses who were trusted as non-gossipers swore up and down that it was exactly what you’re thinking of. It was variously explained as mayonnaise, moisture from bathing suits from a hot tub next to the elevator, or a sneeze:

Never having heard the actual complaints (despite being on staff) I suspect part of this may have been my fault. I was fighting a head cold the first day of the con. Staggering up to my room lay down for a couple hours I sneezed QUITE messily in one of the elevators. By the time I found something to clean it up with and got back to the elevator the hotel staff (?) had taken care of the mess. – Rivercoon

• Elevator hookup

Get in an elevator at a con and ask if anyone wants a hug. If a hug keeps going until it gets to your floor, ask if they wanna get off with you (wink!) It’s a way to have a contest – the fewer floors it takes, the better the score. Now you know what to blame for elevator lines.

• Davy Crockett Style

Wearing a raccoon’s ass for a hat.

• Weaseling and Double Weaseling

That’s when one furry puts on another’s fursuit for yiffing with a partner who doesn’t know. (Obviously it requires implied consent from freaky furries who will just laugh about it). A less typical situation is when a target furry catches on to the plan and secretly switches places with another, so both partners are in the wrong fursuit. That’s Double Weaseling.  A Weasel Party is when a whole group of furries switch suits at the same time.

Besides being freaky deaky like you saw on the CSI documentary – and definitely not creative fans who share art and encourage each other to express playful sides of their personalities in innocent and joyful ways – furries also enjoy telling totally ridiculous stories. With that in mind, enjoy the below.

Challenging myths about furries and sex. pic.twitter.com/94e1Mxrjl2

— VICE Canada (@vicecanada) February 1, 2018

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.

We have here a commercial by a Moscow based production company called Fetish Film. This is a bit like a russian 2d Fantastic Mr Fox in commercial form.
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In 2017, FurPlanet chose to deviate from their usual custom of designating differing themes for FANG and ROAR by instead assigning their two annual anthologies the same theme: Paradise. In FANG 8, edited by Ashe Valisca, 14 authors of gay erotica explore the concept of paradise in a variety of contexts; real or imaginary, natural or created, lasting or transitory. This review aims to examine each of these stories.We begin with Al Song’s “Serenity in Blue.” Holt, a fennec fox, has suffered a painful breakup with his boyfriend and now, post-college, works a job he despises. The story follows his efforts to find a path to new love and a more inspiring career. The ‘paradise’ element wasn’t particularly obvious, but Song’s themes of a search for love and purpose in a competitive modern world will likely be relatable to many young people.“For Metal Do I Bleed” by NightEyes DaySpring follows Evie, a wolf struggling with a crush on a close friend, which may or may not be returned. Along with friends, he attends a heavy metal concert. The evening’s subsequent events, which include him meeting a band member he idolises, have lasting effects on Evie’s conception of his idol, his crush, and himself. I myself did not find Evie a particularly sympathetic protagonist, but as an initial degree of immaturity is hardly unusual in the heroes of ‘loss of innocence’ tales, this does not detract from the quality of the story.“Reflections” by TJ Minde features a couple, Jared (raccoon), and Derrick (rabbit), as they address Jared’s sexual inexperience by having a threesome with Derrick’s friend Charlie (fox). Again the ‘paradise’ element was fairly loosely interpreted, but given most of the other stories in the anthology feature monogamous couples, Minde’s portrayal of a couple opening their relationship up for the first time was a welcome nod to the diversity of modern relationship types. My one quibble was that Derrick comes across as a rather overdone caricature of the ‘flamboyant gay’ stereotype but this may be personal taste. In "A Night Out" by Jaden Drackus, another example of a ‘paradise found’ tale, we follow Captain Kerry Cooper, a US Army pilot fox stationed in Paris during WWI. While exploring Montmartre, Cooper visits a cabaret designed for gay males, where he meets Claude, a French lion. Drackus’s skill at bringing the sights, sounds, and scents of Edwardian Montmartre alive for the reader made this one of my favourite stories in the anthology.“Antisocial Paradise” by Miriam “Camio” Curzon tells the tale of Landon, a British African Wild Dog, as he tries to balance his affection for Mina (genet), an Egyptian student studying in London, with his zeal for anarchist activism and rebellion. This was by far the most divisive story for me in the anthology. Curzon’s rich and descriptive narrative style makes “Antisocial Paradise” without doubt one of the best-written stories in the collection, if not the best, but the outstanding narrative quality is equally balanced by it having the least-likeable cast (Mina being the exception; I felt sorry for him). Often Landon’s dialogue, or that of supporting characters, was so far-out I half-wondered if I was reading a social satire. I’m very curious to see if other readers’ reactions to this story match or differ, but for writing quality and characterisation (a character doesn’t need be likable to be well-conceived, after all) it was my favourite story in the anthology."Cause No Trouble" also by NightEyes DaySpring is set in Soviet Russia, where Ivan, a snow leopard, finds himself in trouble with the authorities. To his surprise, the official placed in charge of his case, Nikolai (husky), offers to look the other way on Ivan’s transgressions if Ivan takes him to a gay club. More trouble follows for both of them. This was another of my favourite stories in FANG 8; a fine tale of two individuals finding companionship amid deplorable circumstances."IRL" by Billy Leigh comes next, the story of Peter, a coyote testing out a new X-rated visual reality program. I will not be reviewing it here however for conflict of interest reasons given Billy is my husband.What would it be like if we could switch to a different body any time we wished? This is the question posed in "Heavenly Flesh" by Slip Wolf. In a colony far in distant space, Janus (bear) tries to be supportive of his boyfriend Puca, who, having lost his memory during transit from Earth, tries to ‘refind’ himself through frequent changes to different bodies. There is an excellent twist at the end few readers will see coming. Through various elements of an entirely-fabricated world, Slip Wolf does a fine job of exploring the concept of ‘paradise created.’ The predominant erotic scene involves tentacles which some readers may find not to their tastes.“Waking Neil” by Skunkbomb follows beaver Archie as he attempts to draw his ferret boyfriend Neil out of a car-accident induced coma. Neil has found that within his mind he can create his own paradise; what if he doesn’t want to return to reality? While the erotic scenes in this story did not stand out to me, I did appreciate the subplot concerning Archie’s and Neil’s plans to become parents, a topic less-often touched on in gay furry fiction.Like several of the other stories in this anthology, “Too Good” by MythicFox also explores the concept of a fabricated paradise. Paul, a coyote, is staying at an exotic resort staffed by fennec foxes who cater to his every whim, but as his memory of his life outside the resort begins to fade, he increasingly wonders if all is as it seems. As with the previous story, this tale makes the suggestion that given the choice reality may be better than paradise.“Making Contact” by Tym Greene handles the theme of an escape from Earth a little differently than “Heavenly Flesh”: in this story, the spaceship Osiris has been in transit for hundreds of years, but as it approaches the distant planet which is to be its destination, other spaceships appear. Have aliens been discovered at last? This is the question Orville, a wildebeest, must answer as, having become acting-captain, he attempts to resolve the conflict. I’ve very little experience reading sci-fi but this story was very well-written, the sci-fi elements come across as very believable, and the twist ending was both surprising and satisfactory.Another sci-fi tale, “The Centre of my Universe” by T.D. Coltraine features Frank, the bear ‘scavenger’ whose spaceship scrounges scrap materials. While investigating a crashed government spaceship with his fennec lover Zeke, Frank discovers a seeming-paradise on an uncharted planet, but the crashed spaceship harbours secrets that endanger the happiness he and Zeke have found there. While the twist at this story’s climax was pleasingly surprising, overall ‘The Centre of my Universe’ did not resonate as well with me as some of the other stories in this anthology did. It began with an extended sex scene that I felt did not give the reader adequate time to connect with the characters, the dialogue often felt forced and unbelievable, and there were numerous typos which sometimes made me question what a sentence was saying – this stood out as otherwise the anthology is largely well edited.The penultimate story, “Little Death” by James Hudson follows Frederick, a fox who in a near-death experience finds himself transplanted into his own conception of paradise: a tropical beach on which his crush, snow leopard Toby, is his lover. This story’s interpretation of the ‘paradise’ theme suggests that the boundaries between reality and a conceived paradise may not be so distinct as one might think.“Empty” by Faora Meridian is the shortest story in the anthology, and one of my favourites. The tale of a fox visited in bed by his wolf lover, I can’t reveal much else without spoiling the ending – it has one of the best surprise endings in the anthology, perhaps my favourite take on ‘paradise’ as a theme.Overall, FANG 8 does a great job of exploring the concept of ‘paradise’ through various incarnations and interpretations. While some stories are better in quality than others, all were enjoyable on some level, and the variety of genres included, from sci-fi to historical fiction to contemporary settings in various contexts, makes it likely that most readers will find at least a few stories to their tastes, if not also introduction to other genres. The erotic element is much more evident in some stories than others, ranging from obvious, lengthy sex scenes to shorter sexual incidences nestled within the greater narrative, but in this respect as well I expect the diversity of approaches will help make the anthology appealing to a wider audience. Generally speaking the editing quality was high, as I noticed typos in only two or three stories out of fourteen. My compliments to Ashe Valisca and the authors of FANG 8 for putting together a fine anthology.

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

Raid on Sullin, by Beryll & Osiris Brackhaus
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, October 2017, trade paperback, $15.99 (233 [+ 9] pages), Kindle $4.99.

Raid on Sullin is #2 in the Packmasters series. #1, The Relics of Thiala, was reviewed here last April. I concluded that review, “But this is space opera, not hard science s-f. This review covers the first 50 pages of the 190-page novel (cover by Darbaras, a.k.a. Dávid László Tóth). What will Cat, Ferret, Bear, Wolf, and Ana find on Thiala and the sleazy Vandal space station? Since this is space opera, expect mucho dramatic action and weapons fire.”

I’m a sucker for good space opera, and The Relics of Thiala is great furry space opera. I’ve been looking forward to the sequel, and Raid on Sullin is not a disappointment. I recommend starting with The Relics of Thiala, but Raid on Sullin has a very good “What happened so far” for those who don’t want to bother. Roughly, Cat (the narrator), Ferret, Bear, and Wolf are four bestiae, bioengineered anthro-animen in a far-future interstellar community. The bestiae are considered beneath contempt by most humans, and were enslaved by a cult called the Packmasters. The Packmasters were apparently all killed by the rest of humanity in a civil war a generation ago. Ana, a mistreated young adopted orphan, escapes with the help of Cat. They gather three other bestiae and discover that Ana has Packmaster powers, but instead of using them to dominate the others, they form a pack of friends with a telempathetic bond under Ana’s leadership, Cat’s guidance, Bear’s piloting, and Wolf’s muscle. They steal a luxury space yacht, the Lollipop, belonging to a corrupt human Senator, Viscount Tomori, and flee to Vandal, a distant space station towards the Fringe of the galaxy that is (what else?) “a wretched hive of scum and villainy”. But Tomori comes after them. The book ends with Tomori and Bear dead, and the others unsure of how Vandal’s laws will treat them.

Raid on Sullin begins with such law as Vandal has ruling that Ana is the new owner of Tomori’s property. The small pack is delighted, but unsure what to do next.

“‘So what do we do, now that we are free to go?’ Ferret asked.

We hadn’t discussed the question. What little time Ana and I had spent together, we had used to prepare her testimony and we hadn’t had a meeting of the whole pack since our victory over Tomori. It hadn’t seemed necessary as long as we hadn’t won the case. We’d be staying at Vandal a little longer to pick up some supplies, but I had no plan yet where to go next.” (p. 21)

While they are discussing on the Lollipop where to go next, and how to replace the dead Bear, they are visited by one of Vandal’s small community of free bestiae.

“The insistent knocking at the main hatch sounded again, and I looked up from my reading. […] I made a quick detour back to the lounge and picked up a blaster gun from the pile of weapons we kept on one of the coffee tables. Never wrong to have plenty of guns within easy reach. While I always had a few knives somewhere on my person, a blaster might come in handy on this occasion. I shoved the gun into the back of of my pants and made it back just before the next impatient knock.” (pgs. 24-25)

“I punched in the code for the hatch and pulled it open.

And then I stared.

I hadn’t expected anything, but the creature who looked back at me was so unexpected I just couldn’t help myself. Almost as tall as Wolf, she was only half his mass at most. She was slender to the point of seeming frail, with short tan fur and intricate white markings showing on her exposed face and hands. Elegant horns rose from her brow. Some sort of deer, I thought, but none I had ever seen.

[…]

‘Well, you sure are just as pretty a kitty as I heard,’ she commented, startling me.

If I had been a human I would probably have blushed. As it was, I knew my ears were pointing in different directions most embarrassingly. It was pointless to pretend she wasn’t getting to me.

‘I have to admit I have no idea what you are,’ I answered, unable to keep my curiosity in check.

She cocked her head, showing off the long smooth line of her neck deliberately. ‘Antelope,’ she explained readily enough, ‘more specifically, a gazelle. And you are … a house cat?’” (pgs. 25-27)

The gazelle is Ten, shown on the cover (again by Darbaras). She runs a private investigator agency out of Vandal.

“‘As it happens, I find myself in need of assistance from someone who doesn’t run and hide from big bad people. So I was wondering if maybe an exchange of services might be possible. You help me with my problem and I help you with whatever you need from me.’

[…]

She was looking to hire us. After all the gossip about us taking out Tomori, she had to believe we were some sort of mercenary crew. It made sense, really. […] The thought appealed to me. No so much the misconception of us being just another bunch of hardened criminals, but the idea of helping a fellow bestia in need. Of course, it was pretty far from the vacation we had scheduled as our next ‘mission’. Still, I couldn’t resist at least asking for some more details.” (p. 29)

It’s really bad. The Core Worlds of humans, and its Core Military, are getting around to cleansing themselves of the bestiae. The Fringe is mostly still free. But:

“‘I used to be Core Military,’ she revealed, once more catching me completely off guard. ‘Part of a special experimental unit of bestiae. We didn’t exactly like the way we were treated, so when we got the chance, we ran. Once we reached the Fringe, we split up. To hide and disappear. When I came back from my last job yesterday, I had a message from one of my former comrades waiting for me. Says Core Military had found him and he is running from them again. I want to check on him and on another friend from my old unit. See if they are okay, or need any help to relocate.’” (p. 30)

Before Cat can make up his mind, Ten and Cat are attacked by the Core Military unit that has also targeted her. Defeating them leads to the pack’s agreeing to help her.

This takes the story to about page 45. The rest of the 233-page Raid on Sullin tells of the pack’s and Ten’s rescue of her former unit from the Core Military. This leads, not surprisingly to the enlargement of the pack.

The adventure will be enjoyed by furry fans. There are many nice anthro touches in it:

“‘Will you be able to deal with having a herbivore in your pack?’ My confusion must have been obvious, as she immediately elaborated. ‘Our unit was all herbivores. The trainer told us carnivore and herbivore bestiae didn’t mix well and that carnivores were much harder to manage.’ She paused thoughtfully for a moment, a grim smile on her narrow face. ‘Not so sure they still subscribe to that last bit, though.’” (p. 46)

“‘How do you all feel about skipping that vacation and rescuing a bestia from a Core Military base?’

Wolf’s ball hit him in the head and bounced off towards the kitchen. Since we were so closely connected, I intimately sensed how he went from ‘outraged no’ past ‘must be important to him if he even asks’ to ‘why the fuck not, could be fun’. Of course he knew that I knew, and it ended with him giving me a wide grin, showing off large, sharp teeth, ready to tear some poor Core soldiers to pieces.” (p. 49)

The Core Military hadn’t named its bestiae soldiers, it had numbered them. Ten’s first squad mate who needs rescuing is Four, a bison. I will give away that Two is the most gun-crazy, untrustworthy, back-stabbing rabbit you could imagine.

Be prepared for a lot of “fuck” and “shit”, some for macho humor, as when a space pirate says:

“‘Listen up, fuckers, you all get out of the way when that mother-fucking red thing flies your way, you hear me? Any of you shoot at the fucking flying cherry and I will fucking skin you and turn your hide into a fucking hat!’

I briefly wondered how she would cope if someone suddenly removed the word ‘fuck’ from her vocabulary. She didn’t bother closing the com channel and I heard various pirate pilots check in and acknowledge their orders. I quickly came to the conclusion that ‘fuck’ was an integral part of their language.” (p. 112)

Raid on Sullin ends very satisfactorily with a new member of the pack to replace Bear, but there is a brief preview of Packmasters #3, Tomori’s Legacy, out later in 2018.

Beryll & Osiris Brackhaus are two German retirees who have written several other novels, as listed on their The Adventure of Romance website. Raid on Sullin is freer of typographical errors than many books from major publishers, but it does have British spelling like armour and programme. It also has non-standard hyphenizations like dra-wings, trea-ting, me-ans, che-ap, and joi-ning, although most readers shouldn’t object to those.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

You may recall that a few years ago Fred Patten wrote an article for Flayrah.com about a very, very strange Korean animated film called Satellite Girl and Milk Cow. Here, we’ll let Fred summarize the plot: It’s about “… a pianist (male), transformed into a cow (female) by Merlin the Magician in the form of an anthropomorphic roll of toilet paper, and pursued by a villainous incinerator that wants to incinerate him/her; while a communication satellite falls from space, becomes an Astro Boy-like robot girl, and saves the cow from the incinerator and its secret agents.” Got all that? No? It’s okay, we don’t either. So why bring this up now? Well thanks to Animation World Network we’ve learned that GKIDS has finally picked up the rights for the film, and they will be releasing a subtitled version to theaters and DVD later this summer.

image c. 2018 GKIDS

A Chinese retailer (jd.com [1]) made this cute film to celebrate the year of the dog. In other news: It will soon be the year of the doggo. [1] http://jd.com
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http://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 Friday at 7pm Central on YouTube! YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/DraggetShow Patreon: www.patreon.com/thedraggetshow telegram chat: t.me/draggetshow 188 - Snowpocalympics - http://draggetshow.com Be sure to check our webs…

Camouflage is Kyell Gold’s new historical fiction novel about a young, college-aged white tiger named Danilo who finds himself supernaturally shifted to 1508 Scotland. Danilo is desperate to find a way back to his own time, but is quickly caught up in his attempts to help the underground gay community in their persecution by the Catholic church.The story is typical of Kyell Gold with its just-finding-himself gay young-adult protagonist and the contemplative yet action-packed flow to the story. However, it differs greatly in a thematic sense from his usual fare, and caught me well off-guard with the visceral brutality through which it accurately depicts the horrors inflicted on gay men and women during the time. The scene in question made me queasy enough to set the book down and make sure I had a trash can nearby.That isn’t a bad thing, though. After reading the scene over the three occasions it took me to get through it, I was at the same time thoroughly horrified with what just happened and newly in love with the story itself. It was a gut punch at the perfect time to break the reader (and the main character) out of the idea that Danilo’s trip into the past was a pretty little fairy tale to teach some lesson. That scene was an excellent inclusion at just the right time to tear down the reader’s preconceptions about what this setting would be.The plot as a whole was thoroughly action-packed, including a scene of "action" that departed from Kyell’s norm. However, that scene tied into the story perfectly well, and wonderfully built up Danilo’s character.In fact, the most impressive aspect of the story to me was how deftly the characters were handled, both those with an arc and the side-characters who interacted with the protagonist. The corollaries between the characters in the present and past were eerie in their differentiation.The biggest problem with the story, however, is how little time we have to understand the modern Danilo before he falls backward in time. This is understandable, given that most of the conflict takes place in the past, but there was so much exposition dumped on me during that first chapter that I felt like I was drowning in backstory information. Then, once we were in the past, the information and conflict presented played a bare minimum role.Furthermore, I personally didn’t enjoy how brutally heavy the story was starting around a third of the way in, all the way up through the climax. It felt like Danilo just couldn’t win at anything up to the point where I almost wanted to put the book down rather than see him fail again and get shoved another step backward. I love dark stories, but I personally need some semblance of small victories and steps forward to keep myself motivated.However, despite those elements that didn’t resonate as well with me, Camouflage was one of my favorite Kyell Gold stories, and a book that I absolutely recommend. It can be tough and gut-twisting to get through, but the journey is absolutely worth it.9/10

Nearly ten thousand users last month, and rapidly approaching five thousand artist listings - looks like we're having a growth spurt!

— Commiss.io (@Commissioapp) February 8, 2018

How devoted are furries?  To commission a fursuit, they tortuously wrap themselves in duct tape, pay thousands of dollars and trust a years-long wait before getting something back. Imagine if you had to do that for a new car or stove?

The upside is direct exchange for hand-made goods, but the downside is a clunky process with a lot of invested effort and risk of fraud or failure. It works because fandom is close-knit, but there’s opportunity for better platforms to help buyer and seller. (I was posting about it in 2013). Fursuit makers seem to be niche enough to handle their own business, but freelance artists handle smaller projects much more frequently. Art commissioning sites have started up to help. Achieving scale of users may be a challenge, but they’re in a growing fandom and word is getting out.

Commiss.io first caught my notice with their banner in the dealer’s den at BLFC. Now Hunter, the CEO, joins me to chat about the service.

My impression of Commiss.io is a business aimed at the freelance art marketplace. It was started by furries but it’s for any and all users. Do I have that right? Who’s on the team?

Pretty much! Though most of us have at least some involvement in the fandom, Commiss.io was created for any and all creators. Not just anthro artists, but musicians, sculptors, and more! We’ve really seen a lot of adoption within fandoms, furry and otherwise, and we’re really happy to provide a great place for that!

Right now there are four of us that work on the project. Myself, Mark, Chris, and Nate. There are, of course, all of the great artists and commissioners on the site as well! Right now we all do a little bit of everything, from outreach, marketing, customer support, and coding.

Commiss.io is described as a “place to manage your creative shop” – helping with payments, project management, licensing, asset delivery, and more.  Is this improving on other services?

We saw a niche that needed filling. There are gallery sites, social networks, project management sites, and sites for very small freelance projects and very large ones. Together they all create a very disjointed experience, with little focus on projects in the range that many freelance fandom artists tend to focus on. As a result, creators end up with an uneven experience and the need to manage themselves across a number of platforms, without a central location to track their projects and ensure protection for sellers. When things are messy, it’s easy to get lost.

Our goal is to be a central hub, with the process fading into the background so creators can focus on creating, and clients can have a great experience.

Can you give a few numbers about how it’s doing so far?

Sure thing! Since we got started earlier last, we’ve helped creators raise over $100,000, quickly growing now to over $10,000 each month! We have several hundred active creators and many more active clients. We’ve also seen several folks move most, if not all, of their custom projects and digital downloads to the platform. Though we have a lot still to do, we take that as a sign we’re on the right track! We’ve got happy clients and happy creators.

Happy New Year! Some great stats from 2017: Creators earned nearly $90k on Commissio even though we're still in our early stages. Plus, there's around $25k in the earnings pipeline at any given time. Nice job creators, keep up the fantastic work!

— Commiss.io (@Commissioapp) January 5, 2018

If I don’t care about numbers or technical stuff, what can you say about it for an art lover? 

For an art lover, I think the best part of the site is being able to find new artists doing things you might love – and being able to get yourself into the art easier. In furry culture, you often see art lovers convert that love into art for themselves – inserting their character into the art style of the artists they love. They also connect with the artists via prints, or shirts, downloads…whatever art forms, whatever mediums a particular artist makes. And that’s awesome that the community supports each other.

That’s why we’re here – making it easier for people to support their favorite creators – and helping creators manage their business so they can focus on art.

What’s the best benefit users can get, like for time or money?

From an artist’s perspective, it helps them manage all of their projects in one place. No more digging through notes, emails, and DMs to try and find all the details, and no more trying to remember in your head everything you have to do this week. All of your projects are laid out right in front of you. So you’re definitely saving time. Plus, we support instant payouts. Funds can go from a paid invoice to their bank account in a matter of minutes!

From a client perspective, there are a lot of benefits. First, it can act as a repository for your files, somewhere where can always go back and find the original files months or even years later. Another benefit is buyer security. We don’t collect payment until the artist starts on your project. And, we help oversee disputes between artists and commissioners.

For artists, that means no more “I lost my money because of a paypal chargeback”. And, clients, that means no more “I lost my money because I never got my art”. This is a big deal for direct money savings on both sides. And so far we’ve had ZERO chargebacks. For those familiar with the art industry, or even any product sales, that’s a huge deal.

We’ve also built out a marketplace to help creators connect with clients and vice versa. I think that’s going to be big business for our creators. It’s still growing, and we’re pushing really hard to get more users so that’s sustainable and it’ll make everyone’s lives even better. But in the meantime we’ve built some great tools that really help creators and commissioners alike.

Tips are also baked into the platform as well, allowing clients to give a little something extra at the end of a project, or just give their support to a creator!

New customer info summaries are live - keep track of who's buying from you! pic.twitter.com/q2ySreMXg2

— Commiss.io (@Commissioapp) February 1, 2018

I see you have thousands of creators. Is this already a primary entrance to find an artist, and help artists to promote their work? Or is it more about bringing in clients from elsewhere?

That’s the long-term vision. When people complete the entire commissioning loop – from finding an artist – we think it’ll be awesome. But we’ve still built a system that’s very helpful for our clients and artists even before then.

We also know there’s a lot of artists who may not want that at all! They may see a lot of success promoting their presence and their products on their own sites or communities. So we’ve made it so they can put their commiss.io store in a tumblr post, on their own site, wherever they want. Anywhere they can put an iFrame, they can put their store and it’ll look just like they did it themselves. And that’s already available; you can do that today.

In the future, we hope that we’ll be able to integrate directly into external sites as well. It’s a definite goal of ours!

Can you tell me more about users? Who has adopted it and how many do you think are furries? Does it affect planning, like where you might promote?

We’ve had users adopt the service ranging in volume from a couple projects a month, to hundreds over the year. Some still invoice with PayPal, others use our tools. The vast majority of projects, though, are invoiced through the site, with positive feedback from both buyers and sellers.

The furry community has definitely been one of our biggest supporters, and we’re thrilled about that. We’re always looking to expand into other communities, and hope to support a wide variety of folks moving forward. Like any business, we’ll split our promotion between communities we already support and groups we want to encourage to adopt the platform.

What portion are actively making money through you? Do you know what stuff is doing the most business?

Well, right now we’ve chosen not to make money because we want the site to grow, and people to try it out – and we recognize that we’ve got some growth to do too. We know that building this thing up is the most important thing for our users.

Long-term, we’re looking at some different options. We’ll most likely adopt a “freemium” model, where users can opt to pay for a pro membership and avoid platform fees, or pay a small platform fee on top of standard transaction fees to help us cover costs.

But regardless, we’re be committed to keeping fees low as we move forward. We’re here to help the artistic community, not weigh people down with fees.

I’ll bet furries are curious about content standards. Are there limits for adult content? How about payment handling – do you have to be cautious of what happened with other services, like rejecting clients for having tricky content?

Of course content policies are something we take very seriously. We allow NSFW content so long as it’s properly flagged, and outline what content is restricted in our Community Guidelines. We’ll make adjustments as necessary, and work with our payment partners to ensure that we can support a wide variety of content. We have a proven track record of safe and secure transactions, and this only helps to strengthen our relationship with our providers.

Has Commiss.io had adjustments or cool opportunities since launch?

We’ve made a number of changes since we started. One thing we’ve focused on since the beginning was an ability to iterate quickly and stay flexible. We generally push a few updates to the site a week. Some big, some small, but always ensuring that we’re working hard to keep the site (relatively) bug-free and reliable. We’re constantly making adjustments based on community feedback.

Probably the coolest thing has been seeing the variety of artists coming through. There’s people doing all kinds of amazing things, and I know that diversity and quality of the art on commiss.io is only going to be even more amazing as time goes on.

5 new features?! You heard us right. We've been busy busy. Check it out in our February Creators' Update! https://t.co/Uu2cH6pzf1

— Commiss.io (@Commissioapp) February 11, 2018

What’s in the future for it?

We have a lot on the roadmap at any given point. We’ve recently launched some awesome features that build into these, like customer management tools. But here’s an idea of what we’re looking at in the near future:

• Client subscriptions to their favorite artists
• Direct PayPal support
• More robust Physical item sales (so you can sell t-shirts, pins, comics, etc. – we already have digital download support)
• Phased or installation payments for larger projects and orders

Of course, we’re always listening to our community to determine what’s coming next, too.

Do you have any other words I can share for furries who might be reading?

Check it out! Make an account, try it out. Click that little button in the bottom right and hit us up with any thoughts/suggestions/feedback, anything you want. We’re always reading that and always trying to make things even better.

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.

Tui T. Sutherland is one of the authors who created the Warriors and Seekers series of cat-fantasy novels under the collective pseudonym of Erin Hunter. You may recall we reviewed her novel series Wings of Fire previously. Well recently Scholastic requested the author to help in adapting that series into a graphic novel, which has been released by Graphix. “Not every dragonet wants a destiny . . . Clay has grown up under the mountain, chosen along with four other dragonets to fulfill a mysterious prophecy and end the war between the dragon tribes of Pyrrhia. He’s not so sure about the prophecy part, but Clay can’t imagine not living with the other dragonets; they’re his best friends. So when one of the dragonets is threatened, all five spring into action. Together, they will choose freedom over fate — on their own terms.” With full-color art by Mike Holmes, Wings of Fire: The Graphic Novel is available now.

image c. 2018 Graphix

https://www.recon.com/en/News/Article/2619

from Recon News11 February 2018For some, the furry identity – or 'fursona' - they adopt when they don their animal suit of choice is pure escapism, with no sexual subtext whatsoever. This is Recon though, so we're focusing our attention on furries as a fetish.

What is a furry?

Broadly speaking, furries are those who like to dress up as anthropomorphic animals; animal characters that have humanlike abilities, like walking and talking – some of these also have overtly masculine physiques. Originally emerging from the cosplay scene, furry subculture has grown exponentially since, becoming a global movement in its own right with dedicated furry conventions all over the world.

Many furries choose animal fursonas that they feel reflect their personalities or that embody qualities they would like to have more of. Fursonas can allow many furries to become a different version of themselves, usually one that's more confident and less inhibited, a kind of 'idealised' self. A fursuit that completely hides a guy's identity can make this even easier.

Furry gear varies though, some furries opt for full body fursuits that cover them from head to toe, some have 'partial' suits that cover just the head, arms and legs, while other just wear a tail and/or ears to tap into their fursonas.

Furries and fetish

Being a furry means different things to different people; for some it's just a way to express their fandom of the kind of animal characters we see in cartoons, movies and videogames. For furry fetish men however there's more to it, and the furry fandom can be a way to meet like-minded guys.

Furry fetish comes with its own set of terminology, including 'scritching' – grooming one another's fur, and 'fur pile' – a group of furries lying on top of each other and scritching, which can be a part of furry play. 'Yiffing' is sex between furries, which takes its name from the sound foxes make when they mate, and some furries incorporate their animal fursonas into roleplay with other furries.

Yiffing may or may not involve wearing fursuits, although there are suits specially designed with cut out sections around the crotch that means they can be worn during play, known as murrsuits. Suit-clad play can be known as 'murrsuiting', although some furries prefer to wear just the head or mask of their fursuit to help them stay in character.

Where fetishes meet and blend together, there can also be a power play or bondage element involved in yiffing for some furries. For some, their fursona is also a sub or a Dom, which again can be an accentuation of the traits of their animal counterpart.

Getting involved in furry fetish

Furry porn is a good place to start, there's a wealth of both animated furry porn art and live action yiffing content out there. If there's something specific you want to see, you can even commission your own piece from a furry porn artist.

You can buy pre-made fursuits from specialist sellers and auction sites, although many furries prefer to go for a custom-made suit that allows them to bring their personal fursona to life. Although they may not advertise the fact, many fursuiters also make murrsuits.

Before you invest in a suit though, it's worth going along to a furry convention first to get a taste of the scene. The fetish side of the furry fandom tends to be underrepresented at most cons, but that's not to say that it's not going on after hours and behind closed doors. 'Furclubbing' is also taking off around the world; furry club nights that mean furries don't have to wait for a con to hit the dancefloor.

Take a look at WikiFur for a list of international furry conventions to find out more.

for all things Dragget: http://draggetshow.com Here is video of it w/ illustrations and more! -- https://youtu.be/Kx_RdplCKQE Our Patreon w/ great new rewards! www.patreon.com/thedraggetshow Telegram Chat: t.me/draggetshow Dungeons & Draggets #04 - for all things Dragget: http://draggetshow.com H…

Here’s a European animated film from last year that we missed somehow: Rabbit School — Guardians of the Golden Egg. According to an article at Animation magazine’s site from last March, “Following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, family animated feature Rabbit School – Guardians of the Golden Egg has had a strong debut in cinemas… Directed by Ute von Münchow‐Pohl, Rabbit School centers on a young urban rabbit named Max who gets stuck in an old-fashioned Easter Rabbit school when it is surrounded by a clan of clever foxes who want to take over the holiday. With the help of cute bunny Emmy and the instruction of the mysterious Madame Hermione, Max learns not only the secret magic of Easter bunnies, but also where he truly belongs.” As you can see from the trailer, the film was dubbed with a British cast for distribution in the UK. No word yet if anyone plans to release it on DVD for North America.

image c. 2018 Akkord Film

"Stop-Motion animation about an unlikely friendship in the Arctic."
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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Legends of Heraldale, by Brian McNatt
Chickasha, OK, The author, January 2017, trade paperback, $13.95 (243 pages), e-book $3.95.

Legends of Heraldale is very much a stereotypical Young Adult fantasy. Its appeal will be to those who want to see a world where all the most familiar animals of mythology – gryphons (griffins), unicorns, hippogryphs, dragons, cockatrices, wyverns, sphinxs, minotaurs, salamanders, and mermaids – live, including some that I have never heard of like a rockodile and zakarians. But there are many curious aspects to it.

A Prologue tells of the last battle of the First Expansion War between the unicorns and the gryphons:

“For a moment, night turned to day, illuminating the two clashing forces. Through the woods to the canyon’s west massed the unicorns of the Avalon Empire, hooves beating the earth and snow as they galloped among the trees. From their horns streaked bolts of red magic at the many-towered fortress across the canyon, blasting chunks of stone from the high walls and tearing through the gryphon defenders.

From the fortress walls and towers the gryphons rained down flocks of arrows and crossbow bolts in return, each weapon striking true.” (p. 1)

Gryphons are usually thought of as quadrupedal. I have a hard time envisioning them shooting bows & arrows, and firing crossbows.

“Three gryphons in gold-edged leather and mail flew from the gates to meet the enemy charge. There flew a swan-gryphon, a spear as slender as his neck clenched in his talons; there flew a golden eagle-gryphon, her battle-axe as broad as many of the opposing unicorns stood tall; and at the lead flew a cardinal-gryphon, half the size of the others, her wings sheathed in feather-styled blades, a helm-like crown upon her brow.” (p. 2)

Gryphons are traditionally depicted as a combination of the front of an eagle and the rear of a lion. The concepts of a swan-gryphon and a cardinal-gryphon – later crow-gryphons and bluebird-gryphons — are intriguing; but a gryphon is supposed to look fierce and menacing, and a cardinal hardly matches that description. The idea of other birds than an eagle makes the possibility of other avian combinations irresistible; a turkey-gryphon, a vulture-gryphon; a sparrow-gryphon; a hummingbird-gryphon.

Grimhilt the cardinal-gryphon, queen of the gryphons, is mortally wounded. She is helped by her two friends to a secret chamber under the doomed fortress, where her newborn daughter is hidden:

“Trembling talons pulled away the silk blankets so that she could see the gift to the world with fresh eyes, like it was the first time all over again. The child was hardly three weeks old, her front half like a gryphon, her back half like a unicorn, a straight horn the color of polished ivory sprouting from her forehead. The child possessed her father’s shocking blue eyes, bringing Grimhilt to tears, and in time would grow up to have her mother’s vibrant red plumage. ‘A hippogryph … so beloved …’” (p. 5)

Galaxy (Gal) the hippogryph is raised in primitive Feathern Valley, part of the conquered gryphon kingdom now oppressed by the cruel unicorns. Legends of Heraldale begins when she is a 15-year-old teenager, with her friends and adoptive siblings Sascha and Siegfried, two swan-gryphon twins, and Brynjar, a golden eagle-gryphon. The unicorns keep the gryphons of Feathern Valley at the technological level of medieval serfs, while they go about in steam-driven troop transports, flying warships, and magic-powered carriages:

“Despite these dark thoughts, the sound of carriage wheels roused Galaxy’s curiosity. Ignoring Brynjar’s warning look and praying her red plumage would go unnoticed, she lifted her head enough to peer over the grass. She saw a black carriage the size of a small house draw level with them 50 feet eastward down the forest edge. No living creature drew the carriage as far as Galaxy could tell, the job done by a pair of floating crystal orbs each the size of a large pumpkin. A trio of unicorn soldiers in the white barding of the Unicorn Empire kept watch ahead and to the sides.

The carriage pulled to a stop and the doors on their side popped open. Out of the carriage hopped a palomino unicorn stallion looking on the cusp of adulthood.” (p. 13)

The unicorns are led by ruthless Lord Mordred, the personal apprentice (?) of the unicorns’ mad Empress Nova:

“The troop carrier touched down with a clank, steam hissing from vents and corner prongs losing their glow. Half a minute passed before the whole front of the carrier lowered into a ramp. Owain barely resisted backing up as six unicorn soldiers in full white barding marched down, curved steel blades two feet long mounted onto their horns.

The six soldiers divided into two lines of three to the left and right of the opening. Then He appeared, hoof-falls like thunder as he marched down the ramp. That evil feeling Owain felt grew all the stronger as this time he did step back, terrified. This stallion stood head and neck above the unicorns around him, his coat black, his long mane and tail black dotted with white, giving resemblance to the night sky. He wore no barding or caparison. Wolf-eyes shone gold with an inner light. His horn looked dull as bone.” (pgs. 33-34)

Owain is the sympathetic unicorn teenage son of the imperial governor of Feathern Valley. To give away a spoiler, Legends of Heraldale is a Romeo-&-Juliet romance, with Galaxy and Owain as the determined lovers from rival families. That’s Brynjar, Gal, and Owain on the uncredited cover.

To me, anyhow, all the mentions of technology ruin the mythological-animal atmosphere, and I don’t care if My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic does the same thing. Four-footed/hooved gryphons and unicorns using magic/telekinesis to shoot bows-&-arrows and crossbows? To operate a blacksmith’s forge? To travel in aerial warships and horseless carriages? (Try picturing the Owain on the cover riding in a magic-propelled carriage.) A raven-gryphon pirate? Gryphons of many different bird-types, and great flocks of cardinal-gryphons?

But if you don’t mind this, Legends of Heraldale is a shallow but enjoyable adventure of three anthro-animal teenagers going on an unknown journey to escape the cruel unicorn Lord Mordred and his efficient assistant, Commander Bevin. The adventure does not end as much as it comes to a stopping-place. “Galaxy and friends will return.”

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

At last! A cool high-quality ashcan we saw last year at San Diego Comic Con is now being printed by Arcana Studio: The Los Valiants Volume 0 graphic novel. “From writer/colorist Edgar Delgado (Ultraduck, Superior Spider-Man, Darth Vader) comes a collection of 7 short stories about Featherbay’s resident superhero, Ultraduck and his friends from Canis Hill. Together they are Los Valiants!” If you remember Ultraduck then you know the quality of art you’ll find here.

image c. 2018 Arcana Studio

'A love struck cat falls head over heels for a beautiful queen'
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The nominations for the 2017 Leo Literary Awards are now closed!The next couple of months, the judges shall review all of the nominated works to see which are worthy of the Leo Literary Award. Since there are five judges, for any work to win at least two-thirds votes, at least four judges must vote "Yes" on a work for it to win an award. Judges are not allowed to vote on works in which they had a direct hand in its publication (as a writer, editor, or publisher). However, an editor for a house may judge a work at that same house, provided they were not its editor. Likewise, if the judge wrote a story in a collection, they cannot judge the collection themselves, but they can judge another story in the collection.Each of the judges provided a bio so you can "meet" them! Check them out below.Madison Scott-Clary, or Makyo, is a furry, writer, editor, and publisher living in the Pacific Northwest. In 2011, she founded [adjective][species], a metafurry resource, as writer and editor-in-chief. Shortly thereafter, the project took ownership of the Furry Survey, the fandom's largest yearly market and demographic survey. Beginning in 2016, she edited Arcana - A Tarot Anthology for Thurston Howl Publications. In 2017, she joined forces with Thurston Howl Publications as an editor. She also assumed the role of president of the Furry Writers' Guild. Madison helped found Hybrid Ink, LLC, an independent publisher based out of the Pacific northwest, focused on thoughtful writing, fiction and nonfiction, from prose to verse. Madison has had essays published by Thurston Howl Publications in Furries Among Us 2 and on The New Stack, a tech news site. Her works have also appeared in the Further Confusion conbook in 2015, Civilized Beasts II, Arcana - A Tarot Anthology, Knotted: A BDSM Anthology, vol. 2, and Hot Dish 3.Dominique Goodall is an author mainly dedicated to the love she has for wolves, with her books available for reading on Amazon. A firm believer in challenging herself, she's a seven-year NaNoWriMo winner, having completed her 50,000 words in only 48 hours in 2017. An editor and proofreader over at Priceless Proofreading UK, she loves nothing more than to write her books in varied genres, and to curl up with a good book.Kirisis "KC" Alpinus is an author whose works have appeared in the Coyotl Award-winning Inhuman Acts, the Leo-nominated Bleak Horizons, Dogs of War: Aftermath, and the upcoming Infurno. As of February 2017, she is the lead editor of the first lesbian, furry anthology CLAW, as well as the lead editor for the upcoming Species: Wild Cats and Breeds: Wild Cats, while also being a slush pile reader for Bleak Horizons and an upcoming horror anthology. Her reading interests include fantasy, horror, romance, historical fiction, mythology, and a few more odds and ends. Sam Dutton is a writer and nature lover who lives on the edge of Dartmoor National Park in the South West of England. An avid reader of fiction and poetry, she has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in English Literature. Her writing credits to date include ‘Wolf: A Short Story.’ in ‘Wolf Warriors: The National Wolfwatcher Coalition Charity Anthology.’ (2014) Thurston Howl Publications; ‘Fairytale Wonderland.’ in ‘Wolf Warriors: Winter Wolves.’ (2016) Thurston Howl Publications; ‘Sweet Child of Nine.’ In ‘Poems To My Younger Self.’ (2018) Compiled and edited by Sarah Michelle Lynch. (Release date 20th February 2018).Thurston Howl is a writer, editor, and publisher. As a writer, he's had works published in Purrfect Tails, ROAR 8, HEAT 14 & 15, Knotted II, Civilized Beasts II, Typewriter Emergencies, Dogs of War II, Passing Through, and some college magazines. His recent experimental horror novella The Devil Has a Black Dog was recently accepted by Red Ferret Press, and he is also a reporter for Michigan LGBT newspaper, Between the Lines. As an editor, he does some volunteer work for Weasel Press, and he occasionally edits novels and anthologies for Thurston Howl Publications, of which he is the editor-in-chief. He is also the founder of the Furry Book Review program and will be the editor of upcoming nonfiction collection, From Paw to Print.

Rune’s Furry Blog showcases “people within the Furry Community… their characters, life, thoughts, and beliefs”. It also covers furry issues and media. Welcome Rune! – Patch

This week I will be attending Texas Furry Fiesta 2018. This is my 3rd convention that I have been to, and while I wrote about going to the conventions, fursuiting, and things to do at a convention (etc), I never got around to talking about the ‘prepping’.

Going to a convention takes a lot of planning and preparation. It’s crazy how much time gets dedicated to planning what panels you want to attend, figuring out the stuff you need to bring, and how much money you will need to survive for 4 days. And because I have found myself in several situations that were not exactly ‘ideal’, I figured this is the best time to reflect on the things I have learned so that others might better prepare for their Furry Conventions.

• A Furry Convention is NOT a necessity! 

I hate that this is something that needs to be said, but it’s best to get it out of the way first. A Furry Convention is a fun break from our day-to-day lives where we can feel free to express ourselves. It’s full of hugs, fun, friends, and fur (literally everywhere), but it’s not a necessity. Things like food, a water bill, a car payment… all of those things come before a Furry Convention. So please be responsible! Do not let the ‘want’ of going to a Furry Convention hurt other areas of your life. We all need to be adults sometimes and that can mean missing out on something fun. But remember… there is another Furry Convention the next year (and maybe another local one later the same year). Save your money, budget, and go to one that you can comfortably afford later. You will have a lot more fun if you don’t have to worry about the consequences of bad spending the minute you get home!

• Figure out where you are staying & reserve your rooms.

Hotel rooms where the convention is being held go FAST! They are usually sold out within the first week or sooner. So, once you find out about a convention, you need to start researching where you are going to stay. Start planning who you are going with, how many beds you would need… and if the con-hotel is too expensive, then browse hotels within the area. Remember to take into account the distance from the con hotel, the way in which you will get in-between the two, and possible parking costs. Reserve your rooms ASAP!

Remember that some hotels make you pay a small ‘holding’ cost upfront, and also that some hotels do not take out payment until AFTER your stay! So make sure you are budgeting your money accordingly so that you do not get over-drafted. If a friend has reserved the room, make sure that your name gets put somewhere on that room. This way you can not be kicked from the room and/or you avoid any issues if your friend failed to mention more people staying in the room than what is allowed. Telling the person behind the counter that you only have 2 people in your room and then having 2 other people sleeping on an air mattress is a legal issue and an overall safety risk/hazard! So please do not do it.

• Pre-Register!

Even if you do not plan to attend the convention on all of the days, pre-registering is the way to go. Unless you are attending for only one day. Pre-registering has a bunch of perks including faster lines (thus faster access to the con), pre-con activities, and other things. It usually gets you some extra goodies from the con-bags as well! But pre-registration does have specific closing dates. To remind yourself to pre-register, set an alarm or notification on your phone. Research the cost beforehand and budget to spend that money. Write a memo… do whatever it takes to remind yourself to get it done!

Not pre-registering when traveling with a group can be a hindrance to other people. Non-registered lines operate at different times, and sometimes it means you can not attend early events which your friends might have planned to go to. Sometimes this means the group might have to go to the con a day later rather than a day early depending on how their schedules lined up because now you have to go through a different and longer line. So while it seems like a small thing, depending on the con, it can make a big difference!

At one of the cons I attended- a couple of our people did not pre-register like they were supposed to. We had the opportunity to experience the con a day early and had decided to do so (as a group), but then we found out that the longer lines closed early and that if we were to go to the convention, we would have to leave the other 2 people alone in the hotel. We made the decision to stay, but waiting for them to register did strike a nerve… especially when we realized the things we had missed because a couple people did not remember. Small things can make waves when it comes to plans… so try and do everything in your power to be proactive, to plan, and be responsible. Even nudge your friends if you have to… just try and be nice about it rather than bossy or pushy.

• Just because it may be cheaper does NOT mean you should surround yourself with toxic people!

I learned this lesson my very first con. It is way cheaper to go to a convention with a bigger group. Most furries have at least 2-3 people they room with because splitting costs is usually a win-win for everyone. But just because you want to spend less money does not mean that you should put yourself in a bad/toxic situation. My first convention was still a good time. But, for all the good moments, there were just as many bad moments because of the people we were staying with.This all lead to a lot of unnecessary drama and my friend and I almost getting stranded at a hotel that was a ways from the con because people were not getting along. There were panels that were missed, a lot of time just spent sitting around, people arguing over simple things like food and when they wanted to go back to the hotel, fights about sleeping arrangements, and overall it was just BAD PLANNING because in the end, it was thought that “cheaper” would be better. No… just no. That’s not to say you shouldn’t room with friends. If you know a person and trust a person, and if you feel comfortable staying with a person, then by all means do so.

Placing yourself in a bad situation also means allowing strangers to room with you in order to cut costs. I see so many people on con group pages asking for people to room with, and while some of them work out, scams are highly likely as well. If you are willing to take in a stranger, make sure you do your homework. Interview this person, get to know them. Talk with them in-person to make sure they are who they say they are (even if this means a skype call). Take your payment up-front and send verification that they are on the room’s list. Make good business decisions like you would if you were commissioning a fursuit or some other work! Make sure you set room rules, and even write up a contract if you have to. Protect yourself, your things, and your money! If this means spending more money to be safe… then save up more money and/or wait until the next convention!

• Set aside emergency funds!

I don’t find this being pessimistic but more realistic when I say: “Not everything goes according to plan!” This just means life in general. In the time between registering for a convention and making it there, anything can happen! Even after the convention, life can happen and take you by surprise, so try and be prepared. By being prepared… I mean setting up a financial ‘cushion’ in case things go south. Maybe you miss your bus or plane, or maybe your car breaks down. Maybe an unexpected bill takes out or you miscalculated on your budget for food. Make sure you have extra money so that you can take care of whatever needs to get done so that you make it to the con safely and make it home safely as well.

• Make a packing list!

I am the type of person that seems to always forget something when I am packing for a trip. Usually it’s just small things, but I know others that tend to forget major essentials and it can cause high tensions when trying to enjoy a con. What I do is I make a packing list. I make a list marking my essentials, things like props, and even emergency things. I leave a checkbox by the items and then check them off as I pack. This is just one of the ways you can avoid forgetting things… but I understand such a method does not work for everyone.

So come up with a way that you can make some sort of list of what you need and then make sure those things make it into your luggage! Remember to take into account how you are getting to the convention when packing. When flying, you will have to follow those specific travel rules for what you can bring and what you can not bring. If riding a bus, the same thing applies. My first convention I took a bus, and I was not told that the bus only allowed one thing of luggage to be put under the bus (and it was my fault for not researching it). This lead to me having to have my other (heavy) luggage bag on my lap as well as my fursuit head while I sat uncomfortably for the next 4 hours. If you are driving with friends, try and account for how much room will be available for your things. And if traveling alone, still pack as little as you can since you never know if someone might need your help and have to make use of your vehicle. Though this has nothing to do with packing: CLEAN YOUR CAR! Especially if you are driving other people. It makes more room, it is way more comfortable, and it ensures that no one’s stuff gets dirty or damaged.

• Commit!

Commit to the things you said you were going to do. This applies especially if you are traveling in a group. Owe someone a badge? Put a notification on your phone and make the badge! Have a fursuit to finish? Manage your time and set notifications to make the fursuit! Don’t put yourself in a position where you are doing things last-minute and you have to break promises because you were not responsible and organized… this is a bad way to start a convention.

In saying that, don’t overload yourself when you know you have a bad habit of getting burnt out, overwhelmed, etc. Life happens, yes… but when you cause your own problems, it can make for serious issues when planning cons with people in the future… especially when you can not come through with things you promised to do. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, fulfill your obligations to friends and to customers alike. Make time to do things, even when you’re feeling lazy. Send money when you promised to send money, pay for the things you promised to pay for rather than backing out last minute. Don’t volunteer for something you might not be able to do because no one likes this type of person. Be responsible, be reliable, be honest… and commit!

• Remember you are not OBLIGATED to take care of anyone for their mistakes!

While I say to “commit”, in the same likeness… you should not be held accountable to fix someone else’s mistake. If you have to take care of a cost because someone did not budget properly, make sure that person pays you back. If someone didn’t bring something, you are not obligated to get them the things they need. Even if this means they can’t spend money to buy that t-shirt or that plushie, that is not your fault. That falls on them, not on you. Do not sacrifice your fun and comfort because someone else did not plan as they were supposed to. You are not obligated to take care of anyone else other than yourself. Especially if you can not afford to take care of other people.

• Remember that this convention is about YOU having a good time.

Don’t let anyone else ruin your fun. Don’t want drama? Don’t get involved in it. Someone trying to bring you down because they are down? Don’t let them drag you into their problems. Don’t let people guilt you into helping them with anything… and don’t let them tell you what you are going to do at a convention. This is YOUR time that you paid for. Do not let someone else run the show and ruin your fun. You’re free to break off from your friends if you wanna go to a panel they are not interested in. You are free to not go to that dance they want to go to because you don’t like dancing. You are free to drink (but if they say no alcohol in the room then respect that) or to not drink despite what others are doing. This time and this con is for all furries, but for all furries to have fun in their own way!

• Read over con and hotel rules!

Convention rules are usually additional to hotel rules, so make sure you read over both. This can concern anything from alcoholic beverages to smoking and prop use. Make sure you read and understand what you can do and what you can not do. I know a common rule is that you are not allowed to sleep in the public hotel spaces or in the con space… this is for safety reasons and it can get you banned from the con for a day after multiple offenses. Also, some hotels allow alcohol, but only in designated areas (same goes for smoking), so make sure you read those rules. Since conventions tend to have themes to them, people like to dress up and bring props matching the theme… but there are rules as to what props are allowed and what are not allowed. If the rules do not specify something, proceed with caution but never assume it is allowed. I like to call hotel staff if I have a question and if the convention managers have not gotten back to my e-mails about such questions after a certain amount of time. Failure to follow rules can lead to being banned from a convention and even the hotel itself. Pleading ignorance does not get you off the hook either. So read up on the rules ahead of time.

• If you’re in a group, go over the con schedule and plan out panels together!

One thing my buddy likes to do is to have everyone read over the con schedule and say what panels they are interested in. When you are traveling with a group, it’s okay to split up during the convention… but I will say that spending the convention with friends is a lot more fun. So, by planning out who wants to go to what panel, it usually ensures that you’re never alone and you have someone to go and see things with. Sometimes people might get interested in a panel they never thought about before because so many friends want to go to it. So it can never hurt. I find that planning these things before a con leads to a lot smoother of a con experience! This also can be good so that you can map out times when people are not busy and you can all meet up to go eat or check out the Dealer’s Den.

• Create room rules and set other boundaries BEFORE the con!

It’s not very nice to get into a room, start settling in, and then suddenly get slapped in the face with rules. This is especially annoying when you might have already had plans for things you wanted to do. Now, if you’re rooming by yourself, this is not an issue… but, if you are rooming with other people, make sure you set rules and boundaries BEFORE you make it to the convention. This means laying out the rules on who gets room keys, where people are sleeping, what the rules about bringing over friends is, and anything else you feel needs to be covered. Often at Furry Conventions this can usually mean bringing over friends, dates, having alcohol in the room, and/or having a room party. Again, remember to follow hotel rules at all time!

• Have a backup plan for EVERYTHING!

Like emergency funds, life happens… and it does not always concern money. I’m talking more in terms of transportation and things of that nature. People and machinery alike can prove to be unreliable at times, and life happens, so please have a backup plan for everything! If your friend can’t take you to the convention, then make sure you have a plan for that. Maybe there is a bus you can hop on or someone else you can call. You won’t have to panic if you have a plan A-B-C for if things go awry. Also if your car breaks down, the same thing applies. You and your group should have a bunch of emergency backup plans in case anything gets crazy.

• Make sure you are making healthy changes BEFORE going to the con!

At a convention you will hear the 6-2-1 rule: At least 6 hours of sleep, at least 2 meals a day, and you have to bathe once per day at the minimum! But you should be making healthy changes before the convention, especially if you are a fursuiter. At a convention you are most likely going to eat like garbage. You will be having so much fun that you will go hours upon hours without food; then you will grab the first thing you see because you are starving!

Dehydration is a real concern at conventions… but you don’t just wanna start being hydrated when you come to the convention. Start drinking more water the week prior. Try and eat as healthy as possible the week before a con so that when you are eating nothing but junk at the convention you might not feel terrible afterwards. Give your body a head-start into what is going to be the craziest, most fun weekend of your life!

• Don’t be afraid to do something differently next year…

If your arrangements that you made this year do not work out, or if you learn some things that you can do better to ensure you have a better time at the next convention… then don’t be afraid to do it. Do not be afraid to not room with that friend you have because maybe you guys don’t agree on room rules… and don’t be afraid to say you’re not driving everyone next year. This all comes back to the convention being about you having fun.

Conventions have their stressful points, but they shouldn’t be remembered as stressful. They shouldn’t be remembered for all the things that went wrong but for the amazing memories that you made while there. So learn from your experiences and use that knowledge to improve on how to tackle future conventions… even if other people might not agree with you.

Sometimes my advice may seem a little harsh… but I promised myself to only ever be realistic and honest, even if the truth might hurt. You may or may not like this advice, think it sounds a bit too depressing, or whatever… but the tools are there if you choose to use them.

Conventions are never perfect… but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. Sometimes the funniest and best things stem from a mistake or mishap. So even if things are not 100%, it does not mean you are bound for a bad time. But, the smoother something can sail, the better.

So, I wish you all the best with your convention preparations! Captain, Escap’e, Rune, Pitch, and other awesome peeps will be wandering around Texas Furry Fiesta just waiting to say hello! I personally like hugs and photos so don’t be shy to come up and have a word (or chirp) with me!!!

Thank you all for reading, and I will see you all in the next blog

P.S= Furry Con season means Stolen fursuit season! You can see my tips and advice for protecting your fursuits

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

The War for the Planet of the Apes novels.

War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations, by Greg Keyes.
London, Titan Books, June 2017, paperback, $7.99 (336 pages), Kindle $7.99.

War for the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization, by Greg Cox.
London, Titan Books, July 2017, paperback, 7.99 (318 pages), Kindle $7.99.

Both novels are “Based on the screenplay written by Mark Bomback & Matt Reeves; based on characters created by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver”. Revelations is advertised as “The Official Movie Prequel”. They were marketed to be released one month before, and upon the release of the movie on July 14, 2017.

It may seem pointless to review two movie tie-in novels months after the movie has come and gone, but the lasting value of literature is whether the novel is still worth reading after its movie is gone. These two War for the Planet of the Apes novels hold up well.

War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations is a bridge between the 2014 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes movie and the 2017 War for the Planet of the Apes movie – or between their novelizations.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization, ended ten years after the Simian Flu has killed almost all humans. The Ape Village of intelligent chimpanzees, orangutans, bonobos, and gorillas that had escaped from San Francisco, under the leadership of Caesar, the chimp, is starting to expand just as the few human survivors in San Francisco are also starting to expand. Their discovery of each other leads to a tense confrontation. Both Caesar and Dreyfus, the human leader, want peace, but they are sabotaged by Carver, a human hothead, and betrayed by Koba, Caesar’s chimp lieutenant who hates all humans. Dawn ends with Dreyfus dead and Caesar barely surviving his fight-to-the-almost-death with Koba, while the Apes are trying to establish a new village while facing a new group of human soldiers coming from a military base with advanced weapons.

War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations starts soon after Dawn ends. It has a lovely line two pages in:

“‘Forest,’ he grunted. ‘He’s gone. Snap out of it. I need you to spot the shooter.’” (p. 6)

You try grunting that line.

Revelations begins with warfare among the human survivors of the plague. The pertinent paragraph is:

“But what he [Colonel John McCullough] was fighting was not another army, just a bunch of people with guns. It was the difference between disciplined Roman troops and sword-waving barbarians, and in under half an hour the area was secure.” (p. 8)

McCullough is with the remains of the U.S. Army, in the north around Seattle. He has spent a decade in the fighting against one militia after another. Now he is leading an expedition to San Francisco, where it all began, where human survivors have radioed that they are at war with intelligent apes.

The ape community is in shambles. Koba is dead, but he had grievously wounded Caesar and killed Ash, the best friend of Blue Eyes, Caesar’s older son. Blue Eyes had looked up to Ash as the better leader. All the Apes are traumatized by Koba’s attempt to kill Caesar and anyone who opposed him. “Ape not kill ape”, but Koba did. Maybe worse, Koba had attacked the humans that Caesar had made peace with. The humans do not understand the apes’ politics, and consider all the apes as having betrayed them. McCullough and his troops, including his son, John jr., arrive in San Francisco not knowing what they will find.

War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations is two stories with several substories, switching back and forth. One is of the warfare around San Francisco. The two main forces are McCullough’s human soldiers and Caesar’s apes. The humans underestimate the apes at first, but McCullough cannot get his commander in Seattle to send him any reinforcements. The general is ready to write San Francisco off:

“‘It’s a parochial conflict,’ the General said [over the radio]. ‘And I see no overarching danger.   Our resources are better spent keeping the peace we’ve made and trying to contact other pockets of civilization. We sent you down there to find out what was going on, and we outfitted you with the resources to mop up a decent-sized problem. If you deem that problem too big to solve with the resources you have – well, then it is within the scope of your orders to return to base.’

‘Are you recalling me, sir?’

‘I am not,’ Prescott said. ‘I’m just asking you to use your judgment. Which would be easier – to continue fighting these animals, or to move the human survivors to a safe zone?’” (p. 97)

McCullough feels the apes are a serious potential danger to humanity and it would be a mistake to leave the San Francisco area to them to build up their ape army. He continues the warfare against the apes. Caesar is hard-pressed to save the ape colony; plus some of Koba’s followers plot to overthrow him. While Caesar leads the resistance against McCullough, centering on the Golden Gate Bridge, Caesar’s mate Cornelia leads the resistance in the ape community against Koba’s followers.

The second story is of a three-ape expedition Caesar sends out. Caesar realizes that Blue Eyes, his son and natural successor, has no military talent; and that if anything should happen to him, the apes need a strong leader, not a stunned figurehead. To get Blue Eyes out of the way, Caesar sends him with Rocket (chimp), his second-in-command, and Ray (orangutan) to explore down to the south, to learn if there is any human colony there.   Blue Eyes, Rocket, and Ray have adventures with earthquakes, stampeding buffalo, and wolves, before encountering humans and an even greater danger.

War for the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization is set two years after Revelations. Blue Eyes and Rocket have returned to the ape community, which has been fleeing through the Redwood forests north of San Francisco. They are pursued by McCullough and his troops, who have gone rogue from the U.S. Army and now call themselves just the Colonel and the Alpha-Omega Army. Although they are determined to kill all the free apes led by Caesar, they have accepted the remains of Koba’s rebels, led by the gorilla Red, as their slaves. Something the Colonel does turns Caesar into his personal enemy. The Colonel says that he is on a holy war against the apes, and War for the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization does have the emotional feel of a holy war.

War for the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization, like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization, has more narration and less dialogue than its prequel:

“Caesar signaled the others to proceed cautiously as the apes dismounted and approached the building, their rifles drawn. They had only taken a few steps, however, before Green Coat bolted from behind one of the adjacent outbuildings and dashed through the front entrance of the central lodge. An ornate glass door, which had somehow survived the collapse of civilization, slammed behind him.

The other apes looked to Caesar. He nodded silently and raised his rifle higher as he led Rocket and Luca up the front steps and through the front door, while Maurice and the girl waited outside, pressing their faces against the frosty door pane. They had come this far already, Caesar decided, and he had no desire to leave an armed stalker unaccounted for; they needed to find out who this was – and what must be done about him.” (p. 108)

Fans of the Planet of the Apes movies will want The Official Movie Novelization as the completion of the film trilogy, but Revelations is better as a novel.

– Fred Patten

• Buy War of the Planet of the Apes Revelations on Amazon
• Buy the Official Movie Novelization on Amazon

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