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

Dogworld: Operation Stray Cat, by John Woods. Illustrated by Miro Dimitrov.
Los Angeles, CA, Out of the Woods Publishing, July 2015, trade paperback, $10.99 (358 pages).

This is a military novel with dog and cat soldiers, or Canoids and Feloids, emphasizing the species’ senses:

“Enemy detection in the field was the job of big-nosed bloodhounds, stubby-legged Basset Hounds in a pinch, or even those spastic little beagles the suits in the Capitol somehow deemed fit for military service. Sure, there were better scent hounds in the ranks, and if he really needed one, he’d get one, but what he was looking for in this cornfield even a flat-nosed pug with a head cold should be able to sniff out,” (p. 3)

The setting is a planet with two suns and three moons, where civilization is represented by the Canoids and Feloids. The enormous homids are dumb beasts, only good for their dung for fertilizer.

That’s assuming the Feloids can be considered civilized. Lieutenant Colonel Angus Rex, a Canoid commander (Rottweiler), doubts it.

“As far as the colonel and most of his people were concerned, cats, as Feloids were more commonly called, had no place in modern society. The self-serving and savage Feloids seemed only to exist to foul the land his people toiled to cultivate, more importantly, to civilize. Destiny favored the technologically and intellectually advanced dogs. Everyone knew that. Everyone but the yellow-eyed devil cats themselves and the remnants of their army now gathered somewhere out there beyond the corn.” (p. 4)

The war has been going on for ten years.

“The colonel lowered his binoculars and looked back at his army. A thousand pairs of eyes looked to him and awaited his order to begin the final push of the decade-long fight the country’s newspapers were starting to call The Great Cat War. The Rottie huffed at this exaggeration and wondered if future historians would indeed label a ten-year mission of unapologetic, organized slaughter an actual war when every major battle fought was a near-total rout. Some would argue putting fifty-caliber canon [sic.] fire against simple bow and arrow could not possibly be considered an actual war, but the motive-spinning nose-breathers in charge deemed it a war, so the colonel long ago reasoned what he was doing was just. Besides, he rationalized, his duty was not to argue the political, philosophical, or even moral aspects of the mission; but to simply follow orders and get the job done. And, like most of his people, he was obedient; he would do whatever was necessary to complete the objective.” (pgs. 5-6)

The protagonist of Dogworld is “Corporal Cooper Bigby, a likeable young beagle-sheltie mix” (p. 9). He is in awe of the final battlefield. “Bigby imagined the grand concrete and steel memorial certain to be built, probably exactly where he now stood.” (p. 10)

If Bigby had been a wolf, he would be an omega. As a puppy, when he and his friends played Cats & Dogs, “he always ended up being picked to play one of the Feloids, never a triumphant Canoid. […] Having only been assigned to his first combat unit just days earlier, Bigby had never experienced battle, never fired a single shot in anger, and figured he likely never would. He had qualified at the range, but just barely. The army required proficient marksmanship of all its soldiers, and he had made the cut by the narrowest of margins, but with his small frame and short arms, it was difficult to steady an assault rifle obviously designed for a much larger Canoid.” (pgs. 11-12)

Bigby spent the war “as radio operator for the Supply company to which he had been attached following Basic Training.” (p. 13) But although the war is officially over, lines of communication on the enemy side were lost at the end. Bigby’s company is assigned to go with the Canoid troops sent into the vast, inhospitable desert of the Western Territory, the last area of the fighting, to contact the last Felinoid soldiers and convince them the war is over. “He [Bigby] and his new squad now had the opportunity to venture out and explore a faraway land where no one really knew what might unfold. Maybe he would even get a chance to encounter an actual Feloid, something he had yet to do in his young life.” (p. 21)

Bigby is second in command to Staff Sergeant Rufus Rocko (bulldog) in squad Bravo One Zero Charlie. Other members of his squad are Private Ronin Axis (Doberman Pinscher), PFC Archie Duke (Great Dane), Specialist Jedidiah McCoy (bloodhound; scout), and Specialist Sam King (German Shepherd; armored truck driver); with Simon, their official Felodian translator.

“The team – or pack as they were called in the army – continued listening to Rocko, and, just as Bigby had thought, the packs were tasked with the military’s effort to inform, register, and prepare for transport any surviving Feloids still unaware of the war’s end. After ten years of lopsided Canoid victories, no one expected much, if any, resistance.” (p. 26)

Bigby begins Operation Stray Cat imagining “himself as a daring explorer about to embark on a grand adventure”. Sgt. Rocko is aware that his troops are all losers in some respect – McCoy is a top sniffer, but with thick-lens eyeglasses who could not see much beyond his own snout; and Bigby is a hopeless idealist who has never experienced battle – and Simon, the Felinoid, loathes them all and can’t be trusted.

Their assignment is to enter and explore a deep “hidden valley” that “headquarters had simply designated WT-V437-02.” It takes them over an hour to maneuver the ten-ton armored truck precariously along a narrow ledge to the valley floor. Once there, they are on their own. “Because the valley was located so deep within the high canyon walls, Rocko knew before the pack descended into it that communications with the outside world would likely be difficult, if not impossible.” (p. 50)

What happens in the valley is the rest of the novel.

Dogworld (cover by Yevgen Kaminskyy) is an unusual blend of animal anthropomorphization and reality. The cats, dogs, and homids are their real sizes:

“Bigby watched the cat effortlessly hold the [cigarette] smoke in his lungs, fascinated that the fearless creature actually seemed to be considering further antagonizing the dog easily three times his size.” (p. 36)

Their life spans are also realistic. The ten years of the war is almost a lifetime for most of the dogs, and is more than a lifetime for the short-lived Great Dane. The result is a bizarre military melodrama that is certainly more than a standard war story with funny-animal soldiers.

– Fred Patten

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

And their likenesses too, actually. KefkaFloyd is the on-line name of Dan Vincent, an artist who creates original laser-etched clear sculptures that glow with neon colors. So far, most of his designs are based on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. But as you can see on his web site he covers other fannish ventures as well, and he’s always creating new works. So keep checking back!

image c. 2018 by KefkaFloyd

I'm just going to leave this here ...
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Here you go! Don't forget we stream the D&D sessions Friday at 7pm Central on YouTube! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DraggetShow Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedraggetshow telegram chat: https://t.me/draggetshow 187 - Jim Crow - Here you go! Don't forget we stream the D&D sess…

Hello Everyone!

We open this week's show with a discussion on recent studies into cuckolding. A recent article in CNN goes through the potential benefits of cuckolding as researched in an academic article co-authored by friend of the show and agony uncle expert, Dan Savage!

Our main topic is on protecting your online identity. We bring on our friend, Soatok (https://twitter.com/SoatokDhole) who is an expert on Information Security, and he leads us on a terrifying discussion on how insecure your information online might be and ways you can mitigate against having anything stolen.

We close out the show with a question on poly-quads. While triads are more popular and accessible for people in the poly community, what happens when two couples get together to form a quad? Is it swinging or something more?

For more information, including a list of topics, see our Show Notes for this episode.

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 099 Protecting Your Online Identity - Cuckolding! InfoSec! Terror at 1GB U/D. Polyquads! All this and more on this week's Feral Attraction!

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

Housepets! Let Instincts Do Their Thing (Book 8), by Rick Griffin
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, November 2017, trade paperback $13.95 (52 pages).

Ta-Dah! Here is the latest annual collection of the Housepets! online comic strip by Rick Griffin. Housepets! has appeared each Monday-Wednesday-Friday since June 2, 2008. It has won the Ursa Major Award for the Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip for every year since! – for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and now 2016.

Book 8 contains the strips from June 8, 2015 to June 3, 2016; story arcs #91, “The Plot Against Spot”, to #100, “The 4 Animals You Meet In Heaven”, plus the one-off gag strips between these.

Housepets! presents the adventures of the dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, and other pets of Babylon Gardens, a typical residential suburban neighborhood – in an alternate universe. The animals are larger than in our universe (but not human-sized), can talk, are usually bipedal, and address their human owners as “Mom” and “Dad”. Their status is somewhere between pets and children. Points established over the years are that humans can bequeath their belongings to their pets, who do not need a human guardian; human storekeepers are not allowed to sell catnip to cats; human police forces have an auxiliary of Police Dogs who are not all police dogs; the pets comment sardonically on how they can go naked in public but their human “parents” can’t; and – lots of other stuff.

But in Book 8, the housepets’ adventures often take them outside their suburban locale. Story arc #92, “All’s Fair, part 2”, is set in the huge back yard of the Milton ferrets’ estate, which Keene Milton has turned into a big amusement park and “Annual Foodapalooza Jamboree!”; maybe in Babylon Gardens but hardly part of a typical neighborhood scene. Arcs #93 to #95, “Housepets 5000 BC, parts 1-3”, introduce the large jackal Satau of the Merimde, Dragon’s second avatar, who gets sent from Ancient Egypt into the future and is drawn to Tarot the Pekinese dog, the demigod Dragon’s current (150th) avatar. Their attempt to send Satau home lands all of them (Satau and the dogs Peanut and Tarot, and the cats Grape, Maxwell, and Sabrina) in 5000 BC, the Neolithic Era, long before the building of the Pyramids and the Sphinx (to Max’s disappointment). There are rival kingdoms of the dogs and cats, and Grape is kidnapped by Ptah, the chief-king of the cats, to be his queen. (That’s Ptah and Satau arm-wrestling on the cover, with Grape and Peanut in the background.) #98, “Flip That Den!”, is in the forest outside Babylon Gardens, and #100, “The 4 Animals You Meet”, takes place in Heaven. Or a dream. Or somewhere.

A major event that takes place through the first half of the book is Bailey’s pregnancy, and King’s learning that he will become a father, from its beginning (“I just learned today … Bailey is pregnant.” “Oh? Who’s the father?”) to the fourteen-strip Arc #96, “Special Delivery!”, where Bailey gives birth to three puppies.

Book 8 is really for those who are familiar with the online strip. It begins with one of the “Spot (Superdog)” arcs, which are practically incomprehensible except to regular readers, and is followed by “All’s Fair, part 2” – part 1 was in Book 7. Many of the familiar characters are here, both the housepets and the forest wildlife: Peanut, Grape, Tiger (dog), King and Bailey (dogs), Duchess and Bino (dogs), Zach (rabbit), Spoo (mouse), ferrets (Keene, Pit, and Lana), Karishad (fox), Jessica (opossum), raccoons (Falstaff and Truck), the wolf family, and more; although some appear only in a single strip. Two new characters are the partners Cory (skunk) and Trinket (bird). And Housepets! fans will not want miss the appearance of Mr. Milton in Heaven (or Keene’s dream) as a ferret. (“Why are you a ferret?” “The real question is, why wouldn’t I be a ferret?”)

Book 8 presents four rows of full strips to a page in full color, as usual, with some brand-new illustrations to make story sequences come out evenly. (One of the best illustrations in the book is the fill-in picture on page 13 of Karishad painting Egyptian symbols over Satau’s eye in gold paint.) I have said before that those who are not familiar with Housepets! should start at the beginning to get familiar with the cast, but that really true with this volume. The series is: Book 1, Housepets! Are Naked All The Time; Book 2, Housepets! Hope They Don’t Get Eaten; Book 3, Housepets! Can Be Real Ladykillers; Book 4, Housepets! Are Gonna Sniff Everybody; Book 5, Housepets! Don’t Criticize Your Lovelife; Book 6, Housepets! Will Do It For Free, and Book 7, Housepets! Don’t Ask Questions. They’re all great, and they’re all still available on Amazon.com.

– Fred Patten 

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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.

So we now have cute squirrels to help inspire giving. More info can be found here: https://givingday.uchicago.edu/ [1] [1] https://givingday.uchicago.edu/
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Hiya, Papabear.

So, near the beginning of the school year, I developed a crush on this one guy named Jacob. He was a new kid in 8th Grade (so he was about a year older than me) and he hadn't heard about any of the rumors that had been circling around me at the time. He looked pretty good, too.

He's pretty much the only gay guy in school, besides me. Except he was open about it. Like, a lot.

Skipping ahead a week or so, word got out that I had affections for him (thanks to my "friends"). Now the whole school was laughing at me for two reasons:

1: Because they found out that I'm gay,
2: And because they knew I had a crush on Jacob.

Like I didn't have enough to worry about. Jacob found out, too.

On the other hand, he gave me his Snapchat through an e-mail, now knowing the feelings I had for him. He told me that he's had quite a rough history, and that, despite his good looks, he's never met anyone who's had a crush on him.

So, yeah. Enough of the past's happenings, let's get to the present's problem.

Despite us talking together on Snapchat, finding out we both like each other and such, there is one slight problem...

I haven't the strength to interact with him (or talk to him, for that matter) face-to-face. I want to, but every time I get near him, I run away for no apparent reason. I think it's because I'm afraid that things might not go so well, that things might become awkward if I go and talk to him.

But how am I going to overcome this fear of mine? How do I successfully converse with him? How do I avoid/resolve awkward moments or conversations? And once I get past that, any date ideas or activities (other than the obvious restaurant/movie option) that you'd like to suggest?

Thanks in advance.

mon~
 
* * *
 
Dear mon~,
 
One reason social media such as Snapchat are so popular is that they afford us a way to communicate with others through a kind of mask (screen names, fursonas, avatars) that makes us feel less vulnerable, less exposed.  That goes a long way toward alleviating shyness and social anxiety.  But when you face Jacob in person, all that shyness kicks in again because there is nothing between you and him except air.
 
Like all fears people experience, the best way to overcome them is to do so in small, incremental steps. In this way, you retrain yourself to replace a bad or undesirable behavior with a good, desirable one. In your case, you need to combine the desired goal of interacting with Jacob in person with the security of maintaining that wall—at least in the beginning.
 
Interestingly, there was an episode of The Big Bang Theory that dealt with this very topic. The character Raj was dating a woman with crippling social anxiety. His solution was to set up a date with her in a library (quiet), sit across from her at a table with some food in a kind of picnic, but talk to her over the phone using texting. You could try something similar with a “text date” in which the two of you meet somewhere that is a comfortable atmosphere and talk by texting. As you continue to text, the cool part of this is that you can see his reactions in real life, such as if he smiles or laughs at something you say. This will begin to break down that wall that you have erected, block by block, until you start to feel comfortable actually verbalizing the communication.
 
Give that a shot, and see how it goes.
 
Hugs,
Papabear

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

Jackal, by Joel Gallay
San Jose, CA, Gallanic Media, November 2017, trade paperback $12.00 (321 pages), Kindle $4.99.

Don’t be misled by the title. That is not a jackal on the cover but the narrator, Jobe Pungushe (pungushe is “dog” in Zulu), a battle-scarred dog-human hybrid soldier in late 21st-early 22nd-century warfare in southern Africa:

“‘And in local news,’ a newscaster proclaimed, somewhat dimmed by the white noise in my ears, and I went for my tinnitus meds in my wallet pocket. ‘A crime advisory is forecasted in Bulawayo’s northeast burrough given the influx of refugees from former South African states. As we know, officials in New Salisbury announced that they planned to accept the old South African Western Cape province’s offer to join Rhodesia. Offers made by Northern Cape, Free State and Lesotho are still pending. Rhodesian law enforcement predicts that, with the current, nearly anarchic state of the former South African provinces, that by taking in said provinces too quickly may result in adverse effects, from simple crime spikes to the reactivation of extremist cells and assorted loyalist violence, and thus must be undertaken carefully. The final lift on Martial Law in Western Cape is said to go into effect on September fifth. As we know, remnants of the International Kingdoms of Man, the racialist paramilitary group involved heavily during the Independence War, linger in various balkanized South African provinces, and many fear that they still receive support from their overseas comrades in the Greater Argentine Federation to operate as paramilitaries here in Rhodesia and in result, tensions in southern Rhodesia, such as Bulawayo and New Beitbridge, are on edge, especially with the horrors of the Independence War still fresh in many a Rhodesian and South African mind, human or hybrid. Local police urge residents to above all remain civil, and to report all suspicious behaviors to the police and not seek vigilantism or violent organization.’

A scowl met my face as I heard the name of the IKM once more, as my tinnitus subsided. I shuddered a little, despite the heat. My leg ached some more.” (p. 5)

Gallay says Jackal is set “in a world parallel to ours in the close future.” Jobe is a combat veteran, one of many returning to a civilian life in peacetime.

“‘Shit, Jobe.’ The foreman chuckled. ‘You were ready to slot that fucker, ain’tcha? Your fur’s all raised ‘n shit.” The foreman turned to look at me. ‘Kinda funny though. He kinda looked like you, didn’ he? You being a canid hybrid, I mean. Same color’a fur, spots ‘n all’” (p. 7)

But this prologue takes place about ten years before the main story. New Rhodesia has prospered since the war, and is more high-tech than the prologue makes it seem:

“Walking towards the convenience store, I brought up my holowatch, making a few motions with my opposite hand to bring up the display, haptic sensors spotting my movements. I brushed past the menus to my notes, seeing my shopping list. Carton of milk, smokes, dinner for the rest of the week. Frozen dinners were what I defaulted to. Maitabella pudding too, along with some cereal for breakfasts. I quickly paced my way inside, eager to get out of the coming rain. The store was manned by an older-aged draconic hybrid man with wrinkled red skin like dyed leather, wings drooping behind him as he eyed me with tired orange-yellow eyes. Draconics always seemed to draw my eyes, hard to be inconspicuous with those big wings of theirs stuck out like radar dishes.” (p. 8)

Jobe has a top-end electromagnetic flying hoverbike. He works for a pest control company in Bulawayo and the near countryside. He is allowed to carry an automatic rifle as part of his job.

Jobe foils a robbery at the convenience store, but he is arrested for using unnecessary violence against the robber, continuing to beat him after he is unconscious. Jobe, a standoffish loner at his company, is ordered to attend a friendly biweekly support group for anger control issues.

Instead, Jobe explodes at his first group meeting. Why does he need to change his attitude? It’s the rest of the world that needs to conform to him.

Jackal segues from two parallel stories; Jobe’s descriptions of the present and of his past, to his future. It’s from his peaceful youth that the reader learns about the Independence War; and from his future that the reader learns about the rest of the world:

“My [adoptive] parents were huddled around the television screen, sitting in silent concern, my mother’s draconic face washed in concern, wingtips quivering, dad’s arm around her waist with a hand gripping the top of her hip fearfully, though his face only portrayed a concerned distain. My schoolbag dropped to the floor as I watched with them. It was the national news channel, but it looked a lot different. I didn’t see the usual symbol in the corner, our national flag. Instead I saw the flag that I’d seen a couple of times on the news- the new flag of South Africa. It seemed to be an emergency service broadcast rather than news, repeating a phrase in a kind, female voice.

‘Attention: In Accordance to the Zimbabwean-South African Treaty of 2027, the nation state known as Reformed Rhodesia and all her provinces, including those of the annexed territories of Mozambique and Botswana, are hereby under the jurisdiction of The People’s Republic of South Africa, and Salisbury is now under our total control. The 2043 Reunification Act is recalled. A curfew is now in effect. All people found in active dissent with South African Command Forces, and in extension, the IKM-CTF, will be death with harshly. In accordance with South African law, all firearms must be turned in at your nearest police station or you may face the harshest penalty of South African justice. Please do not panic and cooperate with your officials, and together we can create a better tomorrow for the Greater Southern African States.’ The looping audio paused, before a few seconds later, the recording began anew.” (pgs. 48-49)

“‘…Do we really have that many ships?’ I asked.

‘Nah, a lot of those are Texan and from the Floridian Archipelago,’ Elliot explained, pointing to some of the ones looking a little different, more seaworthy. ‘Since we’re allies with ‘em they’re sending their Expeditionary forces to help us. Same with the Alaskans- I hear their navy will be here by next week. So far they’re letting us use their recon satellites and ionosphere platforms.’” (p. 138)

The present New Rhodesia seems like a hybrid’s paradise:

“‘Now, today, I think we’ll have a good discussion,’ Ono began, smiling ever so slightly at all of us in that circle of seats, every humanoid sitting, save for that canidtaur Mark and that orange serpentine, having bodies not really accommodated for chairs. Matter of fact, that serpentine hybrid girl sat right beside me, coiled up on her tail and sitting down on it the way their kind did. The very tip of her tail strayed close to my foot, quivering softly every now and then.” (p. 43. Ono Zelwaya, probably Jobe’s best friend, is a black human from Liberia.)

“‘… Lotta ‘taurs don’t wear shoes, Mark said.

‘Well, maybe you don’t because you’ve got metal legs,’ I said. ‘Most ‘taurs I see wear those shoes, the more shoe-like back ones and the kinda glove-y front ones. Maybe in the city they don’t, but out in the bush they sure do. Four legs just means two more to keep from getting bitten by snakes. But you know what I don’t get?’ I asked. ‘’Taur pants. Shit always looks weird, no matter what. I mean I get that sometimes you don’t want to be underdressed, but it just looks like a hassle. Like if I was one of you, I’d probably just stick to a shirt, a utility harness and the shoes.’

‘…Nuts’re hangin’ in the breeze, tho, that’s the thing.’ Mark added.” (p. 59)

But Jobe’s own history, his actions and his thoughts, are really fucked up. Eventually, even though peace has returned, Jobe wants, he needs to go on fighting:

“‘So you want to keep fighting. I get that. South Africa is 100% out of your Rhodesia but the war ain’t over. You’ve still got ass to kick if you want them to get the point, huh?’ He chuckled.” (p. 218)

That’s the leader of the Bloody Dogs, a PMC (Private Military Company) – mercenaries – talking as he recruits Jobe. That’s the Jackal talking.

Jackal (cover by Jason Cai) is 321 pages of teeny-tiny type that would be 400, maybe 500 pages in a normal book. I can’t decide whether to recommend it or not. It’s quite well-written, and it’s furry enough, but boy! is it a downer! Jobe isn’t just emotionally fucked up; he is FUCKED UP! (As he puts it, he hasn’t wagged his tail since he was a child.) If you like lots of descriptions of military hardware and action, and details of mental depression, mixed in with scenes of humans and anthropomorphic animals (some pretty exotic, like the serpentines) living happily together (except in IKM territory), go for it.

– Fred Patten

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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.

PolarTheLionStudio just put out this rather good tribute to The Cranberries Dolores O'Riordan who died recently.
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This episode talks about a few things and has a special phone in guest on crypto currency and it's technology! Episode 23 - Cryptoshark

Once more into the cast! Settle in for more of the usual chatter Episode 22 - Trendy Shark

Join the cast for a night of lots of talk and some laughs Episode 21 - Naked Shark

Back once more! Come join the cast for a talk filled evening Episode 20 - Shark meltdown

The crew is back with plenty to talk about! Episode 19 - Shark Neutrality

Audio from our very second session of Dungeons & Draggets!! Here is video of it w/ illustrations and more! --https://youtu.be/FyPsnAazO08 Our Patreon w/ great new rewards! www.patreon.com/thedraggetshow Telegram Chat: t.me/draggetshow Dungeons & Draggets #02 - Audio from our very second session of Dungeons & …

Furry hugs are amazing medicine, but sometimes you need something more. Here’s two guest submissions from two awesome furries who love the community and have something more to give.

Eye candy is best to start an article, so check out this adorable puppy Taebyn. He’s silly but has something serious to bark about. Even a fantasy world of talking animals has members affected by suicide. It can even be a special issue because of how surveys show this fandom has many young and LGBT people. When I met Taebyn in person at Further Confusion, the local community of the con just lost a young member who took his own life, but I wasn’t able to share about it for privacy. So this post is for remembrance as well as help and good vibes.

The Fur Health Training Guide – a message from TaxBeast

My name is Drew, or better know as @TaxBeast. The past few months have been what I feel to be some of the most rewarding I have had in this community. Through my years on twitter, i’ve always been known as “the guy who posts fitness” furry. It’s always been a hobby of mine. However I felt like I wanted to give something back to the community after having a lot of positive memories over the past decade. There has always been a somewhat consistent flow of of people asking what I do to to stay in shape, how to build muscle, or just how to get a better self image. For a while, I wasn’t sure how to answer. I had worked years in the nutrition and supplement industry, and even worked as a personal trainer for a bit.

In the Fall of 2017 I had a plan. I wanted to get like minded people together, and start a group with the goals of knowledge and motivation in mind. I talked to @FaarTheRam on twitter after seeing that he too was a fur into fitness, with a similar drive to want people to succeed. Less than a week later the original channel “The Furry Fitness Chat” was made. A month or two went on, we added admins, and in no time we reached over 100 members.

This led to making a guide to share everything I knew and for people to take as they wanted. I wanted to make something that was clear and to the point, something that I felt, and still feel that most of the health industry lacks. I began writing the “TAXBEAST WEEKLY GYM PROGRAM”.

Fifty-three pages of information to help you get your diet, exercise, and nutrition in line.

I wrote this for all of you. All I ask is you spread the word and Retweet this to help me help others. Google Drive Download will be in the link below.https://t.co/ScBvOI150z
pic.twitter.com/XX6dDDPllD

— TAXBEAST @ ANE 2018 (@TaxBeast) January 13, 2018

Within is an explanation of why I wrote the guide, an introduction to terminology and training terms, a four day workout plan, a way to find your nutritional needs, diet routines and tips, and finally supplements that I get frequently asked about.

It’s taken a mere 6 months to write this guide, created a safe and toxic free group for people to have an extra drive to better themselves, and help guide a twitter page for like minds to share and discuss their experiences.  Follow us at @Fur_Health.

Here’s a few words from individuals I’ve worked with:

“Comprehensive, no nonsense, and passionately written–Tax’s Weekly Gym Program is THE guide for anyone aspiring to be the best they can be.” – Fengalon

“Both the group and guide has helped me get the results I wanted. I feel more confident about myself and how people approach me to talk to me without me intiating conversation. I never experienced such a positive atmsophere with the group and Tax displaying his expertise on nutrtion and exercise. Also, both has helped me to be more knowledgable about fitness and my depression. With the group, I feel encouraged to continue in my endeavor to a better me and with the guide to understand what goes on in the fitness world. I never felt such a positive group and guide as this one.” – @Stryker_Fox 

“In the course of a week I went from stagnated to decimated.” – @SickleVox

Art by Tihusky

Thanks guys for sharing your good vibes and knowledge! Furries have some of the most creative people I know – add successful and healthy too. That’s what comes from following your passion far beyond what ordinary people do.  If anyone gets good results or help from this, please share in comments or on Twitter.

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.

The Lost Rainforest is a new fantasy novel series for young readers, written by Eliot Schrefer (author of the Spirit Animals book series). The first book in the series is called Mez’s Magic — and here’s what the publisher, Harper Collins, says it’s about: “Caldera has forever been divided into those animals who walk by night and those who walk by day. Nightwalker panthers, like young Mez and her beloved sister, have always feared daywalkers as creatures of myth and legend. Until the eclipse. Now Mez has discovered that she can cross the Veil and enter the daylight world. Her magical power has unknown depths, but she must rush to discover it after a mysterious stranger arrives at her family’s den, bearing warnings of a reawakened evil. Saving Caldera means Mez must leave her sister behind and unite an unlikely group of animal friends to unravel an ancient mystery and protect their rainforest home.” With interior illustrations by Emilia Dziubak, The Lost Rainforest: Mez’s Magic is available now in hardcover.

image c. 2018 Harper Collins

The director of Rukus wrote in with a new trailer:

I’ve been reading Dogpatch Press for a long time and am a big fan. The film is called Rukus and it’s a feature-length doc-fiction hybrid, centered around my friendship with a furry from Orlando, Rukus, who took his own life in 2008. It goes into his life, and childhood, and some of the people he was close to in the furry community, but then also goes into my teenage years in Memphis, and stories relating to mental health, sexuality, and the politics of documentary filmmaking.

I hope you enjoy it, and I would love to hear what you think!

Brett Hanover
www.bretthanover.com

Movie synopsis:

A hybrid of documentary and fiction, ‘Rukus’ is a queer coming of age story set in the liminal spaces of furry conventions, southern punk houses, and virtual worlds. Rukus is a 20-year-old furry artist, living with his boyfriend Sable in the suburbs of Orlando, Florida. In his sketchbooks, Rukus is constructing an imaginary universe – a sprawling graphic novel in which painful childhood memories are restaged as an epic fantasy. Brett is a 16-year-old filmmaker with OCD, working on a documentary about kinky subcultures in spite of his own anxiety. After an interview leads to an online friendship, their lives entwine in ways that push them into strange, unexplored territories.

facebook.com/rukusmovie/
bretthanover.com/rukus/

Written and Directed by: Brett Hanover
Assistant Directors: Alanna Stewart and Katherine Dohan
Additional Art and Writing: Rukus
Animation: Karolina Glusiec, Ben Holm, Eusong Lee
Original Music: Brian Saia

A preview was provided for a guest review, with thanks to Marbles:

Rukus is a film that is simultaneously familiar and unexpected. Director and writer Brett Hanover transforms a story about a lost member of the furry community into a series of moments that are so very human, while also depicting the struggles of feeling inhuman. There is a beautiful balance between reality and fantasy in which the documentary aspect takes the foreground and the narrative melts into it, the fiction becoming a part of the reality.

Brett Hanover takes advantage of the documentary style of filmmaking to fuse the stories together into a coherent message of feeling different and lost. The varying styles of camera work and editing set a pace for the film that is anxious yet comfortable. The audience is not ready to relax, yet can not help but relate to one or more of the issues that are involved in the lives of the characters and people in the film.

The story itself is a portrait of a bittersweet reality with moments of uncertainty and pain, but also discovery and bliss. The quiet dialogue between the story and the connection to the furry fandom itself is a brilliant one, connecting the idea that there is a sense of anxiety or loss in the human world, yet there is still hope in the realm of animals. However, this concept does not take the foreground, decidedly stating that sometimes there is no escape for those that need it.

Brett Hanover masterfully captures raw emotion in a well constructed and carefully crafted piece of cinema. The symbiotic relationship between the art of the film and the reality within it create a unique experience that is a delight for a cinephile, and an emotional experience for just about anyone else. Rukus is not a film only meant for those in the furry fandom. While others may be more hesitant due to the relation of the community within the film, I believe it can easily be overlooked by anyone who truly enjoys a good film and an impassioned story.

– Marbles

For anyone near the San Francisco Bay Area, join our furmeet for the movie premiere on Feb 2 – there will be fursuiting and dinner with the director.

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.

Jess “Rom” Looney — also known as Looney Raccooney — is a furry artist and a fur-suit maker. His web site is new and just getting built up, but he’s already got a backlog of his creative endeavors to show off. Besides taking commission work, he’s hoping to add his own comic series to the web site soon.

image c. 2018 by Rom Looney