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Angry bunny! Never get in the way of a rabbit and a carrot. Also, I have no idea what they are saying.
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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Furries Among Us 2: More Essays on Furries by Furries, edited by Thurston Howl. Introduction by Thurston Howl. Illustrated by Sabretoothed Ermine.
Lansing, MI, Thurston Howl Publications, August 2017, trade paperback, $7.99 (179 pages), Kindle $2.99.

This non-fiction follow-up anthology to the Ursa Major Award-winning Furries Among Us (2015) presents a dozen more essays on furry fans and furry fandom, by “the Most Prominent Members of the Fandom” as the subtitle of the first volume put it. In his Introduction, Howl says:

“As in the first volume, his one has a three-part organization. The first part of the book focuses on social aspects of the fandom. […] The second section covers new aspects of furries and writing. […] The final section is again reserved for the dedicated and hard-working members of the International Anthropomorphic Research Project.” (p. 8)

In “The Importance of Being Seen: Foucault, Furries, and the Dual-Exchange of (In)visibility” by Televassi, he argues that furry fans need to stop being so insular over the Internet and socialize more openly in furmeets and conventions, even if they do so under their fursona identities. This will help furry fans themselves, who are often shy and introverted to become more social, and improve the general image of furry fandom in general society from that of a closed clique of social misfits to just another social fandom. “The Furclub Movement” by Patch O’Furr concentrates more closely on furry clubs: the mostly-monthly evening dance parties and raves, more than the more organized annual conventions. “Interview with the Foxes of Yiff” is a fictional interview by Kit and Khestra Karamak with Jesus and Satan Fox, two furry brothers with highly (even violently) different outlooks on furrydom and its activities. “Gender: Furry” by Makyo presents a “well-researched article on the correlation between gender identity and expression and furry.” (Howl, p. 8)

In “Am I Furry? Fandom vs Genre” by Mary Lowd, she distinguishes between the individual fans and the social movement, and the more physical furry fiction: the talking-animal fantasy and science-fiction books like Watership Down and Jacques’ Redwall series that may turn those who don’t know anything about furry fandom into a furry fan. “Furries and Science Fiction,, or … From the Very Beginning, We Were There” by Phil Geusz comments on talking animals in books and movies. “TF = Transformation” by Bill Kieffer concentrates on Transformation fantasy, in which a human becomes another animal, physically anthropomorphic or natural, but retains his or her intelligence. “History of Furry Publishing II” by Fred Patten is a follow-up to my essay in the first Furries Among Us. That surveyed the furry specialty publishers that have arisen in the fandom up to February 2015. This brings them to 2017, including the beginning of new specialty publishers like Thurston Howl Publications.

“‘It Just Clicked’: Discovering Furry Identity and Motivations to Participate in the Fandom” by Dr. Stephen Reysen, “The Highs, the Lows, and Post-Con Depression: A Qualitative Examination of Furries’ Return Home Following an Anthropomorphic Convention” by Dr. Sharon Roberts, “Say It Ain’t So: Addressing and Dispelling Misconceptions About Furries” by Dr. Courtney Plante, and “Furries, Therians and Otherkin, Oh My! What Do All Those Words Mean, Anyway?” by Drs. Kathleen Gerbasi and Elizabeth Fein are all based upon the results of the International Anthropomorphic Research Project (IARP), which has been surveying furry fans at conventions and online for the past six years. By collating the results of personally-asked questions and returned questionnaires, the sociologists have developed profiles of the average furry fan: age, gender, personality, attitudes, length of time in the fandom, and so on.

Furries Among Us 2 (cover by Tabsley) includes the cartoon fursona portraits of all the authors, by Sabretoothed Ermine; the same cartoons for the authors who were in the first book, and new cartoons for the new authors here. The two Furries Among Us books are important additions to the tiny but growing library of serious books about furry fans and the sociology (or “social anthropology”) of the fandom.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

(Back cover)

Are they human, or are they beast? Over the past several decades, the world has seen a new phenomenon on the rise, a group of people identifying as “furries.” They have appeared in the news and popular TV shows as adults wearing fursuits and participating in sex parties, but what are they really? As a sequel to the award-winning first volume, this collection of essays on the furry fandom reveals furries through their own eyes, with bestselling novelists Bill Kieffer and Phil Geusz, celebrity social media characters Jesus Fox and Satan Fox, the International Anthropomorphic Research Project, and so many more, covering topics from anthropomorphic animal science fiction to furry clubs to furry gender identity and the psychology behind furries. Some of the essays are comical and playful, while others are serious and academic. On one paw, this is a work for non-furries to get a glimpse into the anthropomorphic world. On the other, this is a chance for furries to hear from many of their favorite furries.

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.

Well, okay, putting aside a movie that not many seemed to like, there’s this: The Art of Ratchet & Clank. “Dark Horse Books and Insomniac Games proudly offer a look back at the history of the Ratchet & Clank saga in a Qwark-tastic collection of never-before-seen concept art and behind-the-scenes commentary chronicling eleven amazing games and the brilliant studio that created them! The 15-year anniversary retrospective of one of the most influential PlayStation games!” It’s coming in hardcover this March.

image c. 2018 Dark Horse Books

Sesame Street selling cars? Why do I feel like I have stumbled into a very weird distopia. "When it comes to the Chrysler Pacifica there’s no comparison. Especially when you drive a sloppy jalopy like Oscar the grouch."
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Wolves have long fascinated mankind. Variously, they have been seen as menaces, Aesopian mentors, and just free-spirited kin to dogs. SPECIES: Wolves, edited by Thurston Howl, explores these assorted views throughout thirteen stories ranging from Aesop and Ysengrimus to modern stories of disconnected packs and pop-howlers.We start out with one of Aesop’s lesser-known fables, “The Dog and the Wolf”, concerning a meeting between a starving wolf and one of his better-fed but collared kin.Next, we move to one of the stories of the folk-hero Reynard the Fox, and his lupine adversary Ysengrimus. Most such stories end with Reynard successfully tricking Ysengrimus, sometimes spelled Ysengrin or Isengrim, but this one details one of the wolf's few victories.Then, we are brought forward in time from the Middle Ages to the Victorian Era and “The White Wolf”, a story straight from Andrew Lang’s fairy books which starts out following the “princess betrothed to a beast” plot but segues into the “supernatural lover lost” trope. Modern audiences might find the initial premise a bit sexist, but halfway through the characters swap the "pursued" and "pursuer" roles, showing that there are some mutual feelings between the two.In contrast, George MacDonald’s “The Gray Wolf” is a Victorian horror story whose influence may still be glimpsed in modern werewolf fiction. If you want a straightforward wilderness encounter with a stranger who isn't who she seems, don't skip this one.The remainder of the anthology collects stories showcasing the present century’s assorted conceptions of wolves. While many writers have written alternate takes on "Red Riding Hood". Kadrian Blackwolf subverts the classic story in “Graffers” with a unique blend of sex, violence, and betrayal not seen in your standard “twisted fairy tale”. I have to give the author points for originality.Next, Slip Wolf shows us how the wolf can reflect one’s own darker self in “Glass.” A minimalistic horror that gives the reader just enough information to figure the truth out for themselves.Whereas in “A Winter’s Work,” Renee Carter Hall presents wolves in their rarely written role as victims of man’s predations, while also anthropomorphizing them to amplify the tug on the reader’s heartstrings. The writer manages to bring across such sympathies that you can't help but share in the wulfen's pain and the trapper's fear.Kirsten Hubschmid’s “The Winter Wolf” is the first story of this collection set in a “world of anthros” setting where sapient animals replace humans, and the wolves represent a rural population facing encroachment by the big city, whose representative is a domestic dog. It’s pretty apparent from the start that the narrator is the “villain” of the piece--out-of-towners buying a local business usually are--but there’s still one or two surprises in store.John Kulp’s “Lone” brings us the disconnected solitude of the single office worker through the lens of a lone wolf searching for a new pack in the city. How the secondary problem, that of money, gets resolved isn't particularly clear, but overall it might not matter much as he is starting to feel like he has someplace he belongs.Now, “Stealing the Show”, by Jaden Drackus, plays on some common stereotypes and misnomers about wolves with a lupine professional wrestler who acts like an “alpha” and a “lone wolf” in the ring, but is anything but once he steps outside. The contrasts between the characters' "stage personas" and their "real" selves can be confusing at times, but it fits in with the setting of the wrestling arena.“The Needle and the Departed”, by Weasel, showcases some of the difficulties faced by gay people as a result of discrimination, but, unfortunately, it doesn’t have much to do with wolves. The main character is a wolf, yes, but the story would be exactly the same if he were a tiger or a hyena. All of the previous stories involve some trait or legend about wolves in the plot, but this one, not so much. It’s just a highly depressing story of humans with fur.“Wolves That Sing” by Billy Leigh is a WWII story in a world of anthros where a band of wolves howl to inspire the troops, and to save their own lives. You can tell that the author put some thought into how history might have run differently in an alternate world with different species, however slightly.The final story in the collection is “INSTINCT”, by Faolan, an account of a lupine K-Pop idol pack by the same name as they attempt to maintain group cohesion despite their individual egos and feelings for one another. The characters’ species are about as relevant as they are in “Needle”, and some of the things that come between the band members seem nonsensical (which may be the point). But, compared to the life-or-death struggles of the last few stories, it’s a little relaxing.As a whole, SPECIES: Wolves is a worthwhile exploration of the wolf in popular culture in all the species’ assorted roles. The free spirit, the predator, the pack mate, the howler, we see them all scattered throughout history. While the stories are presented in order of initial publication, we see little evidence of “evolving” portrayals of the wolf as some folklorists may assert, the wolves of the more modern tales retain the traits they exhibited in the earlier stories. At most, a few of the newer stories anthropomorphize them more than the old tales. Instead of creatures of the woods or hidden monsters, the last six stories in this collection portray wolves as living essentially human lives, all the better for the reader to relate to their struggles.SPECIES: Wolves holds appeal for not only dedicated furry fans but also for fans of more “classically” formatted stories. There are even a couple stories that would appeal to horror fans. The gradually increasing levels of anthropomorphization in the stories would make this book a good introduction to the furry literature for new fans.

And Then Things Got Hairy...They’ve lived among us humans for centuries, millennia even. They look like us, most of the time, but they are not human. They’re faster, stronger, more agile. When the moon is right or during moments of great emotional stress, they change, taken over by a bloodlust that is nearly uncontrollable. To most, they are myth or legend. To a handful of shadowy government agencies, they are tactical assets to be exploited in international games of power.To themselves, they are the Children of the Affliction. Aliuranthropes. Cat-people.Pawly Katczynski is dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder the best way she knows how: staying in her shifted form and taking out sex slave traffickers in the San Francisco Bay area. But her family is worried about the young woman. Can they bring her to her senses in time to help rescue the clan’s patriarch and his important research from North Korean agents? Some of whom wear hauntingly familiar faces...Always Gray in Winter is the first novel by Mark J. Engels. It reads as part international thriller and part generational family saga, with a pleasing pinch of star-crossed romance for seasoning. Oh yeah, and there’s kick-ass cat-people. It took some investing for me to get into the plot at first, but no more than for a typical work of speculative fiction. And I have the suspicion that my disorientation made me more empathetic to Pawly’s situation. I was figuring things out right along with her.Engels handles multiple viewpoints and flashbacks with great finesse, though I for one would have liked datelines or at least some typographical indication of when the flashbacks began and ended. I was able to figure things most things out from context, but a little bit of signposting would have made the reading that much smoother. More than juggling an impressive cast of characters, it’s in action that the author really shines. The choreography of the fight scenes is beautiful, even when the results are brutal. I’m led to suspect that the author is a student of the martial arts. At the very least, he must have watched a lot of martial arts anime to good effect.His various settings are also handled well, focusing on telling details rather than lengthy descriptive passages. I cannot speak to his accuracy about San Francisco or the Polish countryside, but he hits Chigagoland right on the nose (e.g., the subculture of the hockey-obsessed and love of euchre). Getting the Midwest right, I gladly give him the benefit of the doubt for the rest.I also absolutely love the subtle worldbuilding throughout the story. There is just the right amount of tantalizing glimpses of aliuranthropic culture, from the history of their clans, to their belief systems and their interactions with humans through the years. But these glimpses rise integrally within the story. No infodumps here. Engels also has a deft hand with the shifted forms of the aliuranthropes. The best of these passages almost shimmers with otherness when describing the characters’ heightened senses and abilities.Yet the themes of the story are universal: recovery after tragedy, love of family, the conflict between duty and love. Things resolve for Pawly in a way I never would have expected from the beginning. And it is a resolution, not an ending. There is plenty more story of the Katczynski clan for Mr. Engels to tell.I for one look forward to reading it.

• Raiding: A hostile invasion or forcible entry to destroy or steal something; predatory warfare.
• Furry Raiders: a Colorado-based and online group that overlaps with “altfurry”, a fringe of furry fandom with a goal to connect racist hate groups inside and outside it.

It’s 2018, and many people have New Years resolutions to accomplish. But a few people are stubbornly against being better. That means the Furry Raiders. This week they gained attention for violent threats meant to silence criticism – (because when they say they want “free speech,” it’s only for them). Their threats followed labeling themselves as “Nazis” – (a look at their member activity in the altfurry chat logs proves it’s really true). Until now their trolling has mostly been inside fandom. But then there was the time when they targeted innocent non-furry outsiders.

We did Nazi that coming! 

On Halloween of 2017, a Colorado event space had a “Big Gay Costume Party”.  Foxler and Kody, the Furry Raiders founder and partner, went in costume with nazi armbands that replaced swastikas with paws.  With nobody else’s help, the staff recognized what the symbolism stood for. The Raiders were kicked out for bringing hate to their space.

Foxler and Kody’s excuses like “it’s just a paw” didn’t work. Anyone can see they’re making a clear reference to nazi iconography. This is good evidence that trolling isn’t just a fandom issue with “both sides” fighting and so-called “SJW’s” inside. Outsiders know these trolls are the source of the problem.

When a business kicks someone out, that’s free market power, freedom of association, and free speech opinion by staff. (A protected social class can claim discrimination, but Nazi isn’t a class.)  Reasonable people would move on and drop it.  But reasonable people doesn’t include a troll whose name means “Fox Hitler”. Again, when they say they want “free speech,” it’s only for them. 

The Furry Raiders retaliated by trolling the business with bad reviews. The review bombing was spread from their Facebook group by trolls who are active in alt-right hate activity (including their member Vetus, who supported trolling FurAffinity with hate images). The story was twisted by people who had never been there; they lied that there was no hate symbolism and pretended a “Big Gay Costume Party” rejected them for being gay.

Neo-nazi furries are now attacking a non-fandom business. Furry Raiders got kicked out of a local Colorado venue and did this: https://t.co/lq7Zv9Ixdh pic.twitter.com/WtZEP75ceB

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) November 10, 2017

It’s a pattern seen many times before. They provoke, then pose as victims with a twisted story. The Furry Raiders exist to gang up and tear others down. Anyone who says “no” to a Raider may be Raided.  It’s often directed by phone calls and voice chat by Foxler.  That’s to avoid making records so they can selectively deny doing it, as well as single out individual members for grooming and manipulating.

Why are they like this? The unbiased truth.

Their two faces.

Their core members are people who simply can’t get along with others and have massive insecurity about it. Virtually all of their activity is trolling, deflecting criticism and posing as victims of the criticism they provoke. They excuse bad behavior as representing “free speech” and, inexplicably, improving the community. The diversity and tolerance rhetoric strictly covers a tiny repertoire of First World Problems and performative offenses; things they push in others’ faces, like nazi armbands.

The tolerance rhetoric has nothing to do with reaching out to people with real needs. It’s a two-faced lie because naming themselves “Raiders” announces hostility from the start. That’s easy to see for anyone with basic understanding of language and context. But context is poison to trolls who rely on bad faith, hair-splitting, equivocation, semantic games and pedantry to reinvent themselves as victims. It starts with being willfully obtuse about their bad behavior, and ends in tantrums against owning it.

That’s how accusing them of being (self-labeled) nazis triggers their spiteful backlashing. But one thing they can’t be accused of is making sense. So they spent much of 2017 trying to re-re-brand their smiley, huggy false front.  Expect more of that for 2018, but don’t expect it to ever work. The fandom has drawn a line – acceptance isn’t for those who ruin it with destructive trolling and hate.

Being a member of the Furry Raiders or Altfurry is essentially putting on a dunce cap and announcing that you’re done being worthy of respect by peers, and maybe mommy should take you home and put you in the corner. Other grown-ups who play animals set a higher bar than this.

When “Don’t Feed The Trolls” doesn’t work, what does?

It was a common saying on the 90’s internet when groups were small with identifiable members. Now things are bigger and less defined, and ignoring hate has led to organized hate groups worming in to online subcultures. But paying attention to trolls is what they want, so what else can you do?

Join the Altfurry Blocklist.

Subscribe to the Altfurry Blocklist here, and read about why to use it. The more who join, the stronger it gets.

Support the targets to flip the problem to positive gains.

In Colorado, attacks on a non-furry business was embarrassing and harmful for meets, but there wasn’t just drama about it. The business welcomed support and furries got pro-active to bury false reviews with positive ones. The business rating was unaffected by the trolling, and that’s not all. Staffers sent gratitude to furries who supported and an invitation to hold Raider-free meets there. Colorado furs have had a problem with Raiders who refuse to stop coming to meets they’re banned from. When they tried it outside of fandom, nonfurs stepped up to kick them out, and keep them out for good with a new opportunity for meets that wasn’t there before. The attack blew up in the trolls faces.

Congrats furries, you flipped hate by the Furry Raiders back on themselves. They ganged up on a non-fandom business with bad reviews for kicking them out, but then way more positives came from furs who saw it. Personal notes from non-furs here. https://t.co/rAiRz9JG5L pic.twitter.com/K04Z4SgCgD

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) November 11, 2017

Furries will always outnumber hate groups trying to get in. If the fandom stands together against them, it can turn into a win-win. Is it divisive? Rejecting a tiny percent of trolls is a healthy division. Division is what they cause by choosing hate, and all they have to do is sincerely stop it. Ditch nazi symbolism, and any group that welcomes racists and neo-nazis who open a door for more of them.

Report Raiders Raiding – The fandom is on your side.

If your local furry groups have Raiders or altfurs dragging down meets, try sending the story to Dogpatch Press.  Include proof that there was a meet and the info sources are real people.  It can help document bad behavior so it can’t be denied and turned into excuses for trolling.

It was never a “both sides” issue – more screenshots of review bombing by the Raiders:

Update from readers:

Good response about the article I just posted. pic.twitter.com/19GsIPp7ZT

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) January 3, 2018

Just so we can get non-biased answers, here is a picture of an armband used by a group of furries. Is there anything that this image evokes for you? pic.twitter.com/CFZLKtCaiq

— Brossentia (@Brossentia) January 3, 2018

This last part is huge. Wearing a symbol then denying its origin is an attempt to whitewash history. https://t.co/HQIxGdtxH7

— Brossentia (@Brossentia) January 3, 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.

Looking back to various decades I thought I would post this from 20 years ago (Sighs). A weird little short by Norwegian animator Pjotr Sapegin [1] about vermin and love. [1] https://www.awn.com/animationworld/there-once-was-man-called-pjotr-sapegin
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Dear Readers,

I know you are being very patient with me about this book, and thank you to those who have told me they are interested in The Furry Book: The Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of the Furry Fandom. It seems appropriate to make the following announcement for the beginning of 2018.

As some of you know, I started work on this book in 2015, then my husband died unexpectedly in October of that year, and I have been spending the last two years trying to recover from the blow.

But I want you all to know that I am now back writing this book and hope to have it completed this year.

It's been so long, you may have forgotten what it is! LOL! So, what IS The Furry Book?

Well, let me tell you what it is not. It is not a history of the fandom (though there is some history in it). It is not an apology for the fandom. It is not an attempt to authoritatively define what the fandom is or is not (though I will talk about this a lot).

What it is is my concerted effort to gather a bunch of information together about furries and the fandom from all over the place, put it in one book, and organize it as a reference and guide that will be useful to new furries, established furries, and those who are simply curious about the fandom. Yes, I would call it a guidebook. That's probably the best word for it.

What I am doing is combining my 30 years of experience as an author and editor of reference books with my personal experiences as a furry and as a furry advice columnist to provide you with an informative, accessible, easy-to-use reference to the furry fandom.

Along the way, I have interviewed a number of figures in the fandom (and have a few more to do), including such furries as Reed Waller, Steve Gallacci, Mark Merlino & Rod O'Riley, Ken Fletcher, Mark Schirmeister, Fred Patten, and others.

And, yes, the book will be well illustrated with photos and art, so it should be fun to browse.

Who is publishing it? Well, I will be researching it, writing it, editing it, doing the layouts, proofreading it, indexing it, and all of that. Then I will create a PDF form of the book (a locked PDF), but I will also make it available as a print-on-demand publication. Why go this approach rather than seek a "real publisher"? First of all, I am a real publisher LOL. But also because I can do everything myself except print-and-bind, and, frankly, I know the market well enough to do a better job marketing it than other publishers (I've had miserable experiences with publishers who don't market my books decently). Finally, as some of you authors out there know, I'm pretty tired of publishers tossing me a measly royalty for months, even years, of work, while they keep most of the profit for themselves (and playing little games such as, "Well, you don't get a royalty for any discount sales."). Will I make money on this? Hope so! And there is no shame in that. I believe all furry authors and artists should be able to try and make a living with their craft. I'm not sure what the price of the book will be, but probably less than $20, FYI, and hoping to price it at $14.95 for the paperback. I am not trying to take advantage of anyone here.

Thank you for reading this. If you have any questions about the book or would like to contribute anything, feel free to let me know.

Thanks!
​Papabear

It’s been a while since there’s been a blog post here, and we don’t “peel back the curtain” too much. So let’s pull up a chair and chat.

In mid-2017, the FWG presidency passed from Watts Martin (“Chipotle”) to Madison Scott-Clary (“Makyo”) without an election, as Makyo ran unopposed. Watts became the FWG’s first vice-president, and for somewhat arcane technical reasons, Renee Carter Hall (“Poetigress”) became the FWG’s first treasurer.

A few months later, though, Makyo resigned for personal reasons, and Chipotle—that’s me!—took over the office of president again in late September.

So. Let’s talk about where the FWG is, and what we’d like to do in 2018.

Our growth has slowed recently, but we have over 150 members, and the furry publishing scene has changed dramatically in the last couple of years:

• We have more publishers than ever! Along with stalwarts Sofawolf, Rabbit Valley, and FurPlanet, we have Thurston Howl Publications, Weasel Press, Goal Publications, and more.
• FurPlanet’s Argyll imprint is making inroads with mainstream SF readers, launching novels The Tower and the Fox and Kismet beyond the furry con circuit.
• The Coyotl Awards have been recognized outside furry fandom. Lawrence Schoen’s Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard, a Nebula nominee and Coyotl winner from Tor (the largest genre publisher in the world), mentions the Coyotl win in the paperback release.
• After a long drought, we’re starting to see more periodical short story markets, rather than just anthologies.

The VP, according to the FWG bylaws, doesn’t do a whole lot, and the President probably does a little too much. Makyo didn’t get to update the blog with the traditional monthly posts—the Book of the Month and the member news updates—and I haven’t done it since myself. There are a few reasons for that.

First, let me be honest: I wasn’t prepared to step back into the president’s role, and I’ve been playing catch-up for months. I’m not proud of that, but I’m working to fix it.

Now, though, let me be candid. Those monthly member news posts are a lot of work for, according to the analytics, very little engagement. The number of people who’ve asked about why we haven’t done one since July is zero. So at this point, I’m not inclined to resume them, and will instead focus on keeping the web site market listings up to date.

We do need to get back to doing Book of the Month posts, and those will resume later this month. We’re also scheduling a guest post, and I’d like to start getting more of those, as well as producing the occasional focused article like the contract post from 2016. (By the way, if you’re one of the—two, I think—people who send in an unused guest post, we’ll finally be in touch.)

Beyond that, I’d like to kick off a couple other long-delayed initiatives.

I’ll talk about others later, but here’s the big one: we need to find a way to allow self-published authors into the FWG. I recognize that the Guild is loosely modeled on the SFWA (SF & Fantasy Writers of America), and the FWG’s original intent was to push a notion of professionalism in furry writing. But is someone who had two stories accepted by nonpaying markets more “professional” than an indie author selling thousands of copies? Right now, our rules say yes.

The SFWA accepts self-published authors now (in no small part due to the work of FWG member—and former SFWA VP—M.C.A. Hogarth), using revenue-based qualification: your self-published title must make a minimum of $3000 in one 12-month period, the same amount as it would need to have earned in royalties from a traditional publisher. We could just follow that lead with a smaller amount (say, $250 or $300)—that’s essentially how our present-day qualifications came about. But is that the right approach?

This rubs against some underlying questions about just what the Guild should do. The SFWA came into existence to advocate for writers with—and when necessary, against—publishers. Realistically, even if we wanted to, we’re not in a position to do that. But if we’re not a writers’ union, are we aspiring to be one? And what are we now? “The FWG is elitist” is a common knock from non-members; are we? Or do we just have to accept that any organization with membership qualifications, rather than being open to all, will be seen as “elitist” by some?

If you’re reading this (especially if you’ve gotten this far), you’re interested in this topic–so please join us on the FWG Forum or the FWG Slack Workspace, where most of the discussion happens. (If you’re not familiar with Slack, it’s a private chat system; it’s not like signing up for a new social network like Twitter or Facebook, but more like signing into a private IRC server.)

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

Danger Money, by John Van Stry
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, March 2012, trade paperback, $7.49 (206 pages), Kindle $2.99.

Jotun is a leopard animorph. His narration depicts Danger Money as set in a future interstellar society inhabited by humans and animorphs. The morphs started out as laboratory-bred, but many are naturally freeborn now. The morphs that are lab-made are mostly trying to buy their freedom from their corporations. There is some human prejudice against the animorphs depending upon which planet they’re on, but it isn’t strong.

“At about one in the morning local time I became instantly wide-awake as my target entered the restaurant, passing through it to the bar. Using my monocular I tracked him carefully, he was in the company of a very attractive human lady, obviously not staff, with an attendant female skunk morph who just as obviously was. […]” (p. 5)

“A young squirrel walked up, smiled at her [Azelett, a leopardess], ignored me, took the keys and drove off.” (p. 12)

“I did notice two very cute ladies giving me the eye during this time. I had also been keeping a watch on the good captain as I had plans for both of them.

The first was an older black leopard who was very aggressive about letting her wants be known. When we were four hours from breakout I hacked the computer and got her schedule changed. When she got back to her room wondering why she was off duty she found me laying on her bed smiling.

We had a very enjoyable time then. […]

The other lady was a gazelle of all things! She was pretty kinky too. Most leaf eaters don’t associate with us predator types. Especially ones whose genetically based ancestors were prey of my ancestors. I think she had a pretty good suspicion of what kind of work I did for the company too.

But the strangest part was that she wanted to be tied up and dominated. […]” (p. 19)

“I flicked my tail over and batted her nose with it while giving her a smile.” (p. 31)

“I caught another whiff of her scent on the breeze. She was scared and smelled it.” (p. 53)

Jotun is an assassin. He was bred to be. It’s all that he knows. He’s the top killer in his Corporation. This future society is controlled by powerful Corporations that aren’t openly at war, but which regularly engage in covert operations against each other. When Jotun isn’t on a hit, his home base is the Palace:

“The Palace, or ‘Caesar’s Palace’ as they originally had called it because we all ‘lived like emperors’ there, isn’t that really. It’s more of a jail to those of us inside, a fortress to those outside, and a very well hidden company secret deep underground on the Earth’s moon. It’s where the Corporation keeps all of its most dangerous eggs, so it’s a strong basket. As for those of us inside, well would you want thirty some-odd trained and ruthless assassins running around loose?” (p. 29)

“‘Have you asked for a different assignment?’ she [Azelett] tried.

‘Of course, but they’re afraid to let me go. As much for my protection as theirs. I’ve seen too much, too many people would love to get their hands on me.’

‘They’re afraid of you, aren’t they?’

‘They’re afraid of us as a group. I don’t know if they’re afraid of any one of us. At least they’re letting the group shrink. When I got signed on there were one hundred of us, now it’s down to thirty three.’” (p. 31)

Jotun is used to being locked away in a pleasure-palace prison, and only called out along with a couple of wolf partners/friends when the top executives of his Corporation want somebody killed. He becomes mildly concerned when the Corporate bosses whom he is used to are all suddenly replaced, indicating company politics at the highest levels, and TV newscasts show that public opinion is turning against all the inter-Corporate mayhem.

The first half of Danger Money describes several of the assassination missions that Jotun and his partners go on, other scenes of violence that Jotun is involved in, and who his few friends are. Then everything goes to Hell. All the morphs that Jotun knows are killed or disappear, and the Palace on the moon is destroyed. He alone escapes.

“Now I’m sure you’ve all seen the rescue balloons before, probably in some deep space disaster movie. They’re just a round globe that holds one, sometimes two, people. It has no arms or legs, and while tough, is extremely cheap to make. They had been designed over a hundred years ago by the now defunct NASA for their space program. The low price made them ideal back then, and kept them popular now. Also I think rescuers liked the idea of having the accident victims all nicely wrapped up. Less trouble that way.

So here I was outside the airlock door with no hands or manipulator to open it. Or so one might think. There is always a work around, if you bother to look for it. I took out a long heavy glove that went up to my shoulder. At its end I had made a wide flange a long time ago. Then I got out a tube of vacuum cement, wonderful stuff actually, stays tacky until exposed to vacuum, then it seals in seconds. Trying hard not to get any on my fur, I coated the flange. Then taking my knife in m hand I slit open the side of the balloon. The rush of air pulled my arm out, and the glue quickly sealed around the base. Voila! Now I had an arm.” (pgs. 108-109)

The last half of the novel shows Jotun on the run alone. Besides trying to survive, he is determined to find out what is going on. Has another Corporation attacked his? Has his own Corporation decided that having a morph assassination squad is now a liability? Is there a power struggle in his Corporation, and which side, if any, should he support? Have any of his friends survived?

“I couldn’t stay here either. My face was being spread all over the moon, and the spotting pattern on a leopard’s face was as individual as a fingerprint. I couldn’t even risk going to buy dye at this point. Earth was out, period. For that matter so was any other place in the Solar system.

That left the colonies. Odds were that my description would not have gone out there; after all I couldn’t book passage on a ship as a morph. Our travel was highly restricted in the Earth’s system, and I didn’t even have an ID bracelet to buy a ticket. But that got me thinking, and suddenly I had an idea. And there was really one place to go of course.” (p. 115)

It’s almost non-stop action. Jotun is out for both his own survival and for revenge, against a hit squad that includes ferrets and a leopardess as deadly as he is. A major question is whether he is planning for his own survival after the revenge, or if he is on a death-&-glory suicide spree.

Danger Money (cover uncredited) is set in the same universe as Van Stry’s Children of Steel and Interregnum. Let’s hope there are more books to come.

– Fred Patten

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Welcome to the New Year! The helpful folks over at Animation Scoop have published a list of animated feature films scheduled to be released in North America this year — and of course, many of them are of particular note to Furry Fans.  Including things like… Peter Rabbit (coming out on February 9th), The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales (February 23rd), Isle of Dogs (March 23rd), Duck Duck Goose (April 20th), Smallfoot (May 11th), Hotel Transylvania 3 (July 13th), The Grinch (November 9th), and Wreck It Ralph 2 (November 21st). They also give a list of films that are expected to come out but that don’t have a solid release date yet, including Monster Family, Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero, Arctic Justice: Thunder Squad, and The Ark and the Aardvark. They did forget a couple — in fact, first out of the gate is Paddington 2 (coming out on January 12th) which is at least as “animated” as Peter Rabbit. Also there’s Animal Crackers, which has found distribution but for which we still don’t have a solid release date other than “this year”. Look for all of these films through 2018!

image c. 2018 Studio Canal

Roo, Vaos, Hiba, and Sammy get together in the studio to discuss what they're grateful for in this last year. In our annual protest against the holiday season mantra of "give me things!" they read your emails and really take a step back to remind us all of how we can strive to be more grateful. Oh, we also sneak in a surprise food review and some cast change news.





NOW LISTEN!
Show Notes
Special Thanks

Sammy Southpaw - Checkout Collared Corgi!
Hiba - for being on the show and serving in the US Armed Forces!
Dark Bunny Sauces - GO GET SOME! THEY TASTE AMAZING!
Moss the Fox
Simone the Fox
Mfalme
Anonymous
Collin
Dee
Rivet

 

Music

Opening Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Century Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller– Cloud Fields (Radio Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Various Star Trek Themes: Captain_Meatshield. USA: YouTube.
Space News Music: Fredrik Miller – Orbit. USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Mailbag: Eskadet – Back To Kyoto ; from the album “Solitudes” (Lemongrassmusic, 2010) – www.lemongrassmusic.de – Used under license.
Closing Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Headnodic Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller – Cloud Fields (Chill Out Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)

 

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Next episode: Inflation, Furries, and the Nozzle. Are you into inflation? Why? What do others not know about your kink? It's time to find out! Send your emails by January 4, 2018! S7 Episode 6 – Gratitude 2017 - Roo, Vaos, Hiba, and Sammy get together in the studio to discuss what they're grateful for in this last year. In our annual protest against the holiday season mantra of "give me things!" they read your emails and really tak

January 1st ... a day when not much is going on media wise. For this I thought about looking back at animation 100 years ago and dug up this cute piece by Winsor McCay so some of the earliest furry stuff out there. It's so cute. If you are interested in longer check out this 1912 short by Ladislas Starevich: The Cameraman's Revenge Revenge, It's an early stop motion short about infidelity and privacy invasion with that new crazy media of motion film cameras. https://youtu.be/U424m8utJnA
View Video

[Heading out of 2017, and wishing you all a happy and safe New Year in 2018. Stay Furry!]

In case you haven’t caught word of it yet: Trollhunters, created by none other than Guillermo Del Toro for Dreamworks TV and Netflix, is coming off a very successful and award-winning year. Now Dark Horse Comics have announced a new full-color tie-in graphic novel. Trollhunters: The Secret History of Trollkind is written by Richard Hamilton and Marc Guggenheim with art by Timothy Green II and Wes Dzioba. “Trollhunters: The Secret History of Trollkind explores Jim’s journey as the first human Trollhunter — defender of good trolls. The secrets of the great troll warriors of the past are crucial tools for the new Trollhunter, and the time has come for Jim to appreciate the battles of Kanjigar the Courageous, who through his own struggles, triumphs, and failures lead the trolls after the Battle of Killahead Bridge through unknown territory, across oceans and continents, and past fearsome foes! With his friends by his side, Jim continues the fight against the Gumm-Gumms and their allies!” SyFy Wire has a detailed article about it. Look for it this February.

image c. 2017 Dark Horse

Hey Papa Bear.

I have had a great relationship for 4 years with my boyfriend. We shared everything. We watched things together. We also like furrys. We even planned to go live together.

However. A month ago he decided to dump me. I have lots of support from my friends. But I am still so lonely and scared. Especially at night. I fear and dislike being alone. I have no one to call. No one calling me.

I believe in true love. In staying with a special someone for the rest of your life. 
But maybe I am being naive.

So my question is this:

• How can i meet new, furry friends.
  
• How can i find someone special. Like a boyfriend or soulmate?
  
• What can i do to reduce my lonelyness and fears when I am all alone? 

Thank you very much Papabear!

Just typing this has helped a little.

Anonymous in Belgium

* * *

Dear Furiend,
 
I'm so sorry for your break up. Did your former boyfriend ever give you an explanation why he left you? Understanding this would go a long way toward taking the next step in your life.
 
I understand feeling lonely and scared. When my husband died in 2015, I was alone for quite some time, but then Michael came into my life. He was already a friend when my husband was still alive (actually, my piano teacher), and about a year and a half after Jim's death, Michael decided to divorce his husband and move in with me. But that wasn't the first time I was alone. The first time was when my wife divorced me (long story from a time when I didn't realize I was gay) and I had to get by on my own. I don't really like being alone, either. After Jim died, I kept the TV on all the time, even when I wasn't watching it, because I hated the silence. The other thing to do is to try and be with people as much as possible. Socialize, visit family, even invite friends to your home for a sleepover. Anything to not be alone. 
 
That said, don't discount the value of occasionally being by yourself for a little quiet reflection. But don't be afraid to ask people to visit you. Keep the door open.
 
Meeting furries is pretty easy. I mean, you must know about social media, and there are all kinds of places to chat online.  To get some in-furson experience, if you haven't already done so, go visit your furry friends at the Belgian furcon Flüüfff in Blankenberg @FlüüfffCon. Always a great way to have fun, going to a convention.  There is also a bimonthly furmeet in Liège https://www.ouftimeet.be/ if you can travel there.
 
Now, about meeting someone special. Here, I can only speak in generalities. First of all, be genuine. Don't try to win someone over by being what you are not, because if you try to impress someone with falsehoods or change yourself to accommodate them, you can't keep it up forever. Secondly, always be kind and considerate of other people.  Third, don't allow yourself to be used by other people because you are desperate not to be alone. If you keep those things in mind, eventually, real love will appear.
 
Hugs,
Papabear

“A polar bear falls in love with a seal, but the seal thinks the polar bear is trying to eat it!” You can’t get a much more straight-forward explanation for A Polar Bear In Love — a new black & white manga from the artist Koromo. Now Yen Press have collected Volume 1 into a trade paperback. Long-running cartoon adventures have come from far less…

image c. 2017 Yen Press

Intimate Little Secrets (US$9.95 from FurPlanet) is an anthology of short stories written by Rechan with a cover illustration by Teagan Gavet. Originally I expected the stories to be short, erotic pieces, but this is not the case and approaching it in that way will not lead to a proper appreciation of the work. Sex plays a role in all the stories, but they are more, as the title suggests, intimate secrets where we see how different characters interact and react. The writing is excellent, particularly with regard to the characters themselves. Each one, even characters that only appear briefly, feel real and whole. In each story, we see situations where the characters' lusts, needs, and vulnerabilities are all laid bare, and you can't help but find yourself caring about the characters and wanting to know what their reasons for acting a certain way are. Occasionally, quality is let down by the editing, though. This is certainly higher quality than most of what you will read online, but that just makes the errors all the more glaring. There is a duplicated quotation mark in one story which is particularly strange as that story is also available through Rechan's SoFurry account and does not contain the error there. Another very noticeable one is when "kind've" is used instead of the correct "kind of." This one stands out for me because the incorrect and correct forms are used within five lines of each other on at least two occasions. It's not a deal breaker, but it can bring the reader out of the scene. One of the anthology's major strengths is the diversity of species and how that is worked into the stories. Amongst the more familiar species, we also encounter skunks, gazelles, minks and chipmunks. These choices have consequences for the story. Previous furry commentaries have asked questions such as whether the animal aspect plays a role in a furry story and whether there is a reason the characters are furry as opposed to being human. In this anthology, it does matter and serves the story in many cases. Sometimes, a species' strong musk means you don't have to worry about others smelling the scent of sex. In one case, we have an interspecies couple looking for a sperm donor because their species are incompatible. There's even a really good piece of world-building where one character comments that, due to their reliance on body language, wolves do not communicate well over the phone. This brings the world alive. In one case, the uncommon species choice leads to a bit of ambiguity that an editor should probably have picked up on. That is the cacomistle which I had never even heard about. That's good, I'm learning something new, but it's also referred to in the story as a ringtail. If you do a search for these terms, what you find is that ringtail refers to the ring-tailed cat (Bassariscus astutus) which is occasionally called a cacomistle, but more often cacomistle refers to the cacomistle (Bassariscus sumichrasti). Since the ring-tailed cat is the only one referred to as a ringtail and its range extends into the US, it must be what the author is referring to, but the term cacomistle is both ambiguous and being used here in its less common form. This leads to confusion when you need to look it up. I said right at the beginning that this is not erotica but there are sex scenes in almost all of the stories. These scenes are not written purely to aid pawing off, but they are more real and occasionally include things like intrusions killing the mood or a guy firing too early. With this more realistic depiction of sex, what I was glad to see was when there was a scene with an escort and client where she used a condom. It's a small thing, but it's something which has been noted as lacking in furry art and literature. The furry fandom is sexually open and very much made of personal fantasies which can be risky when taken directly into the real world. Condoms are only used in one story and mentioned one other, but that inclusion alone, along with things like HIV testing at MFF, can help create a safer furry fandom. In summary, despite a few minor missteps, this is a collection of really excellent, character-based writing. The depth of the characters that is established in a very short time is impressive, and many of the stories left me wanting more. There's a sense of frustration from that – that I wanted the stories to go on longer – but it is the good kind of frustration. My favourite of the stories would be "Missed" and "Rickety V" (They both follow the same characters and "Rickety V" builds on "Missed") which deals with BDSM, love, and polyamorous relationships. Many of the others are also really good, including one tragic one where you can really feel the strain the characters are under. I can definitely recommend it and would be very interested if Rechan does a full novel in the future.

Here is an odd greeting from Nebula Studios that appears to be working on a furry short that has a bit of a classic Tim Burton vibe. "The bunny is Lob0, the main character in Don’t Feed These Animals, a short film Nebula Studios is working on with the support of the incredible Maxon, NVidia, Redshift and Wacom. More will be coming soon in 2018."
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Well this came out of nowhere… Manosaurs Volume 1: Walk Like A Manosaur is a new full-color graphic novel for kids that’s available now from Papercutz. “Leo ‘the Doc’ Jeffries is down on his luck with his run down Dynamic Dino Display until he unearths a box of bonafide dinosaur eggs! The eggs hatch four talking dinosaurs who rapidly adapt and grow into their new environment… the twenty-first century! Now, Tri, Rex, Ptor, and Pterry must navigate life after extinction and defend their new family from forces of the dreaded Armaggedon who would like to make sure these powerful reptiles stay extinct.” Got that? It’s written by Stefan Petrucha and available in trade paperback or hardcover editions.

image c. 2017 Papercutz