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And more from Dark Horse… The Crash Bandicoot Files: How Willy The Wombat Sparked Marsupial Mania. (Woo, long title huh?) From their web site: “Take a rare glimpse into the making of a video game icon, and gain a first-hand taste of the creativity that brought Crash Bandicoot to millions of screens around the world! This deluxe hardcover reproduction of Naughty Dog’s original Crash Bandicoot developer’s bible is sure to please all who possess a curiosity surrounding the creation of games!” It’s available this March in hardcover.

image c. 2018 Dark Horse

Here is video of it w/ illustrations and more! -- https://youtu.be/3e0qLCFNd7g Our Patreon w/ great new rewards! www.patreon.com/thedraggetshow Telegram Chat: t.me/draggetshow Dungeons & Draggets #03 - Here is video of it w/ illustrations and more! --…

Poor fox, don't try to hustle in heaven.
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We can see how the pitch for this probably went: “HE is a hard-boiled New England cop… IT is a Cthullu-spawned horror… Together, they fight crime!” Actually, here’s what we got from Previews: “Artie Buckle is a grade ‘A’ schmuck. His excessive fondness for booze compliments his flash temper, but hold their feet to the fire, his fellow officers would agree: Artie is one helluva cop. He’s gonna need that scrap of goodwill because Brick City is under siege from its citizenry… and to top it off Artie’s been saddled with the city’s newest hero as his partner: A hideous, monstrous, but completely likable, extra-dimensional being named Vinegar Teeth. Can Artie pull his head out long enough to work together with a Lovecraftian monster with a heart of gold and set Brick City back on its feet?” Vinegar Teeth is a new 4-issue comic miniseries created by Damon Gentry and Troy Nixey. The first issue is out now from Dark Horse.

image c. 2018 Dark Horse Comics

Congratulations to Made Fur You (@MadeFurYou) on their record breaking auction! Make your own dreams real with us @TheDealersDen!https://t.co/sKup8KvMEG pic.twitter.com/eGjCMzCdwn

— The Dealers Den (@TheDealersDen) January 30, 2018

Some highest fursuit auction records: 

• $8,025 for Lavender Corgi by AlbinoTopaz, sold on Furbuy with 73 bids on 10/11/14.
• $11,575 for Sniper Angeldragon by PhoenixWolf, sold on Furbuy with 187 bids on 2/14/15.
• $13,500 for commission slot by Made Fur You, sold on The Dealer’s Den with 82 bids on 1/29/18.

Those are public auctions, but I also confirmed a private $17,500 commission and a $25,000 one that would involve special electronics. Other prices for personal builds and commissions may not be known. The Dealer’s Den told me:

With 82 total bids, the $13,500.00 Made Fur You auction that ended yesterday is our new record winner, beating out our previous record of $10,100.00 on a Mishka Silver Fox fursuit auction by Howl Yeah with 37 bids back on 9/08/16.

If anyone was curious as to what the suit will be. This is the character I am looking to get done. I was debating between this one and my bunny; but there are some other makers I would prefer to have my bunny done by, so Sage is the choice. pic.twitter.com/fzy1kzto55

— Desafinado (@DezziFae) January 30, 2018

To the winner of the Made Fur You commission, Dezzifae, I asked:

• Were you surprised at how the bidding went? Can you talk about why it rose so high – are you just that big a fan of the maker, or did you win the lottery?
• Can you talk about your plans for the commission?  How about fursuiting in general – do you have other suits, and what will you do with this one?
• What have you heard from others about this? Got any hate mail?
• What do you think about high priced suits?  Do you think this is a top record?  As far as I know, it is for auctions.
• Did you have any chat with MFY about it yet, and what are they saying? How about with The Dealer’s Den?
• Do you think this has any implications for fandom in general – like if people spend more on custom creations, do you think fursuiting and furries will get more appreciation for being creative and supportive? And how about people lacking the money to spend… is it good or bad for them?

Dezzifae answers:

DezziFae

Honestly, I wasn’t too surprised that the auction got so high. MFY is easily one of, if not the most popular makers out there. I don’t honestly know why the auction got so high. I had a lot of people telling me I was bidding against trolls, etc; and that could have been it. I will give the other bidders the benefit of doubt though and say they were probably just as big of fans of MFY as I am.

As for why I went so high, I make a good living; and I do tend to spend and donate more than my fair share in the fandom. This isn’t my first suit, nor is it the first suit I’ve paid much over what a maker would generally ask for a suit.

My plans for the commission will be me getting a new character done, one I actually bought as an adopt after the auction had already started. Other than that, just taking the suit to cons, and getting involved in whatever shenanigans play out there along with suiting around downtown Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Strip.

I have 2 other suits, both by Mischief Makers. 1 is my main fursona, a fox named Dezzi, and the other is a premade coyote they were raffling off at Itty Bitty Fur Con named Lancelot, which I generally just use for partialling or loaning out to friends at cons.

I have heard a wide spectrum from friends and people I haven’t even heard of before. Most of it is positive. I can put the responses into 3 main categories. The first being people happy that the suit got so high, and they seem very happy for me and the maker. The second being people responding to negative responses with messages and tweets like “Ignore the haters.” And the third, which I will go into the most depth on, are the angry people.

Let me just start by saying this. I have not, nor will I ever be responsible for increasing the price of fursuits over this auction. It is the most ludicrous statement I have ever read, and I have gotten it a lot. No one needs to worry about the price of suits from MFY going up from my auction alone. Hardly anyone has the kind of cash to drop on a suit, and MFY knows that. I will also say this. The people making threats to me, I’m not scared of you, nor will I ever be. The hate has actually gone way farther than it should have for it just being the first 24 hours and for being something so trivial as just me buying a suit, and some of it has already crossed over into illegal activity; and I cant say anything more than that. And to those people that will take it that far, you are the biggest cowards I have seen in my life. You don’t scare me, and you wont stop me from doing the things in this fandom that I love. Your hate has not scared me off, nor has it hurt my love for this fandom in the slightest. Bad people are out there. I’m well aware of this fact. I wish it would not affect the fandom, but such is the way of things. The overwhelming number of positive and loving people in this fandom greatly outweighs any of the hate; and I think the bad people know that, which is why they act like they do.

That is all the more in depth on that I will go, but I think some people are WAY overreacting. I’m just a rich man that bought a suit. I like supporting my fandom and the people that make it happen, and MFY is definitely one of the people that make this fandom how great it is, which is why I am happy to make such a large purchase from them.

As for high priced suits. If you have the money and you’re willing to drop it on a suit, go for it. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I love suiting, and I will continue to suit and buy new suits as time goes on. Nothing will stop me from that. This isn’t the first high priced suit I have bought; and honestly, having a high priced suit doesn’t make me better than anyone else. I still make friends and hang out with said friends like any other person in this fandom.

I honestly have no idea if this is the record for an auction. I know for fact it’s not the record for most expensive suit; but as far as I can tell the 11,575 auction was the most expensive I have seen. Someone did tell me there was one that sold for 15k, but they couldn’t provide me any proof; so as far as I know, this is the most expensive fursuit ever sold in an auction.

Of course I have chatted with MFY already. I sent in the design and got my invoice for the purchase. They seem very happy that it went so high; but other than that, not much chatter with them. Nothing from Dealer’s Den, but I didn’t expect to hear from them.

I think the only implication this has for the fandom is that it is growing, and that’s good. I haven’t been in the fandom for long. Maybe 5 years or so, and I didn’t go to my first con until MFF 2016; but I have seen it grow massively in that small time, and I think it’s a very good thing for everyone. More people means more cons and events, in more locations, which means more accessibility to those outside bigger furry towns like LA, Phoenix, Chicago, etc.

For the people without money for an expensive suit, I think this is also a good thing. More growth means more fursuit makers, and the ones just starting out won’t charge massive prices. I’m trying to say that people have no need to worry about furry getting too expensive. More people just means more creators. It’s a free market. If there is demand for cheap art and cheap fursuits, new makers and artists will fill those slots.

Overall I don’t see this auction being a bad thing for the fandom in the slightest; and despite the massive uproar I’ve seen against it, the people sharing love and support will always outnumber those. The fandom is changing, I will say that, but it’s changing for the better, and people need to realize that. Anything else you want to know, do not hesitate to ask. Always happy to chat with people in the fandom and partake in their work.

– DezziFae

Thanks to Dezzifae for the chat, and enjoy the suit.

The Dealer’s Den sent even more comments:

The Fandom as a whole is growing and becoming more popular, more mainstream, year after year – and with all of the adorable fuzzies running rampant through the streets, it’s easy to see why! Fursuits are becoming more fashionable as our creators rise in number and in talent. As the skill level and work required rises, so should the compensation. Should they all be priced this high? Of course not. If they did, we wouldn’t have the amazing fursuiting community that we do. But for an artist in extraordinarily high demand, we don’t see this as unreasonable.

Fursuit makers and artists make up the heart of this fandom. Without them, our characters and creations would only exist in our own imaginations, and we are glad that a few of them are starting to get paid what they deserve. Running a business is very hard and it takes a lot of work with many years of dedication, sweat, and tears. We are lucky to have an abundance of very talented artists in this fandom. We have been spoiled, we think, with some of the low, low prices we’ve been charged in the past due to the tough competition between all of these artists we have to choose from. Months and months of work go into each custom fursuit creation. Hours upon hours of labor get put into each piece of artwork. When art from your favorite artists just pops up in your inbox every day, it’s easy to forget the amount of work that went into each submission.

A lot of the artists and creators of the fandom do this full-time and still struggle to get instant noodles on the table. We are attempting to change that by offering a place for buyers and sellers to connect more easily, allowing for a more robust marketplace that supports our artists and creators more, while also giving our consumers a wonderful platform for comparing pricing and art styles. We are very happy to see that we are breaking into new ground for creators. As the profit potential of these business types increase, you will find more and more artists drawn to the community and we believe that this will actually bring prices down in the long-term. More options means less people commissioning the same individual at an inflated rate, less time waiting for your custom fursuit to be completed, or even to get on the queue, which translates into a healthier marketplace with stable and fair pricing for everyone.

The Dealers Den – Fandom Stores & Auctions
http://www.TheDealersDen.com

Serious thought on fandom money:
Guys. Fursuit makers aren’t like pfitzer or GE or APPLE or something. Where do you think they’re gonna spend that money? Think they’re giving it to shareholders or Focus on the Family?

That money goes to bills and likely back into the fandom.

— PepperCoyote (@peppercoyote) January 30, 2018

Just so you know MFY isnt like a huge business. I work from inside my studio home in the woods. I do 90% of the work. I get additional help from friends on occasion. Everything I make gets turned around to improve MFY and a comfortable life for me to do so. Im grateful pic.twitter.com/BcKEZmMyma

— Syber Cup (@SyberWuff) January 30, 2018

Everyone is bent out of shape over a $13,000 fur suit.

Here is a $13,000 phono cartridge

It was made by an 80 year old Japanese man who has known only this work his entire life.

Its body was hand carved from a piece of jade. The coils wound by hand using watch making tools. pic.twitter.com/dt2vJPxGrT

— House of Squeak (@Lionel_Toy) January 31, 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.

I missed this one, It appears to be a weird Christmas music video with a Fursuiter. I would say it's more an outsider given the mascot style suit.
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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

• Buy on Amazon

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

And 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 

• Buy on Amazon

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

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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