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Welcome to the first FWG Awareness Week! This is a bi-monthly event, run by the moderators in the FWG Slack group (Searska GreyRaven, ritter_reiter, and George Squares) as a way to bring focus to minority culture and writers in furry literature. Through features such as interviews, reading lists, and author AMAs, we hope to provide ample material and a safe, respectful setting for inter-cultural dialogue within our diverse community.

The highlight for January 2018 is Southeast and East Asia, as well as their respective diaspora/immigrant cultures. To launch Awareness Week, we’re happy to present this spotlight interview with Allison Thai! A Vietnamese-American husky with the heart of a dragon, when Allison is not studying for medical school or delighting in all things science, she likes to bury her nose in a good book, scribble in a sketch pad, learn her target languages, swim laps, or spend 99% of her writing time pressing paws to her head trying to think of words to put down. Her anthro stories can be found in Symbol of A Nation, ROAR 8, Arcana – Tarot, and Infurno: The Nine Circles of Hell. She has dug out a den for herself on Twitter as @ThaiSibir.

Author disclaimer: While I am happy and honored to be involved in the awareness project through this interview, I am just one voice. I am just one face on a sociological polyhedron. I don’t claim to represent each and every opinion within my demographic. What it means to be me may not be so for someone else, simply because they are not me.

Tell us briefly about yourself as an author. How long have you been writing? What made you want to start and eventually pursue writing seriously?

I have been writing for as long as I can remember. I remember my first complete work, in third grade, was a comic shamelessly ripping off Treasure Island and Treasure Planet (a movie I still love dearly), only with bugs. I had called it “Treasure Grasslands.” It wasn’t good at all, of course. The doodles were bad. The handwriting was even worse. In middle school I ventured into fanfiction, and enjoyed entertaining readers without pay for the next 10 years. This provided an important foundation and built up my confidence to take the craft and my ambitions to the next level; in 2016 I began to write and get paid for original fiction.

How did you encounter the furry fandom, and what spurred you to contribute to it?

I grew up on Warriors and Redwall books. When I was young I had a hard time making friends and getting along with others, so I turned to books, tales of feral cat clans and brave mice swinging swords. I also grew up on Pokemon and Digimon. These worlds entranced and swept me away beyond the point of return, so my love for talking animals and monsters continues to be a huge influence in my work. Twitter provided me a proper encounter with the term “furry,” as well as the community who pours their love, creativity, and effort into this genre. I wanted to be a part of that community.

According to the creation myth, Vietnamese people are descended from a dragon lord and a fairy queen, and call themselves “children of the dragon.” That makes you/your fursona a dragon, right?

Indeed. I may have the (online) face of a husky, but I am a dragon by blood and heart!

Who are your favorite authors in general? How about your favorite furry authors?

In general, my favorites are C.S Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Ken Liu, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Khaled Hosseini, Octavia Butler, George R. R. Martin, Ursula Le Guin, Elizabeth Bear, and Anthony Marra. Within the furry genre (or, at least, what I interpret to be furry), I would say Brian Jacques, Erin Hunter, Richard Adams, David Clement-Davies, and have recently enjoyed reading stories by Ursula Vernon/T. Kingfisher and Mary Lowd.

Your fiction covers many settings and genres, from fantasy to sci-fi to historical fiction, but you often return to Eastern locations in your stories: Russia, Mongolia, China, and of course Vietnam. Have you encountered any challenges in conveying these cultures to an audience which is largely better-versed in Western themes?

Being a diasporic Asian puts me in somewhat of a dilemma. I feel like I am both in and out of the culture I was born into and raised on. There’s always that nagging doubt telling me that being diasporic Asian means I’m not “Asian enough,” or a “real Asian.” Some Asians in Asia, believe it or not, voice that accusation. These mental, internal struggles may be invisible to the reader, perhaps not relatable to someone who’s not an immigrant or a child of one, but they are very real to me.

Regarding Russian and Mongolian history and culture, I’ve been fascinated with them partly because they’re so different from my own. I face the challenge of pulling off a compelling and believable story with this setting, and worry if I did it right. That’s why hearing good feedback from Slavic and Central Asian acquaintances, telling me that they can believe and relate to what the characters are doing, is very satisfying.

As a genre with strong foundations in sci-fi and fantasy (SF/F), furry fiction is well-equipped to explore situations and cultures beyond the norm. Like SF/F, furry fiction can also deal well with stories about diversity and cultural, as well as personal, identity. What has your experience been like writing for a furry audience?

Animals have served very important roles not only as sustenance for our physical and emotional health, but as sustenance for our tales throughout history. Giving animals human-like qualities, making them talk, think, and feel as we do, and making them the stars of their own stories, gives me the opportunity to immerse them in the history and culture that had defined us humans. In these stories, they’re more than beasts of burden or for slaughter. They are the warriors, the heroes, the villains, masters of their fate. I like that the furry audience can accept this without reservation or judgment, and I write freely and have fun knowing that.

You’ve written several historical fiction stories in a furry universe. How was it, integrating historical/cultural themes with anthropomorphic themes? Were there drastic similarities or differences?

When you write about anthropomorphic animals, you take species identity into account. This is what I love most about furry fiction. I love determining what species my characters will be during the outline stage. I love making those traits play a part in their stories, how they perceive events and the world around them. You take body language to a whole new level when you need to consider how the paws, claws, fangs, tails, and fur reflect how the characters think and feel—an editor once offered me to revise and resubmit my piece with this advice in mind, so I can’t stress the importance of the worldbuilding enough. If you don’t put this into effect, make it matter, then you might as well write a story about humans instead. I find this thought process remarkably similar to constructing cultural identity that strongly and plausibly weaves into a story. A furry story works for me when the plot and worldbuilding answers the question “why animals, and not humans?” In the same way, a non-furry story works when it answers “why this voice, and not someone else’s?”

You describe yourself as an “aspiring polyglot,” and you’ve learned Russian, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish. How has learning these languages enriched your understanding of these cultures and their literature/folklore? How does it influence the stories that you tell?

I’ve always had an interest and passion in learning foreign languages. I took on Spanish because it would be very useful, Russian simply because I love the sound of it, and learned them together when I found many striking similarities between the two. Because of my foundation in Vietnamese, spoken Mandarin was more intuitive to me and, contrary to the opinion of many Westerners, somewhat easy to pick up. The challenge is making sure I don’t mix up the pitches and words of these very similar languages! I say “aspiring” because I still have some ways to go. Of the three I’m learning, Russian is the most challenging. If I ever get to master these three, maybe I’ll pick up French or Korean.

Living in a bustling, ethnically diverse city, and with my goal to be a physician, I want to use my language proficiency to break down barriers and provide better, efficient care for patients who can’t speak English. Interpreters can be used, yes, but translating can be cumbersome, and I’ve seen that patients tend to trust and comply more readily with a provider who can speak their language. In terms of literature and storytelling: though I can read Spanish, Cyrillic and pinyin (Romanized Chinese), I have not gotten to the point of understanding original classic texts, though I very much look forward to the day I can. I already know from reading in Vietnamese that you can pick up beautiful prose, rhythm, and nuances that would be lost in English translation.

I don’t factor in languages every time I write a story, though I can think of one I did. I’m working on a short sci-fi that revolves around the way Russians use grammatical rules and different words to talk about animate/living and inanimate/nonliving nouns. The protagonist is a girl who hears voices from her hands and feet, and she talks to them as if they’re animate, but the Russian language dictates that they are inanimate. She (correctly, yet unknowingly) talks to the aliens in her hands and feet as if addressing people, not just body parts.

You often draw on your cultural heritage when writing stories. How has your personal experience as a minority in the US influenced your fiction?

Culture and setting is a core element in my work, whether I’m drawing from my own identity or not. Characters are a product of the people and environment that surround and shape them. I try to keep this in mind as I take them on a journey. Identity doesn’t exist in a vacuum. I don’t just make a fleeting mention of a character’s background and never mention it again, or never have it contribute in some way to the story. That’s not how people in real life think, especially POC. Even as I live in a country no longer bound by laws of segregation, I am constantly aware that I am a POC, for better or worse.

You must have read stories which inaccurately portray Vietnamese culture, or Southeast Asian/East Asian culture in general. Are there any points you’d like to draw attention to for fellow writers to be more aware when portraying these cultures?

I don’t think the problem is so much inaccurate portrayal, but rather not enough portrayal. I just don’t see enough southeast Asian stories as I’d like, and certainly have not seen enough growing up. I feel that southeast Asian culture is often shunted to the side, overshadowed and overlooked compared to the the more prevalent and popular east Asian narrative, cultures and settings, or the white lens. With Vietnam in particular, too often I’ve seen it reduced to some exotic, hostile, degenerate backdrop for Vietnam War stories. I keep seeing in these stories, told from the American perspective, how strange and ugly Vietnam is and how they’re aching to finally get home after blasting those Vietcong scum to kingdom come. Honestly, reading about any departure from this would be welcoming.

I can’t speak for the huge spectrum of Asian culture, but I can speak with more confidence regarding Vietnamese culture: people are constantly relating to themselves and addressing others according to age. Perhaps you know about Japanese honorifics. Vietnamese’s complex pronoun system is somewhat like that. In Vietnamese, there’s no single word for “I” or “you.” The use varies based on who you’re talking to, if they’re older or younger than you or your parents. As my parents get older it’s getting harder to tell which adults are their senior, and wrongly addressing them by accident have made for several funny bouts of embarrassment. It’s like the military, where you almost always end your sentences in some form of address to be proper and respectful. Definitely take age dynamics and respect for that hierarchy into account.

Also, if you want to try your hand at diasporic culture: consider disparities in language and attitude between the overseas and mainland communities. Language and attitudes change over time, right? Sometimes they’re preserved. My mom told me that the Vietnamese-American community, many of them refugees who fled Vietnam in the 70s-80s, continue to speak Vietnamese used before the fall of Saigon. They pass that way of speaking to their children, and so on. Meanwhile in the mainland, standardized Vietnamese continues to change and evolve, with some words falling out of fashion and others coming into popular use. Northern dialect prevails in the mainland, while the southern dialect stubbornly persists among the refugees. We on the other side of the world aren’t really “keeping up with the times.” Geographic distance maintained this difference. If my family were to visit Vietnam now, we likely wouldn’t understand half of what the mainlanders are saying.

Which of your works are you proudest of?

As of this interview I’m quite proud of writing “Malebolge,” a short story about a female Vietnamese-American pathologist who can hear microorganisms talk. They speak on behalf of Death, who takes advantage of the protagonist’s depression and grief for her dead brother and tries seducing her to its side permanently via suicide. It’s probably my weirdest, experimental, and most personal story to date, combining microbiology, Dante’s Inferno, and American Pie. Submitting this story got me accepted into Viable Paradise, a science fiction + fantasy writing workshop akin to Clarion and Odyssey with the rigorous selection process, curriculum, and how it fosters a sense of community among writers.

“Solongo,” a story about a Mongolian wolf, also has a special place in my heart. It won first place for fiction in my university’s writing contest. Winners presented their entries at the English Honors Society induction ceremony, so I got to read my story loud. Then it went on to get published in Wolf Warriors III.

Any parting words of advice for other aspiring writers, especially minority writers, in the fandom?

If I may borrow the invaluable insight Ken Liu had shared with me: don’t get confused between goals and milestones. A goal might be, among endless possibilities: “x words a day,” “complete NaNoWriMo,” or “at least one short story per month.” A milestone could be winning an award, or getting accepted and published in your dream venue, or signing up with your dream agent. If the milestone happens, great! But that’s not where you should focus your energy and sights on. Milestones are not within your control. Awards often have voting committees. Editors and agents are, well, not you, the author. Work on your goals: something you can reasonably achieve within your power. It doesn’t have to be big. And don’t make it too ambitious. You’ll set yourself up for disappointment that way.

For the marginalized and the minorities: Be true to yourself, believe in yourself, and have the confidence that you know yourself best. Listen carefully, appreciate, and learn from valid thoughtful criticism regarding craft, but don’t let others police the imprint of your identity in your work. Don’t let others say that your characters and setting “aren’t x enough,” or “if you did this and this, that will satisfy my idea of your background” or “it’s too y for the x audience to relate to.” Furthermore, you will get criticism even from those who share your background. That can hurt. But be ready for that, and keep in mind that there’s no one-size-fits-all voice for a community defined by ethnicity, faith, clinical condition, gender, or sexual orientation. You can never please everybody. Might as well stay true to your vision and how you want to make your voice heard.

 

Discuss this article on the Guild forums, or learn more about Allison on her website.

This article went out in January 2017 titled “Yiffing for Dollars”. Here’s a re-edited update a year later, to coincide with a bump in notice and a concerning situation. 

Fek announces becoming a full-time, well-paid pro yiff artist.

Furries have built their own small industry on creativity worth millions. Their membership is rising and it’s likely to see the “furry economy” grow with it. You can see what’s up by watching the small slice who are devoted enough to make a living in the fandom – Profans.

Adult art can have an edge in dollars because it has more of a niche quality. Clean art is perfectly valid, but perhaps the mainstream is where it succeeds most – making an apples/oranges comparison. This look at indie art business will focus on the naughty stuff, but doesn’t exclude other kinds, and it applies outside of fandom too.

Check the list of top creators on Patreon and play Find The Furries!  

When first looked at in January 2017, fandom member Fek was earning $24,000 per month for making furry porn games. (Quote: “Ditch the dayjob and live the dream.”)  He had the stat of #2 best-paid per-patron on all of Patreon.  (See his art on Furaffinity.) Others were in or near the furry ballpark (dogpark?) Most of the NSFW entries in the top 50 had furry content. #12 was the Trials in Tainted Space NSFW game, earning $27,000 per month. #30 was the kinda-anthropomorphic-NSFW artist Monstergirlisland, earning $20,000 monthly.

I haven’t checked these numbers since early 2017, and I think the list changed from “amount of money” to “number of patrons” which knocks furries down the list, but… Artists are getting rich from this, no joke.

Older news:

• Cracked – We Draw Furry Porn: 6 Things We’ve Learned On The Job. “Every artist agreed it would have been impossible to make a living doing this as recently as 10 years ago. But today they constantly have multiple projects going and portfolios with hundreds of completed works, and they find themselves in ever-increasing demand.”

• NYMag: The Secret Furry Patrons Keeping Indie Artists Afloat. “When it comes to commissioning original works of art, nobody can match the furries.”

• Vice: How Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin Could Save the Indie Porn Industry (featuring furry artists.)

• Vice: Offbeatr, the Kickstarter for Porn, Is a Furry Playground. (Old news about a defunct site.) More at Flayrah: Furry porn sweeps Offbeatr; their CEO, project leads explain. That business didn’t succeed, but the trend continues.

Since late 2017, Kotaku has given strong attention to adult art on Patreon:

• There’s A Website Dedicated To Stealing Furry Porn From Patreon Artists.
• Sex Game Cancelled After Taking In Five Figures A Month On Patreon.
• Patreon Starts Enforcing Stricter Rules On Sex Games.

These show growth being overshadowed by trouble. They aren’t just about furries, but notice – the first one is about a theft site that targeted furry porn first, then spread to any and everyone. Theft, instability, and creator-hostile regulations are looming. It even involves politics.

A tiny slice of Profans having positive success is also vastly outweighed by those who do it for less than a living – but more than a hobby. Competing as business with lower-expense hobbyists makes things complicated. Fandom is full of young, struggling artists who are figuring out how to use their talents, and deserve all the support they can get. Making money from art has never been easy, and this makes me think about the current state of things.

There’s a lot to say about being an artist in troubled times.

The planet is in trouble and every species has a complaint, so let a dog bark about politics for a minute.  If I had a crystal ball to see into a future with Trump in power, I bet it would show nothing but murk with occasional mushroom clouds. Expect isolationism, extreme nativism, and turmoil.  He gives lip service to bringing back jobs, but has no plan beyond drunkenly slashing and burning everything – corporate regulations, facts, and the social contract. Don’t be surprised when it simply helps rich people hoard money and leaves burger-flipper work and a Limbo-game race to the bottom for wages for everyone else. What I’m saying is, Millenials are facing poverty and instability beyond what their parents faced.

This space needed a graphic so have Old Economy Steve.

It’s scary, but even downsides contain opportunity. Not like in the old economy before they had robots doing all the jobs, but if nobody’s hiring for jobs worth doing – what’s better than making your own career?  Look at the indie level.

This business article caught my eye: “Can This Startup Reinvent How Doggie Portraits Are Sold?” Forbes explains that pet industry spending hit a record $60.28 billion in 2015, and MyPoochFace.com got a half million. It’s “the first venture launched by Niche Digital Brands”, who target “massive markets with specialized and differentiated products”, according to the owner: “‘Basically, if Amazon sells it, or has the ability to sell it, we are not interested.'” The part that stood out is “specialized and differentiated” and “Amazon can’t sell it”. Robots and Chinese manufacturing aren’t such a risk for that.

Doggie portraits? Isn’t that familiar to furry commission artists who make unique custom art for every client?  They do all kinds from Disney to dirty, and you can’t lump everything they do together, but there already is a Disney. What people don’t have is a stable business for adult media companies. (Even the weird kind is having trouble, like Kink.com closing shop.) The centralized production studio concept is going away, in general.

That’s why furries are poised for a little opportunity on the naughtier side. A modern “go west, young man” is “go yiffy, young furry.” Any person can get naked and it’s not very special when people do it – but who does “specialized and differentiated” better than fantasy artists?

Appreciate furry porn because it’s hot and cute and fun, and you can commission your own to match your desire – but also because it’s so independent. You can complain like hell about being broke and having no health care, but it may even be one of the few places to still find the American Dream.

Why this matters:

Does furry erotica even fight modern entropy? (Slate: How Can Literature Resist Islamophobia? One Writer Answers: Gay Muslim Furry Romance.) My feeling is a subtle yes – in ways like expressing queerness that lets individuals gain confidence to break barriers – and in being countercultural against stifling values that pit people against each other. In times when fear of strangers is fired up to the point of war, if you can say “hugs are the furry handshake” – hugging a stranger is a statement.

Free love and expression may not be overt “politics,” but it matters. It especially matters to people who make a living from this. We can find a small vision of a kinder, happier way to treat each other, in the fantasy and international conspiracy of fandom.

With risks on the rise, how can furries look out for themselves?

Furry artists should think of a guild or trade compact for group interest. Forget arguing "that's the internet", this is basically about thoughtless people using others. One solution - pooling info about who runs this site for group response. Send tips. https://t.co/QlzHRQTLkY

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) January 6, 2018

I had hoped Patreon would do exactly this but so far their silence has been deafening...

— Canada's #1 Counterfeit Pronoun Trafficker (@RewhanPottinger) January 6, 2018

The article is missing a key detail, IMO. The owner of yiff[.]party doxxes artists who file DMCA takedown requests as retaliation. It's not just about stealing art. It's about a systematic attack to ruin the lives of mostly marginalized artists. https://t.co/WudF8LuPKA

— Izzy Galvez (@iglvzx) January 6, 2018

It's worse. A wide variety of artists/content creators is affected. Bot accounts scrape paywalled content and post it to that site. Since it's run by 8chan, aka guys who thought 4chan wasn't Nazi friendly enough, they dox creators who speak up and incite harassment.

— Fence for counterfeit pronouns (@gryphoneer) January 6, 2018

I honestly can't believe in that article about yiff party it quotes the creator saying he doesn't know if it hurts the artists
That was the whole damn point

— Corgi Queen Liz (@Lizombi) January 6, 2018

I was actually around when that site was first discussed. It's original purpose was "a way to give middle finger to all the artists who hide all of their content behind paywall", essentially meaning they were going only after artists who made their stuff Patreon exclusive...

— Cr0nicallyInsane (@AngryCr0Bar) January 6, 2018

From a source.

See, politics. The theft targeting small, indie artists is being done with reprisal against remedies to attack them as a class. That’s one reason for them to consider organizing for their interest. They may be their own bosses, but still deal with various kinds of exploitation.

It gets more feasible with growing amounts of money involved. There’s an active Furry Writers Guild, loosely modeled after the Science Fiction Writers Association (which had a furry V.P.!) The SFWA exists to represent creators to (or vs.) publishers, as well as connect members for mutual support. Indie furry artists don’t deal with bosses or formal industry relations, but in a pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps situation, there’s still the issue of what the downward forces are and how organization helps; stuff like dealing with abuse or figuring out standards among those competing with a semi-hobby level. Let’s not get into differing costs of living for international members.  Basically, Furry art is an incredible bargain for the skill involved – enjoy it, but don’t take it for granted. (My related article: Tip Your Makers! Why to pay more for art to improve commissioning and spread the love.)

I’ll leave these thoughts as a start for new topics to come. If you have tips on the theft situation, please get in touch.

UPDATE

Ever hear complaints about FurAffinity, but network effect keeps artists from leaving, despite alternative sites? There's a solution I've never heard anyone say - An independent artist guild (or trade compact) coordinating work stoppage or migration.https://t.co/PHgRDApiYh

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) January 10, 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.

In a nutshell, is my brother right about me liking something wrong?

From 2012 to 2014, I dabbled in the Brony scene after being influenced to see the first few seasons of "Friendship is Magic". Since then, I've regretted it a little based on the fact that it's still at its core a toy franchise for little girls, and forming a fandom really still isn't socially acceptable for a mix of both valid concerns and unfounded fears. When I spent the holidays with my younger brother, and I just happened to joke ironically, in a clearly unfavorable light, about the fandom, he upstaged me with the question "Why do you talk about it so much?" Then he went on with "I don't know why anyone older than 12 would like that show. I think it's a case of psychological infantilism," and "Twenty years from now, they'll wonder what they were doing with their lives". I almost had a heart attack because I could have been among the objects of his scorn. If I watched MLP: FiM again and reentered the fandom, the fujoshis (look it up), Rule 34 artists, bad costuming, those Bronies who use feminism/civil rights/the LGBT cause as analogies to their fandom, and the obsessive crossing over of things that have nothing to do with Hasbro's property, WOULD NOT help my case. And my uncles and grandmother would have a field day putting down someone interested in something simultaneously child-oriented and effeminate. Worse, I still feel a soft spot for, plus attraction to, the main characters whenever I find images of them. My best defense argument for my personal enjoyment of it would be “I also like my share of mindless fun, just like millions of other people.”

Addendum: It's just stupid entertainment, but I’d have to pursue it secretively to save my hide socially.

With Regards,
 
Joaquin the Boar (age 25)
 
* * *
 
Dear Joaquin,
 
When it comes to questions such as yours, I always fall back on the Wiccan Rede: “An it harm none, do what ye will.” (If you aren’t hurting anyone, do whatever you like.) There is nothing inherently wrong in your liking My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Lots of young men do.  Who are you harming by doing so? The only people who are doing any harming around you are your brother and, possibly, other family members by making you feel bad about liking something that is just a television show.
 
Why do people do such things? Because they allow themselves to be told what to do and what to believe by society. Thus, they are told that MLP is not “manly” and, therefore, you, as a male, shouldn’t like it. When you do like such things, it threatens their comfortable worldview of how people should behave, which then inspires fear and anxiety, which then leads to anger and hate. That is, sadly, how most human minds work.
 
What is cool about Furries and Bronies is that they dare to enjoy something (gasp!) that isn’t a social norm. That is a very brave thing to do.  But whenever people like you or me do that, the first thing that often (not always) happens is hate, and the second thing that happens is ostracism or dire predictions that the world will come to an end if we allow such things to continue. A great example of this is gay marriage in America. Conservatives and religious rightists issued Hellfire and brimstone warnings that if gay people were allowed to marry it would, literally, be the end of America and possibly the world. Well, we’re still waiting and nothing bad has happened.
 
Don’t allow yourself to be manipulated by small minds. People like your brother are the ones that hold society back, keep it from progressing.
 
It’s a sorry state of affairs that you feel like you have to hide being a Brony, but I understand. You still have to function in society and within your family, so if you feel that is something you must do, then okay.
 
But do not feel like you are doing something wrong or immoral. You aren’t. It is the people who are criticizing you who are the damaged ones. You’re fine.
 
Hugs,
Papabear

Whoops! A little present from the holidays we missed: Boom! Studios and Nickelodeon have announced the first Rocko’s Modern Life full-color comic book series. It’s “…a new ongoing comic book series based on the popular animated show about everyone’s favorite wallaby! Writer Ryan Ferrier (Regular Show, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) and artist Ian McGinty (Adventure Time, Bravest Warriors) team to launch the first comic book in the series… Each issue will also feature bonus short stories by different illustrators, including Tony Millionaire (Sock Monkey), KC Green (Invader Zim), and David DeGrand (SpongeBob Comics). Rocko, Spunky, Heffer, Filburt, the Bigheads, and the entire cast of O-Town are back, but all is not well. The town is facing a job shortage and Rocko is hit hard. With unemployment and potential homelessness on the horizon, Rocko’s problems are just beginning. But with help from his best friends Heffer and Filbert and his faithful dog Spunky, Rocko is (mostly) ready to take on the world (maybe).” The first issue is already on the shelves.

image c. 2018 Boom! Studios

Quite a packed episode! We kick off with Fox Amoore & Pepper Coyote joining us for a fun interview about their new BLFC Musical album. Then we run through a massive link roundup, read about “normal iguana activities” and churn through plenty of news.

Download MP3

Watch Video Interview:

Two wonderful collaborative music artists Fox Amoore & Pepper Coyote joined us to talk about their latest upcoming album “BLFC: The Musical!” which was written for Biggest Little Fur Con’s 2017 con theme and will premiere at the convention. We played some preview unmastered concept tracks of the performance & chatted for a good hour.

Fox Amoore:

• Twitter: @FoxAmoore
• FA: foxamoore
• Website: www.foxamoore.com

Pepper Coyote:

• Twitter: @peppercoyote
• FA: peppercoyote
• Website: lookleft.us

Biggest Little Fur Con:

• Website: goblfc.org
• Twitter: @BiggestLittleFC

Link Roundup:

• SuperDelux tweet about Hoof Shoes
• How Dogs Move
• Raffle for wearable Dragon Scales
• Cool “ref sheet” website
• FurSquared taunts user who pre-registered with the name “Con Chair”
• Further Confusion announces free anonymous HIV testing
• Rin’s Dance Drills Video
• KnotCast podcast renames to “Southpaws”
• Kurzgesagt retweets furries with 12,018 calendar
• Majira’s laundry pods video
• Flayrah’s “Are furries trying to poison your kids with laundry pods”
• CollegeHumor’s laundry pod video
• Denny’s laundry pod tweet
• ArcticSkyWolf & Fractal’s laundry pod video
• Kotaku post about a website that steals furry art off patreon
• Darkpaw & Nikolai are getting married
• New US Customs guidelines around personal electronic devices
• ArcticSkyWolf’s MidWest FurFest 2017 Con Video
• Revit’s “Supercut” video

News:

• Florida Confused After Frozen Iguanas Start Raining From Trees, Only To Come Back To Life
• Canadian Zoo Brings Its Penguins Indoors Because It’s Too Cold Out Even For Them Right Now
• Snoop Dogg Jack in the Box
• Dog Breathing Underwater
• There’s A Website Dedicated To Stealing Furry Porn From Patreon Artists

FC-289 Fail Until It Stops Hurting - Quite a packed episode! We kick off with Fox Amoore & Pepper Coyote joining us for a fun interview about their new BLFC Musical album. Then we run through a massive link roundup, read about "normal iguana activities" and churn through plenty of news.

Quite a packed episode! We kick off with Fox Amoore & Pepper Coyote joining us for a fun interview about their new BLFC Musical album. Then we run through a massive link roundup, read about “normal iguana activities” and churn through plenty of news.

Download MP3

Watch Video Interview:

Two wonderful collaborative music artists Fox Amoore & Pepper Coyote joined us to talk about their latest upcoming album “BLFC: The Musical!” which was written for Biggest Little Fur Con’s 2017 con theme and will premiere at the convention. We played some preview unmastered concept tracks of the performance & chatted for a good hour.

Fox Amoore:

• Twitter: @FoxAmoore
• FA: foxamoore
• Website: www.foxamoore.com

Pepper Coyote:

• Twitter: @peppercoyote
• FA: peppercoyote
• Website: lookleft.us

Biggest Little Fur Con:

• Website: goblfc.org
• Twitter: @BiggestLittleFC

Link Roundup:

• SuperDelux tweet about Hoof Shoes
• How Dogs Move
• Raffle for wearable Dragon Scales
• Cool “ref sheet” website
• FurSquared taunts user who pre-registered with the name “Con Chair”
• Further Confusion announces free anonymous HIV testing
• Rin’s Dance Drills Video
• KnotCast podcast renames to “Southpaws”
• Kurzgesagt retweets furries with 12,018 calendar
• Majira’s laundry pods video
• Flayrah’s “Are furries trying to poison your kids with laundry pods”
• CollegeHumor’s laundry pod video
• Denny’s laundry pod tweet
• ArcticSkyWolf & Fractal’s laundry pod video
• Kotaku post about a website that steals furry art off patreon
• Darkpaw & Nikolai are getting married
• New US Customs guidelines around personal electronic devices
• ArcticSkyWolf’s MidWest FurFest 2017 Con Video
• Revit’s “Supercut” video

News:

• Florida Confused After Frozen Iguanas Start Raining From Trees, Only To Come Back To Life
• Canadian Zoo Brings Its Penguins Indoors Because It’s Too Cold Out Even For Them Right Now
• Snoop Dogg Jack in the Box
• Dog Breathing Underwater
• There’s A Website Dedicated To Stealing Furry Porn From Patreon Artists

FC-289 Fail Until It Stops Hurting - Quite a packed episode! We kick off with Fox Amoore & Pepper Coyote joining us for a fun interview about their new BLFC Musical album. Then we run through a massive link roundup, read about "normal iguana activities" and churn through plenty of news.

Quite a packed episode! We kick off with Fox Amoore & Pepper Coyote joining us for a fun interview about their new BLFC Musical album. Then we run through a massive link roundup, read about “normal iguana activities” and churn through plenty of news.

Download MP3

Interview:

Two wonderful collaborative music artists Fox Amoore & Pepper Coyote joined us to talk about their latest upcoming album “BLFC: The Musical!” which was written for Biggest Little Fur Con’s 2017 con theme and will premiere at the convention. We played some preview unmastered concept tracks of the performance & chatted for a good hour.

Fox Amoore:

• Twitter: @FoxAmoore
• FA: foxamoore
• Website: www.foxamoore.com

Pepper Coyote:

• Twitter: @peppercoyote
• FA: peppercoyote
• Website: lookleft.us

Biggest Little Fur Con:

• Website: goblfc.org
• Twitter: @BiggestLittleFC

Link Roundup:

• SuperDelux tweet about Hoof Shoes
• How Dogs Move
• Raffle for wearable Dragon Scales
• Cool “ref sheet” website
• FurSquared taunts user who pre-registered with the name “Con Chair”
• Further Confusion announces free anonymous HIV testing
• Rin’s Dance Drills Video
• KnotCast podcast renames to “Southpaws”
• Kurzgesagt retweets furries with 12,018 calendar
• Majira’s laundry pods video
• Flayrah’s “Are furries trying to poison your kids with laundry pods”
• CollegeHumor’s laundry pod video
• Denny’s laundry pod tweet
• ArcticSkyWolf & Fractal’s laundry pod video
• Kotaku post about a website that steals furry art off patreon
• Darkpaw & Nikolai are getting married
• New US Customs guidelines around personal electronic devices
• ArcticSkyWolf’s MidWest FurFest 2017 Con Video
• Revit’s “Supercut” video

News:

• Florida Confused After Frozen Iguanas Start Raining From Trees, Only To Come Back To Life
• Canadian Zoo Brings Its Penguins Indoors Because It’s Too Cold Out Even For Them Right Now
• Snoop Dogg Jack in the Box
• Dog Breathing Underwater
• There’s A Website Dedicated To Stealing Furry Porn From Patreon Artists

[Live] Fail Until It Stops Hurting

​I'm still new to the Furry Fandom and as an adult with autism I never really felt any social connection outside the Internet. After over 10 years of trying, I finally got out of Mom and Dad’s house, but it’s still not complete. The guy I know I am is still locked inside of me and is still being stopped from coming out by them forcing me to take whatever it is they what me to use, what jobs they what me to have, having everything I do monitored, and more. Not caring that this guy is his own man and that makes me feel unsafe. I need to get out; I lost almost all my friends; all my dreams have been killed by them. The only hope I still have is if I could one day wake up as 0% human and 100% something like raccoon. That's the short version. The full would be over 500 pages long. 


Lance (age 35)
 
 * * *
 
Dear Lance,
 
Congratulations on moving out on your own and starting to take charge of your life. That is a major step and I hope it is working out for you.
 
Because I don’t know the degree of autism you are suffering or your health history, it is difficult for me to offer you advice on this subject.  But you sound as though you are eager to take charge of your own destiny.  I suggest you start by picking up the phone and talking to a professional in this area at an organization called Autism Speaks. You can find contact information here: https://www.autismspeaks.org/family-services/autism-response-team. Another group you can look into is Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) http://autisticadvocacy.org/about-asan/; here you can educate yourself as to what is being done politically to help those with autism assert their rights and independence. If you feel motivated to do so, you might even try volunteering there, which will definitely help you feel more empowered.
 
I realize you feel as if your parents and others are trying to control your life, but I’m sure that what they are trying to do is protect you and help you because they care about and love you. The best thing you can do is learn more about the organizations listed above, set goals for yourself as to what you wish to do with your life, and make sure that those goals and wishes are communicated to your parents and anyone else involved in your life.
 
Good luck!
 
Hugs,
Papabear

This turned into commerical week ... So I guess we clear out the rest of the holiday videos we have another sweet advert for Heathrow Airport. I think there is something stuck in my eye.
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Yes, obvious, we know, but too good to pass up. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Dimension X. We’ll let IDW explain it: “The brothers make an interstellar journey to different planets in Dimension X to save key witnesses in the Trial of Krang from assassination! Weird new characters, places, and events abound! This mini-series introduces an all-new villain, Hakk-R, into the world of the TMNT, directly affecting the events of the main ongoing series in this dimension-altering adventure.” The army of creators for this new mini-series includes writers Paul Allor, Devin Grayson, Ulises Farinas, Erick Freitas, Ryan Ferrier, and Aubrey Sitterson; with art by Pablo Tunica, Michal Dialynas, Khary Randolph, Chris Johnson, and Craig Rousseau. The comic mini-series is out already, and the trade paperback collection is coming later in January.

image c. 2018 IDW Publishing

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.)