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Guest post by Nightf0x with a response by Patch.

Flying out to Pittsburgh this past June for Anthrocon was a fantastic experience. I got to spend time with my friends and see this convention for the first time. However there was something that felt a bit off to me.

It took a different experience at Anthro Weekend Utah to make me aware of what exactly I was feeling at Anthrocon. I had never noticed before, but there is a sense of classism in the furry community. (I didn’t experience any of this classism at Anthro Weekend Utah.)

A lot of people in this fandom are successful, and they should be proud of it! However, sometimes this financial success creates an aura of a “holier than thou” attitude that they may not be aware of. By spending copious amounts of money and keeping their social cliques to people in the same financial situation, it creates a feeling of the haves and have nots.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t strive to reach this kind of success. For the most part this fandom is full of people who are intelligent and apply themselves, and they should be happy that they are in their situation. All I’m asking is to just be aware that sometimes, all the extravagance and copious spending creates social rifts. It can be detrimental to a convention’s social experience. This fandom has definitely been through a lot of social change lately, and my hope is that the next change is to be aware that everybody is in a different socio-economic status, and to at least try to be inclusive in that regard. It’s great to see a fandom that is getting more and more inclusive. However I think as a community we could work better on inclusivity across socio-economic barriers.

I’m not saying you’re evil if you own a fursuit or have a lot of money.  But I think everybody should be entitled to have a fun time without feeling the socio-economic barriers they may experience outside of the fandom. In the end, no matter your current socio-economic status, we are all fans of anthropomorphic animals and we all share this in common. Let’s go out there and have fun without class elitism!

– Nightf0x

A rather critical thread about the topic here:

(most) rich furries are classless as shit imo

— McDonalds & Drugs (@CrocutaMane) December 14, 2017

A perspective by Patch – expensive fursuits help showcase the whole fandom’s creativity.

Dogpatch welcomes guest posts as part of the mission of the site, and thanks Nightf0x for contributing.  Open access is one small way to be more inclusive. Sometimes a critical opinion can lead to dissecting a problem for positive qualities. So let me offer thoughts about how fursuiting the fandom is known for can represent “conspicuous consumption” and how that isn’t always bad, especially if it’s more about creativity on display than just hoarding the wealth.

Previous stories that look at the fandom’s most expensive fursuits:

• $11,575 fursuit sale brings comments from Furbuy and seller PhoenixWolf.
• Thoughts from the winner of the record-setting $11,575 fursuit auction.
• Responses to fursuit auction story confirm $17,500 top price.

A $17,500 sale sure makes an eye-catching headline. Those articles get longer lasting views than many on the site, and I think it shows that the issue matters to many furries.  Spending that way isn’t just anyone’s luxury – but like a museum with a valuable collection, it can be more than just personal indulgence.

How? Look at how unique the art of fursuiting can be. Other fandoms and subcultures have art, music, cosplay, and even their own movies. Furries enjoy that stuff, but original character fursuiting is something you only see from furries. Elsewhere you see it called a mascot or Halloween costume, but it’s more tradition or social performance than personal expression. So you can call fursuiting the most visible display of “furriness”, and that includes the way members spend.

Think of what the “furry dollar” buys across the furry economy. Con-going furs spend a lot on travel – the same as any non-fan who takes vacations – but the ones with suits are extra invested.  Dropping several grand on a suit involves putting in all the effort to use it. That makes a special market by furs, for furs, that uniquely brings together fans and skilled makers with event organizers who help them have a “stage”.

In other words, those fans could be a weathervane for how the fandom grows. Furries don’t make movies (yet), they throw cons, and fursuit group photos are the money shots or the crown jewels. The biggest cons showcase over $3 million in furriness (close to 2,000 suiters) at once. Nothing else approaches such a display.

Why mention it if only more privileged furs can take part?  Because they can be considered Patrons of the Arts, and fursuits are for wearing and performing, not being shut away. It enriches an experience for everyone. They’re pricey, but accessibility is relative too.  Fursuit maker skill is an incredible bargain by comparison to other hand-made fashion. Many makers do it for love at near minimum wage for the labor it takes (if you got hand-made jeans, they’d cost hundreds of dollars.)  And if you can’t afford a suit, you can make one yourself.

DIY Power is part of the beauty of what Furries do. There’s class in it, but it’s different than say, collecting rare cars or vicariously watching highly-paid athletes (stuff the mainstream takes for granted as hobbies and fandom.) For other ways to increase inclusion, remember that it’s made of real people who meet in real life. You can reach out to those who want to do meets and cons and welcome them in. Those depend on volunteerism, so someone who can’t afford it can still get in as a volunteer to make an event for everyone. Cons always need more volunteers for operations or to put on panels and make their content better. Even if you want nothing to do with fursuiting, there’s another niche waiting for you. You don’t have to wait for a con, either. Want a guest writer spot here? Make it yours.

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.

Pete Oswald is a very busy production designer and illustrator. Recently he and his team were responsible for lighting and set design on The Angry Birds Movie. And from his web site: “As a character designer and concept artist, Pete has helped to uplift many of the most successful animated franchises. Among other projects, Pete has worked on Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 1 & 2; Hotel Transylvania; and the Oscar® nominated ParaNorman, for which he earned an Annie Award nomination.” Even with all that going on, Mr. Oswald finds the time to illustrate books for children as well.  Recently he completed one called Mingo the Flamingo (written by Justin K. Thompson and published by Harper Collins). “A hilarious picture book about a flamingo named Mingo who is ready to fly but gets lost from the rest of the flock during a terrible storm. To make matters worse, when he crashes, he completely forgets who he is and where he belongs. With the help and training from some new friends, he must find the strength to make it back home and reunite with his family.” Pete also worked with writers Laura Lyn DeSiena and Hannah Eliot to create a series of “Did You Know?” books — Hippos Can’t Swim and Other Fun Facts being one of them. Also available at his web site.

image c. 2017 Harper Collins

Victoria Ying is an author and illustrator. Her web site has this to say: “She started her career in the arts by falling in love with comic books, this eventually turned into a career working in Animation… Her film credits include Tangled, Wreck it Ralph, Frozen, Paperman, Big Hero 6, and Moana.” Recent she completed Meow!, her first children’s book. “Meow! is a charming, mostly wordless picture book about a feisty young kitten who gets frustrated when her family is too busy to play. Featuring expressive art and sparse text, this fun read-aloud will allow parents and kids to creatively tell the story by expressing just one word in lots of different ways. This sweet and clever picture book is sure to charm readers through to the final purr.” Ms. Ying also illustrated Not Quite Black and White, written by her brother Jonathan Ying. “Silly animals star in this lively picture book that introduces colors in a unique and catchy way. Have you ever seen a zebra wearing pink polka dots? Or a penguin with bright-yellow boots?” Both of these are available on her web site.

image c. 2017 by Victoria Ying

Weasel’s Jazz at the End of the Night is the perfect mix of horrendously depressing and astoundingly relatable, which—in its own way—is horrendously depressing. His stories chronicle the lives of men on the brink of their worst: some who stumble beyond their limitations, and others who succumb to them—some willfully, some not quite so much.Yet, regardless of whether or not the protagonist faces death, there is an eerie realness in the stories that, even if a reader personally cannot relate to the situation, they may still find themselves floating in his incredibly pungent air of despondency. Weasel’s word choice dances from crude and straightforward to emotional and profound depending on the voice of the narrator; some are vulgar, others scared, all incredibly broken in their own unique ways, many in love—equally as heartbreaking. A particularly stark description that resonated with me even as I closed the book was that of Drake: “An embodiment of how many bruises you can have and pretend they don’t exist.”Descriptions such as Drake’s can be found in each of Weasel’s close-to-home depressions, and often they equal in strength. There’s a feral quality to each story, whether it be about drugs, lost loves, found loves, or any other number of life-ruining circumstances; a reader can get lost in the sadness; even when progression comes to a halt in the middle of some pieces, his success in atmosphere keeps the reader lost in his narrators’ minds.Another quality that took me by surprise (but ultimately ended up adding to my enjoyment of his collection) is the interwoven nature of the narratives. A character will see on the news the death of another, or fall asleep with someone else’s ex-boyfriend—these people are falling apart in their own special ways, and sometimes they share, sometimes they don’t. In this, there exists an all-too-familiar liminality as you watch them fall apart separate of one another, sometimes hoping the other made it out better than they did, sometimes not giving it a second thought. In these small ways, Weasel reiterates the desperate humanity of his creations, which lends masterfully to his collection.Now, that’s not to say I do not have my critiques, though they are all small. The first is that many manifest their sorrows in similar ways. I can only read about cigarettes and shitty jobs for so long before it grows stale. I understand this to be a commonality of the impoverished expressed in his work, and, while I applaud his ability to remain consistent and shift his characters’ approaches and opinions regarding these similarities (and while said aspects are never the actual focus of the narrative’s hardship[s]), it still fell short in some areas that may have been expressed better otherwise.The second is that the collection was exceptionally male-centric. Each story featured a male-identifying protagonist and their male-identifying partners (of some sort). Rarely were women ever present in a piece, and never the main character. This again leads to a sense of thematic repetition, though this time harder to ignore than my former complaint. In the simplest of terms, the collection could have benefited from a little more variety.Ultimately however, the collection was a treat. I had it finished in three days, and the only reason I had to set it down was through no fault of the writing—in fact, it was quite the contrary. As said before, Weasel’s engulfing atmospheres and familiar characters invite the reader into the inner-workings of their minds and as such can create a difficult though sadly beautiful journey for an empathetic reader. Jazz at the End of the Night has imperfect characters in an imperfect world, and it is through these familiar imperfections that such a depressing read can be so satisfying when set down.

Elise Walters is an animation artist who creates concept art and storyboards. If you check out here Weebly web site you’ll find at least a couple of her personal animation projects are especially anthropomorphic. “My Pet Shisa is a short animation about a young man in college who suddenly finds himself stuck with a young creature from Okinawan mythology: A Shisa!” Then there’s Benny Bantam: He’s “… a retired cartoon from the 1920s that suddenly finds himself having to cope with the modern world when his studio wants to revive his show for a new generation!” Plus many other projects and shorts that she created.

image c. 2017 by Elise Walters

Squirrel! It's been exactly a year and Channel One Russia (Первый канал) [1] has produced a new batch of Christmas squirrel bumpers! So cute! [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_One_Russia
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Guest post by Arrkay from Culturally F’d, the furry youtube channel. See their tag on Dogpatch Press for more.

This week Culturally F’d returns from our brief hiatus to talk about internet memes inspired by the titular Blue Hedgehog. We wanted to talk about the franchise, without talking about topics that have already been covered at great length on YouTube (like the general history of the franchise.) This was a bit more fun.

It’s everything from Sonic OC’s to Knuckles Knuckles & Knuckles. Sonic or Sanic? Arrkay talks about the hedgehog that has inspired Meme after Meme all over the internet for almost 30 years! Sonic’s constant pop-culture presence makes his franchise chronically memeable, and we explore its history and influence.

Some info if you’ve somehow never heard of Sonic in its nearly 30 years of existence.

Originally, the script was going to be a collaboration. The Sonic theme was proposed to coincide with the release of Sonic Forces in November. Sadly, the collab fell through. Culturally f’d was left hanging with a script about Sonic Memes. So we cleaned it up as a regular episode.

This music in this episode was generously provided by insaneintherainmusic – Carlos Eiene. You can listen to the original here. (The last time we talked about video games, we used a jazz-cover as well. Our video on Star Fox Fan-Canon featured this awesome smooth jazz cover of the Star Fox 64 music.)

We also had some technical issues with our audio. I bet those with keen ears will be able to tell what, and how we fixed it.

Here’s some additional video links to help put some of these strange memes into context:

• What is YouTube Poop?  An explanatory video
• SUCC UNLEASHED (1K Special YouTube Poop) by Mr. Pasquale
• More on “Tails Doll” – Creepy Gaming TAILS DOLL EXPLAINED by TheStickyPaddle

Music Clips:

• Green Trill Zone – Sonic Remix by Cyranek 
• Knuckles sings by Gregzilla
• Knuckles from K​.​N​.​U​.​C​.​K​.​L​.​E​.​S. & Knuckles [Full Version & Knuckles] 

The official Sonic Twitter (@Sonic_Hedgehog) is sublimely aware of its fan base and uses internet memes quite effectively.

Our patreon sponsors get to see the videos early, and have their characters in the thumbnail of the episode!

 

Previously, on Culturally F’d: MAGIC

 

We had guest writer Tempe O’Kun script us an episode he was very passionate about. Summoning Furries in Magic: The Gathering was so much fun to make. We pulled out some extra bells and whistles to bring life to the incredible paintings that are used in the collectible card game.

Culturally F’d looks at the extensive cat-people, the best-birbs Aven, the lizardly Viashino, and the miscellaneous handful of other magical mythical creatures that grace the planes of our worlds most popular collectible card game.

Just typical Culturally F'd work pic.twitter.com/CtPxTS1K0V

— Culturally F'd! (@CulturallyFd) October 12, 2017

We had the pleasure of meeting the creators of MTG Purple, at the YouTube Space Toronto. We proceeded to blow their freakin minds with this video, and educate them a bit on what Furries are actually all about.

 

Lastly, (late to the punch) we also filmed a Halloween video with Rusty Shacklefur’s very own fursuit come to life – “Tetanus”

 

We shot this at Underbite’s real birthday party. Not bad for something we filmed well into a buzzed party-mode. It was certainly a fun thing to end on as we entered into a break. Check out where we got Tetanus from, here in this compilation video.

• Buy Culturally F’d Merch today: http://www.culturallyfd.com – only $5 shipping within the US.
• Pay-What-You-Can digital download of our Fox Wars poster to print locally. HD with no watermark: https://checkout.chec.io/FWdCjF
• Support Culturally F’d on Patreon with small monthly donations. Our perks include custom Rusty Video, YCH Thumbnails, Free art and more: https://www.patreon.com/culturallyfd
• Subscribe to our Newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/gsz8us7

I believe that will be a $350 fine.
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Hi,
 
Well, I just moved which has been quite hard on me. On top of that I just started my freshman year of high school. Now I feel like I don't have anything in common with anyone there and even if I do they all hate me. This mentality may have been founded in the fifth grade where I realized, or maybe imagined, that my "friends" weren't really that. I felt excluded and like they all hated me. I never really felt connected to any of them and was really awkward around them; of course, my fifth grade self didn't realize that but now I do.

Time skip to eighth grade. That had probably been my most enjoyable year of school in a while. I really connected with my friends there--they weren't the same ones in elementary school--despite my small issue at the beginning of that year and (not major) self-harm fits over the course of that year. Anyway, I really liked them. I never invited them over, though, because thoughts that everyone hated me still lingered. The best part of that year, I'd have to say, was going on the 8th grade trip. No thoughts of them hating me, just fun.

Anyway, that was the summer we moved, this summer. It got really bad when we moved. "Everyone hates me!" "I hate everyone!" Things that make me seem like an emotional teenager. But that's when it got really bad. I started actually drawing blood in my self-harm escapades and have thought about suicide in a positive way on way too many time for it to be healthy.

My parents are amazing and have a lot of stress on them right now (we're still remodeling our house so we're renting right now). Honestly, I don't know how my "depression" or whatever this is even started with such great parents. And if I'm being completely honest the only thing that has stopped me from suicide is them.

On a side not,e I'm also very socially awkward and don't enjoy being around people too much.

I know I need to tell my parents about this, but how? I don't want to put stress on them. Plus I don't even know what I'm going through...

Please help.
-Atlas

* * *

Dear Atlas,

I am SO SORRY this reply has taken so long, but here are my thoughts now....

First of all, just a quick check: do you suffer from some form of autism (e.g. Asperger's) or social anxiety syndrome? If so, that, of course, could explain why you have a hard time being with people.

I suspect that's not it, but just wanted to check to be sure. I'm also concerned about your self-harming, which needs to be addressed, and your thoughts of suicide (suicide hotline is 1-800-273-8255; this national hotline is staffed with professional counselors to help you any time of day or night).

I understand how hard it can be in school to socialize. I was pretty much an outcast myself and had a hard time making friends. My family moved a couple times when I was a kid, and it took me years to develop friendships, if at all. But while you say you don't enjoy being around people, you also say that your happiest times in school were when things were going well in 8th grade and you had a lot of good social interaction. Seems to me you DO want to socialize, but the process intimidates you.

The first thought that came to mind was trying to look outside the school environment to make friends. You could explore volunteer work, or get a part-time job, or join a club, or get active in your church. Such places have very different social dynamics than schools do and it might be easier to get out of the clique mentality that exists in schools.

Another thought is--if you would rather avoid people for now--try and do something with animals. Do you have a pet? Bonding with a pet can be very therapeutic. Or you could--similar to the above--find an organization, zoo, nonprofit, or whatever that helps animals. Working with and playing with animals does a lot for us in developing empathy and affection with another living being. And this could help, in turn, form an entryway that will lead you to better relationships with human beings.

Here's an article about human-animal interactions and their benefits in young people.

I'm glad you have good parents. Talk to them about what you are feeling. Do NOT think that you are bothering them or stressing you out. They LOVE you and are there for you. To break the ice, maybe start by asking them if you can have a pet--if not now, then when you move into the real house. When they ask you why you want a pet, say because you want friends in your new home and an animal is a good way to start.

Please write again if the above was not helpful.

Hugs,
Papabear

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

The Book of Dust. Volume 1, La Belle Sauvage, by Philip Pullman. Illustrated by Chris Wormell.
NYC, Alfred A. Knopf, October 2017, hardcover, $22.99 (449 [+ 1] pages), Kindle $11.99.

The Book of Dust. Volume 1, La Belle Sauvage, by Philip Pullman. Illustrated by Chris Wormell.
London, Penguin Random House Children’s/David Fickling, October 2017, hardcover, £20.00 (560 pages), Kindle £9.99.

This is Pullman’s long-awaited followup to his multiple award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy. Its volume 1 is known as Northern Lights in Britain and was published in July 1995. It was retitled The Golden Compass in the U.S. and not published until March 1996. A little over twenty years later, both the American and British editions of The Book of Dust are published simultaneously and with the same title. Yet they are not physically identical. The two editions are typeset separately, with American and British spellings and terminology as appropriate, and the British edition is over a hundred pages longer. The American edition has almost none of the interior illustrations by Wormell, which are just chapter-heading drawings that are frankly not worth missing.

It is not a sequel. The main character in His Dark Materials is the young woman Lyra Belacqua and her dæmon Pantalaimon. Lyra is 11 and 12 years old, not yet an adolescent, and her dæmon can still take any male animal, bird, or insect form, which he does. At the conclusion of the trilogy Lyra becomes an adolescent, and Pan’s form is fixed as a talking pine marten. But The Book of Dust is Lyra’s story before His Dark Materials. In La Belle Sauvage she is only a baby.

They aren’t really talking-animal novels. The Book of Dust is set in that alternate Earth where everybody has a dæmon, a talking animal personification of their soul, accompanying them. The dæmon cannot stray too far from its person.

The protagonist of La Belle Sauvage is Malcolm Polstead, the potboy at his father’s inn on the shore of the River Thames at Oxford:

“Malcolm was the landlord’s son, an only child. He was eleven years old, with an inquisitive, kindly disposition, a stocky build, and ginger hair. He went to Ulvercote Elementary School a mile away, and he had friends enough, but he was happiest on his own, playing with his dæmon, Asta, in their canoe, on which Malcolm had painted the name LA BELLE SAUVAGE. […]

Like every child of an innkeeper, Malcolm had to work around the tavern, washing dishes and glasses, carrying plates of food or tankards of beer, retrieving them when they were empty. He took the work for granted. The only annoyance in his life was a girl called Alice, who helped with washing the dishes. Se was about sixteen, tall and skinny, with lank dark hair that she scraped back into an unflattering ponytail. […] He ignored that for a long time, but finally rat-formed Asta leapt at Alice’s scrawny jackdaw dæmon, knocking him into the washing-up water and then biting and biting the sodden creature till Alice screamed for pity. She complained bitterly to Malcolm’s mother, who said, ‘Serves you right. I got no sympathy for you. Keep your nasty mind to yourself.’” (p. 2)

When he isn’t helping out at the inn, Malcolm does odd jobs for the nuns at the Priory of St. Rosamund on the opposite bank of the Thames.

Something unusual begins to happen when Malcolm is eleven. Three strangers come into the inn one evening. Malcolm’s father recognizes one of them as the former Chancellor of England, now out of office. While Malcolm is serving their dinner, they ask him seemingly casual questions about the priory across the river. Does it ever have any guests? Have any of them ever brought an infant with them?

The next day, Malcolm with Asta goes paddling down the Thames in La Belle Sauvage.

“The reeds [along the riverbank] were taller than he was as he sat in the canoe, and if he kept very still, he thought he probably couldn’t be seen. He heard voices behind him, a man’s and a woman’s, and sat like a statue as they walked past, absorbed in each other. He’d passed them further back: two lovers strolling hand in hand, their dæmons, two small birds, flying ahead a little way, pausing to whisper together, and flying on again.

Malcolm’s dæmon, Asta, was a kingfisher just then, perching on the gunwale of the canoe. When the lovers had passed, she flew up to his shoulder and whispered, ‘The man just along there – watch….’

Malcolm hadn’t seen him. A few yards ahead on the towpath, just visible through the reed stems, a man in a gray raincoat and trilby hat was standing under an oak tree. He looked as if he was sheltering from the rain, except that it wasn’t raining. His coat and hat were almost exactly the color of the late afternoon: he was almost as hard to see as the grebes – harder, in fact, thought Malcolm, because he didn’t have a crest of feathers.

‘What’s he doing?’ whispered Malcolm.

Asta became a fly and flew as far as she could from Malcolm, stopping when it began to hurt, and settled at the very tip of a bulrush so she could watch the man clearly. He was trying to remain inconspicuous, but being so awkward and unhappy about it that he might as well have been waving a flag.

Asta saw his dæmon – a cat – moving among the lowest branches of the oak tree while he stood below and looked up and down the towpath. Then the cat made a quiet noise, the man looked up, and she jumped down to his shoulder – but in doing so, she dropped something out of her mouth.” (pgs. 20-21)

The humans and their dæmons in La Belle Sauvage engage in a complex game of spying on each other, with young Malcolm and Asta at first as a neutral third party spying on both. After he learns what is going on, Malcolm joins what he considers the right side. Malcolm has an advantage in that his dæmon doesn’t have a fixed form yet. Asta can become anything small – a mouse, a squirrel, a ferret, a swallow, a goldfinch, a robin, a moth.

Or more:

British cover

“It was raining even harder now, and Malcolm found it difficult to see ahead. Asta became an owl and perched on the prow, her feathers shedding the water in a way she’d discovered when she was trying to become an animal that didn’t yet exist. The best she could do so far was to take one animal and add an aspect of another, so now she was an owl with duck’s feathers; but she only did it when no one but Malcolm was looking. Guided by her big eyes, he paddled as fast as he could, stopping to bail out the canoe when the rain had filled it to his ankles. When they got home, he was soaked, but all she had to do was shake herself and she was dry again.” (p. 38)

Adult characters have larger dæmons:

“Coram turned, careful and slow, and saw in silhouette against the lighted embankment the small head and hulking shoulders of a hyena. She was looking directly at them. She was a brute such as Coram had never seen: malice in every line of her, jaws that could crack bones as if they were made of pastry. She and her man were clearly trained at the business of following: because Coram was trained at the business of spotting it, and admired their skill; but as Sophie remarked, it wasn’t easy for such a dæmon to remain inconspicuous. As for what they wanted, Coram had no idea; if they wanted a fight, they’d get one.

He tightened his grip on the fighting stick; Sophie [Sophonax, a cat dæmon] readied herself to spring. The hyena dæmon came forward a little, emerging into a full silhouette, and the man stepped silently forward after her. Coram and Sophie both spotted the pistol in his hand the moment before he flattened himself against the wall of the alley and disappeared into shadow.” (pgs. 58-59)

The Book of Dust. Volume 1, La Belle Sauvage (cover by Chris Wormell) may not be a furry novel, but there are plenty of fully-intelligent furry secondary characters, with those who are pre-adolescent being shape-shifters as well. And the story is gripping. This is volume 1 of 3, so you know there will be a cliffhanger ending.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Review in The Guardian
• British edition

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.

Grace Kum is a visual development artist and illustrator whom we met at the CTN Animation Expo. Recently she’s worked on Disney TV’s Big Hero 6 series, and various series for Dreamworks TV too. We’re spotlighting her because in her free time she’s been working with Dahyeu Celine Kim on a project called Higher Than The Sky, which they describe as “a prequel to Journey To The West” — which is, of course, the most famous story of the legendary Monkey King. According to Grace’s web site, this project is ready to get up and running again.

image c. 2017 by Grace Kum

Bonus video for Wednesday. Just pointed out to me by Stubat is this wonderful short by Blue Zoo (The BAFTA winning animation house) for Felidae fund [1] and Big Cat Rescue [2]. So much cute! [1] http://www.felidaefund.org/ [2] https://bigcatrescue.org/
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Happy Fuzzy Holidays! These are some very cute idents made for CBS.
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Hello Everyone!

We open this week's show with a discussion of MFF. We wanted to talk about our panel, our party, what went right, and what the plans moving forward for future conventions will be. As MFF is now the world's largest furry convention we wanted to spend a little bit of time talking about it and having Viro share his experiences in lieu of a serious top of the show.

We then dive headfirst into our eighth all questions show. We cover topics from choosing between potential lovers, to divorce, to handling jealousy when your partners find more sexual outlets than you do in your open, polyamorous relationship. We also open up a bit about our lives and ways that we've overcome obstacles that many of our questioners are currently facing.

We close out the show with some feedback from the questioner in Episode 094 as well as a voicemail feedback on topics discussed in Episode 093.

A minor correction: Metriko talks about a strip club in Tampa named 2001 Odyssey, however in the episode he refers to it as Sex Odyssey 3000. Mea culpa.

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 095 All Questions Show Vol 8 - MFF! Questions! A show that was meant to be 1:20:00 that goes on for an extra hour! All this, and more, on this week's Feral Attraction

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

Mark of the Tiger’s Stripe, by Joshua Yoder. Maps by the author.
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, August 2017, trade paperback, $15.00 ([3 +] 397 pages), Kindle $4.99.

Reading Mark of the Tiger’s Stripe is an exercise in frustration. There is a detailed map of the world of Amarthia, but it’s so reduced as to be illegible. There is considerable exciting action, but it’s wrapped in such extensive descriptions as to become almost boring.

The beginning of the novel is what would be a tense dramatic sequence anywhere else. A team of six big-game hunters, loaded for monsters, moves into a secretive nighttime kill mission in a deserted slum district in Kairran, the capital of the desert nation of Pytan. Yet it goes on for forty pages!

“Vincenzo Nieves only averaged 165 centimetres, but the long ears poking out through the crown of his worn white fedora with its faded black band made him appear much taller. As he hop-stepped along, they bobbed and swayed, twitching now and again like electrified antennae.

The jackrabbit had a melodious baritone honeyed by the southern strains of upper-class Banton, far away in the bayous of the West United Kingdoms. Or at least it would be melodious if it was not constantly ringing in the ears of his teammates.

‘So there I was, just enjoyin’ a nice breakfast salad. Actually, it kinda reminded me of the carver’s salad they serve at this quaint café in Clairmount, but never mind. I’m sittin’ there, and in from the kitchen walks this absolutely gorgeous leopard girl, I mean you’ve never seen spots like she had. She had this cute little bob cut that showed off her earrings and a cute top that … well …’ He trailed off with a lascivious gleam in his golden-brown eyes, but no one was actually paying attention to him.

Most of his stories tended to end this way. Only Vince’s appetite for food rivalled his appetite for women. He was not the guy with a girl in every town; he was the guy with a dozen girls in every town. Still, Mohan [the tiger leader] had to admit that, for all his boasting, at least he kept the stories relatively clean. And his behaviour wasn’t entirely without cause; he was a handsome fellow who kept his wavy blond long-fur trimmed short and proper, as befitted a southern gentleman, and had dyed and groomed the fur on his chin into a matching goatee.” (pgs. 10-11)

That’s not all. Vince’s description goes on for another page. And this is just for the jackrabbit. Kittina “Kitty” Katral the tigress, Rizzo Vega the basilisk, Mohan Katral the tiger leader (Kitty’s father), Victoria Littlepond the “petite female bullfrog”, and Ezekiel “Zed”, a desert nomad badger, are described at equal length. So is the monster/fiend they are up against:

“Beneath the city streets, cloaked in the dark and damp, something stirred.

It was aware of many things all at once: the distant lap of water against the shore, the whistle of air through its underground sanctuary, the taste of fresh blood in its mouth, the sounds of its new prey stalking above it.

It could not understand the beings, though the echo of their speech was clear to its ears. It knew from their movements that they were not following the path it had laid out for them.

With swift and stealthy purpose, driven by a hunter’s instinct, it slithered into the maze of tunnels that branched off from its lair.

It sensed something different about these intruders, a peculiar scent that sparked ancient genetic pain and fierce battle. They would not stumble into its trap like the others. It had been long since prey had offered such a challenge.

It could not express emotion like the ones it stalked, yet it felt a thrill shudder through its body. It had not felt anything like it since the days of its ancestors.

The hunt had begun.” (p. 21)

There is the description of the monster’s lair, an abandoned slum hotel … But let’s just cut to the fiend:

“Tiamats averaged eight metres from head to tail. Tw ridges of serrated bone ran parallel down the broad back from the base of its neck to the tip of its thick short tail, which had another ridge of bone running from the base to the tip. Despite its short length, a tiamat could use its tail quite effectively; flanking the creature was always a risky strategy. Four massive legs supported its barrel-like body. Each ended in a five-fingered hand tipped with claws 15 centimetres long. Unlike an ahuitzotl, it did not have webbing between the toes. Its skin was covered with thick diamond-shaped scales couloured a mottled greenish-brown. The scales pulled tight against ribs, joints, and spine, giving the creature a skeletal appearance that belied the incredible strength within its powerful limbs. Many of the major muscles, particularly the anterior and posterior muscles of the legs, protruded through the skin like dull red blisters.” (p. 29)

Etc., etc., etc. – it goes on. When the story finally gets around to the hunters’ confrontation of the fiend, it’s a doozy, but it seems all too short compared to the buildup.

I haven’t mentioned the main character at all yet, who doesn’t enter the story until page 42. He’s Sedric “Ric” Barnes, a lynx investigative journalist, in Kairran with Ed Sanders, his fox photographer. They’re in Pytan to cover the reports of illegal gladiatorial games and slave trading being held there almost openly, and have found the rumors of grisly murders and a nightmarish fiend loose as well.

To condense the plot, the rumors are true. The whole Sultanate of Pytan is run by the Assad Alabwaq, the Black Horns, who continue to run the technically illegal but still popular gladiatorial fights to the death and slave trading. But the kill-crazy fiends are something new. As long as the crimes stayed in Pytan, the other nations of Amarthia are willing to ignore them; but when there is evidence that Assad Alabwaq is trapping the fiends and releasing them in Pytan’s rivals and enemies – a form of biological warfare – that’s going too far. So there are Alabwaq – the criminal organization and its crime lord — trying to trap the fiends; the six hunters trying to kill the fiends first, and a secret running battle between the hunters and Alabwaq; and Ric Barnes and Ed Sanders out to expose the truth.

Mark of the Tiger’s Stripe is unusual in furry fiction in making its lead villain not a predator:

“The man calling himself Assad Alabwaq was short-statured – not uncommon for a mouflon – but he appeared immaculate and confidant in a white and gold linen suit with a purple feather pinned to the lapel. He was approximately in his mid-forties, and kept his slate-grey long-fur, streaked with white at the temples, swept straight back from his high forehead. Alabaster horns – clearly Black Horns was just a euphemism – sprung out from either side of his narrow skull, curving down and forward until they made almost a full turn onto themselves. He had capped them with gold and purple tassels. Despite the dark brown of his body-fur there was a large white patch at the end of his long thin snout, and the long greying goatee on his chin was neatly brushed and trimmed.” (p. 78)

Yoder uses many Middle-Eastern words in his descriptions of everyday life in Kairran. His third-person narration and the tigers’ dialogue is full of Britishisms – spellings such as metres and coulour, lorry for truck, journos for journalists, arvo for afternoon, “If things get bodgie”, “Bonza!”, “Bugger all!”, and so on.

And with many questions still unanswered, this review of Mark of the Tiger’s Stripe (cover by the author) is being brought to a close. How many different sides are in the hugger-mugger in Pytan, and is Assad Alabwaq really the worst of the lot? What is the six-hunter team a part of? Where are all the monsters/fiends coming from?

What is the Mark of the Tiger’s Stripe?

– Fred Patten

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Paws in the air if you like science!

The newest, international FurScience survey needs your participation. They will use the data to help the fandom and those outside it to learn more about it. They have been doing surveys for years, and this is their largest and most ambitious one yet. They’re hoping to blow previous records out of the water by getting 10,000 furries worldwide. At the end, results will be available to all, and it’s sure to prove fascinating for anyone who’s curious about what goes on inside the fluffiest fandom. Please spread the word about it to other furries you know!

Take the survey here:  https://psychologyuwaterloo.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_39LTMxBo27VJMl7

This is a great time to help increase knowledge, with conventions hitting record attendance. In December 2017, Midwest Furfest grew larger than any con before by a difference that equals a small con itself.  The more participants a survey can gather, the better it can represent them.  Furscience / IARP has brought data in the past that has immensely helped raise understanding about why and how people come together in this very unique group – a reason why the media is doing less and less mocking and taking more time to tell real stories. Instead of waiting for slower media to catch up, put some science in their faces to neutralize the clickbait. That’s just one reason to help, and there’s probably 10,000 reasons and more, one for every unique furry. So don’t wait, click that link!

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This is another episode we've been waiting years to make - multi-generation furry families! Roo and Tugs are joined by Anya to discuss her family: where her parents are in the fandom, as well as her brother. How does the family dynamic change when you're all furries? Is everyone the same species? And what about the traditional open sexuality and conversations? It's an interesting and deep dive into a rarely seen subject!





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Show Notes
Special Thanks

Moss
Rivet
Kira

Music

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

 

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Next episode: Gratitude 2017! What are you grateful for this year? Join our holiday protest and take a moment to appreciate all you've done this year by December 19! S7 Episode 5 – You Memba? I Memba! - This is another episode we've been waiting years to make - multi-generation furry families! Roo and Tugs are joined by Anya to discuss her family: where her parents are in the fandom, as well as her brother.

Pussy Katnip can be compared to a superhero or a vigilante. And in some ways, the two are interchangeable. Except that her powers come not from a transformation or within herself, but from a magic potion aptly named “Fizz." The recipe is passed down from mother to daughter, upon which great strength and agility are given to the drinker. When Coney, a friend from her past, appears at the nightclub Pussy owns, Pussy will need all the help she can get. When she tries investigating what Coney needs help about, Pussy finds herself framed for a crime she didn’t commit. The race is on to avenge her friend and clear her name.The second novel in the Pussy Katnip series, this takes place in a city called Mutt Town, set in a world much like our own. Although the time period is something of a mystery, it is most likely during the pre-1970s, with the absence of wireless communications as we know them. It must be noted that anthropomorphism in The Devil Was Green (henceforth abbreviated as DWG) appears to be mostly cosmetic, with few of the characters exhibiting their unique species traits. More often than not, supporting characters are referred to only by “the man” or “the woman”, which leads readers to fill in the specific species profile for themselves. This technique may work for a story featuring only human characters, but for stories featuring anthropomorphism, readers have an expectation on species description. We would like to know if the lumberjack was a beaver or mole rat, so that we may mentally acknowledge the reference to a beaver’s affinity for wood, and if not, what led the mole rat to take up woodcutting. The second names of characters however attest to their species, such as a “tall male canine” named George Pup and a bird bartender named Robby (a robin?).DWG is told in two third-person perspectives, namely Pussy’s and Detective Lila Ringtail’s. After Pussy is framed for a crime, it is up to Lila to investigate what really happened. It is eventually clear that not everything is as it appears, and there are higher powers involved in what would turn out to be a citywide conspiracy. DWG falls roughly into the genre of Modern Fantasy with police procedural elements.It must be noted that at least two of the alternating points of view are almost similar to one another in content. Alternating viewpoints should show new information to the reader, and on these two occasions the scenes are highly similar to one another. DWG features strong female protagonists who are often pitted against prejudiced male adversaries. As the only known female detective in her place of work, as well as being of a stigmatized species, Lila has a lot to prove to her colleagues, though she doesn't seem to care what they think. One cannot help but find the antics of Lila amusing, but it also borders on unrealistic when she outright puts down her superiors, a move that should have gotten her fired even in the movies. The constant references to her chain-smoking habits lead one to wonder if a smoking commercial is integrated within the story.All in all, The Devil Was Green will appeal to those who like strong female characters and plot twists. But for those who prefer realism and greater attention to anthropomorphism, it might not be their cup of tea.Or coffee.

OMG! Stop motion fox!
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