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

Back in April 2017, I reviewed Foxhunt! by Rich Hanes, a 2009 337-page science-fiction novel set in a largely-anthropomorphic “Wildstar Universe”. Foxhunt! is primarily about an interstellar nation of anthropomorphic foxes, but it refers to many other species. I was very favorably impressed by it, ending my review saying, “Foxhunt! is superior both as space opera and as furry fiction. Don’t miss it!”

Rich Hanes, the author, e-mailed me to thank me for my review. I took the opportunity to ask him about Foxhunt! and his Wildstar Universe; how he came to write the novel in 2009 and why he hasn’t followed it with more Wildstar Universe stories. This has led to this interview, for anyone who is interested in anthro fox Captain Sebastian Valentino’s adventures in Foxhunt!; in Hanes’ larger Wildstar Universe; and in Rich Hanes himself.

FP: Let’s start with some basic information; date of birth, when & why you started writing, and so on.

RH: My name is Rich Hanes, which is my real name. I’m 32, born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, earned a degree in Computer Drafting from ITT Technical Institute in Canton, Michigan at the age of 23, then moved to Seattle to work for Boeing on the 787 Dreamliner for 6 years until being laid off. Now I live back with my parents in Detroit while searching for adequate employment, and earn money right now through writing and my YouTube channel,  L-1011 Widebody

FP: Your email address is richard.harlan.hanes, which I assume is your full name. How long has your YouTube channel been going? Is its main focus on your Wildstar Universe?

RH: No, it’s focused primarily on retro-gaming — a lot of it is doing Let’s Plays of games that I owned as a kid and still have the original CD for. But I do have two short videos there that I put together as an ‘introduction’ of sorts to my concept for Wildstar.  About 7 minutes in total. Perhaps that will help answer some basic questions, or if you want to link to the actual videos.

FP: Since this interview is mostly about your Foxhunt! and its whole Wildstar Universe, why don’t you tell us how you came to develop its galactic civilization and the Star Nation of anthro foxes?

RH: It really started with MechWarrior 2, a video game in the BattleTech style. Way back in 1995, when I was only ten years old, my father won a copy of MechWarrior 2 as a prize for some sports trivia thing. The game had a real sense of depth to it, a feeling that it wasn’t just giant robots battling for some shallow reason. It had many cut scenes, and a backstory. I was impressed that so much detail was put into it, to make it feel so immersive. Its manual was even made to look like some pages had coffee-cup stains on them, and hand-scribbled notes.

It’s important to note that the two factions you could play as in MechWarrior 2 were named Clan Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon. And all the other Clans had animal names. The entire centerpiece of the Clans in the BattleTech universe is that they are genetically engineered to be superior soldiers and warriors. So this got me to thinking, why not combine the two? If we’re already doing genetic engineering, why not literally engineer humans with wolf features, or wolves with human features?

My parents had a timeshare in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Right on the ocean, it’s a great place. Since this was back in the old-timey days before cell phones and even laptops, I brought along books to read. This would’ve been around the early 2000s, I believe. So I read through many of the BattleTech novels. At some point, I had a eureka moment. Like, ‘I can write better than this.’

2006 is the earliest I can trace back any files. That was when I started creating the idea of Wildstar. The idea behind it at first was basically ‘What if Clan Wolf mechs were piloted by anthro wolves?’. So the earliest drafts of Wildstar were basically furries in battlemechs. A lot of that real early stuff was garbage, before I knew what I was doing. I had about 40,000 words written about a Chihuahua infiltrating the Canis Dominion, and being some kind of rebel on a starship, stealing a starfighter. It just didn’t work out.

About this time, I entered college; it would’ve been 2007. I went to the ITT Technical Institute in Canton, Michigan. I needed a laptop for studies. It was right around here that things really started developing for Wildstar. I started honing down which factions it would have. At the same time, I was doing some pre-engineering courses in college, so I started to think like an engineer for my Wildstar universe.

This is how I came up with the concept of ‘practical’ animal-human hybrids. Because I was developing an engineering sense, I thought, ‘Well, these different animal races should have a role to fulfill, otherwise why would you make them?’, so I tackled the Wildstar setup as if it were an actual scientific project. What purpose does uplifting such-and-such species serve? Well, I think through my research into animal behavior and social dynamics, that I have crafted a universe of diverse races that all act logically and rationally and as realistically as possible.

I wanted my universe to feel like it was an already established setting. This is one thing I like about Star Wars, the idea that the future has had past events in it to bring us to this narrative point.

So for a practical answer, there never really was a time I wasn’t developing Wildstar. But I’d say about 2006 to 2009 was when it really honed in. And I’m still working on it today. Really, there is ever so much to explore.

FP: Foxhunt! is set in the fox-dominant Star Alliance, but you refer in it to the Canis Dominion, the Pan-Atlantica Federation, the Balkany Democratic Republic, and the Lupine Order.  Duel of Honor, your 15-page short story (which I haven’t read yet), is apparently set in the Lupine Order.  To what extent are these just names, and to what extent have you developed extensive backgrounds for them?

RH: The short answer is – yes, the various factions are fleshed out in my back-story. CenCon, the Central Concordinate, holds all the animal races together. As it’s primarily human (with some Created ambassadors), CenCon establishes the rules and law of interstellar conflict. Like the U.N., but with more power. The Canis Dominion is an authoritative state, socialist and strictly regimented, a sort of analog of the Soviet Union but played more practical. The Pan-Atlantica Federation is a much more democratic society, much less rigid than the other states, with a lot of freedom for any one of any species to do anything. It’s subsequently weak on military matters, however.

As for the Balkany Democratic Republic, and other smaller lesser nations of concern, I haven’t quite fleshed those out yet. The idea is more that they would just be too far from the Capital planet to really be governable. They just sort of were like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna do our own thing, okay?’. When you think about it, there’s really not much necessary to holding territory in space.

The long answer is….

After the Great War, which is when Foxhunt! takes place, there are four remaining interstellar nations – the Star Alliance, the Canis Dominion, the Lupine Order, and the Pan-Atlantica Federation. At least, these were the nations that withstood the Great War, which was a really awful thing culminating in the nuking of entire planets — this is what would be called the Alienation Zone, no ownership or treaties apply there. I could write something fun for the post-apocalypse sometime. The Caledon Republic broke up because of the Great War.

But if you would like to hear more backstory, I would love to expound upon the politics of the Wildstar universe!

At first, before the Great War, the foxes controlled most of the galaxy (I’ll just use ‘galaxy’ as a short-hand for the group of star systems that surround Planet Genesis), through their sheer numbers and adaptability. As they expanded, they took their various Volpa House factions with them. This led to the obvious strife and discord one would expect when societies clash. Various canines were brought along with the foxes as ‘servants’. Eventually the canine species had enough, especially the wolves, and thus began the Contraction Wars around 300 years post-Founding. The canines united, rebelled, and drove the foxes out, sometimes into another House. This led to fox-on-fox wars. The foxes were still divided amongst their Houses. So when the big dogs united into the Canine Confederation (which was really just an alliance of convenience between the various smaller dog and wolf nations), it put up a strong front against the disorganized foxes, and the foxes were driven back quite easily.

The Canis Dominion was formed sometime between the third and fourth Contraction Wars. The Canine Confederation could not hold up as a real state, with it spread across so many systems and so many species. Thus a group of smaller canine-dominated nations united into the Dominion, sort of Soviet Union style. The Canis Dominion at this time was composed mostly of Wild (canids like African wild dogs, coyotes, and jackals) and Wolves, since they were the strongest and most willing to fight for more space. So the Canis Dominion became a rather rigid, socialist, hierarchy-based society.

Around this time the more familiar canine (and other species) states decided they didn’t really want to live with socialist dogs (is that a funny phrase or what?). While they were invited to the Canis party, they declined. So thus sprang up the more democratic/republican type representative nations of the Pan-Atlantica Federation, and the Caledon Republic.

So when the Canis Dominion ran over the fox-held systems in the Fourth Contraction War (it’s called that because the foxes believe they were being contracted into a smaller space), it triggered the initiative to form the Star Alliance. The Fourth Contraction War saw the foxes finally begrudgingly uniting under one nation, the Star Alliance, which is composed of ten of the remaining twelve Volpa Houses. Houses Murrel and Wallace elected to remain independent. So now the foxes finally have a cohesive bond that they can use to stop the Canis Dominion intrusion, who were invading mostly because they could.

This led to a more-or-less cold war (it is very cold in space) between the Star Alliance and the Canis Dominion. It didn’t last for very long (this would be around 415 post-founding), when the wolves in the Canis Dominion began to feel that they were being held back by their ‘lesser’ canine brethren. Thus would enter the prime, the super-alpha-wolf, the Alpha General Luc Vurren, who would establish the Lupine Way of order and honor and the constitution and things like that. Thus the splitting off of the Lupine Order, becoming their own pro-lupine state. And the fun things that happen in the wolf nation…

The Canis Dominion is at first somewhat rattled by the exodus of so many of their most useful citizens. But things settle down peacefully as wolves transition to wolfspace, and the canines in wolf-held territories are given the option of serving in the new Lupine Order or being deported. Many of them choose deportation. The wolves do not think lesser of these dogs, though; they simply view them as not fit for their society… all the practical pragmatic rationalities here.

Anyway, the wolves sit around for a while and get great at what they do (because they are wolves). Eventually they will invade the Star Alliance. Which will be quite exciting I think, I’ve already started on a new story about that.

Duel of Honor is set during the oncoming Lupine Order invasion that is to take place just after the events of Foxhunt!. The Lupine Order wolves will invade fox space, not because they want their territory or any grievances, but because they desire the challenge of the hunt. I am currently working on a new story to portray that bit. It will let me breathe so much life into the lupine culture. I have a lot of writing projects to go through, again, mostly inspired by your wonderful review.

FP: If you write more Wildstar stories, will they be more adventures of Sebastian Valentino and his Star Rangers, or will they be completely different stories in the Wildstar Universe?

RH: I have many stories to tell, about many interesting people. I am working on the prequel to Foxhunt!, that shows Sebastian and Adrian in their academy days. Really, I have just been so inspired thanks to you!

FP: Foxhunt! was published in June 2009 and reprinted in 2014.  It must be selling steadily.  But the only other Wildstar story that you’ve published is Duel of Honor, a 15-page short story on Kindle in April 2015.  Why haven’t you written more?

RH: The reprint is due to some changing configurations or something on Lulu’s behalf. To be completely honest, my world all but imploded around me about 2013. I lost my job, my home, my car, and then various health ailments have caused me to be more or less handicapped now. For obvious reasons, the span there wasn’t very conducive to writing. But I am back in the game now, I am actually working on several new stories, thanks to your review as well as positive comments and feedback from others. Another reason for not writing more is that depression is a hell of a thing, and it will suck the will to live out of you. So I have been dealing with that as best I can.

FP: What is Arkham Bridge Publishing, your publisher?  What else have they done?  How did you get associated with them?

RH: Now here comes a bit of a confession. Arkham Bridge Publishing is me. I was afraid of the stigma of ‘self-published’ novels. At the time (around 2009 or so) there were really bad vibes going around about self-publishing. Eragon [self-published by Christopher Paolini as Paolini International LLC in 2001 when he was 18 years old] was still fresh on people’s minds.

But I actually did want to be something of a publisher myself, with print-on-demand titles, and Lulu doing the legwork. This was when disposable income was great to have. I registered Arkham Bridge Publishing as a real sole-proprietorship business, and paid business licenses and taxes even. I purchased my own ISBN, I even had an employee for a time. But things just didn’t work out. Arkham Bridge Publishing is essentially defunct.

Mostly, I thought it would look more professional if I had a publisher name on it, rather than self-published. I admit it is rather sneaky and dishonest, in a sense, but really, it fits with what my fox species would do in the situation. [Many authors who self-publish through CreateSpace or Lulu have their own imprints. Some that furry fans may be familiar with include Steven Hammond’s Rockhopper Books, M. C. A. Hogarth’s Studio MCAH, Paul Kidd’s Kitsune Press, and Daniel Potter’s Fallen Kitten Productions.]

The other reason for self-publishing was because I wanted to get the starmap in the back of the book just right. There were a few printers who refused to do overlapping printing.

– Fred Patten

• Buy Foxhunt on Amazon
• Buy Duel of Honor on Amazon

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

The crew is back once more to fill your ears with their sultry tones! Episode 11 - Sharking around

And the Christmas comic flood continues, this time with a new title from Action Lab — Northstars Volume 1: Welcome to Snowville. “Holly, the daughter of Santa Claus, and Frostina, the Yeti Princess, must put their differences aside to save the town of Snowville before Christmas is lost forever. They travel through an exotic underground world to save Christmas from the devious Krampus and his oafish Straw Lads.” Krampus who looks like an evil reindeer, it seems. They also said this: “Northstars is what you get if you combine Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with Adventure Time. Like the classic Rankin/Bass specials, it’s a wonderful world where holiday characters such as Santa and his daughter, Holly, rub shoulders with winter warlocks, snow dragons and fall fairies. Like Adventure Time, there is a wry sense of humor and a colorful, quirky cast of characters that both kids and adults will enjoy.” The first ultra-sized hardcover issue is written by Jim Shelley and Haigen Shelley, with illustration by Anna Liisa Jones. Look for it later this month.

image c. 2017 Action Lab

Here is a teaser for a TV special that looks extremely cute.
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Hello Everyone!

We open this week's show with a discussion on video games and sex ed. Is there room for crafted video games and smart phone apps that target vulnerable teenagers who may not have the best access to a sex-positive education about sexual health?

Our main topic is on getting a derailed convention back on track. Over the past two weeks we have discussed how to get to a con and what to do at a con: this week is all about what to do when something goes wrong at a con. We talk about mitigation strategies for commonly encountered issues from injury, hangover, hotel room issues, travel delays, and more. It's a conversational show as we talk about situations we've been in personally and ways that we have overcome them.

We close out the show with feedback on volunteering at a convention and a question on seeking love when you believe yourself to be undeserving of affection.

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

 

FA 090 Getting a Derailed Convention Back on Track - Are video games useful for sex ed? How many ways can a convention be ruined? Do you deserve love? All this, and more, on this week's Feral Attraction!

Dear Papabear,

I have been having this certain itch in the back of my mind for a while, now which has formulated from other things within it. As I have slowly made my steps back into the fandom over a couple of months, there has stresses over my latest fursona. 

I was born a male, but over the last year or two, I have been feeling different, and I know you have probably heard this a good few times. I have been feeling a slight uncomfortable feeling with my male image, and often refusing my masculinity. I have pictured an exact female version of myself, and it has caused great happiness within myself. 

These feelings have leaked into my creation of older fursonas, with my male ones often being rejected by myself for their simple masculinity and being males themselves. I began to create some female ones, but then came my intense fears of being judged for such. Is it so wrong to make a fursona of a different sex I was born of? I feel really happy with my current fursona, but the opposite gender fear is really getting to me. 

Thanks!
​
TurnWall (age 17)

* * *

Dear TurnWall,

Our fursonas are often an expression of our inner selves, so it is not surprising at all that your struggle with gender identity is reflected in your fursona. There are many people in the fandom just like you, so you will have no problem being accepted by other furries, I should think. Heck, such gender transformations date back to the beginning of the fandom with the famous Robert Hill and his bambioid fursuit, which made appearances at Confurence in the 1980s. His main fursona was Vawlkee, a rather effeminate wolf-morph, and he liked to draw hermaphroditic bears based on Disney characters like Baloo.

Probably the most appealing thing about the fandom is that it is about the freedom of expression, which relates to everything from artistic to sexual expression. When we are free to show how we really feel and think, it brings happiness, as you have experienced with the creation of your new fursona.

Your nervousness is the result of societal pressures from the world's mundane community. You shouldn't listen to the mundanes. Look how badly they have screwed up this planet. Instead, make connections to your own kind: furries, especially those who, like yourself, are exploring their sexual and gender identity.

The more you do so, the more you surround yourself with others who feel the same as you, the more comfortable you will be, and the happier, too!

Hugs,
Papabear

Furclub: A repeat/regular nightlife event by furries for furries. The linked survey may be the only complete list for independent furry parties around the world. The concept has been spreading since the late 2000’s – it builds on the growth of cons, but it takes things farther. It’s more ambitious than informal or one-time events. It brings partnership with new venues, and crosses into public space, so a stranger can walk in and find their new favorite thing. It encourages new blood and crossover. It makes a subculture thrive – it’s a movement!  There’s many one-night events, but Baltimore has the first all-weekend one yet: 

• FRIDAY 11/10 – FUR-FRIENDLY DRAG SHOW (FUZZY PARTICIPATION ENCOURAGED)
• SATURDAY 11/11 – PROTOCOLLIE & ABLE (DJ SET WITH LIVE DRUMS), BEARS DOING MURDER (LIVE BAR ROCK), I’VE MADE TOO MUCH PASTA (SCURROW’S ACOUSTIC SET), DANCE PARTY FROM 10PM TO 2AM THE NEXT MORNING
• SUNDAY 11/12 – ALL-DAY FURRY HAPPY HOUR

See the website for more info – (they have a hotel block!) – or follow the hashtag #FurUpBmore. 

Any party that sends a Q&A gets a featured article, and organizer Seiko generously sent me lots of info. He started “Furry Night” at the Baltimore Eagle and I’m happy to see this rising up. Baltimore tried a furclub party in 2011, early on when only a few existed, but it was short-lived. Now it sounds like the venue and the local scene is coming out in full force to support this, more than almost anywhere, even in San Francisco with “the original” Frolic Party!

I see high-profile names attached – Duke Doberman‘s kink modeling has a massive Twitter following, and what better than having a top quality documentary photographer to catch the action? That’s @atty_boy, AKA Tommy Bruce of Furry Doc (he was interviewed here, and in my post “Five pro photographers advancing the art of furry documentary.”) It sounds like a dream team for event promotion.

Even more impressive is organizing a whole weekend of variety with a hotel block. It almost sounds like a mini-con out of the box in the middle of a city, not stuck inside a hotel. It’s something I’ve been suggesting and hoping to see with these parties. Organizing it around a hashtag on Twitter seems like an excellent promotion approach, as open as the party itself.

Congrats to Seiko for building this with the awesome energy that keeps raising furry subculture. Here’s his reply to the survey questions:

The Party Launch

We first ran the Furry Night at the new Baltimore Eagle on March 5th, 2017. I (Seiko/John Lucia) had been working with the Eagle quite a bit in my role as an event photographer, originally getting pulled in during the Mr. Maryland Leather competition of 2016 to photograph the place while it was still under renovation. It quickly led to more work with Eagle staff and eventually strong relationships with the owners. When a couple Baltimore-local furs expressed interest in a “Frolic-alike” event there, I popped the question to Chuck (one of the owners who manages events there) and he was all about it.

Who

Largely the event is a community-based thing, with no direct hierarchy of organizers. Given my rapport with the Eagle staff, I headline communications with the venue, and with some background in marketing and graphic design I push advertising on my own. For supplies to operate the party such as fans for fursuiters and long straws and cases of water to cool down, if I can’t get it myself, I ask and get help from Baltimore-local attendees directly. Otherwise, the event shares the space with the Eagle’s own T-Dance event, so they provision their own DJ, and set up a couple podiums on the dance floor. Suiters are more than happy to play go-go dancer for a more than enthusiastic crowd!

#FurUpBmore this Sunday! pic.twitter.com/n4qNzLTNCF

— BaltimoreEagle (@BaltimoreEagle) August 4, 2017

What

It’s a very informal sort of meet-and-greet event, but given that it co-opts the same time slot as the Baltimore Eagle’s T-Dance each Sunday, a DJ is always around to spin fun disco tech live (none of the pre-recorded stuff!). No cover charge for the event at all, but the venue is strictly 21+. We get the Nest space upstairs, a dance floor styled after an old 1920’s speakeasy, for use as a headless lounge/community room to hang out privately and/or get in and store suits. Never made a formal headcount, but we typically get around 10 to 12 fursuiters and their respective menageries, probably in the headcount range of 40-50 furs. On top of the attendees of the T-Dance, it ends up being a crazy crowd!

When

Always on the first Sunday of the month. (Our third event on May 7th was also on the Grand Opening weekend of the Eagle – they were been running on a soft opening since January). Time is set at 4:00pm to 9:00pm so people can come early for a relaxed time, or swing in later on when the craziness kicks up. Typically, suiters start parading around closer to 6:00pm, and frequently folks stay well past the 9:00pm end time which the Eagle folks don’t mind at all. They’re very flexible about our use of the Nest space!

The reaction when you see a birdsuit in Baltimore #furupbmore at @BaltimoreEagle @SuitADile as the bird ! pic.twitter.com/rB9hrJoBBM

— Dᵘᵏℰ????Dᵒᵇᵉᵣᵐₐᵑ⛓ (@Duke_Doberman) September 3, 2017

Where

The Baltimore Eagle is a renovated re-imagining of the Eagle formerly occupying the same building. It closed some years ago with a reputation for being a seedy joint, but under the new owners the venue has changed dramatically and in a very progressive direction, not beholden to historic tropes of Eagle venues (basically men-only). Instead of shunning anyone outside the classic overplayed masculinity of the gay male leather scene, they are open to the full LGBTQ+ rainbow, frequently hosting drag shows and Ladies of Leather events. Adding furries into the mix seemed all too logical!

Baltimore has always had a disjointed furry community, with plenty of furs in and around the city but often not co-mingling. This event seems to have helped close some major gaps in community building. And with the help of @duke_doberman, word got out to a large scene of furs in Northern Virginia who have made it a point to come each time the event is held. @JL_wol even managed to drag along some Bostonites!

How

The story is almost hilariously disappointing, really! Quite simply, I had the connections, and I heard from @JL_wol and @atty_boy that there was interest in having a furry night at the Eagle some time. They were intent to ask themselves, but I stepped in with my connection to Chuck and quite lackadaisically made it happen!

Vibe

While the venue is quite tame, it’s also very gay, very flirty, and even if it’s only subtext the place is definitely adult. Crowds quite readily engage with suiters on the main floor and LOVE getting group photos, and are giddy voyeurs when some of our more “animated” attendees put on a bit of a show on the dance floor. (It’s not THAT bad, just very friendly). Furs also seem to enjoy themselves either putting on a show by the floor-to-ceiling windows on the front of the venue, or hanging out on the ramp leading into the Eagle. It’s drawn a lot of street traffic into the venue that otherwise wouldn’t have considered going in – (based on conversations I’ve had with some of those random visitors, and on reports from Eagle staff, who were a bit taken aback that we drew in such a broad crowd).

People of course like to dance, but personally I enjoy hanging out and getting fun photos in front of the venue – Last time around @blueberrywuff rode in on his motorcycle, and we got some top notch shots of the “Furry Gang” that were just great!

Promotion

Ad graphics are original photos and layouts of my own making, which both get posted to Twitter, and shared around and played on the TV screens at the Eagle that run advertisements for various events. With a couple ad graphics as a foundation, the rest of the interest drummed up requires “word of mouth” via Twitter shares. Some fursuiters have tremendous pull that way.

Reactions

Reception has been crazy positive all around. The Eagle staff are in love with the character and playful attitude of our crowd. They’re super appreciative of the added traffic we’ve inadvertently encouraged into the bar. During our April event, the leather shop incorporated in the venue even dolled up @duke_doberman with $600+ in leather gear and attire, excitedly parading him around like a billboard with his permission.  A local liquor vendor was invited to set up a specialty “Furry Shots” booth we just loved! @duke_doberman has also been a huge support in bringing in the NoVA crowd – He’s very much into supporting his local furry events, and he counts Baltimore as local. There was even some discussion among the Eagle owners about moving our event to the first Friday each month, a coveted time slot. Sticking with Sundays for now, but if we get invited for a Friday night showing that would be pretty amazing.

Nice tweet tweet. Pretty bird.... @MidoriGator #furupbmore #partihund pic.twitter.com/JcBesChK36

— Dᵘᵏℰ????Dᵒᵇᵉᵣᵐₐᵑ⛓ (@Duke_Doberman) September 12, 2017

Business

We’re still very informal, so no money is made.  So long as people keep spreading the word and folks are adventurous enough to try out a venue historically on the far fringe, we’ll keep growing!

Video/Pictures

Lots of stuff is available on the #furupbmore on Twitter (the reason I set it up).

Thank you so much for your interest in covering the event in Dogpatch Press! So exciting to see this thing grow and get noticed! (- Seiko)

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.

Common side effects apparently are: drowsiness, weakness; tired feeling; stuffy nose, sinus pain, sore throat, cough; vomiting, diarrhea, constipation; dry mouth; or. weight gain. And it can hurt your kidneys ... still, they have a cool Owl anthro as a spokesperson. (I'd probably stick with Claritin)
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It’s not too early to be thinking about Christmas, is it? (Our local department store certainly doesn’t think so…) In that spirit (Ha Ha), IDW have once again compiled The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories, edited by Craig Yoe. What’s especially interesting about this collection is some of the artists represented: Among them are Walt Kelly (creator of Pogo), Richard Scarry (famous creator of funny animal books for kids), John Stanley (Little Lulu), and many others. It’s coming out in trade paperback this November, and there’s a review over at the Graphic Novel Reporter site.

image c. 2017 IDW

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What's this, you ask? Well, I wanted to give you guys something while you're waiting for the next Dragget Show...so, in between episodes, I will be doing XanCast! Basically, I will be interviewing our wonderful Patreon patrons. The top tier gets first dibs on down, but I want to get a lot of different listeners on here. With Zen Fox, we talk about his crazy costumes he creates (like the big Warhammer one), discvering furry, his many travels, the Navy, first time drinking, old jobs and more! Anyway, hope you enjoy! XanCast! - with Zen Fox - What's this, you ask? Well, I wanted to give you…

"City of horses or Horse made city? This fantastic city imagined by Ugo Gattoni the word Hippopolis. Open to all the winds of the spirit, it accommodates the most varied interpretations. It is three to seven, the hour of the dream. In the middle of monumental equines of palaces, walls and caryatids, a small bright horse left his balloon in full flight to make himself walker. It guides us through mazes and footbridges, along balustrades and colonnades, to promontories and belvederes. Are we pawns on a chessboard or the masters of our destinies?"
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Season 7 kicks off from our Seattle studio as Tugs is joined by Nuka (in lieu of an ill Roo) to discuss straight (heterosexual) furries in the fandom. How prevalent are they? Are there more non-straight furries? What sorts of social interaction changes exist because of this? What role does heteronormativity play in the fandom? We discuss this while reading your emails, all during this fascinating episode. Beyond Space News and an Olde Timey Commercial, we also have a couple bonus topics waiting at the end - the newest research on furries. So stick around and be ready for some deep thoughts!





NOW LISTEN!

Show Notes

Special Thanks

Simone Parker
Red
Cerulean Wolvermarine
Max the Dalmatian

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!)
Some music was provided by Kevin MacLeod at Incompetech.com. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. We used the following pieces:

Cheery Monday


Space News Music: Fredrik Miller – Orbit. USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
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: Our next episode is the Halloween episode! Send your stories for us to read and foley by October 20, 2017! S7 Episode 1 – The Straight….and Narrow? - Season 7 kicks off from our Seattle studio as Tugs is joined by Nuka (in lieu of an ill Roo) to discuss straight (heterosexual) furries in the fandom. How prevalent are they? Are there more non-straight furries?

Part of furry is "If you got to choose your own body, gender, beauty standards, etc. this is exactly what the world would be like."
Politic.

— Liam Anne of Oz (@Anxiousounce) October 5, 2017

“We Want Politics Out” is politics.

It’s a popular complaint. This fan group is supposed to be for interest in anthropomorphic animal media and nothing more. That boils down to lowest-common-denominator consumerism. It’s like everyone is a bottom-feeding plecostamus in their own fish tank, and what they consume is just random scum growing on the bottom. Who cares where it comes from? Just be a dumb fish.

An unpopular fursona.

The problem is, reductionism doesn’t tell the whole story. There’s a community attached to the way members consume things. And the complaint often comes with attacking care about how things work there. (Stop asking questions about the delicious scum!)

Everyone who’s here in good faith has some kind of care beyond themselves. It can range from management of websites or cons, to health and safety, or being a loose support network. You see it whenever a member gets help with money or a place to live, or even with complaints about FA’s management. When it’s time to talk about bigger stuff, complaining against politics is half-baked activism for the status quo. Here’s why.

Furriness.

Even as a pure hobby or interest, there’s something unique about furry.  It’s one of the only crowdsourced fandoms, even when it’s inspired by central media power of others. Members build it every day. A sort-of comparison might be the Ren Faire community. Both are creatively self sustaining on their own terms.

Some people claim furry is capitalist because of art business, as if everyone’s a Monopoly man with a tail. It’s supposed to be some counterpoint about how things work.  I run a business (when I’m not being a raffish sparkledog) and I think the point sucks. It’s shallow about terms like “industrial” versus “cottage industry”.  Making bespoke art doesn’t scale, and meets and cons run on volunteerism. Fandom is less about profit than direct relationships of “furriness”. There’s numbers for it – look at labor that goes into expensive fursuits. Makers can earn under minimum wage for doing what they love doing for others.

“For others” is why calling it just a plain interest is a partial truth. In other words, an omission. More accurately, it’s part genre fandom, part DIY sub/counterculture, and part kink community. The people in it meet in real life, not just online. It brings them together for relationships and homes. It’s made of people, not anthro animals. And any community of people has politics.

Concentrated gay, tastes like a rainbow.

Not just random people.

This group isn’t just an unremarkable little slice of the mainstream. Surveys show a strong bias towards an identity for many members. Nearly 2/3 of members are LGBT. It’s a super fabulously queer number.

Skip asking why and take it for granted that many members are non-LGBT (which nobody ever debates).  It’s still impossible to call it a neutral number. It’s undisputably an association. Queerness isn’t neutral in the mainstream, and even less in a subculture where it’s so concentrated that it colors whatever is said about the group, like calling it “accepting.”

Saying it exists isn’t saying what politics should be. How you vote is up to you – when beliefs are in question, it calls for discussing issues first (especially with an international group).  Of course, some issues are no-brainers.  Some things are simply right or wrong. Not everything is a football game.

For example, in this particular community, being anti-gay is pretty close to being anti-furry. There are very few standards for being welcomed, but that’s a good one. It’s reasonable to expect every member to treat a certain 2/3 of the group as human. There isn’t middle ground or a debate about it. No hate is a basic reasonable standard. Unless you ask hate groups.

That includes their collaborators who refuse to repudiate real fascists among them, while pretending to be as neutral as the scum that bottom-feeders exist on.

The basic standard looks like this.

Dear everyone screeching about "you can't day who is and isn't allowed to be furry":

Nazis. Are. Not. Allowed. To. Be. Furry.

— Victory Dance @AWU (@VictoryDanceOfc) October 4, 2017

"Furries can't say they're welcoming and be mean to nazis! Philosophical checkmate!" No, kid. That's not even chess. That's not even Go Fish

— Arilin Thorferra (@gc_arilin) June 3, 2017

They say, “You call everyone nazis and you’re hateful too!” Well if it quacks like a duck, call it a duck. (See Take Them At Face Value below). One can’t play both sides and pretend to be separate while being their support network. And calling the response “hate” is false equivalence about identifying a problem.

Some people hate crime, disease, or poverty. Others hate fascism. Nazi isn’t an identity – it’s about issues they support. Dead discredited dogma deserves zero benefit of the doubt. Rejecting it is just what normal people do.

It only barely counts as politics.

You can pick a fursona, but you can’t pick whether someone else is human. Having such a basic standard isn’t like putting on a hat for some candidate. It leaves voting issues as a whole other topic. So here’s a slightly more real example of “fandom politics”.

Furries are super-sensitive about media scapegoating, but there’s a love/hate relationship with the media. After all, it’s called a fandom. That’s why a personal motto for me is Be The Media. If you need a label for that, call it a DIY ethic. When I practice that with a site I built, it’s a statement. Furry and DIY go together. It’s part of building a whole community. Anyone can do it if they try.

For people that've taken such pains to call themselves a separate ALTERNATIVE group, AltFurry sure does whine when barred from Furry spaces.

— [No Subject] hi! (@WhiteClawE) October 4, 2017

Altfurry can’t DIY. That explains the shitty stolen memes.

There are also loose “politics” about being extremely inclusive and open to free expression. (Even physically, like Hugs are the handshake of furries” – Artists explore cultural meaning of touch.) 1960’s hippies had it as part of their politics too. It even makes furry a counterculture sometimes. DIY creativity and inclusion goes with the top quote:

“Part of furry is “If you got to choose your own body, gender, beauty standards, etc. this is exactly what the world would be like.””

OK, if it’s about power to be anything, how can there be standards? Because hate is antithetical to “furriness”, and moderating the group keeps it healthy to have that pawsitive power.

“Get Politics Out of Furry Fandom” undermines integrity.

A community has integral parts. Genre fandom, DIY sub/counterculture, and kink are glued together by acceptance to make a community.  Without them it might not be one, and definitely wouldn’t be the one you know.  The consumerist, lowest-common-denominator, Just Anthro Animal Media kind might be more of a corporate-run Mickey Mouse club. 

Integral parts doesn’t mean every part is inherent to everyone. There’s a weird duality in accepting everything from Disney to Dirty, but you don’t have to be personally involved with kink at all. It’s like how cars are integral to modern society, but not everyone drives and you don’t need a car. However, if there were no cars it would be a very different world. Get it?  

There’s a real community with parts that can’t be removed without changing everything. The Burned Furs (the previous generation’s altfurry) found out when they failed with puritanism against “perverts”. It’s part of furriness. So when there’s a complaint like “Get Politics Out of Furry Fandom”, it often means “get fandom out of furry.”

It can be a simple minded wish to boil things down to mere consumerism. Or it can be a more evil agenda to make you surrender to this toxic garbage:

A push to inject fascism into geek communities.

Nazis have learned geek communities are a super easy recruitmebt base. pic.twitter.com/wmZAkNlV0u

— Grant but Spooky (@GDRaycroft) October 7, 2017

Read about newly-exposed proof of white nationalists behind the alt-right. Altfurry is just one fizzled attempt among many to attack so called “SJW’s” to inject their own politics. They’ve tried with gaming, metal music, sci-fi, comics, and furry. The term is Entryism, and the same haters feed it all.

Perhaps their hate will always be around.  So will crime or cancer, but people don’t act helpless about it. Sane politics means just standing for a basic standard. That’s all it is – a line for all sides, not liberal or conservative; just the furry side. And don’t buy apathetic acceptance like this:

Two faced. Art: @Rattusdingus

But are they really nazis? Take Them At Face Value.

As a subculture, Furry shares something in common with DIY Punk. Old punks had advice about fascists worming in to their scene – Take them at face value.

That refers to acting edgy/provocative/trolly, until they flip around and excuse it. Like pretending it’s just joking or for looks.  Or denying being a member while collaborating.  Or refusing to own it, and moving goalposts to pretend like rare card-carrying “real nazis” are the only issue. There’s equivocation about how “we’re diverse”, “gays can’t be nazi” or “some of my friends are black”. They love pedantry about “it’s not illegal” and doing an endless-prove-it-loop. There’s nothing they won’t do for plausible deniability about wrongdoing and manipulating. If they can’t hide it, they deflect with Whataboutism. They love acting offended at reactions they provoke, to gaslight and project problems at you. Games Nazis Play are a form of two-faced, have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too.

Whether they even understand it or not, it opens the door to the real thing, as ones waiting behind the door know very well. So is trolling like a nazi as bad as bringing real nazis in? …Does a bear shit in the woods?

When they do edgy nazi trolling, withhold benefit of the doubt and let them prove they’re not. When they flirt with fascism, don’t let them off the hook while they try to squirm away. They made their bed, so let them lie in it. It was foretold in this 2008 FurAffinity post about Furzis:

You want to call yourself a Nazi, I’ll treat you like a Nazi. And don’t gimme bullshit about how “we don’t call ourselves nazi’s” your wearing the uniform, your name is a play on “nazi” don’t give me weak excuses.

You don’t think the American Diabetes Association LIKES diabetes. The Southern Poverty Law Center doesn’t like poverty. Jonas Salk hated Polio. I hate Nazis. If you have to be intolerant of something, Nazis are a great choice.

Intolerance of intolerance isn’t liberal or conservative, it’s humanist.  And fascism isn’t strictly right or left either, it’s a two faced chameleon. It incrementally worms into power through brinksmanship and playing many sides. It devours from within to destroy what lets it grow. It cons you by syncretizing elements of right and left. Their left side might be pandering to workers, nerds or people who feel powerless, and their right side is nationalism or supremacy. They say whatever sounds good to manipulate, but it’s consistent to nothing but power. That’s what makes gay nazis and non-white collaborators. It’s always two-faced.

Can confirm. Having been one and got out - white nationalists ALWAYS lie. They ALWAYS lie about what they believe.https://t.co/uLy5qutkFb

— Vex the Scarewolf (@andreuswolf) June 12, 2017

By the way, it's often tempting to point out to these absolute cretins the absurdity and hipocrisy of being a nazi furry, but don't bother. https://t.co/ZCZjU9FhuR

— Spooky Boogie (@CaseyExplosion) October 16, 2017

Some people expect to change minds with nice words. That’s fine when you aren’t talking to trolls. It helps trolls to be deliberately exhausting, it’s not the responsibility of targets to change haters, it doesn’t scale, and it legitimizes bad faith when there isn’t something at stake. For those who try, call it a matter of multiple approaches that depends on others firmly rejecting them.

But the furry fandom really is one of the most accepting places (that’s what they exploit.) Sincere change of heart is how to get acceptance back, and it’s not hard to get for those who choose to leave for real. Click through for three excellent threads:

I used to low-key subscribe to white nationalist views, back in my early 20s. Not going to make excuses for it, I should have known better.

— Vex the Scarewolf (@andreuswolf) April 20, 2017

What's important to getting people out of shitty ideologies like that is the knowledge that they CAN go back. They CAN rejoin society.

— Vex the Scarewolf (@andreuswolf) April 21, 2017

Hey furries, I've been doing a lot of serious, heavy-going takes for a while. Here's a change of pace:

THE FURRY FANDOM IS FUCKING AWESOME

— Vex the Scarewolf (@andreuswolf) May 19, 2017

When you hear a complaint about politics in fandom, point out that it is politics. It’s as likely to undermine as to reduce conflict. It’s merely a thought-terminating cliche when everyone does politics sometimes.  And you don’t have to listen to everyone because some things aren’t debatable.  Don’t waste time on bad faith and discredited falsehoods, or half-baked oppositionalism that stands for nothing but freedom to be selfish at best.  There aren’t “two sides” with parasitic, two-faced trolls who pretend to want an “alternative” without creating anything, who take advantage of the one great fandom. There already is a group for the acceptance they pretend should extend to haters; the basic entry requirement is just getting along with others. It’s something so basic you learn it in kindergarten. Or maybe as soon as people evolve beyond fish.

The best response is: Don’t look for middle ground where there is none.  Just have a spine and stand for something better.

pic.twitter.com/3MKl83ucB7

— Werewolf Chewtoy -;) (@XydexxUnicorn) April 16, 2017

Update. “check it out guys, I found a living example of why @DogpatchPress‘s article about “apolitical furry” is so accurate!”

“People who are fine with Nazis when it’s “just talk” aren’t going to do anything to oppose them when it becomes more than just talk.”

“How to find nazis: 1) Post “fuck nazis” 2) watch for the “don’t call people you disagree with nazis!” comments 3) You found the nazis.”

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.

Furclubbing: “A repeat/regular nightclub event by furries for furries.” The concept has been spreading since the late 2000’s. It’s a dance party independent from cons. It builds on their growth but takes things farther. It’s more ambitious than informal meets and events that happen once. Those can stay inner-focused, but this brings partnership with new kinds of venues, and new support for what they host. It crosses a line to public space, so a stranger can walk in and discover their new favorite thing. It encourages new blood and crossover to other scenes. It makes subculture thrive. It’s a movement!

See the list of parties at The Furclub survey.  Any party that gives a Q&A will get a featured article. Featured here is a new event in Detroit, Michigan.  Here’s what the organizer sent:

SCRITCH DETROIT (2017)

Follow: Twitter and Facebook

 

[RT APPRECIATED!]
Our first event is on 11/11 at the Olympus Theater in Detroit, MI!
18+ // $5 at the doorhttps://t.co/aEbzvE9lWb

— Scritch Detroit (@ScritchDetroit) September 29, 2017

The party launch: Scritch Detroit’s first event starts on 11/11, and plans to be hosted on the second Saturday of every month – as long as the turnout keeps us going. Please join us to make a big impression with our first event!

Who: Founded and organized by K-NAO (that’s me!), a DJ and amateur club promoter out of Southeast Michigan, in cooperation with management at the Menjo’s Complex. DJs will be rotated monthly, so the party won’t be stale, and to give new talent an opportunity to play — there’s a lot of talent in the midwest, and we want to showcase that!

What: This is an 18+ club event — $5 at the door, with a full bar, headless lounge, and secure parking. The DJs will be varied, and we’re expecting House, Top40, Electro, Breaks, and Trance at our first event. We’re hoping to get at least 100 people in the door for our first time!

When: We’re starting on 11/11/2017, and want Scritch Detroit to keep going on the second Saturday of every month. Please keep up-to-date with us by following on Twitter and on Facebook. (Subject to the Midwest convention scene, the event may not happen on months where it overlaps the same weekend as major furry or anime events.)

Where: Scritch Detroit happens at the Olympus Theater in Detroit, Michigan, part of the Menjo’s Complex in the Palmer Park neighborhood. The event draws from furries and fandom participants across the Midwest. We even hope to attract people in from Ohio, Indiana, and even Illinois and Ontario.

How: In 2015, I organized a series of events at the now-defunct Club Inferno dubbed “Furry Friday”, of which there were three — in 2016, I worked with Menjo’s on the Fur Ball, a one-off August event that saw good attendance. Now we have a dedicated space, and my events have received some attention, so I’m pushing for a real, high-attendance club event that will bring people together.

Vibe: Popular convention DJs and hour-set formats make this a $5, 5-hour convention dance party, but without the hassle of booking a hotel for three to five nights, paying an expensive attendance fee, or having to sneak your alcohol into the dancefloor past the Dorsai.  The party is 18+, and while it takes place at a gay club, it’s all-inclusive, much like the convention dances we seek to emulate. Costuming of all kinds (fursuiting, cosplaying, anything!) is not only allowed, but encouraged. As the event is open to the general public, anyone who pays the $5 cover is allowed to attend.  Bring your non-furry friends who like a party and want to see what the community is about!

Promotion: Right now, word of mouth is the most important way for us to succeed. Sharing our presence on social media helps immensely. Please share! The bigger we get, the more promotion we can afford in the future. A portion of the proceeds will be set aside to help the event grow. Of course, the best press of all is if you have a good time and tell others!

Reactions: I’m pleased to say the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive so far, but the real test will be the first event. We need everyone we can to make this promotion a big success!

Business: The promotion is supported almost entirely by attendees, with staff (like the bartender and security) provided by Menjo’s. Base compensation for the Menjo’s staff comes out of the cover charge, with the remainder split between the talent — this means the more people attend, the more the DJs and talent get paid; the more drinks are purchased, the happier the venue is; and the more tips are given, the happier the bartender is!

Video or pics: We’ll soon be posting more on social media.

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.

Over at DC Comics, the “let’s fool around with Hanna-Barbera” fun continues… with the premier of The Ruff & Reddy Show comic. “In the Golden Age of television, Ruff and Reddy were on top of the entertainment world…until the world turned, and they were forgotten. Now, Ruff is a washed-up television actor. Reddy is a clerk in an upscale grocery store. Can a hungry young agent convince the two one-time partners to make a comeback—and convince the world that it wants to see the famously infamous dog-and-cat comedy team back in the spotlight?” Written by none other than the famous Howard Chaykin, with art by Mac Rey. Look for it by the end of October.

image c. 2017 DC Comics

Dear Papabear, 

Does McDonald’s allow fursuiting without asking them if you could go in with your suit? I have a cheap Walmart head and paw slippers and gloves and tail from 2 different Halloween stores. I really want to go to McDonalds with it and I don't want to ask them cause I want it to be a huge suprise. 
 
Rainbowpaws

* * *

Hey Papabear, 

It's Sawina again. I recently went to a corner convienient store in my partial and forgot my head was on until I was already in the store. I quickly took off the head to avoid an incident, but when I returned 2 days later, which was today. I ran into the manager. I apologized for what I did, but she told me if she was working at that time she would have called the cops and even shot me. Was my small mistake really worth the death threat I recieved today?

Thanks in advance, Sawina.

* * *

Dear Rainbowpaws and Sawina,
 
Because your letters are related, Papabear decided to combine them into one column. It is an important subject to address here: the wearing of fursuit heads in public.
 
Since the terrorist attacks of 2001, concealing one’s identity in public places has come under greater suspicion by authorities who are concerned about people trying to attack American citizens. Actually, antimask ordinances likely date long before then for reasons such as problems with the KKK, bank robbers, etc. But before we get into that, let’s just talk about going into private businesses, such as a fast-food joint or convenience store.
 
As you might imagine, such places can be and have been robbed by masked criminals. Masks can be anything from stockings and ski masks to Halloween masks easily bought at party stores. You might see, then, that if you go inside such a place wearing, say, a wolf or lion head, this could make the person behind the cash register understandably very nervous as to what you are up to.
 
So, my immediate advice is don’t do this. If you are going to a store (or bank!) and want to express your furriness, limit yourself to things like paws, ears, and/or tails. Never conceal your face behind a mask in these situations.
 
That said, what are the legal implications here? This can be extremely complicated because laws vary from state to state, country to country. Also, there have been federal cases that have revolved around the wearing of identity-concealing masks.
 
France is an example of a country with a very strong, anti-mask law that was passed in 2010 and has been used to jail people for wearing balaclavas. Predictably, this has inspired protests by the Muslim community.
 
The U.S. Constitution does protect you when it comes to self-expression and protest, however. For example, during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, the state tried to jail protestors for concealing their faces with scarves, but the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the wearing of masks during protests as a form of free speech. There have been other efforts to make masks illegal to wear at protests on public property or private property when the owner has not given permission for a protest.
 
Let’s look at the state level. There are eleven U.S. places with anti-mask laws, including California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Usually, when states have a law against masks it is stipulated that they are illegal when used during a crime and not for entertainment purposes such as during Halloween. There are other obvious exceptions, such as if you are wearing a respirator or surgical mask for health reasons.
 
In your cases, we’re dealing with Massachusetts and California law. Section 185 of the California Penal Code states: “It shall be unlawful for any person to wear any mask, false whiskers, or any personal disguise (whether complete or partial) for the purpose of: One--Evading or escaping discovery, recognition, or identification in the commission of any public offense. Two--Concealment, flight, or escape, when charged with, arrested for, or convicted of, any public offense. Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.”
 
Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 268, Section 34 states: “Whoever disguises himself with intent to obstruct the due execution of the law, or to intimidate, hinder or interrupt an officer or other person in the lawful performance of his duty, or in the exercise of his rights under the constitution or laws of the commonwealth, whether such intent is effected or not, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year and may if imprisoned also be bound to good behavior for one year after the expiration of such imprisonment.”
 
(For a list of other state laws, see http://www.anapsid.org/cnd/mcs/maskcodes.html.)
 
In both your cases, you are not violating the law, but we shouldn’t assume that store employees are going to be fully aware of the law, so they could call the police on you or toss you out of the store (many stores, after all, do have signs where they say they can refuse service to anyone they wish.)
 
Bottom line, again, is I would not wear a fursuit head in these cases. While the law is on your side, save it for places where wearing a fursuit is expected (cons and meets) or at events where those running the event are fully aware you will be in suit.
 
Thanks for your terrific questions!
 
Hugs,
Papabear

The anthology Heat, edited by Dark End, is regarded by many as the premier literary magazine of the furry fandom. Although explicitly erotic, it isn't pornographic. The stories are all exceptionally literary, and each was a delight to read. Although all had flaws, I absolutely recommend this anthology for anyone interested in furry fiction, especially if interested in literary erotica.I've reviewed each story, comic and poem featured in the comic separately.I was assisted by my friend and poetry expert Free Jam who shared her insights and criticisms which shaped my reviews of the poetry in this anthology.Those Magnificent Women and their Flying Machines, by Dark End Those Magnificent Women and their Flying Machines is about Alexa, a vixen pilot with the air force, getting revenge on her stuck-up boss Gillian for refusing to acknowledge her proven skill by sending her into a real combat scenario. She comes to understand her boss better, but doesn't lose her drive to be seen as an equal. The opening of the story did an excellent job to immediately establish character, setting, and the main character's conflict in a concise and believable way. However, I felt that the dialogue suffered for it. The back-and-forth between Alexa and the wolf read almost like a caricature of how such a scene should go, rather than how it actually would go. Then again, with the whole story playing to a larger than life tone, it served to set the upbeat sort of underdog go-getter vibe for the rest of the story. For most of the story, in fact, I felt as if the dialogue was in direct subservience to the plot rather than working as a natural progression of conversation. I understand that it's necessary to guide the dialogue towards the plot targets, however, it often ended up feeling stiff and uniform amongst all the characters, despite being well-written and very clever in many cases. Structurally, the rapid-fire short scenes didn't work for me when set alongside longer, average-length scenes. Although the opening scene accomplished many goals in impressively few words, there were many other scenes that only served to establish setting or set up a single, specific plot point. These slowed down the story for me, when the upbeat go-getter tone demanded a faster pace. Further slowing down the pace of the story were many points of drawn-out exposition. It's cool hearing about Alexa's friend Orchid, an otter singer at the local club, and how her father was a mob boss, but there were many more interesting ways to present that background to me than in a block paragraph history lesson. The same is true of Alexa's background with that same club, which is told over two paragraphs of pure start-of-scene exposition. However, when we're shown action, we're shown it with interesting visuals, good pacing, and strong description. Drunk Gillian was a delight, and so was the haphazard, incognito sex-scene-turned-heist that followed from it. In fact, that long scene progression from the bar, to the back room, to otter punches was the highlight of the story. It flowed very well and drew me deep into the story. The conflict steadily built, wonderfully intertwined with moments of physical comedy which is incredibly difficult to pull off so effectively. The climactic confrontation between Alexa, Gillian, and Orchid was funny, fun, and believably written. I was absolutely a sucker for the emotionally warm finisher conversation in the second to last scene. It prodded all the right places to give me a big smile, and concluded the story in a manner befitting the characters and tone. However, I think that it did a good enough job finalizing the character arcs, that the very last scene fell flat for me, in a Harry Potter Book 7 Epilogue sense. Sure, we got to see a few loose ends wrapped up, such as the final scene between Alexa and the wolf from the start of the story, but much of it felt unnecessary with the character and plot points that drove the story having already resolved. With those minor hang-ups, I thought that this story was a marvel. Eliciting tension and emotion with drama is difficult, but doing so during an upbeat story filled with humor and optimism without any of that falling flat is even more difficult. I absolutely recommend this story.How to Ruin a Friendship, a comic written by Kyell Gold and illustrated by Donryu: How to Ruin a Friendship is a fun, quick comic about a man who invites his friend to donate sperm for his partner's pregnancy. However, he wants both him and his partner to be involved in the process of filling that turkey baster. The first page starts immediately with a great in media res that both lays out the plot conflict, as well as the conflicted emotions in Chip's character. The characters are vibrant, and in the short space we get to know them, they all showcase their individuality. Each page leaves off each with near-cliffhangers, little things that just make you continue to see what's about to happen. This is even true during the sex scene when the dialogue is entirely absent. With the combination of the title and the trepidation of the main character at the onset of the scene, the tension would have kept me interested during the sex scene even if the wonderful art hadn't drawn me forward. This comic was all-around well executed.Bad Connection, by Crimson Ruari: Bad Connection is about a wolf couple who grows divided over the issue of children. Chase, the main character, has always wanted pups, but his wife Kel isn't as keen on them. The constant reminders of kids in the lives lived around them drive such a wedge between the two that Chase begins to doubt his relationship. The strained relationship between Kel and Chase was clear from the opening, which was wonderfully evocative of both the differing stances that the couple had towards children, and the different ways they dealt with that difference existing in their relationship. It set the tone and clearly established tension for the story to build off of. The dialogue was very well written. The characters were clearly distinguishable, the conversations flowed well, and progressed naturally. Furthermore, they were interspersed well with action that really highlighted the quirks and personality traits of both Kel and Chase. Despite that, both in the first conversation and latter ones, emotions changed too fast for my believability. One moment everything is fine; the next, a character has stormed off to slam doors and throw a fit. These temperament changes needed more build to really work for me. I enjoyed the character arc, but the plot felt rather jumpy to me. The narrative transitioning from the conflict over pups, to Chase's friend Becca telling him how to back off, to Chase backing off, to a time skip with Kel suddenly coming home smelling like sex, all this over the course of four pages, left me with a degree of whiplash. I was having trouble latching on to a concrete issue that Chase's character had to work through. Instead, I was presented with a problem, then a fix, then a problem, then a fix, and then another problem. These sudden changes made it difficult to latch onto an issue long enough to empathize with. Furthermore, I didn't like much of the exposition that explained to me Chase's interpretation of the scenes. I love seeing emotional reactions because those evoke sympathy from me. However, I don't like being told how to think about a scene, which happened at many points throughout the story. Lastly, I didn't like how the character arc was resolved through no agency of Chase himself. Both he and Kel were told exactly how to change by Kel's close coworker Darrel, and that was a very unsatisfying climax to the story. Then, they had a conversation that cleared up a few of each of their misconceptions, then they had sex. I felt like they were forced into resolving the conflict, causing it to feel cheap rather than earned. Compounding that, after the climax of the story, the sex didn't seem to serve a purpose for Chase's character arc. To me, it just read, "We resolved our issues, now let's have sex." It could have been almost entirely left out. The only important moment was Kel's laissez faire attitude towards a condom in the ending, and that was a weirdly sudden change for her character that didn't resonate with me. Despite that, I did enjoy the note that the story left off on, with them agreeing to therapy and preparing to continue to work on their relationship issues. The ending of the story made me wish that the meat of Chase's character arc had hung on his personal methods of communication, rather than those being resolved by Becca and then her sage advice not even working anyway. It fell entirely on an outside source to resolve the plot -- gay coworker ex machina. That's not to say that the aforementioned sex wasn't written well, because it absolutely was. The sex scene worked great, and the dialogue scattered through it was charming and lovely. In fact, the entire story was written well enough to carry me through my qualms about plot structure and character arcs. In the end, it was a charming story that I do definitely think is worth reading. The dialogue is strong, the characters are strong, and the writing itself is fluid and evocative.Instincts, by Tempe O'Kun: Instincts is a sensual poem about an erotic encounter with a tiger woman. Although I enjoyed reading it, it didn't particularly stand out to me. The poem was comprised of action-based imagery that attempted to evoke the different senses of sex. I liked the line about the heart scampering away even while clutching close. However, the only other metaphor, electricity, is a tired metaphor for sex. Afterwards, the description lacked much flair. The language felt active and descriptive, but it wasn't particularly evocative to me, which was a problem for a poem about the sensations of sex with a hot tiger lady. It stopped showing me what it was like, and started telling me instead, which was far less exciting. Furthermore, the inconsistent line lengths sometimes worked for me and sometimes didn't. In the middle two stanzas, the tension built up to highlight every word. However, one of the two was twice as long as others, and felt out of place. I think it would have had more impact had they both been trimmed down to approximately even lengths. The last stanza seemed somewhat inconsistent with the rest. Until then, the poem used fairly formal language. The term “spooking” felt out of place. However, it was a fun, quick read, despite the issues present.West, by Slip Wolf West is an excellent story about moving on. The lead character, Alex, is traveling westward on his bike towards the home of his prior lover, Samuel. However, in leaving his home, he's broken parole and has to lay low to avoid the cops out to round him up. As he's laying low, Alex has a run-in with a Corgi nicknamed Shortbread who, after some initial tensions, invites Alex to ride alongside him and his pack of canine bikers. The story read well to me. The writing, plot, and characters were all solid. However, there were several points where the scenes dragged on a stretch too long, or where extraneous sections left me wondering when the next point of plot or character progression would come. Furthermore, the climax of the story had the main character revealing a point of his past that I didn't feel was adequately foreshadowed. Because of that, this engaging story had me tilting my head near the end, as if it had swapped out character arcs on me at the last second. Whereas beforehand the arc gripped me and pulled me on even through the parts that slightly dragged, with the climax -- and throughout the rest of the story -- the character progression suddenly felt muddied and discordant. I also did not like the twist at the very end. It didn't add anything to my understanding of the characters and story, yet felt contrived to the point where it shaved off a layer of the believability that had be so laboriously built through the excellent setting Despite those gripes, the writing is fluid and descriptive with few grammatical mistakes, the characters live and breathe, and most of all, the story is lush with the biker setting. The bars are vivid to the imagination, and while the characters break biker tropes, the basic feel of a hardened biker is there for them all. The setting does an excellent job drawing the reader into that gritty world. Despite my hang-ups about the character arcs and progression, I enjoyed this story a lot.Three Foxes Walk Into a Bar, by Thurston Howl: Three Foxes Walk Into a Bar is a lighthearted poem illustrating a dominatrix vixen picking up men from a bar. It contrasts the dark tones of BDSM with the fun, sing-song tone of the poem. This poem unfortunately doesn't work for me at all. The language feels awkward to me. The very first line, "Once was a vixen who walked into a bar," although fitting the lighthearted tone, just reads awkwardly. The language is stretched and twisted to fit the rhyme scheme and line length throughout the entire poem, which causes many instances of uncomfortable phrasing. Furthermore, the flow doesn't really work. For example, the first two lines in the second stanza have completely different compositions. This technique can work, but doesn't there. They just don’t feel like they are supposed to be together. Some of the rhyming is just forced. The first stanza is fine, but the second uses “hide” when that flat-out wasn’t what the character was doing and didn't really relate in any metaphoric sense either. Now, the use of limericks does add a sprinkle of humor and playfulness, but the writing itself doesn't hold this standard. There's a dearth of upbeat, joking, or funny moments in the writing to match it. So while the playful tone is a cool idea, it just doesn't really match the content. The last stanza made me very uncomfortable. The increased line length and unnecessary wordiness disrupted the quick-paced flow that limericks are supposed to have, and the rape joke at the end left a sour taste in my mouth.Flame Above the Waves, a comic written by Zeigler and drawn by Kyma: Flame Above the Waves is about a fox castaway who washes up on the shore of an old lighthouse. The main character, the lighthouse keeper Timothy Cobb, is a sea otter hermit who rescues the fox and rehabilitates him. This comic fell into a lot of 'castaway' tropes, with the two very different characters who at first don't really get along, but slowly grow close. The execution of this trope, however, is well done. It's a slow burn, although one that kept me engaged as I read it. I didn't enjoy the captain's log style narration. Wherever it was used, it just seemed to exist to skimp out on showing progress through action and dialogue. Although the castaway plot arc trope is executed well, I could have done without the tropic narration. The two characters are unique and vivid. Their interactions are what makes this story a delight to read. Furthermore, their steady growth is natural and steady, impressively so for a comic confined to such a low page-count. However, the twist at the end didn't work for me. A lack of foreshadowing meant it came out of the blue, for seemingly no purpose. Now, that would be fine if it were a short note before the comic cut out, but instead the comic spends two full pages on this out-of-nowhere pirate captain that completely disrupted the tone of the story. Despite the ending, I was very impressed with the buildup of the relationship between the two main characters. It's a great read, and has wonderful art to match.Shell Game, by Kandrel Shell Game is about a Husky named Markus living in a town entirely populated with clones of himself. These clones are entirely subservient to him, and he works to ensure that all of him works as a finely tuned machine, just like the towns of clones of other individuals, all having arrived to populate this planet on the same colonization ship. However, things start to go wrong, and Markus learns information about himself that he had never considered. The biggest issue I had with this story was the frontloaded exposition. The world that Kandrel constructed is really cool. I think it's awesome and inventive. Yet, as cool as it is, I grew exhausted reading through the minutiae of how the world worked, much of which was not necessary for the plot itself. The opening exposition seemed to drag on for me, and by the time the plot started, I may have skipped the story were I not reviewing it. Several cases of odd sentence construction compounded this. There was nothing explicitly ungrammatical except in the case of a clear typo. All of that served to continually disrupt my attention. And that would have been a shame. Because the plot erupted from a mysterious black van arriving in the main character's town like a storm. It gripped me and pulled me along. The plot was engaging and skillfully executed; the problem for me was the unnecessarily long time that it took to get started. However, around two-thirds of the way into the story, we experience an ironic role reversal that I would have loved had it been executed differently. As it was, the role reversal felt immediate and absolute, so much so that I didn't recognize the character afterwards. It was as if I were reading about a different main character for the last third, which was disorienting. It pulled me out of the story, with the character resisting this call for a while, then all of a sudden, with no in-between, fully succumbing to it and morphing into an entirely different character with no remnants of their initial personality. When the main character entered a new environment that he was introduced to in the latter part of the story, there was none of the calculating precision we had been set up to initially expect. There was only dumb wonder at surroundings that were only slightly unusual. For all those issues that kept me from fully engaging in the story, all the elements were right there for it to work really well. It was still an enjoyable read, and I would absolutely recommend it to science fiction fans, but it could have been much tighter.Full Dip, a comic by Ishaway: Full Dip is about a female cat named Kyra and Robin, her rabbit girlfriend. The couple grow too hot with their AC out at home, so they go to the ocean to cool off. This comic is sexy. It's well-drawn, but there's not much to it. There's no tension driving the story forward other than the superficial porn tension of getting caught nude out on the beach. However, even that slight bit of tension is immediately dissipated with reassurances in the dialogue. There's not really much of a plot to speak of, only a situation that exists solely to lead the main characters to sex. The inner monologue style narration felt fairly stiff to me, but the dialogue flowed decently well. Even so, there were many spots with strange word choices or awkward constructions. I recommend this comic if you want some well-drawn lesbian porn, but there isn't really any literary merit to it that would warrant interest otherwise.Top to Bottom, a poem by Mog Moogle: Top to Bottom is an interesting poem about the dynamic between domination and submission, taking the role of top or bottom. First of all, the short lines and concise language work excellently. They play into a fast-paced, breathtaking experience that really serves to highlight the imagery and sensuality of the language. However, the punctuation lacks consistency. Punctuation works when it's all or nothing, but punctuating just a few lines confuses the flow. When the first line has a period, the audience will expect punctuation and will have to readjust themselves when no more comes. Then, a semicolon and comma appear in the middle, adding more confusion. Furthermore, it was quite literally hard to read. The white on grey at the bottom blends too much into the background, which is sad, because it slows my reading down when my mind wants to keep pushing forward at the speed with which the text yanks me along. The highlight of the poem is the ability to read it top to bottom or bottom to top. That's cool, and really hard to accomplish. It shows just how this poet knows what he's doing. Overall, Top to Bottom is an excellent poem with vivid, descriptive language, excellent flow, and a theme that carries through the content, tone, and even structure of the poem.Blue Collar Blues, by Whyte Yote: Blue Collar Blues is a nostalgic piece about two men dealing with the stresses and traumas of their lives in different ways. Right off the bat, I was struck by the fluidity of the writing and the terrific dialogue between the two main characters, Jimbo the tiger and Hank the shiba inu. I was drawn in by their pride in their vehicles and the superbly executed ounce of conflict that kept tugging the dialogue forward. This wonderful dialogue continued through the next scene. However, I didn't feel the tension grow beyond that taste from the first scene. The characters were fleshed out very nicely with the exposition given through their conversation while drinking on the couch, but my interest waned. Luckily, the story picked pack up right where it left off as they grow steadily drunker and drunker, evolving into relationship woes and the conflicts they were dealing with from their wives. The climax of the scene, which evolved into the climax of the story, was uncomfortable in just the right ways to leave a lasting impression and a twisted gut, but not overboard. Without spoiling the story, I can say that a less deft hand writing that scene could have left me with a far worse impression of the story. Personally, I love having stories that wrap up emotional arcs. Even though it's formulaic, it's formulaic for the reason that certain structures give you strong emotional reactions to the resolution of a story. My biggest qualm with Blue Collar Blues, therefore, was the lack of a tidy ending. I loved the buildup and the conflict that arose between the two main characters. I was all ready for either a blow-up of these unresolved issues or a gentle deflating of the balloon as they find some greater realization about their own lives. However, the story just up and ended with all of the major plot threads hanging in the open and unresolved. Now, I understand that this isn't unheard of. I know that plot threads are left open-aired, even when there's no emotional reconciliation. But I can't help but have a less positive look at the story when I absolutely didn't enjoy the ending. That's a shame, because I loved almost all other parts of it. I would absolutely recommend this piece, it's a wonderful slice of life despite what I considered to be a lackluster ending.Tied, by Televassi: Tied is a poem relating a captured wolf of Norse mythology. It weaves a metaphor between his capture and the hold of a lover over him. The metaphorical language in this poem shines. For example, "Wayward creatures / Can come quietly to heel," is evocative and full of imagery. However, the evocative imagery loses its dreamy quality near the end where it becomes more grounded in concrete physical action. I don't like this, as it feels somewhat blunt. The semicolons in each stanza really don't add much. However, the stanzas at the end make great use of consonance. The repeated "S" in "Subtly / You Slipped over me / That silken snare” helps the lines flow together. The language is carefully crafted. It flows wonderfully as a result.To the Victor the Spoils, by Ocean Tigrox To the Victor the Spoils is about a greyhound named Coltraine who competes in his city-state's decennial grand race to earn the hand of a maiden from an allied city-state. He was born and raised with this race in mind, and competes against his childhood friend Burtley and a peasant Basalt. However, he's already confidently tied the knot with the maiden, Renee, and the politics surrounding the race aren't all that they seem. The story opens with a sex scene that felt very weirdly paced. I understood the back and forth, and tying the imagery of the race to the imagery of sex, but it ended up not really making either set of imagery work for me. However, while it failed in imagery, it worked excellently to build clear tension and conflict right out of the gate that never let up throughout the entire story. The plot carried this piece on its back, disguising its flaws such as moments of awkward word choice. There were weird and uncomfortable aspects to the world that I immediately wanted to know more about. When they were explained to me in the second scene, I was let down by the exposition. I wanted to learn the mechanics of this interesting system by seeing how it worked. Being told it instead caused the world to lose much of its wonder to me. However, the characters and plot tension filled that gap of wonder. I loved that the main character was so initially hate-able. It was a weird dynamic, since even though Basalt, Coltraine's peasant rival, was a jerk, he was the underdog whose perspective the typical sports story of this form would focus on. Yet Coltraine's spoiledness came across with a well-written naivety that allowed me to really feel for him when I absolutely knew what was going on with Rainee when he visited her in the tower later. That's hard to pull off. Bently, Coltraine's friend, became more important to the plot than Basalt, yet we saw far interaction with Basalt than Bently. In fact, the entire initial conversation between Coltrane and his friend Burtley felt forced. When talking about Stenworth's death, there should have been gravity with that moment, but I didn't feel it. Because of the mixed feelings the story gave me towards the protagonist, even though I did end up hoping for him to win the race, I was uncertain. If Basalt won, it wouldn't be a villain winning, but an upstart underdog able to push it in the faces of the nobility. Having set up the story such that I didn't know for a fact that the protagonist would win made it that much tenser for me going into that final moment of action. Despite that, the moment of greater realization about Coltraine's reason for racing didn't hit me like the budding tension did. I appreciated Coltraine's character arc, but I didn't see the gradual buildup of thoughts that led to him understanding his change in motivation. Furthermore, I didn't like the composition of the final competition in the race. It seemed to contradict the interpersonal race conflict that had been built up for the entire story beforehand. The ending was excellent with the built-up character conflict between Rainee and Coltraine maintaining the tension that had exploded in the climactic race. The finale itself was well executed and satisfying. I can absolutely say that I'd recommend this story. Although the shortcomings were stark with the confusion between antagonists and the few stylistic failings, the strengths -- especially the story's plot arcs -- more than made up for them. It was a delight to read.Final thoughts: As a cohesive unit, the stories, comics, and poems in Heat flow together very well. I don't think there's an issue with the progression of tone between the content. Furthermore, the illustrations throughout the book were absolutely stunning and showcased an excellent layout design that only faltered with Top to Bottom's text readability. I unfortunately found that the quality of the poetry and comics varied far more than the stories themselves. I would rather see fewer of these than ones not up to the same standards as the rest of the fiction. The short stories, however, were consistently well written, many of which easily matching the quality of mainstream fiction. In the end, I'd rate Heat 14 an excellent 8.5/10, and would absolutely recommend it to any furry that isn't squeamish about reading erotica.

[Back in town again, your ed-otter is happy to get caught up with new furry stuff!] Looking ahead to the delayed-but-still-coming film How to Train Your Dragon 3, Dreamworks Animation have a new full-color graphic novel coming early next year from Dark Horse. “This second standalone graphic novel based on the film series is a new adventure that takes place shortly after the events in How to Train Your Dragon 2, during the period in which Hiccup is desperately trying to fill his father’s role as the chief of Berk. Created with the help of the film’s writer, director, and producer, Dean DeBlois; it bridges the gap between the second and third films. Hiccup, Toothless, and the rest of the dragon riders encounter two deadly yet mysteriously linked threats: One is an island consumed by Dragonvine, an uncontrollable force of nature that’s poisonous to humans and deadly to dragons. The other is an all-new, all-terrifying dragon species – the web-spitting Silkspanners!” As they noted in the press release, How to Train Your Dragon: Dragonvine is written by Dean Deblois and Richard Hamilton, with illustrations by Francisco de la Fuente and Doug Wheatley.

image c. 2017 Dark Horse

The space race was a bit weirder than I remember it.
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