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

Always Gray in Winter, by Mark J. Engels
Knoxville, TN, Thurston Howl Publications, August 2017, trade paperback, $12.99 (178 pages).

Always Gray in Winter is one of those novels that is deliberately mysterious at first, and only gradually reveals what is going on. To avoid my own spoiler, here is the blurb on the author’s website:

“The modern day remnant of an ancient clan of werecats is torn apart by militaries on three continents vying to exploit their deadly talents. Born in an ethnic Chicago neighborhood following her family’s escape from Cold War-era Poland, were-lynx Pawly flees underground to protect her loved ones after genetically-enhanced soldiers led by rogue scientist and rival werecat Mawro overrun her Navy unit in the Gulf of Oman. Pawly’s family seeks her out in a desperate gambit to return [to] their ancestral homeland and reconcile with their estranged kinsmen. But when her human lover arrives to thwart Mawro’s plan to weaponize their feral bloodlust, Pawly must face a daunting choice:  preserve her family secrets and risk her lover’s life or chance her true nature driving him away forever.”

Pawly is Pawlina J. Katczynski, a mid-twenties Polish-American in love with Lennart “Lenny” Reintz, a mid-twenties German-American U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Security specialist. However, Pawly has become a were-lynx vigilante superhero in combat against Mawro, another werecat who uses his shapeshifting powers for sinister and unethical purposes: he is the leader and head scientist of the North Korean “ailuranthropic” R&D program. Here is Pawly, in text and also an illustration by Amy Sun Hee “inspired by the novel”, on the author’s website:

“Her fangs bit into the fur below her lower lip. Pawly fell forward and thrust out her legs against the railing. Claws sprouted forth from the tips of her fingers with a flick of each wrist. She dove toward the car and yowled to goad the driver into turning her way. Her claws sank into the skin above the bridge of his nose as she slid across the car’s hood on her butt. With a grunt she yanked her hand free, tearing both of the man’s eyes free from their sockets. He screamed and crumpled to the pavement, cradling his ruined face, weapon all but forgotten. His partner whirled around with his shotgun in one hand, leaving his chest wide open. Before reaching the wall, Pawly raked the toe claws on both feet across the man’s abdomen. She pushed off with her legs and landed past the front bumper. When she spun around, the wide-eyed man stood before her, trembling as he stuffed his entrails back inside him with both hands. Pawly responded to his horrified whimper with but a shrug before he collapsed.” (p. 7)

In fact, Always Gray in Winter remains deliberately confusing through its first half. The first chapter introduces Mawro and his were-tigress assistant Hana, and establishes that they work for North Korea. The next chapter focuses upon Pawly, the were-lynx (that’s her on the cover), shows her fighting a lone war against white slaver thugs, hints at her having an uncontrollable bloodlust, and ends with her capture by a mysterious organization. The third and fourth chapters reveal that Pawly’s captors are her own extended family, who are affiliated with the U.S. Navy but are acting on their own in drugging Pawly in San Francisco and spiriting her away to Chicago. Barry, Dory, Alex, Tommy, Sheila, Top (also called Topper or Big Top), and Ritzi are introduced, calling each other Mom, Dad, and similar names showing a close relationship. Flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks both clarify and further confuse matters. The family members are gradually more clearly identified – Top is Christopher; Dory is Teodor; Tommy is Pawly’s crippled twin brother Tomasz. Lenny, Pawly’s fiancée, is not a werecat, and has been unwillingly assigned as an assistant to arrogant DHS agent Manuel Latharo. The evil Russian Blaznikov is dead, but has he left death traps behind him?

“‘Everyone around you will die, Pawlina,’ boomed Blaznikov’s mocking voice in her mind.” (p. 10)

Art by Amy Sun Hee

The ominous MSG (not monosodium glutamate) has been stolen and could be anywhere in the world. Some disaster has recently befallen them:

“Top himself appointed her squad leader upon their arrival in Chah Behar. Within days his reputation would be ruined. Lenny would be wounded. Tommy would be paralyzed. And the woman she loved like a sister would be dead.” (p. 52)

Could things get any worse? Well, yeah. Engels has a fondness for acronyms, from the obvious (NROTC) to the obscure (BUD/S) to the imaginary for this novel (the aforementioned MSG); and a weakness for dangling participles. “Only the soft sobbing of the terrified girls, still seated on the car’s bumper, remained once their death throes subsided.” (p. 7) The girls’ death throes? No, their captors’ in the preceding paragraph. “Lenny squinted at the man’s eyes while he showed them inside.” (p. 37) While who showed them inside; Lenny or the man with the eyes?

Always Gray in Winter (cover artist named Bone in the book; named Boneitis in the author’s webpage) is not always convincing:

“Hana spied the thick limb of a poplar tree nearby. She sank the claws on her feet into the branch beneath her and pushed off. Little bits of bark fluttered earthward behind her. High above the Forest’s floor, she leapt from treetop to treetop toward the clearing along its southern border. The moonlight shimmering off the virgin snow glowed brighter as she neared her goal. She gritted her teeth and drove herself forward through the pain. There would be ample opportunity to rest once she reached the van.” (p. 135)

Hana is a were-tiger (“our Bengal bimbo”). Tigers don’t climb trees. Also, poplar forests are popular – Thomas Jefferson planted one that is a National Historic Landmark today – but is the poplar a good tree to go leaping “from treetop to treetop” among?

But quibbles aside, Always Gray in Winter is a fast-moving thriller. You will become wrapped up in the problems of the Katczynski werecat clan, and its struggles to escape both its physical enemies and the killing madness of Werecat’s Rage. Recommended.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Mark Engels Website

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

 

So for everybody out there currently playing Cuphead I thought I would share this old 1930s cartoon. Back in the 70s my parents collected 16MM films and I grew watching things like The 3 Stooges, Marx Brothers and old 30s cartoons on a projected screen and one of the favorites was this particular Flip cartoon. There is just something about these weird surreal old cartoons that's just kinda awesome and is probably why the developers of Cuphead went for that style. This is a film made by UB Iwerks [1] with music by Carl Stalling (More famous for doing all the music on all the classic Warner Brothers cartoons.) A weird thing about UB's Flip the Frog is he was the inspiration for the Eric Schwartz flip cartoons. If you have never seen those here is an example of the Schwartz animated shorts: https://youtu.be/2k42dipZt28 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ub_Iwerks
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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Legacy: Dusk, by Rukis. Illustrated by the author.
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, June 2017, trade paperback $1.95 (249 pages), e-book $12.95.

This is a mature content book.  Please ensure that you are of legal age to purchase this material in your state or region. (publisher’s advisory)

This is the sequel and conclusion to Legacy: Dawn, reviewed here last August and set in Rukis’ Red Lantern world. Rukis has said on e621, “Legacy is a story set in the Red Lantern world, and takes place roughly 20 years before the events of Red Lantern. You do not need to follow Red Lantern to understand this story, it can be read entirely independently, but if you follow the series, it will certainly enrich the world for you.”

But you do need to know Legacy: Dawn. This begins right after. Right after. Rukis serialized the complete Legacy online on Patreon, and you can’t help suspecting the two halves are meant to be republished as a single book someday soon. You should certainly read the review of Legacy: Dawn first and then this one together. That ends “Legacy: Dawn is about Kadar’s and Ahsin’s struggle for the freedom to be together, in a society where both are treated as property that can be casually separated. It is also about Kadar’s confused instinct to be a dominant personality in a society where he is of low caste, and those of higher caste do not hesitate to punish those below them who get ‘uppity’.” That’s more recapitulation than you will get in Legacy: Dusk.

Kadar (the narrator), a golden jackal, and Ahsin, a hyena, are homosexual lovers and indentured servants – read “slaves” – together. They have escaped from a plantation of the powerful Sura Clan in the desert nation of Mataa, following a slave revolt. Mataa is ruled by hyenas, but homosexuality is socially forbidden; especially for them, since the lower-caste Kadar is the dominant and the upper-caste Ahsin is the subordinate in their relationship. They can expect to be brutally tortured and then slaughtered together if they are recaptured. They and a few other Sura escapees had been taken in by a pride of free lionesses on one of Mataa’s oases, but bands of pursuers from the Sura Clan have made it too dangerous to stay there:

“We parted ways with Dela five nights ago, and we’ve been wandering ever since. She’d given us enough provisions to last at least a week, more than enough to make it out of the dunes, if we wanted to. But each time we neared a watering hole or a small town on the outskirts, we dipped our toes only to retreat back into the desert soon after. The pinpricks of civilization around the desert’s edge were bristling with hyenas from merchant caravans and plantations selling their wares, and we’re not sure how known we are to each of the clans, but we know there are hunters looking for us, and that’s reason enough to be cautious.” (p. 11)

They and the three other escapees – Raja (male cheetah), Anala (female, a non-Sura hyena), and Lavanya (lioness) – try to remain unrecaptured, and to find a Liberator who can remove their metal collars of ownership.

Kadar, Ahsin, Raja, and Lavanya are escaped indentured servants/slaves who just want to get rid of their collars and blend back into Mataa’s free citizens. Anala is a former Sura guard, working for their owners. They don’t know at first why she has joined the escaping slaves, just that she is from a warrior cult. The book is halfway over before she tells them fully. (All priestesses of their religion change their names to that of their warrior goddess, Anala.)

“‘Are we just going to… kill them?’ Ahsan asks, his tone possessing more strength than I thought it might, considering he’s speaking up to Anala. ‘Before we even know who they are?’

‘Do not insult me,’ Anala flicks her boxy ears back. ‘Do you not know by now who I am? What I stand for? The initial attack is simply intimidation. Threaten, convince them they have been caught unawares and stand no chance, and if they have weapons, seize them. We only fight these men in self-defense. They are not worthy combatants for the sake of combat. And no sneak attacks,’ she warns in Raja’s direction, narrowing her eyes. ‘Killing an opponent who has had no chance to defend themselves is just… murder. We are warriors.’ She clasps a paw over her heart, clenching it. I know it to be a clan salute, so I don’t reciprocate. No one else does, but I see Raja nodding.” (pgs. 30-31)

“‘For us,’ I point out. ‘You aren’t collared. You’ll forgive me for saying this Priestess, but you have no real investment in helping us find this man.’

‘I have seen you fight for your freedom, jackal,’ she looks around our camp. ‘All of you. Your ferocity is inspiring. There are grand battles before you, and devastation in your wake. I am absolutely certain Anala means for me to have found you, to join you, to be a part of the war to come.’

‘War?’ I narrow my eyes at her. ‘Since when is this a war? We want our freedom.’

‘How many others across Mataa share your sentiments?’ Anala asks in a low voice. ‘How many thousands… tens of thousands… perhaps hundreds of thousands? The melee at the Sura plantation was not the first of its kind, but you won. Do you know how unlikely that was?’” (pgs. 46-47)

“She knits her fingers together on the table, looking down at her rough palms. ‘The fight with the Aard—‘ She stops, looking to Ahsan’s disapproving expression, ‘with Lochan,’ she corrects quietly, ‘was the first real challenge I’d had in years. But after much soul-searching, I came to feel that while it would have been honorable to fall to a man of such skill in combat, it is not what the Goddess intended for me.   Was there as a witness to Matron Sura’s cowardice, and moreover, to see how the world as a whole is changing.’

‘That’s true,’ Raja mutters, flexing his shoulder with a wince. ‘Those weapons are fucking terrifying. Stuff of myth. It’s no wonder they’re conquering the damn world with them.’

‘Soon, there will be no place for women like me,’ Anala says, grimly. ‘Anyone with a pistol or a rifle and the will to use it can stop the greatest warrior dead in their tracks with one pull of a finger. Anala’s power will wane as the true art of warfare is lost, and our Order will fade away with her. All this knowledge, I contended with for many weeks, after the raid on the Plantation. It was hard. It was the most lost I have ever felt.’” (pgs. 161-162)

The War Priestesses of Anala (all hyenas) believe they are meant to die in battle, fighting enemy warriors one-on-one with swords and knives. But the world is changing, with the introduction of gunpowder weapons that kill at a distance (which Anala considers cowardly), such as those the Sura Clan is importing for its guards. This Anala can foresee her religion shrinking and disappearing. She hopes to join Kadar and the four others to accomplish more than a personal escape. She wants them to lead a general slave revolution so she can die in glorious battle.

Art by Rukis

It’s crazy. But – the chances of four escaped slaves hiding in a large country with all authorities and professional escaped-slave hunters searching for them are practically zero. Can four ex-slaves and a death-or-glory warrior priestess foment a full-scale slave rebellion? Can Kadar, the narrator, take part in such a revolution while he and his gay lover Ahsin conduct their personal NSFW romance, and while the group first help Kadar search for his son, who he has not seen for four years and who should be six years old now?

About page 170, their search takes them from the desert of camels and caravans to the muggy, humid coast of jungles, seas, ships, and new animals like otters, langurs, and several that are unknown to Kadar.

Legacy: Dusk (cover by Rukis, plus seven illustrations, some of which are explicitly erotic) mixes scenes of Kadar’s and Ahsin’s romantic trysts, Kadar’s musings on his past and his thoughts on his desert slave culture (what would be the 16th/17th-century Middle East in our world), and the hiding, escapes, and battles of the group’s adventures. If you haven’t read Legacy: Dawn yet, you should start there. If you have, you know you want to read this last half of Legacy.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Fur Planet

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.

Friday the 13th is coming up and who better to help us celebrate than Glove and Boots!
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Hello Everyone!

We open this week's show with a discussion on the difficulty of admitting fault. We look into an article that analyzes why we as people are unlikely to seek responsibility for our mistakes and shortcomings. Is this an issue of the ego or is it something deeper, and how can this harm us in the long run? 

Our main topic is our F.A.G. to Convention Attendance. With last week covering how to plan for the convention, this week we talk about how to enjoy a convention to the best of your ability. Part recap, part conversational, this is a show meant for newcomers to conventions. Spoiler: next week we talk about when the convention plans go awry and how to triage that. 

We close with some feedback on our previous episodes and a question on admitting love in the face of difficulty-- our questioner is closeted, unsure of his sexuality, and unsure how his friends and family will react if he follows through on his feelings for another male. What is he to do? 

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 089 Feral Attraction Guide to Convention Attendance - Should we be more willing to accept blame? Can we talk about convention attendance for 90 minutes? FEEDBACK! All this, and more, on this week's Feral Attraction!

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

Monster Island. Directed by Leopoldo Aguilar, from a script by Billy Frolick & Alicia Núñez Puerto. Sony Home Pictures Entertainment, September 12, 2017, 80 minutes, direct-to-DVD, $14.99.

Distributed in the U.S. & Canada by Vision Films (Sherman Oaks, California). Produced by Ánima Estudios (México City).

Is Monster Island worth an article for DP? How can we ignore any movie with a character like Verónica, the pig-girl?

This 80-minute CGI animated movie premiered theatrically on July 21st in the U.K. It got devastating reviews. Newspaper The Guardian said the day before, “… it’s […] dispiriting to encounter this ploddingly mediocre knockoff, with its budget effects, utterly uninspired visual design and flatlining dialogue. […] The whole forgettable movie looks as if it has been generated by ageing software.” As if that wasn’t enough, The Guardian followed it up with an even worse review three days later. “There are few things more unpleasant to look at than bad animation. And Monster Island’s Technicolor yawn of regurgitated influences is monstrous in all the wrong ways. The eyeball-melting colour palette is just the tip of the tentacle – this is a cobbled-together, plotless mess […]” It got a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s just been released theatrically in South Korea (September 7th) and China (September 9th). We get it in the U.S. as a direct-to-DVD “family entertainment” (kids’ movie) release.

Lucas Frunk (voice of Philip Adrian Vasquez) is a stereotypical 13-year-old nerd at Brown Middle School. His best pal is also-nerdish Peter Kavinsky. They are both picked on by school bully Cameron (voice of Michael Robles) and made to do his science class experiments (the frog explodes). Lucas discovers the hard way at school social queen Melanie’s (Jenifer Beth Kaplan) Halloween dance that his “asthma inhaler” actually delivers a medicine that keeps him from turning into a towering orange ogre.

Nicolas (Roger L. Jackson), Lucas’ dad, confesses that he and his whole family are monsters from Calvera Island (on the back of a giant turtle), where everyone becomes a monster (no two alike) when they reach puberty. His Grandmother Carlotta (Katie Leigh) is still there; his mother Dina died there when he was a baby. Nicolas refuses to say howhis mother died, why he took Lucas and left Monster Island, and why he has been keeping Lucas’ past a secret from him. Lucas angrily objects to not being told until “the time is right” since the “right time” never comes.

Lucas. Using his inhaler to stay human, steals the magic “carta” (map) to Calvera Island to go there alone. Nicolas finds Lucas gone the next day and rushes with Lucas’ pet lizard Watson to Shiro & Kuro, a wise, two-headed slug (Shiro is tall & thin; Kuro is short & fat) to get a new carta to follow Lucas. Shiro & Kuro tell Nicolas he doesn’t need a carta; he can just stop taking his inhaler, turn into a monster, and automatically know how to find the island. Scenes are intercut of Lucas on the island, and Shiro & Kuro humorously trying to turn Nicolas back into a monster (he’s been in his human form too long).

In Calvera City, Lucas meets his grandmother Carlotta and her shop assistant, Veronica (Fiona Hardingham), a pig-girl monster his own age. Lucas learns that he’s come to Calvera at a bad time; people have begun disappearing. Stupid police constables Fergus (the short pumpkin) and Giraldo (tall zombie) decide that since the disappearances coincide with Lucas’ arrival, he must be guilty and follow him.

Lucas learns what the audience has known since the film’s introduction: the villain is a stereotypical “BWAHAHAHA” evil Mad Scientist. We later discover that the Mad Scientist is Lucas’ uncle Norcutt (Johnny Rose), who is also Carlotta’s son. He is the only person on Calvera Island who did not become a monster at puberty. His desperate attempts to “cure his affliction” resulted in the explosion that killed Lucas’ mother. Both Nicolas (and infant Lucas) and Norcutt left the island in self-imposed exile. Now Norcutt, completely mad, has returned with monster assistants Mongo (spider-man) & Durgo (zombie). Norcutt has decided to become more than a unique monster; he will kidnap & kill all the monsters to steal their abilities and become a composite of all their monsterishness. Norcutt has his assistants kidnap Carlotta, his own mother; Lucas and Veronica go to her rescue; Veronica is captured and Lucas is defeated; Lucas discards his inhaler to become a monster to fight Norcutt’s assistants; Lucas’ dad arrives to join him; Norcutt is completely beaten, and Lucas and Nicolas, as monsters, settle down as citizens of Monster Island.

Monster Island (no relation to the Monster Island in the Godzilla movies, or to previous horror movies with the same title) is pretty lackluster, all right. You’d expect the home of monsters to look monsterish. Instead, the town on Calvera Island looks like any other seaside small city, with the monsters stuffed into ordinary clothes, living in ordinary homes, going to work in ordinary buildings, and acting more-or-less like regular people. One of the comic policemen, Fergus, looks like a Halloween pumpkin stuffed into a uniform. His jack-o-lantern head even comes off, rolls away, and has to be retrieved (several times), which may supposedly be funny (does anyone laugh?) but destroys any illusion of a live creature. (And how convincing is it that any municipality looking to create a police force would hire the stupidest, most buffoonish clods they could find?) The sets in The Addams Family, The Munsters, and Hotel Transylvania look more monstrous. Comparisons with Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. and Monsters University are unavoidable, and Monster Island falls short every time.

Granted, Ánima Estudios doesn’t have the CGI capability that Pixar does – look at the attractively stylized but completely unnatural ocean waves and water effects — but its imagination is much shallower, too. The monsters in Monsters, Inc. are mostly nude (except for safety helmets) because they obviously aren’t human shaped and wouldn’t fit into human clothing. The monsters in Monster Island are mostly unimaginatively conventionally dressed, even if they look more grotesque clothed than nude.

Still, the monsters are a form of anthropomorphic animals, particularly Veronica the pig-girl, so it belongs here.

Monster Island is directed by Leopoldo Aguilar and produced by Ánima Estudios in México City. Ánima advertises itself as the largest animation studio in Latin America, founded in 2002. Its theatrical features shown in the U.S. are Top Cat: The Movie (Don Gato y su Pandilla), September 16, 2011; Wicked Flying Monkeys (Guardianes de Oz), April 10, 2015; Top Cat Begins (Don Gato: El Inicio de la Pandilla), October 30, 2015; and The Legend of Chupacabras (La Leyenda del Chupacabras), October 14, 2016 limited*; all of which but the last have anthro animals in them. Ánima has also produced many TV cartoon series, of which Teenage Fairytale Dropouts and Legend Quest have been shown in the U.S.

*La Leyenda del Chupacabras is the fourth in a Halloween/Day of the Dead series, preceded by La Leyenda de la Nahuana (produced by Animex, not Ánima Estudios; November l, 2007), La Leyenda de la Llorona (October 21, 2011), and La Leyenda de las Momias de Guanajuato (October 30, 2014); to be followed by La Leyenda del Charro Negro next year. The others were never released theatrically in the U.S. but have had DVD releases; Chupacabras had a very limited U.S. theatrical release. See also the Legend Quest TV series.

Monster Island is a direct-to-DVD movie here in English and Spanish languages, and English and Spanish subtitles, released on September 12, 2017 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. It is scheduled to be released theatrically in Mexico on September 15 and in Spain on November 17, under its Spanish-language title, Isla Calaca.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

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

Dear Papabear, 

So I'm having trouble with getting out of my toxic household and commissions haven't been of much help. My job has cut my hours and I feel very lost on how to escape. Been trying to apply to other jobs but so far I've been getting silence and a mountain of rejections. How can I get out of this mess as quickly as possible?

Blitz

* * *

Hi, Blitz,

I'd like to have more information before I offer advice on this one, please. Here are some questions:

1. What education do you currently have?
2. What is your current job?
3. What are your career goals?
4. What types of jobs are you applying for?
5. Are you living in a small community with few opportunities, or a large one?
6. What job skills do you currently have?

Answering these will help.

Hugs,
Papabear

* * *

1. Nearly done with my A.A. for Art/Art Education
2. Currently working as a biller/authorization specialist at a psychology office. The pay is abysmal now that my hours are cut, making it harder for me to move out.
3. My career goals are to get to combine what I love and live for (which is art) with trying my best to help people out, whether it's to entertain (video game industry) or to comfort with the help of creativity (art therapy).
4. Been applying to are multitude of store clerk/cashier jobs and a few fast food places. Still nothing from any of them.
5. I live in a fairly medium sized community but nobody really interacts with each other so... it's a little lonely here. And as far as I'm concerned, opportunity doesn't really present itself much over here given how expensive everything is. Florida is notorious for being expensive.
6. I'm currently certified with using Microsoft Office (even have a certificate for it. Completed the testing during High School). I now have plenty of experience with customer service over the phone and I have developed decent communication skills. I'm fluent in both English and Spanish whilst having a vague understanding of written French (I can roughly translate some of it).

Blitz

* * *

Hi, Blitz,

Art therapy can be an immensely satisfying job. I have a friend who is an art therapist in Fresno and he enjoys it greatly. But to get a job in that field you really need at least a master's degree, so after you get your AA, you will need a minimum of three more years of college education. As for working in the video game industry, if you mean as a programmer or designer, you would also need considerably more training. This is an incredibly competitive industry, and only the most avid people who eat, breathe, and live video games have any chance of getting a job. From your email, it doesn't sound to me as if you have the obsession and passion required to succeed here (could be wrong; could be a lot you haven't told me yet).

On the short term, if you are simply looking to get some kind of full-time job as a clerk or other similar position, then it would seem to me that being bilingual in Miami would be an enormous benefit; if you don't already do so, you should play that up when you apply to jobs in your area.

Since you are interested in finding something that will help you get out of the house sooner, and because it sounds like you're good with computers, I would like to recommend that you start studying to get an IT certification of some sort. There are a wide variety of certifications available, and many of them can be accomplished in a matter of weeks or months. You can also make good money in areas such as network engineer, systems administrator, or (an area that is hugely short of people right now), some type of security analyst.

If I were you, this is the course I would steer toward for the short-term, at least. Continue to look for the jobs you are seeking now, but apply to a good IT school and get yourself certified. Then find a better-paying job, move out of the house, and, as time allows, seek your preferred degree in the arts.

I hope that is helpful!

Hugs,

Papabear

Here is a gorgeous short by Robin Joseph. Also foxes are well known for their stick and boat usage.
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Patch here, with Part 2 of the story submitted by guest writer Duncan R. Piasecki.

In Part 1, we mentioned the theatrical nature of anthropomorphism: how fursuiting is related to a world-wide love for humans performing as animals. In the mainstream, it’s in musicals like the stage version of The Lion King or Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats. Then, as we discovered, there was even a small, overlooked chapter of fandom history with not one, but at least two musicals focusing on the furry subculture.

One of these unique projects was Yiff!/<furReality>, which was fading from memory until we rescued documentation from the director.  It can make you wonder… while the mainstream celebrates anthropomorphic performance, why haven’t such ambitions carried forward as fandom has grown?

Perhaps the ideas may get tried again, with bigger and better resources, stages and audiences this time. Looking into that may get you excited for a certain con in 2018.  More on that at the end. (-Patch)

Duncan R. Piasecki continues with the story of the other musical:

Everything awful dot com (Furry Tales)

Strangely enough at about the same time as Yiff! was happening, another musical about furries was in the works, but completely unrelated and covering slightly different ground. A lot less was done with it, though, so there’s a lot less to say about it, unfortunately. This one, however, you’ve more likely heard of – at least if you’ve gone to Anthrocon consistently for the last decade or so.

In 2007, to coincide with Anthrocon’s first day, a musical was performed in Pittsburgh, at the CLO Cabaret theatre. The musical was titled Furry Tales.  There was hope from writers Bill Medica and JC Carter to have furries around, and have them give input. (They were Pittsburgh residents themselves, and had seen many an Anthrocon come and go, though never been to one themselves).

Medica (left) and Carter (right) at the premiere.

The story of the musical was basically that a journalist for a slag rag website named “everythingawful.com” (a play on Something Awful, who are… not exactly fans of us) goes undercover at a furry convention.  His mission was to go all Vanity Fair Pleasures of the Fur on our collective tails/nubs/whatever you have attached there, and expose the weird, kinky, sordid details about our sexual deviancy. (Apparently, even if you hate us, being in the middle of it doesn’t contaminate you if you’re there ironically – once a philosofur, twice a furvert? Sorry, Voltaire). He meets three others – “Gorillanator”, “HuggyBunny” and “MisoKitty2”. Music, and stereotype-breaking-down, ensues.  By the end, our grand troll protagonist, who calls himself “BlueWolf22”, finds his people, and The Truth of the Furry Fandom™ (dun dun dunnnn)… or something to that effect.

Something sticks out to me personally as interesting: one of the characters in this musical was a gorilla.  When was the last time someone met an ape furry, or was one? I mean, there are primate ones, but even the IARP doesn’t have any apes listed in their research on fursona species. It’s an oddity that sticks out a bit. I’m sure there probably is one somewhere out there, but I think it speaks to the lack of proper research at the time about who was what species.

(Note from Patch: here’s esteemed greymuzzle superhero Ultra-Gor meeting Nichelle “Uhura” Nichols!)

Now, reaction to this musical is a lot more visible than could be found for Yiff!. Furries apparently liked it well enough, giving it a standing ovation, but Anthrocon’s board members were less convinced. Uncle Kage himself was in attendance and was… not totally happy, to put it in simplest terms. I’ll paraphrase, but the gist is that he while he felt they had good intentions, tried to be sensitive, and the performance was well done – they were misinformed.  It seemed they were relying on misinformation common in the media at the time especially, so their attempted sensitivity was a misfire due to the misinformation (as he put it, the story was about “four losers trying to get laid”). He invited them to come to Anthrocon and get a good look for themselves at what all this fuss was about.

Nothing more seemed to happen after that, as far as I can tell – nothing more seems to have ever been said or done since that performance. I can’t even tell if they took up Uncle Kage’s invitation.

Unfortunately for us, it seems that no files of this exist anywhere, unless someone somehow recorded it. As best I can tell, the creators never released anything, and the musical was never performed ever again. The writers are also quite hard to track down nowadays, which doesn’t help either (I mean, you can find people with their names, but it’s really hard to tell if they’re the right people, or someone who simply shares a name and broad location). Plus, the website was heavy on use of Flash, so it didn’t archive at all, making finding primary source information nowadays really hard.  So this one’s a bit of information and not much else, unfortunately. I wish there were more to say.

We are the fantasy generation

So there you have it: a small part of furry cultural history you might not have even known existed, represented by Yiff! and Furry Tales.  It’s a pity really, it’s quite interesting in my humble opinion just for how weird it is as a cultural artefact. Good, bad, in the middle, whatever you feel about these things, I think we can all agree: this was something unique and worth preserving at least the memory of.  More desirably, it would be helpful to archive the full content, if just for interest as an odd, short-lived, and (so far) unsuccessful sub-branch of the broader story of the Furry.

– Duncan R. Piasecki

Patch here: Are we missing anything to mention? There was a stage show (but not a musical, I don’t think, I haven’t watched it) by Chris “Sparf” Williams:

But now for that 2018 news I was teasing at the beginning.

A Furry Musical Con!

Biggest Little Fur Con has grown, in a few short years, to be one of the highest-profile cons. Their 5th annual event in 2017 shot into 3rd place among largest cons (behind Anthrocon and Midwest Furfest.) By reputation, they are supposed to be one of the most fun and most well-run of all cons for several reasons.  One is their location at the Grand Sierra resort in Reno Nevada – with Go Karting, bowling and more on site.  Another is their attention to organization and theme; their “Big Brother is watching” style dystopian theme several years ago was praised as one of the most well-done anyone had seen, with the pervasive “propaganda” and interactive element of a “resistance”.

When they announced 2018’s theme is “Furry Musical,” I heard it from a con guest of honor who is a professional in theater. I believe they are helping to produce it.  I’m going to check in for a followup article to coincide with some important BLFC news. Stay tuned for that and stay fabulous.

On behalf of any furry who likes musicals, thank you very much to Duncan for his extraordinary effort to research and present this fandom history. I hope it may inspire those excited for BLFC, and those who bring the idea back to life after years of gathering dust. (- Patch)

A MUSICAL!!!#BLFC18

Mother's Day weekend 2018

For real this time. https://t.co/IGCcCTZpe9

— BiggestLittleMusicon (@BiggestLittleFC) June 5, 2017

ANNOUNCING: OMG we are writing a musical for @BiggestLittleFC next year!!! @peppercoyote. NO PRESSURE. pic.twitter.com/1KIvh7NfxE

— Fox Amoore (@FoxAmoore) June 5, 2017

Hey guys, sorry about the audio quality on this one...something happened and whatever it was won't happen again. Enjoy? That said we will have a regular episode up very soon. ep. 176 - Fur Reality '17 (audio borked) - Hey guys, sorry about the audio quality on this o…

Yeah, I have a map like that and it never let me down either. (Those churro carts are much easier to find with it)
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Previously posted – Review – Furry Nation: The true story of America’s most misunderstood subculture, by Joe Strike.

Finally, there’s a formally published book about furry fandom and its history. I think it’s overdue by a decade. It comes with excellent cred, being written by long time insider Joe Strike (who joined the fandom in 1989) and published by Cleis Press. Find out more from furrynation.com.

A book worth supporting- Joe Strike's "Furry Nation" comes out very soon. Please spread it on 10/10 via this link. https://t.co/13n3vPhdpN

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) September 28, 2017

To support the book: sign up to their Thunderclap campaign. Join fast, the launch is approaching!

Signing up concentrates support with one blast on social media.  Why help? Success of the book will support more and better plans. One commenter asked why the book says “America’s most misunderstood subculture.” It has to do with an American publisher focused on domestic readers, and much of the early history is tied to a few American places.  The book had to be kept inside a certain length, leaving wider topics out, but if it does well…

Altho 'Furry Nation' has emphasis on USA, any sequel -- assuming this sells! -- will be called 'Furry Planet' and be more international.

— Oliver (or 'Goldie') (@OliverGoldie1) September 28, 2017

Author Joe Strike writes in with news, and an exclusive offer of a free comic:

“The official publication date for Furry Nation is October 10 – and some interesting things are already happening.

Last week I was interviewed by The New York Post. I supplied them with an assortment of furry art and fursuit photos. It looks like they’re going to give Furry Nation a nice write-up, and possibly explain Furry a little bit better than just about everyone else has so far. I’m keeping my fingers crossed – the only keywords attached to their recent story about the Connecticut councilman “exposed” as a furry were “Connecticut” and “Fetishes.”

I did my very first podcast this past weekend, appearing on Furcast.fm and it was a ton of fun. They’ve asked me to come back anytime and I can’t wait to join them again. You can download or watch it here.

I’m offering a freebie to people who purchase Furry Nation through the book’s website.

There are links on the page to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Powells.com. Click on any of those links, make your purchase, and forward purchase confirmation to me at joe@furrynation.com, together with your mailing address and an over-21 age statement. I’ll send you a free copy of Komos & Goldie Number One: the premiere adventure of that scaly ‘n shiny super-team created by myself and the British fur known as ‘Desiring Change.’” (-Joe Strike)

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The 10th Kingdom is a fantasy miniseries that first aired on NBC (US) and Sky One (UK) in February of 2000, and in Spain in November of that same year. It tells the tale of a young lady, Virginia (Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Father of the Bride), and her father, Anthony (John Larroquette, Night Court), who, living in less than optimal conditions in a tiny apartment next to Central Park in New York, are pulled through a magic teleporting mirror into a parallel world of fairytales. As they try to go back to their real world, they are accompanied in their journey through a fantasy land by a handsome man who is actually a half-wolf, simply named Wolf (Scott Cohen), and a talking Golden Retriever who is really Prince Wendell, a cursed human prince (Daniel Lapaine).

This miniseries is simply phenomenal. Award-winning screenplay writer Simon Moore, who also wrote Gulliver’s Travels (1996) and co-wrote Traffic (2000), wondered what may have happened after the ‘Happily Ever After’ of old fairytales, and his vision became the screenplay to this miniseries. But it isn’t just greatly written. It’s also endearing, funny, entertaining for both kids and adults, and, it’s immensely furry!

As the Evil Queen (Dianne West, Hannah and Her Sisters, In Treatment) is released from her moldy prison cell, a great menace looms over the Nine Magical Kingdoms of the fantasy realm. The Evil Queen, stepmother to Prince Wendell from the 4th Kingdom, uses magic to exchange the body of the prince with that of a Golden Retriever, so she’ll be able to easily train the phony prince (with the soul of a dog) into giving away his kingdom. The real prince, physically turned into a dog, runs away through a teleporting mirror into our real world (the 10th Kingdom), searching for help, and that’s when he finds Virginia and Anthony.

The miniseries has a great cast, and most of their scenes were recorded on location, throughout different places in Europe, with gorgeous scenery. Though not much was heard from the production team for some years afterwards, the TV premiere had many followers and VHS orders; and it currently has a cult status, with over 800 very positive reviews on Amazon for the Blu-ray release. It also has a petition for a sequel at Change.org, a Facebook fan group, and a Twitter fan group @T10Kfan

 
The use of animal anthropomorphism is all over the place in this lengthy adventure. Wolf is the main furry attraction. He looks like a charming and elegant human, except, he has a fluffy tail, a passionate devotion for juicy meat and tasty young ladies, and, literally growls and howls! There are whimsical scenes in which he has to control his inner wolf instincts, almost always in a playful manner, which are delightful to watch. The prince’s phony poser, the dog trapped in Prince Wendell’s body (obviously played by the same actor as the human prince, Daniel Lapaine), is nothing but furry too! Panting constantly, as he’s being trained by the Evil Queen to behave like a normal person he utters the lines “I demand to be a happy puppy!”,“Can I have a biscuit?” or “I found a juicy pile of bones, and buried them.” Meanwhile, the main four characters come across a shepherds village that’s celebrating their local festival. And guess what costume the villagers run away from, at the parade… A wolf’s oversized head, of course!

 

  Mice speak German, did you know? Now you know!
  If you keep panting like that,
they’re gonna think you’re really just a dog
  Virginia strokes Wolf’s tail.
Not against the fur, Virginia! With the fur!
  Awooo!
The wolf is coming, hide away your sheep, shepherds!
  Prince Wendell finds himself unable to communicate through speech with anyone but Anthony. Imagine having John Larroquette as your manservant!

  The Dutch actor Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner) plays the role of wicked Huntsman, always menacing, chasing our main characters like prey

 
As furry as many things are, the miniseries is valuable too in that it can be watched and enjoyed by everyone, with a gripping story where everything has a reason for being the way it is. Nothing on screen happens for the sake of it. Every scene establishes the characters, their motivations, their background, their conflicts, their personal growth, and ultimately the underlying course of events that brings them to their destiny. It uses references from classic tales, but it’s an original idea, a fresh different story on its own that has stood the test of time, while other classic tale movie remakes haven’t.

Joining me to discuss the series is Scott E. Cohen, actor from New York City (US), who plays the role of Wolf. He’s had several appearances and main roles over the years on television and on the big screen, including the series Necessary Roughness (2011-2013), and a role alongside Natalie Portman in The Other Woman (2009). He’s worked in a ton of stage productions as well, on Broadway and off Broadway, including Three Changes with Maura Tierney at Playwrights Horizons, and Drunk Enough To Say I Love You at NYSF with Sam West.

 

 
Mickey: So, before we start Scott, I feel I should give you a bit of context. I watched the miniseries when it premiered here on television, with my little sister (I was a teenager back then). And we absolutely loved it! It remains one of my favorite series.

 
Scott: That’s so great to hear! It changed a lot of people’s lives. We are very proud of it. There’s a lot of family connection with it, and helping people through rough patches in their lives. Simon Moore and myself are trying to get a sequel made! But we need fans to speak up and demand it. So please sign the Change.org petition and spread the word on social media!

 

 
M: Your performance in this production seems more amused, more carefree, compared to the serious tone of most stuff you’re usually involved with on screen. In interviews you repeatedly say you’re proud of the work you did in the miniseries. Did you have fun playing the part?

 
S: I had some of the most fun ever! It was filled with challenges both in acting and personally. Traveling across the globe to shoot over 8 months was thrilling and hard. I felt like I was in a band touring. It was different, but I think the show is different than most of what gets made. Very seldom are we asked to play parts that demand so much research and instinct as this did for me. I am very proud of it mainly because of the effect it has had on so many people. It seems like, just when I forget about it, people pop up and talk about how it has moved them or changed them. Wolf was an amalgamation of everything I love about being human.
 

M: As a half-wolf, your character has a tail. Maybe you know many of our readers enjoy wearing tails at conventions and gatherings! Most of the time, storywise, your tail is hidden inside your pants, because wolves have a bad reputation. Did you actually wear your hidden tail when it didn’t show on screen?

 
S: I wore it when I felt like I needed to be aware of it. It was my choice, but often the lump would be too obvious for shooting. Yet I felt it important for myself and others to be aware that I had something that was unique and deeply connected to who I was. It was a big tail!

 
M: Did you have one or many tail props?

 
S: I had a moving one that was remote controlled, and one that laid there. My son played with the remote controlled one on set, when he visited. He was 4, and he loved it.

 
M: That’s so cute!

 
S: But the behavior was more important to me in the end. The question for me was always if I could behave like a wolf. That’s where the scratching came from, the eyebrow movement, the eyes.

 
M: Performing like an animal is not as easy as it looks, experienced fursuiters would agree. Yes, I think the role would have suffered if they had given you many more props. The props don’t make the character, they’re a tool. It was also fun that you weren’t obviously a wolf so you could fake being a regular person, throughout the story, if needed.

 
S: Agreed! We actually shot with masks for transformation, but I really wanted to “be” the character, and convinced them all to let me try to do everything without any mask or costume. I wish I had pictures of that.

 

Rawr!

 
M: I wanted to show you some remarks from the making-of, to see if you’d like to comment on them:

  Simon Moore (Writer):
“A big question for me was, how to introduce the character of Wolf. How to come up with somebody completely off-the-wall crazy, but nevertheless be endearing and intriguing.”

Herbert Wise (Director):
“Scott has done it completely successfully, being this ‘animal’ and yet being human. The animal is not offensive, it’s just excited. And the human is not quite human. And there’s always that delay of the animal within him.”  

S: Sure! I think this was a challenge that was introduced to me the first day I shot. We had two directors. The first I worked with was David Carson, and the first scene we shot was when I show up to Tony’s apartment. He took me aside and had this long conversation with me before I started shooting along with a jacket not fitting me I remember, or something, there was some kind of costume thing going on, maybe me deciding what I really wanted to look like… I think it was more that actually. But he told me to reach for the stars, go as far as I want, and he will bring me back if he needed. This way we saw Wolf off-the-wall and the script would do the rest really, show his more vulnerable side.

Herbie was (he just passed away) a genius. His take on Wolf was all about what was his conflict inside and how to communicate that through sheer internal angst and desire. He gave me the confidence to sit there and know how I felt would be seen. I loved them both for different reasons. And Simon is a wizard… truly. I can watch the film over and over and discover new things along with how Kim Williams performs… she was amazing.

 
M: In the scene where you have to climb up Virginia’s long hair, Kim’s hair, like in the story of Rapunzel…

 

… was that really you going up her mane?

 
S: Yes, that was me! I was hooked into a harness and climbed up hair that had a rope hidden in it. The harness was set up so I didn’t fall but they helped me a few times getting up. It was a real tree in the forest, at Pinewoods outside of London.

M: And the inner tree was filmed in studio.

S: Yes.

 
M: When ‘Full Motion Video’ (FMV) was a thing, you were part of an ambitious cast in the videogame Ripper (1996) for the PC (with Christopher Walken, John Rhys-Davies, and others). That shooting was almost fully green-screened. On the other hand, there’s rarely any green screen on The 10th Kingdom. Would you say the use of green screen makes it harder for actors to act well?

 
S: Yes. I am about to start a TV show that is all green screen. It’s harder, but your imagination kicks in and it’s fine. The problem is being confined to a space, a reality that is not there for you. For big action sequences I think it’s easier because your imagination is bigger, and fills it all in. But for little things like a room, a desk, etc., it’s harder. Ripper was one of the first to do that.

 
M: I caught you at work, so you’ll have to go on set in a couple of minutes. But I have one last petition. You see, we have a meme, a joke, in the fandom. Furries whose persona is a wolf, or a canine, are fined $350 for howling, for awooing. As most famous wolf of the ten kingdoms, I’d like to make a request. Could you gracefully extend the royal pardon you were given by King Wendell to all wolves, to include any charge for awooing in public?

 
S: Why would they be fined for being natural?! This is a horrible punishment!!

 

M: Thank you very much for your time, Scott!

 
Reader, please make sure to sign the petition for a sequel to this much deserving miniseries at Change.org! If you’re further interested you can join and/or follow the fan groups at Facebook or Twitter. You can find Scott’s social media accounts @scottecohen or as Scottecohen on Facebook. And, since it’s now, at last, formally legalized: Awooo!

 
 

The entry Interview with Actor Scott Cohen,</br> Wolf from ‘The Tenth Kingdom’ appears first in FurryFandom.Es.

EXTENDED PRE-REGISTRATION: Sign up by the end of day on October 10!

Register here to join the fun and support this young con.

San Jose, CA has two furry cons. Look at special places like that for ideas about how the fandom is growing. (See my article: One Town, Two Cons.) Do two cons show healthy demand and raise the bar for both?  Do they split the community?  Or are they just on different paths with one trying an out-of-the-box concept?  Well, it looks like win-win positivity in San Jose. The cons are so friendly that they share staff.

Pacific Anthropomorphics Weekend (PAWcon) is the upstart “relax-a-con” at the DoubleTree, previous home of Further Confusion.  400 or so furs went last year, making a just-right sized party on the shared balcony connecting the whole party floor. (You can bounce from room to room without traffic jams, and spend time with everyone – it’s the best party ever.) The con has grown by 100 furs-per-year, so expect more and better for 2017, their fourth year.

Keovi’s art

PAWcon is coming SOON, so register NOW! Here’s more info they sent:

“Pac Anthro League (PAWCon) is designed to foster co-involvement and inclusion between the intermingled groups within our shared community. We support local animal groups through charitable events, and educational outreach.

The goal is bringing together furry, pups, gaymers, and cosplay, among other groups, in a welcoming supportive environment. It enriches our community through outreach and educational inclusion of these various facets in the greater Anthropomorphic community.

Each community exists in their own right, though many members aren’t limited to just one group. Pac Anthro League believes that group co-operation and inclusion strengthens our diversity, making our community the open and welcoming place it is.

This years guests of honor Keovi and Alkali are both well known in furry community. Kevoi’s amazing artistic abilities in various mediums, from spray paint to print work, has delighted our community for years. Alkali is best known for his unique comedy style and generous heart, helping to raise money for charities around the country.”

Check out Keovi and Alkali on the GOH page.

And here’s the registration page again. Can’t wait to see you there.

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.