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With CJ still being a bad dog and not joining us, our fan Gaia joins us for lengthy discussion heavy episode.

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Link Roundup:

• Not My Job: ‘BoJack Horseman’ Creator Gets Quizzed On Centaurs
• Size Comparison of modern & extinct animals
• Canada has gender neutral passports
• Vice Canada tweets more clips from their furry documentary
• BCR News does a furry piece
• Harvey crashes furry convention Mephit Fur Meet
• Army soldier lives double life as furry character called Mark the Husky
• FurSquared mocks MFF for hotel reservation timing
• Washington Post: “My girlfriend and I meow at each other. It’s not as unusual as it sounds.”
• Scientists Find Bizarre Brain-Like Blob In Vancouver’s Lost Lagoon
• Vore Is Hiring

News:

• Weird Blobs in Vancouver Canada
• Scientists have spiders producing enhanced web that can hold a human
• Scientists Think They Have Found The Maximum Human Lifespan
• Cyclist Shows Off For Google’s Street View Camera, Becomes Online Hero
• Florida woman drunkenly bites man’s fishing line, swims away with lure
• Florida Couple Hauling Propane Grill in Their Kia Light Cigarette, Blow Up Car
• Facebook Friends Aren’t Your Real Friends
  • Link 2

Emails:

• Gadget – Reviving a Group Advice
• Rhayn – Do you remember… …Darth Faytaur
• Kaz – Life Dreams

[Live] Good Dragon

I never have any of this kind of luck in the woods.
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Here’s a followup to previous coverage of the tiny alt-right fringe of furry fandom (Altfurry).  See: 1) Altfurry supports neo-nazi violence, with member Nathan Gate on camera in Charlottesville. And 2) Furries resist hate, Altfurry Discord logs go public, Casey Hoerth removed by employers. Hate isn’t being welcomed, and this is the third furry name in a headline about it here. There are more to come.

Andrew Dodson in Charlottesville, August 11-12

It turns out that a well circulated photo from the Charlottesville “Unite The Right” hate rally is of a known furry.  Andrew Dodson is (or used to be) a furry going by the names GoldenZoltan and Flukepup. This is his former FA page. (archive) More on that below. First let’s look at how he came to be pictured.

The photo circulated with the events in this story: Arkansas-linked Charlottesville marcher identified, apologizes to those misidentified.

In a telephone interview with the Arkansas Times, Dodson apologized for the trouble he caused the state and, specifically, an Engineering professor at the University of Arkansas who was misidentified as the person carrying a torch at a march last Friday night. The professor became the target of social media vitriol.

In the article, Dodson explains that he went to Charlottesville because he wanted to “see who these alt-right people were.” He denies being “a Nazi, or a KKK, or a white supremacist.” The story depicts him as pleading innocence.

But it reports “Dodson lost his job, he said, because of participation in the rally.” That explains why the denial is a dubious about-face. Read his white supremacist remarks in this prior article in The Atlantic, by Daniel Lombroso:

White nationalists who gathered for the Unite the Right rally blame those who turned out to stop them. They’re “damn communists,” says Andrew Dodson, a 33-year-old inventor who calls himself a “racial realist” and says he is fighting to save white America.

Charlottesville is now the epicenter of the struggle for white America, Dodson told me. And just because Saturday’s violence seemed to have been contained, the alt-right will continue to “give them hell” in the city.

“This is a phenomenal victory,” he said.

“Our ideas are so powerful, that the cops have to break the law and use violence against us to shut us down,” he said in a text message after our initial conversation. “This shows just what an unbelievable threat we are to the system.”

Andrew Dodson sounds like a pretty radicalized believer, wouldn’t you say?

If you aren’t sure, watch this video I found from August 11 in Charlottesville. At the Confederate statue at the center of the hate rally, students chant “Black Lives Matter” while they are swarmed, violently beaten, and driven away. At 0:33, Dodson leaps on the statue’s pedestal and raises a torch like he’s won a game. At 1:22, the crowd chants “White Lives Matter” while Dodson hugs a bro who throws a Nazi salute. Beside them is a flag of the Vanguard America hate group.  

Fight breaks out between racist group #UniteTheRight and decent folks opposing their hate. #WeGotThis #AltRight pic.twitter.com/iBiEa78AeY

— Thinker (@areta) August 12, 2017

The person who shared the video, Emily G, reports: “Damn I got punched a lot – I can see where I was when I got maced, too.”

So how does one journey from furry fandom to neo-nazi hate? 

Is it just random chance?  Let’s start with his Flukepup page on FurAffinity. His photo posted there (archive) has 9-year-old comments by his friend Naskatan, AKA “Kekkus of Akkad” or “Kekus Lupus”.  That’s the altfurry whose behavior after the Charlottesville rally got his twitter account banned.  Kekkus mocked the murder of Heather Heyer (his post was seen in the Flayrah article “‘Alt-Furry’ suffers blowback after Alt-Right rally leads to death of citizen”.)

It’s one hint about hate festering for a long time.  Let’s look at many more.

Andrew’s account was banned from Furaffinity. That doesn’t make it clear if he is still active in the fandom.  According to tips I received, he moved from Arkansas to New England after the time it was active.

In Arkansas, Andrew was in a relationship with a fursuit maker named White Wolf, maker of FurAffinity’s mascot. (In the 3rd commission on this page you’ll see in the tags where she used Andrew’s real name.)  When they broke up she reported that he physically abused her and stole from her, as described in her post on Livejournal. She obtained an order of protection because of his abusive behavior.

This info is supported by tips from two more furries who visually identified his Charlottesville photo: one who used to live in Arkansas at the time, and this one who posted the photo with a public comment:

This guy. I know him. I know a lot about him. He poisoned a friend of mine, and talked at length about wanting to kill cops. pic.twitter.com/HHdkGkJ6YW

— Ambien (@AskMrOwlAgain) August 17, 2017

Ambien is White Wolf’s ex-husband. He shared details about Andrew:

“Goldenzoltan” Fursona

I knew him fairly well, he dated my ex and she complained about him all the time. I kinda considered him a casual friend before that. When the restraining order was filed against him in late 2009, that was the end of me speaking to him.

He went by the name “goldenzoltan”. I think he still has a LiveJournal. He was partially responsible for one of the big FA password leaks sometime around 2006(?). He’s dated men and women in the fandom.

Andrew is, at best as I can describe, a sociopath. I’d say he has some limited ability to feel empathy, but NO impulse control. I spoke up about it on Twitter and contacted the reporter that interviewed him at the Atlantic because the facade that Drew maintains is completely fake. He’s really good at getting people to trust him, and that makes him dangerous.

I sent questions and Ambien continued:

1) I had to force Andrew out of my house in 2009 because he wouldn’t stop ranting about how much he hated cops and a bunch of crazy conspiracy theory shit. I brought that up at the order of protection trial.

2) I don’t have any details about the leak from FA, I don’t know how he acquired the passwords, he’s an electrical engineering major but not really the coding type… if I remember correctly.

3) I’ve been told that he attends conventions, I was informed about a year ago about him attending Furpocalypse. He lives in or near Boston, last I heard.

4) There are dangerous people in the fandom and they can appear to be your friend. Andrew has sort of a frat boy kind of thing going on. Fun at parties until he poisons someone with nightshade tea or sexually assaults someone (both are things that have actually occurred).

Let’s dig more. Here’s an old photobucket account for Goldenzoltan that has pics of a young skinny Andrew, furry costuming, and a racist meme.

In 2010, he asked to be removed from his Wikifur page. He was listed as a member of Livejournal trolling group Gayfaggotinc around 2005.  The bottom of this Wikifur page says he was involved with hacking of Furaffinity that released a lot of passwords around then:

LJ user Golden Zoltan was banned from LJ for cross-posting said passwords. He was the one FA shit a brick about, if I’m not mistaken. – Leam, March 2007

An archive of his banned Livejournal from 2005 confirms connections; his real name, school, and furry friends.

In 2006, Nitrogen the Cat posted to Livejournal about rooming with GoldenZoltan at Anthrocon. (I wonder if Nitrogen ever got his $115 back?)

Comments on the post show the banned Goldenzoltan Livejournal account was replaced by Andrew’s new one, dog0fwar.  Here’s dog0fwar posting about being banned from the Nazi Furs community. Andrew’s LJ account was active until 2014, and the ID links him to a lot more than trolling.

Organizing with other neo-nazis.

Googling “dog0fwar” gets a hit for the neo-nazi website that was taken down in the aftermath of the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville.

Here’s a comment by dog0fwar on the Livejournal of Weev, notorious neo-nazi hacker.

Andrew mentions his professional work in nuclear energy – and hanging out with Weev, who is now the system administrator for The Daily Stormer.

Oh really… that’s nice. Oh wait. I thought it said “FLOWERS”.

Google has Daily Stormer comments by dog0fwar. Andrew jokes about the murder here, and invites nazis to hang out with him in Dorchester MA in July 2017.  And here, he helped plan alt-right marching in Boston in May 2017, including discussing violence. It starts under “Evidently, someone from 8Chan attended a pre-planning meeting by the leftist’s, and recorded, took notes of their strategy” … “Funny thing is I played innocent and they just let me stay in the meeting and take notes.”

Notice skype ID and meeting Sam Hyde (who funded Daily Stormer’s legal defense.) The Skype ID is verifiably Andrew’s (1)(2).  Here’s a different comment with it asking to meet Sam Hyde in Boston.

I guess it was a lie when Andrew said he was in Charlottesville to “see who these alt-right people were”. I hope this leaves no doubt about the real Andrew Dodson – and hints about who altfurry is friends with, and how incompatible they are with the furry community.

Imagine if a smart guy who works with nuclear power had taken the positive fork in the road, and was planning conventions and fursuit parades instead of hate marches. That’s you in the fandom.

One of the furries who sent tips gave a final thought:

I mainly share this since none of us are sure if he’s still active in the fandom, due to the possibility that he could have fully changed identities in the fandom after the move to New England. So we really would like to know if he’s still in our midst or not so others can be made aware.

UPDATE 9/2/17:

Personal stories about knowing “Goldenzoltan” came in, and readers made repeated comparison to Foxler of the Furry Raiders joining a neo-nazi group and saying “I just wanted to see what they were about.”

He used to flash his abs at me and challenge me to math for some reason.

— Zilch Woofs (@ZilchWoofs) September 2, 2017

Check out this article about general alt-right activity. The author labeled it “How white supremacists talk to each other when they think no one’s watching.” They match tactics you can see in the altfurry Discord dumps:

• They obscure their most racist elements from public view, but won’t repudiate it internally.
• They provoke reaction to depict opponents as aggressors.

The tactics are in Andrew’s planning for alt-right marching in Boston in May 2017, when he said “DO NOT STRIKE FIRST. BUT, IF YOU’RE HIT, FINISH THE FIGHT WITH YOUR FRIENDS.” You can see it in practice with the video of people surrounded with torches and beaten – then the man speaking to the camera says: “they’re attacking us!”

Look, Andrew’s current twitter.

Hello xydexx it's goldenzoltan back from the grave to troll you booooooo

— Dog0fWar88 (@Dog0fWar88) August 10, 2017

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon, where you can access exclusive stuff for just $1.

Somehow we missed the book Catstronauts: Mission Moon, written and illustrated by Drew Brockington. But now he’s back with a brand new hardcover graphic novel for young readers called Catstronauts: Race to Mars. “Fresh off of their heroic mission to save the world, the CatStronauts — Major Meowser, Pom Pom, Blanket and Waffles — are taking a well deserved victory lap. Parades and fancy awards dinners are the new norm! But around the world, other cat space programs are watching–in particular the CosmoCats, the first cats to go to space! With national pride and scientific research on the line, the world’s space programs rush to be the first cats to Mars, and the CatStronauts are starting months behind! Can they catch up and prove their first mission was no fluke?” It’s available now in full color from Little, Brown Books.

image c. 2017 Little, Brown

Here is one for the early 90s! I made recuts from the 70s and 80s so I had to buckle down and make one form the 90s for my Zootopia remix trilogy. I'm going to go lie down now ... editing is hard. "Claw & Order is a Zootopia police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Byron Howard and part of the Claw & Order franchise. It originally aired on NBC and, in syndication, on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24, 2010. At the time of its cancellation, Claw & Order was the longest-running crime drama on Zootopia primetime."
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Dear Papabear,

Weed will be legal July 1st next your for recreation all across Canada, and this terrifies me. What if the economy fails in Canada because people will no longer work and will be unmotivated degenerates sitting in front of their TV screens becoming living 10 pin bowling balls. Because I know very little about weed and what it does other then it's a very bad drug based on what an OPP constable told me in the DARE program in my old public school.

Sergie

* * *

Dear Sergie,

Thanks for your letter. So, yes, Canada already has legalized medicinal marijuana, and it will be legal for recreational use on July 1, 2018. Marijuana has gotten a bad rap since the early 1900s, when Mexican immigrants started coming in droves to the United States to work, bringing with them "marihuana." (Pardon me for mostly talking about the USA here, but it is still relevant to Canada).

Now, America had a long history of growing hemp to make rope and textiles, but taking it orally was limited to medicinal uses, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, for such things as increasing appetite and libido. When immigration came in from the South, a backlash against Mexicans began, and marihuana use was said to make Mexicans violent and dangerous (just another expression of racism in America). By the 1930s, there were all kinds of crazy exaggerations about marijuana as epitomized in the hysterical 1936 movie Reefer Madness, which portrayed weed use as if it were a mixture of LSD and cocaine. By 1970, the passage of the Controlled Substance Act had classified weed (cannabis) as a Schedule I drug, meaning it had no medicinal value (incorrect) and making it a crime eligible for long prison sentences. Bad propaganda was also spread, saying that weed was a "gateway drug" that led to harder drugs like heroine and crack.

About two decades later, however, the medical community began to recognize that cannabinoids in the plant did have helpful properties, especially regarding pain management, treatment of glaucoma, and for increasing the appetite of people on chemotherapy, but also for epilepsy, cancer, and Alzheimer's. While cannabis remained federally illegal, several states (California, Oregon, Washington, Maine, Arizona, and Alaska) passed their own legislation making medical marijuana use legal.

Recreational use has been approved in five U.S. states: Colorado, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and, this year, in California.

Neither the medicinal nor the recreational use of cannabis in these states has resulted in increased crime or any other serious legal or social problems. In the meantime, money from sales has benefited these states. Also, since it is now legal, there is no reason to fill prisons with people who have been caught with a few ounces of Mary Jane in their pockets, so this stands to help reduce prison crowding.

So, who is still against marijuana? Well, liquor and cigarette companies who stand to see a reduction in sales, pharmaceutical companies that will lose sales on their expensive medications for which weed is just as effective, and private prison corporations and their employees (this is more of an American thing than Canadian) that stand to lose money if they lose population. Finally, a lot of old school law enforcement people (like your constable) still believe the hype about marijuana.

As a drug, cannabis use is no worse than alcohol, which is legal, and no worse for your health than cigarettes and e-cigs, which are also legal. So, my Canadian furiend, you are not going to see your fellow countrymen and countrywomen become a bunch of "unmotivated degenerates."

That all said, Papabear is against heavy use of drugs and alcohol because they are, bottom line, not healthy for you. So, avoid them if you can, but there is nothing morally wrong or evil or mind-destroying about weed. Remember, all things in moderation.

Oh, and there is another problem with cannabis cultivation: pollution. In California, marijuana farms in the north overuse fertilizers and pesticides that are damaging water supplies and killing endangered animals such as fishers.

These are all things to bear in mind when it comes to the controversial production and use of Cannabis sativa.

Hope that calms your fears but also gives you something to think about.

Hugs,
Papabear

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

Bleak Horizons, edited by Tarl “Voice” HochDallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, March 2017, trade paperback $19.95 (338 pages), e-book $9.95.

Tarl Hoch states on Amazon that he “is a Canadian writer of primarily horror, mythos and erotic fiction”, with stories of his own in several non-furry horror anthologies. Bleak Horizons is his second book for FurPlanet. His first was the 2014 Abandoned Places, a furry horror anthology. Bleak Horizons is also a horror anthology; “fifteen stories about what horrors lie waiting for those who look to the future.”

Ha! To me, the horror is that most of these fifteen are just funny-animal stories that might as well be with humans. But they are all – well, fourteen of the fifteen — good s-f technological suspense stories.

“Adrift” by Kandrel distinguishes fear, terror, and panic through Evan, an anthropomorphic cat passenger on a starship with his wife Mia and his young son Sammy. There is a disaster:

“The hall is blocked by a family of warthogs trying to drag luggage with them. Stupid, he thinks. You can’t bring luggage into the life pods. There’s no room. This isn’t a time to worry about your things. Leave them. The burly male shouts something as Evan leaps over shoulders and uses the wall to get height. With a bound, he climbs over the unfortunate’s head. A hairy fist swings wildly but misses. He spares no more thought for the warthogs. They’d probably be too slow anyway.” (pgs. 10-11)

Evan, Mia, and Sam make it to the life pod and launch into space. But something goes wrong. Evan wakes from cryosleep in the faulty made-by-the-lowest-bidder life pod while his wife and son are still frozen. Can Evan fix it, or must he watch his wife and toddler die? There are references to Mia’s long horns and muzzle before it’s revealed what she is, but obviously she’s no cat (so what is Sammy?). There’s a plot point to Evan and his wife being different species, which makes “Adrift” more than a funny-animal story.

“4/13/2060” by Franklin Leo, is narrated by Sara (fox), a technical writer working independently with Dr. Walter Burns, a computer scientist (described as both a stoat and a weasel). They have gotten to be close friends. The story opens with Sara and a police officer looking at Burns’ gorily murdered wife, Alice, whom he loved deeply.

“The retriever sighed, his one cyber-eye whirring and glowing silently against his auburn fur. I felt like I’d ruined his entire day.

I turned to look at Mrs. Burns’ body one last time; a white sheet stretched over her with blood spattered where her head should have been. […]

‘I’ve got one more thing to show you. It’s upstairs.’ The dog gestured with his paw, letting me out first. I nodded and got out of there as quickly as I could.

[…]

‘That’s my name,’ I said. ‘Why does he have my name scrawled everywhere?’

‘We thought you could maybe explain that for us. We followed his trail downstairs, so we’re assuming that he had this all done before he killed his wife.’” (pgs. 31-32)

The story alternates between the present, 4/13/2060, and the near past to show why the initially-friendly Dr. Burns becomes more and more withdrawn and paranoid, and Sara finds herself in more and more danger. The ending of this story may remind readers of a famous s-f movie, but “4/13/2060” is still original and well-told.

“Hardwire” by Ton Inktail opens with a line from the narrator that all red-blooded male furry fans should like:

“‘I love you, Master. Won’t you fuck me?’” (p. 55)

Vix is a vixen sex robot, built to have only one purpose, with a human Master.

“‘I missed you, Tod. I love you. Won’t you fuck me?’ I swish my tail and smile.

‘Not now, Vix. I’m looking for the spare dishes. Having a party tomorrow.’

What is party? Or dishes? But he doesn’t like it if I ask too many questions. I perk my ears forward and part my lips. ‘After you find them, then will you fuck me?’” (p. 56)

Vix tries to learn more to please Tod more. She learns too much.

“Hardwire” is a good story, but depressing rather than chilling. The ending is somewhat unconvincing. If Vix is a store-bought sex robot, surely the manufacturer would be aware of its robots’ abilities to learn more, and the resulting consequences.

“The Ouroboros Plate” by Slip Wolf: Imperial Prime Agent Vix Pon Hallord (weasel) arrives at an isolated space station inhabited by only research scientist Doctor Lisker (another weasel) and an Artificial Intelligence. Hallord is on a routine visit to check the progress of Doctor Lisker in developing a top-secret invention for the Predet Empire to use against its livestock rebellions. Hallord finds the Doctor dead and her space station only hours from irreversible self destruction. Can he find what killed her and stop the space station’s destruction in time? This is less horror than a detective puzzler – until the climax.

“The First Viewing” by Corgi W is narrated by a nameless lioness art student interviewing Doschehov, an arrogant tall brown otter artist. He has a private gallery in which he exhibits his works of Neuro-art.

“‘Is he attached to a simulation?’ I asked, not knowing if I wanted to hear the answer.

‘He was a God-fearing wolf,’ Doschehov said. His grin widened, pushing up the fur and skin on his face. It set his beady black eyes deep within heavy folds of fur. ‘So, I came up with a suitable reality to immerse him in: Every one of his virtues is being broken down as we speak. I have simulated what he believed to be hell.’ He paused.” (p. 93)

To reveal more of the plot would be a spoiler. “The First Viewing” could be easily rewritten to make the characters human, but it’s undeniably successful as a creepy futuristic s-f horror tale.

“Clicking” by Ianus J. Wolf: an exploration spaceship (one of many) from no-longer-habitable Earth Prime is searching the galaxy for new planets to colonize. Acting Captain Marco Shane (ram), xenobiologist Robert Maceone (green iguana), xenobotanist Anna Corman (pigeon), and security officer Nathan Higgins (rat) are the forward team who go down to 67 Manticore d, a jungle planet, to check it out.

“‘Have you found the one [life form] yet that keeps making that clicking noise?’ Anna asked while gathering another floral sample from a bloom she hadn’t seen before.

The three of them looked at her quizzically. Marco hadn’t heard any clicking in their entire trip. Anna noticed the look and stared back at them. “What?’

‘What are you talking about?’ Maceone said, genuinely curious. ‘What noise?’” (pgs. 113-114)

Science-fiction has a long tradition of exploring an alien world that seems safe for colonization at first, only to have things slowly turn deadly. There is a reason for the four explorers to be a ram, an iguana, a pigeon, and a rat.

“Blink” by James Stone is a time-travel story. Commander Rhett (tiger) is leading a squad in an interplanetary war against the blinks. The blinks are described only as fast-moving things with tentacles, suckers, and teeth. Rhett and his troopers are in individual enclosed battle armor with time-jump capability.

But Rhett may be time-jumping too often. “Why do I remember combat when the rest of you don’t?” “Are you real, or am I hallucinating?” (pgs. 143 & 144) Troopers are only supposed to jump one second, but Rhett suddenly finds himself alone on a planet except for the blinks. What went wrong? Where is everyone? Almost all time-jump stories get complex and confusing. “Blink” is no exception.

“Pentangle” by Ross Whitlock is one of the weirdest stories I’ve ever read. Five alien seed-things come to Earth and destroy civilization. They eat all metal and merge all people into blobby clusters. Two-people clusters become a Snake-Eyes. Three people become a Coven. Four become a Groat. Six become a Sestina. Eight become a Tarantula. Clusters of twelve become an Apostle, the ultimate (they claim); the rulers. But there are no five-person Pentagles. Pentagles are cursed. Pentagles are evil! Pentagles are to be killed on sight!!!

“Pentagle” is about five people who become a Pentagle amidst the clusters in the tent-city around what used to be San Antonio, and what they-it does about it.

Talk about funny-animal stories where the characters absolutely do not need to be furry instead of human! I won’t say what anthro-animals Pettybone, Stantz, Lakshin, Ciel, and Bishop used to be. It Doesn’t Matter! (But talk about stories that you won’t forget…)

“Starless” by Searska GreyRaven: the merchant spaceship Caliban is infected by an electronic virus that fries most of the ship’s computers and the crew’s cybernetic enhancements. The ship and its crew – Captain Carmine (stoat), navigator Fritz (cocatiel), pilot Ellie (goat), weapons officer Ila (hyena), and others – are thrown off-course into an empty area of the galaxy where there are no stars, no planets, nothing … except … an opera house? Except for the interstellar setting, this is a very effective, old-fashioned Haunted House thriller, with something stalking the Caliban’s crew, one by one.

“This Way” by Frances Pauli is a standalone story in Pauli’s Star Spiders series. (See her The Earth Tigers; Gastropod Press, February 2017.)

“The breeze that rattled the jungle canopy also vibrated through the tips of Dotar’s velvet toes. He heard it in the way his bristles danced, in the soft thrumming of the world beneath each of his eight feet. A gentle wind. A whisper of weather beneath the mesh of jungle that only let scattered patches of sunlight through to warm his carapace.

‘Hurry up, daydreamer.’ The steady drumming of his partner’s toes brought his thoughts back to their mission. ‘We’re meant to be home by tomorrow.’” (p.207)

Dotar and Mifla are two of the large, intelligent spiders of their world, where spiders and humans live in symbiosis. They are on scouting duty for their city. Everything seems normal, until they come to a human village that has been recently deserted …

“Outlier” by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt is a good story completely different in detail, but too similar to “Clicking” as to its basic plot. Both are about an exploration starship coming to what seems at first like a perfect world. Then its furry crew start to die …

“Not Like Us” by KC Alpinus is very melodramatic, about a peaceful suburban community that experiences strange power outages, and degenerates from mild curiosity into panicked accusations and savage neighbor-vs.-neighbor fighting. Is it terrorists, or invading aliens turning everyone into zombies? Sorry, but I felt this story was ultimately unbelievable, mostly from unnatural dialogue but also several unconvincing details like making all animals and small birds anthropomorphized to the same size, a teenage vixen hoping Timothy Turtle will ask her out on a date, and errors like calling an Army Sergeant an officer.

Here is a tough Army non-com talking.

“‘From the homeless otter who was accidentally shot and left in the street like meat, to the mother who clutched her lifeless pup who died from drinking tainted water… The stench of fear and mistrust was everywhere, filling my muzzle and burning my eyes, making my heart race. Fear, kid, it changes people, and those poor otters were just reacting to a perceived threat. They couldn’t help it.’” (p. 244) – Do tough soldiers talk like that?

“Clear and Cruel” by Bill Kieffer: all humans mutate into anthropomorphic dogs. Or cats. William adjusts worse than most. He has to be taken to doctors, by the dog who might be his wife.

“As the dog he came with passed him off to the nurse, he tried to ignore the strange sensation as its … her small hand … (paw?) touched his back to steer him through the door. ‘Yvonne,’ he said as he opened his eyes.

Sharp teeth broke out all over her face, sending her deep brown eyes spinning across her face. The lipstick on her nose seemed a pretty shade of pink as she softly said, ‘Yes, Honey. I’m Yvonne. Let’s hop on this scale, please.’ He was childishly proud of himself. He wondered if he’d been growing younger since the aliens used Earth to break out of hyperspace or whatever accident that caused so many mutations across the world.

He forced himself to stop thinking about it.” (p. 267)

Or mummies. Or werewolves. Or monsters.

“Blessed Are the Meek” by Rechan features a whole planetful of lapens, anthro rabbits, who are building something to do with increasing atmospheric oxygen for the gods. When they are finished, the gods will return. L277, the protagonist, is ordered to take the body of R294 in a rocketship Chariot to the gods. It is so obvious what’s going on that you can probably guess from this synopsis alone, but it’s still a good, cynical story.

“Hollow” by Chris “Sparf” Williams: Liam Sams is a first-generation snow leopard colonist on Mars, along with a team of other snow leopards, malamutes, and others, led by Rottweiler Commander Mike Sloane. And twin-bodied Mitrians.

“Mitrians resembled arctic wolves from Earth by way of Fantastic Tales. Their muzzles were half-again as long, and an extra pair of golden-irised eyes rested just below and to the outside of where an earth wolf’s would be. Mitrian ears were batlike: furless and blue with sharp angles, and from the top center of their head jutted a single appendage like the antennae of a gigantic insect, but covered in short, thin fur.” (p. 296)

They are all inside a squat, domed satellite base while they explore and very slowly Terraform Mars to be livable for Earth settlers (and Mitrians); at least for those like Liam’s snow leopard ancestors in the rocky foothills of the Himalayas. When a large meteorite falls near the base, Liam and two Mitrians, Koresh and Selar, are sent in a rover in sealed envirosuits to examine it and the crater it makes. The meteorite turns out to be a crashed Mitrian spaceship. With its crew slaughtered. Has the galactic horror that has been killing Mitrians, that killed the spaceship’s crew, followed them onto Mars?

Bleak Horizons (cover by Kappy, possibly illustrating “Hollow”) is a good anthology of “creeping dread and the things that terrify people”, to quote from one of the author profiles. I may kvech about the funny-animal nature of most of the stories, which could Easily Feature Humans, but as s-f horror, these 14/15ths successfully deliver a chill up your spine. 14/15th is worth $19.95. (Or $9.95 if you get the e-book edition.)

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Furplanet
• Buy on Bad Dog Books
• Editor’s Facebook page

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon, where you can access exclusive stuff for just $1.

Hello Everyone!

Metriko here! On this week's show Viro had a schedule conflict, so I'm solo-hosting.

I open with a discussion on passion. I had a conversation late last week with my roommate about why I do this show (when it takes up a majority of my time) and I realized that all-too-often we downplay or apologize for the things we are passionate about. I talk about never apologizing for your passions and how to balance a work/life ratio to ensure you don't neglect your well-being.

My main topic this week is on Pick Up Artists (PUAs). I wanted to talk about them because I think they are unethical assholes, and the methods that they offer prey not only on misconceptions, but also the vulnerable. With the fandom being a wonderful, liminal experience, it becomes important that we speak about unethical behavior when it comes to finding dates and fuckbuddies. While PUAs are primarily males that want to have sex with females, it is important to note that the techniques and skills that they practice are used in the LGBTQ+ community as well.

I talk in generalities about what they practice, what they teach, and why all of this is bad in the short and long run. I talk about the fallacies of the law of averages, and why the skills they have may not pay the bills.

I don't close out with a question this evening, but try to tie everything together with some feedback about denying interest or passion and how a listener was able to move forward with pursuing their interests thanks to the show. Next week, to compensate for the lack of a question, we have our seventh all questions show.

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 084 Pick Up Artists - Metriko's alone this week! Passion! Pick Up Artists! Praise! All this, and more, on this week's Feral Attraction!

Huh... So Universal Pictures Brasil has apparently made a live action hybrid of a Woddy Woodpecker film. It's directed by Eric Bauza who gave us such gems as Inspector Gadget 2, Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2, and Jingle All the Way 2. Eric Bauza (Belly Bag in Uncle Grandpa) is voicing Woody. ... so there is that.
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Co written by Pup Matthias and Patch.

Joe Garcia and Heidi. Photo: David J. Phillip / AP

Hurricane Harvey has been one of the biggest storms to hit the US.  As a category 4 storm, it hit Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana over the weekend, filling our newsfeed with stories of tragedy, courage, and sacrifice. It puts us as a nation and people to the test. We’ve heard the stories: from big ones like the news crew finding a man trapped in his truck and flagging down emergency vehicles to help – to smaller personal stories of neighbors helping neighbors.

Outside of the storm’s path, there’s a lot of talk about how the effects impact the country in many different ways. (Our own Uncle Kage addressed evacuation from his experience as an Emergency Manager Coordinator.)  If you can only watch from afar, the most important way to help is by donating. Even now, all emergency organizations, along with groups and personal accounts are asking for donations to combat the damage Hurricane Harvey will leave.

This is a great time to highlight efforts to help animals. Furry news is a good place for it.  The Furry community has always been proud about raising funds for charity, and that isn’t just for cons.

We found him stranded on a car surrounded by floodwater. But I'm glad to report this dog abandoned by his owners has been rescued! pic.twitter.com/6Ggqe64GY9

— J.D. Miles (@jdmiles11) August 29, 2017

Remember that 250,000 pets were displaced or died in Hurricane Katrina, and some people refused to evacuate without them – it has become an important part of disaster planning, according to this video about saving animals in Hurricane Harvey. 

News stories from People, ABC News, and NBC have covered more efforts to help animals in need. I’m sure several of you heard or seen the hawk story. Many others will struggle to be heard. Patch has been collecting as many as he can find so we can spread the word and assist with donating what you can.

Interrupting furry tweets to say: Texas animal rescues need help because of the hurricane. Please send ones that need signal boost!

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) August 29, 2017

Another one. It's hard to find what's going on because of so much stuff to look at. https://t.co/ESaKBpoaFk

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) August 29, 2017

To help out our furry friends, below are a few local organizations and GoFundMe pages that Patch found. We encourage you to share, donate, and provide info on others we may have missed.

Organizations and Funds:

• Forgotten Dogs of the 5th Ward Project – a Houston Non Profit. They had a sketch artist rewarding donors for a limited time with sketches of their pet. Perhaps some furry artist would like to volunteer more?
• Austin Pets Alive! – APA’s FaceBook Page. They are housing hundreds of animals and hope for $20,000 in support.
• American Humane – A highly rated national organization sending volunteers to help.
• Houston SPCA and SPCA of Texas – Facebook pages (1) and (2)
• Louisiana SPCA – Currently recommending donation to the Texas SPCA’s above.
• Dallas Dogrrr – They are on the scene with boats.
• Doug and Sherry Jackson – They rescue dogs but the hurricane wrecked their home. Help them get $15,000 for repair.
• 4 Paws Farm/Harvey Disaster Animal Fund – This nonprofit is partnered with I Love My Dog, an online community of over 5 million followers.
• List of animal shelters and rescues in the path of Hurricane Harvey.

More info about it. https://t.co/fNzz3K6uGc

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) August 29, 2017

Please share. Need donations. pic.twitter.com/WjkeJycsRx

— Kat 5 (@nola_lady) August 29, 2017

Again, help spread the word and donate what you can. We Furries pride ourselves in helping those in need. If you have find others, please send them our way. There haven’t been any specific furry-fandom angles brought to our attention, but we can boost that kind of story unlike other places for news.

Like the story of the starfish, even if we might not save everyone, we can still save one and make a difference. Thank you to Uncle Kage for forwarding us that story.  And thank you for retweeting and reposting ours to help.  Until next time fluffer nutters, have a nice day.

-Pup Matthias

Came across this new game at San Diego Comic Con. It’s called Rivals of Aether, and it was created by Dan Fornace. From the official web site, here’s what they say: “Rivals of Aether is an indie fighting game set in a world where warring civilizations summon the power of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. Choose a Rival to bring into the battlefield and manipulate the powers of the classical elements and animal movement. Untangle the mysterious conflicts of the planet Aether in Story Mode or take your combat skills online and challenge your friends across the world.” The site also includes an animated preview video. The game is available now through Steam for various platforms.

image c. 2017 Dan Fornace

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Nordic charity cycling team Team Rynkeby is raises money for cancer treatment by cycling from Denmark to Paris. They have an Orangutan plush as part of this charity. http://www.team-rynkeby.com/ [1] [1] http://www.team-rynkeby.com/
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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

In June, my review of The Art of Cars 3 was posted here. In it, I said:

“It has been acknowledged that these “art of” books featuring animated films are money-losers, subsidized by the advertising budgets for those films, made for the promotion of those films and for the morale of the artists and technical crews that produced them. The Art of Cars 3 is full of the art of the animators, layout artists, production designers, story artists, digital renderers, graphic designers, modelers, and others who created Cars 3 .”

I had gotten that information – about the art-of animation books being money-losers that were published for their movie’s advertising and for their production staff’s morale – from a February 2017 story by Amid Amidi on the Cartoon Brew website. It was about Illumination Entertainment’s animated films — the Despicable Me franchise, The Secret Life of Pets, and Sing. The pertinent paragraphs were:

“Among the things that Illumination Entertainment does differently from other major animation studios is they don’t produce art-of/making-of books for each of their films.

From a business perspective, it makes sense. Most art-of books don’t make their money back, have limited reach, and add unnecessary costs to a film’s marketing budget. But they do have intangible benefits, like boosting morale among studio employees and helping build stronger relationships with the studio’s most passionate fans. I might agree that it doesn’t make sense to create an art-of book for every film, but perhaps Illumination could publish an anniversary art-of book at some point. Their tenth film is coming up in 2019, while 2020 will mark ten years since the release of their first film. Both of those dates seem like ideal milestones.”

April Whitney, the publicist at Chronicle Books for The Art of Cars 3, took exception to that statement. She said that Chronicle’s “art of” de luxe animation books, which cover most Disney•Pixar animated features, sell very well and are not, as I implied, subsidized by Disney’s marketing department.

April’s response to me:

“The difference in our publishing is that we are a third party that licenses the ability to make these books, so if they didn’t earn back their cost and make money, we would lose money and discontinue publishing them. It’s not a vanity project for us. There may be some books in the market that are completely funded by the studio, and sold with little expectations, but I only have experience working on Chronicle titles and that is not the case here.

“While we don’t share print run numbers or revenue, you could look to The Art of Zootopia for instance and note that it appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, which should give you an idea of the demand for that book.

“Another anecdote is that a few years ago, one of our editors brought to our attention that the out-of-stock book The Art of Monsters, Inc was being sold on eBay for over $100. We decided to reprint. And when we debuted the reprint at San Diego Comic-Con I encountered several people who were thrilled that it was available again at the actual retail price of $40. They were *especially* excited that we sell all books at that show for 30% off.

“Of course not all ‘Art of’ books sell the same, and it does have much to do with how well the film itself does. It has been a while since I worked on The Art of Frozen but I do recall that book sold well with multiple reprints. It was a highly successful film.

“Of course we never know how well a film will perform. We’re book makers not filmmakers nor critics, but we do know that a sizable number of customers are curious about the process of bringing these movies to life, and many of them enjoy the peek into that process that the ‘Art of’ provides.”

Patch O’Furr, the editor of Dogpatch Press who has professional experience in the business, agrees with Whitney.

“I think April is right. Any book that needs a reprint is doing better than cost if it’s part of an established product line like Chronicle’s – (excepting limited cases that may be more expensive to make than they sell for.) This type of book has unique content and doesn’t just reproduce stuff you already saw.

I have definitely seen ‘art of’ animation books sell out and their prices jump much higher than cover, a good sign of success.”

Cartoon Brew’s editor Amid Amidi, who wrote the article that I quoted, is a recognized animation expert (I reviewed his Cartoon Modern ten years ago). I wrote to him, to give him the opportunity to reply to Whitney’s and Patch’s comments. He has declined:

“I have no comment for publication about this”.

– Fred Patten

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon, where you can access exclusive stuff for just $1.

Before he (and his wife!) created a world-famous mouse, Walt Disney was already well-known for his Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons (co-created with the great Ub Iwerks, of course). Now in celebration of Oswald’s 90th birthday Animation Scoop let us know about a new hardcover book dedicated to his legacy. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: The Search for the Lost Disney Cartoons (whew!) is coming out this week from Disney Editions. From editor David Bossert’s press release: “For the first time ever, all the known material and information relevant to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit has been aggregated into one book, including never-before-seen images, photographs, development art, production artwork, scripts, as well as gag and situation notes are all inclusive. This handsome volume contains a variety of color posters, many of which were found at auction houses and with collectors. This deluxe hardcover edition features an embossed cloth spine and is profusely illustrated with many rare images that reconstruct many of the still lost cartoons in the series.”

image c. 2017 Disney Editions

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Editing Is Everything recently produced this video mashing Zootopia rather skillfully into several Genres. Enjoy.
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The Furry Book Review program is a book review outlet specializing in furry literature. The top furry publishers send us books to review, and we provide a great marketing tool for them but also honest recommendations to the fandom, here, on Goodreads, and on Amazon.For those interested in signing up as a reviewer, Here is the link for the Furry Book Review application: https://goo.gl/forms/u2G3d8YrLyPikF8H2You are also required to send in a sample of one of your book reviews to furrybookreview@gmail.com

Rune’s Furry Blog showcases “people within the Furry Community… their characters, life, thoughts, and beliefs”. It also covers furry issues and media plus some personal blogging. Rune joins other guest posters to Dogpatch Press like Andre Kon (What’s Yiffin’?) and Arrkay (Culturally F’d). Welcome Rune! – Patch

Originally, when I heard about BioMutant, I wasn’t sure whether or not it should be featured on my Furry Blog or my Gaming Blog— so I just put it on both!

The last time I saw cute, little, fuzzy creatures being the main stars of ANY console RPG, was when I learned about TERA. Did I ever play it? No…

But for those who love the MMO-scene, and especially for furries, this was a huge deal. When it comes to RPGs on consoles, I don’t ask for much. I don’t care the race of my characters so long as there’s a bit of customization involved (even if it’s just a difference in your appearances based on weapon or armor equipped).  If the game has a deep-story, I’m all set.

If I want character customization, I just stick to my PC-MMORPGS like World-of-Warcraft or Guild Wars 2… but I must say that after reading about BioMutant, I’m actually curious to see what more it will offer in the future.  With it being on the XBOXone, I’m actually considering making this a part of my purchase wish-list when it hits the market.

• So what is BioMutant?

”THQ Nordic revealed BioMutant, an “open-world, post-apocalyptic kung fu fable,” for PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.”

— But we want more of an explanation than that, right?

We don’t know who these raccoon-like creatures are, where they originated, or anything like that but, according to the Official Website for the game, we know that the Tree of Life is DYING.

The main life-source for this world has been contaminated. Now it’s up to your character to save the world – or can it even be saved? According to the website, there are divided tribes which must be reunited to face off against the great evils coming from the root of the plague-stricken tree… buuuuuut that’s all the developers seem to be leaking about the main story.

• What makes the game so unique?

— The game itself is supposed to be a unique twist on 3rd person combat. The main allure will be the way in which your character utilizes their own fighting style. These little creatures learn combat from various Masters scattered across the land. You can mix-and-match kung-fu combos. It’s supposed to keep the combat new and fresh so it never gets boring.

Hand-to-hand combat isn’t the only thing that can defeat the monsters of this world. There’s a weapon crafting system, allowing your characters to mix-and-match parts to create unique weapons. They can defeat enemies as well. However this article from Polygon suggests that while the weapon-system may seem cool, the main focus will be the mastery of the kung-fu styles and really getting up-close-and-personal with your opponents.

Lastly there are the “powers”. These are harder to explain. While they can be used for various things including fighting, this also seems to tie in with the way character customization will work.

• So what are these Mutations?

— The game is called BioMutant, right? So how do Mutations work in this world? According to the official website, as you traverse this world, radioactive substances and bio-contamination (as well as other chemicals) let you re-code your genetic structure to unlock attributes. This can change your appearance such as giving you long claws, barbed tails, and more. Other attributes aren’t so visible… but it’s said you will be able to unlock things like Telekenisis and Levitation. That’s sure to change the way you play the game. Some things may make combat easier, while others might be strictly for traversing the world in new ways.  Not much else has been said or shown on this development.

For other character customization options, nothing has been shown. It’s uncertain if there will be more. Gear and mutations might be the limit of character customization.

• Is it an MMO?

— Screenshots have shown multiple furry-creatures in one frame, but this doesn’t seem to be an MMORPG. It’s not being advertised as such. It might be cool if it were, but with all the stuff being incorporated, I think keeping it a single-player experience is for the best.

• An Open World…

— There’s little known of the game, but it has been claimed that a player can build their own adventure in this open world. The official website also said that the ending depends on the actions of the players. It gives a very “Fable-ish” feel because it claims that we can either be the force that unites the tribes, or the force that brings them down. The official website says it’s an “Unusual Story with an Unusual End”, guided by a narrator as we make choices that determine the fate of this world. So, replay-ability seems rather high for this game already. It promises limitless possibilities since the world is going to be so massive!

• Conclusion:

— Open-World games have always been a favorite of mine, so I’m excited for this! I do get lost sometimes in just exploring (and forget to do the campaign), but that’s really the appeal of games like this. It’s all done at your own leisure. I love the fact that I get to choose how my story ends, and unique character customization will allow fun experimenting to get that “perfect character” for your personal play-style.

It looks beautiful. The characters are unique. I think it has been awhile since we had a good RPG set in a fantastical world that wasn’t all online. I love MMORPGs, but I miss the old days of Oblivion and Skyrim, even Fallout and Fable… and just having that singular adventure.

I’m also excited because this game mixes my two favorite genres, Fantasy and Post-apocalyptic-worlds!

But what do YOU think? Are you excited for this game?  What would you hope they add to make it better? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll see you all in the next blog.

– Rune

If you regularly read Previews magalog to find out the latest about upcoming comic books (and graphic novels and so forth) you might be familiar with Comic Shop Tales, a funny animal comic strip (written by Andy Mueller and illustrated by Scoot McMahon) about the strange and funny goings-on at a comic book shop both run and frequented by furries. Well now Previews has finally decided to release a collection of Comic Shop Tales in a new paperback collection. Check it out: “It’s all work and lots of fun at the fictional Berke’s Comic Shop, where owner Berke the Badger tries to keep his crazy band of comic shop goers and employees like Phil the Hippo and Kit the Cat in order! This 64-page book collects the madcap comic strip adventures as printed each month in the Previews catalog and single gag strips from previewsworld.com.” Comic Shop Tales: Book 1 – Grand Opening is coming to shops itself this November.

 

image c. 2017 Previews

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