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Anthrocon is over so have a Kiba Wolf video. Also, Legalize Awoo!
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So a guy with a confederate fursuit was at a furry convention... pic.twitter.com/e1QQK2dmJZ

— Michelle Catlin (@CatlinNya) July 2, 2017

TROLLING ANTHROCON

The infamous Confederate fursuit got a lot of views on social media. The issue started with complaints during Anthrocon and Midwest Furfest in 2015.  By no coincidence, the symbol was pushed on the fandom at the same time as racist mass murder by Dylann Roof led to taking down Confederate flags across the USA.  Then in 2017, during a huge amount of positive news about Anthrocon, the issue bubbled up again like a turd in a punchbowl.

The fursuiter is Magnus Diridian, AKA Rob Shokawsky. He was previously known for causing disturbances by copying the fursuit of Lemonade Coyote to exploit his death for attention. For several years, Magnus was reputedly banned from MWFF and Anthrocon.  He came back to troll with the Confederate fursuit and a Trump sign that violated AC’s Code of Conduct:

Any action or behavior that causes significant interference with convention operations, excessive discomfort to other attendees, or adversely affects Anthrocon’s relationship with its guests, its venues or the public is strictly forbidden and may result in permanent suspension of membership.

Harassment includes … Conduct, dress, or speech that targets, threatens, intimidates, or is otherwise intended to cause distress to other attendees, or to members of protected classes (such as those based on race, age, religion, national origin, disability, gender, or sexual identity).

Magnus chose to bring that suit even though he has many others. There’s no pretending that it was anything but forcing politics on others, since he admits he did it because of “attack” on the flag. According to his helper, he was even  “ghosting” the con to do it. He could have attended like anyone else if he didn’t set out to cause entirely predictable negativity. To be perfectly clear, Magnus was an antagonistic outsider who did not register or support Anthrocon.

buh byyyye~ pic.twitter.com/S3vFkz0Bbx

— Ed (@That_Edward) July 2, 2017

FREE SPEECH

As clear as the problem was, it got muddied by misunderstanding. There was a post by another blogger who I like:

“I am glad that everyone had a blast at Anthrocon 2017. I could not go, but I did follow the con as closely as I could…and, there is something that has been weighing heavily on my mind… Why am I angry? Because I realize that we (as a people and fandom) or more oppressed than ever before. But, not by the public… but by our own f***ing community!!! It’s because we are not allowed to have an unpopular opinion…”

The blogger offered understanding for why people don’t like the Confederate Flag, but believed that it was part of some people’s cultural heritage and pride. “It does NOT automatically make you a racist of any kind… or a bigot.” They continued:

“This guy was doing NOTHING to harm anyone. Like people that protest on the sides of the roads, he was not attacking anyone directly, physically… he was not being violent in any way, shape, or form. He was making a ‘statement’, he was showing what he believed in. And guess what? THAT IS NOT WRONG!!! It is freedom of speech, it is freedom of expression… and as a human, he has the right to do that. As a Furry, he had the right to be there at that convention, same as anyone else.”

Their conclusion said:

“It seems pretty bad that we claim that we are an open, loving, and understanding fandom- yet we shun people because they believe differently than we do. (…) People can not even be themselves anymore without offending someone, and it’s sad. (…) I will not censor myself for the sake of delicate sensibilities… I will not censor myself because some people wanna pick and choose what it means to have freedom of speech and expression, and I will NOT censor myself for people that think that everyone else is in the wrong if they do not believe the same things… and that punishment should be reserved only for the ones with the unpopular opinion. That makes YOU the close-minded one if you think that way.”

XKCD

CONTEXT MATTERS

I left this reply anonymously so it could speak for itself:

“Magnus had already been banned from the con for provoking others. When he came back, instead of getting along he decided to provoke. He knew he was doing something wrong.

Cons are private events that happen by the goodwill of everyone involved, and if you go you’re something of a guest. That wasn’t being a good guest. Of course in the USA we have freedom of speech – but the most simple meaning of freedom of speech is that the government can’t arrest you. A con isn’t the government, or public property – it’s a private event, and the con organizers have freedom to make their rules. If they say their con is a place to have fun and be positive, and you can’t go to be negative and upset others, it’s their rules and they can ask you to leave. Same as if Magnus was in your house and you told him to leave. His freedom of speech isn’t taken away – he can do what he wants at his own con, or on a public street somewhere else.

Unfortunately it was provocative because that flag can never be separated from history of slavery, no more than a swastika can be separate in Germany’s (and it’s even illegal there). If you get familiar with the history of slavery, you can find that there was a huge propaganda campaign to try erasing that – they lied about what it meant and who was involved and what they did. The “heritage” story was invented much after the civil war and it is dishonest. That went together with racism of the 20th century, and new laws they made to make it worse, all the way into the Jim Crow era and the 1960’s.

We’re still undoing what they did wrong. Only this year, we learned that Emmett Till, the kid who was murdered for supposedly whistling at a white woman, never did that. We only know because the woman confessed in her 80’s. The KKK uses the confederate flag as their symbol and that should tell you everything about what’s wrong. They lost that war and it’s time to let it die.”

The Confederate flag is a symbol of racism: [1] A historian from the Museum of the Confederacy says the Confederate flag can never be separated from defense of slavery. [2] The flag wasn’t politically resurrected until the mid-20th century as backlash against desegregation. [3] There is a “150-year-old propaganda campaign designed to erase slavery as the cause of the war and whitewash the Confederate cause as a noble one.” [4] Besides flags, monuments for Confederate propaganda were built generations after the war. [5] Removing these monuments is like taking down statues of Stalin. [6] As recently as 7/8/17, the KKK rallied for the monuments with Confederate flags.

Idea: if you still fly the Confederate Flag, you're not allowed to use any technology or medicine invented later than 1865

— Megan Amram (@meganamram) June 19, 2015

My comment never asked the blogger to take down their post or censor themselves.  However, they gave consideration and decided to take it down on their own.  It was replaced with a new post:

I was NOT aware that he was there, deliberately provoking people… I also was not aware of Anthrocon’s policy on political propoganda which is stated in their ToS.  So while I still do not feel he should have been escorted out… I do understand the decision. A friend made a point when she said that Anthrocon is huge and gets a lot of press coverage… and he is def the type of person we do not want to be represented by. HOWEVER… this does not change my feelings of how people (the world) now treats people with the unpopular opinion. This does not change how I feel about how everything now seems to cater to those of delicate sensibilities, and it is just not realistic how we baby our population. But this is, in itself, just an opinion… and I do not expect everyone to like what I say or even agree.

Unpopular opinions often deserve care and majority opinions aren’t always right.  There are plenty of places to debate those online or in public.  Are cons the place for it? Anthrocon says: “The primary purpose of Anthrocon is for our attendees to have fun.”  The con didn’t go to Magnus’s home and tell him how to think. He went out of his way to get in other people’s faces with politics that interfered with the con’s purpose.

Let me add that the blogger is nice and sincere. (They can stay unlinked here unless they want to comment.) It can be hard to pass info without sounding like a lecture, especially with a lot of young people in this fandom, but I’m not writing to focus on that blogger. This is about Magnus and the line between opinion and truth, and trolling vs. honest speech.

A “FURRY RAIDERS” TROLLING PROJECT

Speaking as a furry who does bold speech (in a place I built for it), and speaking about young people, there’s even more to this story.  It’s a situation built for sleazy chickenhawks to swoop in and exploit.  That’s the purpose of groups like the Furry Raiders and their leader Foxler.

By no coincidence, Magnus Diridian’s roommate Ricardo Nightwing is a Furry Raider. He assisted with the incident at Anthrocon. Afterwards, pictures of Magnus were proudly posted in the Furry Raiders Facebook group where they mocked protest of Confederate flags. That’s the purpose of the whole thing. Call it indoctrination especially for their young, gullible members.

The video they’re mocking has a woman protesting Confederate flags on a car at a festival. (For context they never bothered to learn: it was in Canada, where supposed American heritage isn’t entitled to a place, and she was staff.) Notice the dishonest trick of connecting an extreme example of a “triggered SJW” with reactions the Furry Raiders provoke themselves.  They aren’t the same thing… again, it comes down to context.  The video shows a woman coming to a festival and complaining, but Magnus and Foxler go to furry cons to push their behavior on others.

Apparently it’s OK when they do it.

That sleight-of-hand with context is meant to build an “SJW” strawman/boogeyman.  In the Facebook thread, Foxler poses as victim of “same people that tell me to remove my paw print armband”.  But Foxler set out to provoke by trolling events with unmistakable Nazi iconography.  His ref sheet was tagged “nazi“, and he made public comments like “I stand by Hitler” and signed his comments “Hitler of Furry Fandom”. To pose as a victim, he later flipped the story to pretend the name was just “Fox Miller” and he didn’t know what Nazis were.

There’s a simple name for this goalpost-shifting, context-erasing manipulation: Two-faced lying.  If you see it happen, remember that you can’t be a troll and a victim at the same time.

The Furry Raiders “mission” claims to “build a stronger community with projects that challenge social obstacles”. Here, their obstacle is people who aren’t cool with racism.  But there was a rare moment of clarity for the Furry Raiders. Magnus’ helper dropped the fake “community” pose, leaving just “you can’t stop us:”

MYTHS VS. THE TRUTH

For even more evidence of how poorly informed the myths about “SJW’s” are, see the facebook comment “Watch SJW’s try to ban this movie next”.  Cry Baby is a movie by John Waters, a super fabulous gay man who also made the movie Hairspray about race integration.  Ban him? I’m fan enough to have gotten him invited to furry events. (See what I mean about myths?)

Confederate flaggers are “a ghetto of stupidity” – John Waters, maker of Cry Baby

This doesn’t have two sides when “SJW” myths are getting trumped up by trolls.  There are just reasonable complaints about negative symbols.  Again, I never asked the blogger defending Magnus to take anything down. Magnus didn’t have his fursuit taken away.  This isn’t about taking away rights or never letting go of problems. We’re discussing misinformation and trolling vs. the truth.

The truth is: negative symbols are being pushed for shock by posers who don’t care about this community. Everyone deserves more honesty about that.  The trolls believe they can’t be stopped, but everyone can point out dishonesty, stop defending them, and demand better.

Furries revere free expression.  Let’s conclude with an example of standing for it in a mature, honest, positive way:  In 2015, the Vermont Furs were banned from costuming at a public festival because of a law against masks.  So they got support from the ACLU and local news, went to their city council and got the laws changed. The law still regulates masked KKK activity, but now it allows peaceful expression too. Sounds ideal to me, and what reasonable furries want.

• Vermont town selectively bans fursuiters: Prejudice complaint and update (Dogpatch Press)
• Free to Be Furry? Group Fights to Wear Animal Costumes in Burlington. (Seven Days Vermont)
• An Update from the ACLU – and We did it! (Vermont Furs)
• With Furries And Free Speech In Mind, Burlington Redrafts Anti-Mask Ordinance (Vermont Public Radio)

UPDATE – Ricardo Nightwing posted a response vid (I left further response to it in the comments on Youtube.) Ricardo also posted about leaving the Furry Raiders, and I think we can all relate to going through a process of change and maturity in life.

Responses by the Furry Raiders have included more flags and telling me: “there’s always a burning oven ready for you.”

Furries: "people who do that are being despicable losers"
Loser: "We'll never stop"
Furries: "We know"

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) July 12, 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.

A well-known space-hero-bunny returns thanks to Continuity Comics. According to Previews, “For the first time ever, Michael Golden’s original pages of the Bucky O’Hare graphic novel in its original form is printed in black and white and ready to color! Unaltered and pure Golden! Green Rabbits, Orange Ducks, White Cats and Willy’s Reddish-Brown hair! Oh, and Green Toads! Also included, for the first time in decades, is an all-new story featuring all-new characters from the second year toyline. Characters like Pitstoppete and the Betelguesian Banana Runners and Toad Bombers! Learn how Pitstoppete became one the greatest and fiercest mechanic in the entire Aniverse…and color the entire adventure!” Look for the Bucky O’Hare Graphic Novel Coloring Book at the end of this month.

image c. 2017 Continuity Comics

Boozy joins us for a quick Anthrocon 2017 recap. Then we delve into news including a story that leaves Fayroe squirming.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• Phoenix Taur Eyes Tweet
• Spawts shouts out Niko’s Canada Day bandanas for AC 2017
• Awesome OneEyedDoe suit
• Anjulie featuring Oskar Flood – Where The Love Goes (Official Music Video)
• After taking charity donation votes, Boozy will be arguing for Legalizing Awoo
  • Link 2
• Hollud’s FurDU Video
• Patrick’s Biggest Little Fur Con 2017 Video
• Cracked’s “5 Things I Learned Attending A Furry Convention”
• Canadian baby could be first with no gender mark on health card
• YouTuber Shane’s “WEIRD SIDE OF YOUTUBE – FURRIES”
• RickFox says he’s a furry
• Never Fear Being Different goes to Anthrocon
• Revit’s Anthrocon 2017 Video
• ArcticSkyWolf’s Anthrocon 2017 Video
• KibaWolf’s Anthrocon 2017 Video
• Boozy Badger writes three part blog post about Anthrocon experience

News:

• Wheelys is launching an unmanned convenience store in Shanghai
• Coins thrown into plane engine by elderly passenger for ‘luck’
• In Japan, Pillows Can Be Sex Partners

Emails:

• Patrick – Conventions and Podcasts
• Bicker – What keeps you motivated?

FC-271 Flesh Pillow - Boozy joins us for a quick Anthrocon 2017 recap. Then we delve into news including a story that leaves Fayroe squirming.

Boozy joins us for a quick Anthrocon 2017 recap. Then we delve into news including a story that leaves Fayroe squirming.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• Phoenix Taur Eyes Tweet
• Spawts shouts out Niko’s Canada Day bandanas for AC 2017
• Awesome OneEyedDoe suit
• Anjulie featuring Oskar Flood – Where The Love Goes (Official Music Video)
• After taking charity donation votes, Boozy will be arguing for Legalizing Awoo
  • Link 2
• Hollud’s FurDU Video
• Patrick’s Biggest Little Fur Con 2017 Video
• Cracked’s “5 Things I Learned Attending A Furry Convention”
• Canadian baby could be first with no gender mark on health card
• YouTuber Shane’s “WEIRD SIDE OF YOUTUBE – FURRIES”
• RickFox says he’s a furry
• Never Fear Being Different goes to Anthrocon
• Revit’s Anthrocon 2017 Video
• ArcticSkyWolf’s Anthrocon 2017 Video
• KibaWolf’s Anthrocon 2017 Video
• Boozy Badger writes three part blog post about Anthrocon experience

News:

• Wheelys is launching an unmanned convenience store in Shanghai
• Coins thrown into plane engine by elderly passenger for ‘luck’
• In Japan, Pillows Can Be Sex Partners

Emails:

• Patrick – Conventions and Podcasts
• Bicker – What keeps you motivated?

FC-271 Flesh Pillow - Boozy joins us for a quick Anthrocon 2017 recap. Then we delve into news including a story that leaves Fayroe squirming.

Boozy joins us for a quick Anthrocon 2017 recap. Then we delve into news including a story that leaves Fayroe squirming.

Download MP3

Link Roundup:

• Phoenix Taur Eyes Tweet
• Spawts shouts out Niko’s Canada Day bandanas for AC 2017
• Awesome OneEyedDoe suit
• Anjulie featuring Oskar Flood – Where The Love Goes (Official Music Video)
• After taking charity donation votes, Boozy will be arguing for Legalizing Awoo
  • Link 2
• Hollud’s FurDU Video
• Patrick’s Biggest Little Fur Con 2017 Video
• Cracked’s “5 Things I Learned Attending A Furry Convention”
• Canadian baby could be first with no gender mark on health card
• YouTuber Shane’s “WEIRD SIDE OF YOUTUBE – FURRIES”
• RickFox says he’s a furry
• Never Fear Being Different goes to Anthrocon
• Revit’s Anthrocon 2017 Video
• ArcticSkyWolf’s Anthrocon 2017 Video
• KibaWolf’s Anthrocon 2017 Video
• Boozy Badger writes three part blog post about Anthrocon experience

News:

• Wheelys is launching an unmanned convenience store in Shanghai
• Coins thrown into plane engine by elderly passenger for ‘luck’
• In Japan, Pillows Can Be Sex Partners

Emails:

• Patrick – Conventions and Podcasts
• Bicker – What keeps you motivated?

[Live] Flesh Pillow

Hello Everyone!

This week we open with a discussion on the nine habits of emotionally intelligent people. On this show we like to talk about stoicism and pragmatism, but healthy relationships also take a good deal of emotional intelligence to ensure that you fight the right fights and cultivate your own integrity and moral compass. While clickbait-y in nature, we go over an article concerning these habits.

Our main topic is on Polyamorous and Monogamous Mixed Relationships. What happens when a monogamous individual dates a polyamorous individual who seeks other partners? What happens when one partner wants to keep the relationship closed but the other wants it to be open? We discuss our own experiences in relationships of this style, the pitfalls and warning signs to look out for, and ways to make this relationship style as healthy and ethical as possible.

We close out the show with two questions: one on erectile dysfunction, the other on a friend's fiance being potentially abusive. At what point do you abandon your friends when they make potentially destructive choices for their own life?

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 077 Poly/Mono Mixed Relationships - What is emotional intelligence? Can you be monogamous and date a polyamorous person? Is erectile dysfunction the end of sex? Can you be too much of a meddling kid in someone else's relationship? JINKIES! All this and more on this week's Feral Attraction!

Who knew Cousin Itt was such a good dancer?    
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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

MoonDust: Falling From Grace, by Ton Inktail
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, December 2015, trade paperback $14.99 (380 [+1] pages), Kindle $4.99

This is one of the best science-fiction novels I’ve ever read.

It’s also one of the best furry novels I’ve ever read. Humanity is extinct; transgenic animal people, created for the war effort, are all that are left. The protagonist, Imogene Haartz, is a young caribou (reindeer)-human hybrid; she shaves her fur when sent by the military to a hot climate, and takes prescribed drugs to suppress her antlers’ growth. Who needs antlers in the Army? Everyone is a boar or a rabbit or a ferret or an otter or a tiger or some other animal, whether the species is specified or not.

It’s also one of the bleakest novels I’ve ever read. Everyone is miserable until they die. (Metaphorically.) Imogene has grown up in the mid-22nd century in the rubble of Helsinki. The world has evolved until there are only two super-powers left, the UNA (United Nations of America) and the Pan-Asian Federation. If they aren’t in a shooting war, they’re in a cold war so frigid that everyone expects it to boil over at every moment. Imogene’s father was killed in the last active fighting.

“Imogene stared up at her mother’s apartment building. Old and gray, it rose to ten stories of utilitarian serviceability. Of the four buildings that had surrounded a small park, only it survived. Two others were rubble, while the fourth clawed at the sky with broken, concrete fingers.

Most of Helsinki was like that. Twelve years after the United Nations of America ‘liberated’ the city, the cleanup effort was far from complete. Especially away from the wealthy neighborhoods. Imogene couldn’t remember what it was like before the UNA. Derelict buildings and mounds of broken concrete seemed the natural state of things.” (p. 11)

Imogene has gotten out of the UNA Army at 18 after her mandatory military service, prepared to rejoin her fiancé, get a civilian job, and rejoin life. She finds that her boyfriend hasn’t waited for her, and there are no civilian jobs for a teenager with only military training.

“She wished for the thousandth time since returning that she’d picked something other than demolitions for her military specialization. At least if she’d gone in for motor pool she’d have a chance. More people would pay you to fix a car than to blow one up.” (p. 14)

After searching fruitlessly for months, she goes to a UNA recruiting office to re-enlist. Only this time, instead of the Army where she’ll be sent to another hot-climate city that’s mostly broken concrete, she picks the Luna Corps – the UNA’s space program. It’s the one area of service that’s neat and shiny instead of depressing – and there are so few volunteers that she feels secure of getting in. (Even if it means taking more antler-suppression drugs. Who needs antlers in a spacesuit?)

The s-f nature of the novel is evident:

“There, tunneled into the jagged peaks of the Atlas Mountains, lay Toubkal Spaceport. One of four major launch sites under UNA control, Toubkal’s 500 kilometre-long linear induction catapult kept up a steady stream of traffic into low Earth orbit.

Imogene’s middle tightened. The catapult was basically a large-bore electric cannon. Was the distance she was about to put between herself and all her earthly problems really worth becoming a caribou-shaped artillery shell?” (p. 23)

So is the furry nature:

“A dramatization of the Unification Wars, the vid focused on the valor and heroism of the transgenic soldiers, glossing over the fact they were counted as chattel and had no choice but to fight. That wasn’t the only creative liberty taken, but it rankled Imogene the most. True, she hadn’t known her grandparents, let alone the great-grands who’d been forced to war, but it still served the humans right their own bio-weapons got loose and their animal slaves were the only ones immune.” (p. 33)

The novel introduces Imogene’s squadmates on the Moon: Sergeant Robert Hendricks (Dalmatian), Fiona Whiting (polar bear), Ryan Sanders (ground squirrel), Victor Vidal (puma), Bruce Andersen (stag), Lauren Porter (lynx), and Alexei (white rabbit). There are several chapters showing the military in peacetime. Imogene gets to know her squadmates; she makes friends and enemies. The the war boils over – this is not a spoiler since the cover by Katrin “LeSoldatMort” Buttig shows the spacesuited Imogene looking at nuclear detonations on Earth. The last half of the book describes Imogene’s and her team’s desperate fight to survive, as they hope to return to a UNA base – if there is anything to return to – and learn what has happened to Earth.

MoonDust: Falling From Grace is a harrowing, exhausting thriller:

“They rested as long as their dwindling power supplies let them dare, then struck out across the flats.

Smooth, dusty terrain fled past under Imogene’s loping bounds. The valley floor was easy, and even the rolling foothills hardly slowed their march. Scattered pea-size bits of rock and metal continued to drizzle, but she ignored them as much as she could. The best course of action was to hurry on to Borda.

As they climbed, the drizzle turned to a ballistic hail, pelting in from the north. She kept her visor pointed down and her legs pushing her forward. Then a wave of larger impacts broke over the landscape, and Imogene’s blood turned cold.

Her gaze darted over the bleak surroundings. No cover. All they could do was sprint for the still distant mountains.

Towers of dust shot up from the larger strikes, leaving craters the size of manholes. She dodged around the holes, praying she and her friends wouldn’t be hit.” (p. 218)

It becomes a bit melodramatic at the end, but the reader is kept guessing until the last page whether Imogene or any of her team will survive. The novel’s furry nature is both deep – Imogene considers a trans-species romance, and whether the inability to have children would be a serious problem – and superficial. All of the characters are clearly funny animals, who could be turned into humans with only minor rewriting.

It may be pertinent that the author’s only other credits (as Ton Inktail or a.k.a. Tonin; the © is Andy Rohde) are two equally harrowing thrillers, in the FurPlanet anthologies Abandoned Places and Bleak Horizons. MoonDust: Falling From Grace will leave you eager for Ton Inktail’s next novel.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Ton Inktail’s Website

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.

Hey everyone! I’m Furry trash! But more than that, I’m KickStarter Trash too! I thought it’d be a good idea to occasionally show some Furry stuff I’ve found on KickStarter for the folks who might not be regulars to the site, and share what they might be missing. These posts may often feature one time offer only listings.  (This first edition is a little quick and dirty, due to the time constraint of the first entry.)

MADCAP – This is a TOON based RPG with lots of renowned artists lending their talents to the book and the game is coming from the creators of IronClaw. Ends TODAY.

• Back again for the first time, despite popular demand… it’s the singular, particular, jugular and avuncular MADCAP, the role-playing game of cartoon screwball action! It’s the game that stars the best person we could find on short notice: YOU. And you’ll have a supporting cast of your friends, your compatriots, your hangers-on, your contemporaries — heck, anyone who could hold a pencil by the right end, they could play this game with you!

Rabbit Island – A 4X Territory Control tile board game with buh-nees.

• Lead your tribe to explore a new island every game! Build up your civilization with the value of the Carrot, and the help of special Action Cards. Can you conquer your opponents in 20 rounds?

Trash Pandas card game – A small push-your-luck style card game… And I’m Furry Trash, as previously stated. This one is a limited run of only 500 copies being made, and it’s cheap. Why Not? said I.

• Trash Pandas is easy to learn, portable, and fun for all ages. In Trash Pandas, players are raucous raccoons, tipping over trash cans for food (and shiny objects). Players push their luck to acquire more trash cards, but must stash them in order for them to count as points at the end of the game.

Bar Pig – Looking at the rules, it’s a zany party game that often calls in your place of play as part of the chaos, with losers of each round getting a penalty more than winners getting ahead. So don’t build your house with Straw! (and keep your play area clear of tripping hazards.) Hurr.

• BaRPiG’s rules are simple, and the game uses creative player input as well as the surroundings in which it’s being played. BaRPiG can be played anywhere and everywhere, with any group of friends, and every game will be different from the last.

Paws and Padlocks – A tile-placing race for treasure using locked and rotating rooms to trip up the other players.

• Paws and Padlocks is a family-friendly dungeon crawler where you play as adventurers breaking into Slime Castle to steal the evil Slime Queen’s treasure. Build your path to the treasure by laying out room cards on the board and try to mess up another player’s path along the way. While exploring the castle, you can fight Slime monsters, open treasure chests, find interesting items, and trigger events that change up the game!

Can I Pet Your Werewolf? – No personal comment needed! They explain it just fine. ;3

• Can I Pet Your Werewolf? is a light-hearted anthology featuring tales of friendship, family, and romance shared between those who get hairy under a full moon. Just because they have sharp teeth and claws doesn’t mean they have to be a monster out for blood. It is organized by Kel McDonald (Sorcery 101 and Misfits of Avalon) and co-edited by Kel McDonald and Molly Muldoon.

The Tim’rous Beastie Anthology – Again they did a fine job explaining exactly what this is; A comic anthology featuring mostly non-anthro animals.

• Tim’rous Beastie is a 260-page, black-and-white comic anthology about small lives in a big, big world. This is a collection by and for those of us who grew up inspired by Redwall, Watership Down, The Plague Dogs, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, and other tales of brave and imperiled critters defying their size and place in the natural order. 

Catapulted – Issue One – Literal Cats in Space! Only funding for the first issue though.

• Catapulted is a black and white comic book about cats sent into space during the space race in the 1950’s. Prior to manned missions to space, America experimented by sending chimps into space, Russia sent dogs and France… they sent cats (true story). Follow one cats epic journey as it is Catapulted into space and experience the connections our feline protagonist makes with every person it interacts with, as it survives harsh and changing conditions. Lost cosmonauts, a conspiracy theory and something altogether surprising await readers in Catapulted. If you like sci-fi, alternate history or you have soft spot for cats, this is the book for you.

Katze vol.2 – More cats, because why not?

• What is Katze? Katze is a comic book showcasting the cats Chloé, Azaelle and Mustache. The story revolves around these hairballs, their interactions, their discoveries and their fears, but also the love and hatred they feel towards each other. Volume 1 presented chapters 1, 2 and 3, where Chloe arrived in her new home, then the awakening of the mistress and finally the discovery of playing with cardboard boxes.Volume 2 presents chapters 4, 5 and 6. The comic begins with the arrival of Azaelle in her new home when she was young, then we see Chloé and Azaelle meeting a hamster, and we finish the book with the cats that get a bath.

– Happywulf

The artist and author known as Rukis has a new short story collection coming out soon, set in her award-winning Red Lantern universe. It’s called Dubiously Canon — for a reason. “A collection of stories chronicling the lives of characters in the Red Lantern universe, and their sexy misadventures. Every story in this collection is ‘Dubiously Canon’, meaning whether or not it actually happened is up to you. Choose your ship, or just read ’em all because they’re naughty. Reader’s choice!” Needless to say, this is for Mature Readers only. FurPlanet has more information over on their pre-order page.

image c. 2017 by Rukis

Follow that bird! .... yo?    
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The Ursa Major Awards (UMAs) are the furry fandom’s awards for outstanding achievement in animal-anthropomorphic literature and arts, similar in spirit to the Hugo Awards from the science fiction fandom. Their first iteration was in 2001 at ConFurence 12, California. Since then, they have been presented yearly at several different furry conventions. The awards are run by the ALAA (Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association), a group of experienced furries; however, the winners are decided not by a committee, but by fans all around the globe.

Each year the ALAA invites people to nominate and vote for what they may consider the best furry works that have been published or released the previous year, fitting a number of categories. Any furry who wishes to vote can easily register at their website, UrsaMajorAwards.org , and follow their simple steps. Alternatively, you can also vote by e-mail or snail mail. Votes can be made for any, or all, categories; so make sure to vote yearly for the candidates you consider the best!

Up until the 2014 awards, the UMAs consisted of a framed certificate with an illustration of the award logo by Heather Bruton. Last year, they changed to an acrylic glass trophy that stands upright.

 

  Rod O’Riley (editor of InFurNation.com), and Sam Kirkpatrick (co-creator of ‘Furry Force’, College Humor), with their UMA 2014 plaques, at CaliFur 11 (California).   The UMA 2015 for Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip awarded to Housepets!. The illustration by Heather Bruton has a timeless and elegant artistry.

This year, the Ursa Major Awards for 2016 were granted. The ceremony took place at the Anthrocon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (North-East USA), the 30th of June. There were 1,446 votes (by comparison, the Hugo Awards have had, the last years, between 3,000 and 6,000 votes.) There are five nominees for each category, one of which gets the rank of winner. There are a total of 12 categories. Congratulations to the winners!

Beginning next year, a thirteenth category will be added for Best Anthropomorphic Fursuit, to be awarded to the fursuit maker (not the wearer), with a number of additional rules that can be checked at the ALAA’s website.

Ursa Major Awards 2016

  Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture

Zootopia
Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Jared Bush; February 11


Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)

• Finding Dory (Directed by Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane; June 17)
• Sing (Directed by Garth Jennings and Christophe Lourdelet; December 21)
• Kung Fu Panda 3 (Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni; January 29)
• The Secret Life of Pets (Directed by Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney; July 8)

  Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short Work or Series

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
Directed by James Thiessen, Jim Miller, Tim Stuby, and Denny Lu; Season 6 episodes 1 to 143 [TV]


Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)

• The Lion Guard (Directed by Howy Parkins; Season 1 episodes 1 to 22 [TV])
• Bunnicula (Directed by Jessica Borutski, Maxwell Atoms, Robert F. Hughes, Matthew Whitlock, and Ian Wasseluk; Season 1 episodes 1 to 8 [TV])
• Littlest Pet Shop (Directed by Joel Dickie, Steven Garcia, and Mike Myhre; Season 4 episode 10 to Season 4 episode 26 [TV])
• Petals (Directed by Andrea Gallo and Alvaro Dominguez; November 29 [student film])

  Best Anthropomorphic Novel

My Diary, by Fredrick Usiku Kruger, Lieutenant of the Rackenroon Hyena Brigade
By Kathy Garrison Kellog (The Cross Time Cafe; April 2)


Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)

• Sixes Wild: Echoes, by Tempe O’Kun (FurPlanet Productions; June 30)
• Dog Country, by Malcolm F. Cross (Amazon Digital Services; March 28)
• Fracture, by Hugo Jackson (Inspired Quill; September 1)
• The Origin Chronicles: Mineau, by Justin Swatsworth (Dolphyn Visions; June 14)

  Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction

400 Rabbits
By Alice “Huskyteer” Dryden, in Gods With Fur (FurPlanet Productions; June 30)


Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)

• A Gentleman of Strength, by Dwale, in Claw the Way to Victory (Jaffa Books; January 24)
• Questor’s Gambit, by Mary E. Lowd, in Gods With Fur (FurPlanet Productions; June 30)
• Marge the Barge, by Mary E. Lowd, in Claw the Way to Victory (Jaffa Books; January 24)
• Sheeperfly’s Lullaby, by Mary E. Lowd, in GoAL #2 (Goal Publications; March 27)

  Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work

Gods With Fur
Edited by Fred Patten (FurPlanet Productions; June 30 [anthology])


Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)

• Claw the Way to Victory, ed. by AnthroAquatic (Jaffa Books; January 24 [anthology])
• ROAR volume 7, ed. by Mary E. Lowd (Bad Dog Books; June 30 [anthology])
• The Muse, by Alex Cockburn (Rabbit Valley Publishing; March [background booklet for Lucid’s Dream])
• Hot Dish #2, ed. by Dark End (Sofawolf Press; December 1 [anthology])

  Best Anthropomorphic Non-Fiction Work

The Art of Zootopia
By Jessica Julius (Chronicle Books; March 8 [book; making of feature film])


Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)

• Fursonas (Directed by Dominic Rodriguez; May 10 [documentary film])
• 17 Misconceptions About Furries and the Furry Fandom (Culturally F’d #23; February 11 [podcast])
• CSI: Fur Fest; The Unsolved Case of the Gas Attack at a Furry Convention, by Jennifer Swann (VICE Media; February 10 [Internet])
• Burned Furs and How You Perceive Porn (Culturally F’d: After Dark; October 6 [podcast])

  Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story

TwoKinds
By Tom Fischbach (Internet; January 6 to December 25)


Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)

• Swords and Sausages, by Jan (Internet; January 10 to December 25)
• Lackadaisy, by Tracy J. Butler (Internet; Lackadaisy Sabbatical to Lackadaisy Headlong)
• Lucid’s Dream, by Alex Cockburn (Rabbit Valley Publishing; March)
• Endtown, by Aaron Neathery (Internet; January 1 to December 30)

  Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip

Housepets!
By Rick Griffin (Internet; January 1 to December 30)


Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)

• Savestate, by Tim Weeks (Internet; January 6 to December 28)
• Carry On, by Kathy Garrison (Internet; January 1 to December 30)
• Kevin & Kell, by Bill Holbrook (Internet; January 1 to December 31)
• Doc Rat, by Jenner (Internet; January 1 to December 29)

  Best Anthropomorphic Magazine

Dogpatch Press
Edited by Patch Packrat (Internet, January 4 to December 20)


Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)

• Fur What It’s Worth (Podcast; Season 5 episode #8 to Season 6 episode #8)
• InFurNation, ed. by Rod O’Riley (Internet; January 1 to December 31)
• Flayrah, ed. by crossaffliction and GreenReaper (Internet; January 1 to December 29)
• Fangs and Fonts (Podcast; episodes #57 to #72)

  Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration

Cover of Anthrocon 2016 Souvenir Book
By Tracy J. Butler


Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)

• Cover of Gods With Fur, by Teagan Gavet, ed. by Fred Patten (FurPlanet Productions, June 30)
• Autumn, by Iskra, FurAffinity, October 22
• Cover of Claw the Way to Victory, by Jenn ‘Pac’ Rodriguez, ed. by AnthroAquatic (Jaffa Books, January 24)
• Hey Baby, You’re the Cat’s Meow!, by Dolphyn, in Anthrocon 2016 Souvenir Book

  Best Anthropomorphic Game

Major / Minor
Developer: Klace; Publisher: Steam; October 11


Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)

• Pokémon Sun & Moon (Developer: Game Freak; Publishers: Nintendo and The Pokémon Company; November 18)
• Overwatch (Developer and Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment; May 24)
• Stories: The Path of Destinies (Developer and Publisher: Spearhead Games; April 12)
• Bear Simulator (Developer and Publisher: Farjay Studios; February 26)

  Best Anthropomorphic Website

Fur Affinity
(Internet, [furry art & discussion])


Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)

• E621 (Internet [furry art & discussion])
• WikiFur (Internet [furry wiki])
• The Furry Writers’ Guild (Internet [FWG news & discussion])
• Culturally F’d, ed. by Arrkay and Underbite (YouTube [furry history & sociology])

The entry The Ursa Major Awards (2016) appears first in FurryFandom.Es.

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

Murrin Road, by L. B. Kitty
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, October 2016, trade paperback $9.00 (171 pages), Kindle $3.00.

This is an Irish novel with funny animals. It begins:

“Lexy stood hunched and huddled by a billboard as the rain came streaking down, sometimes blowing along Murrin Road in waves. His fur matting where the moisture had penetrated, droplets resting on his whiskers and breathing heavily, he looked at the gleam of shining rails before him, and as he took a step out from the end of the road he could hear the hum of the vibrating steel.” (p. 1)

Lexy is a black cat in the gritty industrial part of London. While he is standing out and getting soaked in the rain, a truck roars up, throws something out, and speeds away.

“He walked slowly towards whatever it was the moved in curled flicking motions like a leech sucking goodness from the gutter. The rain was now really running through his clothes, it felt like it was pouring through his soul, could it cleanse him? He stood two foot away and looked down; in the faint orange glow of a distant street-lamp he saw a familiar shape. Except for its lumpy looking end, he recognized a Feline figure, he leaned down and saw that whoever it was looked like they had been beaten, bloodied, tied up and even had a sack placed over their head. He reached his paw slowly down ‘Just a little further…’” (p. 2)

Excuse me for not putting [sic.] throughout that quotation. The something is a sack with a white cat in it, who says to just call him Kitty. Brian O’Connor, “The Celtic Tiger” (he’s a Tiger – Kitty the author capitalizes all animal nouns), a mob boss, has ordered that Kitty be disposed of. Lexy objects to having trash dumped on his doorstep, so he takes Kitty and marches into Brian’s working-class pub headquarters to complain. Brian tells all his lieutenants to shoot Lexy. Kitty saves him, and the black and white cats become an Odd Couple-type best friends and eventually very chaste gay lovers.

Murrin Road is a good example of how not to write a furry novel – or a novel at all. The characters are unusually superficially funny animals. A couple of major supporting characters are Terri, a barmaid, and Lee, a biker. Terri and Lee are identified as a Fox and a Tiger when they are introduced, and then their species is hardly mentioned for the rest of the novel. They might as well be humans. “By this time Lee was awake and making coffee, Junior was sitting up eating plain toast.” (p. 92) That’s a tiger drinking coffee and a wolf eating toast. Inconsistently, some characters are named by species almost every time they are mentioned, like Marriot, an Otter:

“Sat the other side of the table was a young Otter who was smartly dressed in a pale yellow suit jacket, a tight t-shirt which showed his abs well and his muscled legs were pressed against tight grey trousers. He held in his paws a black cane that was topped with a well polished silver ball, Lexy thought he looked rather strange. Behind him were casually dressed dock workers, a few Otters and some various Canines but it was difficult to make them out in the shadows the other side of the room.” (p. 12)

(Scatter more [sic’s] through there.) There is fantasy in Murrin Road. Lexy can burst into flame:

“‘Don’t!’ cried a young blue haired Arctic Fox.

The Vixen came through the door just in time to see the Husky’s paw make contact with Lexy, and then she heard him yelp in pain as his the material of his glove melted and his clothes caught fire.

‘Too late’ she said, turning to the rest of the unit, ‘Call for back up’.

Lexy felt like he was a raging fire, he felt like he was going to burn away, until suddenly the feeling that had been building exploded. A fireball spun from him in the middle of the room, his clothes turned to ash in an instant, his fur emblazoned with red circular patterns all over. Kitty watched in amazement as the fireball expanded in the centre of his lounge, this was his cue to leave and he started running down the levels of the fire escape. As he did so he found he was being shot at through the windows in the stairwell but cowering as he ran he made it to the bottom and finally he jumped and landed swiftly amongst the bushes.” (p. 25)

Who is Lexy? For that matter, who is Kitty? Why does the Mob want to get rid of him? Why does Kitty befriend Lexy before anyone notices anything unusual about him? Who are the mysterious government agents who want Lexy back?

It’s not really worth plowing through Murrin Road to find out. Some other errors throughout the novel are site for sight, thrown for throne, draws for drawers, “An few hours later”, “Meanwhile, stood in the Italian Gardens in Hyde Park, Brian O’Connor paced up and down” (should be “standing”, not “stood”), the cats have prehensile tails – how many bad examples do you want?

According to his Twitter account, L. B. Kitty stands for LexyBadKitty. His photo is on DeviantArt; he’s 24 and lives in Ireland. The cover artist, Larry Walker-Tonks, also has a website. Kitty needs a proofreader, or a Beta reader, or something.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

We had more mail so we went back and kept answering it. We love hearing from you. We talk about what it means to be mainstream, marketing, song of summerking, feral as a concept in furry, and other topics.

Original Air Date: July 5, 2017

Ep 74 – Xmas Mailbag – Pt.2 - We had more mail so we went back and kept answering it. We love hearing from you. We talk about what it means to be mainstream, marketing, song of summerking, feral as a concept in furry, and other topics. Original Air Date: July 5, 2017

It may be four months late, but we went through some of our mailbag right before Christmas and here it is. We go through some emails and talk about feedback from previous episodes. Also we dabble a bit about if you wrote something that would infringe copyright.

Original Air Date: April 9, 2017

Ep 73 – Xmas Mailbag – Pt.1 - It may be four months late, but we went through some of our mailbag right before Christmas and here it is. We go through some emails and talk about feedback from previous episodes. Also we dabble a bit about if you wrote something that would infringe c...

How much does species have to matter to make a story furry? Does each story require an origin tale to explain why anthropomorphic animals are walking around? Or can we just have walking talking animals for no reason at all? We discuss our origins that pushed us into furry, what that means for furry for all, and if there’s a line drawn between zipperbacks and true anthros for stories.

Original Air Date: December 16, 2016

Ep 72 – Fur For All - How much does species have to matter to make a story furry? Does each story require an origin tale to explain why anthropomorphic animals are walking around? Or can we just have walking talking animals for no reason at all?

Want to know what your fellow authors do when they’re not writing their next best-selling book? Then come by the Furry Writer’s Guild! Fangs and Fonts tackle the topic of the Furry Writer’s Guild, why you should join, and how you can use it to get in touch with your inner author/editor/whatever.

FWG main site link: Furry Writers’ Guild

Original Air Date: November 1, 2016

Ep 71 – Furry Writer’s Guild - Want to know what your fellow authors do when they’re not writing their next best-selling book? Then come by the Furry Writer’s Guild! Fangs and Fonts tackle the topic of the Furry Writer’s Guild, why you should join,

Lead Heat editor, Dark End, recently ranted about his latest slushpile, coming up with a list of twenty-five erotic cliches he sees too often in submissions. We go through each of them and discuss their validity, the core of them and how to avoid them. All while having fun doing it!

Check out the list here: https://storify.com/KyellGold/dark-end-s-tips-for-erotic-stories

Original Air Date: October 8, 2016

Ep 70 – Twenty-Five Erotic Cliches - Lead Heat editor, Dark End, recently ranted about his latest slushpile, coming up with a list of twenty-five erotic cliches he sees too often in submissions. We go through each of them and discuss their validity,

Your beloved Fangs and Fonts crew talk about everything dirty, get wildly off topic, and discuss some of the not-so-fine points of eroticism. Join the cast for fun and adventure into the cavernous depths of furry eroticism and kinky hijinks!

Original Air Date: September 12, 2016

Ep 69 – Fun Bags! - Your beloved Fangs and Fonts crew talk about everything dirty, get wildly off topic, and discuss some of the not-so-fine points of eroticism. Join the cast for fun and adventure into the cavernous depths of furry eroticism and kinky hijinks!