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

Hot Dish. Volume 2, edited by Dark End. Illustrated.
St. Paul, MN, Sofawolf Press, December 2016, trade paperback $17.95 (viii + 307 pages)

Hot Dish #2 is an anthology intended for an adult audience only and contains some explicit sexual scenes of various sexual orientations. It is not for sale to persons under the age of 18. (publisher’s rating)

Hot Dish #1 (edited by Alopex) was published in March 2013. Sofawolf described it as “Hot Dish is a collection of stories about the romantic and erotic relationships between characters of disparate species and sexual orientations. It is a hearty portion of quality fiction which was too long to fit into our yearly adult anthology, Heat.” It won the 2013 Cóyotl Award for Best Anthology.

Hot Dish #2 does not have only stories that were too long for Heat. Sofawolf solicited stories especially for it during 2014. But otherwise this is a good description of Hot Dish #2: eight long novelettes of romantic and erotic s-f & fantasy relationships with humanoid animals, each illustrated by one of three artists. Romance and eroticism are presented in an extremely wide range of backgrounds and emotions.

These eight novelettes are so lengthy that each feels almost like a short novel. This is a long review.

“Loops and Knots” by Tempe O’Kun (illustrated by Anyare) is a time-travel comedy. Tess, a jackal, and Erik, her golden retriever mad scientist/hippie lover, can’t get enough of each other. So Eric turns their large refrigerator into a time machine and brings his one-week-future self to join them for three-way fun-&-games. When Tess is too tired and needs a break, she gets an erotic thrill watching present-Ertk and future-Erik making love to himself.

“‘It’s more like retro-chronal masturbation, really.’ Erik draped a blanket over her lap.” (p. 10)

“Still in a post-orgasmic daze, Tess watched her boyfriend’s temporal tryst. His silken shag blended together, every shade of gold shining in the autumn sun. His muzzle locked with itself. Feeling an odd pang of jealousy, she crossed her arms. ‘You’re completely shameless, aren’t you?’

[…]

She pressed a hand to her forehead, trying not to smile. ‘Oh, all right. Go fuck yourself.’” (p. 17)

It’s very lewd, very sticky, and very funny.

“Spaces to Breathe” by Slip-Wolf (illustrated by Kalahari; also the book’s cover by Merystic) is an intriguing story, but ultimately unconvincing. Earlan Rokeh is a young otter technician on an exploratory spaceship with a mixed species crew, investigating a large “artefact” drifting in space for over two hundred years. They bring with them Kaenshi, a mystery Seracete alien who may know what the artefact contains. She wears a lifelike female wolf body suit to conceal her true form. The body suit has been created by Dr. Harmun Cirjus, a real wolf. The body suit is realistic enough (including a vagina) that Earlan and Cirjus both fall in lust/love with her. Supposedly Kaenshi’s true form – the reason a body suit is necessary — is so shocking that she fears nobody would want to have anything to do with her, but Earlan proves faithful.

Earlan is an earnest, naïve adolescent tech-geek who is required by the story to fall in lust with any attractive female mammal. Several flashbacks to his pre-mission life make the teenage tech-geek persona more convincing, but the lover persona less convincing. Dr. Cirjus must know what her true form looks like; why does he fall in lust/love with the body suit he’s made for her? I didn’t buy the original Pygmalion legend and I don’t buy this reworking of it. The story is not helped by such poor proofreading as a lack of commas (“Kaenji what of the systems on the artefact?” Dr. Cirjus intoned), incorrect pronouns, and run-on sentences (“Her and that coyote first officer of hers didn’t know how to follow orders properly and it surprised Cirjus that this was one of the Tribes Commission’s most highly rated crew.”)

“The Theorist” by Huskyteer (illustrated by Anyare) is a pastiche of the Victorian uproar over the theory of natural selection, with cats rather than man as the “divine” creation. Leo Mountjoy is a feline scientist who has theorized the evolution of all species. Even though he does not deny the existence of God, he is aware that almost everyone else is “on the side of the angels”. In private life, Leo’s wife Felicity almost died from the difficult birth of their child, and the doctors assure Leo that another pregnancy will be fatal to her. Leo has never felt homosexual, but when Noel Tate, a young fan of his theory, indicates a physical interest as well in Leo, he accepts it as a means of relieving his bodily needs while remaining romantically faithful to Felicity. Of course, it doesn’t stop there…

It would be possible to rewrite “The Theorist” with humans instead of cats, but Huskyteer does an excellent job of adding enough feline attributes to make this a furry story. Printing in this civilization consists of raised symbols read by paws instead of inked symbols read with eyes:

“It was raining when he left, fat drops pattering on his hat and overcoat. He caught the last train and buried himself behind the pages of his newspaper; flicking his wet tail and ears. He studied the print with fierce absorption, running the sensitive pad of his finger across the pattern of lines and dots. Halfway down, the text was interrupted by a cartoon. Under his pads, he suddenly recognized his own features, crudely drawn and transplanted upon the body of a black and white cat.

He did not bother reading the caption.

Leo realized that his claws were out and had scored the paper, rendering the second and third pages illegible. He snorted, and a drip fell from his whiskers. Outside the train, the dairy farms around London would be giving way to the trout and salmon lakes of the south. He let his claws work in and out of the fabric of his carpet bag instead.” (p. 81)

But most of all, she makes Leo, Felicity, Noel, and one other such sympathetic and appealing characters that you will not care whether they are cats or humans. It’s touching and very satisfying.

“The Favor of the Gods” is by Kyell Gold (illustrated by Kalahari). Gold is one of the top writers in furry fandom, but I can’t decide which I like better here; the story or its background?

The story is set in the ancient mythological Greek town of Taxos, a favorite of the Greek gods and where most of their half-animal children live. “When everyone is somebody, then no one’s anybody”, as W. S. Gilbert wrote, so being a grandson of Hermes doesn’t get Teknas, an apprentice carpenter, any special privileges:

“Before anyone else (such as Giles) could start, Teknas told the selector the story of how Hermes had traveled to a distant land and taken on a shape he’d seen there, something between a fox and wolf. ‘And he fathered our ancestors on a maiden named Kaothus, and so we took our name from her,’” (pgs. 110-111)

Teknas is a coyote, and that’s what coyotes are doing in ancient Greece. But he’s not the only coyote; Hermes has been lusty. Taxos is also the home of anthro bulls, foxes, sheep, rabbits – you name it, besides humans. I’m tempted to just quote background and not get to the plot at all:

“Most of Taxos worked in the orchards and fields, rising before Teknas and returning during the mid-afternoon heat while he still labored in Master Risto’s workshop. […] and then he found the small cluster of coyotes standing near the fox families, a veritable storm of wagging tails.” (p. 108)

Teknas is in love (or adolescent lust) with Thea, who wants a feather from the famous Pegasus, who is visiting Taxos. Teknos hopes that the flying horse has shed one, but he finds that the flying horse is actually Galatea, Pegasus’ granddaughter – and she develops a crush on him. Teknas pretends to reciprocate to get the feather, and there’s some graphic … is it bestiality between a flying mare and an anthro coyote? Teknas isn’t too worried because a lusty male taking advantage of an innocent female is a proud tradition of ancient Greece; but this is a granddaughter of Pegasus, which makes her a (favorite) great-granddaughter of Poseidon:

“I’m sorry, he cries, but the god’s eyes do not relent, boring deep into his own. ‘I SHOULDST KEEP THOU HERE, AS A TOY FOR AMPHITRITE’S CHILDREN.’ The Nereids holding him draw back their lips and grin in glee. ‘BUT FOR ONE OF HERMES’, SOMETHING MORE … EDUCATIONAL IS IN ORDER.’” (p. 131)

What does Poseidon do to Teknas? And what does Hermes do about it? Read “The Favor of the Gods” and find out. Teknas and Galatea are two very physically different but sympathetically presented adolescents.

“The Hound and the Tree” by Kandrel (illustrated by Black Teagan) is set twenty years after the hounds have destroyed civilization. It’s narrated by Alex, an anthro wolf, a lone survivor who may have gone a little crazy from loneliness. He names a tree “Roger” for companionship:

“I had been sweeping up Roger’s discarded leaves – he really was a pig. All that slurry got slippery when it rained. I’d had more than a few undignified face-plants, and under those leaves was steel. Home was a platform, built before the hounds. I’d found it not long after I’d escaped from that crowded train car. Near the scaffolding I’d climbed up into the sky, signs advertised the new ‘Alfland Arcology.’ It was one of the most ambitious projects ever started. In it, a million and a half people would be able to live, work, and enjoy the very greatest of life above the old city. All that had ever been finished was the stilts and platforms upon which the arcology was planned to be built. This was home now – whole square miles of suspended steel, with the occasional crown of a tree pushing its way through, like Roger. It was safety. It was isolation. It was also hell on the knees when I slipped. Steel did not forgive. So up went the leaves, into a pile, then down into the below. I’d cleaned the front of my little hut and out towards the trail. Not that anyone would be coming down it. They never did, but it was good to be prepared in case they did.” (p. 144)

Someone finally does come down the trail:

“She was running – sprinting really — through through the twilight-dark forest. In my view, she was just a reddish blob, but I could clearly make out the posture. Two arms, two legs, one tail, so definitely not one of the pack. I tracked her from camera three, then to camera eight, then to camera one as she stopped against Roger’s roots to catch her breath. This was the closest any survivor had come to Roger and I with the pack on their tail. This time, I could see it, watch what happened. Before, they’d always been too far away, and only after weeks of searching after a hunt would I find the sad little bundle of clothes and scavenged gear. This time, I’d finally learn what hounds could do,” (p. 146)

Alex saves Lee, the wolf woman, and since they’ve both been alone for years, they have lots of sex. To add any more plot would give too much away.

I’ve quoted this at length to show you what Kandrel’s writing is like. It’s very rich and descriptive – but it could be condensed 50% or more. It is well-written, but it never escapes Alex’s overwhelming loneliness. So much solo-wolf background becomes annoying; the reader gets impatient for some action. It’s also very much a funny-animal story that could easily feature humans. It feels like the main characters are given fur and tails just to fit this story into a furry anthology.

“The Years of Living Dangerously Happy” by Patrick “Bahumat” Rochefort (illustrated by Kalahari) is a pas de trois between Colin, otter; Katey, gemsbok; and Stellan, mule. Ten years ago, they all lived at Silverbell Lake Lodge, a rustic forest fishing chalet that was home and business for them. Six years ago, Katey and Stellan left for the city to pursue their research, leaving Colin, who cared for the lodge and its environment more than the others, to continue to run it in their absence. Now they have come back to sell it; both his business and his home. Their reunion goes from politely strained to wildly erotic.

Unlike “The Hound and the Tree”, this is an excellent furry story. Colin is not just an otter; he could not be anything but an otter:

“He ran down the dock and dove from it in a clean, tense arc. Colin knifed through the surface with ease and with hardly a splash.

Hitting the water was like being born again.

The cool sunlit water closed around him, and Colin came alive in a way few people ever knew anymore. The water closed around his mind just as much as his body, reducing his thoughts and his perceptions to natural essentials. […]   There, under the surface of the water, he was just an otter. And otters were For Fishing.” (p. 174)

Katey and Stellan need the money from the sale of the lodge to complete their research to make Stellan, and other sterile mules, fertile:

“‘You were going to tell me about having kids,’ Colin prompted, after a while.

Katey closed her eyes. ‘It’s why we need the money, Colin. Stellan’s sperm is mostly no good, but about one in ten thousand is viable. Isolating those from the rest is possible, but it’s expensive and difficult. We’ve come up with a way, repurposing the technology they use for livestock breeding. Basically we make microscopic chips that measure and weigh the sperm, and all the bad ones get chucked. Only the ones that are viable get kept. We can do it, Stellan and I. Already filed the patents. But actually building the chips is going to cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then there’s IVF fees to get a viable fetus. Then we look at government approval.’” (p. 187)

The anthro animals are convincing. Their emotions are convincing. The sex is basically humanoid and joyous.

“Cold Sleep” by Faora Meridian (illustrated by Black Teagan) is the emotional opposite. The main characters are Engineers Brishen, an older vular (fox) with graying russet fur, and Tariku, his young new partner. They are part of the engineering team on the Dreamflight space station, desperately trying to save the last remnants of the vular race after its extinction on the planet Vularim.

The corruption has killed (agonizingly and horribly) almost all the vular. Brishen is emotionally exhausted, desperately keeping alive a wife and daughter in cold sleep pods for over two decades. When Brishen’s friend and veteran partner Barriken is killed, he is assigned the idealistic engineering graduate Tariku, just out of the crèche, as his new partner. Since this story is in Hot Dish, the reader can guess that Tariku will renew Brishen’s spirit through a homosexual uplift.

“Cold Sleep” is well-written, but it wallows in bleak despair. This is another story that could be easily rewritten to make the vular humans.

“Reunion” by Sisco Polaris (illustrated by Anyare) is mostly flashback, framed by a beginning and end at a high-school’s ten-year reunion. Damien, a tiger former sports jock, is married to Cheryl, a cheetah former cheerleader. She henpecks him savagely; he meekly takes it. At the reunion, Damien slips into a long flashback to when he was a 17-year-old student and spent all his time trying to get Cheryl to spread her legs; beating up Josh Henderson, a nerdy chubby bunny; and having his cock sucked by a mystery cocksucker. There’s more to “Reunion”, but it feels like 36 pages of nonstop cocksucking. This is a very male story. The story cleverly sets up how Damien could get his cock sucked for months without knowing who the mystery cocksucker is. There are clues, but the revelation back at the reunion is designed to surprise you. The story is with more animal-headed humans.

So: If you don’t care for lots of in-your-face adult sex, don’t read Hot Dish. “Loops and Knots”, “The Theorist”, “The Favor of the Gods”, “The Years of Living Dangerously Happy”, and “Reunion” are all feel-good stories. “The Hound and the Tree” and “Cold Sleep” are designed to be intellectually satisfying but emotional downers. The anthology skillfully blends them among the others. These seven are all well-written, making Hot Dish 2 definitely worth the $17.95 price – if you don’t mind lots of sex. Only “Spaces to Breathe” ought to be better.

As you can tell, I don’t care for funny-animal stories where the characters could be humans just as easily as anthro animals. If you don’t care, you’ll like Hot Dish 2 a lot better.

–Fred Patten

• Buy at Sofa Wolf

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Hey Guys, First episode posted since Tal has moved so the sound on this one is a little rough. If there are any problems with it let Vox know and he can try to fix them maybe. Episode 3 - Shark has a new home

Holy crap the editing delay is over! After the move it took a bit to get things going again. Sorry for the late episodes. Tonight the group gets together to discuss the weeks news. Come join in and enjoy! Episode 2.5 - Shark woke up!

Nick Abadzis (Laika) has returned. He’s written a new full-color graphic novel, illustrated by Jerel Dye, called Pigs Might Fly. “All the sensible hogfolk in Pigdom Plains know that if pigs were meant to fly, they’d have been born with wings―but there’s no convincing Lily Leanchops. The daughter of renowned inventor Hercules Fatchops, Lily has watched her father’s flying machines fail time and time again. Working in secret, Lily is trying to build what her father couldn’t: an aircraft that actually works. And of course, she’s following his example and employing scientific principals alone―not magic. (Well, a protection spell or two doesn’t count, right?) Lily’s secret project takes on a new sense of urgency when a mysterious enemy emerges from beyond the mountains. The Warthogs are coming, and they’re piloting flying machines powered by dangerous magic spells. To save Pigdom Plains, Lily must take to the skies in her own experimental aircraft ― and there’s no time for a test run.” It’s available now from First Second. There’s an extensive preview over at Bleeding Cool.

image c. 2017 First Second

"The MENDED LITTLE HEARTS [1] organization supports children, patients and families suffering from congenital heart disease. To create more awareness of their important work, they commissioned BLACKLIST & STUDIO AKA to create a unique set of animations that illustrate the proposition that the more you donate the better the story gets. "   [1] http://www.mendedlittlehearts.org/
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Hello Everyone!

This week we open with a conversation on weed. Many people think that it is strictly for relaxation or for creativity, but are there applications for marijuana in the bedroom as an aphrodisiac? We look at a study and try to remove the stigma from sativa. 

Our main topic is a relaxed show. In response to last year's episode on our relationship mistakes, many people think that we are masters of sex. This is not the case. We talk about problems, errors, mistakes, and negative situations we've come across in our sex play throughout our life? Want to hear about the time that Viro had his dick pepper sprayed? About the time a guy laughed at a commercial and voided all over Metriko's bed? Want to take pleasure in our past miseries? This is your episode!

We close out the show with two questions: one on getting over negativity, the other on finding affordable sex toys and fetish gear. 

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 078 Sex Mistakes and Hot Takes - Is weed good for bed? How many times can we make ourselves laugh at our sex mistakes? How do you be more positive? WHY IS KINK EQUIPMENT SO EXPENSIVE? All this, and more, on this week's Feral Attraction.

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

Furry Fandom, by Wikipedians. Illustrated.
Limburg an der Lahn, Germany, PediaPress, —–, trade paperback $21.65 ([v +] 258 pages).

Furry Fandom is supposedly an “all that you want to know” book about furry fandom, but with a major flaw. It’s only current to around 2010. It’s a fine book at 258 well-indexed pages and with 46 illustrations (mostly photographs) to give to a non-furry who asks what furry fandom is all about. It presents a complete overview. But the fandom has grown and otherwise changed so much since 2010 that anyone becoming a furry fan today will need more information to be brought up to date.

PediaPress is a modern print-on-demand publisher in a suburb of Mainz, Germany that is closely associated with Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia, “PediaPress was established to provide an online service that enabled Web users to create customized books from wiki content, an example of web-to-print technology.” Anyone can request a book on any subject, and “the Wikipedians” will collate all the information on that subject spread throughout “the over 4 million articles on Wikipedia in English alone” into a handy book – officially.

This Furry Fandom book does not have any publication date other than a statement that this copy was printed on April 24, 2017 at 23:51 UTC. But that does not mean the book has all Wikipedia’s information on furry fandom up to April 2017. It states that Anthrocon was held from 1997 to 2009. EuroFurence and Further Confusion are covered up to 2010. The Ursa Major Awards were presented from 2001 to 2008. (p. 44) The Furry Writers’ Guild and its Cóyotl Award, created in 2010 and 2011, are not mentioned. A four-page list of active furry conventions does not include anything after November 2010. The list of furry comic strips and webcomics includes some titles that have been discontinued since 2010 and does not include some that have become major since then. There is no section on furry specialty publishers, although Sofawolf Press is briefly mentioned – FurPlanet and Rabbit Valley are not. Dr. Kathy Gerbasi and the Anthropomorphic Research Project are not mentioned.

So is Furry Fandom worthwhile if it only goes up to 2010? Yes! It’s a great time capsule of what furry fandom was like up until then. It does include the basic information of what furry fandom is all about. It’s got some great photographs; black-&-white here, but often in color if you can find the entry on Wikipedia that they are taken from.

For ongoing activities and works that were started before 2010 and are still ongoing, Furry Fandom presents an in-depth encyclopedic description. This includes conventions like Anthrocon, Internet comic strips like Kevin & Kell, Lackadaisy, and Newshounds, and activities like the Funday PawPet Show and the Ursa Major Awards. There is an excellent gallery of 15 photographs of fursuiters.

If you are active in furry fandom, you probably know all this, but it is still a handy book to have around.

Mistakes are all very trivial. “… the concept of furry originated at a science fiction convention in 1980, when a character drawing from Steve Gallacci’s Albedo Anthropomorphics started a discussion of anthropomorphic characters in science fiction novels.” (p. 1) The discussion included anthropomorphic animals in s-f, animated movies and TV, and comic books; the greater inclusivity was what helped furry fandom separate from just another s-f group. At that 1980 convention and for the next couple of years, Gallacci had only a file folder full of loose drawings. He did not begin to publish them as Albedo Anthropomorphics until June 1984. Furry Fandom says misleadingly, “The first issue of Albedo was published in 1983.” (p. 28) Yes, there was a slim prototype Albedo #0 in Summer 1983, but it was a funny-animal Bladerunner parody, not Gallacci’s serious Erma Felna of the EDF graphic novel that kickstarted furry fandom. Marc Schirmeister was Official Editor of Rowrbrazzle for its first eighteen mailings, not fourteen. (p. 31)

Presumably the lack of a publication date means that PediaPress is giving itself the option of updating Furry Fandom someday. A more up-to-date printing will be larger and more expensive, whether it acknowledges that it’s a new edition or not. Get this, and keep an eye out for an updated edition.

Even if it is outdated, furry fans will have fun poring over Furry Fandom. It’s $21.65 well spent.

–Fred Patten

• Buy at Pedia Press

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First rule of first contact: Never assume the aliens don't understand what you are up to.    
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Papabear,

I being a huge fan of Robin Hood have this to say since my favorite character is the sheriff of Nottingham and I often dream about him, which includes binging with him and getting massive fat beyond compare: Does this make me a pervert?
 
Sergie
 
* * *
 
Dear Sergie,
 
There are a couple definitions for the word “pervert”: 1) to distort or corrupt the original meaning of a thing; 2) someone whose sexual behavior is considered abnormal or unacceptable. The first definition doesn’t apply to you; the second actually depends upon the society that you keep.
 
If one is talking about mundane society, then everything that furries like regarding sex would be defined as perverted because it is not “normal” (whatever the heck that means). So, yes, you’re a pervert.
 
So am I.
 
Who cares?
 
If one defines sex as having to be a man and woman knowing each other biblically only in the missionary position for the sake of procreation, how boring is that?
 
But if you are talking about living within furry society, you’re practically white bread.
 
People who are creative and experimental in their sexual activities will have much more fun and have more satisfying sex than those who do not. As long as it is between consenting adults (and if you’re just looking at stuff online that is not relevant either) and you are not hurting anyone, do whatever pleases you.
 
Enjoy.
 
Papabear (who also has the hots for the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood)

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

De Cape et de Crocs. Acte 12, Si Ce N’Est Toi…, by Alain Ayroles & Jean-Luc Masbou.
Paris, Delcourt, November 2016, hardbound €14,50 (47 [+3] pages).

The Fred Patten & Lex Nakashima plan to bring you the best French-language talking-animal comics has a real winner this time: Of Cloak and Fangs. Vol. 12, If It Isn’t You…, the twelfth & final(!) volume of De Cape et de Crocs, the 17th-century swashbuckling series parodying Cyrano de Bergerac, Molière, Montesquieu, and Co. that has been running since 1995.

Confusingly, volume 10 was originally announced as the end of the series. The main characters through vol. 10 are two wandering gentleman-swordsmen, Armand Raynal de Maupertuis (French fox) and Don Lope de Villalobos y Sangrin (Spanish wolf). They are introduced in 17th-century Venice, then a powerful Mediterranean nation. In the first volume they are betrayed and sentenced to serve as galley-slaves in Venice’s navy, where they meet fellow-slave Eusèbius, the cutest bunny-rabbit in the world. They escape, bringing Eusèbius with them. Eusèbius becomes their loyal squire-valet for the rest of the series, through adventures in Europe and on the Moon; so naïve and self-effacing that you almost forget he’s there. Volume 10 appeared to wrap everything up with a happily-ever-after ending, but the ten albums never said what the cutest bunny-rabbit in the world was doing as a Venetian galley-slave when they met him. Did readers demand an explanation? Volumes 11 and 12 answer the question.

Act 11, Twenty Months Earlier, begins as a pastiche of Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. Eusèbius, young and naïve, sets out in the French countryside to join the famous Cardinal’s Guard in Paris. The adventures he has are partly a parody of what d’Artagnan goes through at the beginning of The Three Musketeers, and partly original. Eusèbius is not the only anthropomorphic animal in 17th-century France. Others include a bear thief posing as a gypsy’s trained bear, and a duck nobleman almost buried under one of those elaborate wigs the nobility of Louis XIII’s time wore. Despite Eusèbius’ efforts to be an outstanding Cardinal’s Guard, he makes two powerful enemies: the Grand Veneur (Royal Huntsman), a human nobleman who aspires to let nothing stop him from replacing the Cardinal as the King’s prime minister; and Monsieur Fagotin, a deadly black-clad chimpanzee assassin.

Act 12, If It Isn’t You… finishes the prologue. Eusèbius is kidnapped and taken to the Court of Miracles (see Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame) where he finds that the king of the Court is his long-missing twin brother Fulgence – an exact double, but without his scruples. All the supporting characters from t. 11 are here: the Grand Veneur, Fagotin, Brioché the puppeteer, d’Ortolan the friendly Musketeer, The Bastille jailkeeper’s sweet daughter, and so on. The album’s ending is known from the beginning; Eusèbius will be condemned to a life sentence as a galley slave. Ayrolles & Masbou tell an engrossing adventure as to how he gets there.

NOTE: The following video features the creators talking about their series. It is in French. You can translate it to English if you want through YouTube’s Auto Translate – Matthias

Ayrolles pulls out all the stops in writing this final album. It’s not easy French. Be prepared for obscure and obsolete words. You had better read this at your computer, ready to pause at least once on each page to Google on some French word that you haven’t seen before.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Read a Sample on Delcourt

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Everything old really is new again! Usually with a new and different spin, of course. Now the latest is a new Mighty Mouse comic book series, brought to us in full color by Dynamite Entertainment. “You’re the world’s greatest hero, exiled to another dimension with no way back. Trapped in an alien world, where not even the laws of physics work the way they should. The only person who even believes you exist is a young kid whom no one will listen to. Yet, you’re the shining light that this drab, cynical world needs to restore its color and life. Oh — and you’re a cartoon mouse. Here comes Mighty Mouse to save the day, in his most unexpected adventure yet… right here, in the real world!” Written by Sholly Fisch and drawn by Igor Lima, Mighty Mouse #1 is on the shelves now. Check out the preview pages (and the variant covers) over at Dynamite’s web site.

image c. 2017 Dynamite Ent.

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!