Feed aggregator
Guild news, May 2017
We had one new member join the FWG in March, and one associate member. Welcome to Blarginator, and to Adam Kellogg of Taomerle Publishing Association! If you’d like more information about joining, read our membership guidelines.
Member newsMiriam “Camio” Curzon, TJ Minde, Jaden Drackus, and Skunkbomb have had stories accepted into Fang 8. Jaden’s story “Prelude to Adventure” also appears in the Fur The More program book.
TJ Minde, Mary E. Lowd, and Madison Keller will appear in the Arcana tarot anthology edited by Madison “Makyo” Scott-Clary. In addition, Madison had a story accepted into Roar 8, and Mary’s story “Missing: Friendly Spook” appeared in the April issue of Fantasia Divinity.
Allison “Sibir” Thai also has a story forthcoming in Roar 8, as well as in Symbol of a Nation and Werewolves vs. Fascism.
Kris Schnee’s novel Thousand Tales: Learning to Fly is now available from Amazon.
CopperSphinx’s poem and illustration will appear in Furlandia 2017’s convention book.
Sean Rivercritic was interviewed by the “South Afrifur Pawdcast” (link goes to audio on YouTube).
If you’d like to be listed here, please post your sales/publications to the Member News section of the FWG Forum! It’s the primary source for these news bits.
New marketsThere are no new furry-specific markets that we’re aware of that opened in April (although there’s at least one that’s opening in May: check the forum thread linked below). We update the listings on the web site fairly frequently, so check to see what is (and isn’t) listed there:
Also, Thurston Howl maintains a Google Calendar with submission opening and closings for both furry and “furry-friendly” anthologies.
Remember to keep an eye on the Calls for Submissions thread on the forum, as well as other posts on the Publishing and Marketing forum.
Odds and endsIt’s election season! The FWG election is underway, slightly late but on schedule to wrap up on time. Currently, there’s one candidate declared for president (Makyo) and one for VP (Chipotle, the current president). The declaration period runs through the end of this week, May 12th. Check the forums and Twitters for more information.
Thanks to Sean Rivercritic of Anthroaquatic (and a past FWG president and current forum administrator), the FWG now has a forum dedicated to offering Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) of member works.
The Tuesday Coffeehouse Chats continue to take place on the FWG Slack channel, while the Thursday chats continue to take place on the shoutbox.
As usual, we’d like to keep recruiting you to the FWG Goodreads group: add things to our members’ bookshelf (see the instructions here on how to do that), start conversations, draw rabbit ears on other authors’ head shots, and so on.
Have a terrific month! Send news, suggestions, feedback, and Zootopia emoji to furwritersguild@gmail.com, or leave a comment below.
TigerTails Radio Season 10 Episode 23
A Common Problem: Being Abandoned by an Online "Friend"
First, I'm sorry if I make some grammatical mistakes here and there. English isn't my first language, but I try my best.
I've been wanting to ask something for a long time, but I always thought at the last moment that I'll just ask some other time and I can handle the problem myself. But now I'm starting to lose hope, so I finally decided to write to you.
I'd also like to say, before I start, that I had never met the person that I'm going to talk about, in real life.
It's about a friend of mine. Or, at least, he's a friend FOR ME. He doesn't call himself a friend of mine anymore.
He's ignoring me. I met him in an online game in the second half of 2014. We had been talking for a few months, Then FNAF [Five Nights at Freddy's] came out. Long story short, he managed to get me in the furry fandom thru FNAF. (Quite cringy, I know.) I created a furry Steam account, that I started using as my main account for that app. He helped me find my first furry friends online, got me in some furry groups, etc. It all was perfect, we talked a lot, we were great friends overall. But then he started to get busier and busier.. or at least he said that to me. We started talking less and less because he wouldn't respond.
End of 2014 comes. I was at a party with some IRL friends. They ask why my steam acc is so cringy, if I'm really a furry, if I'm bisexual, etc., etc. I decide to take ALL furry stuff down from my account because I don't want to lose the only people I talk to, in real life. Even though they weren't great friends, I still cared about their opinion.
In the year 2015, nothing much happens. Me and him barely talk. He seems to forget about me, and removes me from Steam at the end of the year. (I didn't notice it, hadn't checked.)
2016 is here. I was wondering why hadn't talked to me for a long time. I checked and realized that he had removed me. I try to regain contact with him thru the online game which I met him in. He still has me in his friend list (never removes me there in the future, too), but he clearly ignores me.
Second try. I try to regain contact thru his friends, befriending them, asking if they could help me and such. He had told his friends that I was some random stalker.
I'm almost done at this point, I try one final time - I try to get my friends to talk to him. They all end up blocked by him.
I still to this very moment try to talk to him on a messaging app called Telegram from time to time. The funny thing is that he hasn't blocked me. He READS my messages. Never replies, though.
Sometimes I just start thinking about him, thinking how much of a great friend he was. Then I feel like shit. I feel like it's all my fault. I may even cry. This happens about 1-2 times a month.
I just want to know what should I do. I can't simply forget him and move on. Everyone has already told me to do it, but I can't. I want to talk to him at least once more, ask him why he's being like that, why he's ignoring me. But it all seems impossible.
Zen (age 15, Estonia)
* * *
Dear Zen,
(BTW, your English is quite good.) Papabear gets many, many, many letters like yours. I hear this story all the time about some online furry friend who seems great at first and then, suddenly, ignores and drops out of the life of the furry friend. Repeated efforts are made by the letter writer to reestablish the friendship—all to no avail. The person writing to me is left wondering what went wrong, with no sense of closure, and yet still wanting to be the friend of the person who snubbed them.
So, here is my advice.
- Realize that in life you will have many friends who come and go.
- It is NOT YOUR FAULT if they leave your life. It is THEIR choice. There could be many reasons why they did this, and most likely it is for selfish reasons.
- Continuing to pursue them is just going to frustrate the heck out of you. You will only drive yourself crazy by continuing to do this.
- You are probably better off without such people in your life (the kind who abandon you).
- You say you can't let it go? Yes, you can. Try harder.
Is this all disappointing? Of course. Life is full of disappointments. If you can, learn from them, and then move on.
Good Luck,
Papabear
Nova Seed movie review- a rare find of sci fi animation.
Gonzo, trippy, visionary sci-fi is a rich mine for cult movies. A new gem has come to light.
Nova Seed is a great hand-drawn cartoon. You can’t tell from the high quality, but it was animated to feature length (63 minutes) by just one guy in 4 years. (There were a few helpers for stuff like music). I’m writing for furry fans, and furries love art that’s not mainstream but is full of guts and talent. That’s how this movie works inside limits to exceed expectations. If your animation gold standard is a blockbuster like Zootopia, gold is common compared to a gem like this.
It’s post-apocalyptic, anthropomorphic sci-fi (that’s a mouthful)… Call it “Zoodystopia”.
The protagonist is Nac, a genetically engineered lion-man. They call him a “neo-animal”. The world is on the edge of destruction and he’s enslaved to fight for the human population. A deadly weapon is being built under the earth and Nac is the one who can stop it. Humans treat neo-animals with fear and suspicion, so he’s due to be terminated at the end. They’ll take the life crystal embedded in his chest. Obviously, he’s not too happy about that, so he soon turns from slave to fugitive. He defies captivity and pursues his mission under fire from all sides. What secret will he find in the lair of Dr. Mindskull?
Dr. Mindskull is the antagonist building the secret weapon, the Nova Seed. He’s like a Furry Skeletor. The cast is rounded out by a mysterious girl with uncanny power, a treacherous mutant fly, masked soldiers, a grizzled assassin, and newscasters standing in for the masses. A talking pig makes a funny cameo.
It’s a cyberpunk world of flying gunships and desolate deserts. It’s a decadent future resembling a Moebius comic or Heavy Metal the movie. Apart from the neo-animal scenes, the world building happens with media fragments efficiently cut between action. Staticky news and surveillance mix in a trippy way on many screens at once, with a motif of breaking glass (which gets important later). Without a huge budget to create an epic world, it makes effective use of minimal exposition. It only tells you just what you need to know while the action moves forward.
Furry fans will love how the lion-man animation shifts from weighty and powerful but mostly human acting, to lunging and leaping like an actual lion during bursts of action. Fast pacing makes changes so smooth that it all fits his personality. He isn’t drawn with no tail as in Bojack Horseman – often his lashing tail tells his mood. It’s top notch anthropomorphism.
There’s bonus furry points for an epic hug that saves the world.
I was blown away by how the animation is deployed inside limits for effective mood and story. No need for zillion dollar CG crowd shots here. But there are plenty of money shots with vehicle and effects animation. A comic booky look is achieved with flat color blocks enriched with subtle gradients. (I assume assistants were valuable for ink & paint.) “2 1/2D” style compositing fleshes out the layouts with sophisticated depth of field and cinematic lighting. (Sorry, those are boring terms…) I mean nothing feels flat or dead. Shots with no character animation have lighting playing across surfaces with flickers and electric glares. It pushes storytelling with mood and color design. Unlike many low-budget productions, I never felt taken out of the movie by short cuts to avoid labor. The art sings like Judas Priest.
The voice acting is a fine support for good animation. If I can point out one flaw, it might be sound production that makes you have to pay careful attention to what’s said. Otherwise, I give good points to effects and composing that improves the story with synthwave music.
You’ve seen high quality sci fi anime, but North American animation very rarely does anything like this. (This movie is supported by a small but strong Toronto scene with French and European influences.)
Does this perk your ears? Are your whiskers twitching? Nova Seed looks like what I imagine could come out of my favorite art subculture some day – something like this is a holy grail of furry art. This movie kicks so much ass, it’s a strong contender for my favorite in animation. I’m excited to introduce it. Nobody gives support like furry fans, and if it gains more love, I hope it leads to bigger budgets and a great future for this director.
UPDATE: As Arrkay comments, buy the movie direct from the artist’s site for extra bonus features and to give support. You can also find the soundtrack by Stephen Verrall/Lakeshore Records at Bandcamp.
(Vice has a great article about Nova Seed. I know of only a handful of indie creators attempting such projects. Keep an eye out for news here about these similar 2D animated features in production: Dawgtown and The Saga of Rex.)
To support writing by furries, for furries, please visit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, and support all of the team’s news and reviews.
The Secret History of Equestria
IDW has brought forth yet another new title in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic family, following the success of Guardians of Harmony. Now there’s My Little Pony: Legends of Magic, which premiered last month. “The origins of cutie marks, friendships, magic and more are available in this new ongoing series devoted to revealing the secret history of Equestria! In this opening story arc, we travel back in time to uncover the secrets of Starswirl the Bearded and his magical friends!” It’s always good to see him turn up. Written by Jeremy Whitley with art by well-known pony artist Brenda Hickey.
image c. 2017 IDW Publishing
Save
ep 161 - Little Nazis - We're back into the swing of things, expect new e…
We're back into the swing of things, expect new eps posted here Sunday night/Monday morning! Patreons will get episodes first right after recording. Just a buck gets you early access and a downloadable mp3 file! www.patreon.com/thedraggetshow Serathin's amazing Dragget Show story! - docs.google.com/document/d/1AYkJR…y8RCsCK0NjEw/edit ALSO, we're not just on SoundCloud, you can also subscribe to this on most podcast services like iTunes! Don't forget to hang out in our telegram chat, now w/ over 100 members!telegram.me/draggetshow ep 161 - Little Nazis - We're back into the swing of things, expect new e…
Survive the Future
After a successful Kickstarter campaign last year, Tanemaki Designs recently introduced a new animal-themed board game called Vivarium. The basic premise is that in a future time of environmental destruction, a bio-dome has been set up as an “ark” to house and hopefully preserve a part of Earth’s remaining animal species. According to the official web site, “Vivarium is a strategy board game for 2-5 players where you assume the role of a species fighting for survival inside a new environment. Equipped with just your instincts and fears, you must utilize your species’ unique abilities and adapt in order to survive. By acquiring new cards, claiming territory, enduring natural disasters, defending the Oasis and completing objectives you can increase your fitness to survive. The species with the most fitness at the end of the game wins! Vivarium has 8 distinct species, a modular game board and varied seasonal events that ensure every game is unique and layered with strategy.” It’s been making an appearance at various game and comic book stores, so look for it near you.
image c. 2017 Tanemaki Designs
FC-266 Vincent Van Whoa - We read news, then get distracted, then read more news, then get distracted again.
We read news, then get distracted, then read more news, then get distracted again.
Watch Video Link Roundup:- Fox and Pepper at NotCon
- Ash makes glass toys!
- BoozyBadger’s new Twitter handle
- Boozy goes to FurtheMore 2017
- ArcticSkyWolf’s MCFC 2017 Video
- The Oatmeal’s comic on Belief & Change
- Paradox Coffee shop near FurDU on the Gold Coast
- How Virtual Reality Spiders Are Helping People Face Their Arachnophobia
- Wes Anderson’s ‘Isle of Dogs’ gets poster and release date
- Neuralink Wants To Wire Your Brain To The Internet – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
- Davenport man accused of importing $600,000 worth of ‘meth paste’ in glass vases
- A “Sex Robot Brothel” May Soon Be Opening In The UK
FC-266 Vincent Van Whoa - We read news, then get distracted, then read more news, then get distracted again.
We read news, then get distracted, then read more news, then get distracted again.
Watch Video Link Roundup:- Fox and Pepper at NotCon
- Ash makes glass toys!
- BoozyBadger’s new Twitter handle
- Boozy goes to FurtheMore 2017
- ArcticSkyWolf’s MCFC 2017 Video
- The Oatmeal’s comic on Belief & Change
- Paradox Coffee shop near FurDU on the Gold Coast
- How Virtual Reality Spiders Are Helping People Face Their Arachnophobia
- Wes Anderson’s ‘Isle of Dogs’ gets poster and release date
- Neuralink Wants To Wire Your Brain To The Internet – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
- Davenport man accused of importing $600,000 worth of ‘meth paste’ in glass vases
- A “Sex Robot Brothel” May Soon Be Opening In The UK
[Live] Vincent Van Whoa
We read news, then get distracted, then read more news, then get distracted again.
Link Roundup:- Fox and Pepper at NotCon
- Ash makes glass toys!
- BoozyBadger’s new Twitter handle
- Boozy goes to FurtheMore 2017
- ArcticSkyWolf’s MCFC 2017 Video
- The Oatmeal’s comic on Belief & Change
- Paradox Coffee shop near FurDU on the Gold Coast
- How Virtual Reality Spiders Are Helping People Face Their Arachnophobia
- Wes Anderson’s ‘Isle of Dogs’ gets poster and release date
- Neuralink Wants To Wire Your Brain To The Internet – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
- Davenport man accused of importing $600,000 worth of ‘meth paste’ in glass vases
- A “Sex Robot Brothel” May Soon Be Opening In The UK
Episode 347 - I Am Mad Therefore I Must Scream
Civilized Beasts Poetry Anthology, 2015 Edition – book review by Fred Patten
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Civilized Beasts, Poetry Anthology, 2015 Edition, editor-in-chief Laura Govednik.
Manvil, TX, Weasel Press, December 2015, trade paperback $8.99 (86 pages), Kindle $2.99.
This small, slim volume has four Editors and an Editor-In-Chief. Editor Jason Huitt (Lunostophiles) explains in his Foreword that poetry has an image problem; that it “is hard to sell to the masses.” (The other three Editors are Altivo Overo, Televassi, and George Squares.) I agree with his reason that it has a cultural stereotype of being ‘for the elite’. I would also say that it’s too short and plotless.
Civilized Beasts, 2015 Edition contains 55 poems by 33 authors. Most are a single page or less long. That makes Civilized Beasts best for reading in short bursts, a few poems at a time. The anthology is a charity for the Wildlife Conservation Society. “All proceeds from this anthology go towards the Wildlife Conservation Society.”
It is hard to get really “furry” in one page. Only a couple have what might be called a furry plot; notably “Two Thieves on a Bluff” by George Squares, and “Why the Coyote Is: A Legend I Mostly Made Up But Is Undeniably True” by David Andrew Cowan. Most poems are about the beauty of nature; wild animals fleetingly glimpsed, animals frozen at night by a car’s headlights, animals’ eyes glowing at night, and so on. There are several about “trickster coyote”, but almost all are about real coyotes:
“Brown and gray
Sand in a desert sunset
Golden eyes laughing at and with you
Here and gone”
from God’s Dog by BanWynn Oakshadow
Some of the titles are more memorable than their poems, such as “The Mice’s Nightmare” by Stefano “Mando” Zocchi, “A Kiss from a Black Deer” by Dwale, “To My Lover, the Bloody-Faced Fox” by Kits Koriohn, “Ballad of the Weaselish Weasels” by Kenket, “Why I Am Sometimes Jealous of the Cat” by Renee Carter Hall, and “Taking Down the Hummingbird Feeder”, by Denise Clemons.
Other notable authors include Amy Fontaine, Larry D. Thomas, Arian Mabe, Chris Wise, and Alice “Huskyteer” Dryden. The cover is by Darkomi, and there is a title page drawing by Hickupby.
When people say “furry fiction”, they don’t usually think of poetry. Civilized Beasts aims to change that. It is intended to be an annual poetry anthology.
Watch, Out!
In the about-time department, perhaps, IDW have published a new Yo-Kai Watch full-color comic book series this spring. According to them: “The hit anime, manga and toy sensation from Japan comes to North American comics! Join Nate and his Yo-Kai, Whisper, as they battle against ill-intentioned Yo-Kai causing terrible trouble in their hometown!” Previously, Viz Media licensed the original Yo-Kai Watch manga by Noriyuki Konishi for release in North America. This new comic, however, is completely home grown: Eric M. Esquivel (Bravest Warriors) is the writer, with art by Tina Franscisco (Strawberry Shortcake) and Dono Sanchez Almara (Turbo Defiant). It’s available now. And, of course, the Yo-Kai Watch anime series is running on Disney XD, if you didn’t know. (Our thanks to Anime News Network for help with this article).
image c. 2017 IDW Publishing
Music Video: The Wolf
"Each and every day Hiding from the sunshine Wandering in the shade Not to old Not too young Every night again Dancing with the moonlight Somewhere far away I can hear your call"
View Video
S6 Episode 15 – Does it Really Just Happen with Lonely Farmers and a Goat? - Heads up! This episode contains content considered extreme or sensitive to some. While we hope everyone is open to learning about the world around them, we wanted to let you know
NOW LISTEN!
Show Notes
Special Thanks
Kyon, one of our guests
Bosco, one of our guests
Ausi Kat, for the ident
Tocanis
Spark the Dragon
Blaze Maestro Tholdt
Anonybark
Kira
Docos
Nabru
Music
Opening Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Century Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller– Cloud Fields (Radio Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Some music was provided by Kevin MacLeod at Incompetech.com. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. We used the following pieces:
Spy Glass
Tech Live
Space News Music: Fredrik Miller – Orbit. USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Closing Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Headnodic Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller – Cloud Fields (Chill Out Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Patreon Love
The following people have decided this month’s Fur What It’s Worth is worth actual cash! THANK YOU!
Uber Supporters
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Deluxe Supporter
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Want to be on this list? Donate on our Patreon page! THANK YOU to our supporters once again!
Next episode: Got a furry crush? Had one? Let us know by May 8, 2017! S6 Episode 15 – Does it Really Just Happen with Lonely Farmers and a Goat? - Heads up! This episode contains content considered extreme or sensitive to some. While we hope everyone is open to learning about the world around them, we wanted to let you know
Call for help with the Fullerton Murder story; and The Furry Code Of Silence.
Furry reached new heights in 2016. Disney came to our party. There was a low point of a chemical attack on Midwest FurFest that turned into a high quality Vice News story. Notice the title, “CSI Fur Fest” – I’d like to think it was chosen to make up for the other CSI, who did us a disservice. But this time “the media” earned a nomination for a 2016 Ursa Major award.
It was cool that Vice did that story. The media was on our side. That’s the theme of this post.
In 2017, there was the unreal experience of Furry Nazis grabbing the wheel for a minute and making us swerve into no-man’s land. Maybe we’re getting back on track, but don’t relax. Those headlines were rough, but rougher ones are coming.
Look at California, where you might say Furry Fandom really got started. In SoCal, the Skiltaire House is where you can hang out with the founders of the first convention and have a friendly night of fursuiting or watching animation. That’s where Jennifer Yost was known as a mom to others, including her daughter Daydreamer Fox. They went together.
One day in the fall of 2016, Daydreamer went missing. The Skiltaire put out an alert. I shared it and got contact from a reporter. Then Daydreamer was found. It wasn’t a missing person alert any more. The Yost parents and a family friend were dead and two other kids were orphaned.
Two furries were arrested for triple murder.
It was crazy. That isn’t something we do. I legitimately cried.
A lot of furs felt the same way. I put out a statement for them. Scott, the reporter from the OC Register, helped send it up the chain to national news. It was carefully meant to tell what furs were feeling with no gory details, to reduce using them for attention. Some trashy blogs tried and got criticism instead of clicks. I jumped into the comments and the regular public supported me. Scott took my suggestions and quoted people I referred to him. Tips came in and rumors were abated. We turned down subsequent interviews. Out of many sources, Rolling Stone did a surprisingly good job.
There’s a trial soon and the news is going to bring all that attention back.
There will be clickbait from hacks who want traffic. Professionals will try to tell a deep story about regular humans and a hobby they love. Hobbyists and regular people will dig into the topic to figure things out.
2017’s news brought such a regular person to the fandom. Boozy Barrister was looking at legal issues of subcultures. He found the RMFC story right when it came out and put it on his blog. It was like opening a can of tuna for the neighborhood cats. Suddenly he was adopted by the fandom. He’s a face for the theme of this post.
Good writing helps – will there be a story like Vice’s?
With all the attention coming for the trial, furries know it’s a bad story. They know the vultures will circle around, and every vulture can pretend to be a helper. Uncle Kage might tell you to avoid them all. That’s a theme since before furries were on CSI.
That isn’t my theme. I started this blog because so many stories were untold. Regular news doesn’t know how to get it right. So I got into writing about it like others teach themselves to draw or make fursuits. I’m too yappy to stop. Now I get asked for help. So let me tell you who asked about this.
The Atlantic wants to cover the story.
That magazine is one of my inspirations (like writing by Eric Schlosser). They do quality long-form stuff unlike fast news that can be shallow. One way they can set theirs apart is by adding more quality with exclusive info. That means talking to furries who were close to the story.
Sanjiv B. is the writer. He specializes in writing about subculture. I’d like to help Sanjiv. He’s run into a “furry code of silence.”
I think a Code of Silence was part of why RMFC died. It involved the leadership and questionable decisions when things went out of control. Privacy is good, but silence can be harmful.
The family’s privacy is more important than fandom public image, but it’s impossible to deny this is a furry story. It’s as if a crime happened at a company or school and they put that in the headline. I don’t think it would be fair to exclude that aspect.
There are a lot of unanswered questions. Respectful coverage could dispel mystery and judgements to help others.
What Sanjiv is looking for:
“My hope is that this is an opportunity to present the furry world as everyday people, full of complexities and contradictions, and prone sometimes to tragedies like this one. If anything, perhaps some misunderstandings about furry culture can be addressed along the way.
In the end, this is a story about a brutal triple homicide, and that’s my focus. It so happens that the people concerned are longtime furries and the fandom was an important part of their lives, so I do need the help of the community. I want to understand the relationships, the characters involved, what their lives were like and how it seems a few young people in Orange County went down such a very dark road. The goal is to portray everyone concerned as a fully human and understandable, not as a cliche or stereotype. Naturally, I want to speak to anyone who know those involved in any capacity, the closer the better. There has to be something we can learn from this.
How Sanjiv ran into a Code of Silence:
“I’ve been quite angrily rebuffed a couple of times. It’s taken me by surprise how some people have responded. In one case I was told of a good person to talk to, but their first response was to threaten to sue me in all caps! I understand that there is skepticism of the media, and with good reason, but I’m not “the media” as a whole, I’m just a writer in LA, and I feel I’ve been prejudged by people who have already made their minds up – which is something furries complain about all the time I’m sure. It’s a little demoralizing! I’ve no intention of misrepresenting anyone. And I can offer reassurances about quote accuracy, going on/off the record, concealing identities if absolutely necessary etc. I get why some groups have a code of silence, like gangs or cults, but furries though? I thought you guys were friendly!
Honestly, my hope was always to make enough friends in the furry world that we could just hang, you know? I want to be familiar enough with the fandom that I can come to events and it not be a big deal. That’s how I think we can really do this story justice and tell it fairly. It would be easy to write sensationalist rubbish, I could have done it already if that’s what I was here for. I’m not. I’m trying to put in the time and effort to really get to the bottom of this. Surely that’s what furries want journalists to do.
I have until early June to get a proper insight. Any help you can give me is much appreciated.”
Reach Sanjiv here. Telegram: @sanjivbee – Email: mrsanj.b@gmail.com – facebook.com/sanjiv.bhattacharya
If you can help him, please consider it. I think this is a story that deserves to be told right.
The Earth Tigers, by Frances Pauli – book review by Fred Patten.
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
The Earth Tigers, by Frances Pauli
Moses Lake, WA, Gastropod Press, February 2017, trade paperback $7.99 (165 pages), Kindle $0.99.
The Earth Tigers is Star Spiders, Volume One. Pauli considers it to be s-f, not furry, but it has talking spiders in it. Volume Two, tentatively titled Sky Fires, will be published in 2018.
The Earth Tigers is dedicated:
For all the eight-legged beauties, big and small.
Without them, we’d live in a much less friendly
environment.
Unfortunately for reviewing, The Earth Tigers begins in the midst of deliberate confusion and only gradually reveals what is going on. So any traditional plot synopsis would be full of spoilers.
It starts with a spider, Horatch, who is looking for a human to become a “candidate”. He (there is a reason for him to be a male rather than a female spider) choses Milyi, a young girl alone in a forest.
“‘Nicely done.’ A male voice spoke from the trees.
Milyi froze and searched her surroundings. She could see no one. ‘Who said that?’
‘You dance beautifully.’ His calm voice held traces of an echo and had no visible source.
‘Where are you?’ Milyi turned a small circle, watching the vines.
‘To your right,’ he said. ‘The large trunk, and just above your head.’
She turned again, all the way around, and still saw no one. One of the trees was distinctly larger than the others, and Milyi stalked toward it on tiptoe. The bark had thick, deep ruts torn loose in places and covered in sparse moss. The fan branches swooped overhead, casting shadows across the trunk. She circled it, and found no one hiding.
Where are you?’
‘I’m afraid to show you.’
‘Why?’
‘I have many reasons, most of them older than us both.’” (pgs. 18-19)
Horatch finally does show himself.
“Spider. Her mind whispered it, but this thing was too large to match the thought. A round, soup-bowl sized abdomen followed the long legs, the starburst body. In total, the creature was easily as long as her forearm. Milyi counted the legs as it descended. She watched eight toes test the way, clutch and release the bark one after the other. Giant spider.” (p. 20)
Milyi has a greater reason than most to fear a talking, giant spider, but that’s one of the mysteries that is revealed later. Her talking to a spider instead of immediately killing it is enough to get her sentenced to death.
“Why did they despise spiders? No one had ever explained it. If they remembered the source of their enmity, no one ever spoke it out loud. If they had a good reason, no one bothered to pass it along. But they did hate them. She understood that fully for the first time when they’d tied her feet together. She’d betrayed that hate, had lifted herself above it, and now she had no place among them.
They probably had to kill her.” (p. 41)
Horatch rescues Milyi, with the help of wild pigs that his people fellow spiders, the T’rant, have (domesticated? allied with?) But he is running out of time, and leading her to the T’rant city is more dangerous than he expects:
“The tree trunk thrummed and jerked his mind fully awake. An impact. He checked the girl below and found her sleeping, still as a stone. If she hadn’t moved… The tree shook again, harder this time. Horatch felt the vibrations like a wave from the ground, up through his toes, and onward toward the fronds above.
Something big moving, something very big.” (p. 67)
Other important characters are Saku, a human teen; Niatha, the leader of the T’rant; and Angel, a major enemy.
The Earth Tigers (cover by the author) features human adolescents, and it’s impossible to avoid thinking of Horatch as a teenage spider, making this a good Young Adult title. The novel comes to a definite conclusion, but leaves the characters awaiting what will come next. There are enough furry characters (but no tigers, or any other mammals!) to please furry readers.
Episode -4 - Shark ate the bull
The Wolf of Winter. Almost.
Dreamspinner Press is a publishing house that specializes in romantic LGBT fiction in a number of genres, including science fiction and fantasy. One of particular note caught our eye: Dog Days, written by T.A. Moore. According to the publisher’s web site, it goes like this: “The world ends not with a bang, but with a downpour. Tornadoes spin through the heart of London, New York cooks in a heat wave that melts tarmac, and Russia freezes under an ever-thickening layer of permafrost. People rally at first—organizing aid drops and evacuating populations—but the weather is only getting worse. In Durham, mild-mannered academic Danny Fennick has battened down to sit out the storm. He grew up in the Scottish Highlands, so he’s seen harsh winters before. Besides, he has an advantage. He’s a werewolf. Or, to be precise, a weredog. Less impressive, but still useful. Except the other werewolves don’t believe this is any ordinary winter, and they’re coming down over the Wall to mark their new territory. Including Danny’s ex, Jack — the Crown Prince Pup of the Numitor’s pack — and the prince’s brother, who wants to kill him. A wolf winter isn’t white. It’s red as blood.” And it’s available now in paperback.
image c. 2017 Dreamspinner Press
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