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

Slave Trade,, by comidacomida. Illustrated by SpottyJaguar.
Birmingham, AL, Two-Lips Press, January 2017, hardcover $29.99 (466 pages), Kindle $9.99.

The first sight of the telephone-sized hardcover edition of this book is stunning. It’s a huge 8½ x 11 x 1-inch tome that’s almost impossible to hold open without using both hands, and so heavy (over 3 pounds) that it’s tiresome to hold it without resting it on a table or your lap. Slave Trade seems designed mostly for Kindle sales, although each 8½ x 11” page takes two pages to fit onto a Kindle reader. Amazon says that the Kindle edition is 912 pages.

Slave Trade is a furry erotic adventure-fantasy (although there is no rating) set in a Medieval/Renaissance-like world that is not quite funny-animal. There are six main mammal kingdoms; three for anthro animals with plantigrade (flat) legs like bears, rodents, and primates – Tenvier, Larana, and Pross — and three for those with digitigrade (walking on toes) legs; canines, felines, ungulates — Diermyna, Meisenyl, and Vensii. Some practice slavery; others don’t. Usually the characters act so human that they might as well be funny animals; then someone does something that could only be done with an animal’s nature.

“The porcupine [Gaius, a tanner] reached back behind himself to snap a quill free; he then used it to pin up a loose section of leather on the harness.” (p. 84)

Most of this takes place on the vast estates of Lord Hector Desanti, a white Stag nobleman from Vensii now residing in Pross. The main character is Sidney, a young slave (Fox) on Lord Hector’s estates. Sidney hero-worships Lord Hector from afar; he’s like a god to Sidney. So he’s stunned when Lord Hector not only notices him, but gives him personal attention.

At first this personal attention is all homosexual. Sidney is used to being a sex toy; he used to be owned by Lord Bulhue (hippopotamus), who was so brutal he almost killed Sidney. In fact, Lord Bulhue only sold him when he was so “used up” that he was barely still alive. So Sidney doesn’t expect anything better. He is dumbfounded when Lord Hector is actually gentle with him.

“When Lord Hector spoke he did so quietly, his firm voice carrying a sweet, melodious tone to Sidney’s ears. ‘You’ve done well with the dressing.’

Though it was barely above a whisper, the Fox had no trouble hearing it and clung to every word; his master had praised him. The Fox glowed at the compliment. ‘Thank you, Master. I wish only to please.’

The words came out of his muzzle, a veiled admission of just how much he wanted to serve. He heard the sound of his master returning to him from across the room. Sidney wished longingly that his loincloth was within reach. When the sound of the hooves on the floorboards stopped right in front of him, Lord Hector made his request known. ‘Stand for me, Sidney.’

Whimpering inaudibly, Sidney complied. He tried standing at a half-angle, avoiding meeting the Stag’s eyes as a suitable excuse. The Fox folded his paws across his abdomen in what he hoped looked like a casual stance, hoping beyond hope that he’d be able to hide his excitement at having his master so close to him. He felt as if his body betrayed him as the proximity of his paws and their warmth made his member emerge just a little further; he cursed his body under his breath.

Without saying a word Lord Hector approached him. The Stag came from the side and stopped uncomfortably close; Sidney imagined that he could feel his master’s breath against his fur and fought back the urge to shiver at how near the perfect, silvery body was from him. He kept his eyes down, biting down on his tongue until he could taste blood in an attempt to get his body under control. The Stag walked around him to his backside.” (pgs. 23-24)

No need to get more explicit; the text and the full-page illustrations by SpottyJaguar do that. (Chapter heading sketches that don’t reveal as much are by CBH.) The first fifty pages are a mixture of background exposition and eroticism, with throbbing members, sticky bodily fluids, and a frightening electronic sex machine, the Sardassi. After about page 50, the plot gets moving.

But what is the plot? Sidney is unbelievably naïve and timid. All he knows is that Pross is ruled by numerous Lords, most of them much more brutal then the gentle, adorable Lord Hector. They have absolute power over their vassals. When he is told that Pross is a kingdom, with a King above the Lords, he has to have what a King is explained to him. He is content to follow orders and never think for himself. So why does Lord Hector give him increasing responsibility in areas that he knows nothing about? He doesn’t understand what’s going on, but he likes it.

“Ever since he first became a slave he’d either shared a bed with a trainer or master, or, when he was given time to himself he was still surrounded by dozens of other slaves. The thought of having the work shed was unheard of; it not only provided him with privacy, but an actual door! His eyes slowly swiveled to look at the blessed portal that he never expected to provide the privacy that slaves weren’t supposed to have.” (p. 53)

Sidney is a house slave. He is dimly aware of the field slaves who tend and harvest Lord Hector’s crops. He knows nothing about the gladiator slaves. Each Lord is required by Lord Levid, the King, to train several gladiators; for the public’s entertainment in the arena, and for the King to take the best of them for the army in Pross’ war with reptilian Sarvis. Lord Hector has three brawny gladiators-in-training; Dorias (Yak), Choel (Tiger), and Uraou (Brown Bear), and a new slave that Lord Hector wants trained as a gladiator, Maern, a Stallion from Vensii who does not speak Prossian. And Tharis (Bull), but he’s old and no longer a gladiator, reassigned to stud service. Sidney is dumbfounded again to be promoted to a gladiator slave master, in charge of training Dorias, Choel, Uraou, and Maern. The first three are contemptuous of Sidney at first, but they do appreciate his going easy on them instead of savagely beating them just to show off his authority. In desperation, he gets the idea of asking Tharis to help out.

“Choel and Uraou spoke their disbelief in unison. ‘Tharis?’

The Fox shrugged. ‘Well … he has some experience as a gladiator. I guess it’d make sense that he could help everybody learn a little.’

Several of the slaves looked as though they might have wanted to say something but Sidney decided that he had to be more decisive and so he raised his voice and called out. ‘Tharis! Come here, please!’” (p. 147)

Tharis does help, and Lord Hector is pleased that the gladiators are making progress. Since Sidney is doing so well with Tharis, he is also put in charge of the Bull’s official duty; of milking his erection to collect semen.

The gladiatorial bout in the arena at Pross’ Equinox Festival is supposed to only demonstrate the gladiators-in-training’s skills, but the king suddenly orders it intensified.

“Sidney stood up when the sound of metal-on-metal indicated that their storage room door was indeed opening. Although the Fox was overjoyed to see his master the grave expression on the Stag’s muzzle was not very reassuring and Lord Hector wasted no time mincing words. ‘Only one of you is fighting tonight.’

Uraou snorted, glancing at Sidney. ‘Just one? How’re we supposed to show what we –‘

The Stag continued, speaking over the slave. ‘It’s a fight to the death.’

The Bear fell silent immediately.” (p. 187)

To give away what’s going on (sorry; it’s supposed to be a revelation), Lord Hector and King/Lord Levid hate each other’s guts. The Stag is from Vensii, where slavery is illegal. The customs of Pross require him to own slaves. The Prossian nobility is extremely brutal towards its slaves. Lord Hector, by showing kindness to his, is subtly showing contempt to the Prossian royal court and King Levid (who is always hidden behind a rich purple curtain). The Prossian nobility believe that one must torture one’s slaves to train them to be worth anything. Lord Hector, by making his least competent slave his slave master, is showing them all up – if he can really guide Sidney into holding his own with the best Prossian slave masters.

“Even as Lord Hector took his seat a wave of servants emerged from all sides of the room with silver pitchers and Lord Levid continued his conversation as if they didn’t exist. ‘Hector … we have been hearing that you aren’t your slave master’s first owner.’

The Stag nodded again, appearing to pay more attention to his empty plate than the figure behind the purple cloth. ‘That is correct, your Majesty.’

Lord Levid’s musings were spoken rather than thought. ‘How strange that must be … we could imagine that such an arrangement would be awkward at times.’

Lord Hector finally looked up, smiling pleasantly. ‘Oh, it most assuredly started that way, your Highness. There were certain aspects of his training that were required to be relearned when he became responsible for my fighting stables.’

Lord Levid’s voice was full of patronizing mirth. ‘We mean with regard to using another Lord’s cast-offs, Hector … though, we suppose we might also appreciate the difficulty of having to teach a pleasure slave how to deal with fighting slaves.’

Sidney admired his master for how efficiently he controlled his displeasure; the banter didn’t appear to affect the Stag at all. Lord Hector held his goblet up as the Panther servant poured wine into it. ‘Indeed. As I said, there were certain aspects of his training that were required to be relearned when he became responsible for my stable.’

A well dressed ferret woman almost directly across the table from Lord Hector placed her elbows on the table and rested her muzzle on her laced-together fingers. ‘I’m surprised such a little spit of a Fox could expect to command the obedience of a stable of gladiators.’” (pgs. 200-201)

After Sidney realizes what this is all about, he, Lord Hector, and Lord Hector’s gladiators (especially Maern) become more of a partnership in planning to show up the Prossian nobility. But King Levid, as an absolute monarch, doesn’t play fair.

Slave Trade (cover by MoltenGoldArt) mixes well-written refined, deadly Renaissance court politics, including attempted assassinations and ambushes, with continued scenes of graphic m/m sex. The sadistic King Levid uses everything to humiliate Sidney and Lord Hector, and to try and kill Lord Hector’s gladiators. The slow bedroom beginning at Lord Hector’s estates turns about halfway through the novel into intrigue and action at the gladiatorial arena, the Prossian royal court, and wherever King Levid may strike next.

–Fred Patten

• Buy E-book on Amazon
• Buy the Hardcover at Legion Printing

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. Want to do something REALLY awesome? Ask two friends to share the link. Thank you – Patch

So 9 years ago a rather weird youtube channel called lasagnacat was posting live action parodies of Garfield comics produced by the production companion Fatal Farm [1]. Their mission was to give tribute to the genius that was Jim Davis, most of the channel was dada-esque [2] surrealism. After a 9 year gap in video's they just started publishing again. I just couldn't resist a surreal mashup of shoddy Garfield suits and Kraftwerk music. Enjoy? [1] http://www.fatalfarm.com/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada
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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Kismet, by Watts Martin
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, January 2017, trade paperback $17.95 (323 pages), e-book $5.99.

Kismet, by Watts Martin
Dallas, TX, Argyll Productions, January 2017, trade paperback $17.95 (323 pages), e-book $5.99*.

This is a first for furry publishing, as far as I know. The only differences between these two editions are the publisher’s name and illustrated logo on the title page, the ISBN number, and the cover by Teagan Gavet. Both are dark blue and feature the protagonist in a spacesuit in deep space, but the Argyll cover displays her at a distance without showing what she looks like, and the FurPlanet cover is a closeup showing that she is a rat-woman. The FurPlanet edition is marketed as furry science fiction; the Argyll edition is marketed as just science fiction, for those outside furry fandom who may buy s-f but not a furry book.

Whichever it’s read as, hard s-f or furry fiction, Kismet is a winner. Several hundred years in the future, mankind has settled the Asteroid Belt. Mankind has also developed advanced bioengineering that enables people to have themselves bioengineered into anthropomorphic animals. There has been the mix of social acceptance and rejection that this results in for over a century. At this present, most of Earth is human and most of the anthropomorphs have migrated to the Asteroid Belt. In the Belt, the humans are called cisforms and the anthropomorphs are totemics.

Gail Simmons is a rat-woman totemic in the Ceres Ring, with her AI spaceship Kismet. She’s a salvage operator, a salvor, doing odd jobs of space hauling and space junk reclamation. She’s basically a hermit, living inside Kismet; the ship smart-AI brain is her only friend. Gail is contacted by an old childhood acquaintance who she hasn’t seen in two decades; he’s a yacht charter pilot now, and he’s just seen what looks like a derelict spaceship while making a chartered flight. His customer won’t give him the time to check it out, so he’s notifying Gail. Gail and Kismet find what appears to be an abandoned or sabotaged spaceship and two dead bodies. When Gail reports this, it leads to her being accused of theft and murder, and the missing cargo to be a handheld databox – a Macguffin – that holds information that at least one party will kill to get, that can mean “the end of the human race”.

The adventure involves action, suspense, betrayal, and murder. Gail and two allies (it would be a spoiler who say who they are) travel to different parts of the Ceres Ring and discuss a lot of totemic history. Other totemics met include Ansel Santara, a red fox-man; Bright Sky, a wolf-woman; Karen Dupree, a rabbit-woman; Robert Bunten, a raccoon-man, Officer Jon Wolfe, a leopard-man (there’s a joke about a leopard named Wolfe); Travis Duarte, a stag-man; Nevada Argent, a gray fox vixen; and an implied thousands of other background totemics as bank officers, mechanics, police and judiciary, waitresses, and more in the Belt. And plenty of cisforms (humans), because totemics may be the majority in the Belt, but there are lots of humans, too.

Jack Thomas, an FBI agent from the U.S. assigned to Interpol and sent to the Ceres Ring on a case that turns out to be mixed up with Gail’s, is a handy character to explain the totemics to:

“Ansel sniffs. ‘We don’t need shoes.’

‘Says the fox bitching about walking on gravel,’ Gail chuckles. ‘I think some of it’s kind of aesthetic, but some of it’s practical. Shoes and fur aren’t a comfortable combination.’

‘I’m still trying to get a sense of what animal characteristics totemics have adopted and why [Jack says]. I can read our emotions through your ears. And tails. But I’m presuming that while Ansel has better hearing and smell than I do, he has full color vision, isn’t allergic to chocolate, and doesn’t have any other drawbacks from canine/vulpine genetics mixed in.’

Ansel grins. ‘That’s an advantage to being able to mix and match genes. On the flip side, cisform humans can wear clothes that fur makes impractical. And they don’t get fleas, mange, or other furry problems that can’t be addressed by flipping a genetic switch.’” (p. 128)

The civilization of the Asteroid Belt – Cerelia River, Ceres Ring, the Panorica Federation, the Rothbard Republic, and several independent arcologies like New Coyoacán; plus organizations like PFS (Panorica Federation Security), RJC (Ring Judicial Cooperative), and RTEA (River Totemic Equality Ass’n) – may be confusing all at once, but Martin develops them gradually, one or two new locations or terms at a time. It’s like being a tourist in an exotic foreign country; if you don’t stay in your hotel room, you pick up on things fast. New Coyoacán is very tourist-friendly.

But Kismet also takes you places that a tourist wouldn’t see:

“She’d seen pictures of Alexandria before the accident, but it’s shocking how grand the entrance plaza still remains. Copper walls – from the scent, it’s not paint, but a true high-copper alloy – soar behind her up into darkness overhead. High, long windows provide multi-story panoramas of space and the ships docked outside. The plaza itself forms a wide, tiled avenue running between buildings and the buildings, full of unnecessary steps and too-high rooflines supported by grand columns, drip with the opulence of wasted resources. The closest ones, she’s sure, had been museums, the tourist destinations the platform’s owners had expected to be the primary draw. If she remembers right it never came close to breaking even. One conspiracy theory suggests the owners sabotaged it themselves for insurance money.” (p. 285)

Kismet is grand in scope and close in depiction of both its cisform and totemic characters. This novel is also a sequel to Martin’s 20-page “Tow” in The Furry Future – Gail is on the cover of both books. She’s someone that you’ll remember.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Fur Planet
• Buy E-book/Paperback on Argyll Productions

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. Want to do something REALLY awesome? Ask two friends to share the link. Thank you – Patch

Cartoon Brew has a first look at Tomm Moore’s latest animated feature called Wolfwalkers. Mr. Moore, you may recall, is the Irish animation director responsible for The Book of Kells and Song of the Sea, both of which won praises from furry fans and animation lovers the world over. This new feature sounds even more anthropomorphic: “Wolfwalkers tells the story of 11-year-old Robyn Goodfellow, a young apprentice hunter who comes to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last pack of wolves. Her life changes though after she saves a native girl, Mebh, which leads to her discovery of the Wolfwalkers and transforms her into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy.” The article includes a teaser trailer the creators just recently released.

image c. 2017 Cartoon Saloon

Mooo? "A cow tips the balance of destiny."
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Hello Everyone!

On this week's show we open with a discussion on five different theories as to why we get jealous in non-monogamous relationships. We go over theories from Freud to Labriola and get to the root to what we personally think on Feral Attraction and why jealousy might not be as bad as we make it out to be.

Our main topic is on Pups and Handlers. We bring on friend of the show Pup Powder to talk about his experience with the pup community. He delves into various areas, like who the pup community is right for, what to look for (and look out for), various terms used within the pup community, and addresses why the pup community gets along so well with the furry fandom. He also talks about Rubbout and why it's awesome.

We close out the show with some Feedback on how much Metriko talks in an episode and a question on reconciling polyamory with Christianity (or any religion, really). 

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 063 Pups and Handlers - What is the origin of jealousy? What are human pups and why are they MOSHING? Why does Metriko talk so much? Can you be religious, gay, and poly? All this, and more, on this week's Feral Attraction!

(Patch:) The Furry Writers’ Guild Coyotl Awards have just opened for voting by members.  This is a good occasion to talk about furry publishing.  Committed operations are putting out a regular stream of content by fans, for fans – but is it healthy enough to support professionals? Can any of them smoothly transition between this niche and the mainstream, to be as well-rounded as they can be? Here’s a look that builds on past stories like:

• A complaint: Furry fan publishing is overlooked – by Fred Patten.
• The State of Furry Publishing – Fred Patten gives the inside story of eight groups.
• In 2017, for the first time, nonfan publishers are documenting Furry as a movement. (Furry Nation and Furry Fandom Conventions, 1989-2015.)

Let some of the most experienced voices in furry tell you more.  Here’s Fred Patten, with comments by Phil Geusz.

(Fred:) Watts Martin’s January 2017 novel, Kismet, is being published under two imprints: at FurPlanet Productions, as furry fiction for the furry market, and Argyll Productions, as science fiction for the larger s-f market or mainstream sales; with two different covers, both by Teagan Gavet, tailored for those markets.

This sounds ambitious and imaginative. But how well will it work in practice? The record isn’t encouraging.

FurPlanet Productions, in Dallas, Texas, says that the two imprints on Kismet is mostly due to Watts Martin’s own initiative. Tiny FurPlanet is primarily a furry specialty press, and while it has added Argyll Productions as a second imprint for sales beyond the furry market – and with some exclusive Argyll non-furry titles – it hasn’t had the resources to really promote them. If Martin can do his own promotion of the Argyll imprint of Kismet (the name of the protagonist’s spaceship) to a wider market, more power to him.

• Argyll Productions shop

Phil Geusz and Legion Publishing have had some experience with this. In 2012, they advertised Geusz’s seven David Birkenhead novels, about a bioengineered rabbit-man caught in a human interstellar war, on Amazon as military science fiction, not as furry fiction. Geusz said at the time:

“For twenty years I couldn’t get much published. Then the gates opened. Now I’m making hay while the sun shines and have dumped my entire two-decade backlog on the market as rapidly as possible before the gate shuts again.”

And

“I thought you might like to know in passing that the Birkenhead series is selling well in excess of all my expectations on Amazon just now — “Midshipman”, as I write this, has an Amazon sales ranking of #6896, where nothing else I’ve ever written (except other books in the same series) have ever broken the #250,000 level to my knowledge. Sadly, I’m not surprised to discover that few if any of the buyers are furries (judging the “Customers who bought this book also bought” section, it’s mostly military SF readers) The ranking fluctuates every hour or so — I have no idea what it’ll look like if you choose to look it up at any given moment, and “Lieutenant” is running currently in the 15,000 range. “Captain” peaked at #147 in all of Amazon (not just SF). Total sales were well over $100k, mostly concentrated during a three to five month period. “Ship’s Boy” was written specifically to be given away as a free teaser download, and because it was free Amazon uses a separate rating system for it.

“While I have no idea of what this means in terms of actual sales figures, it’s got to beat books ranked at 250,000 plus!”

And, still in 2012:

“As I write this, the five “Birkenhead” books released to date are — all simultaneously — in the Amazon Kindle SF Top 100 list. It varies hour to hour, but no less than four have been there at any given moment (that I’m aware of) for over a week. Sales are in the hundreds per week, and I suspect (but cannot know for certain) that cumulatively they’re over 500/week. Furry is making its mark.”

Today Geusz says:

“All I can say about the Birkenheads is that we never at any point at all understood why it was a success and other projects failed. Legion turned several varieties of on-line advertising off and on repeatedly with no noticeable effect whatsoever, and when sales eventually tanked — they’re very low these days — more advertising of the same kind did nothing to help. The next series of books I wrote — the Byrd series — is IMO better-written and more appealing to most readers, yet its sales are downright pathetic and always have been. We’ve spoken repeatedly about this, the publishers and I, and though we retrace the same old circles over and over again the bottom line is…

“…We don’t understand anything at all about what happened or why.”

So will FurPlanet, or Martin alone, have any more success promoting Kismet as a science fiction novel, not mentioning that the main character is a bioengineered rat-woman? As the old saying goes, only time will tell —

Especially if self-promotion by authors rather than advertising by publishers is the trend of the future. Bookstores are becoming obsolete, due to the rise of Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and individual publishers’ catalogues, on the Internet. (There will probably always be a few independent bookstores remaining, like Dark Delicacies, a horror specialty bookstore in the Los Angeles area, for browsing and as social gathering places for their communities.) More and more authors have their own online blogs, or are members of an online writers’ group with a website where they can promote their own works, particularly if those are published by specialty presses, print-your-own-book companies like CreateSpace and Lulu Press that don’t advertise their own titles, or the authors themselves.

Ambitious promotion

Here are some furry or fantasy examples:

• Dark Delicacies
• Fallen Kitten Productions
• The Iron Lyons
• Dolphyn Visions
• The Furry Writers Guild
• The Science Fiction Writers Association

So, furry authors, you’ve sold your own short stories or novels. Now stop waiting for your publishers to advertise them, and start promoting them yourselves.

– Fred Patten

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

Dated March 21, here is an article in The Guardian by Brian Switek:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/21/furry-wild-side-fursona-animal-nature


If I could be anything, I’d be a jaguar. And not just any jaguar. One with a dark coat, blue spots, but my general humanoid shape intact along with the feline features. That’s because I’m a furry.

It took me a long time to admit that to anyone. More than 15 years. That’s because I had always heard the word “furry” as a pejorative, a term practically synonymous with fetish. At best, being open about it would open me to ridicule and at worst, well, I didn’t even want to think about the reactions of friends and family. Despite the proliferation of nerdy pop culture – from anime to cosplay – furries have always been pushed out to the fringes.

Even when I decided to tell my wife about my interest in the fandom, I couldn’t hold back the anxiety. I was in a knot for days leading up to purchasing a ticket to my first furry convention at the relatively late age of 33. It was unexpected enough that my wife called me as soon as she saw the charge on our bank account. She thought some pervert had hijacked it. No, I said, I was the one going to Rocky Mountain Fur Con.

Even then, she asked me “You’re not a secret furry, are you?” To her, the term conjured the implication of people dressed up in mascot-like costumes who set about deviantly despoiling convention centre hotel rooms. All I could say was: “Not secret, but not how you think.”

Furry is not a fetish. I know that runs counter to the atrocious CSI episode about the fandom and a long-form 2001 Vanity Fair hatchet job, but furries are not bound together by some predilection for anonymous yiffing. It’s more like someone asking what superhero you’d want to be and saying no, thanks, you’d rather be a hyena or fox or deer. It’s about identity, picking a fursona – like a persona, naturally – that’s a projection of who you are or wish you could be. Instead of going to comic cons dressed up as Captain America or Black Widow, furries define an identity all their own.

Of course there’s a sexuality to the fandom. There is for almost any you can name. But that doesn’t define what brings furries together, and it would be a mistake to let the sneers and jeers of critics define the conversation. If you want to be surprised by who furries are and what they do, there’s an entire scientific profile on the matter for you to peruse. Stigma shouldn’t drive the way furries present themselves, especially during an era where a little escapism feels sorely needed.

Furries are hardly the only fandom to be misunderstood. But during a time when comic book movies are big box office and cosplaying is normal, I don’t understand why furry hate hangs on. If anything, it’s always been on the edges of our experience.

Anthropomorphic animals completely permeate our culture, from the earliest cave drawings to the Oscar-winning Zootopia (Zootropolis in the UK). People dress as animals for Halloween, identify with certain species as personal favourites, and, hell, a popular trashy novel and movie series had duelling fans debate the merits of whether the female lead should marry a blood-sucking corpse or werewolf. Whether you’re rooting for an animal-themed sports team or listening to Top 40 songs about being “hungry like the wolf”, we’re practically obsessed by crossover between the human and animal.

Furries have a culture all their own, formed through internet forums and conventions over decades. But the basic fascination has always been with us. Furries are simply drawing from our animalistic interests and curiosities to create characters for ourselves instead of trying to co-opt something already pre-packed and sold. It just so happens to be animal-shaped, and so much the better. At the heart of it, everyone’s a little bit furry.

Dated March 21, here is an article in The Guardian by Brian Switek:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/21/furry-wild-side-fursona-animal-nature


If I could be anything, I’d be a jaguar. And not just any jaguar. One with a dark coat, blue spots, but my general humanoid shape intact along with the feline features. That’s because I’m a furry.

It took me a long time to admit that to anyone. More than 15 years. That’s because I had always heard the word “furry” as a pejorative, a term practically synonymous with fetish. At best, being open about it would open me to ridicule and at worst, well, I didn’t even want to think about the reactions of friends and family. Despite the proliferation of nerdy pop culture – from anime to cosplay – furries have always been pushed out to the fringes.

Even when I decided to tell my wife about my interest in the fandom, I couldn’t hold back the anxiety. I was in a knot for days leading up to purchasing a ticket to my first furry convention at the relatively late age of 33. It was unexpected enough that my wife called me as soon as she saw the charge on our bank account. She thought some pervert had hijacked it. No, I said, I was the one going to Rocky Mountain Fur Con.

Even then, she asked me “You’re not a secret furry, are you?” To her, the term conjured the implication of people dressed up in mascot-like costumes who set about deviantly despoiling convention centre hotel rooms. All I could say was: “Not secret, but not how you think.”

Furry is not a fetish. I know that runs counter to the atrocious CSI episode about the fandom and a long-form 2001 Vanity Fair hatchet job, but furries are not bound together by some predilection for anonymous yiffing. It’s more like someone asking what superhero you’d want to be and saying no, thanks, you’d rather be a hyena or fox or deer. It’s about identity, picking a fursona – like a persona, naturally – that’s a projection of who you are or wish you could be. Instead of going to comic cons dressed up as Captain America or Black Widow, furries define an identity all their own.

Of course there’s a sexuality to the fandom. There is for almost any you can name. But that doesn’t define what brings furries together, and it would be a mistake to let the sneers and jeers of critics define the conversation. If you want to be surprised by who furries are and what they do, there’s an entire scientific profile on the matter for you to peruse. Stigma shouldn’t drive the way furries present themselves, especially during an era where a little escapism feels sorely needed.

Furries are hardly the only fandom to be misunderstood. But during a time when comic book movies are big box office and cosplaying is normal, I don’t understand why furry hate hangs on. If anything, it’s always been on the edges of our experience.

Anthropomorphic animals completely permeate our culture, from the earliest cave drawings to the Oscar-winning Zootopia (Zootropolis in the UK). People dress as animals for Halloween, identify with certain species as personal favourites, and, hell, a popular trashy novel and movie series had duelling fans debate the merits of whether the female lead should marry a blood-sucking corpse or werewolf. Whether you’re rooting for an animal-themed sports team or listening to Top 40 songs about being “hungry like the wolf”, we’re practically obsessed by crossover between the human and animal.

Furries have a culture all their own, formed through internet forums and conventions over decades. But the basic fascination has always been with us. Furries are simply drawing from our animalistic interests and curiosities to create characters for ourselves instead of trying to co-opt something already pre-packed and sold. It just so happens to be animal-shaped, and so much the better. At the heart of it, everyone’s a little bit furry.

From the people that brought you Song of the Sea and the Secret of the Kells. "Wolfwalkers tells the story of 11-year-old Robyn Goodfellow, a young apprentice hunter who comes to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last pack of wolves. Her life changes though after she saves a native girl, Mebh, which leads to her discovery of the Wolfwalkers and transforms her into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy." Also here is a Behind-the-Scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NW2QZJSglQ
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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Memoirs of a Polar Bear, by Yoko Tawada. Translated by Susan Bernofsky.
NYC, New Directions Books, November 2016, trade paperback $16.95 (252 pages), Kindle $9.58.

This was originally published as Etüden im Schnee, konkursbuch Verlag, March 2014. It isn’t published as furry fiction but as mainstream literature, so it is probably classed as fabulism or literary fantasy.

“I’d taken part in a congress that day [in Kiev], and afterward all the participants were invited to a sumptuous feast. When I returned to my hotel room at night, I had a bear’s thirst and greedily drank water straight from the tap. But the taste of oily anchovies refused to leave me. In the mirror I saw my red-smeared lips, a masterpiece of the beets. I’d never eaten root vegetables voluntarily, but when a beet came swimming in my bowl of borsht, I immediately wanted to kiss it. Bobbing amid the lovely dots of fat floating on top – which at once awoke my appetite for meat – the beet was irresistible.

The springs creak beneath my bearish weight as I sit on the hotel sofa thinking how uninteresting the conference had been yet again, but that it had unexpectedly led me back to my childhood. The topic of today’s discussion was The Significance of Bicycles in the National Economy.” (pgs. 4-5)

“a Polar Bear” is actually three polar bears over three generations; a grandmother, mother, and son. The first, never named, is captured and brought as a cub to Moscow, where she is trained to perform in a circus, apparently around the 1960s. Her part is “The Grandmother: An Evolutionary Theory”.

“For a long time, I didn’t know anything: I sat in my cage, always onstage, never an audience member. If I’d gone out now and then, I would’ve seen the stove that had been installed under the cage. I’d have seen Ivan putting firewood in the stove and lighting it. I might have even seen the gramophone with its giant black tulip on a stand behind the cage. When the floor of the cage got hot, Ivan would drop the needle on the record. As a fanfare split the air like a fist shattering a pane of glass, the palms of my paw-hands felt a searing pain. I stood up, and the pain disappeared.” (p. 11)

“After hours and days spent vigorously shaking my hips, my knees were in such bad shape that I was incapable of performing acrobatics of any sort. I was unfit for circus work. Ordinarily they would have just shot me, but I got lucky and was assigned a desk job in the circus’s administrative offices.

I never dreamed I had a gift for office work. But the personnel office left no talents of their workers unexplored if they could be employed and exploited to the circus’s advantage. I would even go so far as to say I was a born office manager. My nose could sniff out the difference between important and unimportant bills.” (p. 14)

After learning record-keeping, she begins to write her autobiography in her spare time as a hobby, until she learns that a human supervisor has been taking it and getting it published – without telling her or sharing the money. She discovers how to manage her own sales, and finds that her autobiography is a best-seller. She’s become an intellectual, and is invited to literary conferences. But a famous intellectual polar bear as a member of the intelligentsia becomes an embarrassment to the Soviet establishment. She is encouraged to move to Siberia (the climate will be so much more comfortable to polar bears), and finally to emigrate to West Germany; then to Canada where she finds too much freedom. She marries a polar bear from Denmark, has a daughter, and they re-emigrate to East Germany.

Part II, “The Kiss of Death”, is about the first bear’s daughter Tosca; but the narrator is a human in the East German national circus (later identified as Barbara). When the Soviet Union gives the circus nine polar bears – nine bears arrogant with Soviet labor demands, who go on strike – she incidentally learns about Tosca.

“Though she’d graduated from ballet school with top honors, Tosca hadn’t been able to land a role in a single production, not even in Swan Lake, as everyone had expected. And so she was regularly performing for children. Her mother was a celebrity who’d emigrated from Canada to Socialist East Germany and had written an autobiography. The book was long out of print, and no one had ever read it, so it was really more of a legend.” (p. 84)

She brings in Tosca hoping that she will be an encouraging role model for the Soviet bears. When she isn’t – “When her [Tosca’s] vehicle passed the quarters of the nine polar bears, they immediately began to heckle her: “Strike-breaker! Scab!” (p. 88) – she works with Tosca to develop a solo act. Eventually she writes

Tosca’s biography, rather than Tosca writing an autobiography.

“‘I’ve started writing your biography,’ I said to Tosca, who sneezed in surprise.

‘Are you cold?’

‘Very funny. I have a pollen allergy. Here at the North Pole, no flowers bloom, but there’s still pollen in the air, and I can’t stop sneezing. It’s uncanny, having pollen without flowers.’

‘I’ve written up to the period just after your birth. Your eyes weren’t open yet. Your mother and you weren’t alone, there was a third shadow.’

‘My father wanted to live with us, but my mother couldn’t stand him. She used to snarl whenever he came within sight of us.’

‘Isn’t that normal for a mother bear?’” (p. 124)

Eventually Barbara and Tosca become so close that Tosca takes over writing the narrative. After the reunification of Germany, they travel around the world as a duo.

“During the performance, I took great pleasure in watching the children in the audience. They stared at us open-mouthed and wide-eyed. In Japan we received a letter that said: ‘it must be exhausting to put on a bear costume in this heat and perform onstage. Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your wonderful performance! Our children were ecstatic.’ Apparently there were audience members who were incapable of believing I was really a bear. How fortunate that no one came into the dressing room and asked me to take off my bearskin.” (p. 160)

When they retire, Tosca is sold to the Berlin Zoo where Knut is born.   Part III, “Memories of the North Pole”, is Knut’s story.

Knut’s story is a blend of fiction and fact. Knut was born in the Berlin Zoo, and is probably the most famous polar bear in history. There were Knut T-shirts and plush dolls. Knut’s keeper Matthias became almost as popular, and when he unexpectedly died, Knut was distraught by his disappearance.

“And this news too reached me in the form of a newspaper article: Matthias is dead. He died of a heart attack. At first I didn’t understand what that meant. I read the through several times. Suddenly a thought struck me like a stone: I can never see him again.” (p. 229)

Although the protagonists are individual polar bears in a human world, there are others in supporting roles: the nine Soviet circus bears, the first bear’s Danish husband Christian, and others. The first bear is briefly confused by human anthropomorphic fiction.

“The protagonist was a mouse. Her form of gainful employment: singing. Her audience: the people. On the vocabulary list I found the word Volk, which corresponded to the Russian narod.

[…]

As long as the mouse went on singing, the Volk gave her its full attention. No one aped her, no one giggled, no one disrupted her concerts by making mouse noises. This is just how my own audience behaved, too, and my heart leaped as I remembered the circus.” (p. 49)

The bear is disappointed when she learns the story of the mouse singer is only fiction; a literary conceit.

Memoirs of a Polar Bear (cover by Alyssa Cartwright) has a melancholy, ethereal ending that fits the book nicely. The real Knut died. The book’s Knut goes on. In fiction, he can live forever.

–Fred Patten

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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. Want to do something REALLY awesome? Ask two friends to share the link. Thank you – Patch

John Layman made a name for himself with the surreal comic book series Chew. Now he’s at Aftershock Comics with a new title called Eleanor & The Egret. Here’s what Comic Alliance said about it: “With the wrap up of Chew this year, John Layman has proved himself one of the go-to creators when it comes to crime comedy comics, and Eleanor and the Egret looks to be at least as surreal as his previous series. Sam Kieth, the legendary creator behind The Maxx, feels like an exciting choice to illustrate this Catch Me If You Can-style caper involving an art thief and a heron.” A heron who eats fine works of art, in fact. This is from the publishers: “A slightly surreal tale of an art thief and her sidekick, a talking egret who gets just a bit bigger after each successful caper, as they embark on a escalating series of daring thefts of world-famous paintings, and dodge pursuers in an increasingly weirdly dangerous game of cat & mouse.” Look for it this April.

image c. 2017 Aftershock Comics

Can you bake a pie? Thanks to Sysable for this.
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Wikifur

Remember when Seinfeld was one of the biggest TV shows, and co-star Michael Richards derailed his career with a racist meltdown on stage? It happened at a comedy show, but it wasn’t part of the act. He apologized, and news said “It is actually one of the most honest apologies that a celebrity has ever given for bad behavior.”

It’s rare to see a career implode like that. Now let’s look at a furry happening that’s not so drastic, but more of a slow burn. A prominent performer in the fandom is being examined for poorly representing it, and found unworthy of support by its premiere convention. Bad behavior has been in plain view for years with no apologies. It took this long to accumulate wider attention. Many members say it’s long overdue, and some find it discouraging that it took so long.

“2 The Ranting Gryphon” has a problem.

His George Carlin-styled comedy has earned 24,000 follows on Youtube and audiences of 1000+ at Anthrocon. I’ve seen and laughed at his show there. But they declined to host him this year. His fans are very upset (almost as if he’s a tenured “house comedian of fandom”?)  2 himself appears to be the info source, claiming to be a victim of invalid attacks by over-offended “SJW’s”. There’s only a vague official statement citing declining attendance, so pointing blame is untrustworthy. A con can pick whoever they want, and they just chose not to pick him; friends and fame aren’t supposed to overrule quality or board decisions for approval. (Free speech doesn’t apply because it’s not between citizen and government – the host is a private organization. He isn’t “banned” and can attend the con. )

Whoever made this, I love you. pic.twitter.com/fyjQh49pM8

— Buck Est. 1999 (@MintzBuck) March 15, 2017

His issue with the con may not be clear enough for honest discussion.  But the deeper problem is.  Let’s look at what ‘2’ is defending. Is it just comedy?

In the San Francisco Bay Area, I have enjoyed a bit of fun, casual activity in scenes for comedy and more, from music videos to avant-cabaret variety shows. (Read more: It was so much fun to be in an outrageous Rap CD and a live comedy show!)  I went on stage in fursuit at the Tourette’s Without Regrets show (run by the great-grandson of L. Ron Hubbard.)  That is to say, I favor broad-minded appreciation for all kinds of weird shit and offensive humor.  I like it enough to suppress stage fright and try it as a complete amateur.  I’m not in any way professional (and I often speak loudly about loosening boundaries for expression) – but I think I can tell the difference between shock humor or satire, and words that are just indefensible.

Many furries are judging some words from 2 The Ranting Gryphon as indefensible. Read for yourself.

2 on suicide, jews and slavery, and child molesting (wackity schmackity doo!) – in his own words with links for context:

If you feel so much pain that you need to end your life because some other douche bag is calling you bad names then you DESERVE to be dead. No other species on the planet ends their own life because of minor harassment and the fact that we do just means that there’s too damn many of us and nature is trying to find a way to get rid of us. If you’re thrown into agony over little bullshit like this then you are better off killing yourself. Get off the planet and make room for others.”

(Screenshot – original vid.  Yet another source. 2 denies telling anyone to kill themself: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6])

I do not care that “your people” have been enslaved for the last 3000 years. How often have YOU been a slave? If the answer is “never”, you have no right to bitch… especially at someone who has never OWNED a slave in their life. The fact, if you care to research it, is that everyone… and I mean *everyone* has at some point, stemmed from people who have both been slaves and slave owners. There is no exception to this.

(“Open letter to Jews”)

What is sexual molestation? The physical nature of it is obvious, but what what does it represent emotionally to the victim? A loss of control. Helplessness. Perhaps some pain. Being forced to do something you don’t want to. Shame and embarrassment. These are all unpleasant things. But they’re also unpleasant things that most people experience nearly every day from their bosses or co-workers at their jobs or from teachers and other students at school.

(“Molesting the molesters.“)

What the…?  None of that accurately portrays people… and where’s the funny?  What’s the purpose for spreading this?  I could contact 2 and go through the trouble of diplomatically seeking his side… Nah, I’m busy and I don’t get paid to abate ignorance of the stubborn “see no evil” mindset with his fans.  I don’t think there should be benefit of the doubt for saying “you DESERVE to be dead,” or comparing a mean boss at work in the same breath with being molested, or describing molested victims as “grown men turned into blubbering, sobbing children” who should just grow up, or “…child molesters are, in fact, the saviors of their own victims”. If you have to explain this away, you already messed up.

@esperhusky my jaw dropped, where's the comedy? A rant act isnt an excuse for unmitigated shitting on people like a backed up sewer pipe

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) March 16, 2017

Besides, 2 already stepped up to make a statement.  Let him speak for himself:

Here's my official word on this whole thing, which I'm sure will somehow be twisted to hell and back...https://t.co/8WD7b337DM

— 2 Gryphon (@2_gryphon) March 15, 2017

Unaccountable 2 the max.

Did you hear him say sorry, or take grown up responsibility for being anything less than innocent?  Or use talent to season it with self deprecating humor?

In July, this drama will be over. And I'll still have 25,000 people enjoying my videos. How's that feel, beeatch? https://t.co/a7xpzc1o2U

— 2 Gryphon (@2_gryphon) March 15, 2017

All I see is excuses with expectation to get unlimited passes, and deflection at supposed “SJW’s”.  A convenient enemy! Hmm, is there anyone besides them who might not support this?

A few years back, when 2 was explaining suicide, a furry friend of mine had her 19 year old brother jump off a building.  (There’s a real person I’m not linking for privacy, who might or might not comment.) There was no hint of trouble until she got the news.  Nobody had a chance to intervene, and it couldn’t possibly have been more of a surprise.  I can’t imagine what it’s like to have someone you love deleted from life like that.  I’ll bet it’s super raw and long-lasting.  More importantly, reasons don’t change things for people left behind to deal with the loss.

It's not their fault. In order to understand comedy, you have to experience tragedy. Many of them have never had a problem in their life. https://t.co/ENWQOQHwAm

— 2 Gryphon (@2_gryphon) March 16, 2017

My friend’s experience showed how devastatingly unexpected suicide can be. As easy as a bad tweet. So when 2 mocks supposed trivial reasons for it, she gets to see him being utterly oblivious. Not just about people who do it, but to her and about all the effects that spread to others. 2’s “logic” hurts and does nothing to help.  When people have internal pressure brewing with no outward sign, and depressed people deal with a disease they don’t just get over – that’s not a “choice”. So you don’t go sorting good reasons and bad ones. None are good or simple.

Andreus Wolf has a summary about what 2 said. It is simple and excellent. Click through for the entire thread – it’s the best one:

"Isn't the furry fandom supposed to be tolerant and accepting?"

It literally took a guy telling people to kill themselves to upset us.

— Vex, Night Creature (@andreuswolf) March 15, 2017

Some furries didn’t feel like 2 did anything wrong.  And even “Nazifurs” from Colorado tweeted their support, grabbing a sleazy opportunity to troll or ride 2’s coattails.  That sounds familiar.  Remember when Trump was endorsed by David Duke (the KKK guy)?  There was also JonTron’s recent racist drama and the Rabid Puppies in Sci Fi fandom.  As small-scale as this furry thing is, it shows we can deal with the same stuff as grown up scenes do. We’re having a Moment.

Reasonable complaints

After my friend’s loss, she moved to Colorado where 2 is in the fur community (awkward!) This is about more than just internet words.  Community is a good word here.  It involves role models, peers, and support (and other words from after-school specials. A furry one would be extra special.)

 Support is important with suicide. Particularly for young guys (and LGBT guys).  This is very important, because those groups have way higher risk than others.  Maybe they’re more stupid and easily upset over little bullshit?  Are boys more stupid? Of course not – I’d say they deal with conditions particular to their gender, and deserve self-respect in groups. We do that.

This article isn’t coming from what 2 might call an SJW.  Some might even (falsely) use the label anti-SJW. It has to do with gender. Check this out: Why are “nerdy” groups male-populated?  Revisiting a debate full of dogma.  That’s where I see a group of disproportionately male (and LGBT) members as a good thing brought together by positive motivation like male bonding, not a bad thing made by exclusion and sexism.  In that way you can say I’m pro-Men’s Rights.  The type where gender roles are just apples-and-oranges and other gender politics can have constructive criticism like this rather than be enemies. The type who thinks society could do more for men who get broken by conditions they don’t ask for, like inner cities emptied of fathers in prison, to war and homelessness. One who finds 2’s words about suicide to be indefensible.

It’s dishonest to deflect blame onto “SJW’s”. That word is silly and the real problem is in the stuff 2 said.  The longevity of his act shows how much tolerance there is – now, I think he’s not so much being told what to joke about, as expected to be honest.  Furries who choose not to support him are giving reasonable complaints and earning their reputation as a group that cares. They might not understand what it takes for 2 to put his stuff out (they also aren’t unfamiliar with it – it’s hardly secret), but there isn’t a mob wanting persecution without limits.  There is room for mistakes and learning. Imagine seeing a gesture of something besides denial and blame for self-benefit.

Until then, I have a feeling that 2’s number is up and this could be a third strike. Even if this goes in one ear and out the other and he keeps looking out for number one, there’s no two ways about it – fans won’t forget and go back to square one.

Kage supports me. He wanted me there this year. And he wanted me to be able to entertain you. But he was outvoted. https://t.co/YtZTvm7JW9

— 2 Gryphon (@2_gryphon) March 15, 2017

Public Image

Anthrocon CEO Uncle Kage defers to the board’s decision, to his credit.  He’s also friends with 2 and apparently argued to keep 2’s show.  Kage’s feelings about media are famous – and when he’s so strict about letting the press in the con, it makes me puzzled about why he supports his friend who says outrageous, unaccountable stuff?  Isn’t that horrible for PR?  Why discourage the type of dishonest media from MTV, CSI or Vanity Fair, but let this go?

I guess it’s different because a friend is under control unlike a media company.  I can appreciate the sentiment at least.  It’s a furry kind of paradox in a group where the line of what’s too much is often up to the individual. Kage and 2 have done nice things together to support charities.  Now, support could mean telling a friend when to back away from the mike.

And no, we’re not talking about Kong of Skull Island either. Cartoon Brew has an article about a new animated film in development called Kensuke’s Kingdom. “Based on the bestselling novel by War Horse author Michael Morpurgo and adapted for the screen by screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce (Hilary and Jackie, Welcome to Sarajevo, The Railway Man), Kensuke’s Kingdom follows the story of a young boy who washes up on a tropical island overseen by a mysterious Japanese soldier named Kensuke, who lives there with a family of orangutans as his companions.” Directed by animation veterans Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry, the film combines a variety of 2D techniques for a rather unique overall look. No word yet on any plans for international distribution, but the Cartoon Brew article includes a proof-of-concept short film the directors have been showing around lately. It gives you a good idea what the film might look like.

image c. 2017 Lupus Films

Roo and Tugs messed up - our last topic didn't take so this episode has gone open topic! Joined last minute by Nuka, we discuss a variety of topics about life and the fandom ranging from privacy, to if artists drew your character to match your physical body type, to how Switch cartridges taste. Nuka also sprinkles in a variety of facts - what IS the most promiscuous species? What percentage of the fandom is babyfur? And how often do Bronies clop and sing? It's an interesting conversation, coupled with Space News and the most interesting episode of Fifty Sheds of Grey yet!



NOW LISTEN!

Show Notes

Want to attend BABSCon? Check out www.babscon.com!

Special Thanks

Nuka, our guest

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


Space News Music: Fredrik Miller – Orbit. USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Mystery Skulls – Ghost. USA: Warner Bros Records, 2011. Used with permission.
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!)
Our interstitial bumpers were all from the Bedfellows Frenzy Original Soundtrack by Husky in Denial. You can buy a copy as a bundled item on Steam with the game or purchase it separately at Bandcamp. The music we used was 2 Fools, 1 Shop; Fools of Destruction; Ska 4 Life; all of which are ©2017 Husky in Denial.


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Next episode: Porn and the fandom. It's ubiquitous. It's arguably a part of the furry fandom's DNA. It incites more reaction than most anything else with furries. What's your connection to furry porn? Tell us by Thursday, March 23, 2017! S6 Episode 13 – Pie - Roo and Tugs messed up - our last topic didn't take so this episode has gone open topic! Joined last minute by Nuka, we discuss a variety of topics about life and the fandom ranging from privacy, to if artists drew your character to

Dated March 17, here is an article in Canada's The Globe and Mail:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/convention-for-furry-fans-comes-to-downtown-toronto/article34339062/

It describes this weekend's Furnal Equinox convention, through an interview with organizer Isaac Tan.


Some 1,600 fans of humanized animals and cartoon characters are gathering in downtown Toronto this weekend for a convention celebrating the so-called furry fandom.

Isaac Tan, a member of the organizing committee, talks about his love of anthropomorphized animals.

The 22-year-old, who is a martial arts instructor and lives in Markham, has been interested in furry culture for nine years.

For the uninitiated, what is the furry fandom?

The furry fandom is a collective of individuals from all around the world, really. We’re a group of people that essentially celebrate humanized animals, same thing as cartoon animals or [characters] on cereal boxes. It’s sort of like having the same sort of fan base for superheroes, except if superheroes were talking dogs and cats instead.

How did you get interested in furry culture?

As an artist, I’d always found more joy in drawing animals and drawing creatures of fantasy.

When I was drawing one day and looking online, I found an image of an anthropomorphic animal. I saw the artist’s page who had posted it [and] they were involved in this community called the furry fandom and from there I sort of became a little bit more involved, exploring the different types of art that are involved in the furry fandom and suddenly, this entire new culture dawned upon me where it involved not only art, but also involved costuming, it involved literature, a lot of story-writing and a lot of role-playing.

Do you have an alter ego and can you tell me about it?

My alter ego is a Chinese dragon.

I am Chinese by ethnicity so I wanted to sort of pay homage to my culture, which I’m very proud of. So my alter ego is a Chinese dragon and his name is Ronnie.

Do people tend to be open about this part of their lives?

It does vary depending on what parts of the world that you’re from. There are many people who do openly advocate for this community, as they’re very proud of it and what it’s done for them. The furry fandom has done a lot of charitable work for animal organizations. Some people prefer to sort of keep it as part of their personal life.

What happens at furry conventions?

At these conventions we engage in a number of different social and performance events, as well as informative. So people get to costume around in custom-tailored costumes and they perform for each other, whether it’s mascotting or doing skits on stage, sort of like a masquerade.

We also have lots of informative panels that teach you about literature, story-writing, as well as visual arts, the art of business in an artisan world and we also have a lot of vending that goes on as well.

I wanted to ask you about the costumes. Does everyone wear one?

We usually only have about 20 per cent of our attendees that actually wear these costumes. They are very expensive, being custom-tailored, so the private studios which people can commission these costumes from can charge upwards of $2,000 for a full-bodied costume.

What’s the community like? What kind of people get interested in this subculture?

People that attend our convention come from all walks of life, whether they come from the sciences field, whether they come from the financial or business sector, whether they come from technology, whether they’re artists or artisans, from construction.

Basically we have people from all walks of life and all different professions that all share one similar interest, which is essentially their love for these humanized animals or cartoon animals. It’s a really very holistic community feeling where we just celebrate each other’s creativity and this world that we’ve created for ourselves.

Dated March 17, here is an article in Canada's The Globe and Mail:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/convention-for-furry-fans-comes-to-downtown-toronto/article34339062/

It describes this weekend's Furnal Equinox convention, through an interview with organizer Isaac Tan.


Some 1,600 fans of humanized animals and cartoon characters are gathering in downtown Toronto this weekend for a convention celebrating the so-called furry fandom.

Isaac Tan, a member of the organizing committee, talks about his love of anthropomorphized animals.

The 22-year-old, who is a martial arts instructor and lives in Markham, has been interested in furry culture for nine years.

For the uninitiated, what is the furry fandom?

The furry fandom is a collective of individuals from all around the world, really. We’re a group of people that essentially celebrate humanized animals, same thing as cartoon animals or [characters] on cereal boxes. It’s sort of like having the same sort of fan base for superheroes, except if superheroes were talking dogs and cats instead.

How did you get interested in furry culture?

As an artist, I’d always found more joy in drawing animals and drawing creatures of fantasy.

When I was drawing one day and looking online, I found an image of an anthropomorphic animal. I saw the artist’s page who had posted it [and] they were involved in this community called the furry fandom and from there I sort of became a little bit more involved, exploring the different types of art that are involved in the furry fandom and suddenly, this entire new culture dawned upon me where it involved not only art, but also involved costuming, it involved literature, a lot of story-writing and a lot of role-playing.

Do you have an alter ego and can you tell me about it?

My alter ego is a Chinese dragon.

I am Chinese by ethnicity so I wanted to sort of pay homage to my culture, which I’m very proud of. So my alter ego is a Chinese dragon and his name is Ronnie.

Do people tend to be open about this part of their lives?

It does vary depending on what parts of the world that you’re from. There are many people who do openly advocate for this community, as they’re very proud of it and what it’s done for them. The furry fandom has done a lot of charitable work for animal organizations. Some people prefer to sort of keep it as part of their personal life.

What happens at furry conventions?

At these conventions we engage in a number of different social and performance events, as well as informative. So people get to costume around in custom-tailored costumes and they perform for each other, whether it’s mascotting or doing skits on stage, sort of like a masquerade.

We also have lots of informative panels that teach you about literature, story-writing, as well as visual arts, the art of business in an artisan world and we also have a lot of vending that goes on as well.

I wanted to ask you about the costumes. Does everyone wear one?

We usually only have about 20 per cent of our attendees that actually wear these costumes. They are very expensive, being custom-tailored, so the private studios which people can commission these costumes from can charge upwards of $2,000 for a full-bodied costume.

What’s the community like? What kind of people get interested in this subculture?

People that attend our convention come from all walks of life, whether they come from the sciences field, whether they come from the financial or business sector, whether they come from technology, whether they’re artists or artisans, from construction.

Basically we have people from all walks of life and all different professions that all share one similar interest, which is essentially their love for these humanized animals or cartoon animals. It’s a really very holistic community feeling where we just celebrate each other’s creativity and this world that we’ve created for ourselves.