Feed aggregator
Guild news, March 2017
We had four new members join the FWG in February—welcome to Allan Anderson, Mark Blickley, Hakuzo Sionnach, and Lisa Timpf! If you’d like more information about joining, read our membership guidelines.
Member newsIf 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.
Dwale was accepted into FurPlanet’s ROAR 8.
Mary E. Lowd had two stories hit publication in March, “On the Eve of the Apocalypse” in Theme of Absence and “Hidden Intentions” in the March/April issue of Analog.
Amy Fontaine’s story “A Fate Purse Than Death” has been accepted to The Supreme Archvillain Election Anthology from Unbelievable Universe.
Weasel (of Weasel Press) published the story “the day runs away” in the literary journal 1947.
Miles Reaver was accepted into the forthcoming second volume of Fred Patten’s Dogs of War anthology.
Carmen K. “CopperSphinx” Welsh has a forthcoming story, “Sleeping With Wolves,” in Typewriter Emergencies.
Alice “Huskyteer” Dryden has a story in issue 4 of the Werewolves Vs. series, Werewolves vs. Space.
New markets- Furry Frolics (tentative title) is a new anthology from Thurston Howl, edited by Fred Patten, paying in contributors’ copies only. Looking for stories that are humorous, and lean into the animal aspect a bit (i.e., the stories wouldn’t work with all-human characters). Word count: 2,500–8,000. Deadline: October 1, 2017. Submission Guidelines.
For ongoing markets previously covered but still open (and occasionally, open in the future), visit the FWG web site:
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 endsThe 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 furry Slack bots to furwritersguild@gmail.com, or leave a comment below.
Housepets! Don’t Ask Questions, by Rick Griffin – book review by Fred Patten
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Housepets! Don’t Ask Questions (Book 7), by Rick Griffin
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, November 2016, trade paperback $13.95 (52 pages).
Here, right on schedule, is the new annual collection of the Housepets! online comic strip by Rick Griffin. Housepets! has appeared each Monday-Wednesday-Friday since June 2, 2008. It has won the Ursa Major Award for the Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip for every year since! – for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.
Book 7 contains the strips from June 16, 2014 to June 1, 2015; story arcs #78, “Heaven’s Not Enough, part 2”, to #90, “All’s Fair, part 1”, plus the one-off gag strips before and between these.
Housepets! presents the adventures of the dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, and other pets of Babylon Gardens, a typical residential suburban neighborhood – in an alternate universe. The animals are larger than in our universe (but not human-sized), can talk, are usually bipedal, and address their human owners as “Mom” and “Dad”. Their status is somewhere between pets and children. Points established over the years are that humans can bequeath their belongings to their pets, who do not need a human guardian; human storekeepers are not allowed to sell catnip to cats; human police forces have an auxiliary of Police Dogs who are not all police dogs; the pets comment sardonically on how they can go naked in public but their human “parents” can’t; and – lots of other stuff.
Book 7 is complete, but it begins in the middle of a story sequence. In “Heaven’s Not Enough, part 1” at the end of Book 6, Pete the demigod griffin appears to both King (corgi) and his wife Bailey (husky), turns King from a corgi back into Joel, a human, Bailey agrees to become Pete’s avatar in Heavenly battle to save King, and Cerberus the giant three-headed dog (another demigod) sends everyone to Heaven to see how things work out. Book 7 begins with part 2; Cerberus waving King-as-human and Fox (husky) up the staircase into Heaven, and King turning back into a corgi – he’s grown used to it. Heaven, or this avatar of Heaven, is tailored to Fox and Joel/King, and to Bailey, Tarot, and Sabrina as the mortals (sort of), and to Pete, Dragon, and Kitsune as the demigods (and Bahamut as god). In part 3, they all go to Western Australia to get home. Peanut Butter presents two more Adventures of Spot (Superdog). The Babylon Gardens housepets and the nearby forest ferals celebrate Hallowe’en, Christmas, and Easter. The wild wolves join a human baby shower group (human mothers usually have only one pup per litter?), and Bino (that’s pronounced BYE-no) tries to officially become a wolf. Fox joins the K-9 Academy. Karishad (fox) is as crazy as ever. Jessica the opossum, who was introduced in Book 6, has a larger role here, and Cilantro the skunk is introduced. Keene Milton (rich ferret) hosts the State Fair, and Book 7 ends with another cliffhanger as Bailey tells King that she’s pregnant.
Book 7 presents four rows of strips to a page in full color, with some brand-new illustrations to make story sequences come out evenly. Like all long-running comic strips, this assumes that the reader is familiar with the characters and their backstories. Fans of Housepets! should certainly get Book 7; reading it is much easier than reading the cartoon strip-by-strip on its website’s archive. For those who are not already fans, it’s recommended that you start with one of the earlier volumes to get familiar with the cast: Book 1, Housepets! Are Naked All The Time; Book 2, Housepets! Hope They Don’t Get Eaten; Book 3, Housepets! Can Be Real Ladykillers; Book 4, Housepets! Are Gonna Sniff Everybody; Book 5, Housepets! Don’t Criticize Your Lovelife; and Book 6, Housepets! Will Do It For Free. They’re all great, and they’re all still available on Amazon.com.
Like the article? Yay! It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please make it easier and Support Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to do something REALLY awesome? Ask two friends to share that link. Thank you – Patch
Episode 343 - Cuckcumber
FC-260 We’re Not Even On Drugs - Would you like to build a snowman corporation?
Would you like to build a snowman corporation?
Watch Video Link Roundup:- Fewer than 45 red wolves remaining in the wild
- Fox Amoore Album Update
- ClickHole’s video about “What happens to our bodies during sex?”
- Animal Games of 2017 by Creature Features YouTube Channel
- We’re buying this, it has a spider on it
- We’re selling stuff!
- Emma Watson admits she’s attracted to anthro animals
- Canadian Town Says There’s No Reason To Worry About Bright Pink Water
- Florida Man Arrested For $7 Billion Bank Fraud, Uses Jesus as His Defense
- Why Losing A Dog Can Be Harder Than Losing A Relative Or Friend
- That ‘Guilty’ Look That Your Dog Is Giving You Isn’t Actually Guilt — They’re Scared
- Now You Can Give Oral Sex Long-Distance By Licking Your Phone
- Piggu – “^( .( 0 0) . )^”
- Silver Hoof – “More Tech shits and stuff”
- Anonymous – “Not spam / Just want to send this email anonomously”
- Atlas Gryphon – “Yet another asexual relationship email”
FC-260 We’re Not Even On Drugs - Would you like to build a snowman corporation?
Would you like to build a snowman corporation?
Watch Video Link Roundup:- Fewer than 45 red wolves remaining in the wild
- Fox Amoore Album Update
- ClickHole’s video about “What happens to our bodies during sex?”
- Animal Games of 2017 by Creature Features YouTube Channel
- We’re buying this, it has a spider on it
- We’re selling stuff!
- Emma Watson admits she’s attracted to anthro animals
- Canadian Town Says There’s No Reason To Worry About Bright Pink Water
- Florida Man Arrested For $7 Billion Bank Fraud, Uses Jesus as His Defense
- Why Losing A Dog Can Be Harder Than Losing A Relative Or Friend
- That ‘Guilty’ Look That Your Dog Is Giving You Isn’t Actually Guilt — They’re Scared
- Now You Can Give Oral Sex Long-Distance By Licking Your Phone
- Piggu – “^( .( 0 0) . )^”
- Silver Hoof – “More Tech shits and stuff”
- Anonymous – “Not spam / Just want to send this email anonomously”
- Atlas Gryphon – “Yet another asexual relationship email”
[Live] We’re Not Even On Drugs
Would you like to build a snowman corporation?
Link Roundup:- Fewer than 45 red wolves remaining in the wild
- Fox Amoore Album Update
- ClickHole’s video about “What happens to our bodies during sex?”
- Animal Games of 2017 by Creature Features YouTube Channel
- We’re buying this, it has a spider on it
- We’re selling stuff!
- Emma Watson admits she’s attracted to anthro animals
- Canadian Town Says There’s No Reason To Worry About Bright Pink Water
- Florida Man Arrested For $7 Billion Bank Fraud, Uses Jesus as His Defense
- Why Losing A Dog Can Be Harder Than Losing A Relative Or Friend
- That ‘Guilty’ Look That Your Dog Is Giving You Isn’t Actually Guilt — They’re Scared
- Now You Can Give Oral Sex Long-Distance By Licking Your Phone
- Piggu – “^( .( 0 0) . )^”
- Silver Hoof – “More Tech shits and stuff”
- Anonymous – “Not spam / Just want to send this email anonomously”
- Atlas Gryphon – “Yet another asexual relationship email”
The Return of the Original Original Turtles
IDW Publishing have gotten really serious with their Artisan Edition line of comic book reprintings. The latest beneficiary? The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as originally created (of course) by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. According to IDW, “This book reproduces all the original art to the first issue of one of the most important comic book phenomenons of the last 35 years — The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Scanned directly from the original art, mimicking the experience of the original hand drawn page, and also collecting all the layouts (also hand drawn) by the creators of what has been called this generation’s Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Rounding out the volume is an extensive gallery of other TMNT images, also scanned directly from the original art.” Look for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Artisan Edition, hitting the shelves this May.
image c. 2017 IDW Publishing
Ghosts: Night In The Woods Original Song
Looks like people are already making fan songs and video's for the video game Night in the Woods.
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Sythyry’s Journal: A World Tree Chronicle of Transaffection, Adventure, and Doom, by Bard Bloom – review by Fred Patten.
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Sythyry’s Journal: A World Tree Chronicle of Transaffection, Adventure, and Doom, by Bard Bloom
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, April 2010, trade paperback $25.00 (626 pages).
The opening paragraph of this dense, 626 pages of small type is:
“My exceedingly old and exceedingly famous grandparent just gave me this notebook as a going-to-school present. Zie says that zie wishes zie had had one when zie was growing up, but of course nobody knew how to do enchantments then, and there probably wasn’t time to do a lot of writing, what with all the fighting cyarr and nendrai and everything.” (p. 5)
Sythyry is a small, pale blue dragonet (actually a Zi Ri) “of impeccable lineage, considerable wit, and overwhelming inexperience, off alone at college for the first time. Zie must face terrible dangers: roommates, friends, courses in enchantment and flirtatious dance, deadly monsters, minor nobility, war, and, most dreadful of all, romance.” (blurb). The Zi Ri are hermaphrodites with pronouns to match, avoiding the “him” or “her” of the single-sex genders. The cover by Tod Wills shows zir at an Academy Buttery party surrounded by zir roommates Dustweed the Herethroy (the green grasshopper-like being at lower right) and Havune the Cani (the overdressed dog-like being at upper left), and friends Oostmarine the Orren (the otter-like being at upper right) and Anoof, another Cani (at lower left).
When Bard Bloom and his wife Victoria Borah Bloom created the World Tree role-playing game in 2001 (its cover by Mike Raabe was a finalist for the first Ursa Major Award in 2001 for Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration), LiveJournal was just getting started. Bloom explains in his “Author’s Forward” [sic.] that his own life made uninteresting reading. “So I decided to write from the point of view of a World Tree character.” – Sythyry the young Zi Ri. This book consists of Bloom’s LiveJournal entries from 2002 to 2007, as edited into novel format by Victoria Borah Bloom. Further LiveJournal entries to 2016 have been novelized in four Kindle books; Dragon Student, Ambassador to a Monster, Wizard’s Vacation, and City of Advanced Magic.
Sythyry’s Journal covers zir notebook entries from 1 Chirreb 4260 when zie gets zir notebook, to 15 Thory 4262. Two years in a college co-ed’s rambling diary are what you might expect. Except that this co-ed happens to be a small blue, flying, fire-breathing dragonet, at a college of magic in Vheshrame, a city-state (of one branch of the World Tree):
“Classes begin tomorrow, and Havune and Thery assure me that I won’t have the seventh part of a second to spare to myself once they begin. I have chosen Ancient Ketherian History, the Study of Differences, Elementary Theory of Tempador Magic, and Current Politics of Aradrueia, and, for the gymnastic requirement, Flirtatious Dancing.
I was going to take Choinxeian Politics, but Thery warned me – and more seriously than that warning about spare time – that Professor Thistro of Choinxeian Politics was a pompous monstrosity who reveled in reciting a hundred kings a minute, and Professor Urastra of Aradrueian was actually worth listening to. Therefore I shall wait for another three months on the Choinxeian Politics.)
In the afternoon, I went flying, then hunting. In Vheshrame, pigeons are plentiful, and, fortunately, not fireproof. I brought a brace of them home, flapping slowly after me from a Ruloc Corpador improvisation. It’s dignified for hunters to carry their catch that way, but not for shoppers to carry theirs. Etiquette is a twisty subject, of which I shall complain further on future days and centuries.” (p. 7)
Classes can be rather exotic:
“Flirtatious Dance is proving to be a good bit of exercise. Not the kind I was hoping for; not yet. The teachers – there are four of them, for it is a rather popular class among the unmarried students – started with a dance to try to scare students out of the class. A traditional Thanish triafrella is a bit of an energetic dance. For a modern flourish, or perhaps for extra humiliation, they made us dance it with apples in our muzzles.
It is hard to flirt properly with an apple in your mouth. It is hard to even pant properly with an apple in your muzzle; the Cani especially were looking rather miserable by the end of the class. I daresay I was looking rather miserable too: not hot of course, it takes a goodly fire to do that, but I’m far and away the smallest person in the class, and they didn’t shrink the set that I have to run around. Yes, run, my hind legs on the floor, my forelegs carrying two glasses of wine, and my wings trying desperately not to tangle anyone’s tail. A proper fool I looked – just like everyone else in the room.” (p. 9)
Sythyry is rather wordy, as readers will have noticed. This is good in terms of bringing the college to vivid life. And zie’s social life can get especially complex:
“Now for some worrisome questions. Shall I be a mysterious cryptic lizard sage, or shall I date other students? Shall I date full-mammals, or, perhaps, Herethroy? How much physical affection is proper, since there is no-one else of my own species in the city except for my half-sibling? How much is dignified? Or consonant with a potent degree of decorum and mystery?” (p. 10)
Yes, there is sex. Eventually. With a mammal:
“It was warm and awkward. And surprisingly sticky at the end.
And that, O monsters who are reading for prurient interest, is all I have to say about the details.” (pgs. 237-238)
Oh, no, it isn’t. Although zie still leaves out the details. This is a comedy of manners, after all.
There are the nagging letters from parents:
“~Mother~ reminds me to take at least half my classes in magic. To my lips this brings a vast and smoky sigh. I have plenty of time to learn and practice magic – I have neither desire nor impulse nor wish to become a great wizard before mid-Surprise, nor yet by Midwinter’s day next year. I can do it by degrees (and not the kind that Vheshrame Academy grants!) over a century or so! I can work as, I don’t care so much, a banker or a book-seller or some such, and bind spells on the side, or cast them for friends, or whatnot. There ae no lack of fearsomely mighty people in the family as it is. I imagine it would take me ten thousand years to get to where Glikkonen is after only four – even if I studied constantly, he invented some of the basic magical techniques, he bickered with gods – those things don’t happen in the modern world!
~Mother~ has the very best of intentions, I do not doubt that for half a moment, but zie’s half the World Tree’s lifetime old, and I doubt zie’s been out of her amber tower two months since I hatched. Zie can’t really understand modern life, can zie?” (p. 14)
A note on Sythyry’s size:
“Now we have a cat. She is named Pazi-Pazi; her fur is very bright blue; she weighs a bit more than I do. She enjoys stalking me. Fortunately she is not fireproof, so if I stoke my bed well enough she does not molest me there – she lurks on mantelpiece, leering at me hungrily or playfully.
I am not the one that she is supposed to hunt.” (p. 23)
Sythyry’s Journal will immerse you in the exotic world of the World Tree in general, and of Vheshrame Academy and environs, and Sythyry’s experiences there, in particular. Familiarity with the World Tree role-playing game is helpful but not necessary. Readers who want a smaller World Tree novel are recommended to try Bard Bloom’s A Marriage of Insects; it’s only 193 pages.
Like the article? Yay! It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please make it easier and Support Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to do something REALLY awesome? Ask two friends to share that link. Thank you – Patch
Animal Jam Comes To Comics
So how’d we go and let this phenomenon pass us by? Animal Jam is an on-line MMORPG gaming environment, launched in 2010 by the National Geographic Society. It was designed to use a fantasy setting to teach young children about zoology, natural history, and ecology. According to Wikipedia, “Animal Jam takes place in a fictional area known as Jamaa, containing various biomes and cartoon player-created animals. Players can create an animal with an anonymous 3-part name, such as ‘Crashing Magicshark’, dress it up with virtual clothing, and control it in the gameplay environment. The original six virtual animals that could be created were the panda, rabbit, tiger, wolf, koala, and monkey. Many more animals have been added following the six, letting players have the possibility of seeing one of their favorite animals in the game.” Now, after years on line, Dynamite Entertainment have announced the premier of the first Animal Jam comic book series, coming later in 2017. There’s an article about it over at News-a-rama. The first appearance of the new comic will be part of Dynamite’s contribution to this year’s Free Comic Book Day in May.
image c. 2017 National Geographic
Thaitails 2017: Into the Ocean
Furry convention in Bancock? Nice to see the conventions all over the world like this. http://thaitails.net/en [1] Thanks to sysable for pointing this one out. [1] http://thaitails.net/en
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Wild Games
FA 061 Accepting Love as a Damaged Individual - Can polyamory be an asset to a marriage? How can you overcome your own past experiences to feel comfortable in loving again? How can you find friends when you are terminally shy? All this, and more, on this
Hello Everyone!
We open this week's show with a discussion on how polyamory helps some people love being married. While some people view polyamory and marriage as being mutually exclusive, we look at an article on how polyamory has opened the door to love and longing in a marriage and how to overcome fear and trepidation at saying the things you are most afraid to say.
Our main topic is on accepting love as a damaged individual. Within the fandom (and especially the LGBTQ+ community) many people face hardships and abuse. Perhaps it is a parent who hates that you are trans*. Perhaps it is a mate who acts in an abusive fashion. Maybe it is a lifetime of feeling rejected, or not belonging. It could be that you have depression or anxiety issues. Regardless, plenty of people feel that they are too broken, or they have too much baggage, to accept love from anyone or anything.
We go over ways to overcome this mindset and to help you as an individual reintegrate within the vast, beautiful kaleidoscope that is love and accepting love. We talk about our own lives, and ways that we overcame (and still work on overcoming) our inner saboteur. It's a heartfelt episode and one of our most requested topics.
We close out the show with a question on finding love and friendship when you're shy. Yes, we said there were two questions but, as it turns out, the second question is more involved and we wanted to give it its own space and time to truly dive into. Enjoy the minor gaffe (and later explanation) on this: it's a great episode.
For more information, including a list of topics, see our Show Notes for this episode.
Thanks and, as always, be well!
FA 061 Accepting Love as a Damaged Individual - Can polyamory be an asset to a marriage? How can you overcome your own past experiences to feel comfortable in loving again? How can you find friends when you are terminally shy? All this, and more, on this week's Feral Attraction!A Portrait of the Puppet Master
Here is a short documentary on Barnaby Dixon the 26-year-old puppeteer that does the cute dabchick videos. "Puppets—they’re child’s play, right? Spend five minutes watching Barnaby Dixon and you’ll surely disagree. At first, it might seem strange for a 26-year-old to be hand-building puppets in his bedroom and shooting videos of his performances for a living, but the puppet prodigy’s creations are completely original and totally addicting to watch. Barnaby started his career solely to make YouTube videos (https://www.youtube.com/user/barnabyd...), but recently hit it big after winning a 50,000 Euro grand prize on the German puppet talent show, "Die Puppenstars.""
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She Wants to Do Volunteer Fursuiting at Her Local Hospital
I've always been a furry since I was little, but only now am I getting a fursuit. They'll be finishing it next week, so I'll have it soon. Since my fursuit will be of the pokemon Solgaleo,my suit is a kid icon. I'm thinking of going to a children's hospital to visit kids in a fun pokemon suit. But I'm not sure what to do. How would I act around the kids, what would I say?
Jaelyn (age 13)
* * *
Hi, Jaelyn,
Since you are 13, I kind of doubt a hospital or other company or organization will permit you to visit kids in fursuit, even with your good intentions, unless you were part of some formal organization or other, such as a church or other nonprofit.
I admire and respect your desire to put your fursuiting towards a good cause, but would recommend you wait awhile (until you are 18). In the meantime, get some fursuiting and live performance experience while in fursuit. It's not as easy as it looks, and when you are old enough to do some charity work you will be able to perform much better.
When that time comes, here's what you do: go to the hospital where you wish to fursuit and find the Volunteer Services department. Make an appointment there and then explain what you wish to do. Hospitals will have guidelines for how their entertainers must conduct themselves with patients, and these policies might vary from hospital to hospital. Give the Volunteer Services coordinator a clear idea of what you wish to do and why. Hopefully, they will be open to it, but if they say "No, thanks," you can always try a different hospital.
Happy Fursuiting!
Papabear
He’s a Fox. Just a Fox.
StupidFox is a fox. But is he stupid, or just misunderstood? Does he maybe have just a simple way of looking at a complex world? That’s the endless question pondered by creator E.Y. Chan in her full-color on-line comic strip called StupidFox — yes, spelled as one word. At her web site you’ll find not only the comic but a link to her shop full of prints, books, plush dolls, key-chains, and other cute items all graced by the simple fox and his friends.
image c. 2017 by E.Y. Chan
ep 156 - Pit Of Puppies - an all new episode just for you! Yes, you! Sera…
an all new episode just for you! Yes, you! Serathin's amazing Dragget Show story! - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AYkJRCjPaNB6x1oYLn6QT7GjR6L6UAoy8RCsCK0NjEw/edit Chaotic Ravings podcast, reviewing Fur Squared! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz9Pfo07EpY&t=19s Reminder: We're on Patreon! If you could kick us a buck or two, we'd greatly appreciate it. www.patreon.com/thedraggetshow 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 156 - Pit Of Puppies - an all new episode just for you! Yes, you! Sera…
You Can Also Do It Too As Well: Episode 1
Here we have a cute new series a bit like an old 80s old PBS show. "Dr. Pegasus tackles the creative and rewarding world of interior lighting to make her home a brighter and more welcoming place!" (The anal video pedantic in me still cringes a little when people try to make something look old but still make it 16:9 but I'll forgive it due to extreme cuteness)
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