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Furry reached new heights in 2016. Disney came to our party.  There was a low point of a chemical attack on Midwest FurFest that turned into a high quality Vice News story.  Notice the title, “CSI Fur Fest” – I’d like to think it was chosen to make up for the other CSI, who did us a disservice. But this time “the media” earned a nomination for a 2016 Ursa Major award.

It was cool that Vice did that story. The media was on our side.  That’s the theme of this post.

In 2017, there was the unreal experience of Furry Nazis grabbing the wheel for a minute and making us swerve into no-man’s land.  Maybe we’re getting back on track, but don’t relax.  Those headlines were rough, but rougher ones are coming.

Look at California, where you might say Furry Fandom really got started. In SoCal, the Skiltaire House is where you can hang out with the founders of the first convention and have a friendly night of fursuiting or watching animation.  That’s where Jennifer Yost was known as a mom to others, including her daughter Daydreamer Fox. They went together.

One day in the fall of 2016, Daydreamer went missing. The Skiltaire put out an alert. I shared it and got contact from a reporter. Then Daydreamer was found. It wasn’t a missing person alert any more. The Yost parents and a family friend were dead and two other kids were orphaned.

Two furries were arrested for triple murder.

It was crazy. That isn’t something we do. I legitimately cried.

A lot of furs felt the same way. I put out a statement for them. Scott, the reporter from the OC Register, helped send it up the chain to national news.  It was carefully meant to tell what furs were feeling with no gory details, to reduce using them for attention. Some trashy blogs tried and got criticism instead of clicks. I jumped into the comments and the regular public supported me.  Scott took my suggestions and quoted people I referred to him. Tips came in and rumors were abated. We turned down subsequent interviews. Out of many sources, Rolling Stone did a surprisingly good job.

There’s a trial soon and the news is going to bring all that attention back. 

There will be clickbait from hacks who want traffic. Professionals will try to tell a deep story about regular humans and a hobby they love. Hobbyists and regular people will dig into the topic to figure things out.

2017’s news brought such a regular person to the fandom.  Boozy Barrister was looking at legal issues of subcultures. He found the RMFC story right when it came out and put it on his blog.  It was like opening a can of tuna for the neighborhood cats. Suddenly he was adopted by the fandom. He’s a face for the theme of this post.

fan art by Ronnie

Good writing helps – will there be a story like Vice’s?  

With all the attention coming for the trial, furries know it’s a bad story. They know the vultures will circle around, and every vulture can pretend to be a helper. Uncle Kage might tell you to avoid them all. That’s a theme since before furries were on CSI.

That isn’t my theme. I started this blog because so many stories were untold.  Regular news doesn’t know how to get it right.  So I got into writing about it like others teach themselves to draw or make fursuits. I’m too yappy to stop. Now I get asked for help. So let me tell you who asked about this.

The Atlantic wants to cover the story.

That magazine is one of my inspirations (like writing by Eric Schlosser).  They do quality long-form stuff unlike fast news that can be shallow.  One way they can set theirs apart is by adding more quality with exclusive info. That means talking to furries who were close to the story.

Sanjiv B. is the writer. He specializes in writing about subculture. I’d like to help Sanjiv.  He’s run into a “furry code of silence.”

I think a Code of Silence was part of why RMFC died.  It involved the leadership and questionable decisions when things went out of control. Privacy is good, but silence can be harmful.

The family’s privacy is more important than fandom public image, but it’s impossible to deny this is a furry story. It’s as if a crime happened at a company or school and they put that in the headline. I don’t think it would be fair to exclude that aspect.

There are a lot of unanswered questions. Respectful coverage could dispel mystery and judgements to help others.

What Sanjiv is looking for:

“My hope is that this is an opportunity to present the furry world as everyday people, full of complexities and contradictions, and prone sometimes to tragedies like this one. If anything, perhaps some misunderstandings about furry culture can be addressed along the way.

In the end, this is a story about a brutal triple homicide, and that’s my focus. It so happens that the people concerned are longtime furries and the fandom was an important part of their lives, so I do need the help of the community. I want to understand the relationships, the characters involved, what their lives were like and how it seems a few young people in Orange County went down such a very dark road. The goal is to portray everyone concerned as a fully human and understandable, not as a cliche or stereotype. Naturally, I want to speak to anyone who know those involved in any capacity, the closer the better. There has to be something we can learn from this.

How Sanjiv ran into a Code of Silence:

“I’ve been quite angrily rebuffed a couple of times. It’s taken me by surprise how some people have responded. In one case I was told of a good person to talk to, but their first response was to threaten to sue me in all caps! I understand that there is skepticism of the media, and with good reason, but I’m not “the media” as a whole, I’m just a writer in LA, and I feel I’ve been prejudged by people who have already made their minds up – which is something furries complain about all the time I’m sure. It’s a little demoralizing! I’ve no intention of misrepresenting anyone. And I can offer reassurances about quote accuracy, going on/off the record, concealing identities if absolutely necessary etc. I get why some groups have a code of silence, like gangs or cults, but furries though? I thought you guys were friendly!

Honestly, my hope was always to make enough friends in the furry world that we could just hang, you know? I want to be familiar enough with the fandom that I can come to events and it not be a big deal. That’s how I think we can really do this story justice and tell it fairly. It would be easy to write sensationalist rubbish, I could have done it already if that’s what I was here for. I’m not. I’m trying to put in the time and effort to really get to the bottom of this. Surely that’s what furries want journalists to do.

I have until early June to get a proper insight. Any help you can give me is much appreciated.”

Reach Sanjiv here.  Telegram: @sanjivbee – Email: mrsanj.b@gmail.com – facebook.com/sanjiv.bhattacharya 

If you can help him, please consider it. I think this is a story that deserves to be told right.

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

The Earth Tigers, by Frances Pauli
Moses Lake, WA, Gastropod Press, February 2017, trade paperback $7.99 (165 pages), Kindle $0.99.

The Earth Tigers is Star Spiders, Volume One. Pauli considers it to be s-f, not furry, but it has talking spiders in it. Volume Two, tentatively titled Sky Fires, will be published in 2018.

The Earth Tigers is dedicated:
For all the eight-legged beauties, big and small.
Without them, we’d live in a much less friendly
environment.

Unfortunately for reviewing, The Earth Tigers begins in the midst of deliberate confusion and only gradually reveals what is going on. So any traditional plot synopsis would be full of spoilers.

It starts with a spider, Horatch, who is looking for a human to become a “candidate”. He (there is a reason for him to be a male rather than a female spider) choses Milyi, a young girl alone in a forest.

“‘Nicely done.’ A male voice spoke from the trees.

Milyi froze and searched her surroundings. She could see no one. ‘Who said that?’

‘You dance beautifully.’ His calm voice held traces of an echo and had no visible source.

‘Where are you?’ Milyi turned a small circle, watching the vines.

‘To your right,’ he said. ‘The large trunk, and just above your head.’

She turned again, all the way around, and still saw no one. One of the trees was distinctly larger than the others, and Milyi stalked toward it on tiptoe. The bark had thick, deep ruts torn loose in places and covered in sparse moss. The fan branches swooped overhead, casting shadows across the trunk. She circled it, and found no one hiding.

Where are you?’

‘I’m afraid to show you.’

‘Why?’

‘I have many reasons, most of them older than us both.’” (pgs. 18-19)

Horatch finally does show himself.

“Spider. Her mind whispered it, but this thing was too large to match the thought. A round, soup-bowl sized abdomen followed the long legs, the starburst body. In total, the creature was easily as long as her forearm. Milyi counted the legs as it descended. She watched eight toes test the way, clutch and release the bark one after the other. Giant spider.” (p. 20)

Milyi has a greater reason than most to fear a talking, giant spider, but that’s one of the mysteries that is revealed later. Her talking to a spider instead of immediately killing it is enough to get her sentenced to death.

“Why did they despise spiders? No one had ever explained it. If they remembered the source of their enmity, no one ever spoke it out loud. If they had a good reason, no one bothered to pass it along. But they did hate them. She understood that fully for the first time when they’d tied her feet together. She’d betrayed that hate, had lifted herself above it, and now she had no place among them.

They probably had to kill her.” (p. 41)

Horatch rescues Milyi, with the help of wild pigs that his people fellow spiders, the T’rant, have (domesticated? allied with?) But he is running out of time, and leading her to the T’rant city is more dangerous than he expects:

“The tree trunk thrummed and jerked his mind fully awake. An impact. He checked the girl below and found her sleeping, still as a stone. If she hadn’t moved… The tree shook again, harder this time. Horatch felt the vibrations like a wave from the ground, up through his toes, and onward toward the fronds above.

Something big moving, something very big.” (p. 67)

Other important characters are Saku, a human teen; Niatha, the leader of the T’rant; and Angel, a major enemy.

The Earth Tigers (cover by the author) features human adolescents, and it’s impossible to avoid thinking of Horatch as a teenage spider, making this a good Young Adult title. The novel comes to a definite conclusion, but leaves the characters awaiting what will come next. There are enough furry characters (but no tigers, or any other mammals!) to please furry readers.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Author’s website

Down one bull the cast gets together to go over the news. Join in and listen! Episode -4 - Shark ate the bull

Dreamspinner Press is a publishing house that specializes in romantic LGBT fiction in a number of genres, including science fiction and fantasy. One of particular note caught our eye: Dog Days, written by T.A. Moore. According to the publisher’s web site, it goes like this: “The world ends not with a bang, but with a downpour. Tornadoes spin through the heart of London, New York cooks in a heat wave that melts tarmac, and Russia freezes under an ever-thickening layer of permafrost. People rally at first—organizing aid drops and evacuating populations—but the weather is only getting worse. In Durham, mild-mannered academic Danny Fennick has battened down to sit out the storm. He grew up in the Scottish Highlands, so he’s seen harsh winters before. Besides, he has an advantage. He’s a werewolf. Or, to be precise, a weredog. Less impressive, but still useful. Except the other werewolves don’t believe this is any ordinary winter, and they’re coming down over the Wall to mark their new territory. Including Danny’s ex, Jack — the Crown Prince Pup of the Numitor’s pack — and the prince’s brother, who wants to kill him. A wolf winter isn’t white. It’s red as blood.” And it’s available now in paperback.

image c. 2017 Dreamspinner Press

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Even Koalas find it hard to let somebody go.
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Hello Everyone!

We open this week's show with a discussion of good BDSM Aftercare techniques. We look at an Oh Joy Sex Toy comic that goes over different ways you can help prevent SubDrop (and DomDrop), as well as an explanation as to basic BDSM terminology.

Our main topic is on Oral Sex. For episode 69 we invite guest host Koji Fox back onto the show to help us on an adventure of self discovery, dick sucking, labia licking, sexploration. We go over tips, techniques, and ways to improve your oral game. 

We close out this week's show with a question on being emotionally available and ready for an open relationship.

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 069 Oral Sex - Is after care good? Is Viro a cunning linguist? Are open relationships bad? All this, and more, on this week's Feral Attraction!

Ellegy Q. Betea, event mascot by Grey White

May 13, 2017

The Billy DeFrank LGBTQ Community Center
938 The Alameda, San Jose, CA 95126
Art show 1 to 5 PM
Masquerade 5 to 7 PM
Dance 7 to 9 PM ($10 suggested donation)

Calling all Bay Area Queer Artists! • Musicians • Zinesters • Independent game devs • Painters • Crafters • Illustrators • Digital Artists • Photographers •

Come join us for the seventh #Artsplosion. Hurry, Signups close May 9th! Sign up here, and find out more here.  The Artsplosion is a bi-monthly local arts and crafts exhibition intended to serve the Bay Area Queer arts community.

Fan art by Yamavu

Hello Dogpatch Press,

I was asked to tell you about my upcoming art event that’s furry focused. It’s called #Artsplosion, this is the 7th event, and this time we’re collaborating with San Jose Further Confusion (FurCon).

It’s going to be an art show, costume masquerade, and evening dance! It’s free to attend (though we have a $10 suggested donation at the door for the dance), and free to show work at (though we ask 20% of sales go back to the center as a donation).

So join us on May 13th, starting at 1 PM. We have a great community center in San Jose, easy to get to from public transportation and lots of parking, so I’d love it if everyone came and checked it out!

More information can be found here, or follow the #artsplosion hashtag.

Thank you,
Danger “Dana” Kipnis (organizer)

Friday, May 05, 2017.  8PM – 1AM.

SF Citadel, 181 Eddy St., San Francisco.  

Cost: $25. Dress code: Animal-themed, fetish, creative, etc.

Visit the Fetlife event page for info. Many volunteer positions available.

WILD THINGS is an 18+ party for furries, petplayers, pups, primals, littles, and everyone who accepts them, but the furry community is the heart of it.  The first event was in 2014 (see WILD THINGS tag.)  In 2016 it became quarterly by support of the SF Citadel club.

For March’s Mardi Gras event, organizer Mark explained:

Wild Things wants to be inclusive to anyone who is new, making them feel welcome, unpressured, and free to learn and explore at their own pace, if they wish.  We advocate tolerance and respect for others, so people can live and let live, and let adults be adults however they choose to do so… come without judgements and see for yourselves.

What’s happening this time?  Perhaps sexy party games and pinatas, human/furry pinata suspensions, wrestling/Lucha masks… all that and a taco bar! Previous features continue:

– Music by DJ’s AuralIncarnation (Bent) and Gretchen Weeners (Death Guild, House of Nox)
– Suspensions by Naturalturn (Naughty Knotty)
– Vacuum bed & waxplay demos by Spottacus
– Petplay, puppyplay, and furry demos
– Fursuit gear demos
– The cuddle zone
– Petplay / puppyplay romp!

Meet new friends and participate in fun, playful, cuddly, sexy activities. Dress up, play, and express yourself as part of the show! Creative expression is highly encouraged. The crowd for Wild Things tends to be very LGBTQ friendly, and on the younger, high-energy side, but open to all ages 18+. Shy and new people are especially invited, with a large casual lounge great for meeting new people, multiple DJs, a cuddly blanket fort area, and several activities and demos geared towards those who are new and finding their way. It’s entirely possible to enjoy Wild Things without flirting or indulging your wild side, but SF Citadel is a supportive, accepting environment which allows for consensual BDSM and safer sex practices.

It’s a party guests rave about, whether they’re shy and introverted, or wild and extroverted.  RSVP at the event page, join the Wild Things chat group with over 150 members and growing, or get acquainted with members 24/7 on the Telegram group.

@WildThingsSF Was the BEST. #WildThings I learned things, met people, aaalmost won 1st in Bead collection for Mardi Gras theme. So fun! Unf!

— RandomOmNomFurry (@AnonFur) February 26, 2017

It’s ALMOST the only party of its kind in the world…

@Spottacus @WildThingsSF and for those kinky furs in Germany, come to TailsUp

— Zefiro Public (@ZefiroPublic) February 25, 2017

Buk? "This animated short is a comical tale that pokes fun at motherhood. It depicts the temper tantrums of a child and the efforts a mother makes to set her son on the right path."
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Rune’s Furry Blog showcases “people within the Furry Community…their characters, life, thoughts, and beliefs”. It also covers furry issues and media, with a sprinkle of personal blogging for the character Rune the Angel Dragon.  It’s the kind of furry stuff I like to support.  It came to attention by covering #FemaleFursuiterMonth. Fursuiter profiles are a cool thing I wanted more of.  She joins other syndicated guests like Andre Kon (What’s Yiffin’?) and Arrkay (Culturally F’d) to share her month of writing. Welcome Rune! – Patch

So here we are…entering May. It seems that 2017 has been just zooming by, and so many amazing things have been happening in the Furry Fandom! It’s what I like to refer to as “convention season”! A lot of the more popular Furry conventions are already taking place or happen shortly at the beginning of summer.

But not only that – the Furry fandom is always buzzing with something new. So, this April Summary exists just to fill you in on what you might have missed on this ever-expanding group. Not to mention it’s a chance for myself as a blogger to share with you some posts from my own blog – because I am sure there is something that might just catch your fancy. Let the April Summary get underway!

The Furry Nerdcore band known as “Run, Definitely Run!” decided that it was DISBANDING After Texas Furry Fiesta (Dallas Convention 2017).

The post was made by lead-singer Omnom on April 7th, 2017. He posted on his facebook HERE that their visions for the band were just too different, and, while they would have one last performance, they would not be playing at BLFC as scheduled. There was not much else to be said. It was made pretty clear and people were heartbroken. Fans were trying to see if maybe this was just a late April-Fools joke, but, band members came in and told them that it was indeed true…

Theories of what might have happened at TFF started to circulate, and, for awhile, people were even blaming the Con. While most things have been cleared up in one way or another, people seemed to have now settled on the idea that the band continuing was just not meant to be. We can only wish the bandmates the best in all their future endeavors.
But, the group is still close friends with each other…and that should be one of the most important things.

Fursuit Friday Feature(s) for April!

This is something that is specific to my personal blog and is just a small and fun project that I like to do when I can. These are called my “Fursuit Friday Features”. This is where I showcase off different Fursuits from across the fandom, and I add in a little interview that I have pre-typed, and then the owner of the fursuit fills in the answers to those questions. The point of it is to not only see the amazing character on the outside, but, to also get a glimpse of what the person on the inside is like as well.

Muerte the Butterfly Dragon – owed by: Kiara Blackburn (Aisling Knight) Suit made by: Hollow Creature Creations

While the goal is to do this every Friday…well, life does tend to happen and, I do tend to get rather busy. Thus, it’s not always a guarantee that I will find the time. April was a great example of not finding very much time as I only had one post for the feature that month, and that was the butterfly dragon known as Muerte (and if you wanna check out the interview, you can see it by clicking HERE).

Welcoming my Sister to the Furry Fandom!

It’s one of those bonds that are really hard to explain. The relationships can be so varied. I know siblings that used to love each other as kids, and now, they can barely stand one another. Then, there are cases like my Sister and I where…we hated each other when we were little. But despite even that, I always had her back…and as adults, we are closer to best-friends.

But, no matter your current sibling-relationship, there is always that time in your life when your siblings looks up to you…and/or they want the things you want and want to be involved in the things you’re involved in. Imagine my shock then when 10+ years later and my Sister is asking for a Fursona!!!!

So many people were merely excited that a family member had decided to try this thing out for themselves. I think a bit of it was people being relieved that she had such an open-view of the whole ‘furry’ thing when there are people whose families do not always take it so well.

But, I have always been lucky in that my Sister is open-minded, and she really does her research on things before passing judgement. Like everyone else, she has heard the misconceptions about furries, and she has heard what people ‘claim’ a Furry is. But, unlike most other people…rather than just believe the first thing she heard, she decided to come to me (someone in the fandom) and ask me about it. Now, outside of my wife, she is my biggest supporter, and, she even watches my YouTube videos from time-to-time.

That was the day my Sister became known as “Strawberry the Kitten”. So, if ever you see Strawberry out-and-about on Forums and the like, feel free to give her a nice warm welcome! Also, if you wanna say some words to her here (or on the original blog post HERE), I will be glad to pass on the message!

Art by thelostcause86 on FA / Mia the winged wolf belongs to Element02 / Strawberry the Kitten belongs to Autumn Marie Long

PROTOGENS are the new craze!

Have you ever heard of the Primagen Species? They are a closed-species, created and run by Malice-risu on FA – and the only way to obtain a Primagen is to bid on the auctions they occasionally hold on their FA page. And let me tell you, those auctions are no joke! While the creators are nice enough to allow payments plans, I have seen a single Primagen go for well over $1200! Granted, the more you pay, the more awards are unlocked with the purchase of one’s Primagen…but still. It can get really crazy. The starting bids are low, but then people scurry to scoop one up. The creator’s have said that they do not make Primagens expensive on purpose…they just let people pay what they are willing to.

So, if you have not already guessed it…because they are a closed species with only a few auctions popping up here-and-there, Primagens are a pretty elite kind of species. So many people want them but so few people actually can afford to own one. It was like that dream that was always out of reach for a lot of people…

But Protogens changed all that… On April 8th, Cedar Andrews (also part of the account Malice-Risu on FA) opened up a sub-species to the widely sought-after Primagens and called them: “PROTOGENS“!

So…why are these so special? Well, it’s because they are an OPEN species and therefore they are FREE to make! This option seems to be good enough if not better for a majority of the fandom who are always teetering on the edge of ‘broke’…therefore the Protogens easily exploded the day they were announced, and, they have been clogging facebook and Amino feeds ever since!

But, because they are so similar to Primagens, they have to have rules, right? Well, of course they do. Common and uncommon variants of Protogen are free to make, whereas rare variants of the species can only be bought in an auction very similar to how the Primagens work. Protogens are mostly biological whereas Primagen are mostly mechanical, and because Primagen look more raptor-like, Protogen are not allowed to have any dinosaur-like anatomy. There are other things as well such as Protogen having more rounded visors, they can not take a feral form, and they can not have wings that could be used for flight.

But, with the species exploding like it did, well, designs do tend to go unregulated. But, the creators have been very hard at work – they have been making charts and google documents to assist those looking to make a Protogen of their very own:

^^ Art by Cedar Andrews (facebook) / Malice-Risu (FA) ^^

Protogen Anatomy Chart
Protogen Google Doc (Guide)
Official Facebook Group

Conclusion:

April ended up being a lot more busy than I anticipated, and I can only assume that more will come in May! It is such an honor to get to write for DogPatch Press even as a guest and I look forward to doing more summary-posts in the future! Thank you all for tuning in! I will see you all in the next one. – Rune

Let's start the week with Twilight Saint dancing to a wonderful cover of "Bushes of Love" Here is the original song if you weren't aware of the wonderful Bad Lip Reading guys: https://youtu.be/RySHDUU2juM
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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Remember when Syrian refugees met furries?

My January 2016 call for information about furry conventions for my Furry Fandom Conventions book, announced on Dogpatch Press, contained a comment from Anonymouse that I didn’t address at the time.  He said:

“Russians needs to translate “furry” into their own language. For the last 20 or so years they have not been translating anything, and simply adopting more english words, writing them in Cyrillic letters. If this keeps happening, the Russian language will disappear in 50 years. Mark my words.”

Why do the Russians need to translate “furry” into Russian?  I may be prejudiced because I’m in an English-speaking country, and we take pride in the English language containing so many foreign words.  We call them “loan words”, but there is no sign that we’ll ever give them back.

James Nicoll’s 1991 epigram has become famous:

“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.”

A favorite observation of SF writers is that if a time-traveler from the present went a thousand years into the past, he or she wouldn’t be able to understand the English language then; it’s changed so much.

We look with amusement at the Académie française’s attempts to keep the French language “pure” by regularly issuing lists of new foreign words (mostly English) creeping into French, often with the correct French words that should be used, such as “Le chewing gum” – “gomme à mâcher” is recommended.

What should “furry” be in other languages? Here is a quick list from Wikipedia.

• Catalan – El furry fandom
• Chinese – 獸迷
• 

  2000 furries from 41 countries responded to a 2011 IARP survey.

  Czech – Furry fandom

• Danish – furry
• Dutch – Een furry
• English – The furry fandom
• Esperanto – Ŝatantaro de felo
• Finnish – furry
• French – Le fandom furry
• German – Das furry
• Greek – To furry fandom
• Hebrew – פאנדום פרוותי (right to left)
• Hungarian – A furry
• Indian (Sanskrit) – फररी फैनडोम
• Indonesian – Furry fandom
• Italian – Il furry fandom
• Japanese -ファーリー・ファンダム (furry fandom phonetically in katakana)
• Korean – 수인러
• Norse – Furry
• Polish – Furry (with a note that this is English for futrzak or futrzastość)
• Portuguese – furry fandom
• Russian – фурри
• Serbian – Фури фандом
• Spanish – El furry fandom
• Swedish – furry fandom
• Ukrainian – фурі
• Welsh – Y furry fandom

– Fred Patten

Patch the Steampunk Pirate Bear. Now how are you not gonna notice a title like that? Written, illustrated, and published by Matt Dean, Patch the Steampunk Pirate Bear and the Lost City of Gold is a brand new paperback book for young readers. According to Horror House Party, “Patch the Steampunk Pirate Bear and his friend, Sprocket the Mechanical Bird, sail a steam-powered airship on a great adventure sparked by a rescue mission.  Chased by his nemesis Captain Caroline, the great teddy-bear hero Patch risks everything to find the Lost City of Gold and save his friend Nikola.  But time is running out and Captain Caroline is hot on his tail!  Will Patch find Nikola and get his crew home safely before they are shipwrecked and trapped forever?” The official web site is also brand new, but it’s quickly filling up as the author travels the country promoting his book.

image c. 2017 by Matt Dean

Kaze and Zumoro join us for silly news and some deep fan email email discussions.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• Telegram Drama
• DOUBLE KING
• Boozy had a Doozy
  • Link 1
  • Link 2
  • Link 3
  • Link 4
  • Link 5
  • Link 6
• Shoutout to MysticBeast Fursuits
• RockDog Movie Review
• Squid eats Squid

News:

• Why Do You Never See Baby Pigeons?
• Court Lifts Injunction Blocking Mexican Gray Wolf Releases
• Drone Hammock
• Snake can’t roam free
• Steal a Body for Ransom
• Dog Opens Doors And Escapes Animal Hospital Like Nobody’s Business
• Ultra-Chill Jimmy John’s Employee Takes Sweet Time During Armed Robbery
• Donald Trump’s ‘Criminal Aliens’ Hotline Trolled With Reports Of Extraterrestrials

Fan Emails

• Anon – “What? I think I’m a woman?”
• Taran – “Curious about your depressive A.I.”

FC-265 e747 - Kaze and Zumoro join us for silly news and some deep fan email email discussions.

Kaze and Zumoro join us for silly news and some deep fan email email discussions.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• Telegram Drama
• DOUBLE KING
• Boozy had a Doozy
  • Link 1
  • Link 2
  • Link 3
  • Link 4
  • Link 5
  • Link 6
• Shoutout to MysticBeast Fursuits
• RockDog Movie Review
• Squid eats Squid

News:

• Why Do You Never See Baby Pigeons?
• Court Lifts Injunction Blocking Mexican Gray Wolf Releases
• Drone Hammock
• Snake can’t roam free
• Steal a Body for Ransom
• Dog Opens Doors And Escapes Animal Hospital Like Nobody’s Business
• Ultra-Chill Jimmy John’s Employee Takes Sweet Time During Armed Robbery
• Donald Trump’s ‘Criminal Aliens’ Hotline Trolled With Reports Of Extraterrestrials

Fan Emails

• Anon – “What? I think I’m a woman?”
• Taran – “Curious about your depressive A.I.”

FC-265 e747 - Kaze and Zumoro join us for silly news and some deep fan email email discussions.

Kaze and Zumoro join us for silly news and some deep fan email email discussions.

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• Shoutout to MysticBeast Fursuits
• RockDog Movie Review
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News:

• Why Do You Never See Baby Pigeons?
• Court Lifts Injunction Blocking Mexican Gray Wolf Releases
• Drone Hammock
• Snake can’t roam free
• Steal a Body for Ransom
• Dog Opens Doors And Escapes Animal Hospital Like Nobody’s Business
• Ultra-Chill Jimmy John’s Employee Takes Sweet Time During Armed Robbery
• Donald Trump’s ‘Criminal Aliens’ Hotline Trolled With Reports Of Extraterrestrials

Fan Emails

• Anon – “What? I think I’m a woman?”
• Taran – “Curious about your depressive A.I.”

[Live] e747

‘Fur-ever alone?’ My cat totally does this to me.
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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Spirit Hunters. Book 4: Shadow of the Oni, by Paul Kidd . Illustrated.
Morrisville, NC, Lulu.com/Perth, Western Australia, Kitsune Press, February 2017, trade paperback $22.31 (310 pages), Kindle $6.99.

Paul Kidd began his Spirit Hunters novels with Book 1: The Way of the Fox in September 2014. He has followed it up with Book 2: The Open Road in May 2016, and Book 3: Tails High in September 2016. Now here is Book 4: Shadow of the Oni. Like the last two books, this has a cover by R. H. Potter and interior art by Voracious Fescue.

The Spirit Hunters series is set in the Sacred Isles, a fantasy world of traditional Japanese mythology roughly in the Heian era, about 900 or 1000 A.D., with all the yōkai (supernatural spirits) of that world: obake, kappa, oni, tengu, and so on. The Spirit Hunters are four freelance ghostbusters who wander throughout this realm, slaying or otherwise exorcising the evil yōkai: Lady Kitsune nō Sura, a fox woman, and her companion Tsunetomo Tonbo, a huge human samurai, who hope to be paid for their services; Asodo Kuno, a young low-ranking human samurai who has joined them to gain a reputation and higher status; and Nezumi nō Chiri, a shy rat-spirit who Sura has invited to join them. Chiri’s two familiars, Daitanishi the air elemental and Bifuuko the rock elemental, accompany them.

Sura and Chiri, and any other animal-people who the quartet meet, are what make these books worth reading by furry fans. They can shift among three forms: human except for animal ears and tail; anthropomorphic, looking human but with an animal head, full fur or feathers, and tail; and fully animal but still able to talk.

While the first three books are basically light adventures, Book 4 is the darkest yet. It begins with “Twelfth Encounter: Shackles of Honour”, which opens with thirteen straight pages of grim battle, slaughter, blood, and death. A decade later, the four Spirit Hunters take refuge from a rainstorm in a long-abandoned shrine:

“‘Do you sense something, Chiri san?’

The rat gave a shiver.

‘I do not like this place.’ Chiri drew her robes about her shoulders. ‘There is a scent of old bones …’

‘This shrine was important once.’ Kuno looked at the expensive cedar pillars and beams – the towering ceiling. ‘Why would a shrine be left totally abandoned? Surely the entire priesthood could not have been destroyed?’

[…]

The altar had once been tightly bound by prayer ropes. They now lay charred, severed and decayed. Sura searched and found a carved wooden charm – weirdly bubbled and corrupted. She looked at it with an incredulous chill.

‘This is a ward against Oni!’

[…]

Tonbo knelt. He, too, could feel the colder air concentrated just ahead. The huge man kept carefully ready poised at Sura’s side.

‘What is it?’

Sura lowered her guard – her eyes fixed on the empty space just ahead of her. She moved with an almost gentle care.

‘There’s a ghost here….’ She held out a hand, fingers spread, sensing the ebb and flow in the darkness. ‘It’s weak. It’s trying to manifest to us.’

Kuno remained at the ready, sword poised.

‘Is it dangerous?’

‘It’s too weak to manifest properly.’ Sura was deeply interested, and filled with compassion. ‘I can feel it. It’s trying hard. It wants to speak.’

[…]

Suddenly the ghost sagged, as though a terrible memory had flooded into her. She sank down, lost and hollow. She stared at Sura, utterly blank with shame.

‘Know then that it is gone. This shrine failed in duty. The Oni’s blood was stolen.’

The fox felt her ears rise. She moved very quietly careful not to distress the ghost. Sura tilted her head, listening intently.

‘Who stole it, Honoured Ghost? Who took the Oni’s blood?’” (pgs. 33-35)

Sura swears to complete the shrine’s long-lost mission. But how can the Spirit Hunters fulfill an old duty against adversaries that were powerful enough to kill all the priests and temple maidens of this shrine?

“Chiri leaned forward, quietly stroking Bifuuko in her lap.

‘But surely, Sura san, the Oni are forever barred from the mortal realm?’

‘Forever.’ Sura kept her hand upon her spear. ‘But any remnant – any taint will be a thing of purest evil.’

Kuno seemed perfectly satisfied.

‘Forgive me, Sura san – but is that not what we fight in any case?’

‘No. We have never faced anything tainted by Oni.’

Sura turned. She drew in a long, slow breath, focusing her thoughts.

‘Oni are not spirits. They are demons – beings of fantastic power who live in a realm of their own. A blighted land of suffering and rage. They are masters of maho – the magic of blood, death and annihilation.’” (pgs. 39-40)

This is the traditional depiction of Oni; not the modern, family-friendly versions as in TV anime such as Urusei Yatsura. The Hunters’ quest takes them to an obscure, apparently nameless village that seems very ominous, yet it is under the care of Kuraika nō Saburo, a samurai who seems very virtuous. The Hunters must reconcile this. Sura and Chiri transform into their fox and rat forms to go scouting.

“The pair lay down beside their beds, shimmered and changed into their animal forms, then slipped out of their clothing.

Daitanishi pushed open the sliding door that led out into the inner garden. Sura stuck her fox muzzle out into the night beyond, seeing lights still on in the rest of the house. But the doors were all closed and the garden was empty. White rat and fox slipped out into the damp night with Bifuuko hovering softly just over their heads. Daitanishi silently slid the door shut behind them.” (pgs. 59-60)

“Thirteenth Encounter: The Eater of Dreams” is a lighter, more traditional Spirit Hunters tale.   Chiri writes as a pastime, and her works have come to the attention of the Emperor himself. “It therefore pleases the emperor to invite Nezumi Chiri to submit one play to the theatre festival of the city of Koroda, […]” (p. 117)

Chiri never intended her writings to be published, or to take part in a literary competition with four of the greatest playwrights of the Sacred Isles. She gets acute stagefright, but an invitation from the Emperor amounts to a Command Performance; especially with Sura to make sure Chiri does not pass up this opportunity. The Spirit Hunters find Koroda to be overflowing in a lively literary and theatrical festival. The city even has several animal-spirits:

“As they reached an avenue lined with flowering loquat trees, the houses became even grander. Animal spirits enlivened the streets with their colourful dress and tails. As the Spirit Hunters moved onwards along a busy street, they passed a gaggle of cheerful Tanuki spirits drinking in a tea house. A cat spirit samurai walked elegantly past, sunk in conversation with high ranking officials. Patrons at restaurants and people on the streets all took interest as the Spirit Hunters walked by. The strange travelers with their weapons, armour and floating elementals were a colourful sight, even in Koroda.” (p. 122)

Sura, Kuno, and Tonbo are determined to help Chiri succeed, especially after she is sneered at by supercilious literary snobs, and unnerved by finding out that one of the other contestants is a snake spirit (rats and snakes do not get along). But they gradually realize that someone or something is subtly attacking the other playwrights; and corpses drained of blood are found floating in the river. Is one of the contestants sabotaging the others, or is some supernatural force preying upon all of them?

“The serpent woman rippled and transformed into her half-and half form. Her lower body became one great, long, elegant serpent body, and her arms and skin were now covered with scales. Her elegant face still had haunted bronze-gold eyes.

Hijiki Yumio departed, slithering out to the balcony – her long body rippling. She passed by Sura and halted – frowning, but not looking directly at the fox.

‘A kitsune of the great Kitsune. An armed priestess …’ The serpent spirit looked aside.

‘Interesting …’” (p. 130)

“Fourteenth Encounter: The Sword of Blood” returns to the blasted evil of the Twelfth Encounter. Sura and the others, ridding the land of minor yōkai, come unexpectedly upon one that fights powerfully back. It tries to mask a small gateway into the spirit world created by blood magic:

“Kuno drew away, appalled. His hands flexed slowly into fists.

‘Who did this?’

Sura wearily came forward. She looked down at the body with frozen eyes.

‘Someone who wanted to open a gate. Someone who wanted power from the Realm of Dreams.’

Chiri looked away from the little body, filled with sadness.

‘Was it the obake? Did the old man do this to gain his powers?’

Tonbo scowled.

‘He didn’t seem bright.’ The man’s voice was grim. ‘No – this is the work of someone who knows blood magic.’

Kuno stared at the body, bitterly remembering the powers of blood magic.” (p. 228)

A gate into the spirit world has been opened, and one or more monstrous yōkai have been brought into the Sacred Isles by someone who tries to control them by blood magic. Since this is disturbingly near the Sacred Isles’ Sword Shrine, the Spirit Hunters go there.

“The Sword Shrine was the most ancient shrine in the entire Sacred Isles. It had existed since the end of the Oni War – founded by the first emperor while he was still wounded from the battlefield.” (p. 235)

It is also where Sura and Tonbo learned to become Spirit Hunters. Reiju, the Shrine’s head priestess, agrees that the opening of a gate so close to the nine-hundred-year old Shrine is ominous, and is glad to have their help in guarding it.

The reader will meet Sura’s fox Aunt Kagone, cousin Kikyo, and her irrepressible fox-spirit children. There is important background on the relationship between Sura, Tonbo, and Reiju. The encounter ends in a massive battle as the army of the Oni Lord tries to overwhelm the Sword Shrine:

“The flames’ light cast Sura’s shadow hugely onto the gorge wall. The fox figure danced and flashed, fierce and beautiful.

Kagone and Kikyo could only stare, stunned by the image.

Sura’s shadow had nine tails.” (p. 297)

Spirit Hunters: Book 4 is the first in the series to end on a major cliffhanger rather than a comfortable conclusion.

–Fred Patten

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