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Skeleton Crew, by Gre7g Luterman – book review by Fred Patten.
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Skeleton Crew, by Gre7g Luterman. Illustrated.
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, August 2014/October 2016, trade paperback $8.95 (259 pages), Kindle $3.99.
This is the first hard science-fiction novel I’ve ever read with absolutely no humans in it. The cover by H. Kyoht Luterman (the author’s wife) shows two of the main characters; Commissioner Sarsuk, a kraken, holding Kanti, a geroo. All of the other characters in the novel are geroo. There are over a dozen full-page illustrations, most by Rick Griffin of Housepets! fame, showing such geroo characters as Kanti, Saina, Tish, Captain Ateri, Chendra, and more.
The geroo are unclothed, with thick tails and fur. There are frequent mentions in the text of twitching ears, tail rings, and the like. Kanti is called Shaggy for his unruly fur.
Skeleton Crew is set entirely on, or within, the huge generation exploratory starship White Flower II in interstellar space. There is a two-page cutaway diagram of the White Flower II by Brandon Kruse. Four centuries earlier, the krakun came to the primitive planet Gerootec and offered to hire thousands of the overpopulated geroo as their starship crews. The geroo who went into space and their descendants would never see Gerootec again, but they would live in luxury compared to the backward geroo on their homeworld. Technically, the White Flower II belongs to the krakuns’ Planetary Acquisitions, Incorporated, with a mission of finding new planets that can be colonized.
New planets for the krakun. Never for the geroo.
After 400 years, some geroo are asking if the krakun are their employers or their slavemasters. Commissioner Sarsuk is Planetary Acquisions’ representative to the White Flower II. As you can guess from the cover, he is the novel’s villain.
“Strictly speaking, all krakun vessels prohibited alcohol. But enforcement of that law was half-hearted at best. Showing up to work drunk might land a crewman before a judge, but only the krakun really cared if anyone drank during their down-time.
If a krakun caught someone drinking, he’d probably toss that geroo in the recycler. But that’s how the monstrous creatures handled most problems they encountered. Fortunately, the White Flower II seldom hosted anyone from Krakuntec. The commissioner visited periodically to check on the ship, but he wasn’t liable to stroll down any of the decks – not any of the ones with a three-meter clearance, at least.” (p. 18)
—
“Kanti headed off to the gravity down-wells and hopped back to deck twenty-four. The wells were essentially stairwells without the stairs – simple platforms that geroo could jump off to reach the level below. The artificial gravity in the wells was turned down to a tiny fraction of normal, so each hop was slow and gentle.
Each platform shadowed the opening down to the next level; so to travel multiple levels, one simply hopped, turned around, and hopped again until reaching the desired deck. The overlapping structure ensured that a geroo could not fall multiple levels accidentally.” (p. 21)
The White Flower II has a crew of ten thousand geroo. Exactly. 10,001would be overpopulation, and the krakun’s policy for overpopulation is – messy. And that’s one “law” that Commissioner Sarsuk enforces ruthlessly.
Both the tech-talk and the plot are fascinating. This review is heavy on the novel’s technology, and reveals almost nothing about its plot, because the plot is full of twists and surprises. Even revealing this much of the technology probably gives away some major spoilers. But Skeleton Crew is a real page-turner. I could hardly put it down for wanting to find out what would happen to Kanti and his friends next.
“A well-placed kick into Kanti’s stomach dropped him back to the deck, grasping his gut and gasping for breath.
Ateri knelt before the shaggy geroo and whispered in his ear. ‘Listen very closely to me, kerrati. You will not discuss what was said here today—ever. You will never, ever, say the words, ‘skeleton crew’ again. Is that understood?’
Kanti nodded. Tears streamed down his muzzle.
‘If you do, I promise that I will find out,’ Ateri said calmly. ‘And when I do, I will rip chunks of you out with my bare paws … and toss them into the recycler one by one … until all that remains of you … is your blood in my fur … and your screams in my ears.’” (p. 163)
Skeleton Crew is set in the same universe as Rick Griffin’s short story “Ten Thousand Miles Up”. The book ends with a three-page “Epilogue: One Year Later” by Griffin.
Amazon and CreateSpace say Skeleton Crew was published on August 9, 2014, but Griffin’s epilogue is dated January 23, 2015, and some of the illustrations are dated 2015 and 2016. A last-page printer’s mark of “17 October 2016” indicates when this book was really published.
Gre7g Luterman is working on Small World, a sequel to Skeleton Crew.
(Note from Patch: the book appears to be removed from sale, but you can contact Gre7g about it here.)
Episode 339 - Hippity Hoppity
Handmade with LOVE
TigerTails Radio Season 10 Episode 11
On February 17, don’t go to work – go fursuiting for a General Strike in the USA.
Furry buddies--let me make a point real quick.
Marches are about visibility.
Fursuits are real damn visible.
Political Animals.
What does Furry have to do with politics? Nothing. Or a lot. (Kinda like kink). It’s up to you. Maybe you just like talking-animal media. Or maybe you like media that’s inseparable from a culture that’s cracking apart.
This group is about talking animals, but it’s made of people, and we don’t exist in a vacuum. (The vacuum is just there to pick up all the shedding.) So for those who care… Let’s recap some previous stories that relate to this, then see what’s up now.
Start with the San Francisco Bay Area. It has the world’s most dense population of furries, and it’s the epicenter for a rent crisis. That big trend hit the local group when their premiere monthly event, Frolic furry dance was pushed out of it’s home.
Across the bay, on the day Frolic restarted, the Ghost Ship warehouse fire killed 36 fellow party goers at an electronic music show. It instigated a national purge of underground cultural spaces. This blog is written from one of those spaces, and narrowly escaped being forced out in a wave of evictions. Economic class issues are personal here.
Go back to 2012 and the East Coast. Money, sex and politics crashed into furry fandom in a mini-scandal of “fake news” with the New Jersey FurBQ Hoax. Looking back now, you might see some of the sparks that turned into 2017’s political dumpster fire. I’m talking about the way the group was split up by dishonesty and xenophobia, and manipulated as pawns for politics.
Furries got scapegoated for having a harmless party. It made me say: “Fun is serious business because it has to do with liberties.”
There’s some examples of how furries have long experience with fake news, they can be vulnerable as a subculture, and they can share a common cause with other marginal communities. (Don’t forget their sizeable queer membership.) You don’t have to agree about politics, but there are good reasons to pay attention. From anti-mask laws, to anti-LGBT legislation and anti-kink moral panic, furries will be part of many fights to come.
Dirty Words.
Speaking of fake news and manipulating the public, here’s some really dirty words: plutocracy, oligarchy, Trump. During the Gropenführer’s campaign, I tried to avoid playing into his outrage-spreading, except for one article about furries vs. conservatives, Gamergate and Trump. Now it’s a good time to push back.
Check this story from April 2016: Nation-wide radio station hack airs hours of vulgar “furry sex” ramblings. It set the stage for a recent followup: Someone Keeps Hacking Radio Stations To Play “Fuck Donald Trump”.
Radio was hacked to play 'explicit furry podcast', now it's Fuck Donald Trump. A precedent to mock the president! https://t.co/4fFFwZdWEC
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) February 1, 2017It's been 2 days since PutinPup officially collared me and I just know we're going to be together for ever and ever and ever ❤️❤️❤️
— Donnie J. Trumpypaws (@trumpypaws) February 7, 2017Meme wars.
Furry fandom has it’s own “alt-right” invasion with a supposed quantity of members using “ironic” memes and trolling to spread it. But it has very little creativity or substance. The point is just to beg for attention, and that doesn’t last. I get told that it’s real and there’s lots of members – but it’s always the same handful trying too hard to get me to believe it. Ignore it and it will wither. More from Vice: Even Furries Are Fighting Fascists.
RMFC will officially ban paraphernalia that is deemed offensive by those in charge of the convention. (2/4)
— RMFC (@RMFC_Denver) January 27, 2017@KikiDoodleTweet @sigilgoat Per our post last night, we will not be allowing FRs armbands at our convention.
— RMFC (@RMFC_Denver) January 27, 2017The same furs supporting Milo & Richard Spencer are offering free drinks and prizes to get furs into the event...
Buying friends. ????
Nazis are afraid of being punched. Would you use a #fursuit to get their guard down? #AfraidofFurries #SadNazis
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) February 9, 2017Getting Real.
Propaganda was a big thing before an election, from low effort memes to fake news. Now, a freedom-loving subculture has more ways to push back than just lurking behind a keyboard.
FYI to smart fursuiters who care: Under Armour supports Trump, people are boycotting. https://t.co/9AZhk62G3r
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) February 9, 2017What will furries use now that they can't use @UnderArmour and not feel totally dirty about it? https://t.co/gDo7ZmQ8M3
— Kovu Cougar (@KovuCougar) February 8, 2017I know this is a popular brand choice in the furry community. Nike makes a similar product and opposed the EO/ban. I recommend them. https://t.co/beyrevFjsn
— Roux/Tracey
️
(@kai_fox) February 8, 2017
Looking for an alternative to underarmor? Why not something custom instead? https://t.co/e0kgFmdwle Works great/same cooling under a fursuit
— Matrices (@RaisedbyDogs) February 9, 2017
General Strike: February 17.
Activists Are Calling for an All-Out Strike to Protest Trump on February 17. Buy nothing, stop work, and be on the street. See local protests around the US.
It could be silly to go fursuiting. It’s not just the heat, it’s the pepper spray! I don’t need to hear obvious criticism about that, but street fursuiting is my favorite thing. If you’re tough enough and expect low risk…
Someone mentioned fursuiting at a protest this weekend. This is a bad idea, don't do it. Not fuzzy animal time.
— Nahani Otieno (@Poingah) January 20, 2017@UrsulaV Wavy Gravy would dress up for protests because police don't like being seen arresting Santa Claus or The Easter Bunny.
— Bill Stewart (@BillStewart415) January 29, 2017The country is being dragged down with heinous actions like immigrant bans targeting entire classes of people. (Remember this: Syrian Refugees Get Put Up in Same Hotel As Furries, Kids LOVE It.) There’s a part in this for you, whether you feel like openly protesting, or just quietly resisting by being you.
May this be a reminder of what the furry fandom is all about! I am proud & honored to be associated with you all.https://t.co/SEO3ghJM5y
— Reo Grayfox (@Reo_GrayFox) January 29, 2017I love that #FurryBlackHistoryMonth is a thing right now. This is dope.
— EarCat Supreme™ (@KashmirDaLynx) February 7, 2017A lot of negative in the world, have a fox that's doing all he can to stay positive! pic.twitter.com/hruidIlgKi
— Hawaiian Hoosier Fox (@wildfox34) February 1, 2017The most punk and anti establishment thing you can do, in a society that does not give a shit, is to give a shit. Caring is resistance.
— Menokh A'Khadim (@Menokh) February 9, 2017They’ve Got A Lock On Bagel
From an article at Animation World Network we’ve learned that Radical Sheep Productions have hooked up with Teletoon in a deal to broadcast their new animated TV series The Bagel and Becky Show in Canada. “The animated series is based on the book Bagel’s Lucky Hat by Dave Cooper (creator of PigGoatBananaCricket). The Bagel and Becky Show is a bugged-out, offbeat comedy for kids 6-11 that follows mismatched siblings Bagel voiced by Kevin McDonald (Kids in the Hall, Phineas and Ferb), and his sister Becky voiced by Nikki Payne (Last Comic Standing, Satisfaction) as they explore their neighborhood of Awkward Hills and stumble into whack-loads of outlandish situations.” No word yet on when it might be distributed to other parts of North America. Also no word as to why the little doggie has a cat for a sister, but we should probably be used to that kind of thing by now…
image c. 2016 Radical Sheep Productions
[Live] Capture My Objective
Our normal show got canceled so we played some video games instead! The games include: Overwatch, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Rachet & Clank (PS4). Enjoy!
FC-257X Capture My Objective
Our normal show got canceled so we played some video games instead! The games include: Overwatch, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Rachet & Clank (PS4). Enjoy!
Watch VideoThe Nine-Colored Deer
Recently we learned of a new Chinese/American co-production for television and the ‘nets called Valt the Wonder Deer. It’s produced by DreamEast Pictures, and late last year they inked a deal with Jetpack Distribution to bring the series out to the world. Valt is based on the Chinese myth of the nine-colored deer. According to an article at Animation magazine’s web site, “Valt the Wonder Deer follows Valt and his friends as they encounter funny moments, scary trials and plenty of adventure on their journey to obtain the power of the Five Magic Elements and rescue his trapped parents, the Deer King and Queen, from the comically evil overlords of the Land of Metal. The show uses the group’s journey and experiences to demonstrate themes of love, courage, friendship and responsibility to its young viewers.” Some of the American crew of Valt have previously worked on animation as diverse as Beavis & Butt-Head, Skylanders, Ben 10, Kung Fu Panda, and Dragons: Riders of Berk. Furry.Today has more, including the trailer up on Vimeo. [Again, thanks to Changa Lion for this!]
image c. 2017 DreamEast Pictures
Save
Envy and Jealousy in the Cyberworld Is Crushing His Relationship Self-Esteem
I have a question related to role playing, ERP [Erotic Role Play] partners and art, and I thought this would be a proper place to ask for help since, being in a community where these interactions are frequent, you might have a better understanding about how it can be more significant to an insider (if that wording made any sense, I hope it did).
I have a serious problem with (sex/intimate) roleplay partners in general and seeing them get it on with others. It's rather common to see art of role players with their partners, and when I get to see art featuring a partner of mine (particularly if it's someone I RP with frequently) with someone else in an intimate/kinky/suggestive situation, I get so upset that I either throw a tantrum at them and make everything go to sh!t, or go dead quiet and block myself from associating with them without telling them why (so as not to be all mopey around them).
Well, it's almost as bad if I happen to run into them with another partner in a chat room or whatever other place where it could be happening, or if my partner tells me about the stuff they do with others and whatnot. I've gotten myself used to interpret it as "them rubbing it in on me", and only relatively recently I started trying to interpret it as "them sharing what makes them happy with me", but still to no real avail, I still get unreasonably upset and it's almost like an instinctive reaction.
I feel jealous, envious, and left out. Jealous because I instantly assume that I'm no better than these other people my partner/s get it on with and get mad or sad at it, and I feel something getting crushed inside me, like an illusion that my partner would have had me up high in some sort of pedestal and then finding out that I wasn't the absolute most special person in their life; envy, because I have no money nor drawing skills to show off like that, it's art that I like a lot and that I would love to either pay for or be able to draw myself, and it's all quite far from my possibilities at the moment; and lastly, I feel left out because I feel like I don't have "what it takes", or that I "don't belong". Similarly, to a call of mating (for lack of a better comparison on my part), someone with either money or talent to have a gallery to show themselves off, is much more likely to draw more interest from either one or multiple people. I kind of see it as a competition internally (which I feel isn't really a good thing), one that I see myself losing at over and over.
Basically, I feel jealous, envious and cast out when I see my partner/s getting it on with others, especially if it's on fancy art, and it does not only keep me from enjoying that content as much as I would otherwise, but it also makes things ridiculously awkward or downright depressing with these people.
How do I do to get myself to enjoy seeing my partners share their joy with others, or at least stop getting angry and sad at it?
Best wishes, and thanks in advance for giving me the opportunity to come at you for advice.
Anonymous
* * *
Dear Furiend,
You’re suffering from two very common problems I see in the furry community: 1) art envy, and 2) low self-esteem. They are related, of course. And your upset over partners’ flirtations with others is more a reflection of how you feel about yourself than how you feel about them.
It’s interesting that you say you have partners (plural), rather than just one partner, which indicates that you yourself are not really into monogamy, so why expect others to be monogamous with you? That seems an unreasonable expectation on your part.
As for art envy, you have two choices: work at becoming an artist yourself, or stop competing with people who have a talent that you do not possess. Just because you don’t have artistic gifts shouldn’t mean you have nothing to offer a partner. You need to find out what your own personal and unique gifts are and work on those. Competing with people who have a gift you don’t possess is nonsense. Competing with others is nonsense, period. There will always be people more talented than you, so don’t trouble your mind about it. That’s a recipe for misery.
To get over your jealousies and, let’s face it, paranoia that others are somehow mocking you by their behavior with others, what you need is to work on your self-esteem. Once you accept yourself as a valuable person in your own right with good things to offer a partner, your insecurities will fade away and you will no longer be jealous.
As for relationships, if you are going to have multiple relationships, then it is only fair you allow your partners to, as well. If, on the other paw, you want a more committed relationship, then you need to express that to your partner of choice and find out whether they want the same thing as you do before you proceed. Always define the acceptable terms of a relationship for both parties so you know where you stand.
Jealousy stems from your fear of being alone, left out. But if your partner(s) doesn’t/don’t know that you want commitment and validation from them, then don’t be surprised if they don’t express those traits. Suffering in silence just exacerbates the problem.
Reading between the lines, however, it seems you are jealous of your partners doing the wild thang in artworks and role play, not reality. Correct? You see the fursona of one of the people you are attracted to getting it on with some other character on paper or in a jpeg or in a chat room. And then you somehow equate that with a betrayal. Then you feel bad because you can’t draw something equally sexy with your fursona and your partner making love. Then you feel as if you will somehow lose them because you can’t create that art or, perhaps, you are not very good at online role play.
If that’s the case, then I really think you need to get real. Get your head out of the fantasy world of furry and start having real-life relationships with real people in the real world because what you have been doing is emotionally unhealthy. Please turn off your electronic devices, knock off the role playing, open the door, step out into the real world and experience real relationships.
And good luck!
Papabear
Valt the Wonder Deer
Here's a trailer for a new show from China that's coming soon to the English speaking parts of the world. Currently there is already a 52 episode season 1 that's been produced and being soon to be distributed by Jetpack Distribution. “We specifically created Valt the Wonder Deer with an international audience in mind, blending the best of Hollywood and Chinese storytelling to tell a story with universal appeal,” said Yuan “Phabey” Wang, CEO, DreamEast Pictures USA. “Partnering with Jetpack will bring Valt and its adventurous stories of courage, friendship and love to kids everywhere.” Producer John Andrews (Beavis & Butt-head, Daria, Aeon Flux) Creative director Ron Myrick (Skylanders, Ben 10, Incredible Hulk) Character designer Buck Lewis (Gnomeo & Juliet, Alvin & The Chipmunks, Kung Fu Panda) Writer Ann Austen (Power Rangers, NFL Rush Zone, Lalaloopsy), Art Direction Michael Rose (Ice Age, Dragons: Riders of Berk, Beavis & Butt-head Do America) Musician by Scott Healey. "DreamEast Pictures,affiliated to DreamEast Cultural Entertainment Group, is a Chinese film studio spanning diverse areas including TV and film productions,distribution,content development and arts education with operations in North America and Asia." Here is the Animation Magazine announcement from last month: DreamEast and Jetpack Ink ‘Valt the Wonder Deer’ Deal [1] [1] http://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/dreameast-and-jetpack-ink-valt-the-wonder-deer-deal
View Video
Even Furries Are Fighting Fascists
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/even-furries-are-fighting-fascists
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What's a community built on principles of extreme acceptance to do when actual Nazis show up in their midst?
Beginning in January, Red started getting calls from groups of furries who wanted her help fighting Nazis.
Red—who did not want me to use her real name because members of her subculture who speak to the press can be blacklisted from events—knows her stuff. The 26-year-old Chicagoan has been dressing up in a fur suit since 2008, and joined Antifa International three years later, after getting involved in the Occupy Wall Street protests. Antifa International (for anti-fascist) is a group dedicated to fighting right-wing politics, and to achieve that mission antifas are prepared to do anything up to and including punching Nazis. But Red, who believes fascist rhetoric should be met with a closed fist—or paw—wasn't sure the furries were prepared to do what it took.
"Most furries find any kind of violence abhorrent," she told me.
The furry fandom is one of the most inclusive subcultures on the internet. Many furries are queer, and most are used to being ridiculed for their "fursonas," anthropomorphized animal avatars that are used in roleplaying that sometimes (but not always) gets sexual. But even the furry community isn't immune to the political upheaval sweeping through America. Instead, it's a microcosm—albeit an odd one—of the culture war that the rest of the country is consumed by. The furries who called Red faced a question all too familiar to many people today: What should be done about far-right figures coming out of the shadows?
To be clear, Nazis are not new to the furry community. All the way back in 2007, a group called Furzi clashed with Jewish users of the game Second Life, which is a popular place for furries to congregate. Several members of the fandom told me that the ideology has festered among some furries ever since. More recently, a group called the Furry Raiders has become emboldened by the campaign, and eventual victory, of Donald Trump.
The Raiders are led by Lee Miller, a 29-year-old Furry who goes by Foxler Nightfire—a blue-eyed character who wears a red-and-black armband that should be familiar to any student of world history. Although he's been a known quantity within in the fandom for years, Foxler drew wider attention in January when he tweeted out a picture of himself with the hashtag #altfurry.
In late November, before "alt-furries" or "Nazifurs" attracted media attention, group called Antifa Furries formed to try to address the growing problem. Its goal is to get Nazifurs banned from events and to encourage furries to get involved in politics—efforts that seasoned activists like Red think are insufficient when it comes to combatting the far right.
Red told me that when members of the Antifa Furs called her up to ask for advice, they didn't like what she had to say. Though being "anti-fascist" seems like an obvious position to take, especially at a time like this, many antifas advocate property destruction and other forms of lawbreaking—which, Red said, the Antifa Furs weren't up for.
"Everyone jumped on this antifa bandwagon, but they are getting in over their head," she told me. "It's not for all liberals. It's for anarchists and for communists. It's not for people who wanna hold a sign or sign a petition. It's for people who are willing to do whatever is necessary to stomp out fascism."
logo courtesy of Antifa Furries
Instead of fighting Foxler with violence, the Antifa Furries decided to go with a strategy of trying to convince people to boycott conventions that didn't ban the Furry Raiders from attending—a fairly roundabout way of ostracizing one's enemies.
Fiver, a soft-spoken 20-something member of a group called the Antifa Furries, told me that furries—who tend to be both gentle and geeky—may be reluctant to expel problematic community members because they're afraid of being as intolerant as the people who bullied them in high school.
"While we do desire to be as accommodating and accepting as possible, this attitude has also required the acceptance of Nazis who will turn around and tell you that if you don't accept them, you're the real fascist," he told me.
When I talked to Lee Miller, who lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, he told me he's been into the fandom since he was 12. According to the high school dropout, his Nazi-esque armband originated as a Second Life accessory—but it's difficult to pin him down on what it actually represents, or what he actually believes. During the course of our conversation, he oscillated between claiming ignorance and irony. When I asked why he won't just take off the armband to end the drama, he unspooled a story about how the character of Foxler was based on his deceased father and that changing it would be tantamount to disrespecting his memory. When I asked about his politics, he said that they're starting to change in reaction to all the backlash he's received from people offended by his outfit. Before all of this, he used to look exclusively at 4Chan, he says, but now he's starting to read about "SJWs" and "safe spaces" and getting more involved in what might be termed slightly more mainstream right-wing modes of thought.
"Why are people trying to control my existence or tell me what I can and can't do when it's within the law?" he says. "I've never really driven into politics, but I need to get more serious about them now that all this is happening."
Miller says he originally supported Bernie Sanders, but now agrees with at least some of Trump's views. He also admires Trump's campaign tactics and the way the orange-faced provocateur played the media into giving him coverage. Meanwhile, furries aligned against him say Foxler/Miller has emulated these tricks. They say that he'll say anything to anyone as long as it increases his popularity and gets him more followers. It doesn't matter that he's bisexual, or that his boyfriend is a minority, because aligning himself with white nationalism has given him a platform. His backstory and its apparent contradictions make him vaguely similar to Milo Yiannopoulos, the alt-right personality who has built a whole career out of saying things calculated to piss off the left. Miller even attended a Yiannopoulos event last month in full furry regalia.
As for how a furry might be radicalized in the first place, one hypothesis among furries is that members of the fandom congregate on anything-goes image boards like 4Chan, which are also frequented by members of hate groups like Stormfront that will deliberately appeal to lonely nerds. The Raiders, like a fair number of those on the far right these days, can claim that they're just conducting a social experiment or trolling, but their opponents say that's just an excuse that they use to hide their honestly bigoted views.
"Foxler is all about grooming and manipulating people that don't feel like they belong anywhere—and, let's face it, most furries feel like they don't belong anywhere," a Colorado-based furry named Ash told me.
Ash is a 28-year-old who, like Miller, lives in Colorado and has been working to ban Foxler and his crew from local meetups. Armbands are now almost universally disallowed from the local scene, she told me, and Foxler is also not welcome at a local bimonthly dance party called Foxtrot. One problem, however, is that since people in the community are almost always in disguise at these events, it's impossible to tell who is secretly an alt-furry. Ash and others have been monitoring Twitter and trying to suss out who's been communicating with the enemy, but it's been tough.
Her big target is the Rocky Mountain Fur Con, which is set to take place this August in Denver. Anti-fascist furries claim that members of the Raiders are on staff there and that the con has been silent about their pleas to ban Nazis because they fear violence like the chlorine gas attack that sent 19 Illinois con-goers to the hospital in 2014.
Sorin, the con's chairman, declined a formal interview but instead issued a relatively middle-of-the-road statement: "Rocky Mountain Fur Con does not support or condone discrimination or violence in any of it's forms and is saddened by the hatred and division that has been caused be [sic] a small minority of our community on both sides of this issue."
That division, like the larger one afflicting America, isn't likely to heal anytime soon.
"It's so strange that this is also happening in our community," Ash told me. "But since the fandom is growing exponentially and the group is getting bigger, we were bound to pick up a small sliver of people that are completely off the wall. Foxler would be that sliver."
Follow Allie Conti on Twitter.
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Thoughts?
-Dia
Even Furries Are Fighting Fascists
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/even-furries-are-fighting-fascists
-------------------------------------------------------------
What's a community built on principles of extreme acceptance to do when actual Nazis show up in their midst?
Beginning in January, Red started getting calls from groups of furries who wanted her help fighting Nazis.
Red—who did not want me to use her real name because members of her subculture who speak to the press can be blacklisted from events—knows her stuff. The 26-year-old Chicagoan has been dressing up in a fur suit since 2008, and joined Antifa International three years later, after getting involved in the Occupy Wall Street protests. Antifa International (for anti-fascist) is a group dedicated to fighting right-wing politics, and to achieve that mission antifas are prepared to do anything up to and including punching Nazis. But Red, who believes fascist rhetoric should be met with a closed fist—or paw—wasn't sure the furries were prepared to do what it took.
"Most furries find any kind of violence abhorrent," she told me.
The furry fandom is one of the most inclusive subcultures on the internet. Many furries are queer, and most are used to being ridiculed for their "fursonas," anthropomorphized animal avatars that are used in roleplaying that sometimes (but not always) gets sexual. But even the furry community isn't immune to the political upheaval sweeping through America. Instead, it's a microcosm—albeit an odd one—of the culture war that the rest of the country is consumed by. The furries who called Red faced a question all too familiar to many people today: What should be done about far-right figures coming out of the shadows?
To be clear, Nazis are not new to the furry community. All the way back in 2007, a group called Furzi clashed with Jewish users of the game Second Life, which is a popular place for furries to congregate. Several members of the fandom told me that the ideology has festered among some furries ever since. More recently, a group called the Furry Raiders has become emboldened by the campaign, and eventual victory, of Donald Trump.
The Raiders are led by Lee Miller, a 29-year-old Furry who goes by Foxler Nightfire—a blue-eyed character who wears a red-and-black armband that should be familiar to any student of world history. Although he's been a known quantity within in the fandom for years, Foxler drew wider attention in January when he tweeted out a picture of himself with the hashtag #altfurry.
In late November, before "alt-furries" or "Nazifurs" attracted media attention, group called Antifa Furries formed to try to address the growing problem. Its goal is to get Nazifurs banned from events and to encourage furries to get involved in politics—efforts that seasoned activists like Red think are insufficient when it comes to combatting the far right.
Red told me that when members of the Antifa Furs called her up to ask for advice, they didn't like what she had to say. Though being "anti-fascist" seems like an obvious position to take, especially at a time like this, many antifas advocate property destruction and other forms of lawbreaking—which, Red said, the Antifa Furs weren't up for.
"Everyone jumped on this antifa bandwagon, but they are getting in over their head," she told me. "It's not for all liberals. It's for anarchists and for communists. It's not for people who wanna hold a sign or sign a petition. It's for people who are willing to do whatever is necessary to stomp out fascism."
logo courtesy of Antifa Furries
Instead of fighting Foxler with violence, the Antifa Furries decided to go with a strategy of trying to convince people to boycott conventions that didn't ban the Furry Raiders from attending—a fairly roundabout way of ostracizing one's enemies.
Fiver, a soft-spoken 20-something member of a group called the Antifa Furries, told me that furries—who tend to be both gentle and geeky—may be reluctant to expel problematic community members because they're afraid of being as intolerant as the people who bullied them in high school.
"While we do desire to be as accommodating and accepting as possible, this attitude has also required the acceptance of Nazis who will turn around and tell you that if you don't accept them, you're the real fascist," he told me.
When I talked to Lee Miller, who lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, he told me he's been into the fandom since he was 12. According to the high school dropout, his Nazi-esque armband originated as a Second Life accessory—but it's difficult to pin him down on what it actually represents, or what he actually believes. During the course of our conversation, he oscillated between claiming ignorance and irony. When I asked why he won't just take off the armband to end the drama, he unspooled a story about how the character of Foxler was based on his deceased father and that changing it would be tantamount to disrespecting his memory. When I asked about his politics, he said that they're starting to change in reaction to all the backlash he's received from people offended by his outfit. Before all of this, he used to look exclusively at 4Chan, he says, but now he's starting to read about "SJWs" and "safe spaces" and getting more involved in what might be termed slightly more mainstream right-wing modes of thought.
"Why are people trying to control my existence or tell me what I can and can't do when it's within the law?" he says. "I've never really driven into politics, but I need to get more serious about them now that all this is happening."
Miller says he originally supported Bernie Sanders, but now agrees with at least some of Trump's views. He also admires Trump's campaign tactics and the way the orange-faced provocateur played the media into giving him coverage. Meanwhile, furries aligned against him say Foxler/Miller has emulated these tricks. They say that he'll say anything to anyone as long as it increases his popularity and gets him more followers. It doesn't matter that he's bisexual, or that his boyfriend is a minority, because aligning himself with white nationalism has given him a platform. His backstory and its apparent contradictions make him vaguely similar to Milo Yiannopoulos, the alt-right personality who has built a whole career out of saying things calculated to piss off the left. Miller even attended a Yiannopoulos event last month in full furry regalia.
As for how a furry might be radicalized in the first place, one hypothesis among furries is that members of the fandom congregate on anything-goes image boards like 4Chan, which are also frequented by members of hate groups like Stormfront that will deliberately appeal to lonely nerds. The Raiders, like a fair number of those on the far right these days, can claim that they're just conducting a social experiment or trolling, but their opponents say that's just an excuse that they use to hide their honestly bigoted views.
"Foxler is all about grooming and manipulating people that don't feel like they belong anywhere—and, let's face it, most furries feel like they don't belong anywhere," a Colorado-based furry named Ash told me.
Ash is a 28-year-old who, like Miller, lives in Colorado and has been working to ban Foxler and his crew from local meetups. Armbands are now almost universally disallowed from the local scene, she told me, and Foxler is also not welcome at a local bimonthly dance party called Foxtrot. One problem, however, is that since people in the community are almost always in disguise at these events, it's impossible to tell who is secretly an alt-furry. Ash and others have been monitoring Twitter and trying to suss out who's been communicating with the enemy, but it's been tough.
Her big target is the Rocky Mountain Fur Con, which is set to take place this August in Denver. Anti-fascist furries claim that members of the Raiders are on staff there and that the con has been silent about their pleas to ban Nazis because they fear violence like the chlorine gas attack that sent 19 Illinois con-goers to the hospital in 2014.
Sorin, the con's chairman, declined a formal interview but instead issued a relatively middle-of-the-road statement: "Rocky Mountain Fur Con does not support or condone discrimination or violence in any of it's forms and is saddened by the hatred and division that has been caused be [sic] a small minority of our community on both sides of this issue."
That division, like the larger one afflicting America, isn't likely to heal anytime soon.
"It's so strange that this is also happening in our community," Ash told me. "But since the fandom is growing exponentially and the group is getting bigger, we were bound to pick up a small sliver of people that are completely off the wall. Foxler would be that sliver."
Follow Allie Conti on Twitter.
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Thoughts?
-Dia
Building a Furry World | Episode 44
Refuse To Lose!
Netflix has a new stop-motion animated series hitting the digital byways soon. Here’s what the creators say: “From American Greetings Entertainment and Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, Buddy Thunderstruck is an action-comedy, stop-motion extravaganza that follows the adventures of a semi-truck racing dog named Buddy and his albino ferret mechanic. It all goes down in race-obsessed Greasepit, a place chock full of larger-than-life characters and nitro-burning, gear-slamming, tire-squealing, fish-tailing good times.” In case you didn’t know, Stoopid Buddy Stoodios are the house that animates Robot Chicken, and American Greetings Entertainment are the original creators of the Care Bears — as the trailer says, Yes Really. [Thanks to Changa Lion from Furry.Today for pointing this one out. Visit there to see new trailer!]
image c. 2017 Stoopid Buddy Stoodios
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FA 057 Sex and Romance After Assault - Does listerine help you with more than just bad breath? How can you move past sexual assault? How can you support a mate who is suicidal? All this, and more, on this week's Feral Attraction
Hello Everyone!
Before we get into the content of this show, we want to advise you that this episode contains discussions on abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual). If you are sensitive to such discussions we caution you against listening to this episode. Please consider listening to a show from our library, or hugging someone, or waiting until next week to listen to our next episode. Thank you for your consideration!
We open this week's show with a discussion on mouth wash and gonorrhea. While gingivitis and bad breath are the standard enemies of Listerine, is it possible that your daily hygiene regimen can mitigate against the spread of an STI?
Our main topic is on sex and romance after assault. As individuals who have gone through various forms of abuse, we open up about our experiences, our healing process, and ways that we were able to grow and learn to love ourselves (and others) after the fact. This is a rough subject, and a heavy episode-- however it is an important episode and we encourage you to listen.
We close out this week with a question on suicidal mates and the burden of support. How can you support a suicidal partner, and what should you do if you no longer feel you can offer that support.
For more information, including a list of topics, see our Show Notes for this episode.
Thanks and, as always, be well!
FA 057 Sex and Romance After Assault - Does listerine help you with more than just bad breath? How can you move past sexual assault? How can you support a mate who is suicidal? All this, and more, on this week's Feral AttractionBuddy Thunderstruck
From the creators of Care Bears and Robot Chicken ... Now there's a sentence I did not ever expect to type. "Buddy Thunderstruck is the coolest semi-truck racing dog who lives down in race-obsessed Greasepit, a place full of larger-than-life characters and nitro-burning, gear-slamming, tire-squealing, fish-tailing good times." Coming soon on Netflix. https://www.netflix.com/title/80081170 [1] [1] https://www.netflix.com/title/80081170
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