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Your humble ed-otter journeyed to UCLA for the 44th annual Annie Awards — the Oscars of animation, presented by ASIFA-Hollywood. As expected (or hoped by many furry fans!), Zootopia dominated the evening in the feature categories, taking home Annies for Storyboarding, Character Design, Writing, Directing, and Best Feature. It was not a sweep, however, and Kubo and the Two Strings was not far behind: It won awards in the feature categories for Editing, Character Animation, and Production Design. Voting for the Best Voice Acting in the feature category resulted in a tie, shared by Auli’i Cravalho for Moana and Jason Bateman for Zootopia. A new category, Best Independent Feature, was won by the subtly anthropomorphic film The Red Turtle. Disney’s film The Jungle Book won an Annie for Character Animation In A Live Action Production (though it’s still controversial if the film counts as that). Best Short was won by Pixar’s popular birdie film Piper, while Best Student Film went to a European short about dinosaurs called Citipati. Over in the TV broadcast categories the most popular winner of furry interest seemed to be Dreamworks’ Trollhunters, which won for Storyboarding, Character Design, and Character Animation. The Best Television Production for Preschool Children went to Tumble Leaf, while the Best TV Production for Children went to to Adventure Time. Visit the Annie Awards web site for a complete list of the nominees and winners. Congratulations to all!

image c. 2017 Walt Disney Animation

Our human sysadmin friend joins us this week for an extended news segment. Lots of shenanigans.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• Scientists Discover Prehistoric Giant Otter Species in China Six Million Years Ago
  • NPR Link
• Openly Poly Candidate Runs For Minneapolis City Council
• Paradox tweets vote between Sergals and Lombaxes

News:

• ESO Release Incredible View Of The Cat’s Paw Nebula
• Dark Humor Is Indicative Of A High IQ, According To Study
• Carl Sagan’s Scarily Accurate Prediction From 1995
• ‘Suicide Squad’ Parody Dominated The 2017 Porn Oscar
• Wonder Material Lets Electricity Flow But Not Heat
• Being Naked Is Great For Your Body Image And Satisfaction With Life

FC-257 Together We Ken - Our human sysadmin friend joins us this week for an extended news segment. Lots of shenanigans.

Our human sysadmin friend joins us this week for an extended news segment. Lots of shenanigans.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• Scientists Discover Prehistoric Giant Otter Species in China Six Million Years Ago
  • NPR Link
• Openly Poly Candidate Runs For Minneapolis City Council
• Paradox tweets vote between Sergals and Lombaxes

News:

• ESO Release Incredible View Of The Cat’s Paw Nebula
• Dark Humor Is Indicative Of A High IQ, According To Study
• Carl Sagan’s Scarily Accurate Prediction From 1995
• ‘Suicide Squad’ Parody Dominated The 2017 Porn Oscar
• Wonder Material Lets Electricity Flow But Not Heat
• Being Naked Is Great For Your Body Image And Satisfaction With Life

FC-257 Together We Ken - Our human sysadmin friend joins us this week for an extended news segment. Lots of shenanigans.

Our human sysadmin friend joins us this week for an extended news segment. Lots of shenanigans.

Download MP3

Link Roundup:

• Scientists Discover Prehistoric Giant Otter Species in China Six Million Years Ago
  • NPR Link
• Openly Poly Candidate Runs For Minneapolis City Council
• Paradox tweets vote between Sergals and Lombaxes

News:

• ESO Release Incredible View Of The Cat’s Paw Nebula
• Dark Humor Is Indicative Of A High IQ, According To Study
• Carl Sagan’s Scarily Accurate Prediction From 1995
• ‘Suicide Squad’ Parody Dominated The 2017 Porn Oscar
• Wonder Material Lets Electricity Flow But Not Heat
• Being Naked Is Great For Your Body Image And Satisfaction With Life

[Live] Together We Ken

That bunny is a force to be reckoned with. " "Petals" is our animated thesis film about 2 girls: an idealistic bunny (Pan), a cynical cat (Robin), and a flower that ties their lives together. It was designed as a tool to promote moral and environmental values in children."
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It’s been hard to keep this a secret.  Here’s a flash notice about a one-of-a-kind show I’ve been excited about for weeks. I had to hold back from telling you until shortly before it opens, because they want it to materialize like one of those shops in stories that sell magic genie bottles and cursed monkey paws.

RSVP on Facebook: Anthropomorphic Enchantment – at Red Victorian, 1665 Haight St, San Francisco, 6PM to midnight.

“Enter a world of mysterious creatures and unfamiliar erotic magiks. The lines betweens species, gender, and forms blur. Carnal natures emerge. Give into your primal state.

Meander through the realms of the fantastic nymphs and beasts dreamt up by our resident artists. Gaze upon their wicked flesh and unearthly rituals!

Fursuiters, pet players, casual cats, rabbit fantasists, fetishists, gawkers, and all humanoids welcome. Send instagrams home to your pets. Art will be on display for several weeks with much of it remaining through February.”

Art by Arboreal

Artists:

• Arboreal
• Doppelganger
• Quokka
• Ghostblanketboy
• Richie Rhombus
• Salena Angel.
• Music by Papa Bear

It’s the kind of furry thing I want to see much more often. It’s daring, cute, friendly and inviting, and meant to cross the line of the inner world of fandom.  The organizer told me more:

“My magical deer friend Arboreal is featuring, as well as several other bay area artists. See his work (NSFW:) Playfuldeer on Tumblr.

“Ghostblanketboy will have some art – check him out on FurAffinity (NSFW.)  We’ll have music by local DJs – not only Papa Bear but also Phoxwit who plays Frolic sometimes.

This was my idea; I am totally in love with Arboreal and his art. We go to a lot of fetish as well as furry events and a lot of his art is inspired by people he knows and personas we emulate.

The Red Victorian is a commune on Haight St, with 15 residents and 10 guest spaces, where anyone can book hostel-style lodging. We host dozens of events per month, including rotating art exhibits, where we feature local artists and host opening night parties. We try to find art that is provoking and experimental; this is no exception – much of the art is explicit and weaves together ideas of challenging sexuality and gender by also playing with species.  At the Red Vic, in addition to exciting monthly art, we love to host all sorts of community events, so there may be more furry stuff in our future!

I expect a mish-mash of interests and communities, since our artists and residents are all from different primary interests and may have excitement for the art but not knowledge about the furry fandom.

If anyone is interested in hosting events at the Red Vic, including furry-centric events, pup moshes, etc (the sky’s the limit!) send an email to events@redvic.com.”

Hope to see you there for an unforgettable show.

Patch O’Furr

Art by Aberguine

Is it me or are Furries popping up in news stories more? It feels strange to bring it up, but I swear the fandom has been getting more media attention and a good amount of it has been positive. Yes, I know, it weirds me out too. The reason I’m writing this opinion piece is, in part, because of my own history in the fandom. I got involved with the Furry Fandom around 2009. If you were a Furry around that time you were under the shadow of, what I prefer to call, the “Vanity Fair Era”. Named that cause of the infamous article published by Vanity Fair titled, “Pleasures of the Fur”, in 2001. Which presented the Furry Fandom as a sexual fetish and only as a sexual fetish. Along with MTV’s Sex2K episode, “Plushies and Furries,” and the famous CSI episode, “Fur and Loathing,” in 2003 that painted a clear picture of the fandom to mainstream audiences. Supposedly we are about sex and only sex.

Of course that isn’t true. It’s a part of the fandom but it’s not what defines the fandom. Furries are people who love walking talking animals and how they show that love depends on the person. It is as silly for people as it is serious. You can have a fursuit or not. You can create artwork in the fandom or be an observer. It can be sexual for you and it cannot. We all have different levels based around that same love and as long as we are respectful and understand people’s different viewpoints we bring forward a beauty of community the Furry Fandom provides. Anyone who has been in or actually explores the fandom understands that, but with stories like CSI that wasn’t what people were seeing. It’s why for the longest time, and still to a degree, Furries don’t talk to the media because the media has done a poor job with representing us.

Which has lead to moments like the Inside Edition undercover story at FC in 2015 or several smaller press organizations trying to sneak in to get the right sound bite that fits into the ‘Furries as only a sexual fetish’ narrative. I remember when getting involved with the fandom watching those Uncle Kage videos about how to interact/ avoid the media or how he responded when the media went to him. There was no question about it. If you were a Furry under the Vanity Fair Era you were one of the lowest of the low. Someone to be openly mocked and ridiculed. Something you had to hide.

Now we are clearly out of the Vanity Fair Era. I can’t say when it ended, with history there’s rarely any cut off date, eras come in waves and in the last few years the previous wave has died down. As it was dying, around the start of the 2010’s, I began to come across several small articles now and again actually tackling the topic of Furries and what the fandom is about. Though the main word here is “small”, with coverage from local press outlets of a local convention or a furmeet with an even smaller audience. For a point of reference, the biggest outlet I can remember covering Furries outside of a sexual fetish was Buzzfeed. If you listen closely you can here several people clutching their pearls right now.

While the biggest story I can remember coming from mainstream presses at the time was the Gas Attack on Midwest Fur Fest in 2014 where one news anchor, who had no idea what Furries were, couldn’t stop herself from laughing. But it was after that, for some strange reason that this new wave of Furry stories really started to take off. There were still the standard small press stuff, along with coverage about the Fursonas doc, but then around 2016 we got hit with one of the biggest positive articles for the fandom. The Syrian Refugees at VancouFur. To say that story put the fandom under a new light would be an understatement. It was a watershed moment that spread like wildfire over social media.

Then we come to this year where the stories continue. Notably, popular writer Kyell Gold’s new book, “The Time He Desires,” getting featured on Slate’s LGBT Blog Outward, about tackling a gay immigrant Muslim romance involving furries in front of current events took social media by storm. Offering more exposure to Furry writers then anyone could ask for. Along with the obvious hate that came with it. Have you ever witnessed someone being triggered on Tumblr? Think of that, but with Nazis – which is funny to watch. Shortly after that, YouTube puts a Furry YouTuber, Rainy Chaos, on their Creators on the Rise bringing forward a lot of attention both good and bad. Rainy Chaos discusses her experience following the event.

So why are Furries being featured more? Hard to say. My best hypothesis would be that since the novelty of making fun of Furries has died down it has open us up more to be who we are and able to feature the full spectrum of the community. That’s not to say it’s all peaches and sunshine. As big as having these stories break out, it has also brought out a lot of the same hate that has haunt the fandom. Not to mention stories like the ridiculous Tonygate to the sad like the recent murders in Orange County to the disturbing from Philadelphia about the men arrested for pedophilia who were part of the fandom.

If there is a silver lining with the last two stories, it would be one – these monsters have been caught, and two – when the topic of the fandom came up they never tried to connect the fandom as the cause. These are tragic stories that just so happened in the Furry Fandom. No different than if the same stories came from a Trekkie, Anime, or Comic fandom. The only draw back I’ve seen is how several articles are using pictures of unrelated fursuiters, which can leave the impression that that person was a part of it. These stories do bring up the question of reasonability in the fandom, but that’s a discussion for another day.

The main thing I want to bring up with this moment in the fandom, is that things are changing. The fandom is not seen as it was over a decade ago. However, it still has a lot to prove. There will always be someone who will openly hate us, make fun of us, or make us out as the worse. But if we are given the chance, we can show who we are, all the good we can do, and occasionally step up if something bad happens close to us.

We now have a chance to bring a spotlight where we want it, rather than ducking if it catches us unaware.  How far do we go to get it? That’s an easy question with no easy answer. Till next time you crazy Fluffer Nutters. Stay amazing. Stay awesome. Stay you.

-Matthias

Titan Books have released a new science fiction anthology called Planet of the Apes: Tales from the Forbidden Zone. It features an impressive roster of authors presenting stories set in the world of the original five-movie Planet of the Apes series, or in the world of the 1974 live-action TV series (which is not exactly the same world, but close). “The 1968 film Planet of the Apes was a seminal work of science fiction that inspired generations of filmmakers and authors. Now a who’s who of modern writers — including Kevin J. Anderson, Nancy Collins, Jonathan Maberry, and John Jackson Miller [and many more] — produces sixteen brand-new, exclusive stories… Each writer will explore a different drama within the post-apocalyptic world, treating readers to their unique visions and non-stop adventure.” Edited by Rich Handley and Jim Beard, it’s available now in paperback at Amazon.

image c. 2017 Titan Books

Here are a few teasers for various animated shorts to look out for. https://vimeo.com/189660015 https://vimeo.com/189658289 https://vimeo.com/194858943 https://vimeo.com/199976599 https://vimeo.com/195304018 And from the upcoming Dam Keeper film: https://youtu.be/qPDFUBg4nSc https://youtu.be/P5RodH6DCBA https://youtu.be/PpiZ0DmRFp0
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New members

We had four new members join the FWG in January—welcome to John Giezentanner, David Green, Gullwulf, and Devin Hallsworth! If you’d like more information about joining, read our membership guidelines.

Member news

If you’d like to be listed here, please post your sales/publications to the Member News section of the FWG Forum! It’s the primary source for these news bits.

Joel “Zarpaulus” Kreissman’s novel The Pride of Parahumans was published at the beginning of January by Thurston Howl Publications.

Fred Patten accepted stories from Dwale, Thurston Howl, and Jaden Drackus for Dogs of War II. Jaden’s short “Stealing the Show” also was accepted by Thurston Howl’s Wolves anthology.

Madison Keller had a story accepted into Tarl Hoch’s Purrfect Tails anthology.

Renee Carter Hall’s story “The Frog Who Swallowed the Moon” has been released as an audiobook on Audible (also available on Amazon).

Alice “Huskyteer” Dryden was interviewed for the Ursa Major Awards website. (Her short story “The Analogue Cat” won both the UMA and the Cóyotl Award for 2015.)

New markets

• Infurno: The Nine Circles of Hell is an anthology from Thurston Howl Publications, paying in contributors’ copies only. Looking for stories themed around Dante’s Inferno, from 2,500 to 8,000 words in length. Deadline: August 1, 2017. Submission Guidelines.

For ongoing markets previously covered but still open (and occasionally, open in the future), visit the FWG web site:

• Paying short story markets
• Non-paying short story markets
• Novel/novella markets

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 ends

The Tuesday Coffeehouse Chats continue to take place on the FWG Slack channel, while the Thursday chats continue to take place on the shoutbox.

As usual, we’d like to keep recruiting you to the FWG Goodreads group: add things to our members’ bookshelf (see the instructions here on how to do that), start conversations, draw rabbit ears on other authors’ head shots, and so on.

Have a terrific month! Send news, suggestions, feedback, and wince-inducing puns on the word “fur” to furwritersguild@gmail.com, or leave a comment below.

Longtime creator, Roz Gibson, is running a Kickstarter for her final novel of the Griffin Ranger series The Monster Lands. Better known for her art like the character Jack Salem, the comic series City of Ice, and, one of my favorite, an amazing comic adaptation of The Killers song, Mr. Brightside. In recent years, she has expanded into the world of writing with her first novel, Griffin Rangers: Crossline Plains.

Now she is wrapping the story up, but needs your help to make it happen. As stated on the Kickstarter, The Monster Lands pick up where Crossline Plains left off. The Griffin Ranger, Harrell, wishes to find his missing daughter, but his journey will take him to our very own earth where he is captured and force to fight for his very life while hoping his fellow Rangers, Kwap and Tirrsill, can rescue him as they themselves are being hunted.

With a goal of 4,500, the money will go towards editing, cover art, and printing cost. Depending on what you donate, you can get e-books of books one and 2, backer exclusive artwork by Roz herself, signed copies of the books, original artwork, etc… The book will be available in paperback and Kindle and will be published by FurPlanet. If you are a fan of Roz’s work or just a big old nerd for griffins, then check out the Kickstarter and check out the first book. Till next time Fluffer Nutters. Stay awesome. Stay amazing. Stay you.

-Matthias

Hello Everyone!

We open this week's show with a discussion on poppers and eyesight damage. No, we're not talking about jalapeño poppers, but the kind of poppers you huff (if you huff jalapeño poppers please let us know). Known as VCR Cleaner, Tape Cleaner, or Leather Cleaner, this is a commonly encountered additive to sex that many people enjoy, and it is not well researched in terms of consequences to your long-term health. We look at one investigation that links damage to your vision to the usage of poppers and add another reason to consider carefully your choice to include them in your play.

Our main topic is on rebuilding trust in a relationship after a betrayal, cheating, or a rule violation. Relationships are never perfect and mistakes happen, but how to move beyond that mistake is not often discussed and it is consistently one of our more commonly asked questions. We look into this area of relationship healing and offer advice to both the offender and the hurt, as well as provide looks into our lives when we have been put on either side of this situation.

We close out this week's show with a discussion on love. What is love? Am I in love? What's love got to do with it? These are questions that singers and sages have asked for years but have yet to provide an answer. We hope to help one of our listeners figure out whether or not they are in love with their best friend and, if so, should they pop the question. 

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 056 Rebuilding Trust (After Betrayal) - Are poppers bad for you (no, not the jalapeño poppers, heck)? Can there be love after betrayal? What is love-- and no, not the Beatitudes! All this, and more, on this week's Feral Attraction.

An Indiegogo campaign for a dark comedy about post world war III war against human-pig hybrid super soldiers with Danny Trejo? This is not a thing I would have expected today. Bullets of Justice on Indiegogo. [1] [1] https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bullets-of-justice-movie-action#/
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Whoops! How did we miss this one? A year ago Graphix brought us Bunny vs. Monkey, a full-color all-ages graphic novel by Jamie Smart. What’s it about? Look at the title! Well now, it’s time for Bunny vs. Monkey: Book 2, just hitting the shelves. “Welcome to the Woods! A peaceful home, until…ZAP! ZAAPPP! ZAAAPPPPP!!! It’s Monkey in a hovercraft that fires lasers! Science and nature fight again! With robotic worms! Trojan mooses! And lemony doomsday devices! It’s the continuing battle between good and evil…It’s Bunny vs Monkey: Book Two!” You heard it here. Now check it out over at Goodreads.

image c. 2017 Graphix

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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 153 - Shit On The Boss's Desk - Reminder: We're on Patreon! If you could kick us …

Bonus video for today because there is a new Monkey King video is coming. “A sequel to Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons, the Monkey King is back. Now tamed by Tang Sanzang, Monkey King has become one of Tang’s disciples. Tang, Monkey King, Sandy and Pigsy band together to fight demons as they continue their journey west.”
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A new high-concept sitcom coming this March on ABC where a woman starts getting plagued by her old Imaginary friend. "Alice (Jenna Elfman) has her life turned upside-down when she falls for the love of her life Ben (Stephen Schneider)— an adorable, quick-witted divorced father with three kids. But when she ignores her fears of commitment and her ability to mother, Imaginary Mary, her childhood invention (voiced by Rachel Dratch), comes back to life to express Alice’s deepest fears and add more chaos to the situation. Imaginary Mary coming this March to ABC!"
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Hi,

So I just found out about furries and was hoping you could give me some advice on how to were a tail and ears with a school uniform because I go to a stupid private school and tips on how to start a furry blog to get more young furries involved in this because it is a great way to express yourself. And I wore my tail and ears to hang out with my friends and they just looked at me like they didn't know me and where very quiet to me and wouldn't walk to close to m. How can I get them to like me for who I am and not care about my tail and ears.
 
Fae (age 13)
 
* * *
 
Dear Fae,
 
It is a reality of life among mundanes (nonfurry humans) that they simply cannot relate to or understand people who are different. Except for a minority of enlightened people who are honestly not bothered by others who are of a different race, nationality, gender, sexuality, religion, or even income level, the vast majority of mundanes feel uncomfortable around others who are not very similar to themselves.
 
It is, therefore, naïve of anyone to expect such people to accept you for being you. They are victims of social pressures that make them conform to artificial “norms,” and reject anyone who doesn’t fit nicely into those norms. They are, frankly, to be pitied for leading such narrow-minded lives.
 
My advice? Do not wear your ears and tail around such people unless you want to be rejected by them. Do not wear them with a school uniform—or at school, period. This is why we have things like furmeets and furcons: they are places we can go and be comfortable being who we are around other furries.

Being a furry is like being a nudist: there's nothing wrong with the human body and being naked, but our society rejects that completely. Therefore, nudists only express themselves in places such as nudist camps and beaches. The same is true with furry. Mundanes feel uncomfortable around fur just as they are around naked flesh, it seems, so we end up being furry around others like ourselves.
 
Many Western cultures say that they are in favor of people expressing themselves and being themselves, but they are actually lying about that quite utterly and completely. That goes especially for furries.
 
Sorry to have to teach you this lesson, but you’re better off knowing now before you get severely hurt by a furry hater.
 
In the meantime, try to find furries in your area with whom you can hang out.
 
Hugs,
Papabear

Dear Papabear,

I am asexual, but my parents don`t seem to be capable of accepting my lack of a sexuality they always say, "Oh, you'll grow out of it," "Oh, you're just presexual." I have tried explaining to them that that`s acephobic, but it doesn't work. What do i do? 

Anonymous Creacher (age 11)

* * *

Dear Creacher,

You're 11 years old. You SHOULD be asexual. My God, you have not reached puberty yet! Don't worry about sex!!!! Spend some time being a child first.

You're parents are not acephobic. They are pointing out that it is too early for you to be worried about sex. 

Papabear

The folks at American Mythology: Dark (whom you may recall) have kicked things up yet another notch with the release of Werewolves vs. Dinosaurs vs. Yetis. They mean it. “Cade and Smith have been transported through a portal into a strange and deadly new realm. Now these unlikely allies need to get back to their own world, despite being hunted by ferocious Werewolves and Dinosaurs. And their temporary reprieve from danger is an illusion.  The mysterious Trench and his cowboy mercenaries are still tracking them and they are on the cusp of being caught in a horror free-for-all between Werewolves, Dinosaurs, and the legendary Yeti!” Created by Eric Dobson, Chris Scalf, and Matt Frank, this new full-color comic series premiers in February.

 

image c. 2017 American Mythology