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Now back to France for Paprika, an animated series about a rambunctious pair of cats. “Olivia and Stan are about as close as a brother and sister can get because…they’re twins! They share pretty much everything and though they’re totally different, they balance out to perfection! Stan is a brave little daredevil who puts faith in his instinct and his motorized wheelchair. Olivia is creative, efficient and brainy. But when it comes to having a ton of fun they’re both world champions!” Paprika is unusual among TV shows for kids in that it features a lead character who is wheelchair-bound. Currently the show has been airing around the Mediterranean, but Xilam Animation is looking to break it out internationally.

image c. 2016 Xilam Animation

Limon and Oli is a CGI animated TV series for young children, created by Salih Memecan. It’s based on a long-running newspaper strip in Turkey, Sizinkiler (“Your Kind of Family”). The cartoon show follows that adventures of two young birds who are best friends — both of them teaming with curiosity about the world. Since 2015 the show has been airing on Disney Junior in Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. Now thanks to a deal with Netflix the two little birds are set to make their premier in North America and beyond.

image c. 2016 Mart Agency

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This episode has our guest, Hayrider, joining Roo and Tugs as they explore the fascinating world of roleplay as it relates to the furry fandom. We read our stuffed mailbag as you share your perspectives on what roleplay is and what it means to you, then go for a deep dive into how roleplay occurs on all sorts of levels within the fandom. We also have Space News, an Old Timey Ad, Get Psyched!, and a new episode of Fifty Sheds of Grey!





NOW LISTEN!

Show Notes

Special Thanks

Hayrider, our guest.
Lumeo, for today's ident.
Caudle, for this topic!
Anonymouse
Addi Fennit
Miski
Charleston Rat
DarkYuan
D'Otter
Snares

Music

Opening Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Century Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller– Cloud Fields (Radio Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Some music was provided by Kevin MacLeod at Incompetech.com. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. We used the following pieces:

Spy Glass


Calcabrina Theme from Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward Soundtrack. FINAL FANTASY XIV © 2010-2016 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved. Used per Materials Usage License
Space News Music: Fredrik Miller – Orbit. USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Get Psyched Music: Fredrik Miller – Universe, USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Closing Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Headnodic Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller – Cloud Fields (Chill Out Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)

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Want to be on this list? Donate on our Patreon page! THANK YOU to our supporters once again!

Next episode: Gratitude! We continue our protest against holiday greed culture by asking you to submit your comments on what you are most grateful for this time of year. Send your comments by December 16, 2016. S6 Episode 7 – *Roo bends over and takes it like a* - This episode has our guest, Hayrider, joining Roo and Tugs as they explore the fascinating world of roleplay as it relates to the furry fandom. We read our stuffed mailbag as you share your perspective

Achievement Unlocked! New WORLD record 297 attendees, 131 fursuiters at #WFS25 an amazing day for @FurlifeNW community. Photo by ChaosReign pic.twitter.com/3TH8zX2WNc

— FaRaRaRaRAWR Lion (@kijani_lion) November 13, 2016

If you only saw furries in the media, you might think they only meet at cons.  But after the con, there’s local events you won’t know about unless you’re tuned in to their channels.  Some of them are established with their own names, venues and dedicated dates. You can go and say tonight, this place is ours. That’s a sign of a full-fledged subculture.

Independent furry dance parties are well covered at Dogpatch Press.  That’s adult night life. But for all ages, there’s furry bowling.  Big bowling meets can be bigger than small cons.  They happen all over the place, but how many does the furry world have?  I doubt anyone knows!

I’d love to know more, considering how fabulous some of them seem.

Here’s a special look at the thriving community of the Pacific Northwest furries. (Member pics: Whenfurballsstrike.net)

November 12, 2016 – When Furballs Strike 25 – Fursuit bowling in Kenmore, Washington. 

• ‘When Furballs Strike’ appears to be the biggest bowling meet for any furry community. If it was a con, it would just enter the Top 40 by attendance.
• Their nearest rival for size is a bowling meet in Brazil! How many outsiders are in touch with that corner of fandom? It shows how widespread this is.
• The Pacific Northwest furry community has remarkable activity. Does any other have an event calendar like Furlife on Meetup with over 2,000 members? (Disney’s marketers went to Furlife to reach furries for Zootopia.)
• Furry dance parties have tried to get established in the Pacific Northwest without the success you might expect, making this their biggest meet.  (And their popular local con Rainfurrest shut down, but an unprecedented four are now proposed there.)

I talked to Kijani Lion, meet organizer:

Tell me more about the broken record?

“The record that was broken was actually our own record for “largest attendance at a furry/anthropomorphics fan bowling meet”. We had 297 attendees at When Furballs Strike 25, which broke our old record of 271 at When Furballs Strike 22. Before that, the Brazilian furbowl Furboliche had the record with 248 attendees at Furboliche 4 which took place Halloween 2015.”

Can you tell more about yourself?

“I am the lead organizer of both When Furballs Strike and FurLife: Pacific Northwest Furries, our large Meetup group with over 2,300 members. I do have some much-needed help on meet days from some wonderful FurLife members who assist me at the registration desk, take the official attendance and shoot video and photos for our website.

A little more about me – I was an employee of our host center for When Furballs Strike, Kenmore Lanes, for more than seven years. During that time I worked as a porter, front-desk attendant, server in the restaurant and finally a casino dealer – there was a small cardroom which was attached to the bowling center at the time. Around that time I graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Journalism, and I got hired as a sports reporter and editor of a small local newspaper. I did that for five years before returning back to the casino industry as a dealer which I have been doing since 2013.

I have been around bowling most of my life, starting in junior leagues at the age of nine. I started bowling competitively in high school and bowled for the University of Washington Huskies for two years, traveling the country with the team to bowl events. Nowadays I compete in leagues and tournaments in the Seattle area and am currently averaging 216. I have 11 perfect 300 games to my credit, two of them in sanctioned league play. The thing that’s great about bowling and why it’s so popular among furries, I think, is that while it’s certainly challenging (especially in fursuit!), unlike other sports you don’t necessarily have to be good at it, or particularly athletic, to enjoy it.”

Kijani, what’s the history of the meet?

“I joined FurLife, and the furry fandom, back in 2008 and noticed there was no regular bowling meet for our local community, so I decided to try and change that. Towards the end of that year, I approached the manager of Kenmore Lanes, whom I had a great relationship with, and told him about my idea to host an event where many attendees would be bowling in mascot-like animal costumes. I got the go-ahead and the first WFS was held in December 2008 with a modest 40 attendees and eight fursuiters.

In about 2010, the meet started to really pick up as word got around and people started traveling father to attend, some from across the state of Washington, and even Oregon and Canada. Around WFS 5 or 6, I decided to add a post-event dinner gathering to the schedule so our attendees could share a meal together and make it a more social event. We started out in the party room of a local Denny’s, but we very quickly outgrew that, so I moved our dinner to, basically, the nearest buffet restaurant large enough to host us and we’ve been there ever since.

Over the years, I’ve keep the meet fresh by adding things like the prize raffle, where hundreds of dollars of prizes are given away to attendees after the bowling ends – mostly animal or furry-themed gifts, and I always supply a few very nice prizes like new bowling balls, huge framed Zootopia posters and things like that. We also got clearance to have a DJ play at the meet which has been a huge hit with our attendees. Furries, and fursuiters especially, love to dance and it’s really cool to see the bowling alley concourse turn into a makeshift dance floor!

I pride myself on hosting a well-run, organized and drama-free meet, so I go to great lengths to make sure that everything is in order before WFS meet days and that I do everything I can to make sure everyone has a fantastic time while they are there, even small things like helping people work the overhead consoles. We seem to have a large number of new members or first-time attendees at each one, and it’s my goal to make sure they feel welcome and enjoy themselves. I’ve found that once I do the legwork and get it going, the meet kind of runs itself. I think the meet’s success proves the old adage, “If you build it, they will come!”

Whenfurballsstrike.net

What’s the local scene like?  What are the biggest gatherings for it?

“The local fandom scene in the Pacific Northwest is very large and vibrant. We have approximately 2,300 members on our Meetup site, and I feel that only represents a small portion of the furry fandom members who actually live in the Pacific Northwest. Naturally, with a community that large, most people have their own circle of friends they hang out with, which is why large meets like WFS are important to bring all those groups together. The meet has sometimes been referred to as a mini-con, and I don’t think that’s inaccurate. FurLife has meets almost every weekend and meetup.com has been a great tool to help our local furries get connected with each other. WFS is by far the biggest gathering for FurLife – we have had summer barbecues and gatherings of that nature that have pulled approximately 150 attendees, but nothing to the scale of what WFS has become.”

What do outsiders think?

“They love it! We are fortunate that our host facility, Kenmore Lanes, is the largest bowling alley in the Pacific Northwest with 50 lanes, because we need to rent out around half of them for When Furballs Strike. The other half of the lanes is usually filled with families bowling and kids’ birthday parties, and most of them love the fursuiters. The general manager came up to me one day and jokingly said, “You know, when we have birthday parties scheduled with the furries, we tell the kids that we brought the characters in specially for them!”

I do a lot of public fursuiting and charity work on the side, and some of the best moments to me are when a child comes in to bowl with his or her family and their eyes light up when they see all these cartoon animals come to life, it’s like they woke up in fantasy land! Occasionally we will get a child or adult who has a fear of masks, and that can prove to be a challenge for us, since our party room is on the opposite end of the building from where we bowl. But thankfully the Seattle area is generally very open and accepting to things that may seem strange to others, so overall I’d say the public’s reaction to seeing the fursuiters at our meet has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Whenfurballsstrike.net

“How does it feel to be part of it?”

It wasn’t until a couple years ago, about WFS 17 or 18 when we were finally approaching 200 attendees, that I realized that we had something really special going. One day I just decided to take a short break from my filming and organizing duties and just look around and take it all in – it was almost like a small furry convention: You saw people walking around with tails and ears on, artists drawing and sketching at the tables, friends enjoying each other’s company over cold beverages, the young child of one of our attendees hugging a fursuiter with the biggest smile on her face, other furries dancing and cameras everywhere taking pictures of the many amazing and creative costumes.

It just feels amazing to be able help bring this kind of event to the great Pacific Northwest furry community, especially right now since we’re reeling a little bit at the loss of Rainfurrest. Being part of this community has given me so much over the years including many great friendships, and it’s really an honor to be able to give back.

What lies ahead in the future?

“Just continuing what has made us successful for all these years. I’ll keep on making minor changes to accommodate our ever-growing attendance rate, such as starting a pre-registration system to alleviate the long registration line, and other small things to ensure things run as smoothly as possible. I always welcome suggestions from our FurLife members, but I’m of the belief that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” It’s been an amazing run so far and I really have our wonderful FurLife community to thank for that, along with the great staff and management at Kenmore Lanes that truly loves furries and welcomes us with open arms.”

Pics and videos:

“Here is an album full of WFS25 photos from our official meet photographer, ChaosReign, and there are a bunch more on our website from years past.  I do a more or less official FurLife video for every WFS meet.  Here’s a YouTube playlist with all the WFS videos on it for convenience.

Thanks so much for reaching out!  – Kijani”

Whenfurballsstrike.net

Grizzy and the Lemmings is the perfectly descriptive title of a new CGI animated TV series created by Antoine Rodelet and Josseline Charlier. “He is big as a bear, strong as a bear, smart… as a bear. Naturally, no other animal dares to contest his ‘bear’s privilege’. That is no other animal except one: A tribe that belongs to the most inoffensive, stupid, and ridiculous mammal family that exists – the lemmings. Even for a bear who weighs 500 pounds and stands seven feet tall, it’s not that easy to get rid of these unrefined balls of fur who have the I.Q. of a pea. For the balls of fur in question are quite numerous. And they really know how to work as a team!” The idea of the show is to bring the art of slapstick back to TV animation for young viewers — hence why the show is created without dialogue, to be shown in any part of the world. Studio Hari has a page dedicated to Grizzy and his friends (?) that includes a video trailer.

image c. 2016 Studio Hari

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Fun time! Thanks to all who joined us for the live stream. If you want to see the video, you can put it here: https://youtu.be/DovfSZuo5Vo 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 148 - Christmas Stream! - Fun time! Thanks to all who joined us for the liv…

Quite a busy episode for airing on a Sunday night. While Ikasury recovers from being professionally stabbed and CJ recovers from being a bad dog, we pull off a show packed with news and discussion.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• The Original SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY
• Tinder adds more gender options
• MintzBuck’s Con size projections
• MFF Mannequin Challenge
• Furry #Mannequin Challenge at Midwest Furfest 2016
• ‘Altered Beast’ and ‘Streets of Rage’ coming to film and TV
• What do Homosexuals have in common? Mainly Ghosts.
• ConCrud is now THE BLORCH
• Apari’s Midwest FurFest 2016 Video
• Judy’s next door neighbours in Zootopia were a gay couple confirmed
• Holiday Tree Furry Snow Globe Ornaments

News:

• Researcher says furries, people who dress like animals, offer important support system
• Gay Mike Pence Doppelgänger Is Collecting Money For LGBTQ Causes
• Spiders Colonized A Remote Pacific Island By Flying There
• One Day You May Be Able To Taste In Virtual Reality
• An A.I. Wrote a Christmas Song and It’s Really, Really Creepy
• Rogue Beaver Apprehended After Trashing Store That Sells Fake Christmas Trees
• Werewolf and Other Weirdos Captured On Trail Cam
  • Link 2

Emails:

• Anonylion – “Not your typical relationship email”
• Noch Venator – “Help and LGBT question/discussion point”

FC-253 Professional Stabbing - Quite a busy episode for airing on a Sunday night. While Ikasury recovers from being professionally stabbed and CJ recovers from being a bad dog, we pull off a show packed with news and discussion.

Quite a busy episode for airing on a Sunday night. While Ikasury recovers from being professionally stabbed and CJ recovers from being a bad dog, we pull off a show packed with news and discussion.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• The Original SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY
• Tinder adds more gender options
• MintzBuck’s Con size projections
• MFF Mannequin Challenge
• Furry #Mannequin Challenge at Midwest Furfest 2016
• ‘Altered Beast’ and ‘Streets of Rage’ coming to film and TV
• What do Homosexuals have in common? Mainly Ghosts.
• ConCrud is now THE BLORCH
• Apari’s Midwest FurFest 2016 Video
• Judy’s next door neighbours in Zootopia were a gay couple confirmed
• Holiday Tree Furry Snow Globe Ornaments

News:

• Researcher says furries, people who dress like animals, offer important support system
• Gay Mike Pence Doppelgänger Is Collecting Money For LGBTQ Causes
• Spiders Colonized A Remote Pacific Island By Flying There
• One Day You May Be Able To Taste In Virtual Reality
• An A.I. Wrote a Christmas Song and It’s Really, Really Creepy
• Rogue Beaver Apprehended After Trashing Store That Sells Fake Christmas Trees
• Werewolf and Other Weirdos Captured On Trail Cam
  • Link 2

Emails:

• Anonylion – “Not your typical relationship email”
• Noch Venator – “Help and LGBT question/discussion point”

FC-253 Professional Stabbing - Quite a busy episode for airing on a Sunday night. While Ikasury recovers from being professionally stabbed and CJ recovers from being a bad dog, we pull off a show packed with news and discussion.

Quite a busy episode for airing on a Sunday night. While Ikasury recovers from being professionally stabbed and CJ recovers from being a bad dog, we pull off a show packed with news and discussion.

Download MP3

Link Roundup:

• The Original SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY
• Tinder adds more gender options
• MintzBuck’s Con size projections
• MFF Mannequin Challenge
• Furry #Mannequin Challenge at Midwest Furfest 2016
• ‘Altered Beast’ and ‘Streets of Rage’ coming to film and TV
• What do Homosexuals have in common? Mainly Ghosts.
• ConCrud is now THE BLORCH
• Apari’s Midwest FurFest 2016 Video
• Judy’s next door neighbours in Zootopia were a gay couple confirmed
• Holiday Tree Furry Snow Globe Ornaments

News:

• Researcher says furries, people who dress like animals, offer important support system
• Gay Mike Pence Doppelgänger Is Collecting Money For LGBTQ Causes
• Spiders Colonized A Remote Pacific Island By Flying There
• One Day You May Be Able To Taste In Virtual Reality
• An A.I. Wrote a Christmas Song and It’s Really, Really Creepy
• Rogue Beaver Apprehended After Trashing Store That Sells Fake Christmas Trees
• Werewolf and Other Weirdos Captured On Trail Cam
  • Link 2

Emails:

• Anonylion – “Not your typical relationship email”
• Noch Venator – “Help and LGBT question/discussion point”

[Live] Professional Stabbing

Komixx Media Group have a new 2D animated TV series called Dog Loves Books, based on the best-selling books for young readers by Louise Yates. “Dog runs a bookshop and he loves books. Whenever he or his best friend Pug have a problem or a question, Dog knows the answer will lie in one of his books. When Dog opens the book and begins to read, he and Pug are swept away into a world of adventure and imagination where anything is possible. Dog and Pug often get completely lost in the books they read… but they are always back in time for tea and biscuits.” The show is slowly making its way into international markets.

image c. 2016 Komixx Media Group

Hello Everyone!

We open this week's show with a discussion on why polyamory (or open relationships, really) are not for everyone. We discuss a YouTube Video which goes through this discussion in a fun, informative way, and we think that if you enjoy the show you would enjoy the video. Give it a watch after the show HERE.

Our main topic is on Pack Houses. We break down why that might be the wrong question to ask, as well as detail just what a communal house is, how they are structured, and how you can cohabitate in an intentional community. One of the most commonly asked questions of the show is how can one find a polyamorous house to live in, and we address why pack houses are less a random roommate on Craigslist and actually a relationship that you are entering.

We close out the show with two questions: one on BDSM Anxiety and the other on Long Distance Polyamory.

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

Thanks and, as always, be well.

FA 048 Pack House Dynamics - Is polyamory an option for everyone? Are Pack Houses just roommates with benefits? How can you cohabitate and be peaceful polyamorous people? All this, and more, on this week's Feral Attraction

Papabear,
 
I've been in a relationship for about a year now and honestly, it's great. But there's one HUGE problem. My boyfriend is polyamorous and I'm not. When we started the relationship, I was still new to the idea of polyamory but was willing to try it. Now, I find myself hurting every time he's with his girlfriend. I've been cheated on before and it just feels like that again to me. I haven't met this girl yet, but do know a little about her.

On top of it, my boyfriend will blatantly state how girls we see are “hot” or he’d “f**k her.” And it hurts even more. We saw a musical the other day and he even commented on the one actress being hot. 

Then there’s the fact that I worry more so about our relationship because I'm transgender and he's never dated outside of cis-females. I plan to get surgery one day and have been on testosterone for only a few days. He says he'll still stay with me but I'm worried even more that he won't thanks to having only dated cis-gender females before and the fact that he seems to be okay with the idea of sleeping around. 

I always viewed polyamory as LOVE and not just having one night stands too like he seems to view it as. And I don't want to lose him over this. Before I met him, I was single for over 2 years. I don't want to go back to being single and alone because I'm transgender and a furry. Not many people can handle it. I don't know what to do anymore. 

Ryvis (age 22)
 
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Hi, Ryvis,
 
Thank you for writing to Papabear on an important issue. Also, I applaud you on your bravery in taking difficult steps toward finding your happiness.
 
On the subject of polyamory. Polyamory is about the ability to love several people at the same time, more or less equally. It is not about one night stands, as you correctly point out. Sounds to Papabear as if your boyfriend is trying to justify what he is doing by excusing it as polyamory when, in truth, he just likes to sleep around. Also, the two of you have been together a year and you haven’t met his girlfriend? Seems to me that if he was serious about you and open about being polyamorous with all the “loves” in his life, then he would be introducing you by now. Finally, he is showing no respect for your feelings by going on about all the girls he wants to do.
 
I’m glad you wrote because you need an outsider’s perspective on this, Ryvis. This guy is a jerk. Add to this that you really aren’t comfortable with a polyamorous mate (even though you are willing to try it), then you need to see that this guy isn’t for you.
 
The only reason you’re sticking with him is because you don’t want to be alone. Also, I have a feeling you have self-esteem issues that make you believe (falsely) that you are not worthy of a lover who is kind and considerate of you. In desperation, you are clinging to someone who “says” he loves you but, based on what you have written here, no, he does not.
 
Have the courage to get out of a bad relationship. It’s okay to be alone for a while until the right person comes along. In fact, being alone for a bit while you work on your sense of self-worth and also, perhaps, get that surgery, could be good for you. Before you can have a healthy relationship, you have to be healthy (mentally and emotionally) yourself. Otherwise you will fall into traps like this again.
 
That’s probably not what you wanted to hear (or, maybe it is?) but it is what you needed to hear.
 
Good Luck! I wish you REAL love in your future.
 
Hugs,
Papabear

December 2016’s Book of the Month is The Time He Desires by Kyell Gold, a short novel in FurPlanet’s “Cupcakes” line, with illustrations by Kamui.

After thirty years, Aziz’s marriage now consists mostly of arguing about whether to sell their store to a developer. His wife has a social life, interests and plans for the future, but the pawnshop is Aziz’s connection to his community. And then one day a desperate fox rushes into the shop looking for the honeymoon tape his husband sold. Seizing on this chance to make a difference, the cheetah steps up to help save their crumbling marriage. A gay couple might not show him the way to a new life, but he’s running out of ways to save his old one.

The Time He Desires is available now in print from FurPlanet, and should shortly be available in ebook from Bad Dog Books and available on Amazon and other ebook retailers.

“Our world is one rich with diversity and culture, but how would civilized animals change that?”

That is the question Ocean Tigrox asks for you to write about in the upcoming anthology, Tales From the Guild 2: World Tour. Building from Tales From the Guild: Music to the Ears, the purpose of Tales is not just to have another outlet for Furry stories.

…we want to showcase great furry stories and show what we as a guild support. In addition to that, we want to help fund the guild while paying authors for their hard work. Thirdly, we’re using the anthology to help teach others about what goes into working a slush pile and editing an anthology.

This is what the Furry Writers Guild uses to help support themselves and showcase what they are all about.

In the words of the Guild itself, “The purpose of the Furry Writers’ Guild is to promote quality writing in anthropomorphic fiction and to inform, elevate, and support its creators.” The guild is there for others to come together to learn and support each other in our craft as well help promote our work and what we love about furry literature.

But how did the theme World Tour come about as the next entry for the book?

Because it was the guild anthology, we let the guild help out in choosing what theme to use. We had members of the guild suggest themes and voted on it. It was a very close vote with the runner up being “The Beast Within – Species issues within a modern world” which could be used for the next Guild Anthology theme.

So what kind of stories are they looking for that fit the theme of World Tour?

We’re looking for stories containing strong themes of location and species involving our world. There’s a preference to more modern stories, but the time period isn’t as important as its ties to the location. There is some leniency in real world locations as we’d look at a story about Atlantis or maybe even the moon for example, but they should all tie into the Earth we know and love today.

Ocean himself has been a prominent member in the Furry writing community.

I’ve been involved with the furry community for a little over ten years. I had always been interested in anthropomorphic creatures and stories so when someone asked me if I was a furry, I just realized I was and said yes. When I moved to Calgary about five years ago, closer to the other members of of the now Fangs and Fonts crew, they were the ones that got me back into writing and what started me working with the furry writing community.

That work has gotten him not only writing stories, but editing them too.

I’ve always helped others with editing and have been an assistant editor on other projects, but it wasn’t until I put out the call for Inhuman Acts that I took my first foremost role as an editor. So officially, a little over two years.

The requirements for the book are as so.

We are looking for short stories between 2000-10,000 words. They should be in standard manuscript format. We’ll be accepting submissions up until the last day of 2016 (December 31st). If people need more time, they can request an extension, but do it sooner than later. All these details and more can be found on the forum post in the guild: http://www.anthroaquatic.com/forum/index.php?topic=1102.0

If accepted the writer will be given a twenty dollar flat rate and a contributor copy with the proceeds going to help support the FWG. Both members and those interested in the Guild are free to submit. The book is expected to be publish around mid to late 2017. So if your not too busy driving yourself crazy with holiday shopping give yourself the time to write up what our world would be like if it was filled with walking, talking animals.

-Pup Matthias

• Buy Tales From the Guild: Music to the Ears on Rabbit Valley

Another recent article from Animation Magazine, this time discussing some of their favorite new animated projects they’ve seen shown off at MIPCOM this year. And lo and behold, the majority of them are anthropomorphic! So we’ll be discussing the most interesting ones ourselves for the next few days. First up is Caiman, created by Rebecca Warner-Perry and Sue Tong, and produced by Illuminated Films from the UK. “Meet Caiman, a five-year-old crocodile who loves exploring – and who wouldn’t!?…when the village of Trickle End, a buzzing and bubbling community, is right outside his front door! Caiman lives at home with his Mum, Dad and older sister in a little wooden house, situated right on the edge of the exotic mangroves where the river meets the sea. All his friends and neighbours live, work and play nearby. There’s always someone to have fun with or somebody to lend a helping hand in Trickle End.” Animation has a link to IF’s show-reel, which includes more about Caiman and their other projects.

image c. 2016 Illuminated Films

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Hiya,

I'm a new furry, I've only been in the fandom for around 10-11 months, and I'm struggling to make friends, I'm not sure if it's the age difference. I've met a few furries at a MCM Comicon, but the conversations were only then and there, rather than taking it further, which sucks. I'd love to be more involved with the fandom. I'm just struggling to find friends.

I have social anxiety, but I get along with other people quite well. I'm just shy in most situations, and sometimes it feels like I don’t really know the ways of the fandom, if that makes sense. I guess it's a case of "I don't feel like i fit in." I have Furry Amino [a furry app], and only recently I'm getting to grips with Furaffinty. I've never been to a furmeet but plan to go to a furmeet in London soon. Is there anything else you could suggest about trying to make friends in the fandom?

Hugs
Riiya (age 15)
 
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Dear Riiya,
 
A problem that furries like both you and I have is the age thing. As you may have noticed, the vast majority of furries are in their late teens, twenties, perhaps early thirties. You are outside that spectrum on the young side, while Papabear is outside the spectrum on the old side. This can make it difficult to socialize.
 
The obvious answer is to try and find people more your age. With me, I tend to hang out with greymuzzles (over 30 crowd). It’s actually more difficult for the under 18 group like you simply because things like transportation are more difficult. You’re too young to drive, which makes going to furmeets harder, unless you can do so by bus or train to a nearby one.
 
This kind of leaves you with online stuff. I would like to suggest you start with the online FurryTeens (http://www.furryteens.org/forum/). This should be a good starting place for you to meet furries your own age and connect to them.
 
As for being shy. Don’t worry, you are in good company. Many many many furries are also shy folk for a number of reasons, but they, like you, still want to connect. You are doing well by making an effort to reach out, and I bet if you keep trying eventually you will succeed. Just be patient.
 
Hugs,
Papabear

Join and listen in on the cast discussing the funny news of the week Episode -17 - Sharked it

Earlier this year Animation World Network ran an article about Mattel Creations’ new line-up of 2017 CGI specials and animated series, which they are presenting at MIPCOM. Besides all the expected Barbie tie-ins and Thomas the Tank Engine, there’s a new show called Enchantimals. “At first glance you may think that the Enchantimals are just a regular group of girls. But on closer inspection you’ll see that this unique band live somewhere between human and animal. The Enchantimals are at one with nature, and as keepers of their forest home, they strive to maintain balance, peace and harmony, with unwavering compassion towards all living things. Each Enchantimal gets some much needed help from their very own animal bestie. Like the best of friends, they share an unbreakable bond, as well as extraordinary animal abilities. But why does their forest home need such a special group to help look after it? Because this is no ordinary forest – it’s enchanted!” Thanks for letting us know! We’ll let you know if and when and where Enchantimals gets picked up for broadcast.

image c. 2016 Mattel Creations