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Visiting the Long Beach Comic Con we stumbled across the works of Melissa Douglas, also known as the Kitty Kat Maniac. She majored in digital media at the Otis College of Art and Design, and since then she has worked for animation studios like The Three Legged Legs and Twistory Studios. At her web site (artchamacallit.com) you’ll find many examples of her work — both original stuff, and stuff saluting her favorite cartoons and games. And of course there are also links to her stores where you can find many of her illustrations available not only as prints and stickers, but also on t-shirts, blankets, key chains, and more.

image c. 2016 by Melissa Douglas

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

Fragments of Life’s Heart, volume 1, editors: Laura “Munchkin” Lewis [&] Stefano “Mando” Zocchi.
Manvel, TX, Weasel Press, June 2016, trade paperback $19.95 (400 pages), Kindle $4.99.

Fragments of Life’s Heart is a new anthology of anthropomorphic stories of Love. “Join us as we explore the many different forms of love—family love, forbidden love, love that embraces what society always taught was wrong.”

This volume 1 contains “seventeen anthropomorphic stories with all different forms of sexuality and relationships, in a journey across genres, worlds, and time.”

“Tending the Fires” by Jess E. Owen features nomadic desert fennecs. Nara, a successful young bard from the Wadi Ocar, returns home for her sister Sarayya’s wedding after six successful years of traveling and learning in foreign lands. Nara looks forward to rejoining her loving family, but although her father, brothers, and sisters embrace her warmly, she is shocked when Arwa, her mother, greets her formally but coldly as an honored guest, not family. Arwa hasn’t even read the six years’ worth of letters that Nara sent home regularly. Nara must discover what she has done wrong in her mother’s eyes, and how to correct it in the midst of a colorful tribal wedding celebration.

Owen creates a rich North African (though it is another planet) setting:

“Nara sat with her family while Sarayya and her new husband made their vows in the blended light of the dying sun, the rising moon and emerging stars, and distant, blue Ocarus.

Time stilled as Nara watched her little sister’s face, glowing, and linked her heart and her life to a new tent, a new family – Nara’s new brother, a whole new addition. Their family had grown. Nara’s heart seemed to swell and expand and encompass the new foxes her sister had come to love, and now, they were all one. As darkness bloomed over them, Nara mingled with the in-laws, rapidly learning names and gossip.

It was not long before the men produced their tablah drums and a stringed rebab, and they broke into long recitations of songs by desert poets, all memorized and passed down for hundreds of years. […]” (p. 33)

In “Transitions” by Mog Moogle, Geoffrey has a secret. Or Freya does. He/she is transgender. The male otter has felt that he was really female ever since puberty. Geoff’s mother has accepted his decision, but his father has stubbornly insisted that he is 100% his son. So Geoff has gone through middle and high school as Geoffrey. Only his best friend, Douglass, a mole, has known his/her secret and has recognized her as Freya – and become her lover. Now that they have both graduated from high school and Doug is going into the U.S. Army, Geoff is set to leave for the university – and he/she’s decided to openly start her new life as Freya. Her mother is supportive, but confronting her father as a girl –

Will his/her father’s love for his offspring transcend his/her sexual identity?

“The Mistress of Kidwell Manor” by Renee Carter Hall is the first story here that isn’t just funny-animal. Mattie is a bioengineered Papillon dog by GenFront, made to be an old-fashioned domestic maid for Miss Emma. She’s served for so long that she has become the senile Miss Emma’s nursemaid, the last servant in the vast, empty manor, trying to keep up the pretense of normality as civilization disintegrates outside. Because Mattie loves the dying Miss Emma.

What will Mattie do after Miss Emma dies?

In “Yet Time and Distance” by Kris Carver, Danny (cougar) insists on dragging Reno (wolf) to a social get-together with Sam (leopard), their old friend whom they haven’t seen in a long time. Sam has gotten married and divorced, and his little son Jake is also visiting. During the social evening, it becomes clear to Danny that Reno used to have a homosexual relationship with Sam that he’s still not over, although Sam is. Danny shrugs. It’s Reno’s problem to work out.

In “Polynomials” by Fever Low, Cass (African wild dog; the narrator), Madison (Lapphund dog), and Jessie (bull) are housemates, with Cass and Maddie as lovers and Jessie as a tolerant friend. Cass, a leading physics student at the U. of O., invites them with her to a snowy department cocktail party. It becomes obvious to Maddie that Cass is open about their relationship to the other students, but she introduces Maddie as her “childhood best friend” to the professors, as though she’s ashamed of her. Cass admits it. “‘I’m fine telling all of the other graduate students. It’s just the professors, they can put my whole career on ice, and so many are so conservative.’” (p. 102) Cass bites the bullet and announces it openly. It’s worse than she fears – until a more liberal professor comes to Cass’ rescue.

“Polynomials”, like “Tending the Fires”, is lathered in anthropomorphism. “Watch your horns,” Cass warns Jessie as the bull climbs into a car. “‘Hey guys, y’all manage to get yerselves sorted?’ Her [Madison’s] warm tongue brushed up the fur on my cheek, mussing it.” “The sound of Madison’s tail thumping against the upholstery filled the rear of the car.” Dr. Tremblay, a chameleon, comments at the party on how California is more suitable for a reptile like himself than Ottawa is in winter. He performs his usual party trick for a large audience:

“‘Yellow watermelon? Oh, Millicent, you challenge me! Wherever did you find such a fruit out of season?’

As we approached, a tongue longer than I am tall, tipped with a sticky bulb the size of a large apple shot past the gaggle of office staff and returned to its owner laden with a slice of yellow and green fruit. It disappeared into Dr. Tremblay’s mouth and he chewed thoughtfully for a long moment. His skin morphed from the iridescent orange it had been to a striped white and green. He held the rind of the melon between his lips and took a bow. The audience applauded and tittered.” (p. 99)

Later, his chameleon’s ability to see in two directions at once becomes an important story element. Yet because of all the real place-names, around Ontario and especially Ottawa, I never felt that the story was more than a funny-animal story; basically a human story in fancier-than-usual anthro dressing that would still be too easy to turn into a non-anthro story with an all-human cast. The furry overlay is enough for many furry fans, but for those like me it feels like a bit of a cheat. The furry overlay is much thinner on other stories.

“Raise Your Voice” by Stefano “Mando” Zocchi is a genuinely anthropomorphic story. The protagonist is Edith, a motherly voice over an intercom to Treyo, a humanoid fox being raised in a sealed, sterile laboratory. As Treyo grows up, it becomes increasingly dubious whether Edith is a person or a computer program. Can a computer program feel love?

“Going Out” by T. C. Powell is an animal fantasy. EJ Raccoon is a paranoid who has spent the last two years, following a serious injury, huddling inside his tree nest inside Griffith Park in Los Angeles. His younger brother Skip has brought him food every day. When Skip disappears, hunger eventually drives EJ out to look for him. Skip’s wife Nona is not supportive:

‘You know,’ Nona said, turning a sharp eye on EJ, ‘I always told Skippy – I always knew – that you could leave that blasted tree of yours. If you needed to. Just let him get a little bit hungry, I said. Just let him feel it for a while, and he’ll get over whatever problem he supposedly has.” (p. 141)

EJ and his former girl friend Elsa go looking for Skip, EJ’s brotherly love for his sibling keeping him out of his nest until he becomes self-reliant – and rekindles his romance with Elsa — once again.

In “Harvest Home” by Altivo Overo, Argos Weaver (wolf) and “Red” Fennec (fox) are ancient lifelong friends. Argos is the former mayor of Westvale, and Fennec is long retired. Both are bachelors, and popular with the older animal citizens of Westvale. It gradually becomes obvious that although Argos and Fennec have never been homosexual lovers, their friendship is unusually close and lasting; a form of love.

“The Foreigner” by Dwale is Esi, a giraffe chimera, but the protagonist of the story is Ms. Fjola, an elderly wheelchair-bound horse chimera. Esi has come from Sapayo – São Paulo many generations ago – to learn how to make perfume from flower petals. It has been a long time since Ms. Fjola had an unaccompanied male caller. As they discuss their backgrounds, what happened to the world and to mankind becomes clear. A truly anthropomorphic story, with a memory of romance if not love woven through it.

“Trade All the Stars” by Watts Martin is definitely furry, and in the same setting as his “Tow” in The Furry Future. In fact, the rat-teenager Gail here is the same older rat-woman Gail Simmons in “Tow”. “Trade All the Stars” is part of a longer story that Martin is writing, set in the future when the Asteroid Belt is colonized and humans can have themselves transformed into semi-animal “totemics”. The protagonist is Sky (Blue Sky), an older adolescent two-meter-tall wolf-woman. She was raised in the New Coyoacán space colony by Judith Simmons, a leader of the totemics and foster mother of several including Sky, who has just left to start her own life in the smaller colony of Lariat Station, and the younger Gail, who has recently come from Earth and become a rattess. When Judith is assassinated, Sky rushes back to New Coyoacán to assist in the turmoil and to settle Judith’s affairs. The question is what to do with Gail, who is twelve and not old enough to live alone. Send her back to human Earth, now as a rat-girl spacer? Send her to a foster home in the Asteroid Belt colonies? Sky isn’t secure enough as a new spacer at Lariat to bring Gail to her tiny one-room apartment there. Over the course of the story, sisterly love leads them to a solution. This is a fine story, though it feels like a fragment of something longer.

“Draw to the Heart” by Ocean Tigrox rubs me wrong from its opening paragraph:

“‘This is amazing!’ Sammy exclaimed, eyes wide, taking in the sea of stars. The millions of tiny lights danced over him, filling the vast Saskatchewan horizon as far as the eye could see. The short, chestnut-brown beaver laid in the back of Cindy’s old, tan, ’86 Dodge Ram staring up at the wide night sky, unable to blink.” (p. 223)

Yep, it’s a funny-animal story. Sammy, a teenager from one of Canada’s big Eastern cities, has resettled in a small Saskatchewan town when his parents move there for a dam-building job. He is taken in hand by Cindy Petrenko, a doe who quickly makes him a part of the local teen social life and a player on the high school’s curling team. It’s very well-written, with lots of friendly animals – Linda, the cow moose proprietress of the town restaurant-bar; Josh, “a short and tan prairie dog” and his younger brother Jay; Mikey, “A tall skunk wearing a green Roughriders jersey”; and others – but there’s no reason for the anthro-animal cast instead of humans, except this story is in an anthro-animal anthology. The love is the camaraderie of the Saskatchewan townsfolk, especially the teens, and how Sammy becomes a fan and player of a game he’s barely heard of. Be prepared for an in-depth submersion into the sport of curling. (Ocean Tigrox is from Saskatchewan, and the story shows his love for Canada’s wide western plains provinces.)

“Paint the Square Cut Sky” by Slip-Wolf is about a war between mammals and birds, and two adolescents, Zaci (fox) and Leida (falcon) who become friends despite it. Do falcons eat birdseed? Never mind; it’s still a good story.

In “Hearth Soup” by Laura “Munchkin” Lewis, the vixen Huang Li Xia case worker is trying to place Natalia, a difficult rabbit orphan (not quite, but she has been abandoned by her parents), in a foster home. Li is running out of potential foster parents and is reduced to trying to place Natalia with two wolf farmers – a prey girl with two adult predators. But Piercing Thunder Claw and Gentle Snow Meadow have adopted other prey children into their family – their pack. “‘Why should species matter? So we need to look up recipes for roasted vegetable kabobs or make sure we wash extra well after a hunt. It’s worth it, for pack.’” (p. 308) “Hearth Soup” is so carefully a blend that I’m not sure whether it’s a funny-animal story or anthro. But it is heart-warming.

“Brass Candy Girl” by M. C. A. Hogarth is one of her Pelted stories. Rayne Starfallen, a foxine Tam-illee with a brown pelt and silver-furred mask and gloves and socks, and pointed ears, has come to the brass candy planet Ciracaa with her children, looking for an old college friend whom she hasn’t seen in decades. Ciracaa is a marvel:

“The planet was inhabited by giants. The Ciracaana were another race Rayne had never seen in person and they were more unlikely in the flesh than they were in pictures. Centaurs Rayne could encompass, particularly short ones like the Glaseah. But the Ciracaana looked like very normal Pelted folk that someone had stretched until they were almost nine feet tall. And they were riotously colored, with patterns that ranged from sensible felid rosettes or vulpine masks to coats that looked like someone had splashed buckets of paint on them. They were an arresting people, but she’d only been on-planet an hour and already her neck hurt.” (p. 319)

Rayne learns that her friend Carevei walked into Ciracaa’s outback ten years ago “to warn one of the aboriginal tribes about a seismic fault … and never came back?” She apparently joined the nomadic Lifehawk tribe. The Ciracaana aren’t worried; but if Rayne and her three children and her pet marshound want to go meet the Lifehawks, that’s easy. What isn’t easy is for Rayne and Carevei to reestablish their old friendship after ten years, after Rayne’s getting married and divorced and adopting human children, and Carevei’s going native among the nomadic huge centauroids. Rayne has come to bring Carevei home, to Tam-ley. But which world is Carevei’s home today? Fans of Hogarth’s Pelted stories will not want to miss this one.

“Footsteps” by Televassi is set on a future Earth ruined by warfare, with poisonous gases and a thorny wilderness outside the Havens. The nameless narrator is a human ex-soldier exiled from the Havens for his bloody lungs, who falls in love with one of the Modified:

“Half human, half animal; engineered to solve manpower shortages and reduce the length of casualty lists. It never worked. The Modified had our intelligence, so they were smart enough to revolt. When The War ended, plenty of them exploited the situation and escaped into the wild. Now they outnumber a humanity that has retreated from the world it messed up. Safe inside the Havens, cities for humans alone, we went on pretending the world was ours.” (p. 348)

The Modified have established their own civilization in the ruined cities outside the Havens. He accepts the half-human stag and doe neighbors, and a tiger child, but it is a wolf bachelor that he finds romance with. As the ruined Earth slowly heals itself, but his health deteriorates, the doe nurses urge him to be honest about his condition with his lover.

Uh-oh. “Rain Check” by Field T. Mouse is another funny-animal story. Ketchy (her) and Kody (him) are listlessly enduring another rainy morning at home. There are references to the Indiana Five Hundred and to Cheerios cereal. They’ve been saving up for a delayed honeymoon for ten years, and they have $4,000 now. Should they finally go, to the Caribbean or somewhere closer like Chicago or Milwaukee; or should they keep on saving? They’re in their mid-thirties; are they still a young couple, or have they become middle-aged?

“He shrugged, lowering his arms to grip her hips. She was dressed nearly as casually as him, wearing only a tank top with bra-straps visible beneath it and shorts that even go halfway down her thighs. He looked into her brown eyes and suggested, ‘Have my cereal, instead.’” (p. 378)

At the end (I guess this is a spoiler), they go into the bedroom for more sex, still in love with each other. Does it matter what species they are? They’re humans! (Okay, she’s a squirrel and he’s a rabbit.)

The final story, “The Soul of Wit” by Daniel Lowd, is shorter than this review of it.

So. Fragments of Life’s Heart, Volume 1 (cover by Darkomi) is 17 stories. They’re all very readable. Despite the usual rule that an anthology is a mixed bag and every reader won’t like every story, I found these all good, even those that I kvetched at for being funny-animal stories and not really anthro. A couple are set in their author’s worlds and will be especially enjoyed by those authors’ fans. I did feel that some had to work to justify fitting into the “love” theme. But this is a fine anthology. Enjoy it.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

According to Bleeding Cool, Image Comics have a new full-color graphic novel for young adults on the shelves called Afar. Here’s what Image says: “Critically-acclaimed, Russ Manning nominated Shutter artist Leila Del Duca teams up as co-creator and writer alongside artist, colorist, and letterer Kit Seaton (The Black Bull of Norroway, Eve of All Saints) for an original graphic novel, Afar. In Afar, Boetema suddenly develops the ability to astrally project to other worlds, unintentionally possessing the bodies of people light years away. Inotu, her inquisitive brother with a pension for trouble, finds himself on the run after he’s caught eavesdropping on an illegal business deal between small town business tycoons and their cyborg bodyguard. When Boetema accidentally gets someone hurt while in another girl’s body, the siblings are forced to work together to solve the problems they’ve created on their planet and others.” As you can see from the sample images, many of the worlds our young heroes “visit” are quite interesting for furry fans. Check out the Bleeding Cool article to learn more.

image c. 2016 Image Comics

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​Hello,
 
I've always struggled with my identity as I am an African American teenager who has grown up in a military family. I've have always been struggling with my identity because I am black but I tend to have a more (what people call) a “white” personality. This isn't the only problem. My family and people I know say I have an “intimidating look.” I am 5’11”, and guess I could call myself pretty athletic. And added to all this I am black so nobody expects me to be into something like the furry fandom.

When I was 10 years (around 2009) I moved too Japan. Around that time, I discovered I liked looking at and drawing anthropomorphic animals. I never knew of the furry fandom at that time so it was just a little thing to me. It was like that for the next 3 years until we moved back to America. This pretty much ruined my social life as I had already established my life in Japan. 

We moved from Baltimore, to Rhode Island, then recently too California, all within 3 years due to my father being active military. I discovered the fandom when I first moved to Maryland. I slowly got into it and was started drawing and admiring artists through YouTube, DeviantArt, etc. But the thing is during this time between being in Baltimore and Rhode Island, my outside personality completely changed to conform with the people I hung around in school. And the people I hung around with was (yup, you guessed it!) the typical ghetto, suburban, rude teenagers. It was a struggle for me as I wanted to tell people about me being furry and share my art and make friends who liked furry art. I was actually lighthearted, nice person on the inside but yet I had this forced, rude outside personality that kept all that hidden. 

I recently moved to California as I said earlier and I decided to make this a fresh start, yet I still have this conflict inside and outside of me. Do you have any suggestions on how to make friends that have the same interest as me even though my conflicting personality and outside appearance gets in the way? 

Maximus
 
* * *
 
Dear Maximus,
 
It is indeed very difficult being the son of someone in the military who moves around a lot. Children are happier if they grow up with a sense of stability and home, which is hard to do when the average military family moves every three years (I’m just writing this for the benefit of my readers). One thing I would say about your particular experience is that you probably gained a lot of insight and knowledge about other cultures by living in Japan. That’s something that could benefit you and your view of the world.
 
As for looking muscular and athletic—yes, I understand how people get intimidated by that, sadly. People judge too much by appearance, whether it is someone who is attractive (he’s attractive, so he must be a pleasant person) or ugly (he’s ugly, so she’s a bad person) or whatever.  People see your muscles and that you’re black and think you’re a thug or some such. So sad. Obviously, you’re a sweetheart inside.
 
Now the trick is this: having the courage to show others who you truly are. You’ve conformed to the “ghetto” set because you wanted to be accepted and fit in (very human desire), and you are probably afraid to show your furry side because you could be rejected by your peers at school. For starters, since you are likely to move again and again, I would not be overly concerned about peers at school, unless some of them become actual friends and not just people you are trying to get to like you. Second, I would start slowly by first trying to make friends online. Fortunately, there are many places you can do this, and if you like I will send you some suggestions if you haven’t already located some good furry social groups. You could start with SoCal Furries (http://www.socalfurs.com/), since you’re in Oxnard, and, if you ever get the chance, try to go to the Prancing Skiltaire monthly furmeet that is held in Glendale (http://prancing.skiltaire.net/). Start talking to furries online, start posting your furry art, talk to fellow artists. When you locate some who start to click with you, then you might start to show them both your outside and inside through photos, cam chat, and the like.
 
You have to let your guard down. This is scary, I know. Very scary, but it’s clear you are not happy living a charade. You want to be who you really are, right? A nice guy who is into furry, likes to draw, likes to be physically fit, and happens to be black. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of that. And, you know what? You’ve discovered a community—furries—who are more accepting of differences than many other social groups. Here’s a cool article about how more and more African Americans are getting involved in the fandom (Anthrocon is an example): http://newpittsburghcourieronline.com/2013/07/10/more-african-americans-get-involved-in-anthrocon-every-year/.
 
Another thing that benefits you: many furries absolutely adore Japanese culture (especially anime, of course, and Japanese cartoons have had a very strong influence on the fandom—Kimba, the White Lion being of particular note), and you’ve experienced it first-paw! You can certainly find furries who share this interest with you, both in America and back in Japan.
 
Maximus, you don’t seem to know it, but you have stumbled into a community that might just be the ticket for your releasing the inner you: furries. I encourage you to get involved with them. I’m sure you’ll find some cool fuzzy friends.
 
Hope that helps.
 
Hugs,
Papabear

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

Back in February 2015, Dogpatch Press published a two-part “History of Furry Publishing” by me. (Part 1 and Part 2) Patch has asked me to contact the furry specialty publishers for a follow-up to bring it up to date.

The traditional “Big Three” furry specialty publishers are FurPlanet Productions in Dallas, Rabbit Valley Books in Las Vegas, and Sofawolf Press in St. Paul. They were profiled in the earlier article. Here is their current status.

FurPlanet Productions

FurPlanet has been doing very well, as evidenced by having 24 new titles at Anthrocon 2016. FurPlanet has had dealer tables during 2016 at Further Confusion in January, Furry Fiesta, Anthrocon, and Rocky Mountain Fur Con, and plans to appear at Mephit FurMeet, Furry Migration, and Midwest FurFest in December. Besides selling books, FurPlanet has established a strong presence and met a lot of great fans, some of whom have been encouraged to become writers in FurPlanet’s anthologies.

FurPlanet prefers to release new titles at the conventions it attends. Further Confusion in San Jose in January and Anthrocon in Pittsburgh in late June or early July are the big release weekends each year, and publications are aimed for those dates. FurPlanet used to have several releases at RainFurrest in Seattle in late September, but with the disappearance of RainFurrest FurPlanet may shift to Midwest FurFest in Chicago in early December. If something becomes ready at a different time, it is released at the first convention it’s ready for.

Some of FurPlanet’s art folios are annuals. Those usually appear at the same convention each year. FurPlanet and its readers can count on two short fiction anthologies edited by Fred Patten at FC and AC, and an annual volume of FANG and ROAR at AC. Other anthologies, single-author collections, comic books, and one-shot art folios appear as they’re ready.

Erotica clearly sells very well. About 70% of FurPlanet’s sales are adult titles versus 30% of “all ages”. Of the 24 new titles at Anthrocon 2016, only 5 were all ages. FurPlanet’s best selling titles are the comics and books with well-written stories featuring adult themes. Rukis’ novels and comics, and the “Cupcake” novella books have been especially popular.

FurPlanet has three tables together at Anthrocon, so it has a much wider display of titles there. At conventions where it has only two or one table, there are about 100 titles, focusing on what is new or still selling well. Titles that are part of ongoing series will stay on the tables much longer.

Convention sales and online catalogue sales are about equal. Sales of FurPlanet’s print books are much greater than of Bad Dog Books’ e-editions. The Bad Dog e-books are not Amazon’s Kindle books. The only difference is that the Kindle books do not have adult illustrations, due to Amazon’s rules on eBooks. The Bad Dog titles are not censored. That is why many of the Bad Dog eBooks do not appear on Amazon.

For conventions relatively near Dallas, FurPlanet drives its stock there and back in its hatchback. For Further Confusion in California and when it was attending RainFurrest in Seattle, FurPlanet shipped its stock there and flew.

FurPlanet regularly displays Rabbit Valley’s and Sofawolf Press’s titles at conventions where those publishers do not have their own tables. There are no arrangements yet with other publishers, but with several new ones appearing, there could be in the future. FurPlanet has stocked a few mainstream books like the American editions of the French Blacksad and Grandville titles, but those are rare exceptions. FurPlanet’s recent carrying of several of Disney’s Zootopia titles has been due to the extreme interest in Zootopia by many furry fans. There are no plans to carry other books related to anthro-animal movies.

FurPlanet Productions is basically a part-time hobbyist mail-order business in Dallas. Everything there is in a large room called the Production Room. FurPlanet’s stock is kept there, orders are packed and shipped from there, and their bookbinding equipment is there. This room is not open to the public, and there are no plans to open a store front.

FurPlanet consists of four people: FuzzWolf and Teiran, the two owners, and their two long-term employees Buck Turner and Zia McCorgi. All four have regular jobs and run FurPlanet in their spare time. All four appear at almost every convention that FurPlanet displays at. They are sometimes joined by their friends Ajax B. Coriander and Andres Cyanni Halden, who have edited anthologies for FurPlanet in the past.

FurPlanet has this to say:

We’d like to thank everyone, our authors, artists, editors, customers, and helpers, especially Buck and Zia, who have made this all possible for the last eight years.

Rabbit Valley Books

Rabbit Valley Books, technically Rabbit Valley Comics, is doing well enough to publish roughly 18 new titles a year; 4 novels, 3 anthologies, 6 comic books, and 5 art collections or folios. Approximately 30% of these are for general readers, 20% for mature readers, and 50% for adult readers. All Rabbit Valley titles are still in print.

Rabbit Valley is the leader among furry specialty publishers with dealer tables at furry conventions. RV had dealer tables at 10 conventions in 2015, and had agreements with other specialty publishers and bookstores to sell RV titles at an additional 14 conventions, making 24 conventions at which fans could shop for RV titles. New conventions are always being added to RV’s schedule. For 2016 it is planning for 38 events, not all of them furry conventions or in North America. These also include travel to cities to visit good customers outside of conventions. For events within 16 hours of driving time from Las Vegas, RV drives its own truck rather than shipping stock. Areas at which RV stock is displayed and sold include North and South America, the U.K., the European Union, and Australia.

RV’s convention tables, in addition to selling its own titles, regularly stocks those of FurPlanet and Sofawolf Press at conventions where they do not have their own tables. RV regularly picks up titles from independent authors and presses including Weasel Press, Thurston Howl Publications, and a host of other trade paperbacks published by CreateSpace.

RV, mainly Andrew and Sean Rabbitt, has a core staff of three principles and another half-dozen assistants. It operates five to six days a week. Orders are picked, packed, and shipped five days a week with an initial pick run in the morning and a second pick run in the afternoon when needed. All orders for in-stock merchandise ship within 48 hours of being placed, unless the core staff is traveling as noted on the website’s convention and events page. Rabbit Valley operates online and at conventions only, though furs visiting Las Vegas are often invited to visit the RV warehouse and make purchases directly, provided they are okay with paying local taxes.

RV has this to say:

Rabbit Valley has been distributing furry literature in the form of art collections, books, comics, DVD media. fanzines, furry games, hardcovers, independent works, movies, novels, novellas, shirts, toys, and much more since the late 90s. We are the only source to purchase titles from a variety of publishers including, but not limited to, 2 the Ranting Gryfon’s comedy DVDs and CDs, Bernard Doove’s Chakat titles, Bucktown Tiger’s and other furry performers’ music CDs, Radio Comix’s and other furry comic book titles, and issues of Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe.

Sofawolf Press

Sofawolf Press, originally founded in 1999 and incorporated in 2010, is run by its four principal owners (Jeff Eddy, Dale Trexel, Tim Susman, and Mark Brown), with the help of many volunteer editors, designers, and assistants. While it is run as a fully-formed small corporation, it is a labor of love undertaken on top of the owners’ professional careers, and rarely ends the year showing a net profit.

While continuing to produce several new titles a year, the company has been producing a decreasing number of total new titles over the last several years and has also been attending fewer and fewer conventions. President Jeff Eddy credited both the increasing costs of doing business and increased demands on the small team as factors in the decline.

“Conventions, as they have moved from ‘the outskirts of town’ to downtown tower hotels and convention centers, cost a lot more to attend. We only see positive returns from the very largest of cons, and… with the costs of shipping rising along with the size of our backlist, it becomes harder and harder to make conventions work as a viable sales venue for us.” He goes on to say that “Online shipping has also become a problem, with many big retailers offering free shipping thanks to economies of scale we can’t begin to approach. Buyers find it hard to swallow the shipping costs we have to charge just to break even.”

The complexity of running a small business with an entirely volunteer staff has also been an increasing challenge. “As we have gotten more complex, the sheer amount of time spent on accounting and tax compliance has also increased. I spend nearly all of my time these days on logistics, contracts, finances, and operations. No one has the time to be as engaged in the creative part of the process as we used to, and would like to. We’re deeply grateful for everyone who has been pitching in and helping us continue to produce the high quality products readers have come to expect, but a lot of the core operations just can’t be done by anyone else.” The company leases a warehouse in Saint Paul, MN which is not open to the public, but serves their product storage and distribution operations.

What does this mean for the future of Sofawolf Press?

“Bottom line is that some of what we are has to change, but we’d like to think it is going to be a good thing. We have been trying to be both a publisher and a distributor, and in a lot of ways the second half of that has been what has been seriously limiting what we can do with the company. All these resource limitations are driving us to re-evaluate that balance and look for new ways to be self-sustaining as a business, without that taking up all our energy. With some time freed up we can get back to doing the creative things that drew us into the business in the first place; and we have lots of ideas we’d like to explore going forward.”

In addition to the Big Three of the furry small presses, Jarlidium Press is still in business, we overlooked one tiny publisher last year, and there are several newer companies today.

Jarlidium Press

Jarlidium Press of Seattle has continued its two-fur operations, hampered by Tibo’s – James Birdsall’s — needing surgery this year. It had a sales table at Biggest Little Fur Con in Reno in May and Rocky Mountain Fur Con in Denver in August. New titles included collections of Aaron Neathery’s popular Internet graphic novel/comic strip Endtown, issues of North American Fur, and several comic books.

ENDTOWN Collected Volume #2 (2014) (Aaron Neathery)

ENDTOWN Collected Volume #3 (2015) (Aaron Neathery)

NORTH AMERICAN FUR. #32 (2015)

NORTH AMERICAN FUR. #33 (2015)

Furry Logic Productions

The overlooked furry small press was Gary Akins’ Furry Logic Productions. It was frankly easy to overlook since it only publishes Akins’ own novels; they’re only available online at his website and at a dealer’s table at the annual Mephit FurMeet; and he hasn’t had a new title in years. Still, they do exist, and Akins has talked about adding some other titles not his own.

Thurston Howl Publications

Thurston Howl Publications is a new operation centered around Nashville, Tennessee. Its first book was the anthropomorphic wolf fantasy, Farmost Star I See Tonight, published in March 2013. Its real debut began with the charity anthology Wolf Warriors in October 2014.

It has grown from one person publishing one book to several staff and publications. As it has grown in experience, its overall quality has also increased. Many of its books are furry titles, but THP is not a furry-exclusive publishing house. THP has not had any sales tables at furry conventions, but its titles have been available through Rabbit Valley’s tables in the U.S, and Fusselschwarm’s in Europe.

“Presently, THP has released eleven titles, with about ten more expected for release within the next year and a half. We publish both furry and non-furry books, and that is not expected to change in the near future. We do publish — and are publishing — novels, anthologies, collections, children’s picture books, and general nonfiction. We have not yet explored the comic or art folio market yet, but we are not closed to the possibility.

“Our print market is significantly higher than our e-book market, namely due to book signings and book release events we hold across the United States. Our e-books have only received minor sales, but we are constantly improving our strategies for marketing.

“We have been distributing some of our books through Rabbit Valley Press at some conventions, as well as Fusselschwarm at some of the European conventions. We have plans for our own tables at conventions in the future, but the company still needs to grow considerably before that can become a possibility.

THP’s Thurston Howl has this to say:

“THP presently has a staff of five to ten editors, three proofreaders, a team of beta readers, a cover design team, two copyeditors, a marketing specialist, an accountant, and Howl, the editor-in-chief and founder. We do not have a physical home location yet, though, in the coming years, I hope to see that become a reality. With the growing of our house, we have constantly been working toward quality process with authors. We accept works that inspire emotion, be it fear, love, passion, adventure, or even the basic happiness and sorrow. We define good writing as writing that moves people in the way the author set out to. As a publishing house, we will help make the language as sharp as it can be, but as long as a work is fixable, marketable, and a progenitor of emotion, we will always accept and publish it. Authors have always been surprised with our traditional publishing house process: query, contracts, major edits, proofreading, formatting, cover design and art, beta reading, and publication and marketing. We hope to be the balanced blending of both furry publishing markets and traditional publishing markets, always looking to support the new author without ever sacrificing quality and integrity. As is the motto of our house, ever onward.”

Weasel Press

Weasel Press is similar to THP, with an emphasis on beat generation mentality rather than pro-wolf literature. It prefers not to be tied down to a location (but its owner, Weasel Patterson, is in Manvel, Texas, near Houston), communicating through its locationless website. Its first book was a re-release, Ribbon and Leviathan in April 2014. Today it has 11 books of fiction and nonfiction, 18 of poetry, and just 1 of plays; plus 7 under its Red Ferret Press label for erotica. Most are available on Amazon in paper and Kindle editions.

The WP online catalogue has a “Furry” category for 7 of its books including both fiction and poetry, both Weasel Press and Red Ferret Press. Its furry authors include Vixxy Fox, Bill “Greyflank” Kieffer, and editors Stefano “Mando” Zocchi and Laura “Munchkin” Lewis.

WP emphasizes that it is a beat press, not a furry press. That said, it is eager to expand its furry line and actively solicits new submissions.

Weasel Patterson says that Weasel Press is not without turbulence, but overall it’s doing just fine. It publishes 15 to 20 titles a year, about 1 or 2 of them furry. About 3 or 4 of these are anthologies; the rest are novels and poetry collections. Only a few titles have gone out of print. Sales are almost all of paper editions, since readers who prefer e-books can get Amazon’s Kindle editions, usually for free. WP has not had any sales tables at furry conventions so far, although it hopes to in the future, probably starting at Furry Fiesta 2017.

WP’s Weasel Patterson has this to say:

“Weasel Press is a machine that dishes out some fantastic work. We’re a community driven by madness. We unfortunately do not have a retail shop aside from our Store online, but we do hang out at most Houston, TX literary events. We’ve hosted several poetry readings in the area and work with a lot of groups to keep the indie publishing world thriving. Our staff consists of: Weasel (Myself, main dude, operator, whatever), Sendokidu “the fox” Adomi (Finance guy, Proofreader), Emily Ramser (Editor of Poetry, Layout Design, Editor of Vagabonds: Anthology of the Mad Ones), and Mr. Z.M. Wise (Proofreader, Marketing analyst). Several of our authors have come to our aid. Authors like Neil S. Reddy, David E. Cowen, Matthew David Campbell, R.K. Gold, Sarah Frances Moran, and so much more!! We have all pooled together our time and resources to make Weasel Press what it is today, and I really doubt we’d be where we are at without our community to back us up. Folks can see some of the events we have hosted and projects we have taken on through our YouTube Channel.”

Goal Publications

Goal Publications is almost entirely Sean Gerace alone in Plainfield, Connecticut. It hasn’t entirely started yet, but as AnthroAquatic, Gerace has edited and published as e-editions three issues of A Glimpse of Anthropomorphic Literature in 2016 — he plans to publish a paper volume of all three issues combined – and he has edited the first volume of the Furry Writers’ Guild’s literary anthology, Tales from the Guild: Music to Your Ears, published in September 2014 by Rabbit Valley.

What Goal Publications has also done so far is to represent Jaffa Books, Australia’s only furry publisher (so far), in the U.S. Jaffa Books has published two furry books in 2016, one edited by AnthroAquatic, and Gerace has made them available in the U.S. on Amazon. Gerace plans to get Goal Publications going with its own books and its own online catalogue soon, which will include Jaffa Books’ titles for American customers. All six – the three issues of A Glimpse of Anthropomorphic Literature, Tales from the Guild, and the two Jaffa Books titles — are for sale on Goal Publications’ website.

–Fred Patten

Mauricio Abril is an artist with an interesting background: For years he practiced molecular biology (his major at university), but discovered it just did not fit his soul the way he thought it would. So he took a whole new set of courses in “entertainment design”, and that fit much better — and so he has been working the past few years as a concept artist in the fields of animation, video games, theme park design, and illustration. Recently (with the help of Kickstarter) he completed his first illustrated book for children, called Small Dogs. On his web site he says: “It follows the story of Seth, a Chihuahua who mistakenly believes that he’s just overdue for a growth spurt to be as big as other dogs. It’s only when he discovers what it really means to be a small dog when he decides to prove to everyone, and especially himself, that small dogs are just as important as any other dog.” Yap Yap!

image c. 2016 by Mauricio Abril

we're joined by super Patreon Tobe! 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 Lastly, don't forget to check out our YouTube, where we have many extra vids, Dragget Plays, and live streams & recordings of the podcasts. www.youtube.com/user/DraggetShow/videos ep 136 - Corpse Pizza - we're joined by super Patreon Tobe! Reminder: We…

Dear Papa Bear,

I'm a 32/15 year old Lion by now (two fursonas, one is 15 and behaves like 6) and I suffer from some psychological/mental problems..

Some years ago I fulfilled my biggest childhood dream and imported an electric toy ride on quad to Germany. I ever wanted one as child, but parents said I was too big for it. Twenty years later I proved they are wrong.

The problem I have is I'm jealous of kids that get attention when riding their toys. When a child is driving his toy quad or other thing, people come and say nice things like "Hey, I'm sure you are going to be a famous racecar driver when you're grown up," or simply "You’re great at riding it" or similar things. And they come and take pictures because the kids are so cute, but there are NO pics with me. I wish I would get that kind of attention, too. I'm a big kid, but on me people are sometimes laughing, or children ask me if they can have a ride. They don't know toys like this in Germany, so it's a novelty seeing this and they want to try it. But why I should let them go? Nobody lets ME try his toy, then why should I? As soon as the kids go with it around, they come again and applaud. But when I ride I'm a "retarded." "Look, that one plays with children’s toys. He has to suffer from some mental issues." YEAH, I DO. It’s not only when I’m with my quad; I also collect and ride giant, inflatable toys. You may have heard or seen the wolves and huskies made by Puffypaws.

I wish I would be recognized as a great like upcoming quad champion by others like children do. I would also wear a race outfit even when it’s useless on a toy going only 7.5 miles. This is a video if you don’t know what I mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuKZRD891VQ.

Thank you for your help, Papabear, and dear regards,


Max (age 32, Germany)
 
* * *
 
Dear Max,
 
Papabear is sorry that there are adults out there making fun of you.  And it is especially rude and hateful of them to make fun of you because you have some mental health issues. For them to do that shows them to be ugly people who lack compassion and sensitivity.
 
Thank you for sharing that video with Papabear. I loved watching it, and it is so clear that you love riding your electric quad. I think it’s wonderful that you found something from which you get so much enjoyment. And it’s fine that you also enjoy big, inflatable toys.
 
I want to reassure you, Max, that you are NOT alone in being an adult who likes children’s toys. In fact, take a look at this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-maypole/these-grownups-are-making_b_6179084.html. It is about adults who are actually earning a living by playing with children’s toys. So don’t feel bad about that. In fact, maybe you could follow the example of some of the people on the websites in that article and start your own YouTube channel? Hey, it’s worth a shot!
 
Other points I need to make: 1) If a child asks you if he can ride your quad, be a nice guy and let them. Just because someone else won’t let you ride their toy does not mean that you can’t be an unselfish person and share your toys. Be nice. 2) I know it hurts when people call you names and say you can’t do things. Don’t listen to them. As long as you are not hurting other people, you should do what you love to do. Enjoy your toys! 3) Being jealous of other kids because they are getting attention and you are not really only hurts yourself. Instead of being jealous, how about being a mentor to these kids? Being encouraging and helpful to others is a lot more satisfying than being selfish and jealous. Give it a try.
 
To summarize: Don’t let other people take away your joy, and don’t let other people define what you should do with your spare time. Having a hobby that you enjoy is a wonderful thing. Enjoy it for your own happiness! And don’t be jealous of other people’s happiness. Be happy for them.
 
Hugs,
Papabear

Sheesh, where have we been? We missed Brickleberry! It’s a series of short comedy cartoons that Comedy Central had available as an app for download. Created by Roger Black and Waco O’Guin (and produced by Comedy Central’s Daniel Tosh), it followed the adventures of a bumbling crew of park rangers at Brickleberry National Park. It was decidedly adult-oriented in its content! Along with the human characters there was Malloy, a talking bear cub (voiced by Daniel Tosh) with a foul mouth and a mean attitude. (Many episodes are still available on YouTube. Warning: NSFW, without a doubt!) The series premiered in 2012, and ran for three seasons, only to be canceled in 2015 — when most of the cast were killed by an invading army of alien cows. But fear not! Now Dynamite Entertainment have brought us Brickleberry: Armoogeddon, a new full-color 4-issue comic miniseries (written by Black and O’Guin, and illustrated by Timothy Hopkins) that continues the story with a new science-fiction twist. Find out more over at ComicBook.com. It’s also on the shelves now.

image c. 2016 Comedy Central

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How do we even come up with this shit?

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Watch Video Link Roundup:

• Sadosam article features MasterKennyG
• EVERYTHING IS FINE
• NOTAWOLF Twitter
• FurCast fan Ravusy gets OneFurAll
  • Photo 2
• Furries Angry With Milo Yiannopoulos for Appropriating Their Culture

News:

• Kissing Chickens Can Spread Salmonella, CDC Warns
• Diego Galapagos Tortoise Saving Species Having Lots of Sex
• Car Dangles On Side Of Garage After Worst Parking Job Ever
• Trees Can Sense When They Are Being Eaten By Deer And Launch A Defense
• Stephen King Compares Donald Trump To Cthulhu; Cthulhu Issues Angry Denial

Emails:

• leafdust – “Yay fan emails!”
• Kit, the purple fusky – “Genes and Memes”

FC-245 TreeDSM - How do we even come up with this shit?

How do we even come up with this shit?

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• Sadosam article features MasterKennyG
• EVERYTHING IS FINE
• NOTAWOLF Twitter
• FurCast fan Ravusy gets OneFurAll
  • Photo 2
• Furries Angry With Milo Yiannopoulos for Appropriating Their Culture

News:

• Kissing Chickens Can Spread Salmonella, CDC Warns
• Diego Galapagos Tortoise Saving Species Having Lots of Sex
• Car Dangles On Side Of Garage After Worst Parking Job Ever
• Trees Can Sense When They Are Being Eaten By Deer And Launch A Defense
• Stephen King Compares Donald Trump To Cthulhu; Cthulhu Issues Angry Denial

Emails:

• leafdust – “Yay fan emails!”
• Kit, the purple fusky – “Genes and Memes”

FC-245 TreeDSM - How do we even come up with this shit?

How do we even come up with this shit?

Download MP3

Link Roundup:

• Sadosam article features MasterKennyG
• EVERYTHING IS FINE
• NOTAWOLF Twitter
• FurCast fan Ravusy gets OneFurAll
  • Photo 2
• Furries Angry With Milo Yiannopoulos for Appropriating Their Culture

News:

• Kissing Chickens Can Spread Salmonella, CDC Warns
• Diego Galapagos Tortoise Saving Species Having Lots of Sex
• Car Dangles On Side Of Garage After Worst Parking Job Ever
• Trees Can Sense When They Are Being Eaten By Deer And Launch A Defense
• Stephen King Compares Donald Trump To Cthulhu; Cthulhu Issues Angry Denial

Emails:

• leafdust – “Yay fan emails!”
• Kit, the purple fusky – “Genes and Memes”

[Live] TreeDSM

The Millennials killed the people who had prohibited awoo. You can all awoo freely now. We're all back and in one piece from MFM after a week off due to con crud, so we talk about that, a bit about WoW Legion, then hit some heavy emails- one from eastern Europe, something something nazifurs, and LGBT representation in anime. It's a septet of strong emails this week on the show. Want to support the show? We have a Patreon! www.patreon.com/knotcast Episode 327 - Legalized Awoo

Franky, we think Cartoon Books put this announcement best. We’ll just pass it along to you: “25 years after the first black & white issue of the self-published comic book BONE appeared on comic shop shelves, and over a decade since the concluding chapter comes a new (and completely superfluous!) adventure featuring the Bone cousins! Ride along with the boys and their friend Bartleby the Rat Creature as they brave the dangerous journey across the desert back toward Boneville in their rickety cow cart. Creator Jeff Smith is back for another laugh with Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley! Also included is the complete text of The BONE Companion fully illustrated for the first time! It’s written by award winning comics historian Stephen Weiner. All this plus rare behind the scenes photos & memories, and an afterword by the author thanking the comics community and the readers all add up to make this a truly special commemorative volume of BONE to add to your collection!” As with any work in the Bone universe, there are lots of not-human characters to be seen here. Want to see it for yourself? Find out more over at Comics Alliance.

image c. 2016 Cartoon Books

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Hello, Papabear! 

First off, I feel like I should give my biggest condolences to all that's happened to you. I've been very worried about you and your health after all that's happened, and I see you as very admirable for continuing this when things look so bleak. You are so strong, and someone I really look up to. I've come to you a lot for even silly little things, to some of the darkest moments of my life. I've come to you multiple times in my life under many names, for many years. Each time, I have taken your insightful responses to heart. 

Anyway, let's get to the letter, I guess. I think I've got a crush. A bad, bad crush. On a girl. And I need someone to tell me to stop before I dig a hole and get trapped. 

Travel back two years, and I'm a tiny furry just entering highschool. I get my first furry friend, let's call her Shibe. (That's the nickname I call her!) Now, Shibe and I get pretty close, and I developed a crush. Shibe's my first crush, so I couldn't put a label on the feelings, and I was all around confused about what to do or what I wanted from our relationship. 

Since I didn't know anything about crushes, I start dating this guy instead. My heart was never in it. I would always doubt our relationship, I didn't even feel close enough to him to let him hug me. He was a boyfriend for the sake of having a boyfriend, y'know? No matter how I looked at it, my heart was set on someone else. It was set on Shibe. The boyfriend and I realize this isn't working and pull a 'just be friends'. 

Now, I wimped out on confessing to Shibe when I connected the dots, and never made a single romantic move. Shibe's bi like me, so I knew there could be a possibility, but I'm terrible at emotions. Before I work up the courage, she gets boyfriends. One lasts for only a few weeks, and the second she still has (has lasted a few months). So now I have another excuse not to say anything- she's got a boyfriend. I love that he makes her happy, but you have to understand how it hurts. 

I keep my mouth zipped. Some more time passes by, and we get... very, very, close. I'm not sure how it happened, but Shibe and I's relationship got very physical. I don't just mean hugs- I mean cuddling, hardcore cuddling. Obviously, nothing sexual. I'm loving it, unlike with the boyfriend, who I couldn't even hug. It gets stronger in nonphysical ways, too; she's constantly complimenting me and supporting me more than she ever has. 

She spent the night at my place a while back, and she was really comfortable with even more physical attention. We even fell asleep cuddling! She's always telling me she loves me, and when we were making some eggs that morning, she joked that 'hugging while making eggs is very romantic.' How does she expect me to take this? Just gals being pals? No romantic tension at all? 

I feel like she's teasing me. I can't take this anymore- I love the physical and emotional attention, but it's going to be awkward for me thinking of it as strictly platonic, and I know I don't have enough self-control to not let something slip if it continues like this. I am moving in a couple of days to Utah, so I'm hoping that once I'm away, maybe the feelings will die down and I can return the affection with no romantic connotations when we meet up face-to-face again. 

The move will certainly affect our relationship, but I'm out of the house in a few years, anyway, so I doubt it'll dissipate. My only hope is that somehow, my romantic feelings for her dull down into strictly platonic ones.

I want to at least be friends. Does this all make sense? I feel like I'm blabbering incoherently, heh. What in the world should I do? Shove it away? Wait for a good opportunity to tell her all this? 

Your faithful corvid, Genesis. 

* * *

Hi, Genesis,

You're the same furry who wrote me the following, yes? 

http://www.askpapabear.com/letters/shes-worried-about-messing-up-her-first-serious-love-relationship

In that letter, I didn't see you saying you were bi; and what happened to that love interest? Anyway, as is evident from that letter, love relationships seem to come and go, and this is common for people as young as you are. It will likely be some time before you come across someone that you are ready to settle down with. Shibe is your first serious interest in a woman, and there will likely be other women before, as noted above, you find someone truly special (or maybe one of each sex, who knows?)

I apologize that this letter will come to you after you have already moved. How did that go? Perhaps you should update me on your current status because if I write some advice now it might be too late or irrelevant. Again, very sorry.

Hugs,
Papabear

* * *

Hi again, Papa!

Er, yeah, I was pretty vague, wasn't I? Sorry about that. I'll agree it was a teenager-ish, naiive thing for me to hold on to the relationship with Wolf, who is, as you probably guessed, the guy in the letter. Yes, the relationship lasted about two years, and I did end up meeting up face-to-face with him, but as time went on, I realized everything about my desires- spending more time with him, watching movies, wanting to talk to him, was actually normal, platonic things I got confused about. Not exactly daydreaming about him as much as I thought I was. Maybe I was wrong, and they were romantic? He was the one who brought up how platonic our relationship was and called it off, so perhaps I'm just trying to protect myself from being hurt? When he broke up with me, though, I saw it coming. We're still friends, we just acknowledged we made a mistake.

Honestly, I don't have my story straight. I don't know what romance feels like, so I just take a good guess, and that confuses me. Heck, is my infutation with Shibe the same way? I don't know. What does a crush feel like, anyway? For all I know, I've never had one in my life. Also, I didn't mention I was bi in the last letter because it wasn't really important. I've known since about twelve years old? Honestly, thanks for trying to make a coherent story in your head from my mess of one. I don't know what I'm feeling, simply because I have never felt it before.
​ 
I have moved. We're keeping in touch though, me and Shibe, and we plan to meet up Winter or Spring break. Thanks for your concern.

Thanks again, Genesis

* * *

Hi, Genesis,

Well, a few things to answer to here. I'll go through the list (I'm German and enjoy lists):

1. Yes, being bi is relevant. How could your sexual orientation NOT be relevant when talking about affairs of the heart? If there is one frustration I have as an advice columnist, it's people second-guessing what I should and should not know and withholding information. Sigh. I've had people withhold things ranging from being abused by parents to having autism. Usually, they say they did so because they considered it "irrelevant," but, really, it's because they are embarrassed to share personal information, which is why I try very hard to reassure people they will be anonymous. Papabear can only give you good answers if he has all the puzzle pieces.

2. Why were your feelings hurt with Wolf if you actually did only want a platonic relationship? Wolf was correct to break it off in this way because he sensed, correctly, that you just wanted to be friends. Don't feel bad about that. Good friends are worth their weight in diamonds.

3. If you fear rejection and your feelings being hurt, you will forever be doomed to shying away from relationships that could become something that is once-in-a-lifetime. To find real love, one must take risks. 

4. How do you know when it is romantic love? Great question! As the Greek's understood, there are many different kinds of love, which is why they had several words for love instead of just "love." There is love between a parent and child, love for a friend, love of God, love for a pet, sexual love (lust), and then there is romantic love. I have been very fortunate to experience romantic love twice in my lifetime: first, toward my now-ex wife (but still friend) and then for Jim. 

Romantic love is when your heart melts just looking at the object of your affection. It is when the mere thought of that person brings a smile to your face. It is what the owl meant in Bambi when he said you were "twitterpated." Romantic love is when you can't wait to be with that person, when just sitting in the same room with them makes you happy, even if you aren't doing anything in particular. There were so many little things about Jim that just made my heart flutter. Mostly, it was his joy with life and how he was still a little boy inside. It's not about sex at all. It's about how being with that person just feels like it was meant to be. It feels right. You don't have to second-guess them because you know what they are thinking and feeling.

I hope you experience that someday, but don't rush it. Don't force it. Let it come of its own accord.

Hugs,
Papabear​

Art by Open-Face

Halloween is upon us. The air is getting chillier, the leaves are changing, and our darkest thoughts start to bubble to the surface. While this isn’t a Halloween or even fully a horror anthology, this one offers a look at our own twisted minds to fulfill our most primal needs. And isn’t that what Halloween is all about? Thurston Howl Publications is proud to present its new demonic anthology, Seven Deadly Sins and they are open to your submissions.

The theme should already be clear to anyone with a passing knowledge of religion, but for those wondering what to base their story on…

Seven Deadly Sins has been a literary trope for centuries, popularized by Italian poet Dante. They are as follows: pride, greed, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth. This collection will be divided respectively into the seven parts. We want to see anthro-animal characters at their darkest and weakest moments: at the whorehouse, at the chopping block, in the morgue, in the dining room with the candlestick.

Edited by Thurston Howl, the inspiration for the anthology comes from his own experience.

The inspiration for this anthology came from a personal struggle. Recently, I felt a smoldering rage toward a close acquaintance of mine who had a particular habit for causing local trouble. Instead of acting on that anger, I tried to pick apart whether what I was feeling: wrath…or envy…or even just an insult to my pride. Gradually, I thought of a couple of short story ideas for a few of the seven deadly sins, and then it hit me to edit a furry anthology with the theme.

Thurston Howl Publications has already featured some furry works, most notably their Wolf Warriors charity anthologies, which feature a mix of anthro works, as well as their Non-fiction collection, Furries Among Us. Seven Deadly Sins however will be their first full furry fiction anthology which, as Howl explains, is building upon what they have already accomplished.

…the past three charity anthologies [Wolf Warriors] we’ve published all had furry stories in it, especially the third volume, and I’ve already had the pleasure of working with many big furry authors in those anthologies as well as last year’s Furries Among Us. I really haven’t seen this project as too much different from those before. However, as we are expanding and growing within the fandom, so too will our opportunities for authors.

While the theme is based on the seven sins, the genre for your story is open to whatever you desire to explore.

The genres for the stories will likely rely heavily on the sin described. For example, I hope to receive a lot of horror submissions for Wrath and erotica for Lust. However, I expect that the genres will run the whole gamut throughout this collection as sins can pervade a vast number of scenarios.

And they are open to adult material.

It will just depend on the quality of the submissions.

So you figured out which sin you wish to explore. What are the requirements?

• Deadline is November 1, 2016.
• Word count is 2500-8000.
• Reprints are fine.
• Authors can send up to three stories.
• Authors will receive a free print copy of the book.
• Each story has to be based around one of the seven sins, and we will be regularly updating the list of received submissions’ themes on the guidelines website.

The book is expected to be release around January. The perfect gift for Valentine’s Day as Howl puts it cause nothing says love then watching fluffy animals succumb to their inner most desires. So get you paws a writing fluffer nutters, we have some debauchery to unless onto the world.

-Matthias

BOOM! Studios snuck two more by us this last summer… First up, the Peanuts: Friends Forever 2016 Special. Here’s what they say: “After five years and 39 issues, four original graphic novels, and a groundbreaking tribute book, we bid farewell to this incarnation of Peanuts comics with an oversized finale. Snoopy’s Daisy Hill Farm is being torn down and Charlie Brown tries to be there for him. It’s a warm goodbye filled with love and heart for all devoted Peanuts readers!” Featuring stories by the late Charles M. Schulz himself, as well as Jason Cooper, with artistic help from Donna Almendrala and Vicki Scott. Also look for the Garfield 2016 Summer Special, a one-shot collection of never-before-seen comic short stories by the likes of Scott Nickel, Mark Evanier, Brittney Williams, Andy Hirsch, Sara Talmadge, and Lissy Marlin.

image c. 2016 BOOM! Studios

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Tips: patch.ofurr@gmail.com. Here’s headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  

FOUR cons for the US Pacific Northwest? (Tip – Fuzzwolf.)

Furvana (2018). Anthro Northwest (November 9-12, 2017). Pacific Northwest Fur Con (Spring 2017). And a rebirth for Rainfurrest (under parent organization RAIN, who actively runs other events year-round.)  All of these are intended for one region.  Amazingly they seem cooperative, with none replacing another.

On Reddit’s r/furry, a con staffer explains more about all the activity.

In late 2015 Dogpatch Press looked at five regions for “One Town, Two Cons: Let’s compare and ask organizers about Furry community growth.” It was about fan support, competition and cooperation, with questions about how to sustain more than one central event. But four is unprecedented ambition.

It could only come with 2016’s amazing Year of Furry.  From Zootopia’s billion-dollar success, to Fursonas (the first movie about furries with mainstream distribution), to the continued explosion of cons, there’s much more to come.

Furry party posters from the 1980’s. 

In the 1980’s, sci-fi cons gathered fans of funny-animal cartoons for room parties. Mark Merlino and Rod O’Riley have the Prancing Skiltaire furry house in So Cal that has posted some of their party flyer collection.  There was drama about the “furries” being weird, because that stuff isn’t for grown-ups is it?  So in 1989 they got their own con, ConFurence.  Look at how they multiplied like bunnies. Now it’s too late to stop them. Just don’t let anyone with a time machine go back and change the flyers to send them to Floor 13.

South Africa’s Furry Times Magazine.

In 30 years of history, this fandom has spread far and wide. Here’s a newly launched and free magazine from a far corner of the Furrysphere. It’s basic but it would be nice to see more presentation like that.

EZ Wolf’s nature mockumentary.

Congoer dies of natural causes during Furry Migration in Minneapolis.

We are sad to confirm the loss of a congoer last night; authorities indicate natural causes. An earlier alcohol based incident was unrelated

— Furry Migration (@FurryMigration) September 11, 2016

Fursuiter falls 70 feet from hotel balcony, lands on couch, makes fox-shaped hole.

I heard Rocko went to the hospital with a broken arm, broken back, fractured ankles, broken ribs, and has a year of rehab ahead. Poor Rocko! Send him hugs and tell him to hang in there. If the world ever looks upside down, always ask a furry friend to help you stay on your paws.

Visited @RockoTheFox tonight. He's got a long road to recovery, but he appreciates all the supportive furries who've written to him.

— Drenthe Coon (@itsdrenthe) August 9, 2016

He says everything below his neck hurts. Somehow avoided a concussion. I'm wondering if wearing a fursuit head saved @RockoTheFox's life.

— Drenthe Coon (@itsdrenthe) August 9, 2016

ANUSGATE: the fursuit scandal that rocked Twitter.

Sporeprince built a fursuit with a realistic butthole sewn on. This was not universally loved.

Refurbed a miniature schnauzer fursuit! Meet Shandy! (She still needs new feet and hands) pic.twitter.com/xbCcFxjPwm

— mushroom queendom (@sporeprince) June 28, 2016

I LOVE my butthole fursuit and if you disagree with me you can literally fight me lmao

— mushroom queendom (@sporeprince) August 6, 2016

It's not like this is the first controFURsial thing I've done, I used to cosplay Sarah Palin and I literally co-coined the term popufur

— mushroom queendom (@sporeprince) August 6, 2016

This is me circa 2008-09 lmao pic.twitter.com/gcvH6HjoP0

— mushroom queendom (@sporeprince) August 6, 2016

The dog that inspired a wave of furry drama pic.twitter.com/NqH3Hr3bgt

— mushroom queendom (@sporeprince) June 29, 2016

Murrsuit.us launches with a very special purpose.

we just got our site up check it up @ https://t.co/i0aTKzXnm3, we will be giving out one free membership just retweet and comment to enter

— Murrsuit.us (@MurrsuitUs) September 3, 2016

A long-lived post on Dogpatch Press gives perspective about fursuit value.

One of the longest-lived posts here is about the record-setting $11,575 fursuit. It draws dozens of searches a week with 1.5 years of regular views.

Jan Animation covers Youtube’s restrictive new policies for content creators.

Could your content be controversial, or even just have a risque joke? No ad revenue for you. It’s ridiculous how vague and arbitrary these rules are, and how hurtful to creators who would otherwise be sustaining themselves on a good relationship that contributes what their host exists on.

 

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AMAZING FURRY NEWS COMING SOON – Sponsored By Scratch ‘n’ Sniff Yiff Stickers!

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Future Of Fursuiting: Color-Change Fur, Advanced SPH Technology With Glowing Dongs

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) November 16, 2015

Camels Sick Of Hump Jokes

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) November 16, 2015

Motto Chosen For Canine Liberation: 'A Dog Needs A Master Like A Cow Needs Ketchup'

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) November 16, 2015

Canines Battle 'Loyal' Stereotype With 'Looking Out For #1' Shirts

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) November 20, 2015

Guy In Fuzzy Spider Suit Has To Explain That He Won't Burst Open And Spread Baby Spiders

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) November 20, 2015

The Puzzling World Of Furry Conversion Therapy And 'Ex Furries'

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) November 20, 2015