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Simon Thorn and the Wolf’s Den, by Aimee Carter – Book Review by Fred Patten
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Simon Thorn and the Wolf’s Den, by Aimée Carter
NYC, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, February 2016, hardcover $16.99 (307 pages), Kindle $6.99.
Besides furry fiction, there is a category of children’s fantasy about human children learning that they can talk with animals, and that the animals have civilizations of their own. The best of these include the Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis, in which human children discover a large fantasy dimension. Average examples include the recent Secrets of Bearhaven, Book One, by K. E. Rocha, where 11-year-old Spencer Plain learns that his parents can talk with bears and they have helped the bears establish a secret bear society hidden within our own. And then there is Simon Thorn and the Wolf’s Den, by Aimée Carter.
Simon is 12 years old and miserable. He’s picked upon by school bullies and he has no friends. He shares a cramped NYC apartment with his scarred Uncle Darryl. Nobody will tell him why Uncle Darryl is horribly scarred, or why his father is dead, or why his mother has been gone for a year on a zoological assignment – she sends him frequent “I love you” postcards from all over the country that don’t really tell him anything.
Or why he can suddenly talk with animals. He doesn’t tell anyone about this because Uncle Darryl apparently hates animals, even though a mouse he names Felix has become his best friend, and he could prove that he can talk with pigeons easily enough.
Then a one-eyed golden eagle tells him he’s in terrible danger, and his mother suddenly reappears, and Simon discovers that his mother and Uncle Darryl have been hiding the secret that they can not only talk with animals, too, but can change into them, but there’s no time to explain anything because they have to escape RIGHT NOW from an army of rats who want to kill them, and he’s really a hidden prince of all birds, but not the crown prince because he has an older twin brother that nobody told him about, and …
It’s all too much high profile adventure. There is lots of action, but it’s all meaningless. Nobody can tell him anything! Nobody notices anything! You’ve never seen such a string of interruptions and oblivious people.
“The eagle turned his head so he could see Simon with his good eye. ‘You’re in grave danger, Simon Thorn. If you don’t come with me at once –‘
‘Simon?’ said a rough voice outside his door. ‘Who are you talking to?’” (p. 5)
“Out of all the things the eagle could have said, this was the one Simon least expected. ‘You – you know my mother?’
‘Indeed,’ said the eagle. If you would come with me –‘
A snarl cut through the crisp air. Startled, the eagle took flight, and Simon cursed. ‘Wait – come back!’” (p. 14)
“‘They are coming for you, Simon Thorn, and if they find you, they will kill you.’
‘Kill me?’ he blurted. ‘Why?’
‘There is no time to explain. They are closing in as we speak. If you would come with me –‘
Another snarl cut through the air; exactly the same as that morning. Startled, the eagle took flight. ‘Run, Simon, before it is too late!’” (pgs. 28-29)
“‘Where have you been, Mom?’
She frowned. ‘I’m sorry, sweetheart. Work’s been so busy –‘
‘For a whole year? You didn’t take a single day off?’
‘I –‘ his mother began, but the door burst open before she could say anything else.” (p. 33)
“Darryl landed hard on the asphalt and began to kick the swarm of rats out of the way. Simon scrambled after him. Rats immediately began to climb up his legs again, and though he brandished the blade threateningly, he couldn’t bring himself to kill them. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Even as another flock of pigeons dived from above to fight the rats, Simon could see that there had to be hundreds, if not thousands by now, coming relentlessly for them. They were trapped.” (This is in the middle of a New York City street in mid-day, and nobody notices anything. p. 51)
“‘Hey!’ yelled the doorman, but Simon was already running. The rats had nearly taken over the sidewalk, but seemingly oblivious pedestrians had formed a path through the battle, and Simon jumped from one clear spot to the next, narrowly missing several tails.” (p. 78)
“Vanessa stepped out from the crowd and blocked his way. Behind her, another half-dozen human members of the pack appeared, forming a semicircle around them. Tourists and families stepped around them easily, not seeming to notice the intrusion, but Simon stopped cold.” (p. 254)
I could go on, but you get the idea. The action gets increasingly desperate, and increasingly bland since Simon, who doesn’t know what’s going on, always easily wins. When he’s forced into a magical duel with Ariana, a girl who can turn into a black-widow spider and who is famous among the Animalgams for never being beaten, Simon easily beats her. The shapeshifting is not even pretend-plausible; it includes clothing and size. If a boy or girl turns into a mosquito, a shark, an alligator, a butterfly, or an elephant, the change is instantaneous and the Animalgam is ready to go. There are the stereotypically helpful sardonic tomboyish girl his own age, and the comically awkward glasses-wearing nerd who becomes the protagonist’s only friend – here it’s Jam, Benjamin Fluke, a boy weredolphin
Simon Thorn and the Wolf’s Den (cover by Owen Richardson) does not say that it’s Book One of a series, but the inconclusive ending leaves no doubt that a sequel is coming. Buy only if you’re really desperate for talking-animal books.
The Ladies, They Do Like Ladies
Here’s what it says: “On Loving Women is a new collection of stories about coming out, first love, and sexual identity by the animator Diane Obomsawin. With this work, Obomsawin brings her gaze to bear on subjects closer to home—her friends’ and lovers’ personal accounts of realizing they’re gay or first finding love with another woman. Each story is a master class in reaching the emotional truth of a situation with the simplest means possible. Her stripped-down pages use the bare minimum of linework to expressively reveal heartbreak, joy, irritation, and fear.” What it does not say is that Obomsawin tells these stories through simply drawn but very anthropomorphic characters. Now this 2014 trade paperback has been re-released by Drawn & Quarterly.
image c. 2016 Drawn & Quarterly
Episode 316 - Furry Jesus
Episode -35 - Anywhere between 4 and infinite dicks
Episode -36 - Disgusting Molestation Nubs
Doing the Impossible - The WagzTail team discusses an impossible race in the Tennessee mountains and ponders what possesses people to do crazy things. Also a diatribe against rude bicyclists.
The WagzTail team discusses an impossible race in the Tennessee mountains and ponders what possesses people to do crazy things. Also a diatribe against rude bicyclists.
Metadata and Credits Doing the Impossible
Runtime: 35:03m
Cast: Crimson X, Levi, Wolfin
Editor: Levi
Format: 128kbps ABR split-stereo MP3 Copyright: © 2016 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0.
Doing the Impossible - The WagzTail team discusses an impossible race in the Tennessee mountains and ponders what possesses people to do crazy things. Also a diatribe against rude bicyclists.
The WagzTail team discusses an impossible race in the Tennessee mountains and ponders what possesses people to do crazy things. Also a diatribe against rude bicyclists.
Metadata and Credits Doing the Impossible
Runtime: 35:03m
Cast: Crimson X, Levi, Wolfin
Editor: Levi
Format: 128kbps ABR split-stereo MP3 Copyright: © 2016 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0.
If You Seek Meaning in Life
Now, that love once did not exist because there was a time before which I did not know Jim. But, after I met him and got to know him, I fell in love with him. Therefore, Love can be Created, and, if it is Real Love (not lust or romantic idealized love, but real love), it will always exist.
Therefore, we are beings who have the power of Generative Love, and that is the remarkable gift that God has given us.
Our purpose, then, is not to seek to be loved (passive love, because you are merely receiving it), but to learn to love and to create everlasting love in the universe.
(Real love does not dictate, does not seek to change others, but is accepting of others for who they are.)
If you seek to do something truly meaningful in your life, then go out and create a loving world.
Blessed Be.
“Shut Up, You’re Weird Too” from furries around the world – NEWSDUMP (5-27-16)
Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag. Tips: patch.ofurr@gmail.com.
Canada’s CBC Radio – “‘Fursonas’ unzips the complex world of furry fandom.” Interview with Dominic Rodriguez (Video the Wolf), director of the movie.
Criterioncast.com reviews Fursonas. Joshua Brunsting calls it: “…a tender and nuanced meditation on a community that’s still trying to find itself… a noteworthy achievement for having the skill and will to let the narrative breathe.”
Furries Love Zootopia. On Uproxx, they smartly highlighted part of an interview with Video to point this out.
“Brisbane ‘furries’ find community and acceptance inside animal suits.” ABC News in Australia covers a “haven for the shy and socially awkward”.
Mexican news interview with Paco Panda (Tip: Fred Patten.) Translated from Spanish. Paco el Panda is identified as an artist in Guadalajara.
San Francisco Bay Area Furries get one of the best Furry News articles ever. How the furry community rallied when Zarafa Giraffe lost his head. Don’t miss our articles that mention it here and here already… it’s too good not to link again.
Bay Area Furs are very photogenic. “Photo Du Jour: Furries Like Taking Tourist Pics Too.”
OMG! @LoboLoc0 does amazing work! A shot from our SF photoshoot last Sun,in front of the Painted Ladies of Alamo Sq. pic.twitter.com/R53FAGZzV4
— Zarafa (@Zarafagiraffe) April 23, 2016Fursuiters at How Weird Street Faire in San Francisco.
In past years, furries have appeared in the fair’s promotional videos, news articles, and on local ABC TV news about it. This event starts their local street fair season. This gallery (browse to find some furries) shows the huge volume of the crowds – thousands upon thousands of people all dressed their weirdest. When fursuiters stand out among them, it says a lot about their undeniable fuzzy glamor.
RIP to Kyu Fox.
A Bay Area Furries announcement said: “Kyu Fox passed away on April 13th. He was fairly well known in the local community, and his loss is deeply felt.” There was a memorial potluck/bbq with fursuits on May 1. Photos or stories about Kyu were shared for a scrapbook scanned for everyone, with an original book given to his family.
“My First Furry Convention: Shut Up, You’re Weird, Too”.
A long time con staffer (for all kinds) gives an inside view of the mess and the magic. He discusses the small percent of assholes who inhabit every community (naming vandalism at an anime con of 17,000), mitigating complaints that Furries have unique problems. And he praises living with an open mind.
Ever heard of “FLESHIES?” Three trashy articles about furries, petplay, and otherkin.
Britain’s Daily Star: “Who are the furries? Britain’s kinkiest sex craze: People who romp dressed as ANIMALS”. They tweaked that headline for hits – before it was “Inside the world of ‘fursonas’, sex myths and £2000 costumes.” Marvel at the absurdly shitty fact-checking, “anonymous” sourcing and fake language. “Fleshies?” It’s the work of dishonest journalists stuffing in fake content to meet a quota. In journalism school, they call that “shaving the hamster”. More in Britain’s Daily Mail: “Secret Life of the Human Pups – the weird world of the grown men who enjoy dressing up as DOGS in roleplay craze sweeping the nation.” Then there’s VICE: “What It Means to Be Trans Species.”
I honestly think some of these #HumanPups could benefit from therapy, but unfortunately they're not allowed on the couch.
— Richard Osman (@richardosman) May 25, 2016Basically they're dog shaggers lets be honest #humanpups #vile
— Katrina (@xkatrina7291x) May 26, 2016Missing teen lost and found, fur charged with kidnapping.
Aiyana Wolf listed her age as 19 on FurAffinity. Her account has one art submission that declares love for Kelo, a 30-year old man. But she turned out to be age 16. Somewhere in their relationship, he stepped over the line. It was reported that she had a mental condition that “does not allow her to make realistic life choices.” She ended up running away from home to be with Kelo. They were found together and he was charged with kidnapping.
The out-of-touch professor.
On philly.com – “Commentary: First on campus encounter with ‘furry’ subculture.” A college professor belittles weird young people (it sounds like he finds “prancing” to be shamefully unmanly). He shares his dubious research to find out what they’re into – including this absurd gem. (Imagine this read in the droning voice of Ben Stein):
“the teenage outcast becomes a full-fledged furry, choosing a character name, a species, and personality traits, purchases a fur suit or animal costume, and joins the furry community, where he is mentored by older furs.”
Reddit – “TIFU by accidentally telling my four-year old daughter to be a cat.” We’ve all been there.
This is a great little animated short! “Film short about disabled puppy wins hearts, 59 awards, job offers from Disney.”
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AMAZING FURRY NEWS COMING SOON – Are Your Kids Safe From Weird Fur Craze Sweeping The Nation?
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Furry Anti-Defamation League Protests "No Dogs Allowed" Signs
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 23, 2015Fox Suits: The Blue Jeans Of Fursuiting
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 23, 2015Furry-American Rights: The Surprising Wedge Issue For The 2016 Election
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 26, 2015Hotel Offers Free Rabies Shots To Guests Who Complain About Furry Convention
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 26, 2015Ambulance Called To Furry Con Due To Hug Overdose
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 30, 2015Gay Bar Shuts Down To Reopen As Furry Bar
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 30, 2015ep 117 - Two In A Row! - woah, 2 weeks in a row!!! btw, come join us in t…
woah, 2 weeks in a row!!! btw, come join us in the telegram chat! https://telegram.me/draggetshow We discuss bastards, c-words, alkali's work, and answer listener questions! ep 117 - Two In A Row! - woah, 2 weeks in a row!!! btw, come join us in t…
Cats Dream of Electric Dogs
You gotta notice a story with an introduction like this: “Catland Empire is a graphic novel melding of a Phillip K. Dick story with a Saturday morning cartoon.” That’s how Drawn & Quarterly describe this new hardcover graphic novel by pop artist Keith Jones. “There will exist a future world where ‘human beings have become empty husks stripped of all memory when it comes to things like how to have fun and play games,’ or so says Mr. Space to his associate Mr. Time. The solution? Get the cats to teach humans how to have fun again. This is all the Cat People do with their lives. They are the fun and game masters. What follows is a tangled web of psychedelic science fiction blending anti-consumerism politics and intergalactic liaisons between cats and dogs, bitter enemies kept secret from each other to avoid a planetary race war.” Look for this new book to hit the shelves in early June.
image c. 2016 Drawn & Quarterly
“Species Identity Disorder” is absurd, and Boomer The Dog is awesome.
Joke news is fun.
Dragoneer Trades FA Source Code For Magic Beans From Gypsy Peddler
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) May 25, 2016
The Hard Times is a punk rock version of The Onion. They put out some of the funniest fake news anywhere.
“No One of Any Gender Wants To Use Venue Bathroom”
Did you hear news controversy about sharing bathrooms with trans people? Personally I pee on hydrants, so I don’t give a shit about where other dogs pee.
On a Furry topic, here’s a news story that reminds me of Poe’s Law (the internet rule that says that parodies of extreme views will be taken as sincere, unless you tell people it’s a parody.)
Willamatte Week: Getting a Grip on Furry Fandom and Species Dysphoria Blues.
“It’s 2016. Time to check your Cishuman privilege.” Cishuman… ha ha it’s fake, right?
Poe’s Law might happen if someone talks about this. It reminds me of a time when I praised someone using the handle SLUTTY WEREWOLF for having the funniest name. I adored the flaunty bluntness. Then SLUTTY WEREWOLF saw me post about the absurdity of “Species Identity Disorder” and unfriended me.
The International Anthropomorphic Research Project talks about “Species Identity Disorder.” It’s in their first published academic study, “Furries from A to Z (Anthropomorphism to Zoomorphism):”
“…that up to 46% of furries ‘may possibly represent a condition we have tentatively dubbed “Species Identity Disorder”‘.
The diagnosis of Species Identity Disorder, a term invented by Gerbasi, is defined by her as ‘…considering the self as less than 100% human and wanting to be 0% human [and] is often accompanied by discomfort with their human body and feeling that they are another species trapped in a human body‘. Gerbasi makes a direct comparison to Gender Identity Disorder.” – [Adjective][Species]: Furry Research: A Look Back at Dr Gerbasi’s Landmark 2007 Study.
Isn’t this usually called “make-believe?” But they call it a “disorder” and compare it to transgender. It was enough to provoke an entire criticism paper: (PDF) “Furries and the Limits of Species Identity Disorder: A Response to Gerbasi et al. Fiona Probyn-Rapsey.” (And their own response to say nuh uh.)
To be honest, I don’t have a lot of time to read such things. But I did read an IARP member’s explanation that backpedals from a label and says they were just trying to test for some “subclinical levels” of dysphoria, using similar questions about gender identity. Supposedly those could just translate to testing feelings about being human.
It sounds like using colors to measure inches. Isn’t that a non sequitur? The long explanation intuitively seems off, and the more wordy a defense gets, the worse it smells to me. “Subclinical” smells suspiciously like “microaggression”. Even if furs have some feelings about their species, how is it more than “make-believe?”
Studies of feelings can share more in common with slippery marketing than practitioners admit. Marketers can have a lot of success with methods to reach very wrong goals. (Over-relying on focus groups does that, like in this story about Coke reformulating to New Coke, a famous bomb, after focus group testing for answers they wanted.) I wouldn’t be surprised if testing voluntary, contained groups at furry cons gets squishy results.
To be honest again, I really like some IARP members and some of the study knowledge, but don’t trust other parts of the work that strongly resemble defensive PR. Specifically, I don’t trust minimizing sexy topics while they enjoy being a single media go-to source. Or having “family friendly” Uncle Kage as co-author on their first paper (with “species identity disorder” in it) and then reacting badly to another researcher not allowed at Anthrocon – with what appears to be politics.
That researcher was interested in furry-as-fetish, also drawing from a model, called “ETLE”. Find details in the link, and let me just suggest that the reason ETLE is controversial is because politics don’t allow anyone to compare transgender identity to fetish.
Don’t shoot the messenger, but if some people have fetish for playing as pets, how is it bad to suggest that some people might be mixed up with fetish for something as prosaic as gender? You don’t want to insult, but it’s not impossible to have multiple explanations.
I hosted that researcher’s study announcement and it was fiercely criticized. I was unimpressed by one IARP member’s reaction of calling it “shameful.” It smelled like politics. (Nobody noticed, but then he overcame criticism to complete the study.)
That’s a LOT of background about the silliness of “Species Identity Disorder.”
Here’s a wrinkle to calling it silly. Some outsiders bring it up to mock transgender, the way that anti-gay people say “what’s next, you want to marry your dog?” They think feeling at odds with your own gender is a joke and sign of moral decay.
@Montel_Williams if I've species dysphoria and think I'm a bird, can I crap on your car, legally?
— Johnny Dub (@realjohnadam) May 23, 2016
That’s funny by itself but not so much if it’s mocking trans people.
If a guy marries a guy there’s nothing wrong with it, and if someone gender transitions that’s OK.
Some people actually do want to marry their dogs and that’s… never mind. But at least dogs exist. Meanwhile I think “real” Species Identity Disorder wouldn’t be like believing your dog is in love with you. It would be like believing your lawnmower is in love with you. Or your sci-fi novel.
I don’t think it’s logical to compare things like gay relationships to marrying your dog, or transgender to transpecies. But sometimes it’s good to be illogical.
Emperor Norton
Boomer The Dog is a fairly famous furry and a Real Dog who charms audiences in the documentary “Fursonas”. He has a sweet personality in spite of nastiness he attracted for going on TV and “making the fandom look bad” (furryspeak for “Think Of The Children”.)
I have no idea whether he claims to be Otherkin or Therian or Trans-Species. I just remember him speaking in Fursonas about feeling the Spirit of a dog. To me, that sounds like a spiritual kind of philosophy. I don’t believe Boomer deserves any judgement about medical conditions. I don’t believe he has one related to this, and don’t think he claims to. That’s the difference from a “disorder” label.
Boomer has always been an awesome dog to me. To others, I might call him “The Emperor Norton of Furry Fandom“. It’s not like I know him very well, but whether he’s spiritual or just living a philosophy, I support him to be a dog.
I’d rather be a dog than dogmatically follow politics and labels.
#Triggered at stereotype in header. Not all furs are sexy wolves https://t.co/ubVGs4N7Ur #SomeAreUnsexy #NotAllBespectacledWhiteNerdboys
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) May 25, 2016
FA 020 Social Anxiety - Everyone experiences social anxiety but how can you overcome it?
Hello Everyone,
On tonight's episode we open with a discussion of a scientific study that shows how HIV can prematurely age the cells in your body by 5 years, according to one measure. Viro puts his PhD to use and gives a breakdown of what that means.
Our main topic is social anxiety — what is social anxiety, is it healthy or unhealthy, and what are ways you can reduce its effects and treat it? We answer these questions as well as give examples from our own lives of how we have overcome severe social anxiety issues and learned to embrace our own shortcomings.
This episode closes out our mental health month and we hope that you have been able to learn valuable tools with which to improve yourself and, in turn, your relationships as a whole. Remember: If you can't love yourself how in the hell can you love somebody else? (Thanks RuPaul!)
We end with a question on how to tell someone in an open relationship that you are only interested in their partner. Viro gives examples from his own life and Metriko talks about what happens when you don't talk about these things (hint: it's bad).
For more information, including a list of topics by timestamp, see our Show Notes for this episode.
Thanks and, as always, be well!
FA 020 Social Anxiety - Everyone experiences social anxiety but how can you overcome it?Learning to Accept It When a Love Interest Just Wants to Be Friends
I’m a female, 24 years old. I'm a bisexual. For the first time, I'm falling in love with a girl. She is my best friend. Absolutely, I never think to have a romantic feelings with her because I think she is not attracted to me. I’ve known her for 5 years before I had feelings for her. I'm slowly falling in love with her because we had to work out of town for two months it makes me stay in same place. She is always around me, sending me flirting message, holding my hands, and teasing me. Her body language tells me she likes me (I think). I never noticed her before because she treated me like that. I'm falling in love with her. After that work, we still make a conversation with social media, meet up, have dinner, watching fil [?], running and playing badminton together. I can see she loves me from her eyes, her body language. Until I know she climbed up the mountain with her ex and her friend. I'm jealous, but I'm silence, and the other day she attended graduation of her ex. I'm very jealous, but I never tell her why. I just argue something not necessary with her. I still act nice with her, but the truth is I'm deeply hurt. I feel she is just playing on my feelings. Until one day she asked me to be a partner to work out of town again. I'm accepting that (actually, I'm still in love with her).
First month still be ok, but she is so bossy; she gets mad if I don't do what she wants; she’s always right that I know. Second month I totally can't help myself again with angry feelings. I'm like a bomb, I'm explode, I don't want to talk with her, make a line, we argue, I just feel hurt and I know she feels that too (maybe). We disclose until few months and close again when I'm moving up from her town. I have a dinner with her at night, I will go. I give her shoes because I know she really likes running. I work to get money to buy it (it's expensive), and don’t use my parents’ money, and then tomorrow she asked me to take her to the airport. I said "ok.” She bring me to the airport, and gave me a present: a box with butterfly decorations and a sketchbook (she knows I really like drawing; I often sketch her face), and a bag with embroidery of my name. I still communicate with her, until I wanted to come out. I asked her what her feelings were for me? Does she feel the weird feeling I have? She said, "I think I don't feel what you feel to me."
It so hurt when I read it. I didn’t reply to her message for 3 weeks, and then I decided to reply. I told her, maybe 2-3 years I have feelings for her. I can understand if she thinks it's weird. I try to change. I pray, read the Bible, go to church, but it doesn’t help me. I'm deeply in love with her. This is my first time being a crazy girl who loves a girl, and I told her I love her no matter what. I said, if she wanted make a line with me, I'm okay because it's her decision. She said she wants to be my good friend. I'm lucky not because my love is unrequited, but she accepts me being her friend no matter what. I know my place, and I said, “good bye," but she doesn’t want me to stay away. It hurts. She just doesn't understand it's hard for me to stay around her when she doesn't have the same feelings like me. And now I don't make contact with her for maybe 3 weeks. Yesterday, she posted 2 photos on Instagram, using the shoes I gave to her.
What should I do? Is she sending me a code like "I like you too; I miss you"? Or does she just like the shoes I gave her?
Thank you. Best regards,
Anonymous (Indonesia, age 24)
* * *
Dear Furiend,
So, as I understand it, this is a case of unrequited love. You love her in a romantic way, but she just wants to be good friends. Correct?
It sounds as if you have done all the right things. You have talked to her about your feelings and she has expressed her feelings back to you. I've gone through the same thing you are going through right now. I told someone I love that I wanted to be with him, and he told me that it wouldn't work out and we should just be good friends. He gave a number of reasons (none of which were insurmountable), and I knew they were merely excuses and he was just trying to let me down easy. Yet, I also believed him when he said he cared about me and liked spending time with me and being my friend. So, that's it; today we are good friends.
One thing we need to learn in this world is we can't always have something just because we want it. The second thing to learn is that if you don't get it, it is not the end of the world.
Believe it or not, there is more than one person in the world out there for you. If there weren't, it would be really hard to find that one person among the 7+ billion people out there, wouldn't it? The things you like about this woman are not exclusive to her. There are, I'm certain, other people with similar qualities--and one of those people will not only have those qualities but will also be open to having a romantic relationship with you. Someday, you will find that person.
Before you do, however, you will need to stop obsessing over the woman who just wants to be friends. If you pursue her energetically, you will end up chasing her away even farther. Instead, accept her friendship. Friendships can be wonderful, beautiful things and should not be dismissed lightly. Using the above example, I would never tell the guy who rejected me that I want him out of my life because I value what we do have. Another example: recently, sadly, I was on the other end of the story: I broke up with someone who really loved me. I knew he loved me and I cared a lot about him, but he was so obsessive and jealous about this love that I just wasn't ready for it at this time in my life. Unfortunately, I can't just be friends with him because he once told me he could not bear being in the same room with me and "just be friends." The only solution was to break it off entirely. Is that what you want? Because that is what will happen if you obsess about this other woman.
Judging by what you have said about her, a romantic relationship is not an option. Either accept her as a friend or, if you can't bear that, break it off completely. (I hope you will choose friendship). Drop the jealous act. Jealousy is an ugly green demon and will only hurt you. Leave yourself open to other possible relationships. Be open to love, but not possessive of it, and it will find you.
Good luck, dear,
Papabear
Ursa Major Awards and a furry fandom game-changer – NEWSDUMP (5-24-16)
Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag. Tips: patch.ofurr@gmail.com.
Ursa Major Awards announced.
WE’RE #2! Awooooo!!! “Best Magazine” went to Heat from Sofawolf Press. Next year, maybe Dogpatch Press can get #1 with a shameless award campaign with sexy fursuit pin-up poses. (As fursuiter on staff, it’s not that I don’t have standards… I would enjoy it just as much as anyone who wants to see it.)
Congrats also to Furries Among Us, edited by Thurston Howl, a nice success for a new small publisher. Then there’s the interesting topic of “Best Website” for FurAffinity.
FurAffinity hacked – furry problems reach wider community.
VICE: “Another Day, Another Hack: Furry Site Hacked, Content Deleted.” Flayrah reported loss of six days of data and how the problem is being addressed.
Source code for the FurAffinity site was gained through a security hole. The code ended up on flash drives distributed at Biggest Little Fur Con, even left around at random. Shortly afterward, personal accounts were accessed. Some people who used passwords in common with other accounts (Google etc.) reported attempts to access those. Password reset was done for all users, locking some users out of their accounts if they weren’t linked to current email addresses.
Dogpatch Press got tips, although the info was already on this gossip forum. There was also an informative link to a timeline of FurAffinity’s problems maintained by Eevee.
There’s a long pattern of problems. But then it couldn’t have been easy to build a large fan-based site with a very shaky business model. In my opinion, it shows outside stigma as much as inside mistakes, and a positive testament to fan commitment.
Furry Network launched to the public – do FurAffinity’s problems make opportunity for a game-changer?
On May 12-15, Biggest Little Fur Con was host for a planned launch event for Furry Network. It’s the new art site sparked by IMVU’s buyout of FurAffinity, and developed by the minds behind Bad Dragon, king of what I call the “shadow economy” of Furry fandom.
If we named two leading “institutions” rising out of grassroots, DIY fandom (“Big Furry”), the other might be Anthrocon, representing the “family friendly” light side. Occasionally I bring up the 2012 rule change that blocked Bad Dragon from Anthrocon – a superficially tiny event representing a major schism between two fundamentally conflicting camps. Their strange coexistence is the biggest drawback and strength of Furry. (It’s no mistake that the recent Fursonas documentary specifically focused on leaders of both.)
Game-changer is a hype term – which may be well deserved. Furry Network appears to offer the first widely useable mediation system for payments and ratings to manage Furry business. Flayrah recently had discussion about why Furry-specific auction sites only inhabit a small niche apart from activity hubs. This would be the first fandom-specific site to bring it together.
Remember how FurAffinity’s “cub problem” kept it from having a relationship with a payment processor, preventing growth? Whatever Dragoneer’s faults, he kept the site largely untamed with only modest compromise about content. But that was natively an art site, not an adult business built in the face of outside stigma about “morality”. Furry Network starts out with a robust payment system already in place thanks to a thriving market for Bad Dragon products.
We sure do - complete with support for adult works, buyer/seller protection, and dispute resolution in-house. :D https://t.co/c14ZScQbDB
— Furry Network (@FurryNetwork) May 19, 2016Could a potential game-changer like this come from any other fan institution? It’s why I say “porn saves.”
FurAffinity’s most recent drama isn’t the first time they faced a challenge from competition during a crisis. Last year Flayrah reported shedding users when the FurAffinity Forums broke away. Now, security measures on FA (including new Captchas) have a suspiciously convenient side-effect. Grab popcorn.
Hey everyone! We're sorry the importer isn't working - we looked into it, and it seems to be because the source site is in read-only mode.
— Furry Network (@FurryNetwork) May 21, 2016“Announcing the Furry Writers Guild University!”
It may look like just another subforum, but it’s a home for online writing workshops sponsored by the FWG.
“What I’d love for the FWGU to become — with our members’ and supporters’ help — is a place where both new and experienced furry writers can come to learn about writing in a more in-depth way than just a single critique, where our experienced members can pay it forward by leading workshops for their peers and up-and-coming writers in the fandom, and where writers who don’t have the ability to travel to conventions and attend panels can get a little of that same panel experience online from wherever they are. If anyone (member or future member) would like to lead a workshop, we have a proposal form here you can fill out and submit.” – (Renee Carter Hall, “Poetigress”, FWG President 2014-2016.)
Furry Publishers twitter accounts collected by Fuzzwolf of FurPlanet. A list of 14 publishers for furry authors to know.
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AMAZING FURRY NEWS COMING SOON – Zootopia Porn Parody As Popular As Real Thing In #7!
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Big Pharma Upset When Furry Hugs Proven Better Than Overpriced Pills
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 14, 2015Con Rulebook Suggests Not To Party Until You Puke Inside Your Fursuit
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 14, 2015Time Traveler Comes From 2022 To Stop Furry-Brony World War
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 22, 2015Museum Of Furry's First Exhibit Is Uncle Kage’s Liver
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 23, 2015Grumpy Old Man In Sleeping Gown Throws Shoe At Furry Orgy
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 22, 2015Obama Commissions Fursuit So He Can Go Places Without Secret Service Hanging Off His Ass
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 22, 2015
Member Spotlight: Renee Carter Hall
1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?
My most recent published work is Huntress, the story of a young anthro lioness’ journey to become one of her people’s elite female hunters. Some of the character names and deities were taken from an old notion I’d had many years before to write a Watership Down-style novel about regular lions, but the story of Huntress was inspired by an episode of the National Geographic Channel’s show Taboo. It focused on the practice of “breast ironing,” where young women have to either painfully flatten their breasts so they can stay “girls” and keep going to school, or let their bodies develop, officially becoming women, and then be forced into marriage. The conflict of that choice stayed with me, and a more extreme version of it became part of the book.
2. What’s your writing process like? Are you a “pantser,” an outliner, or something in between?
The process can vary from project to project, but for longer works I usually make a few pages of notes brainstorming possible scenes, characters, elements, and so forth, which then turns into a list of key scenes. It’s a pretty flexible, organic type of outline, though, and things often get added, changed, or moved as I get into the writing. The other part of my process is that I try to work longhand for first drafts whenever I can, especially for short pieces; for a lot of different reasons, it feels better to me than composing with a keyboard.
3. What’s your favorite kind of story to write?
I’ve always felt most at home in fantasy, whereas science fiction is more a place I visit the suburbs of but don’t feel comfortable venturing into the heart of the city. I like adding a touch of humor where I can. And of course, I like writing anything with an animal or animal-like character involved, or I wouldn’t be here!
4. Which character from your work do you most identify with, and why?
There’s a lot of me in Leya from Huntress — her longing, her drive, her perfectionism, and her questioning. I admit, though, sometimes I do feel like Dinkums from Real Dragons Don’t Wear Sweaters, wanting to be taken seriously as a fearsome creature of legend despite being pink, fuzzy, and cute. Whenever I feel like I should be writing some kind of gritty, edgy, epic trilogy that will win prestigious awards; whenever I feel like I’m just writing these silly, shallow little stories that will never really matter — yeah, that’s Dinkums.
5. Which authors or books have most influenced your work?
A lot of my influences aren’t technically (or primarily) authors, but when it comes to my furry fiction, it’s pretty easy to pick out the notable turning points on the timeline. I read Bambi around age 10 because I was curious how it compared to the movie — and found that in many ways I liked the book better. As I’ve read it again and again over the years, I’ve come to appreciate its reverence for the natural world and its adult sensibility that doesn’t resort to easy, sentimental answers. Later, books like Ratha’s Creature and Watership Down opened up the possibility of writing animal fantasy in a way that included culture and change (with or without humans being part of the mix). In late high school, I fell hard for the Redwall books, and though the formula eventually wore thin, that initial enchantment became a big influence on my first published novel, By Sword and Star (I wrote a whole blog post about that here).
Later on, around the time that I was getting into the furry fandom, I read S. Andrew Swann’s Forests of the Night and started to see possible ways to write the bipedal type of “furry” fiction, in addition to the more feral style of animal fantasy that I was already familiar with. Without question, my biggest influence among fandom works was a short story I discovered online, “Wings” by Todd G. Sutherland. That inspired my own story “Dog Days,” which then became my first story published within the fandom.
6. What’s the last book you read that you really loved?
That would be Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy, which is probably the best contemporary YA book I’ve read since Laurie Halse Anderson’s Catalyst. Willowdean’s voice, emotions, and struggles ring true on every page, and for me there were a lot of smiles (and cringes) of recognition. It’s a rare book that truly can make me tear up at one scene and laugh out loud at another, but Dumplin’ managed both.
7. Besides writing, how do you like to spend your free time?
I’m an insatiable reader, rarely going more than a few minutes between books, so if I’m not writing, I’m probably reading. Lately I’m also enjoying adult coloring books as a way to relax using art, without the pressure I put on myself if I’m trying to draw or paint something original.
8. Advice for other writers?
The tl;dr version is: Keep writing, keep reading, keep learning. Do those three things and it’s impossible not to improve. The learning can be via critiques, classes and workshops, how-to books, whatever suits your situation best.
Which brings me to the other big one for me: When it comes to process, there’s no right or wrong way. You don’t have to write some certain number of words a day (or even write every day) to be a “real” writer, and you don’t have to follow someone else’s path to success (in fact, you probably can’t anyway). We’re all different. Don’t fall into the trap of feeling bad because you’re not doing what Pompous Successful Writer says you should be doing. Find what works for you.
9. Where can readers find your work?
The hub for everything is my website, http://www.reneecarterhall.com, and the best way to keep up with what I’m doing is to sign up for my mailing list. I’m also on Twitter as @RCarterHall (warning: I retweet a lot of cat pics), and I have galleries on FA and Weasyl as Poetigress.
10. What’s your favorite thing about the furry fandom?
It’s become something of a cliché answer for this question, but looking at the fandom as a whole, the level of creativity and enthusiasm is pretty amazing, especially considering how much of it is focused on creating original content and not just replicating or re-purposing something from a media source.
On a personal level, I love that there’s a place where I can share a serious story starring an animal character without worrying that it’s going to be automatically dismissed as weird or as something silly for children. As much as I love publishing anthropomorphic fiction outside the fandom, and as much as I want to see its audience grow beyond the boundaries of furry, it’s still reassuring to know that the fandom’s supportive space and audience are open to me as a creator.
Check out Renee Carter Hall’s member bio here!
To Nowhere In Particular
Over the years there have been many, many illustrated editions of Kenneth Grahame’s seminal anthropomorphic work, The Wind in the Willows. Now IDW Publishing have brought forth a new edition — this time, illustrated by an artist who is himself well-known in the world of anthropomorphics. “Experience the timeless story of Toad, Rat, Mole, and Badger in a beautiful new hardcover designed and illustrated by New York Times Bestselling author and Eisner Award-winning creator David Petersen (Mouse Guard). Painstakingly illustrated over three years, this special edition features both color and pen and ink illustrations throughout and Petersen will be hand-signing each copy of the 1st printing.” Find out more over at IDW’s web site, and look for this new hardcover edition galloping your way this coming October.
image c. 2016 IDW Publishing