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Devil’s Due Entertainment have announced that their most successful comic book, Squarriors (written by Ash Maczko and illustrated by Ashley Witter) will soon return with a new full-color 4-issue miniseries entitled Volume 2: Summer. One comic book reviewer described the original series as “Watership Down meets The Walking Dead“. If cute rodents with swords and lots and lots of blood are your thing, it’s all here with top-notch art. Watch for it next week, and visit the Devil’s Due web site to learn more.

image c. 2016 Devil’s Due

When I first heard about the concept of post-con depression, the idea made a lot of sense. We have a massive community of people who meet each other over sites like Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, and various furry art hubs. These groups of people travel across or fly over states, countries or in some cases continents and oceans to see these online friends possibly once a year for a weekend, if that.

That’s already bittersweet.

But when you consider going to a big con – and presently attending is an amalgam of so many internet personalities you had conversed with or seen – it feels less like a get-together of friends and more like a supernatural event. Maybe like that scene in the film Big Fish where all the people Edward Bloom had met in his life showed up to attend his funeral, juxtaposing themselves as they exist now with the ghost of the narrative that surrounded them. Except less macabre. Alternatively, it could be compared to something like a World’s Fair for a very specific group of people.

And this convention I attended was indeed very fair-like. In the dealer’s den there were booths for everything from harnesses and tails to scarves and soap, plus artwork, books, jewelry, and custom renaissance fair outfits. There were board game expositions with groups of friends playing together. I attended and participated in panels with some of the brightest creative minds, young and old, that I had met.

Come Saturday, I saw all of the props and displays getting taken apart, and that was my first inkling of inexplicable dread, like a small voice in my head that said ‘this ephemeral extravaganza is going to phase out of existence entirely, and what was will never be again‘. That voice was no long a whisper when Sunday morning came, and I could see a sizable chunk of the crowd had already gone, having stole away in the night. I regretted not going to the Saturday dance. When I was younger, I used to be very much into British and Irish folklore, so the thought of pixie rings popped into my head: where people could not stop dancing if they joined in the revelry of the faeries, and having partaken in their food and their music meant the people could no longer return to the mortal world.

It certainly didn’t help that this convention was Rainfurrest 2015.

That being said, I most certainly don’t have precognition, so my hairs would have stood on end similarly for any big con with a support group for writers. At one point on a Saturday, I remarked to a friend: “you know, everybody we run into seems to be wearing ears and a tail at the very least, and I’m starting to want one. But then I realize I’d have nowhere else to wear it.”

And that moment was the light bulb going off in my head– that decisive moment where you can feel that a subculture is truly a subculture and is leaving an anthropological impression in the world. I thought of Foucault’s literary theory of Panopticism.

For those not familiar, Michel Foucault was a French philosopher made famous for his ideas of power and control and how they construct and interact with our social worlds. One of his ideas was that of the social Panopticon, based on an institutional building invented by Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century where a single guard would sit at the center of a spherical building, the surrounding walls holding the prisoners in their cells, making all cells in the institution visible to the guard at a time. Despite this being impossible, prisoners could still feel the gaze of the sentinel, and it was enough to prevent bad behavior. Inmates would start policing their own behavior as well as the behaviors of other prisoners, because it could not be discerned whether the guard was looking at them at any time or not. Foucault presents the argument that all of society acts as this guard, including ourselves, while at the same time we each act as the prisoner. We self-police based on the gazes we give and receive, and what we consider “bad” behavior changes as the guard changes.

Fashion is a very subtle form of this self-policing, and it can be exacerbated to extremes in environments like high school and freshman college dorms. For example, as a personal experience, when I was in high school I noticed that everybody wore jeans, while I didn’t care for them. I made it a point to not wear jeans. I wore nylon shorts, and khakis, and any form of legging that I could find that didn’t include denim. I never talked about this, but it was noticed. Many young women would look at my legs and raise their eyebrows. At one point I was nicknamed “professor” because I didn’t wear jeans.

By the beginning of my senior year, I started wearing jeans. I had warmed up to them, though I can’t say if this was more due to a change of taste or sheer peer pressure. Either way, my wearing jeans was noticed. I was given croons of approval. I was invited to more social outings. There was a noticeable difference in how I was seen and treated, and more than a few people told me I was, no kidding, now hot.

We know that the societal pressures of fashion are real. While the high school example is an extreme, I felt the same pressure from not wearing ears, a tail, or a costume over the course of a single weekend at a furry con, and that is nuts. That the furry con and subculture has a strong enough ethos to give me subconscious pressure about not wearing something is significant to me. It blurs the lines between culture and subculture in a way that gives me a small headache.

It gave me a new outlook on what post-con depression could be: not just the distress from parting with friends who you talk to every day, but self-doubt about the permanence and place of your subculture. It elicits questions like: “Was the furry of today going to be the furry of tomorrow?”, “Are all of the other cons like this?”, “Is it gone already and is it never coming back?”, “Should I have danced that last Saturday night, and will I regret not doing so for the rest of my life?”

I would bet these sentiments exist in other conventions where contribution, creativity and ingenuity is at the crux of the particular subculture, but there is so much in furry tied to identity and presentation of the self that I’m not sure it would be entirely the same at any other nerd convention.

We love our friends, and we miss them, too, but we also have this lingering thought of “the fair has left the town, but it has been here before me and will go on without me. When it comes back, if it comes back, will I still be able to recognize it? Will I want to be back?”

That is a lot to grapple with.

Hello, Papa.
 
I don't know if this counts as much as a question as it does as a desperate cry for help.

Also, this is going to take very long to read, so take as much time as you need to respond, and to anyone who reads this, I hope it's at least helpful for you.

I have written to you before back in the day when I had a different fursona and I had no problem in letting everyone know who I was and what 'my situation' was, back when I was still a manipulative man child desperately looking for excuses to latch onto the carefree nature of my childhood - avoiding the responsibilities that adulthood brings. I've been telling myself for the longest time that it's okay to be childlike (having childlike interests) only to disguise my immaturity. I'm aware it's okay to collect plush toys and keyholders and play games and all that stuff, but I've been using all that scheme as a scapegoat to keep myself from becoming an adult. I have finally turned 24 just today and I'm still as stuck as I was when I was 18 and I spent a whole year doing nothing after high school.

I haven't lost it. I keep being manipulative, I keep getting jealous and envious and angry over petty things, enforcing the idea on myself that I'm worthless and therefore I have the 'right' to be upset over ridiculous things, and I constantly compare my personal value with others so as to keep telling myself that other people are better than me and that that's the reason why I don't make it in life.

In fact I'm getting everything mixed up. So, if you don't mind reading a bit more than usual for a question, here are a few anecdotes that might give you a better idea of my current emotional and mental state.

I had been doing a Fluoxetine treatment for little over six months and I had decided to drop it because I told myself I don't need pills to do well in life and feel better, and for some time it seemed to be true as I was in fact doing better.

I don't know if it's got to do with me having left the pills, but now I get more and more hysterical more easily, getting upset over the smallest remarks, pretty much like my 2nd girlfriend used to do, who was by far the most manipulative person I've ever met - she used physical illnesses to keep people held by the b@lls, that's how far it went.

Last Friday I was in the university's cafeteria and, scrolling through Google+, I found a particular post in a fetish themed community I was following; someone had republished a picture of a furry I really like/d with another fur (a picture that they themselves would have never shown me), and if anyone has known me for a long time they would know I lost my sh!t over it; my face went hot and my hands and legs went cold, and I was so angry I wanted to punch the table and make a hole in it if I could have. I saw myself getting back to the old days of getting upset and angry and full of hatred over something that somebody else would never have (seriously, it's ridiculous). And most importantly, I realized that I was essentially being so overly sensitive over everything so as to get back to my man-child days of trying to manipulate people with my anger or sadness.

I went and told this furry how I felt and things between me and them have been really awkward since then, as I'm not even sure how s/he feels about it and I'm almost certain I left a horrible impression (I know I in their shoes would have been creeped out as hell, or pissed at least). But most importantly, and as far as my own issues are concerned (which are the only thing I can actually make a dent on), seeing them in my contacts list is only a permanent reminder of my current emotional and mental decay. I'm 24 and I keep doing the same things I did when I was 18, which were already immature and harmful in their own accord back then.

The most important thing, and the MAIN reason why I'm writing this letter to you (gee, it took me so long), is because all of this is heavily interfering in my main concern, which are my studies, or lack thereof in my case.

It's the second time I'm going through the same course—I lost a whole year last year, and in doing so I also wasted a great job opportunity to earn a lot of money just looking after my brother's house while his partner and him were on a holiday trip to Europe, also throwing our relationship down the sh!tter with how I evaded that responsibility. So I did nor one thing nor the other.

You would think that being the second time I'm doing the first year of this career, I would have some experience and I would be studying harder. But in fact, I'm as lost as I was last year and everyday I'm about to give up. Sometimes I even feed myself with negative thoughts about jumping off the bridge I cross every Tuesday and Thursday night on my way back home from volleyball lessons.

Basically, I'm constantly falling back into the vices of deceiving myself with "I'll study later" and investing time and emotions into internet stuff, putting so much thought and energy into it that getting upset over internet events can already ruin my day to the point that I no longer have any motivation to do anything else. That day when I saw this picture of this furry crush with someone else, I was so upset I took a bus back home and told my mother that "algebra class had been cancelled" just so I could give myself an excuse to sleep all day. That's how far it goes.

So here's the question: What do I do?

Anonymous (age 24; Argentina)
 
* * *
 
Hi Furiend
 
Question: did all this bad stuff happen after you stopped taking Fluoxetine?  Are you still not taking it?
 
[Note to readers: Fluoxetine is an antidepressant designed to also lessen anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic attacks. It should be dispensed only under a doctor’s supervision.]
 
Papabear
 
* * *
 
It wasn't immediately after I stopped taking it, but I'm still not taking it, and in all honesty I don't want to keep on taking it because I don't want to rely on pills to grow up as a person.
 
* * *
 
Hello, again,
 
Okay, well, there is a clear correlation between your not taking your medication and things getting much worse for you. I understand and sympathize with the fact that you don't want to be on medication, but sometimes people need medicine. There is no shame in that, and there is no shame in your taking Fluoxetine any more than there is shame in someone with a heart condition taking medicine so that they can live.
 
It is very common for people such as yourself to suddenly decide—usually against doctors' orders—to stop their medication. This is unwise and often leads to a lot of pain and suffering. Just because you are on medication doesn't mean that it is the thing responsible for your personal growth. That's all you. Indeed, NOT taking it is making it MORE difficult for you to become the kind of person you wish to be.
 
I am not a doctor, so I am not comfortable stating for certain this is what needs to be done, but I would very strongly recommend you go back to your physician and talk to him or her about this. My prediction is that the doctor will prescribe the Fluoxetine again (it seemed to be working) or possibly change the dosage or try a different medicine if it makes you feel better. Also, talk to your doctor to see if there might be things you can do to, over time, lessen the dosage or even, eventually, get off of it, but stopping it abruptly on your own without medical advice was not the thing you should have done.
 
Some people think it shows weakness taking medicine. Actually, it takes great strength to admit you have a problem and follow your doctor's orders. Keep working on your condition and perhaps it will improve in the future, but for now, I'm fairly certain you need to get back on Fluoxetine, hon.
 
Good Luck,
Papabear
 ​

Yay, we're back! Hopefully for good this time. Great ep where we talk about POD Dragon, revolutionizing slavery, Fallout 4, Quantum Break, the 2016 election and more! ep 116 - POD Dragon! - Yay, we're back! Hopefully for good this time. G…

Wolves are known for being proud, majestic creatures. Known for their loyalty, courage, and intelligence – but it wasn’t always that way. There was a time people saw wolves as only monsters and creatures to fear, for they hunt in the night, kill livestock, and send eerie howls to the full moon. These fears have almost driven these misunderstood creatures into extinction.  As scientist studied them more, the more public opinion of them began to change – but stereotypes are hard to get rid of.

That’s why organizations like the National Wolfwatcher Coalition strive to ‘educate, advocate, and participate’ for the long term recovery and the preservation of wolves based on the best available science and the principles of democracy.‘ One of those ways is through their popular anthology, Wolf Warriors.  

You can be a part of it.  Going into it’s third volume, Wolf Warriors III is being edited by Thurston Howl and published by Thurston Howl Publications. The anthology is used as a fundraiser for the National Wolfwatcher Coalition to continue their mission. The idea for the anthology played a huge part in getting Thurston Howl Publications off the ground and putting Howl’s editing skills to work.

Thurston Howl Publications is an odd duck in furry publishing:

“THP is one of the world’s first furry-inclusive (as opposed to furry-exclusive and furry-excluding/non-furry) publishing house. Based in TN, it publishes almost ten books a year, has a staff of almost thirty people, and, so far, has received a nomination for the Ursa Major Award for its nonfiction furry essay collection published last year. (Furries Among Us). It is a very good group, and I’ve loved all of our clients so far.”

Howl himself stumbled across our fandom when he was doing research about animals who symbolize literary representations of lust:

“Of course, I stumbled across the fandom through media portrayals of furry as a “kink,” but after going to my first furmeet and interviewing furries, I realized I wasn’t too different at all. That was roughly four or five years ago. Since then, I have written, edited, and published furry fiction. I want THP to rise up as an affordable yet high-quality seller of books for the fandom.”

Thurston Howl

This year’s theme for Wolf Warriors is Winter Wolves. What does that mean?

“Honestly, I’m expecting half of the pieces to just have a winter setting, while the other half might be specifically holiday-themed.”

If you wish to submit, you’re free to interrupt that as you will. There’s no limit to genre or even type of story. They’re looking for everything from short stories, essays, flash fiction, poetry, and artwork, to photography. Submission guidelines for each can be found on Thurston Howl Publication’s website. Please be sure you read all the requirements before writing or submitting your story. This is a general audience book, so any adult content will not be accepted.

Wolf Warrior is a non-paying market book, but if your work is accepted, Thurston Howl Publications will discuss terms and rights. The true goal of the anthology is to show people that wolves are not the monsters we’ve build them to be. To show people how amazing these beautiful creatures are. Whether they walk on four paws or two, wild or civilized, let’s show what the true beauty of wolves can be. Aroooo!

Wolf Warrior III – Winter Wolves deadline is June 15th.  The book is planned for release later this year.

-Pup Matthias

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

The Sage of Waterloo: A Tale, by Leona Francombe
NYC, W. W. Norton & Co., June 2015, hardcover $22.95 (x + 224 pages), Kindle $11.99.

This leisurely novel will tell you more than you want to know about the famous Battle of Waterloo of June 17, 1815. To the rabbits who live there today, it’s the only exciting thing that ever happened there. They never tire of hearing about it, in detail. William, the narrator, is one of those rabbits.

“Waterloo is where I was born, and where I spent the first three years of my life. Well, technically it wasn’t Waterloo itself but the ancient Brabant farm of Hougoumont, one of the iconic battle sites situated in the fields a few kilometers farther up the Chaussée de Waterloo. In 1815, this long, forested avenue funneled weary streams of humanity back and forth between the battlefield and the city – between destiny and deliverance.” (p. 5)

This may be the last generation that Hougoumont knows as a farm. William describes its decline from a working farm to a forgotten relic. “I was happy at Hougoumont. The last farmer to live there was not like the aristocrats who had once owned the chateau (there was no more chateau – the French had shelled it). He raised cattle, and seemed far less interested in rabbit and pigeon dishes than his predecessors. He was, thank heavens, a frozen–food sort of man, and thus our existence was blissfully irrelevant.” (p. 7) The rural village of Waterloo has expanded into a modern small city, and the old farm with its rabbit hutches and dovecotes will soon be torn down.

“I am no longer young. I’ll be eleven in a few months, which not only requires math well beyond my skills to calculate in human years, but also obliges me to press on with my storytelling. Those of you who are already experiencing the adventure of aging may have discovered that this part of the journey does not only entail unexpected dips and fissures in the road, aches in the limbs, problems reaching those hard-to-clean areas (Old Lavender gave them up early on) and so forth.” (pgs. 12-13). William describes his hutchmates in detail. “Jonas, a distant cousin, was a rash, handsome buck infamous for his preening, scheming, and disreputable tail-chasing.” (p. 13) “Boomerang, a slightly crazed uncle, had the obscure habit of throwing himself sideways against the barrier, bouncing off at ever-more-interesting angles.” (p. 14) “Caillou was the runt (his name, fittingly, meant ‘pebble’).” (ibid.) And others. “Most of us followed the general rules that defined the Hollow Way. Yield. Bump ahead. No left turn. That sort of thing. It was a predictable sort of life, vigorously stamped with the colony’s imprimatur: milling, eating, nudging, nipping, dozing … milling, eating, nudging, nip …You get the idea.” (p. 16)

The doyen of the hutch is Old Lavender, their ancient grandmother. “No one could say how long Old Lavender had lived in the colony. She was grandmother to at least ten generations, and while other relatives disappeared over the years at the farmer’s whims, or those of Moon, the invisible arbiter of our kind, she had always been permitted to stay. No one dared to cross her. She was just too big, for one thing. And of course, there was that smell …” (p. 2) And Old Lavender likes to tell about the Battle of Waterloo.

“After a period of reflection – several days or so – Old Lavender would lecture to the enclosure at large. The place was crowded: we were unable to eat, groom, fornicate or daydream more than about a foot away from someone else, so she had a decent captive audience. Not that we objected. She mined her Waterloo passion for treasures that were exclusively ours for the taking.” (p. 29)

Francombe tries to keep it interesting. Parts of the story are straight narration. Parts are in the form of a quiz.

“Mornings were reserved for pop quizzes: ‘What did Wellington have for breakfast?’ (Hot, sweet tea and toast. Napoleon, by the way, took his breakfast on silver plate.) ‘Why was Napoleon such a poor rider?’ (He slid around on the saddle too much, wearing holes in his breeches.) ‘How long was Generalfeldmarschall Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher pinned under his dead horse?’ (Even longer than it takes to pronounce his name properly.) ‘What did they use to revive him?’ (Blücher, not the horse: gin and garlic.)” (p. 35)

William loses himself in visions of himself as the heroic cast.

“I hardly knew which one to choose from. For guaranteed escape, Wellington was always a good bet, so I would track him eagerly as he rode about all day in his plain blue frock coat and bicorne hat, amazed at how such a mythmaker could subsist on just hot tea and toast. Then I would leave the Duke to his reconnoitering for a while and practice pronouncing Generalfeldmarschall Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. I never really mastered it, despite all the hours spent trying, thereby gaining a much greater appreciation of the old Prussian general’s predicament. (He was seventy-three at the time.) When these activities paled, I imagined myself boldly escaping from the Hougoumont barn during the fiercest of the fighting, leaping across the chateau garden through a blizzard of bullets, the finger of providence firmly upon me.” (p. 36)

This sort of thing goes on throughout the book. It is not all fleshed-out history, though. It is mixed with William’s explorations outside the Hougoumont rabbit hutch. He is dumbfounded to discover that a blackbird knows as much about the Battle of Waterloo as his grandmother does. When Old Lavender disappears, William and Arthur, the blackbird, search for her. What they find relates not only to her but to William’s own history.

The Sage of Waterloo (cover by the Strick&Williams art agency; a montage from Getty Images) is clever. It transcends the story of the Battle of Waterloo to tell its own original story. But if you are not interested in the Battle of Waterloo itself, there may not be enough here to hold your interest.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Buy on W.W. Norton
• Interview with head of Strick&Williams

This June, Boom! Studios will release Cheat Code, the latest Original Graphic Novel based on the popular animated series The Amazing World of Gumball from Cartoon Network. “Cheaters never prosper. But Gumball and Darwin don’t know that! While the Watterson boys are grounded, their classmates advance ahead of them in the new, super-popular video game Monster Fight Friends. A mysterious and forbidden cheat code is just what they need. Too bad it unleashes a gigantic, tech-crazy kaiju onto the streets of Elmore! Written by Megan Brennan (Pencil Pup) and illustrated by Katy Farina, The Amazing World of Gumball: Cheat Code takes adventure in Elmore to a whole new level.” Find out more about this new trade paperback over at Simon & Schuster.

image c. 2016 Boom! Studios

Hello Everyone!

On this week's podcast we open with a discussion on why you might be experiencing poor sleep when you are in a new environment. Is it just anxiety, excitement, or could it be a more primal, feral sensation that your brain is having?

Our main topic is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Cognitive Distortions. We discuss what the most common cognitive distortions are and how they can affect the way that you perceive the world, as well as interfere with your relationships. We then discuss ways that you can manage these distortions and find a path to a happier, healthier you. 

Cognitive Distortions are a serious issue, especially when you put them in play into a relationship. They allow for negative, self-sabotaging behavior to rear its ugly head and the collateral damage can be incredibly great. While we discuss common methods for coping and resolving these issues, we do want to stress that we are not licensed mental health experts; this podcast does not represent any form of consultation or diagnosis. If you have further questions or want to come up with an action plan for correcting behaviors we discuss in this show, seek help from a licensed professional that specializes in this area.

We close out the episode with a question about how to tell your long-term monogamous partner that you want to give polyamory a try. We talk about communication a lot in our answer.

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 019 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - What are cognitive distortions and what are the common therapies recommended to help treat them?

Pic: Nicole White/ The Daily Californian. Left to right: @Spottacus, @errowolf, Lauren Mayberry, @Metric_fox.

At a recent show by the band CHVRCHES, fursuiters in the audience were invited on stage.  Berkeley’s Daily Californian praised the spontaneity of the show:  Furries, fans unite at CHVRCHES performance at Fox Theatre.  

Lauren Mayberry, the band’s frontwoman, told the audience: “If the republicans get into office, this sh!t won’t fly!” 

It was all a surprise.  Some of the Bay Area Furries were there just as fans, with no plan to participate on stage.  But they’re not shy about sharing the spotlight that way.  It happens often, like in July 2015:  Fursuiters were kings at Andrew WK’s Pizza Party in San Francisco.

It comes from a subculture at it’s most fertile.  It’s because they’re in Furry Mecca, and 2016 is the Year of Furry, and these fans make effort like no others to spread the love.  If you’re feeling sad or afraid, or negative or worried about the world, bring furries to make it better.

Here’s full videos of the surprise fursuiting with CHVRCHES.

This activity keeps growing in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Previously in “Bay Area Furs find out why there should be a Furry award for Best Journalism” – The Daily Dot journalist Whitney Kimball visited and put out this article –  How the furry community rallied when Zarafa Giraffe lost his head.  Furries in the story loved the thoughtful, positive coverage about what they do.

There have always been many reasons for the Bay Area to be “Furry Mecca”.  Look at the history and activity:

• It’s a place that the media treats as a “hotbed” of Furry subculture, with “the world’s greatest concentration of furries per square mile” according to Wikifur.

• Wikifur names Silicon Valley as a source for early online fandom.  Even earlier, the Bay Area was the source for ‘zines that Fred Patten called “the earliest generally available publication in furry fandom” ,and “The most famous and successful furry magazine”. It helped scattered fans to grow their own community.

• BayCon helped to spawn the first Furry con (ConFurence) organized by Mark Merlino and Rod O’Riley.  “May, 1987: Merlino established BayCon as the center of activity for Furfans to gather. There was a large, and growing, contingent of Furry fans at this, and the next two, Baycons. The non-furry guests grew increasingly hostile at this ‘take over’…”

• Now, the Bay Area is home for activities like “the original furry dance party” (Frolic) which helped to spawn an entire movement of independent Furry dance parties across North America.

Frolic is where Spottacus met Whitney Kimball for her article in The Daily Dot.  He shared his opinion to her:

‘This is wonderful… it sets the right tone, weaves several threads into a great story with exactly the right feeling, and captures the essence of what is going on inside the head inside the fursuit. You really brought the different threads together, and it worked really well. I really like how you incorporated transformative aspects into both our furry and human lives, how you HEARD the tears in Zarafa’s voice when he described the community’s responses, and breaking the 4th wall when you put on my fursuit, and the observer became the subject. Articles like not only really help the fur community, but they help anyone going through life-changing, transformative experiences.

Last week, a few furfriends and I got invited onstage with CHVRCHES on their way to Coachella. Here’s the video.

And a few furfriends were asked to join a Dandy Warhols’ video shoot in February, after they saw us fursuiting.  The video was released a few weeks ago. Storyline is a down and out writer working and drinking in a fleabag hotel drinks, falls, strikes his head at a bar (at 1:50) and has a hallucinatory fugue in which he sees only furries (2:00 to 2:30). I’m the glowy-eyed Ocelot in the stair scene toward the end…”

More thoughts about all of this happened in a blog post by the proprietor of DNA Lounge.  It’s a night life destination for some of the biggest parties in San Francisco, and a venue for Frolic shows.

The club owner saw furries in a costume contest, and complained that others weren’t showing the effort:

There were also several full-body-suit furries who entered (it was furry night in Above) and nobody even cheered: you could hear a pin drop. I mean, I can kind of understand them not winning outright, because furries kind of all look the same (is that racist? That kind of sounds racist) but still, effort was expended. Even wearing one of those things is an ordeal.

Dr. Kingfish has a theory, that I find hard to counter, that these days “trying” must be a thing that is commonly considered to be uncool. People flock to these semi-crowdsourced events that offer nothing but “participation”, so long as that participation takes zero effort — the kind of Special Olympics where you get a prize just for showing up, like pillow fights and lightsaber battles. If participation means wearing a trivially simple uniform and leaving a mess for someone else to clean up, people are all in. But if participation means you had to actually try, oh, no way, forget about it. “Trying” isn’t done.

This used to be a town that treasured its costumery…

Here’s Neonbunny, promoter of Frolic:

Furries are the unapologetically enthusiastic antidote to apathy and lack of effort.  They’re all about caring.  Wherever you see them, out of costume or in full regalia, you’re going to have a good time.

Guest post by Oxley. Oxley is a relatively new member of the fandom, having only been actively involved for a year–at the time this article was written, he hadn’t attended any conventions, but hopes to continue his work in this area at Midwest Furfest 2016. He is currently looking for feedback and other opinions on this article, and can be reached at his email.

The year is 2015, and marriage has finally been confirmed as a right for all Americans, whether gay, straight, or otherwise. Though the legislation has brought the queer community (sometimes referred to as MOGAI, or “Marginalized Orientations, Genders Alignments, and Intersex”) farther than it has ever been before in its fight for civil rights, talk of marriage now overshadows other important LGBTQ+ issues: many groups still find themselves marginalized and vulnerable in society. As the struggle slowly progresses, though, queer America has found both allies and enemies in the strangest of places. Individuals from some of the most conservative corners of politics have shown solidarity to the queer community, as have major corporations and brands. Nonetheless, their backing has often been motivated by political or economic gains—after all, in many places it would be considered political suicide to denounce marriage equality. Rather, various other communities and subcultures have often proven to be most readily and enthusiastically supportive of social progress. Countless YouTube stars have advocated for marriage equality or even used the site as a medium through which to come out, while common names in music have vehemently opposed restrictions on marriage.

Perhaps the most perplexing source of support for queerness in America, though, comes from the ever-controversial furry fandom. For years, furries have had intrinsic ties with the queer community, as only a minority within their numbers are straight. While furries as a whole have certainly never been a strong voice against equality regarding gender and sexuality, though, their advocacy of gay rights is nonetheless imperfect, and often detrimental to those who do not fit the more easily-recognized definitions of “queer”—that is to say, the transgender population. Still, observing a subcommunity as being a largely queer space offers a peculiar analysis of it, from an angle that is not often used. That said, the intersections between the queer community and the furry fandom provide a valuable insight into modern conventions of normativity, and the queer community’s interactions with society as a whole.

Queerness, like the people often described within the term, is an inherently dynamic movement. The focus, goals, and even terms associated with it are in a constant state of change—a lesbian in the early 1900s, for example, would have been referred to instead as an “invert,” while words such as “queer” itself defy concrete definition by their very nature. Needless to say, such an ever-changing culture within society has invited numerous different interpretations and reactions. Many believe that the most successful approach to the queer movement is the radical liberal stance. Operating primarily through politics, liberal queer theory seeks to affirm and verify the queer identity, while at the same time demanding equal protection under the law for all people. Such groups as the Mattachine Society worked to unite and strengthen the gay community and aid those who suffered oppression on a regular basis (Katz). The intended effect of this movement is an enhanced public visibility, in which various queer identities can exist unthreatened, combined with a strict sense of privacy to protect the lives of those considered “deviant.” These approaches have generally elicited a defensive reaction from their opposition—the queer community gained traction in the legal sense, but had little effect from a social standpoint. American society, as Lisa Duggan describes it, shifted to a sort of “No-Promo Homo” philosophy in which various queer identities are condoned and tolerated, but only so long as they are hidden away from the fragile public eye—“gay sex is fine in ‘private,’” as she explains the phenomenon, “but should not be ‘displayed’ or ‘promoted’ in public” (Duggan 181).

In contrast to the unapologetic and unabashed activism of the larger queer community, some choose to follow a more assimilationist path, seeking acceptance into conventional society by appeasing the mainstream’s aforementioned air of wariness. Known as homonormativity, this theory suggests that people of various sexualities can coexist, but only on the condition that such differences between them are never talked of. A convenient depiction of homonormativity in action is present in the repeal of the military’s previous “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, in which gay and lesbian soldiers were permitted to serve only so long as they did not reveal their sexual orientation. Though the move to repeal the act is indeed a positive step for gay Americans, it comes with interesting implications: gay soldiers were permitted to openly serve in the military on the basis that they are exactly the same as anyone else, and do not present any real threat to society. It is, of course, worrying to suggest that anyone is inherently threatening due to their sexuality at all.

To some, this model is desirable, as it promotes a sense of equality, if only one that cannot be openly discussed, and a kind of safety in silent acceptance. Those within the queer community who seek a homonormative resolution often depict themselves as moderates—proponents of the Independent Gay Forum, for instance, are known for their opposition both to radical liberalism and reactionary conservatism in regards to the queer movement, often upholding the gay lifestyle due to its failure to present a tangible adversity to the heterosexual majority (Duggan 184-185). At first glance, it seems a viable option: those who are included in society are rarely threatened by it, nor do they threaten it in turn. However, the effect of homonormativity is not nearly so simple. Though it proposes an easy fix to the queer/anti-queer dichotomy of society by supposedly advocating for acceptance and common ground, it does so not by demanding a change within society, but demanding that the queer population find a way to “fit in,” upholding cisgender heterosexuality as the standard option. This, of course, is an inherent inaccuracy, and as argued by Adrienne Rich, poorly depicts those who do not fall within society’s narrow definition of “normal” as mere alternates to an already-present standard. Such ideologies, she asserts, are responsible for the portrayal of the lesbian identity as “the mirror image of either heterosexual or male homosexual relations,” when in fact, the culture and history that has formed the modern definition of lesbian far further separates them from other communities, however similar they may be (Rich 13). In essence, this perceived homonormativity erases the identities and humanity of all those within the queer community who fail to prove themselves to be societally sufficient.

Often, those who are cast aside in this manner are abandoned in a legal sense as well. In its simplification of sexual and gender identities, homonormative thought only grants rights to a handful of token individuals who happen to fighting for the correct rights: while the 2015 legalization of same-sex marriage is considered a giant step for the LGBTQ+ movement, it did little to protect gay and lesbian couples, or even individual people, from discrimination in areas outside of marriage, and was completely irrelevant to the struggle for trans rights, which is still ongoing. There is little attention given, as well, to the struggles of gay couples separated by prison sentences or with complications such as physical or psychological disability (Mullane). It may yet be argued that the homonormative approach does indeed seek the inclusion of once-frowned-upon individuals. Still, the concept of queer is an ever-changing one, near impossible to define with any sense of finality—inclusion of only a single group under the umbrella of “queer” inevitably leads to the exclusion of other such groups. So long as this model of inclusion-by-exclusion is followed, homonormativity will never be able to satisfy the needs and demands of the entire queer community.

Though it bears repeating that the homonormative approach to society cannot possibly hope to achieve a resolution for the queer movement, it is difficult to suggest a valid alternative. After all, homonormativity rarely concerns itself with any but the most legal and political struggles regarding gender and sexuality, while in reality, much of the oppression directed at queer individuals occurs on a societal level. It is as such that the responsibility for advancing the queer movement must be shifted away from the courtroom, and onto individual people and focused groups. No longer can it be assumed that mere laws will protect all individuals, but rather, as the voices of the queer community have been silenced, it is increasingly important to maintain this voice, as well as an active presence within the public eye. In recent decades, this goal has become perpetually easier to achieve, especially with the dawn of the Internet. Association and collaboration no longer require one’s physical presence, while simple self-expression can be broadcast and promoted to millions of people. This brave new world has empowered the queer community in a variety of ways, from allowing the quicker communication of thoughts, to aiding real-life assembly in LGBTQ+-related events. Most notably, it has also given rise to a host of new Internet-based subcultures, many of which convey an atmosphere of progressive thought and are open to less-conformist ideologies. Opinions vary by subculture, needless to say, though one in particular has proven itself to be especially affirming of the queer community.

—Enter FURRY FANDOM, stage right.

Initially conceived in internet chatrooms and sci-fi conventions as early as the late 1980s, the furry fandom has since grown into a full-blown community spanning numerous continents. Its followers—self-described “furries”—are people of all ages, fascinated at the concept of the anthropomorphic animal, each for their own unique reasons. As such creatures do not in actuality exist, the fandom relies on the Internet to sustain itself—some furries make various forms of visual art involving their creations, while others engage in activities such as roleplay. Regardless, to the furry, the connection between human and animal runs deeper than mere passing interest. Donald Jones briefly investigates their interactions in his thesis Queered Virtuality, focusing on the virtual world known as Second Life. He notes that “some view ‘furry’ as important subject position within their construction of identity,” going even so far as to describe them as “a new type of queered identity” (Jones 85).

While this statement may rationally be considered somewhat of a stretch—after all, the general disdain directed at furries nowhere near matches the oppression and discrimination faced regularly by the queer community—it is undeniable, upon further investigation, that the ties between the two groups are nonetheless intrinsic.

In early December of 2015, I conducted a poll amongst furries, primarily online and over social media, regarding such issues as sexuality and gender identity. Results and methodology are available here. Results showed that heterosexuals may actually be in the minority of the fandom, making up only 10.58 percent of respondents—less than either gay, bisexual, pansexual, or asexual responses. Meanwhile, nearly one-tenth of respondents openly identified as polyamorous. When asked a variety of questions, the vast majority of furries responded with resounding positivity regarding the mood of the fandom towards matters of queerness—most said that they were entirely accepted for their sexual orientation and were often shown support and affirmation when expressing themselves openly. As one respondent offered, “Without other furries, I don’t think I could’ve ever come to terms with my own sexuality and place in the world that my sexuality leaves me with. The furry fandom has definitely helped me in that regard.” Granted, a survey of scarcely over 400 people, conducted largely over social media—during the same weekend as a major furry convention, no less—cannot by any means be considered the end-all and be-all of demographical studies. However, it is worth noting that the results, especially regarding gender identity and sexual orientation, resemble those of other significant studies conducted within the furry fandom, including the 2013 Furry Survey conducted by [adjective][species]. Their data—conducted over a much larger group of individuals and longer period of time—also suggests a relatively even distribution of sexuality within the fandom, or at least, one that is more even than the distribution in mainstream society.

Prominent fandom member and Anthrocon CEO Dr. Samuel Conway suggests that increased queer presence in the furry fandom may be attributed to the fact that the community therein, “being open and accepting, provides a welcoming atmosphere, a safe haven that attracts people who have felt repressed,” or alternately, that “The number of homosexuals in Furry Fandom is no higher or lower than the number in a cross-section of society…it is only that here they do not feel that they must hide who and what they are” (Conway). Conway is, of course, entirely correct—though the notion is, in his own words, “pure speculation on [his] part,” the furry fandom has been known throughout the years to be incredibly and unapologetically accepting of the gay community, as well as other sexual minorities—the overwhelming majority of furries vocally and brazenly support the queer movement. Many view the furry community to be a relatively safe space for those of various sexual orientations; thus, significant proportions of the furry community directly identify with the movement.

In some ways, the furry as an identity is the ultimate foil to the spread of homonormativity. Refusing to merely condone various sexual orientations, the furry community has instead proven itself to be open and affirming with an enthusiasm few other groups can exhibit. As to their voice and refusal to be silenced by homonormative conventions, there aren’t many forms of self-expression that speak louder than a giant animal costume, or “fursuit,” worn in real life by many members of the fandom at conventions and elsewhere. Furries have even branched out into other societal subcultures, joining and perpetuating queer-friendly movements and events—one notable example is HavenCon, a nascent queer-friendly video gaming convention in Austin, Texas, intrinsically connected to the furry fandom through its attendees, vendors, and promoters.

Still, despite the survey’s relatively positive feedback, a critical trend eventually unfolded. Despite the furry community’s adamant support of various sexualities, many believe it is significantly less accepting towards those of less-common gender identities. A number of respondents voiced their concern and dissatisfaction with the fandom’s treatment of trans people regarding both their sex and gender. One in particular left a powerful testament to her negative treatment as a trans woman at the hands of the fandom: “…I experience regular and frequent microaggressions from white cis and trans people within the fandom, which frequently push me into a very bad [mental] state; the closest I’d say I’ve ever come to contemplating suicide. Much of this comes from [people] who enjoy portrayals of trans bodies [in adult art] but hate us as real people of course; but a huge amount of it comes from other trans women acting what I like to call internalized transmedicalism—that is, treating trans womanhood as being automatically equated with a desire to replace a penis with a vagina, and so on.” Regretfully, the transmedicalism to which she refers is grossly problematic to the trans community, especially for those who do not want genital-reconstruction surgery, or cannot afford it—this, of course, negatively affects trans people of all walks of life, not just those within the furry fandom. The reaction that some trans people experience sans-surgery is, at best, a subdued sense of expectation from others, coupled with the assumption that they are only waiting for a surgery they have not yet had. Though surgery is a common desire within the trans community, it would be fallacious and misleading to suggest that it is universal (Allen, 103).

Equally worrying is the inherent fetishization of the transgender body from within some parts of the fandom—even worse, that such objectification should occur without any respect for real trans people. Still, trans women were not the only group that attested cases of marginalization and victimization; one agender respondent claimed that they had been told that they “do not belong in the [queer] community,” further going on to relate a number of death threats they had received from other furries, while genderqueer and genderfluid individuals also recounted cases in which others had refused to accept their gender identity as real. The same trans female respondent summarizes the situation flawlessly: “…the community at large in my experience has generally been at best tolerable, and at most horrific. It is perhaps better in some ways than cisgender hetero mainstream US society, but generally not by much unless you’re a gay man.” This is no reason, of course, for these aforementioned gay men to feel guilty for their identity—acceptance is not something to be embarrassed about, after all. Nonetheless, the apparent desire within the furry community for conventional, easy-to-understand is an undeniable sign of homonormativity.

Most troubling of all is that these incidents of transphobia within the furry fandom, numerous though isolated, seemed to have gone entirely unnoticed by nearly anyone who identified as cisgender, which is to say, those specifically who have not experienced such hostilities themselves. As mentioned, nearly all other accounts of the furry community taken through the survey were wholly positive, and expressed no indication of awareness of the struggles of some transgender furries. It is interesting to note that even Dr. Conway’s mention of the queer community stopped short at sexual preference, failing to bring up issues of gender identity despite their undeniable presence in the community. Quite possibly, this dichotomy—that is to say, the contrast between the marginalized trans/nonbinary furry and the unaware cisgender furry—is due to the fandom’s demographics. Both the more recent survey and [adjective][species]’s poll suggested that a significant majority of the fandom is composed of white, presumably cisgender males, those who are the least victimized by society, while the trans and nonbinary populations amongst furries are relatively minute. As such, it is possible that their struggles are simply less visible to the majority of the furry community. Nevertheless, the possibility still remains that the fandom is simply not as accepting as it would appear superficially. After all, furries are still human at the end of the day, and still live in a society that perpetually resists acceptance of the new and unfamiliar.

Regardless of reason, though, it is entirely plausible that the contrast between acceptance of more vocal groups and exclusion of the less well-accepted amounts to a form of homonormativity present in the furry fandom. Recent years have seen the fandom gaining traction and popularity in society, coincidentally as gay rights have advanced. It is hardly a secret that many furries wish to be more accepted for their interests in the anthropomorphic by a society that has long shunned them—the lack of acknowledgment of trans and nonbinary presence serves, to some degree, to “excuse” the fandom, making it seem less threatening to societal norms fitting its members into the narrow slot of acceptance allotted by the mainstream. Of course, it is equally conceivable that the community within the furry fandom has fallen victim to a transnormativity of sorts: as every set of data has its outliers, so too do furries, and there were indeed a small handful of trans respondents to the survey who claimed to be accepted by their furry companions, or at the very least, not aggressively contested. The situation brings up questions regarding how much of this phenomenon is the responsibility of the furry community, and how much is the result of societal influence. Due to ever-present homonormativity on a larger scale, it is much easier and safer to openly identify as gay—a slightly more condoned identity—than as trans or nonbinary. Though furries are hardly mainstream, they are also not vehemently opposed by many who lack the interest or effort to condemn them. It is likely that the same would not be true if they were as highly trans-representative as they are pro-gay.

Is it possible to say with certainty that the furry fandom is either more queer or more homonormative/transnormative? Hardly—like society at large, furries are a rapidly-changing demographic, nearly as difficult to define as the concept of queer itself. As many respondents suggested, their interactions with the fandom change radically on a case-by-case basis; it may very well be that more prominent or more vocal members of the fandom are more accepting, and that transphobia exhibited by some is largely the fault of problematic fringe members. Even if the furry fandom is more queer than it is homonormative, it is likely only enabled to exist as such without extensive antagonism due to the homonormativity of society at large. If anything, the furry community may be excused of its imperfect track record regarding support of the trans community as society has done little better in history. After all, taken at face value, the fandom appears to be emulating the same progression that the queer community itself once underwent, first exhibiting heavy focus on issues of sexuality, then gradually becoming more accepting of issues regarding gender. In this regard, though, furries run the risk of repeating the very history that preceded them in the 1900s.

Still, no matter the gleaming, positive testaments provided by those that are considered accepted, nor the scathing reports of discrimination offered by those who are marginalized, it is important to remember that despite its close connection with the queer community, the furry fandom is ultimately just that—a fandom. It has no governing body or concrete set of principles, and it is just as flawed as any other largely Internet-based subculture. It is scarcely deniable that furries are more progressive-minded and forward-thinking than most other subcultures, though, and some hope exists that the fandom may eventually rid itself of its inherent transphobia. If there is any hope to be had for the trans furry subcommunity, it is the structure of the entire fandom itself—highly vocal and highly visible, the fandom relies on the same self-expression that serves as a driving force for many facets of the queer community. Though the fandom has not truly and completely shifted in favor of the entire LGBTQ+ movement, it is not farfetched to say that it is only a matter of time before it inevitably does.

Works Cited

Allen, Mercedes. “Trans-ing Gender: the Surgical Option.” Gender Outlaws: the Next Generation. Bergman, S. Bear and Bornstein, Kate. Berkeley, California: Seal Press, 2010. Pg. 101-106. Print.

Conway, Samuel. “Regarding community within the furry fandom.” Message to the author. 4 December 2015. Email.

Duggan, Lisa. “The New Homonormativity: The Sexual Politics of Neoliberalism.” Materializing Democracy. Castronovo, Russ, and Nelson, Dana. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2002. Pg. 175-194. Print.

Jones, Donald. Queered Virtuality: The Claiming and Making of Queer Spaces and Bodies in the User-Constructed Synthetic World of Second Life. MS thesis. Digital Georgetown, Georgetown University Institutional Repository. 19 July 2007. Web. 1 December 2015.

Katz, Jonathan. Gay American History. New York, NY: Avon Books, 1978. Print.

Mullane, Nancy. “Does Same-Sex Marriage Law Apply to Prisoners?” NPR. National Public Radio, 28 July 2008. Web. 5 December 2015.

Osaki, Alex. “The Furry Survey.” [adjective][species]. 2013. Web. 5 December 2015.

Rich, Adrienne. “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” Journal of Women’s History 15.3 (2003): 11-48. Print.

Spade, Dean. Normal Life. New York, NY: South End Press, 2009. Print.

​Dear Papabear.

It’s been quite a while since we've spoken. Ever since I've been going to my psychologist and talking with friends there is just this one gap that I've been trying to get over. Accepting myself as gay.

So far, it’s been the hardest to deal with. More so than coming out, especially due to my religious upbringing, because ... when it comes to accepting someone's non-heterosexuality it always comes with a price. Sometimes the price is too heavy to bear when you're dealing with subject matters like this.

The inability to have children the natural way. In my case, it’s what I really wanted, but I can't have it and now that I'm gay, I don't really want to have children who are either adopted or a surrogate either, if only because I'm afraid that they will be made fun of because of me (even if laws are changing). 

The disposition of having to marry a man (not having as in forced, but rather having as in it’s my destiny), when it comes to my family members "Man/Woman" is all they know. And it hurts to even think about inviting them to something they probably would not attend to begin with, and therefore I don't want to invite my friends to it either since I feel they’re just a replacement for family members. 

And, overall, my whole attitude regarding it. If I did accept myself, with paying these heavy prices I begin to wonder is it even worth it all? Just for the sake of being happy and being myself? Or am I just being selfish about it? Honestly, this is the thing that I'm most confused by. Selfishness.

I want to accept myself as gay, but what if I end up being selfish? Being gay may be WHO I am, but that doesn't mean it’s WHO I wanted to be. Disregarding other people's feelings for the simple fact that I'm gay. And I'm not proud of my sexuality, and... I’m starting to wonder if this is the one thing that I've been struggling with ever since, and I'm not too sure exactly what I should do. It’s astounding really. I can accept other people for being gay, but I can't even accept myself. And if I were outed to a bunch of people I knew, I tend to wonder what would go on in the back of their minds and I'd be too fearful to face the world.

So... I need to ask. What should I do to accept myself?

Wolfthorne

* * *
 
Dear Wolfthorne,
 
Your letter is a perfect example of an argument against those idiots who declare that “being gay is a choice.” Who would choose to go through the kind of anguish you’re going through when it would be so much easier in our society to be straight? Answer: no one. Talk to any homosexual man or woman, and they will likely tell you that it was a tremendous struggle for them to be gay. For many, like you, it’s harder to accept yourself as gay than it is to tell family and friends you are gay.
 
Coming out can mean a lot of sacrifice, I agree. I had to sacrifice a lot. I had to give up my marriage to a wonderful woman (who is still my friend). It tore me up. The only thing worse than going through that has been Yogi’s (my mate’s) death, but the divorce is a very close second.
 
I’ve had a lot of success with people accepting me for being gay, however. At the same time, you and I and many other gay people have suffered a lot of guilt and shame. We feel we are hurting other people because of this, disappointing parents who want grandchildren, disappointing even those who might have considered being our spouses but now can’t be.
 
That is, that’s the assumption we always make, but it’s not necessarily set in stone. You see, there is something called “mixed-orientation marriages” or MOMs, which are when a straight person marries a gay or bisexual or even asexual partner. You might think such a marriage would be doomed to failure. Some, like mine, are, but in many other cases they can be successful. Why might, say, a straight woman wish to marry a gay or bi man? Or vice versa? Sometimes, especially in the past when it was much more shameful to be gay than today even, gay people would deliberately marry a straight person to hide their sexuality and gain approval from their families and society at large. And some societies are even more pressure-filled than in America. In China, for example, there is tremendous pressure for people to marry before the age of 25, and those who are still unmarried by 35 are considered practically social pariahs. In fact, in China there is something called “marriage fairs” where parents post their children’s personal information on boards and hope that someone will pick their kids and promise marriage to them. And it doesn’t matter if the promised one is straight, bi, or gay; the important thing is that they be married.
 
But back to America (sorry, I just find other cultures interesting). Believe it or not there are people out there who are willing to knowingly marry someone who is gay. The main reasons for this are either: 1) they love the person very much for many reasons other than sex; 2) they want children and see that gay men can be very nurturing; or they are a lesbian who wants kids and likes the man well enough even though he is straight. Just because there isn’t much compatibility in the bedroom doesn’t mean there can’t be a marriage. In fact, many straight marriages stay together even though lovemaking has virtually gone out the door. Sometimes this is for financial reasons or for the children or sometimes the partners simply don’t feel all that sexual any more (health reasons, age, etc.) Oh, and this sort of thing can happen between a straight, bi, or gay person and an asexual person, or with two asexual people.
 
Do you get that this can be more complicated than you ever imagined? The first thing one must do is throw all assumptions, preconceptions, and social conventions out the window. Start with a blank slate and go from there. Love and happiness do not necessarily stem from sexual satisfaction or desire. In fact, sex should really be just one factor of many in a successful partnership.
 
Here is an excellent, free, online book about mixed marriages from an author with experience http://mixedorientation.com/introduction/. A lot of it is about finding out the person’s gay orientation after the fact, but much of the information here would be relevant to you in order to get rid of your notions of the impossibility of marriage and children.
 
That all said, don’t discount the possibility of a very happy marriage to a man. I always like to think of actor Neil Patrick Harris and his husband, who are obviously ecstatically happy and have adopted children. Now, I understand the desire for biological children of your own (still a possibility for you), but please don’t discount the very real joys many parents have with adopted children. Do you think Harris’s kids will be scarred or made fun of? I really doubt it. And they will benefit greatly from being part of a loving household.
 
Now, that whole “selfish” thing you’re worried about. Stop it ;-) You have every right in the world to pursue your own happiness and to be who you are. Feeling guilty about that is self-destructive and counterproductive, and when that is the case you are no help to anyone. When you are happy, fulfilled, and self-confident you will also become a much better friend, son, spouse, colleague, etc. Example: if Papabear hated himself for being “selfish” all the time, he would be unable to write a column and help others. Point taken?
 
Seriously thinking of never marrying a man because you’re afraid your relatives won’t come and you don’t want your friends to fill in merely as substitutes? Okay, you say you have no problem accepting others as gay, but you feel your family cannot accept you as gay? You might not see it, but that is an awfully cocky attitude that is saying “I’m more open-minded than my family.” You might be very surprised to find out that many of your family members would attend your wedding. You might consider giving them a little more credit—or the possibility of some credit, anyway. And even if they don’t, what’s more important? Their approval or your happiness?
 
If you go through your entire life only doing things so that you can be validated and approved, I guarantee you right here and now you will be a very miserable, sad, and lonely person. Guaranteed.
 
This isn’t a phenomenon just for gay people, either, FYI. Probably the majority of people in this world live lives they hate because they want to have other people approve of them. They marry to gain social status; they pursue careers they despise; they keep trying to one-up “the Joneses” and end up with a beautiful house and car but empty hearts. All of this because they didn’t feel free to be themselves.
 
The biggest prison on the planet is the Jail of Approval. It has no iron bars, no chains, no walls, and therefore it is inescapable. It is a jail constructed by the inmates.
 
Realize that you don’t need other people’s approval to be happy. Know that it is okay to pursue your own happiness and that this is not being selfish. I think you are confusing “selfish” with “hurting people’s feelings and sensibilities because they don’t understand you.” That, dear furry, is their problem, not yours.
 
Hope this helps. Write again if you need more information!
 
Be Happy!
Papabear

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

The Companions, by Sheri S. Tepper.
NYC, HarperCollinsPublishers/Eos, September 2003, hardcover $25.95 ([vi +] 452 pages), Kindle $9.99.

In the far, far future, the galaxy is being explored and colonized, and Earth is incredibly overpopulated. The Worldkeeper Council government, supported by the humans-only IGI-HFO political majority, declares that all animals (only pet dogs, cats, and small cage birds are left by this time) are to be exterminated because they take up too much room and use up too much air. The tiny underground movement that wants to keep the animals alive, called arkists because they have accumulated spaceships to use as arks to evacuate the remaining animals from Earth, decide to take them to Treasure, the moon of a newly-discovered and poorly-explored world covered in moss, where they can be hidden in safety. Jewel Delis, the narrator, is an arkist who goes from overcrowded Earth to care for the “companions” of humans, especially the dogs.

The Companions contains dialogue, but mostly Tepper writes in long, blocky narrative paragraphs:

“Earth scared me at first. The towers were huge, each a mile square and more than two hundred stories high. Podways ran along every tenth floor, north on the east side of each tower and south on the west side. Up one level, they went west on the north side and east on the south side. They stopped at the pod lobbies on each corner, so when you were on one, it went woahmp-clatter, rhmmm, woahmp-clatter, whoosh. That’s a pod-lobby stop, a slow trip across the street, another pod-lobby stop, then a mile long whoosh, very fast. The pod-lobbies were full of people, too, and that’s the clatter part, the scary part. Taddeus and I saw more people in one pod-lobby than we’d ever seen together anywhere on Mars, and many of them were dressed in fight colors: Tower 59 against Tower 58, Sector 12 against Sector 13, all of them pushing and shoving and tripping over each other. Often they got into fights or screaming fits. It took us a while to figure out how to dodge them and keep out of their way, but when we got good at it, it turned into a kind of game, and we rode the podways for fun. It was a lot safer than it sounds, because there are so many monitors on the pods that people are afraid to do anything really wicked unless they’re over the edge. Tad and I thought part of the fun was spotting people that were about to go over the edge. We could almost always tell.” (p. 18)

The dogs of this far future are divided broadly into ‘big dogs” and “small dogs”. The “small dogs” are ordinary pets. The “big dogs” have been bred to be more intelligent as well as larger:

“A murmured growl. An acknowledgement, not a challenge. When I looked up, she was sitting behind a screen of willow, next to a watering pool. After a moment, she got up and came over to thrust her muzzle into my neck, below my ear, moving it down my body and across my back as she took an inventory of where I’d been lately and whom I’d been with. Scramble was Scarlet’s granddaughter, eight years old, twice the size of her mother, four times the size of her grandmother, twice as fast, more than twice as smart. If Scarlet had sometimes thought of me as family, Scramble thought of me as a puppy. Her puppy. I adored her. She was a manifestation of every dog I’d ever loved, starting with my stuffed plush puppy on Mars.

Vigilant stepped out of shadow, Dapple behind her. Scramble returned to them and they sat, tails wrapped around their legs, utterly silent, watching me with opaque golden eyes.

[…]

Silently, they disappeared, except for Scramble, who put her nose to my cheek and tongued me along the jaw. Affection? Admonition? I didn’t know which, if either, but it was one more bit of evidence that Scramble thought of me as her pup.

‘Yu sai wen is ‘ime,’ she said, or asked.

‘I’ll tell you at once,’ I agreed. ‘It will be a good place.’ I prayed I was right that it would be a good place.

‘Ai no. Au aways magh ghu ha’van.’

Alas, I only wished always to make good happen. Sometimes I could not make anything happen at all.” (pgs. 90-92)

The Companions is a well-written combination of science-fiction, suspense, and mystery. This is very fortunate because, from an anthropomorphic viewpoint, very little happens until almost halfway through the book. The first part, about the arkists’ desperate plan to leave Earth with the remaining animals before those can be killed, is the first suspense plot. The second part, about the unexpected and deadly puzzle that they find on Moss and its moon Treasure, is the mystery that leads to the second suspense plot. But except for the brief passage quoted above on pages 90 to 92, the anthropomorphic dogs are all offstage until the arkists reach Moss and Treasure on page 173:

“‘Awf!’ said Behemoth, the moment I came in.

I shook my head, no. ‘This is just a brief stop, Behemoth. We’ll be on the ground less than an hour.’

‘Owr ome,’ he said, facing me, eyes glittering.

‘That’s the plan, yes.’

‘Wan see.’

‘I know. But you can’t see it without being seen by the crew, or by Paul, and that would ruin everything. Only the captain and a couple of his officers know that we’re dropping off some cages. We figure six months, a year from now, this will be home for you, but it’s not ready yet.’

‘Ow no rrrea’y?’

‘How? It’s not ready because you’d starve to death. The animals we’re dropping off need another year to spread and reproduce.’”

There is a better description of the dogs a little farther on:

“‘He’s a big one, isn’t he?’ I said in a doting voice, as Adam and Scramble approached. ‘Much larger than the original Great Dane or mastiff types, but with none of the bone or joint problems that used to be associated with large dogs. Life span is longer, too. Big dogs used to be old at twelve, but Behemoth will live to be thirty or forty, at least, maybe older than that! This brown bitch is his mate, Scramble.’” (pgs. 188-189)

Some of the arkists have been surreptitiously physically modified to share canine attributes:

“I caught up to Frank and Clare. ‘You all seem to be finding a lot to sniff at.’

Frank nodded. ‘You should get some dognose, Jewel. You really should. You’re a little old for it, but some of the cellular transplants would take …’

I murmured to him, ‘I have what will take, Frank, have had since I was sixteen. I volunteered for the original transplant study, but let’s for God’s sake not talk about dognose where anyone can hear us, okay?’ I jerked my head to indicate both the ESC men behind us and Paul, who was entering the headquarters. ‘We’ll have to learn to be quiet about things we talked about freely at the sanctuary. PPI is BuOr, and BuOr is enemy territory. Some of them might even be iggy-huffo. There probably aren’t a dozen people on the planet we could call sympathizers.’” (p. 190)

There are several alien races in The Companions (actually 512, but only five or six important to this novel), and three of the arkists use alien technology to shape-change into dogs; but this also is almost entirely offstage until the story moves to Treasure’s planet, Moss:

“The trainers and I rode on the floater until we were deeply into the forest, well out of sight of anyone from the compound. There the trainers stripped off their clothing and walked beside the floater as they changed. Adrenaline could make the process happen quickly, rage or great excitement could make it happen in minutes, but when things were calm, jaws and tongues slowly lengthened, eyes shifted subtly to the sides, ears rose to the top of the skull, forearms and shoulders shifted. Genetically they did not change. They became quite doglike, except for their high-domed heads, far too rounded for canines though not terribly unlike the old, large-headed dogs: St. Bernards, golden retrievers, mastiffs. At a distance, they would pass for dogs, particularly if they stayed in dog form long enough to lengthen their coats. At first their fur was merely an all-over fuzz. Adam was the same shining steel gray as his hair, with a darker gray stripe down the spine. Given long enough, he usually grew a mane. Clare was evenly brown with red glints in her fur, and she would acquire feathers on her legs and tail; Frank was a mottled gray and black, plain black at a distance, with a close, short-haired coat. Getting the coat to grow wasn’t voluntary. It simply grew, like claws, like teeth, like tails. If they stayed dogs for several weeks – which was the longest it had ever been tested – they would have full coats, long tails, longer legs, fangs, and hard claws for digging. Whatever technology Gainor had obtained, it was limited to soft tissue and young bones. At some point, Adam, Clare, and Frank would be too old. Their bones wouldn’t make the shift. I’d heard them discussing how careful they’d have to be later in life, to prevent their being dogs when that final moment came. Funny. The conclusion I drew now from that remembered conversation was quite different from the one I had drawn at the time.” (p. 236)

The arkist shape-shifters get the ability to transform into dog shapes to help the real dogs, but the latter dismiss them as “play dogs” and do not take them seriously. Jewel refers to the arkists in dog form as pseudodogs or unreal dogs.

The plot grows increasingly complex, with the real dogs turning out to have a secret agenda of their own; and the late introduction of what, to oversimplify, is a walking and talking tree:

“‘We congratulate you on your achievement,’ I said, not knowing whether to laugh or run screaming. It sounded totally nonthreatening, but it was so very large, so twiggy, so full of offshoots and wiry-looking twiny bits that it was difficult to believe it was harmless and impossible to know where the voice was really coming from. Politeness be damned, I had to know: ‘Where are your … eyes and ears and mouth?’

An agile tendril zoomed toward me, stopping just short of my face, and from its swollen tip a large blue eye regarded me with interest. The eye had an eyelid with lashes that batted flirtatiously, seeming to wink at me, enjoying its own joke. That tendril was immediately joined by several others bearing either human-style ears or assorted types of eyes, some of them not at all mammalian-looking.

‘Voice box, puffers, and tongue assembly do not fit on small parts,’ said the willog. ‘I have them inside main trunk, issuing through new mouth parts!’” (p. 328)

There are many potentially deadly surprises for both the humans on Moss and for all humans, which Jewel, with both the real dogs’ and the pseudodogs’ help, finds out about just in time to forestall them. Several of the surprises are unmasked by the dogs’ sense of smell. The anthropomorphic non-humans take almost 200 pages to become major characters, but they are important for over half the book.

Kudos to Rick Lovell for a fine painting for the hardcover dust jacket. The September 2004 paperback cover is uncredited.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

This may have passed beneath your radar: It’s a new dark comedy dystopian film called The Lobster, and it’s the first English-language film by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. It’s been winning rave reviews and lots of awards on the art-film circuit. Here’s the summary from Wikipedia: “According to the rules of the City, single people are taken to the Hotel where they are given 45 days to find a partner. Those who fail are turned into an animal of their choice and released into the forest. The guests attend dances and watch propaganda extolling the virtues of partnership. They can extend their stay by hunting escapees, the Loners, with tranquilizer guns in the woods. After his wife leaves him for another man, David arrives at the Hotel with his brother, who has been turned into a dog.” David, by the way, is played by Colin Farrell. This may or may not all make more sense when you go to see it. The Lobster has been doing very well in platform release, and it’s likely to expand to more theaters soon.

image c. 2016 Element Pictures

This episode brought to you by our patrons and Patreon bux. We watched the new documentary, "Fursonas". It sure is a thing. Let us know what you thought of the film or our review. If you'd like to see more extra stuff like this, hit up our Patreon. www.patreon.com/knotcast KnotCast Presents - "Fursonas" Review

I need some advice on what to do with scheduling life.

You see, I work as a Sales Associate at the local store of a Liquor Store franchise, and it's conveniently located by my apartment. My schedules are Saturday to Wednesday, all 8 hour shifts, with Thursday and Friday off. I have full time hours, and I'd hate to give them up. I'm very happy with this schedule, and I have things that I do on those two days.

However, I formed a sort of Star Wars/Jedi club with some friends last year, and two of them have set up a regular training schedule, seeing as we do light saber duels. 

Problem, it starts on Saturday evening, and that's when I start my shift. Granted, with the school year just about over, a lot more free time is available. The issue?

There are now possible scheduling problems. If I do it Thursday evening, after a Dungeons and Dragons game I have in the morning, I may not be able to join some other games held in the evening. If I do it Friday, I would have to meet up with them at 4pm, and then leave for the game I play in every Friday.

The best option I have is to see if I can switch my days off to Friday and Saturday, but I’m scared that to do so, I'll lose my full-time hours, and that it'll affect my social life with my friends. 

Please help.

Jesse (age 23)
 
* * *
 
Dear Jesse,
 
Part of being an adult is learning how to set priorities. In your case, the number one priority should be keeping your full-time job. I would not risk losing full-time status for the sake of playing games with your friends.
 
Schedule fun time on the Thursdays and Fridays you have off. If you can’t, and your friends are not willing to try and accommodate your work schedule, then try to find friends who will.
 
Social time is important, but work is more important. Welcome to adult life!
 
Papabear

1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?

I think I’ve become known as a person interested in nonfiction writing just as much as fiction in the furry fandom. I publish things whenever I can at [adjective][species] (a team I’ve had so much pleasure working with), and I have a piece coming up about analyzing some of the sociological aspects of post-con depression.

But my biggest project, which I have been working on for well over a year now, is my novel The Bad in the Briar, which is about a fox with psychic powers who lives in an insular mountain community with a family who doesn’t have electricity. It’s a coming of age story with a splash of horror and adult content. I wanted to write a fantasy that felt very human and very earnest despite taking on an epic fantasy model. This might be a story about somebody from your home town who dropped off of the face of the earth as opposed to a crown prince discovering their heritage.

2. What’s your writing process like? Are you a “pantser,” an outliner, or something in between?

The best metaphor I have for my process is something akin to clay relief sculpting. You have a planning stage where you draw out a rough idea of what you want your sculpture to look like. You add large chunks of clay to the piece, which look ugly and gormless as first, but once the big chunk is on the slate, you go through a subtractive process to redefine elements of your sculpture. You carve in small details and remove a lot of the raw product to make a beautiful piece, and then you add more rough shapes into the artwork to slowly shape it, repeating your process.

So for writing, I’ll do a very non-detailed skeleton outline. It will be simple and sparse but it will have a clear beginning, middle and end. I’ll leave myself a lot of wiggle room for the in-betweens to grow organically, but knowing what is going to happen with big decisions in the plot helps me ahead of time. It also allows me to work on something like the end before I write the beginning, or vice versa. Sometimes your finished product is going to veer away from your original plan, but that’s the nature of art, and sometimes it works out for the better.

Keeping a plan very simple is helpful for me, because I know that as you write and continue to add prose, you’ll introduce complications of your own, and the story will develop like a weed that’s getting out of control. You don’t have to add more complications to the planning stage.

3. What’s your favorite kind of story to write?

A lot of the pieces I tend to work on draw inspiration from living around poverty for most of my life. I like thinking about the places in America (and not just America) that often don’t get their stories told. Really bizarre, niche things like the inexplicable phenomenon that is roadside dinosaurs, or towns in the deep South that still exist to this day which only have one federal building in their town–that building being the post office.

We have places in America like the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina which is this grand, majestic castle showing off the wealth and opulence of the Vanderbilts that exists within driving distance of some of the most ridiculous tourist traps you’ve ever seen; things like gemstone mines with egregious pictures of cartoon prospectors where tiny children pan for uncut gems and go wild about owning a “real-life” emerald. That kind of juxtaposition is amazing to me.

I also feel like for a community that spends so much of its time talking to long distance friends over the internet, surprisingly few stories incorporate aspects of online life. Little things like sending a text or showing off a character’s typing habits, or one person’s tendency to make typos versus another person. I try to incorporate how social dynamics have evolved a bit when it comes to things like instant messengers, texts and twitter.

Something that’s interesting to me is also how I feel like I’ve become this inadvertent liaison between writers who write and love erotica and writers who strictly write for a general audience. I write both of these things, and I care a heck of a lot about both. Furry is an interesting space that I think desperately needs stuff like smutty gay fiction as well as something you may read and say “oh hey, I can easily see this getting The John Newbery Medal.” All I can say is that art comes in many different forms, and I have high standards for all of it, no matter the content or the purpose of the writing.

4. Which character from your work do you most identify with, and why?

I think a lot of things that have irked me about adventure or fantasy novels is that the main character is stressed as an “every man.” They’re supposed to be our windows into fantastic worlds and they aren’t supposed to have the strongest personalities because it’s believed that these types of characters can be easier to relate to. That’s always bothered me, so I wanted to spend extra time on making sure I really liked the protagonist of The Bad in the Briar, Keene. He’s this quiet, observant guy with decent intentions. He hasn’t been dealt the best cards in life, but he copes with them in the best ways that he can, and I try to make those coping mechanisms fun.

5. Which authors or books have most influenced your work?

On one hand, memoirs and fiction that read like memoirs. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith is about this girl who lives with her weirdo family in this castle that’s falling apart and how they deal with the eccentricities of their home and one another. Into the Wild, which is a nonfiction story written by John Krakaur, really helped me think about how to write an adventure story about a real person who breathed and died in the unforgiving Alaskan wilds.

On the fiction side of things, I’m a huge fan of alternate history. The Man in the High Castle and Kindred come to mind immediately. Those are both examples of works with highly speculative concepts such as time travel and alternate dimensions but focus so much on the characters and a grounded society that you can sometimes forget you’re reading a fantasy.

Rikoshi’s work has given me a great deal of inspiration, too, and I think he was a writer that pushed me to think of erotica as an art that deserves respect and patience. I think he was the first one who inspired me to attempt to carve out a space for erotica in furry, and say “hey, there are a lot of smart things going on in the best of this genre and they deserve to be talked about.”

6. What’s the last book you read that you really loved?

I read too many books that I love, but God of Clay by Ryan Campbell and Song of the Summer King by Jess E. Owen are two very different and very accomplished examples of a great read.

7. Besides writing, how do you like to spend your free time?

I’m an avid baker. I make my own breads and cakes and spend more than a few nights enjoying shows like the Great British Bake-off and Cutthroat Kitchen. Amateur gardening, video games and table top games have their place in my de-stressing rituals, too.  I also like to hike and explore my town, looking for strange things that might give me a little bit of writing inspiration.

8. Advice for other writers?

Write what you love. There’s always going to be an audience for everything. Don’t get bummed out when somebody doesn’t like a thing that you write, because what makes readers and the world of writing great is just how diverse everybody’s tastes are. You can write a masterpiece and somebody will be guaranteed to still hate it (which is a real issues even for big deal authors and New York Times bestsellers). Just always be mindful that your writing can always improve, and for all serious writers, improving is a life-long journey that does not end. Well, at least not until that pesky mortality comes along.

9. Where can readers find your work?

I’m all over the place. You can find two of my adult stories in the anthologies Will of the Alpha 2 and Dungeon Grind. I’ve published poetry in the Weasel Press anthology Civilized Beasts and the online journal [adjective][species], where I also publish essays and nonfiction pieces.

10. What’s your favorite thing about the furry fandom?

My favorite thing about the furry fandom is that I can tweet a long, rambly stream of thought about why I think a weasel makes sense for me as a representative species and strangers will look at it and go “hey, that makes sense,” which is equally cool and also bananas.

 

Check out George Squares’ member bio here!

No better way to explain Mouse Guard: The Art of Bricks than this article over at Comics Alliance: “Last year at Emerald City Comic Con, toy brick artisan Alice Finch and her incredibly detail-oriented team put together an awe-inspiring display of David Petersen’s Mouse Guard dioramas built entirely out of toy bricks. At the time, we referred to it as one of the standouts of ECCC, and now Archaia is releasing a full-color hardcover packed with photos of the team’s incredible work. Finch, a member of the Seattle-based toy brick builder club ArchLUG, has already drawn acclaim for her recreations of Hogwarts and Rivendell alongside fellow ArchLUG member David Frank, but her team’s work on these Mouse Guard dioramas are a cut above.”

image c. 2016 Archaia

Almost done with another studio upgrade we go through a quick roundup, quick news, read some fan emails and then do an unusual Q/A session with the chat room.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• History of japan
• [Resolved] A small font anti-aliasing bug

News:

• North Dakota’s First Wolverine In 150 Years Is Immediately Shot And Killed By Rancher
• Why these scientists masturbate animals
• Biologists Observe Female Homosexual Behavior In Wild Gorillas For The First Time
• Man Shoots Up Bathroom When Occupant Takes Too Long, Police Say
• ‘JerkShirt’ Lets You Masturbate ‘Anywhere Without Fear Of Getting Caught’

Emails:

Gladwin Lavrov – “:short question:”
Chelle – “First Time Email”
Cyber Wragon – “Dear Furcast”
Zach – “The Bulge and the Bulgeless”

FC-234 In Case of America Break Glass - Almost done with another studio upgrade we go through a quick roundup, quick news, read some fan emails and then do an unusual Q/A session with the chat room.