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Fursonas documentary out now – one of the top Furry News stories of the year.
Today is the day! Our #documentary, Fursonas, is now available on iTunes https://t.co/UzdP1HXz82 #furryfandom pic.twitter.com/QAoUdWEqN1
— Fursonas (@FursonasDoc) May 10, 2016Here’s one of those media events where a story catches on and gets a lot of coverage at once. That used to happen very rarely. Now it’s happening every month or so in 2016, “The Year of Furry.” The director, Dominic (Video Wolf) is killing it with interviews and promotion.
- Newport Beach Film Fest: “A Furry Flick: The Beauty & Complexity of the Furry Fandom
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: ‘Fursonas’ explores Furry fandom and the media
- Radio podcast – Dominic on The Kevin & Bean Show
- The Daily Beast: “Exposing the David Miscavige of Furries”
- Inverse: ‘Fursonas’ Documentary Illuminates the Beauty and Anger In Furry Culture
- Slug Magazine: DOMINIC RODRIGUEZ: THE PERSONA BEHIND FURSONAS
- Glamour: What’s a Furry? A New Movie Takes You Inside Their World
- Esquire: What It Means to Be a Furry
- Salon: “‘The Lion King’ is an extraordinarily sexual film”: Inside the fascinating, misunderstood world of furries
- Uproxx: ‘Fursonas’ Offers A Dark Portrait Of A Furry Demagogue, And Some Complex Insights Into The Nature Of Acceptance
Those headlines will make some whiskers twitch! I think the movie isn’t made just to cause a stir. It’s an honest and well told story aimed at your brain and heart. (More about this below). For info from other furries, see these:
- Flayrah – Interview: ‘Fursonas’ documentary director Dominic Rodriguez (Video the Wolf)
- Dogpatch Press – ‘Fursonas’ beats Zootopia as most important furry movie, coming soon on Video On Demand.
Coming soon – a special announcement about Fursonas, with partnership between Dogpatch Press and a high profile special event.
First, see the movie with a Furry audience at Biggest Little Fur Con in Reno.
The show is Saturday 5/14, 1-2 PM. From the con events schedule:
“Fursonas is a four-year exploration into the complexities of furry fandom. The film premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in January, where it received the Spirit of Slamdance Award for bringing positive energy into the festival. Since then, the film has shown in select theaters across America to both furry and non-furry audiences… This special screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director, Video.”
A fan comment says why Fursonas stands out as both a good Furry movie and a Good Movie:
“This film is like no other furry fandom documentary. Rather than focusing on just the innocent facade Uncle Kage puts the furry fandom behind, This film puts you into the minds of many different members of the fandom; furries who are well known and admired to ones who are criticized for their conceivably “unfavorable” lifestyles. You will be shuffled between opinions as you watch the film shift its tone, leaving you with mixed emotions and showing nothing but the truth. This film is undeniably worth the watch!” – (Caffeinated_water)
About those fur-raising headlines – just my opinion.
The movie is being characterized from some writers as a “whistleblower” piece, or a takedown story about dictatorship by Uncle Kage, the CEO of Anthrocon.
Yes and No. There’s a lot more than Kage in it, but he serves as a focal point.
The movie does criticize how some furries’ personal expression has gotten the outcast treatment. That’s paradoxical to acceptance. But in my opinion, the judgy treatment represents community tendencies more than one guy’s domination. He’s not a villain.
I sympathize with the movie. I also respect Kage, especially with last year’s PR coup of getting a Furry parade celebrated on the streets of Pittsburgh. I think he’s doing a job and his heart’s in the right place. He also makes the same mistakes as the rest of us when saying personal opinions in official capacity.
I also think the movie’s criticism is fairly gentle, letting words speak for themselves.
“Exposing the David Miscavige of Furries” compares Kage to a leader of Scientology. I think that’s grossly exaggerated by that writer. Furries aren’t a cult, nobody is forced to be here, and there’s little exploitation without real ranks.
Dominic was banned from Anthrocon for using con footage without permission. Permission wouldn’t happen without giving up extreme editorial control over his work. Con organizers have admitted not watching the movie when they made the ban.
On one hand, the ban make’s Dominic’s point. On the other hand, it’s not exactly dictating if they’ve been put in the position of needing to be strict. Who’s most to blame for this? Society! If furries weren’t a target for misrepresentation, it wouldn’t be such an issue. The con can’t just look the other way for one person, because “big media” could get away with more.
Dominic made a conscious choice to use footage against the rule. I think his choice is legit to get his movie out, because his heart’s in the right place too. It reminds me of pirate radio vs. FCC regulation, or local craft food vs. the FDA. It’s not bad to have regulations – it’s bad when individuals can’t have freedom without overdone standards meant for big business.
Lastly, I think there’s more dubious cherrypicking by a writer here: “‘The Lion King’ is an extraordinarily sexual film”: Inside the fascinating, misunderstood world of furries. That’s an unfortunate quote out of context. But that kind of risk is just part of having something worthy to promote. Check the interviews – I think Dominic is doing a fantastic job and not “scandalmongering” or discrediting people.
See the movie for yourself and make up your own mind.
Timely, in a Sad Way
For those who might have missed it, this is from Wikipedia: “Pearls Before Swine is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Stephan Pastis, a former San Francisco, California lawyer. It chronicles the daily lives of five anthropomorphic animals: A Pig, a Rat, a Zebra, a Goat, and a fraternity of crocodiles, as well as a number of supporting characters. Pastis has said each character represents an aspect of his own personality and world view.” The continuing comic strip can be found over at GoComics. Now, Andrews McMeel Publishing bring us the latest Pearls Before Swine collection in trade paperback. “In I’m Only in This for Me, the Pearls gang dares to tell the hard truths that the country needs to hear: The importance of prioritizing cheese over everything else, the sadly ignored capacity of bears to solve all of life’s problems, and the crucial Recognition Gap between women in bars and semi-obscure cartoonists with delusions of grandeur. But beneath all the selfishness, absurdity, bungling crocs, and bazooka-wielding ducks, Rat, Pig, Goat, and Zebra continue to find that friendship can make life warmer, humor can make stupidity less annoying, and cheese really does make everything way, way better.” Check it out over at Amazon. This new book also includes some special collaboration cartoons between Mr. Pastis and Calvin & Hobbes creator Bill Watterson.
To Be Happy, Start Living by Your Own Standards
I'm going to be a little more serious today.
I've recently been feeling very down because I've been so jealous of other people's lives and social lives. It hurts me deep inside and makes me feel like I've done nothing and wasted everything that I've done. I work so hard but people don't notice that. I just want to live a normal life. I only have 2 good friends and that makes me pretty depressed. One of my friends is foreigner and her parents don't even know about me and they won't let her EVER go with anybody. My other friend is a bad girl. I say this because she cusses and gets Fs. Teachers tell me to get new friends but I truly can't. No one is as trustful as they are. My mom works all day until 9 so I never get to see her. Middle school is coming up and I don't know how I'm ever going to survive. I feel like a failure. It kills me everyday.
Please help, Papabear!
Cici (age 11)
* * *
Dear Cici,
There is a lot going on in this letter, not just one question. The issues include: 1) you are jealous of other people who, I guess, you feel are more accomplished than you and have better social lives; 2) you don’t feel you get the recognition you deserve for working hard; 3) you want a “normal life”; and 4) you worry you only have two friends, one with whom you can’t socialize openly and another that people say you should stay away from.
To really get a firm grip on what caused all this, Papabear would need to sit with you on the couch for many hours. So I must talk in generalities because I don’t know all the information for your specific problems.
Regarding jealousy: Jealousy is an ugly green monster that eats the soul. You must remember that there will always be someone who seems more accomplished, richer, smarter, better looking, more skilled, more admired than you. Therefore, it is fruitless to play the comparison game. It’s a true cliché that the only person you are really in competition with is yourself. Be the best Cici you can be. More importantly, be the best person you can be. Be kind and considerate and helpful to others in the world—from people to animals to plants to the planet itself—and you will have much to feel proud about. Also, examine why you feel jealous of these people. Are you being realistic? Perhaps they are more popular because they are shallow and focus on their appearance or just pretend to like others and are afraid to be themselves. Perhaps they are rich because mommy and daddy gave them unearned money. The list goes on. I can only speculate because I don’t know who these people are or why you envy them. Remember, though, jealousy only hurts you. Set your own goals and work towards them and don’t worry about what other people are doing.
I don’t know what you mean by “I've done nothing and wasted everything that I've done.” If you’ve wasted what you’ve done, then the first part of that sentence is not true because you actually have done something. Anything you do is something you can learn from and grow from, so it is never a waste. Mistakes are just as valuable as accomplishments if you learn from them. Set realistic goals for yourself, and then try to meet them or even exceed them. Take it one step at a time and don’t be discouraged if sometimes you have to take a step backward.
As for #3, I don’t think there is such a thing as a “normal life.” I don’t even know what that means. Everyone has a different life and a different story. Each life is unique. Normal is a myth. If you try to live your life by some artificial or mythical standard of “normal,” you will always be disappointed. Live the life you were meant to live that is unique to you, not some bizarre society standard.
Friendships. Friendships form because two people like each other for who they are. If you like these two people and they like you, then that is all that matters. If you wish to make more friends then the way to do that is to socialize with people, especially doing things that you have in common. Take an interest in their lives and who they are and they will reciprocate if they like what they see in you. Here’s a nice article with some helpful advice on making new friends: http://www.succeedsocially.com/sociallife.
Finally, your mom. I’m sorry she has to work so much and you don’t have much time together. How about on the weekends, though? Unless she works seven days a week, there must be some time there. And, if she is busy doing things around the house, spend time with her by helping her with household duties. Although this isn’t “fun time,” it is still “together time,” and she will appreciate the help, believe me. Then, those things will be done more quickly and she will have time to do something more relaxing with you.
And finally finally! Don’t be so hard on yourself. Start by not saying things like “I feel like a failure.” When you start to say something negative about yourself, stop. Pause. Then think of something you like about yourself, such as “I’m doing better with my classwork” or “I’m doing better making friends” or simply “I’m a good person who cares about other people.”
In summary: stop comparing yourselves to others, set your own goals and work towards them, and stop being so down on yourself.
Hope that helps.
Hugs,
Papabear
Black Angel, by Kyell Gold – Book Review by Fred Patten
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Black Angel, by Kyell Gold. Illustrated by Rukis.
St. Paul, MN, Sofawolf Press, March 2016, trade paperback $19.95 (vii + 379 pages).
Black Angel is the conclusion of Kyell Gold’s Dangerous Spirits trilogy that began with Green Fairy (March 2012) and continued with Red Devil (January 2014). The three novels are a powerful mixture of spiritualism, drugs, and adolescent angst, shifting between centuries and societies. They are also set in Gold’s larger Forester University anthropomorphic-animal alternate universe, with clear parallels to our own. Each of these three is complete, but assuming you will like Black Angel enough to want to read the others, readers are recommended to start all three from the first.
Solomon Wrightson (black wolf), Alexei Tsarev (red fox), and Meg Kinnick (otter) are three very troubled seniors at Vidalia’s Richfield High School. All three have left home. Sol, who has just realized that he is gay, is constantly nagged at home by his father to excel at sports. Alexei, who has come from Siberia on a student visa, is concerned by the silence of his sister back home; he is sure that their parents are intercepting their mail. The mannish Meg has gotten her parents to let her move into a decrepit apartment to be an artist. Her apartment has become a social center for the three. Sol’s traveling into the past in Green Fairy, and Alexei’s being haunted by a ghost in Red Devil, may be due to external causes in those novels, or – as the rational Meg scoffs – it’s all in their imagination.
“Hi. I’m Meg. I’m nineteen, and I’m fucked up.
That’s not a big secret, by the way. Pretty much anyone who knew me from about fifteen to now would tell you the same thing. Only back then I thought it was a good kind of fucked up.” (p. 1)
She’s not so sure any longer. Sol and Alexei are moving out to grow in their own directions. Sol is going to college, and Alexei has to get his student visa extended. Meg considers herself more rational and mature than either of them, but she is also aware that she’s stuck in an adolescent rut while they’re moving on with their lives. So she’s glad to have the apartment all to herself when Sol and Alexei move out, but not sure what to do next.
In addition to being an Art Institute applicant, Meg takes commissions over the Internet for fantasy art.
“‘I need to get caught up with these commissions first. You know I need to do like ten of them a month to make rent and food.’ And booze and weed, but I left those as understood.” (p. 67)
She considers starting an online comic strip, using an idea she’s had since her childhood for a story about Marie-Belle, a young muskrat living in the bayous around New Kestle [New Orleans] in the past who wants to become a voodoo priestess.
A parallel story appears in Chapter 6. Meg suddenly has dreams of Hannah, an adolescent otter in a rigid future Christian society who chafes at its restrictions on women.
“I sat bolt upright in bed, convinced I was soaked through, heart still pounding. The dark room, as silent as when I’d gone to bed, still seemed to echo with the call from my dream, the name, ‘Hannah!’
I’d never dreamed that vividly before. The meds had given me some fucked-up nightmares, but nothing that coherent, nothing with smell and dialogue and hunger in my stomach and the heat of sun and the cool of water, that left me rubbing paws through my fur surprised that it wasn’t still wet.
A dream like Alexi and Sol had had.
I made sure that I wasn’t hallucinating something from my dream coming back to my bed, the way Sol had, but it didn’t make me feel better when I didn’t find anything. Alexei’s dreams hadn’t brought back anything except a ghost.
The good news is, my ghost is a fifteen-year-old otter girl, not a scary Russian soldier. I laughed at that and then clutched my sides, breathing hard, laughter turning shaky and hysterical. It was like I was listening to myself laugh and didn’t have any control over it.” (p. 53)
To further complicate the plot, at nineteen Meg is also very concerned about her own sexuality – or lack of same. Is she heterosexual? Homosexual? Bi? Asexual? Why doesn’t she feel any urges when confronted with good-looking young otters or animals of other species?
Black Angel turns into three parallel stories, each told in full chapters. Meg’s predominate, but those of Marie-Belle the muskrat and voodoo – or is it vodou, not voodoo?– in her comic strip, and of Hannah the otter and her Christian cult in Meg’s dreamworld, are so rich that the reader will forget about the larger story while reading those. Meg grows increasingly afraid that she can’t keep them from taking her over.
[Meg is walking with Athos, her grey fox friend who supplies her pot but who also seriously cares for her. They are discussing her comic strip.]
“‘But you know that,’ he said. ‘Your comic was in Colonial times, right?’
‘No. 1915,’ I said automatically.
He said something about the style of the houses and I replied that they were old houses, all the while thinking, how did I know the date that certainly? I knew it was about a hundred years ago, but then why didn’t I answer ‘1912’? Or ‘a hundred years ago’?” (p. 83)
As Meg is drawn increasingly into her dreamworlds, and objects from those dreamworlds appear in the real world to increasingly confuse her, her friends – Athos (fox), Alexei and Sol, Mike (sheep), Bellie (raccoon), Eve (another raccoon), Alain (fox), Sherine (weasel), and maybe someone (or something) from either Marie-Belle’s or Hannah’s worlds – try to help her, despite herself.
Not only is this an excellent story, it presents several vivid word-portraits of life in three anthropomorphic societies.
[Meg’s present world.] “So I went to the [city] pool. Not many otters there, because they mostly have pools in their houses, or they live in that big complex on the river and swim there. But about every other major species demographic was there: foxes, wolves, mice, rats, deer, squirrels, cougars, rabbits – a million god-damn rabbits – and even a few bobcats, playing against the water-hating stereotype. The pool blasted Neutra-Scent and today had added in a cut-grass smell that was supposed to make it feel like a backyard pool.” (p. 32)
[Hannah’s futuristic world.] “‘Go on. What’s going to happen to me in church?’ Hannah dove before Angeline could answer, plunging through the water toward the roots of the nearest cyprus. She knew Angeline could follow easily, but when she surfaced by the trunk, only a few otters remained in the church water, and Angeline was not one of them.” (p. 103)
Besides word-portraits, this contains ten full-page interior illustrations by Rukis. Black Angel is a fine conclusion to the Dangerous Spirits trilogy.
Episode 313 - Furry Mussolini
TigerTails Radio Season 9 Episode 43
Attraction to Anthros Not the Same As Zoophilia
So here is my question
I have been in the fandom for 5 yrs now and I am currently with a relationship who doesn't understand my fascination with it and I did explain it to him (he was very understanding) however when we got to the NSFW side. He kinda hit me with a block in the road and here it is.
Does being aroused by the anthropomorphic characters in erotic situation count as Zoophilia?. As I am and he is in no way attracted to animals in any way or connection but this had stumbled me as although they are in humanoid bodies and 99% percent of the time with human "junk" as well as sentient and is supposed to be considered humanoid in setting, they also have animalistic facial and physical characteristic so it left me wondering does it or does it not count as such since I have had other thoughts about it with similar beings like Minotaurs or Argonians. So in a nutshell , Is being aroused to erotic anthropomorphic/furry pictures considered a sign of/or Zoophilia?
It would be most helpful to pls lend us your expertise to help settle a question and help bring a couple closer together. Thank you in advance
(Here is an example of what I am talking about: Note it is the Man like and a print from Blacksad to help yuo understand my question:
link 1 http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/werewolf-comparison.jpg
link2http://www.granitassocies.com/images/photos/jazz-n-fun-s-club-est-une-affiche-de-la-serie-blacksad-realisee-par-juanjo-guarnido-et-diaz-canales_6686.jpg http://bd-erotique.askell.com/Guarnido/05.jpg- this one is a little tasteful but is not meant to be NSFW)
Cricket Meister
* * *
Dear Cricket,
No, being a furry and being sexually aroused, even a little, by anthro characters is not the same as being a zoophile. Zoophilia is sexual attraction to actual animals, especially in the sense of actually have sex with them. Only a tiny percentage or fraction of a percent of furries would describe themselves as being into zoophilia.
There are many reasons for the attraction to anthros, which I will be discussing in detail in my upcoming book. It’s important to note that the sexuality of such pictures as you shared has to do with a significant amount of human characteristics. Furries are, basically, humans with animal features, and that’s not the same as animals by any stretch of the mind.
Hope that makes you feel better.
Furry Hugs,
Papabear
Rover the Rainbow
Action Labs Entertainment are now the official U.S. distributors of the Soft Spots line of toys — 36 colorful puppies for kids to collect. Now this month Action Lab is premiering a new Soft Spots full-color comic book series for young readers, written and illustrated by M. Alice LeGrow. “The Soft Spots toy line gets the Action Lab treatment as young Sophia learns lessons of friendship with her colorful cast of pets… the Soft Spots!” According to Previews, each issue comes bundled with one Soft Spot Puppy plush.
THE SALON: Inside the fascinating, misunderstood world of furries
“The Lion King’ is an extraordinarily sexual film”: Inside the fascinating, misunderstood world of furries
THE SALON: Inside the fascinating, misunderstood world of furries
Furries are adults who assume creative/fantasy identities and dress up in fur suits. They are often ridiculed for their behavior, which is, by and large, assumed to be sexual. The new documentary, “Fursonas,” available on VOD now, attempts to demystify members of this subculture by—ahem—fleshing them out as humans.
Directed by Dominic Rodriguez (himself a furry, a wolf named Video), the film introduces characters like Diezel, who found his inner furry by working as a mascot; Skye, who enjoys the friendship and dance competitions at furry conventions; Freya, a mother who hopes her young daughter will find the same appreciation she does in costume; Bandit, who sees furry-dom as a way to memorialize his dog; and Grix and Quad, a gay couple who are equally comfortable in suit and out.
Then there is Uncle Kage, a chairman at furry conventions, who manages the way furries talk to and are represented by the media. He criticizes Boomer, a furry whose outfit is made of paper, not fur, and who went to the extreme of trying to legally change his name to Boomer the Dog, which is also the name of his favorite TV show/character; Chew Fox, whose appearance on “The Tyra Banks Show” discussed a furry taboo (apparently being a furry is like being in Fight Club); and Varka, who provides sex toys to furries, but is now fursona non grata at conventions.
“Fursonas” gives these men, women and animals an opportunity to express their thoughts about perception, tolerance and rejection. Salon spoke with Rodriguez about his film, his fur fetish and this fascinating subculture.
“Fursonas” attempts to debunk the myths about furries. Why do you think there is such curiosity, or misunderstanding regarding this subculture?
I think that when Uncle Kage was on a panel at a convention (Anthrocon), there was an insightful comment about the media, who came and pried into the underbelly about furry meetings being about sex. Because of defensiveness in the community and that attitude, there is more of a stigma. There’s a reaction from the community that thinks that the media is out to get us. That’s why we have to share all these other sides of furries. Being a furry is a positive beautiful thing in furries’ lives. People who aren’t furries want answers. They don’t understand something that they aren’t a part of.
How did you get the approval to make this documentary?
It was not approved by Anthrocon. The Anthrocon media policy is that if you are going to shoot [footage] there, you have to show the finished film to the board of directors. They recommend changes, and if you don’t make those changes you have to take that Anthrocon footage out. We didn’t, because we disagree with that policy. It’s against the rule, but it’s not against the law. We’re not looking to make the furries or the convention look bad. Scenes of Uncle Kage at the convention are available on YouTube for free. We weren’t sneaking around; we wanted to show what was right in front of our faces.
What were your criteria for the Fursonas you showcase in the film?
At first it was about finding people who would talk to me. I didn’t know anybody in the community. I reached out to people with costumes. Not everyone has a fur suit. I think the costumes are cinematic, and that the furries who wear them are passionate. They invest money and time in their suits and I wanted to talk to passionate people. I sent out 100 emails, half the people responded, and half of them spoke to me. I traveled to meet folks, but Boomer lives 20 minutes from my house. I wanted to get diversity. I didn’t know much about these people and their lives until I met them. People like Chew Fox, Varka and Uncle Kage were more people I sought out because I wanted to tell their story.
What observations do you have about why people become furries? Is it infantilization? Fantasy/role playing by unleashing the inner animal? Is it a mask to increase confidence? Is it a sexual fetish? Or all of the above?
For many people it incorporates all of the above. But for plenty of furries it is one of the above. There is enough of a sexual component to the fandom it can’t be ignored, but I don’t know how many people are into it sexually. That is not something that people are comfortable talking about. Which is totally fair. There is an innocence brought to it because of the silliness of putting on a costume, running around and having adventures. There was never a scene in the film where we explain why this person does it. It’s not about the why, it’s about the who. It was important to get to know the people. I don’t have any definitive answer.
How did you become a furry, and what have your experiences been?
For me, I was interested in this since I was 12. I thought so much about what made me a furry. My experience is just my experience. It’s not reflective of all experiences. I feel like it has something to do with growing up with the Internet and being obsessed with movies and cartoons. “The Lion King” is an extraordinarily sexual film. When I found furry porn, that was it for me. It’s really beautiful. When I think of the question “Can porn be art?” I think furry porn is the answer. You humanize it and bring it into emotion. Videos of people fucking takes the humanity away. For me being a furry started as a fetish. I don’t know why anthropomorphized anatomy does it for me. As I worked on the movie, I got more into the scene and there are so many aspects that I enjoy. I wasn’t into fur suits at first, and then, when I met Grix, he owned that character and made it approachable and fun. There was nothing awkward about that, and that inspired me to get a fur suit.
What can you say about the difficulties of “coming out” as a furry, which is addressed in “Fursonas?”
When you ask, “How do you come out to your parents as a furry?”—you don’t have to. I understand why people want to be honest with themselves. I feel like I didn’t choose this. That’s how deep it runs for me. That’s why people feel the need to come out. It’s so in line with their identity. I’m lucky—I have a really awesome family. They have been supportive of me talking about these things. But not everyone has supportive people around them. I understand how Diezel might feel, keeping his furry life separate from his work life. The movie is important to show people expressing themselves, but also acknowledge the difficulties of that situation.
“I hate to bring this up,” as Uncle Kage says journalists will ask, “but what is all this about sex in fur suits?” Were you tempted to depict sex scenes with furries?
I think that is part of the fun for me as a director and revealing things to the audience that has preconceived notions, and playing with those. Someone says a line and it puts the image in your head. But I didn’t want to hold back, so I needed to show the indulgence of Varka with the cum lube. That’s my money shot.
There has been controversy in the furry community over Chew Fox’s appearance on “The Tyra Banks Show.” She said something that was harmful to the community, but truthful for her. What are your thoughts on what she did?
I think that Chew Fox was not trying to hurt anyone. The most important thing was her being honest about herself. People will say she was trying to throw us under the bus. I don’t agree with that at all. I’ve had to go into the media and now talk about being a furry. I’m now very self-aware. I wouldn’t go on the “Tyra Banks Show.” It’s an exploitative treatment of its subjects. Boomer made a point about that there is no bad media. No matter what it is, there is some truth coming through. So when he goes on “Dr. Phil,” it’s more about him being on the show. “They can do what they want,” he says, “It’s me coming through, there is some truth coming through.” Many furries have responded well, and there’s a difference between how [they and] non-furries respond. A furry who interviewed me thinks Chew Fox was delighting in upsetting furries, and that’s wasn’t obvious to me at all.
How do you think your film will play with furry and non-furry audiences?
I wanted to make something furries and non-furries can get something out of. As far as who is going to accept furries, if you’re going to watch it to laugh at them, I hope you will be moved by these stories. But there are people you will never convince, and that’s fine. I’m more interested in furries’ reactions. It’s played well with non-furry audiences. It’s meant to be about more than this community and where they are right now. I’m interested to see how it will play with furries because we’re all passionate about being furries. I was terrified when I showed the film at a recent furry convention, but so far, all the furry screenings have been extremely positive experiences. It has provoked thoughtful discussion. We’re having conversations, and dialogue is positive.
More Gary M. Kramer.
-Dia
THE SALON: Inside the fascinating, misunderstood world of furries
“The Lion King’ is an extraordinarily sexual film”: Inside the fascinating, misunderstood world of furries
THE SALON: Inside the fascinating, misunderstood world of furries
Furries are adults who assume creative/fantasy identities and dress up in fur suits. They are often ridiculed for their behavior, which is, by and large, assumed to be sexual. The new documentary, “Fursonas,” available on VOD now, attempts to demystify members of this subculture by—ahem—fleshing them out as humans.
Directed by Dominic Rodriguez (himself a furry, a wolf named Video), the film introduces characters like Diezel, who found his inner furry by working as a mascot; Skye, who enjoys the friendship and dance competitions at furry conventions; Freya, a mother who hopes her young daughter will find the same appreciation she does in costume; Bandit, who sees furry-dom as a way to memorialize his dog; and Grix and Quad, a gay couple who are equally comfortable in suit and out.
Then there is Uncle Kage, a chairman at furry conventions, who manages the way furries talk to and are represented by the media. He criticizes Boomer, a furry whose outfit is made of paper, not fur, and who went to the extreme of trying to legally change his name to Boomer the Dog, which is also the name of his favorite TV show/character; Chew Fox, whose appearance on “The Tyra Banks Show” discussed a furry taboo (apparently being a furry is like being in Fight Club); and Varka, who provides sex toys to furries, but is now fursona non grata at conventions.
“Fursonas” gives these men, women and animals an opportunity to express their thoughts about perception, tolerance and rejection. Salon spoke with Rodriguez about his film, his fur fetish and this fascinating subculture.
“Fursonas” attempts to debunk the myths about furries. Why do you think there is such curiosity, or misunderstanding regarding this subculture?
I think that when Uncle Kage was on a panel at a convention (Anthrocon), there was an insightful comment about the media, who came and pried into the underbelly about furry meetings being about sex. Because of defensiveness in the community and that attitude, there is more of a stigma. There’s a reaction from the community that thinks that the media is out to get us. That’s why we have to share all these other sides of furries. Being a furry is a positive beautiful thing in furries’ lives. People who aren’t furries want answers. They don’t understand something that they aren’t a part of.
How did you get the approval to make this documentary?
It was not approved by Anthrocon. The Anthrocon media policy is that if you are going to shoot [footage] there, you have to show the finished film to the board of directors. They recommend changes, and if you don’t make those changes you have to take that Anthrocon footage out. We didn’t, because we disagree with that policy. It’s against the rule, but it’s not against the law. We’re not looking to make the furries or the convention look bad. Scenes of Uncle Kage at the convention are available on YouTube for free. We weren’t sneaking around; we wanted to show what was right in front of our faces.
What were your criteria for the Fursonas you showcase in the film?
At first it was about finding people who would talk to me. I didn’t know anybody in the community. I reached out to people with costumes. Not everyone has a fur suit. I think the costumes are cinematic, and that the furries who wear them are passionate. They invest money and time in their suits and I wanted to talk to passionate people. I sent out 100 emails, half the people responded, and half of them spoke to me. I traveled to meet folks, but Boomer lives 20 minutes from my house. I wanted to get diversity. I didn’t know much about these people and their lives until I met them. People like Chew Fox, Varka and Uncle Kage were more people I sought out because I wanted to tell their story.
What observations do you have about why people become furries? Is it infantilization? Fantasy/role playing by unleashing the inner animal? Is it a mask to increase confidence? Is it a sexual fetish? Or all of the above?
For many people it incorporates all of the above. But for plenty of furries it is one of the above. There is enough of a sexual component to the fandom it can’t be ignored, but I don’t know how many people are into it sexually. That is not something that people are comfortable talking about. Which is totally fair. There is an innocence brought to it because of the silliness of putting on a costume, running around and having adventures. There was never a scene in the film where we explain why this person does it. It’s not about the why, it’s about the who. It was important to get to know the people. I don’t have any definitive answer.
How did you become a furry, and what have your experiences been?
For me, I was interested in this since I was 12. I thought so much about what made me a furry. My experience is just my experience. It’s not reflective of all experiences. I feel like it has something to do with growing up with the Internet and being obsessed with movies and cartoons. “The Lion King” is an extraordinarily sexual film. When I found furry porn, that was it for me. It’s really beautiful. When I think of the question “Can porn be art?” I think furry porn is the answer. You humanize it and bring it into emotion. Videos of people fucking takes the humanity away. For me being a furry started as a fetish. I don’t know why anthropomorphized anatomy does it for me. As I worked on the movie, I got more into the scene and there are so many aspects that I enjoy. I wasn’t into fur suits at first, and then, when I met Grix, he owned that character and made it approachable and fun. There was nothing awkward about that, and that inspired me to get a fur suit.
What can you say about the difficulties of “coming out” as a furry, which is addressed in “Fursonas?”
When you ask, “How do you come out to your parents as a furry?”—you don’t have to. I understand why people want to be honest with themselves. I feel like I didn’t choose this. That’s how deep it runs for me. That’s why people feel the need to come out. It’s so in line with their identity. I’m lucky—I have a really awesome family. They have been supportive of me talking about these things. But not everyone has supportive people around them. I understand how Diezel might feel, keeping his furry life separate from his work life. The movie is important to show people expressing themselves, but also acknowledge the difficulties of that situation.
“I hate to bring this up,” as Uncle Kage says journalists will ask, “but what is all this about sex in fur suits?” Were you tempted to depict sex scenes with furries?
I think that is part of the fun for me as a director and revealing things to the audience that has preconceived notions, and playing with those. Someone says a line and it puts the image in your head. But I didn’t want to hold back, so I needed to show the indulgence of Varka with the cum lube. That’s my money shot.
There has been controversy in the furry community over Chew Fox’s appearance on “The Tyra Banks Show.” She said something that was harmful to the community, but truthful for her. What are your thoughts on what she did?
I think that Chew Fox was not trying to hurt anyone. The most important thing was her being honest about herself. People will say she was trying to throw us under the bus. I don’t agree with that at all. I’ve had to go into the media and now talk about being a furry. I’m now very self-aware. I wouldn’t go on the “Tyra Banks Show.” It’s an exploitative treatment of its subjects. Boomer made a point about that there is no bad media. No matter what it is, there is some truth coming through. So when he goes on “Dr. Phil,” it’s more about him being on the show. “They can do what they want,” he says, “It’s me coming through, there is some truth coming through.” Many furries have responded well, and there’s a difference between how [they and] non-furries respond. A furry who interviewed me thinks Chew Fox was delighting in upsetting furries, and that’s wasn’t obvious to me at all.
How do you think your film will play with furry and non-furry audiences?
I wanted to make something furries and non-furries can get something out of. As far as who is going to accept furries, if you’re going to watch it to laugh at them, I hope you will be moved by these stories. But there are people you will never convince, and that’s fine. I’m more interested in furries’ reactions. It’s played well with non-furry audiences. It’s meant to be about more than this community and where they are right now. I’m interested to see how it will play with furries because we’re all passionate about being furries. I was terrified when I showed the film at a recent furry convention, but so far, all the furry screenings have been extremely positive experiences. It has provoked thoughtful discussion. We’re having conversations, and dialogue is positive.
More Gary M. Kramer.
-Dia
FC-233 Landing Strippers - Quite a packed show this week, filled with lots of links in our roundup, short news, a fantastic interview with one of our favorite furry creators and finally an email segment kicked off by a hysterical fan made animation.
Quite a packed show this week, filled with lots of links in our roundup, short news, a fantastic interview with one of our favorite furry creators and finally an email segment kicked off by a hysterical fan made animation.
Watch Video Link Roundup:- Shia’s morning routine
- Fursuiter in Norway wins home makeover contest
- Fursuiters invited on stage during scottish band’s concert
- Izotope Audio Pro Essentials – What is Sample Rate?
- AshDingo is creating a trans documentary
- Majira’s Furry Puns
- Suspect in baltimore TV Stations bomb situation shot
- Little Skamp causes full minute of dead air on NPR take your child to work day
- New furry convention in Spain
- Zootopia wolf gets name – Larry
- Exposing the David Miscavige of Furries
- Weasel Apparently Shuts Down World’s Most Powerful Particle Collider
Fredrek Phox aka Matthew Gafford, creator of “A Fox In Space,” a fan made animated cartoon series about StarFox.
Kotaku: Star Fox Fan Animation Is A Love Letter To Classic Cartoons
Star Fox Animated Series Patreon Preview Video
Episode 1: A Fox in Space – S01E01 – “Don’t Call Me Star Fox”
Patreon: Patreon.com/AFoxInSpace
Twitter: @AFoxInSpaceShow
Picarto – https://picarto.tv/AFoxInSpace
KnowYourMeme: FredrykPhox
Watch Video Email:- Enzo – “Fursuit Gay”
- Gladwin – “
- Faros Kalin – “Retiring my fursuit for the wrong reasons?”
FC-233 Landing Strippers - Quite a packed show this week, filled with lots of links in our roundup, short news, a fantastic interview with one of our favorite furry creators and finally an email segment kicked off by a hysterical fan made animation.
Quite a packed show this week, filled with lots of links in our roundup, short news, a fantastic interview with one of our favorite furry creators and finally an email segment kicked off by a hysterical fan made animation.
Watch Video Link Roundup:- Shia’s morning routine
- Fursuiter in Norway wins home makeover contest
- Fursuiters invited on stage during scottish band’s concert
- Izotope Audio Pro Essentials – What is Sample Rate?
- AshDingo is creating a trans documentary
- Majira’s Furry Puns
- Suspect in baltimore TV Stations bomb situation shot
- Little Skamp causes full minute of dead air on NPR take your child to work day
- New furry convention in Spain
- Zootopia wolf gets name – Larry
- Exposing the David Miscavige of Furries
- Weasel Apparently Shuts Down World’s Most Powerful Particle Collider
Fredrek Phox aka Matthew Gafford, creator of “A Fox In Space,” a fan made animated cartoon series about StarFox.
Kotaku: Star Fox Fan Animation Is A Love Letter To Classic Cartoons
Star Fox Animated Series Patreon Preview Video
Episode 1: A Fox in Space – S01E01 – “Don’t Call Me Star Fox”
Patreon: Patreon.com/AFoxInSpace
Twitter: @AFoxInSpaceShow
Picarto – https://picarto.tv/AFoxInSpace
KnowYourMeme: FredrykPhox
Watch Video Email:- Enzo – “Fursuit Gay”
- Gladwin – “
- Faros Kalin – “Retiring my fursuit for the wrong reasons?”
[Live] Landing Strippers
Quite a packed show this week, filled with lots of links in our roundup, short news, a fantastic interview with one of our favorite furry creators and finally an email segment kicked off by a hysterical fan made animation.
Link Roundup:- Shia’s morning routine
- Fursuiter in Norway wins home makeover contest
- Fursuiters invited on stage during scottish band’s concert
- Izotope Audio Pro Essentials – What is Sample Rate?
- AshDingo is creating a trans documentary
- Majira’s Furry Puns
- Suspect in baltimore TV Stations bomb situation shot
- Little Skamp causes full minute of dead air on NPR take your child to work day
- New furry convention in Spain
- Zootopia wolf gets name – Larry
- Exposing the David Miscavige of Furries
- Weasel Apparently Shuts Down World’s Most Powerful Particle Collider
Fredrek Phox aka Matthew Gafford, creator of “A Fox In Space,” a fan made animated cartoon series about StarFox.
Kotaku: Star Fox Fan Animation Is A Love Letter To Classic Cartoons
Star Fox Animated Series Patreon Preview Video
Episode 1: A Fox in Space – S01E01 – “Don’t Call Me Star Fox”
Patreon: Patreon.com/AFoxInSpace
Twitter: @AFoxInSpaceShow
Picarto – https://picarto.tv/AFoxInSpace
KnowYourMeme: FredrykPhox
Email:- Enzo – “Fursuit Gay”
- Gladwin – “
- Faros Kalin – “Retiring my fursuit for the wrong reasons?”
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls…
IDW Publishing have a new full-color Disney comic miniseries coming out later this month: Disney Magic Kingdom Comics. “IDW’s Disneyland 60th anniversary anthology is here… collecting decades of Disney’s park-themed adventure comics! Carl Barks’ Scrooge McDuck travels from the Mark Twain Riverboat to a Beagle Boy battle; then Donald and Mickey investigate the strange disappearance of the Country Bear Jamboree!” Hmm, we’d like to solve that last one ourselves! Featuring works by Carl Barks, Thad Komorowski, Victor Rios, Don R. Christensen, Al Hubbard, and Massimo Fecchi. Previews has more.
Bay Area Furs find out why there should be a Furry award for Best Journalism.
There was a hunt for a missing giraffe…
Zarafa is a furry superstar lately. But he didn’t go looking for notoriety. It happened one night after a show when his treasured purple giraffe fursuit was stolen from his car. It led to community-wide support, and miraculous recovery of the suit. Now people recognize him on the street.
Credit is due to Neonbunny, the show DJ, for pounding the sidewalk to spread flyers. How many promoters would do it for one show goer? Dedication like that built a local scene for furry dance parties.
Finding the suit flipped around the loss to amazing extremes beyond Zarafa and a circle of furry friends. The support drew notice from local media, and they found it irresistible to share:
- SAN FRANCISCO FURRIES NOW TARGETS FOR ROBBERY.
- Identity Theft: Furry Furious Until Stolen Suit Recovered.
The San Francisco Bay Area Furry scene drew a journalist from New York.
A new surprise came two months later. Another news article covered Zarafa’s night out and loss of his suit. The journalist had been on the scene, but not with intentions to write about drama like that.
Whitney Kimball originally contacted me through Dogpatch Press. She was looking for leads for a story about older people who may have discovered Furry fandom in later life. (I told her the word was “greymuzzle”). I pointed her to Zarafa, Neonbunny, and Spottacus.
After my introductions, they handled the rest. Whitney learned about Neonbunny’s “Furries vs. Drag Queens” dance party. Soon she was flying from New York to San Francisco to be there. (That’s dedication, right?) I had nothing else to do with the resulting article (although I’m told the main graphic seems to show me in the background. Nice!) It’s exciting to share it:
How the furry community rallied when Zarafa Giraffe lost his head – by Whitney Kimball.
It’s a kickass article, according to the feedback. Have you read many others that talk about the “lightning bolts” you get from wearing a fursuit? (It invited more interest too – Zarafa was then contacted by Zoomin TV, a euro outfit doing video news for niche channels.) Spottacus said:
‘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.”
One furry friend (and journalist in real life) had an interesting comment:
@Spottacus @DogpatchPress Also, Patch, this article needs to go in some type of Furry Hall of Fame. Do we have an award for media coverage?
— Zeigler IRL (@ZeiglerJaguar) April 25, 2016
Why don’t we have an award?
The Ursa Major award seems to be all for fiction, even if there’s an “other” category. Fred Patten is a member of the award committee. He told me: “what to do about non-fiction works with regard to the Ursa Majors is being discussed.”
Everyfur knows how the furry community regards the dreaded “THE MEDIA”. It starts with supersensitivity, and maybe a hate/hate relationship. Attention from them seems to cause a defensive crouch with claws out.
But furries are in many ways created by the media. It’s an internet-based subculture of fans. With “The Year of Furry” happening, and furry movies blowing up the box office, I think it’s a good time to stop dancing around this frenemy.
The quality of Whitney’s article makes me want to do more than share. It made me talk about establishing an award because of the story. Whitney liked that:
“WOW, I think that is the most flattering feedback I have ever gotten in 6 years of writing!! Thank you for featuring the story, Patch, I really appreciate it! And I’m happy to hear that the news coverage is improving in general. That Vanity Fair piece was just godawful.”
If “the media” is mostly bad, reward it when it’s good.
If they’ve spread negativity before, it’s part of notoriety that now draws them back. That’s a monster they helped to create. Now the more interest grows, the more you have power to say “no” if they ask for access. Making them work to do better would flip the dynamic. It would be smart to own that power and award good attention.
Well written articles are coming with growing frequency. It makes me want to start a short list of the best. Here’s a few that I would list for special recognition:
- You Can’t Get Inside – by mouse at The Hooded Utilitarian.
- CSI Fur Fest: The Unsolved Case of the Gas Attack at a Furry Convention – by Jennifer Swann at Vice.
- How the furry community rallied when Zarafa Giraffe lost his head – by Whitney Kimball at The Kernel.
- Fursonas Takes On the Secretive World of Furries—and the Movement’s Furrious Fuhrer – by Matt Coker at OC Weekly.
What do you think about an award name? How should it be organized? Who could pitch in?
Look for a second article here soon about more spotlight on Bay Area Furries.
Just another day in San Francisco! @AlastairGSD, me, @ZantalScalie,& @chairoraccoon #FursuitFriday pic:@LoboLoc0 pic.twitter.com/lITrXqU4Wv
— Zarafa (@Zarafagiraffe) April 29, 2016
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, 2016
The Furry Canon: Black Beauty
Would I recommend Anna Sewell’s 1877 classic Black Beauty for inclusion in the furry canon? Yes, but with one qualification: the book’s central conceit is innovatively furry; the rest of the book is not.
I will begin with the furry element of Black Beauty: it is, as its subtitle proclaims, the auto-biography of a horse. More than just the story of a particular, modern horse’s life—not merely as a symbolic or allegorical gesture—it is a horse’s life told in the first person. In his own voice, Beauty guides us through the daily adventures and boredoms of a horse’s life, commenting on his masters’ behavior, his material condition, and his emotive reaction to it all. Though Beauty never vocalizes an English word, he is a talking horse by virtue of the fact that he addresses us.
And I am sorry to say it, but this is the extent of the book’s anthropomorphism. Despite his internal rational faculties, Beauty is definitely a horse. Throughout the entire book, I waited for him to act in some way that would reflect the thoughtfulness of his narration, but no: this is not a fantasy, and Sewell makes sure that Black Beauty’s behavior fits solidly within equine parameters.
In fact, to have anthropomorphized Beauty beyond a narrative voice would have undermined the book’s purpose, which relied on being a unimpeachable record of the sufferings of Victorian-era horses. Despite their prevailing reputation as unfeeling killjoys, Victorians were some the first Westerners who could have mustered the compassion—or, perhaps, the proto-furry sensibility—to produce and appreciate a novel like Black Beauty.
Following Descartes, many Europeans since the Enlightenment had believed that animals–in contrast to humans–were the equivalent of biological machines, possessing no interior life, senses, or pain. They had no memories or thoughts, only instincts, programs set running by God and death terminated. Away from the philosophers, the situation was even easier to explain: animals were appliances. You made an investment in them and discarded them when they could no longer return your investment. Indeed, Black Beauty then may have inspired the same bemused reactions as The Brave Little Toaster today.
Nevertheless, a new social consciousness gradually arose. The likes of Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens depicted, however caricatured, the desperate situation of Europe’s poor. In the United States, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin described the plight of slaves in the American South and kindled the tinder of the Civil War. John Snow discovered that cholera spread not from noxious vapors but from contaminated water—a conclusion he reached from caring about poor Londoners enough to quantify their deaths and illnesses. Movements began to abolish debtors’ prisons and to provide humanitarian aid. Temperance societies arose to raise awareness about the effects of alcohol abuse on families and to persuade men to abandon the devil’s drink1.
With this awareness came a new concern about nonhuman life. Contradicting philosophical and theological justifications for beating and killing animals, some reformers declared that animal pain was an evil to be mitigated just as much as human pain. Members of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, founded in the United Kingdom in 1824, became known as “angels for horses” for the work they did to punish unkind owners, provide drinking fountains for thirsty carriage horses, and euthanize horses beyond treatment or relief. Its American affiliate, founded in New York City in 1866, was even granted formal police authority to punish animal abusers.
But while these movements have evolved into “animal rights” today, primary among the reasons they offered for caring about animals was an anthropocentric one that has fallen out of fashion: practicing cruelty toward “dumb brutes” would habituate its (mostly male) practitioners to treat humans, especially women and children, with cruelty. Treating animals with kindness was an integral part of human (again, particularly male—gender featured hugely in these campaigns) moral development.
Having studied the time period, I had a hard time viewing Black Beauty as anything more than a narrativized morality manual. Beauty never has an owner who is not either lauded as a paragon of virtue or criticized as one who indulges in vice. (Regarding gender, note that his best owner is surnamed “Manly”!) He receives an unsightly injury from a master who rode him too hard in a drunken rage; he watches other horses and owners deteriorate due to rock-bottom wages and greedy employers; he witnesses a corrupt stable-owner defraud those whose horses are under his stingy, neglectful care. Beauty himself is sold several times—changing names each time—because of his owners’ economic hardship. While a Londoner might be able to brush off the sale of a horse as one would that of a practical but out-of-style car, Sewell reminds us that the horse has a life after being sold and that, as a horse ages and its physical ability degenerates, his or her life becomes ever more desperate and troubled. Humans, therefore, share some responsibility for their animals’ continued well-being; for someone with a good conscience, out of sight could not mean out of mind.
In this light, Beauty’s ability to talk to horses is revealed less as essential anthropomorphism but as an instrumentally deployed device: Beauty’s conversations with other horses serve almost exclusively to illuminate other fields of equine life Beauty could not himself experience. Ginger shows how poor training can effectively disable a horse for work; Captain gives an insight into the life of a war horse on the front lines of the Crimean War2. Again, these stories are meant to demonstrate the proper care of horses through both positive and negative examples.
Curiously, throughout the entire book Sewell seldom has Beauty himself criticize humans; instead, she gives that duty to human characters Beauty overhears. However, Black Beauty’s acquiescence to the most unreasonable or painful treatment he receives—his perfect loyalty, unwillingness to judge, and unflaggingly obliging temperament—only prove his innocence and pile the sins even deeper on his abusers’ heads.
That Sewell’s purpose is moral is affirmed by when she decides to end the book: not with Beauty’s old age (it would be hard to end an autobiography with death), but with his return to a secure life. “My troubles are over, and I am at home,” he says. The end of life’s vicissitudes—adventures with the potential for moral commentary—is the end of story. And it is not altogether happy: in the book’s final lines, Beauty, solitary, finds himself reminiscing about his unblemished colthood: “often before I am quite awake, I fancy I am still in the orchard at Birtwick, standing with my old friends under the apple-trees.” These friends and vistas he will never see again.
Sewell’s didacticism, in my opinion, has not aged well. Black Beauty’s passivity seldom engages more than the reader’s compassion and pity. This, of course, is the point3. If, however, you want to learn about the plight of the horse in its heyday, Black Beauty is exactly what you should read. As it did in Victorians for their working animals, hopefully Beauty’s minimal anthropomorphism can serve to evoke in modern readers empathy with cattle in feedlots or pigs in gestation crates.
1 Which in the mid-1800s America and Britain was hard liquor, not beer or wine.
2 Notably, the war in which Florence Nightingale pioneered life-saving practices that would become standard medical procedure.
3 I will admit that for me it was refreshing to read an explicitly Christian defense of kindness to animals; so far has the discourse moved toward utilitarianism and “rights”—and so split is society among culture-wars lines—that religious arguments are seldom prominently made in animal ethics.
Follow this link to explore everything we have published on the [adjective][species] Furry Canon project.
The Furry Canon, recommended, at the time of publication:
Redwall
New anthro fiction anthology The Society Pages – OPEN FOR SUBMISSION.
There’s a vast community of writers within the Furry Fandom. From building community sites like SoFurry, to their own Furry Writers Guild, they come together to explore the anthropomorphic writing arts with novels, comics, and anthologies. Many anthologies are being made in the fandom, and they’re always looking for new talent. Keep your ears perked for announcements about anthologies open for submission, and you may find one with a vision that inspires you to get involved.
Did you like Zootopia, and the way Disney brought an anthropomorphic world to life, accounting for all the different sizes and species and their needs? Did it make you imagine your own society of walking, talking animals? Zootopia was only about mammals, but what about reptiles, birds or insects? Will they all live together, or is one group seen as lesser to another?
If you think about this when you write, The Society Pages is the anthology for you.
The Society Pages is edited by Lily White, known for writing the NSFW webcomic Pierce Me. She founded Scratchpost Press earlier this year to publish a variety of work she found lacking in the fandom. Lily says:
“I’ve always wanted to work in publishing so this seemed like a great way to just dive in.”
Those questions of how an anthro society works inspired this anthology. Lily says:
“I’m interested to see writers look into how an anthro society would actually function instead of hand-waving of it just functioning. How do you make friends with a species that traditionally eats yours? How does that extrapolate into an entire civilization that somehow manages to get along?
It is something that has always bothered me about the fandom, though it might be I don’t delve deeply enough into the content produced by other artists and writers, that it often feels like this is something that is just sort of ignored. When writing fiction so closely linked to people’s personas there is a tendency towards wish fulfillment and I think that makes these opportunities for drama fall away. I really love exploring this stuff and wanted to see more of it in print.
There have been some that have looked at it in different forms. Comics like Blacksad use anthro animals to represent what role/kind of character they are. While Endtown looks at how well we adapt in a post apocalypse where people are mutated into animals and how much we don’t. And of course Zootopia. There are many examples for writers to get inspired by.
… the first that comes to [my] mind is Fauxlacine’s fantastic series of short stories and illustrations under the title of ‘Dog Eat Dog’. While a bit gory for a lot of people their work explores some of the realities of a furry society under pressure and I think it is a great body of work to look at. Not everything needs to be as gloomy as hers, of course.
Of course you go with the tone that works for you. You want hard hitting drama? Go for it. Absurd comedy? Tragic romance? Horrific horror? Go for it. It’s your world. Have fun with it.”
The Society Pages will be the first book published from Scratchpost, but it’s not planned to be the last.
“I have a few other anthology concepts I would like to produce based on how The Society Pages works out. If it seems like anthologies are a sustainable system to get new work out into the world I will likely continue in that vein, but I am also always keeping an eye out for submissions that are not necessarily for an anthology – I would love to help produce long-form fiction for writers.”
The Society Pages deadline is June 1st, with a projected publishing date sometime around September. Accepted authors will be paid 30 dollars, a contributor’s copy, plus a code for extra discounted copies. Lily shares the submission details:
“The pieces should be 2,000 to 8,000 words and saved in whatever format you are most comfortable with using. I would also prefer that people provide an introduction to themselves and their piece in the initial email. Aside from that, it should be sent to scratchpostpress@gmail.com with the subject line ‘The Society Pages – (Author Name) Query’.
I would prefer to know what I’m going to be reading before I receive it – query before delivery if possible. There isn’t much reason for it, but it does help show the writer knows their own work (and read the submission guidelines). If a writer can break down their story effectively into a pitch it can usually show any major issues from the start.”
To learn more about the submission guidelines please visit Scratchpost’s website.
Well? What are you waiting for? You only have a month. Crack open that Word Doc and bring your society to life.
-Pup Matthias