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Here is an article on the BBC News site, about the recent hacking of a repeater station used by Denver-area FM station KIFT 106.3:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35995893


Several US radio stations played out an explicit podcast to listeners after an apparent hack.

The Furcast group says the 90-minute podcast went out without its knowledge and it is "deeply sorry".

Two Texas stations were among those which broadcast the material, aimed at "furries"- people interested in animals that are given human traits.

Broadcasters have been advised to change passwords on the hardware many of them use.

Barix streaming boxes are popular with broadcasters and PA professionals.

Furcast said that multiple server requests for its content during the incident were in the name of "Barix Streaming Client" and that many of the individual boxes involved were visible on Shodan, a search engine for devices connected via the Internet of Things.

The BBC has contacted Barix for comment but the problem appears to be with security settings not being updated by the box owners.

"Someone is attacking Barix Boxes," wrote a member of the Alabama Broadcast Association.

"Several radio stations and at least one radio network have been compromised. The Barix receiver is pointed to an obscene podcast and its password changed so it can only be reset manually."

Furries are people who have a fascination with anthropomorphism and often dress in animal costumes.

The furry group Furcast describes itself as "an improv comedy-themed furry podcast with no censor" and denies that its main aim is to create sexual material.

"Our content is discovered by individuals who specifically seek what we produce, and they do not normally come into contact with it via public means," they wrote.

"We have no interest in being discovered by a mainstream audience."
'Unknown source'

Texas radio station KXAX found itself broadcasting Furcast's podcast on Tuesday.

"At about 9am we were notified that a programme was playing on the station that did not originate from this studio," the station wrote on Facebook.

"We found out that our equipment had been hacked and was broadcasting a podcast or a stream from an unknown source.

"We were able to eventually get the problem resolved. But still want to apologise to anyone who may have heard the programming."

KXAX general manager Jason Mclelland told Ars Technica there did not appear to have been a reason for the hack.

Another station affected, KIFT, said in a statement that it had only been able to regain control of its output when an engineer physically went to the site of the hacked remote transmitter.

"We are working with equipment manufacturers and auditing the security of our own systems to avoid any repeats of this incident," it said.

Last year, I shared the fantasy concept of a “Furry Film Festival“.  It was inspired by many potential reasons for why it could happen for real.  Fred Patten recently shared a response article – and that brought even more response.  It’s very encouraging to see the idea catch on for discussion with other super dedicated fan publishers.  In time, hopefully it could lead to a festival for real.

Thanks to JM, editor of [adjective][species]:

“The [adjective][species] team think that the furry film festival idea is a fantastic one, and we would like to humbly submit the following suggestions (in screening order). This short list is a collective recommendation from several of our contributors.”

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Wes Anderson takes the already great story from Roald Dahl and elevates it with his signature style. The stop-motion animation allows him to stage the action with whimsical precision and the voice-acting breathes a perfect blend of feral and logical life into these characters. Silly, sweet, weird, and enchanting.

An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Everyone remembers the transformation sequence (and rightfully so — it’s still the best werewolf scene in film history), but this movie has a lot more going for it: the beginning of the film builds suspense wonderfully, and adds a few great touches to werewolf mythology that have never been duplicated. Rightfully placed, for more reasons than you’d think, as the pinnacle of its genre.

Robin Hood (1973)
Probably the most critically-dismissed movie on our list, this 1973 cartoon comes right out of Disney’s “dark period”. The studio cut corners every chance it could, and it shows — entire sequences are lifted from other movies, character models shift between frames and the story is a thin string of episodic set-pieces. But there’s still an undeniable charm about the debonair fox and his salt-of-the-earth companions as they rescue Nottingham from the feeble clutches of the maneless lion, Prince John.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
When Roger is framed for the murder of Marvin Acme, there’s only one man in Hollywood who can help him: Eddie Valiant, private investigator with an alcohol problem and a grudge against ‘toons. A love letter to the Golden Age of American Animation and the noir genre, the movie takes us for a ride in a world where cartoons are real and follow their own set of rules of physics and morals. Wacky, grimy, and a cornerstone for the tooniest among us.

Labyrinth (1986)
A fifteen-year-old girl travels through a land populated by loveable monsters from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to rescue her baby half-brother from the Goblin King (David Bowie). A film about growing up without leaving the important stuff behind.

Ladyhawke (1985)
A great example of how far fantasy movies were willing to go in the 1980s: Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer as a pair of lovers cursed to change into a wolf at night and a hawk by day, respectively. The movie maintains a dreamy, mythic feel throughout that ages superbly as a testament to the imagination and aesthetic of the genre films of the decade.

Never Cry Wolf (1983)
Carroll Ballard’s masterpiece about a biologist who accepts an arctic posting in the hope he can rediscover his true nature. Starts slowly but once our hero is marooned, he starts to discover his inner animal-person. Transcendent, especially if you have a touch of the wolf.

That concludes the submitted post by JM.

That’s a great movie list, for quality as much as fan appeal.  The only one I think is a stretch is Labyrinth, since isn’t it known for non furry reasons (maybe another Henson movie could fit better?)  The two following it may not be highly anthropomorphic in presentation, just more in theme.  But they likely fit the theme of “stuff furries love” which could be curated for a great film festival. If it includes vintage 1980’s fantasy AND a nature themed movie like Never Cry Wolf, how about The Beastmaster?

Pragmatic limits for a real festival.

Leaving behind fantasy ideas and making it real would of course bring challenges like getting screening rights.  (Good luck getting anywhere near the Disney movies.)  As Fred’s response said:

Such a festival could easily be filled by excellent but obscure features (many foreign). That would have the advantages of probably being cheaper to rent than those by large American studios.

It would make sense to use part original fan-made stuff (likely not put on big screens before), and part underexposed, obscure or foreign content – including a small selection of “marquee worthy” choices with name recognition or other draw.

I originally suggested the Furry Force shorts (since the creators approve, and possibly even CollegeHumor could put their name on it).  And Finsterworld – since the director approved my request to screen it for a festival, it had it’s brush with Oscar recognition, has very little exposure in North America, and was made with Real Furries.

You’ve read this far… so here’s a tasty treat.

Finsterworld seems almost completely unseen by the devoted niche of furries who could enjoy seeing themselves in a movie of really special quality.  It seems sadly impossible to see without importing a German region coded DVD with no subtitles.  In 2013 I was given private access to a streaming english-titled festival screener.  It doesn’t take away business to share something that isn’t available anyways…

See Finsterworld here.  The password is ‘Furries2013’ (case sensitive.)

Expect “arthouse” ensemble drama, on the other end of the spectrum from explosion-based movies.  It’s a movie of many moods – absurd, perverse, hilarious, thoughtful, cynical, satirical and magical.  It’s incredibly German.  The furry subplot is only a piece of the whole, but it’s key to the message.  The director worked with some Eurofurence furs to research and shoot their fursuiting scene.  Watch with the lights out and brain engaged for a really excellent experience.

– Patch

Thanks to Pup Mathias for the hard work of formatting Fred’s previous response article.

This is just too cute, so we’ll let the creator Charles Thurston explain it: “I have two small wonderful little girls and the problem I had was trying to find ways to entertain them and at the same time introduce them to the nerdy pop culture things that mommy and daddy love. There’s plenty of stuff out for small kids 6 and up but not for children under 4. So I decided to write and draw parody books for them that gave them a friendly introduction into the world of pop culture and sci-fi while paying tribute to the creative geniuses of George Lucas, J. R. R. Tolkien, Laura Joffe Numeroff, Joss Whedon, Rod Serling, Robert Zemeckis, Russell T. Davies, and Steven Moffat all of which that helped shape my childhood/adulthood and imagination.” Charles’ original hand-made books include titles like Go, Smaug, Go!, Taylor in Ape Land, and The Dire Wolf At The End Of This Book. All those and more are available as a package deal at his Etsy Store. You can also find out more at his web site, as well as look through his extensive collection of original prints for sale.

This is not something I normally do, but I found out about a website today that I think is just wonderful. It's called Rainbow Ark and is a site to help promote understanding between furry, religious, and LGBT people and to help those who are furries or LGBT to see that they can follow a faith and not be excluded. Rainbow Ark has a website, a Live Journal page, a Facebook page, and they are on FurAffinity. Also, they have a buddy organization called Open Arms that has this FA page.

Guess this is just one of those times when ol' Papabear is a little slow to discover something so cool. Check 'em out!
​

Guest article by Flip. Flip has been involved with furry and other fandoms since the late 1980s, running conventions since the mid 90s, and generally being an uberfan. He helps organize Furry Migration, which is held in Minneapolis.

This article is a companion and counterpoint to JM’s recent article, Ideas on Anti-Social Behaviour at Furry Events.

It’s odd when I find myself in such contrasting agreement and disagreement with an article at the same time. For the most part, I AGREE with JM’s article in his goals and even parts of his methodology. However, I do not believe the use of “nudge” dynamics is the best approach. Nudge assumes a sort of passive aggressive control from the staff. Control should not the final goal; responsibility of membership should be the final goal. I am going to suggest a reframing of the argument to better meet this goal.

Let me start with this: I’m a long time convention attendee, event organizer, contract negotiator, and alternative lifestyle aficionado. I have been going to and running conventions ranging from anime, gaming, science fiction, furry, and alternate lifestyles—including LGBT, BDSM, and polyamory—for over 25 years. I have seen the spectrum, from what works well to utter collapse. I speak from experience.

I’m not here to be an expert on how people should enjoy their convention. I’m not here to say what is a correct furry experience; that is subjective. I’m not even here to suggest what is culturally appropriate; I respect the importance of art and free expression too much to try to restrain it unnecessarily. What I can speak to is a culmination of rules and lessons learned on how hotels and events run here in the Midwest United States, and some of the contract law/assumptions that govern them. I understand that staff at a convention feel obliged to manage their membership so as not to disrupt these sometimes delicate contacts and legal requirements. I also sympathize with members of the furry fandom, which if being true to a furry aesthetic, are more concerned with expressing themselves than second guessing whether their actions are always “socially acceptable”.

This approach already seems to cause an issue with many furries. To some, I’m being too permissive, and actually encouraging “anti-social” behavior. To others, I’m being an “elite” fur because I’m defining do’s and don’ts. Both of these accusations assume that I am trying to assert control, which is not my interest at all. If you feel that being furry means you are free to do whatever you like, I would answer; you ARE free to do what you want. But I, as convention organizer and an agent of a legal non-profit, WILL not support or defend your actions. I will distance your behavior from what has been established by the convention. The trick is knowing not IF you allowed something, but WHERE and HOW you are allowed to do things.

Before we proceed, I want to give example of what CAN be achieved if executed properly. I can cite several examples of events at conventions that were far more risqué than the issues cited by JM which caused problems:

• “The 13th floor” of a local non furry convention, a responsible group established an area that was able to show a relatively full real life example of BDSM and polyamorous culture to those who wish to observe and even “sample” aspects of it. No significant legal or hotel issues were incurred, even though powers that be knew this event was occurring.
• At a recent furry convention, a showing of Fritz the Cat was challenged by both the night manager at the hotel and (some) attendees. Citations of contract law, legal law, and artistic obligation showed not only why we could do it, but why we should do it.

My point is that organizers should not focus on the specific behavior, but rather the context of the behavior.

So what are the cardinal terms to understand? The difference between public vs. private areas. The difference between convention staff, the hotel, and convention membership. Finally, the different between engagement and enforcement.

Let’s start with the first two terms. Conventions exist in that funny legal area where what is defined as public and what is defined as private is commonly blurred. I do not have space to show all the nuance here, but be aware what gets furs in trouble usually is doing things in a PUBLIC area instead of a PRIVATE area. Again, the issue is less the specific behavior but WHERE the behavior is conducted.

For example: you can be drunk, have sex, be nude, view adult material, etc, in a PRIVATE area, like a hotel room, but should be aware that such actions in a PUBLIC area (like a lobby), will be punished by the appropriate law. At a well run convention, the staff will know what areas are considered private and what areas are public. A convention attendee will often not know. But information like this is easy to access from staff: if in doubt, the membership must assume an area is PUBLIC unless they get clarification from authority.

With above being said, be aware of another often forgotten point: an illegal act performed in a “private” area is still illegal. (Yes, to acknowledge those libertarian legal scholars out there who love to cite castle laws, a private residence does have some discretion on enforcement law. But a hotel that rents a private space does not enjoy these protections.) Illegal drug use, underage sex or drinking, etc. is legally indefensible. A convention should not and will not defend you if there is a criminal act.

For example: there was a recent hoopla at a furry convention, where an incident that set of a safety alarm at a hotel required police attention. The convention was required, due to warrant and investigation, to disclose specific registration information. There was some outcry among furries that the convention should have withheld that information as “private”. Nope, sorry: an illegal act is an illegal act, and a fiduciary requirement of a group is to aid an investigation. Yes, organizers do not disclose full lists or other data outside of a such an investigation request, and instead disclose only what is legally required.

Next part is the relationship between staff, the hotel, and the membership. Put most simply, a convention is an event where a collective of members is renting a space for private use from a hotel, negotiated and managed by staff. Understand there IS, initially, an adversarial arrangement here. Ideally, the best conventions are where staff manage a partnership between the hotel and the membership, but that is usually the result of many years of trust and hard work, providing a consistent positive outcome and low drama events. Many furs forget that almost ANY negative impact to the hotel will possibly kill this arrangement and thereby potentially kill the convention. To a hotel, there is no “minor incident” unless they want it that way. They have the power, we don’t. They own the place, we don’t!

Any assertion along the lines of “they need our business” or “the convention can afford it” is simply wrong. Staff are there to best represent the interest of the membership for the convention, and request from the hotel the facilities necessary to make it happen. The only power is the power of the hotel, and legal authorities able to implement commerce and trespass law. Convention staff have very little authority.

This gets us to our last point: engagement vs enforcement. With a realistic understanding of how power flows, and who has final say on “anti-social” behavior, it seems easy to conclude that staff cannot enforce behavior. This statement is alien to most furry conventions, but is the basis of good relations for many conventions (including here in Minneapolis). Conventions do not run a security department, they run an operations department. The staff’s job is not to enforce rules, but to establish the areas of the convention, both private and public, to best serve their membership. They then “remind” the attendee where these areas are, and the rules established by hotel that govern them.

Ultimately, convention staff is there to mostly identify and inform, not enforce. Furry Migration in Minneapolis uses a “wandering host” model instead of a security model. This approach ultimately dictates policy, contract negotiation, and finally implementation.

Let me give this long example; some conventions have a “no drinking policy” or “no parties” policy to correct antisocial behavior. This is a mistake. To put it bluntly, this is about as responsible as an abstinence-and-no-education policy to curb teen pregnancy; it simply does not work and will drive truly antisocial drinking behavior below the ability to monitor. Instead, staff should establish rules and areas where drinking may occur. The rules should be concurrent with the hotel policy or local law enforcement that govern them.

During a convention, your wandering host can regularly go by to check ID’s, curtail public drunkenness, etc. If this is not happening, engagement and a rehearsed policy of escalation are essential:

• The host should identify the person(s) acting outside the rules, and remind them of the rules.
• The host should make it clear that they are not enforcing rules, but are obliged to report any future issues to the staff and ultimately the hotel. Usually that is enough. It also makes the staff look less like cops but rather the good friend who holds you back before you get involved in a fight they know you can’t win.
• Further escalation varies depending on belligerence of the person(s) in question. The key is to make them keenly aware that the rules of hotel are tantamount, and that staff will not defend them if they persist in violating the agreement with hotel.
• If the problematic person remains belligerent or irresponsible, your final recourse is to pull their badge and inform the hotel. This does two things. This highlights to the hotel that the organizers are self policing by identifying an individual membership violation of hotel agreement. And by pulling their badge, you are showing you do not agree or condone this behavior of said individual.
• The moment the fur in question is NOT part of the membership; the room block discount/room placing rules allowing them to stay in the hotel are no longer legally binding. The hotel is now free to enforce whatever legal and economic punishment they have at their disposal.
• In the end, the staff is not the bad guy (in the eyes of the convention membership) because they performed no enforcement function, just disclosure. The hotel may call actual law enforcement, knowing they have the support of their client, and knowing exactly what happened. They also know that responsible organizers reduce the risk of damage. This preserves the relationship between the hotel and the convention.
• The problematic fur may complain. But if an individual fur negotiated with a hotel on their own to host an independent room party, the same response would have happened. The only difference is that the individual would have no intermediary to remind them that hotel enforcement is much worse than a friendly nudge.

As a follow-up, this is why I have such an issue with ghosting. Ghosting is trespassing! A hotel normally would not tolerate a random person—who is not a guest—wandering their halls. The hotel also has power over all occupants of a room that includes a ghost. So if a room has five people in it, and one is ghosting, commerce law dictates that it IS legally possible for a hotel to charge for, or displace, the entire room. In this case, the convention has no real reason to defend the occupants of the room because, if they did, they would be highlighting to future hotel negotiations they intend to allow all sorts of “extra” non membership people not outlined in the contract. Furs who cannot afford the cost of registration and/or a room simply cannot attend.

This last critique I wish to address is all of this makes convention staff seem to have “too much” power because they are the monopolistic gatekeepers with the hotel. Any well-run convention or event is likely to be a volunteer organization and as such is always open to new staff. If you wish to be part of it, put in the work. If you want to be part of the show, then show up to the planning meetings. I will say this; my own experience has shown less than a 10% retention of convention volunteers specific to working with hotel because it is hard and thankless work. I have a rule that I use at local conventions: you want the “glamour and prestige” of this job, please learn how to replace me. I’m very happy this last year I finally got replaced as programming head at Furry Migration: now I’m back at the hotel, trying to find my new replacement.

I’m hoping this article does aid others in how they view and manage “anti-social” behavior. Back in the day, RPG’s, furry, homosexuality, etc were all considered anti-social – that hotels and other venues did not want to deal with. Over time, conventions showed they could be reliable and profitable clients. The issue is not always about behavior, but about how behavior is managed, and the relationship with the hotel in question. Convention staff and membership need to understand this balance if we are to go forward with larger, better, and maybe even more permissive events.

Hi, Papabear,

This is something of a follow-up to a letter I wrote to you some years ago, questioning my own attitude towards being single after the end of a bad relationship (http://www.askpapabear.com/letters/is-it-okay-to-be-single-and-happy-about-it).

About two years ago, the Universe decided to throw a Dragon at me. He's a local fur, sweet, intelligent, remarkably handsome, and we get on quite well together. We've been friends for over five years, dating steadily for two, and I can honestly say I've never been happier with anyone.

He exhibits none of the behaviors that made my prior relationship such a trial; he's open-minded, accepting of our differences, doesn't demand obedience or undivided attention at all times and generally isn't a judgemental twit. 

I did my utmost to conceal the very existence of Furry from my ex, with a remarkable degree of success. If he'd found out about it, his first reaction would have been to accuse me of inappropriate behavior with the dogs, and things would have escalated quite unpleasantly from there.

My ex hated video games, and on one occasion after watching me dismember stormtroopers with a Lightsaber in one of the Jedi Knight series, was on the verge of banishing them from the house (the game is rated T, with violence and other content approximating a PG-13 movie). My Dragon stomps my face into the dirt three times out of five in Hearthstone (online card game similar to Magic) and he and I have linked our Steam accounts in order to give each other access to our game libraries. 

Dragon is open to new things. My ex firmly believed that anything he did not enjoy, appreciate or understand (including, but not limited to: video games, anime, any music created after 1985, modern communications technology, mobile phones, modern medical research and space exploration) should be destroyed. Suffice it to say I greatly prefer my current circumstances.

We have not spoken of any sort of permanent arrangement yet, for a variety of reasons, and I don't foresee us doing so any time soon, but we enjoy one another's company greatly.

To those who feel unlovable and that you will never find anyone, I say this: Never say never. Things you need tend to find you when you are least expecting them - or didn't even know you needed them.

Stilghar

* * *

Hi, Stilghar!

Thanks for writing and updating us on your happy news!

Hugs,
Papabear
​

We got a note from Scale, the Italian furry artist.  His lush paintings and gallery shows have been featured here: “Scale’s paintings push the limits of furry art, with surprising mainstream crossover.”

Hi! I hope you are doing well! Just a quick note for something you might be interested in promoting: historical fans Mark Merlino and Rod O’Riley are organizing for the third year in a row a furry art exhibit at the Avantgarden Art Gallery in Santa Ana (CA). There is not much time left – (the art needs to be there by the end of April) – but they still have space in the exhibit.  They are looking for art from any furry artist or collector willing to join with either original art or limited edition prints.

Here are the relevant journal entires on FA:
Furry Art Gallery Show in Santa Ana
Still Seeking Framed Art!

Later,
Scale

Rod O’Riley runs InFurNation and can be contacted at rodso64@hotmail.com. His partner Mark Merlino runs the Prancing Skiltaire furry house.  Both organized ConFurence, the first furry con, and are founders of furry fandom.

A third art show makes promising establishment of a new outlet for furry creativity.  This kind doesn’t seem to have been done very much before.  Shows are a staple of every con, but rubbing shoulders with more traditional gallery artists is a little different.

Read Rod’s own thoughts about the first show, covered for Flayrah back in 2013.

And here’s a great reason to pay attention – Scale’s art will be in it.  Rod says:

We just received a beautiful furry art original from Italy (!) that is going to be part of this year’s Art of Furry Fandom display at the Avant Garden gallery in Santa Ana. Now, you know what we also want to have in our show? Your Art! If you have anthropomorphic framed originals or numbered prints that you’d like to have on display at the Santa Ana Art Walk (and afterwards for a month), get in touch with us! We want to have a good representation of what furry artists are up to — especially those from Southern California. Hurry! We’re hanging at the end of April.

It sounds super inspiring, and I want to share feedback and more about the show when it happens.

Hello Everyone!

This week we talk about After Dark Twitter, the whys, the hows, and the what not to dos. 

AD Twitter can be a great place for you to engage yourself -- and others -- in kinks, fetishes, and roleplay and can expand your sexual wheelhouse. That being said, there is a social contract involved when you engage in this type of activity, both as a "producer" and a "consumer". 

We discuss how to interact with people in a way that portrays you in a good light and allows you to embrace the fun, sexy side of the fandom. We also talk about the risks and ways to mitigate your naked body becoming a public attraction.

We also have a listener question about how to move on after the end of a possibly unhealthy relationship. 

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 013 AD Twitter Etiquette - AD Twitter is a playground for adult furries, but how should you behave in this type of sex-charged environment?

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

Cat Crimebusters, Part 1

Cat Crimebusters, Part 2

Cat Crimebusters, Part 3

Cat Crimebusters, Part 4

As far as I am concerned, all of the other “cat cozy” series with cat detectives are phonies. The only two that “sort of” qualify are (1) the Magical Cats Mysteries by Sofie Kelly.

Curiosity Thrilled the Cat. February 2011.

Sleight of Paw. September 2011.

Copycat Killing. May 2012.

Cat Trick. February 2013.

Final Catcall. October 2013.

A Midwinter’s Tail. October 2014.

Faux Paw. October 2015.

Kathleen Paulson becomes the young librarian of Mayville Heights, Minnesota, and is adopted by two stray cats whom she brings to the library as “library cats”. They are Owen, a tabby, and Hercules, a fat black-&-white “tuxedo” cat. Kathleen and her detective boyfriend Marcus Gordon invariably become enmeshed in a local murder, and she comes to suspect that Owen & Hercules have mysterious powers that help her solve the mysteries. Owen can apparently turn invisible, and Hercules can “walk through walls” – it’s impossible to keep him shut in or locked up. Plus they regularly “accidently” call her attention to clues, too often to be normal. Maybe the two cats do consciously supernaturally help Kathleen, but they’re still at best only supporting characters.

And (2) the three … Said the Cat Young Adult paperbacks by Louise Munro Foley.

“Thief!” Said the Cat. May 1992.

“Blood!” Said the Cat. July 1992.

“Poison!” Said the Cat. September 1992. (Not online)

This was an aborted (it didn’t sell) Nancy Drew-imitation series for junior-high schoolers starring 14-year-old Kiki Collier, a writer for the Pioneer Junior High student newspaper, The Courier, who solves mysteries with her huge, fluffy orange cat, Pumpkin, tagging along. Pumpkin has a psychic understanding of what Kiki needs, and he provides it. In “Thief! Said the Cat, Kiki is babysitting at the new district attorney’s house and is in the cellar when two thieves break in. The lazy Pumpkin becomes a biting, clawing hellcat and chases them off. Kiki must discover who they were and what they wanted (a hidden will). In “Blood!” Said the Cat, Kiki is an intern at the local Galliard Museum of Fine Arts, and she uncovers a conspiracy to replace valuable paintings with replicas. Pumpkin has a psychic talent for telling which paintings or sculptures are genuine or counterfeits. In “Poison!” Said the Cat, Kiki must solve the who and why behind the almost-fatal food poisoning of some of her classmates. Pumpkin knows in advance which foods are poisoned. But the cat is not a detective as much as he is a psychic protector of Kiki; a purring guardian angel who suddenly becomes a yowling, hissing demon to defend her or warn her of danger.

Foley has gone on to many other juvenile books, but only one series of interest to furry fans: the four Vampire Cat humorous fantasies for children in which fifth-grader Tracey Wilson rescues talking, shape-shifting cat Omar from a village of vampires who want him back. In My Substitute Teacher’s Gone Batty!, The Bird-Brained Fiasco!, The Phoney-Baloney Professor, and The Catnip Cat-Astrophe!, published from 1996 to 1999 by Torkids, Tracey and Omar fight Norman the vegetarian vampire’s attempts to recapture Omar.

There are many other “cat cozy” series, but as far as I can tell, the cats do not really help solve the crimes as much as they are just pets who tag along with the amateur detectives. The biggest fraud that I know of is the Jacques and Cleo, Cat Detectives trilogy by Gilbert Morris.

What the Cat Dragged In. March 2007

The Cat’s Pajamas. March 2007

When the Cat’s Away. July 2007

In this series that apparently also did not sell and was quickly aborted, two very distant relatives who don’t know each other – Kate Forrest and Jacob Novak – are named the heirs of an equally distant and unknown rich relative, under two conditions: they must live in and keep up her large mansion in White Sands, Alabama, a beach resort town on the Gulf coast, and they must care for her many exotic pets. The widowed Kate brings a 12-year-old son and her own two pet cats with her. Kate and Jake naturally fall in love. Jake is an ex-Chicago policeman and amateur author who gets a P.I. license in The Cat’s Pajamas. He does all of the real detection in the books.

Jacques the Ripper, a huge, surly Savannah cat who looks like a miniature black panther and likes to claw people, and Cleo, a pedigreed “ragdoll” who likes to drape herself over people, talk with each other. They’re constantly described as loving Kate and helping her and Jake investigate and solve the crimes. But their idea of helping is limited to bringing Kate the mice, lizards, birds, and whatever else they catch. Any investigating they do is just normal feline prowling about; their presences at the scenes of the crimes is contrived; and any clues they bat out to call attention to are strictly accidental. In What the Cat Dragged In, 12-year-old Jeremy is suspected of murder, and the cats inadvertently help Jake prove who really did it. In The Cat’s Pajamas, a movie company comes to White Sands to shoot a beach movie on location; Jacques and Cleo are written into the script because they’re so photogenic; and when murders occur on the set, they’re on hand as “actors” while P.I. Jake investigates. In When the Cat’s Away, the murders are at an international cat show in White Sands; Cleo is entered in it; and P.I. Jake is hired to solve the crimes. What’s more, Kate is a devoted Christian (as is the author), and all three novels are pulpits for blatant Christian sermons. Cat detectives? Phooey!

The Cat Who … series by Lilian Jackson Braun (The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, The Cat Who Turned On and Off, etc.) is one of the most venerable of all, with 29 novels between 1966 and 2007. But retired newspaperman Jim Qwilleran’s Siamese cat Koko never really helps detect anything. Koko may or may not be a mutation with extra whiskers, but his strange actions such as knocking particular books off a bookshelf are always interpreted by Qwilleran after the crime is solved, as clues that should have exposed the murderer earlier – sometimes before the crime was committed – if he had only known how to interpret them. Koko is never involved with solving the crimes.

Young librarians or bookshop or tea shop owners with pet cats seem to be especially popular. There are the Bookmobile Cat Mystery series by Laurie Cass with bookmobile driver Minnie Hamilton and her rescue cat Eddie, and the Black Cat Bookshop Mystery series by Ali Brandon with young Darla Pettistone inheriting her late aunt’s bookstore and cat Hamlet. In the Second Chance Cat Mystery series by Sofie Ryan, Sarah Grayson’s rescue cat Elvis can detect lies. The Whales and Tails Mystery series by Kathi Daley gives Caitlin Hart both cats and dogs; her dog Max and assorted cats of the Harthaven (Washington) Cat Sanctuary plus the Coffee Cat Books bookstore/cat lounge/coffee bar. The Cats That … series (The Cats That Surfed the Web, The Cats That Chased the Storm, The Cats That Told a Fortune, three others) by Karen Anne Golden puts Katharine “Katz” Kendall and her late aunt’s five cats into murders in Erie, Indiana. The Klepto Cat Mystery Books by Patricia Fry feature veterinarian Savannah Jordan (she marries and becomes Savannah Ivey in later books) and her kleptomaniac cat Ragsdale who keeps dragging home clues. Savannah and her friends’ human love interests are the stars around the small, rural town of Hammond, but Rags has plenty of feline and equine friends. In novel #10, PAWtners in Crime, Rags is joined by a feline partner, Koko (no relation to Lilian Jackson Braun’s Koko).

In the Wonder Cats Mystery fantasy trilogy by Harper Lin (A Hiss-tory of Magic, Pawsitively Dead, Cat-astrophic Spells), Cath Greenstone, her cousin Bea, and her hippie aunt Astrid run the Brew-Ha-Ha café in Wonder Falls, Ontario, next to Niagara Falls. They are all secret witches, and each has a cat (Treacle, Peanut Butter, and Marshmallow) with “the magical ability to communicate with her telepathically”. Except that the cats aren’t magical at all. The modern witches can read all animals’ minds. Their cats are not familiars, just ordinary pet cats. They are too feline to be interested in solving the murders. Cath or one of the others may dredge up an important clue from realizing what their cats saw, but the cats have not consciously detected. In the Black Cat Detective Culinary Cozy Mystery series by S. Y. Robins (The Death Next Door, Gone Missing, Cold Death, all three published in February 2016), young Milly Dupont who runs a “quiet little tea shop” in the tiny village of Wirkster with her black cat Edgar and her employee (and boy friend) Callum Davidson, get involved in murders. In the veddy proper Oxford Tearoom Mysteries by H. Y. Hanna, young Gemma Rose’s quaint Oxford, England tearoom, her tabby cat Muesli, dashing young CID detective Devlin O’Connor, and Gemma’s matchmaking mother become involved in such mysteries as A Scone to Die For and Tea With Milk and Murder.

There are too many other cat cozy mystery series to list them all.

– Fred Patten

Looks like the mutual orbiting of Titan Comics and Dreamworks Animation continues…! Now they bring us Puss in Boots, a new full-color series hitting the shelves later this month. From the preview over at Flickering Myth: “Short of money and with a long milk tab to pay, Puss answers an advert that takes him out to sea with a cranky old owl on a pea-green boat. But if you think you know how this fairytale ends… think again! Flying fur balls and derring-do abound! See you on the poop deck! The Adventures of Puss in Boots is written by Max Davidson (Home, Simpsons Comics) and Chris Cooper (Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Excalibur) with art from Egle Bartolini (Penguins) and Dave Alvarez (Looney Tunes, Animaniacs).” Read it, if you dare!

image c. 2016 Titan Comics

This week’s episode is all about balancing your writing life, with your working one. Bonus topics include: What makes writing racist/prejudice, authors who are/were racist/prejudice, and various insights into our convoluted lives.
Send us your feedback, questions, concerns, complaints:

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Ep 63 – Work Life Balance - This week’s episode is all about balancing your writing life, with your working one. Bonus topics include: What makes writing racist/prejudice, authors who are/were racist/prejudice, and various insights into our convoluted lives. Send us your [...]

Two Old Furry Fans, Episode #3a: In which Mark and Rodney talking about fun furry findings at Disneyland, the world confronts the appearance of Star Wars and The Rescuers, and Mark starts to write furry science fiction. So just what is a skiltaire, anyway?

Download file | Size: 110M

TOFF Episode 3a

[Editor’s note: we first published Whiskey Sour in 2013, which included an introduction by the poet, Lunostophiles. Lu also curated the first [a][s] poetry collection, in 2015. I love Whiskey Sour. Read it, wherever you are, and be transported. ~~JM]

Whiskey Sour

We cup our claws,
Our talons,
Our nubby, rum-soaked fingers round flimsy cups
Thrust high in praise of the bacchanal;
Of deities borne through chants whispered into bottle caps,
And gods reincarnated with too-loud laughter.

And we, members of a growing cult
That malingers like a skulking formaldehyde dream;
The clan of eternal headaches,
Of moist and sloppy lip-locks in bathrooms,
A brotherhood we did not know we had joined–
All hidden behind locked hotel room doors
Dangling signs to ward away housekeeping just one more day.

The tingling fingers of siren cocktails draw shadows on our eyes,
Their clarion songs promising personality,
Conviviality,
New and absent friends cast in the fires of a molotov.

The party floors reek of high-proof happiness by Thursday’s end;
A massive, sharp-toothed plague that grips us
Like beef bourguignon with the red overflowing,
And in its powerful jaws
Forces from us a vomit of glee.

—–

In my naivete, my swollen days of Massachusetts autumn,
When life was a marbled haze upon my eyes,
New to the north, new to adulthood in its bleak daylight;
It is here I was first thrust headlong into the convention scene.

The smiles of the rogues,
The shade-beings,
Frothing like the head of a fresh-poured Guinness,
With arms outstretched as great bows with no arrows.

“You’re here!” they cried, they shouted!

“You’ve made it!”

“No more are you doomed to a life
Where what you know of us are pixel silhouettes,
Spectres and creations of fervent, bored imaginations
Illuminated to life upon LCD screens.
No more will you play the most dangerous game
With mouse cursor and hyperlink,
A man on wild safari for a beast no one has caught!”

The lobby was Kublai Khan’s pleasure dome,
Husky and dense with delights:
Shrieks of absences making hearts grow fonder
And the soft hum of happy chatter.
This was the soundtrack of a grin.

And this Morphean utopia,
All swathed in furs and memetic shirts,
Laid itself before me prostrate like a lover waiting.
And somehow, despite having never charted these waters,
I spread my fingers wide, the rays of a distant star
Upon the china white body of this vast world made flesh,
Feeling blind corners and sharp elevation changes.

And in my mind, this monolithic and precise relief
Fit jigsaw-snug into the jagged-edged,
Razor-toothed pockets of the conspace–
Just like I knew it would.

—–

The size of the party means you’re having more fun!
Kiss the elbow of the man next to you
(Though you aimed for his lips
And your trajectory erred),
Caress the obliques of a stranger–
Any stranger!–
They know you in spirit.

We pack ourselves tighter into a four-person cubicle,
Sardines with no oil or water,
Just marinating for the main course.

We keep laughing, we writhe our bodies;
We roll our heads, unattached, through the marathon hallways,
Down the stairwells and across the pool chairs,
Colossal sound extricating itself from our maws thrown wide with venom;
Venom and veracity.

Keep laughing, you fools! This is of import!–
Don’t let’s talk, don’t let’s converse.
Imbibe, my comrades.

Imbibe!

—–

Acquaintences met, acquaintences made,
And now a believer in the throes of transubstantiation
I rose from the fairgrounds,
Making careful, tiptoe steps into the elevator
As if wary of nightengale floors.

Rising, rising! like the wind through a flue,
Then left in the dim hallway of an upper floor;
A babe in the clasp of some darkened bosom.

A friendly face?
There, past the ionic columns of pizza boxes,
The tenuous styrofoam skycrapers
And sunken pagodas erected in the conquest of General Tso;
There, through the chalky dark mist, I wandered,
Unaware that this was the land of the forgotten;
This was the desert Moses lost himself in for forty years,
Or a world Euclid would have wept at the sight of.

Hand-scrawled signs on the closed doors,
Effegies of animal-men in cartoon hysterics,
Voiced by a backmask reveille–
Were they speaking?
No, they were barking; mad creatures
All scraping claws on cage bars,
Aching for an exit of this perverted zoo.

A smile across the hall–
My brethren!
They ushered me from the dark and dreary path
And into their light-filled embraces,
All hearth and home.

On the desk, a lanyard graveyard,
Piles of forgeries laid waste in private
To mingle in a flat-ironed spiderweb;
And looming over us all was the altar,
The godless instrument for impassioned debauchery;
A boozy glass harmonica.

I was handed a cup.

In downcast gaze, I saw myself in the milky mirror,
An endless pit just below the surface film.
Its jaws gaped, a chasm, an abyss,
A lion awaiting the head of its master
(And I with no whip or chair).
The drink plumed personality from its depths,
Swarthy and succulent,
Sugar and spice…
…And the hooch was quite nice.

As if I had exchanged lives with a desperate man
Lost in the Sahara, carrying a dry canteen,
Upon seeing the liquid I erupted with need
And the drink disappeared in a fit of magic.
The cup hung as a red flag upon my body,
Too obvious to notice,
Waving defeat in the cold October air.

My thoughts grew hairline fractures, fit to burst at the seams;
The cup was refilled;
And I’d’ve rather rinsed than repeated
But is it not unkind to turn down one’s host?
The steps to a new and baffling dance snuck on through,
A sway and a hop I had hidden,
Shoved under blankets;
Sandwiched between floorboards.

I guzzled, I glutted,
I quaffed and I chugged and I drank.

—–

Deaddog, deaddog,
Come out to play.
The boy’s in the meadow,
The girl’s in the hay.

The boy’s at the toilet,
The girl’s at the sink.
Deaddog, deaddog!
Just one more drink?

—–

A name, a curse,
Scratched, tattooed in dismantled English,
Tight gypsy glyphs in thick-line Sharpie on cheap red plastic
As if this chalice of consumption,
This cup of infinite holding was mine forever.

But it’s never quite ours forever, though;
Never just quite.
When all the rum, all the gin, all the mixers run dry
And down to the floor we descend in a daze;
When corpses of bottles are strewn on the desktops,
Under beds,
Across suitcases unpacked;
When we have constructed mass graves and catacombs to coquetting
which overflow the trash bins;
Tremendous and terrific mountains to excess
Unfit for us to scale–
More appropriate, as knackered as it is,
To set it aflame like a phantasmagoric funeral pyre,
And let acrid smoke curl through the room and asphyxiates us.

When this death waltz has begun,
We stare from the valley of drunken stupor,
Cross-eyed and infantile,
And we gurgle out our sorrows, intoning our distates,
And the once-bright laughter falls pallid and flat;
Fetal fallen angels neck-deep in Hell’s detritus.

It is possible to reverse transubstantiation–
In those moments, it is possible to eat your own halo.

The spark of newness rubs away quick,
Like the silver ink on a fresh credit card.
Deep in the cavities of the room parties,
Shadowed under the awnings and eaves of hedonism
(May Dionysus his name be praised into the porcelain shrines!),
And the towering she-wolves we suckle from–
Romulus and Remus ad infinitum–
Inside these wounds we lose the virgin edges,
We claw our way into the light of day
And hiss at the sun.

I do not want to become a parody of intelligence.
I do not want this to be our brave new world
Filled with the vapor trails left by regret,
Bitterness smothered in cold flame.
I will not be baptized into the Church of the Dead Soldier:
Not by mother vodka.
Not by father whiskey.

Yet still, I raise a toast–
In a smaller, finer glass–
To friendships forged in the fandom’s smithy;
A fandom sought out by outliers and outcasts–
Those without names and those with too many.
I will laugh a real laugh,
A room-filling sound that is never too loud,
Fringed with the fragile lace of mirth.

And high above us, the dirty angels of the rooms
Pray to their patron saints to let them see the afternoon.

For unlike we folk awake and alive,
They have not learned how to hide their halo
Just behind their backs–
Just out of reach from the cold and clammy hands
That still crush the plastic party cups into cadavers.

No, they have no place for their goodness,
And hide their glow in the bottoms of cocktails;
Just around the far side of the martini olives
That gaze upon them and despair.

And in that moment,
With the very eyes of their consumption cast outward?
Just smile back, take a sip,
And make it the last.

At least for the night.

April’s Book of the Month is another double feature, this time showcasing furry fiction by two of the fandom’s up-and-coming authors.

First, The Latte Segment by Zoe Landon:

“Sarah Madsen is a modern young rabbit with a cozy urban life. A yuppie, perhaps, though she’d disagree with the label. After all, yuppies don’t hang with eccentric artists in beat-down studios, much less date them. And they don’t get pushed out of their apartment by profit-hunting developers, forced to pick between an impossible market and an unsustainable rent.

As she hunts for a new place to live, she learns how her comfortable lifestyle is seen by those around her. Some are sympathetic and kind, some cold and indifferent, some jealous and hostile. None can relieve her frustration from knowing that her easy life is slowly slipping out of her control. She’ll take control anywhere she can find it, but not everyone appreciates her attempts to help. Not even herself.

A story of class and success in the millennial age, The Latte Segment explores how well we can trust others, and ourselves, to do the right things in our lives — or, to do anything about them at all.”

Available in ebook and paperback from Amazon.

Next up is In Honor’s Shadow by Skye Lansing:

“What use is honor without victory?

The Wolf Clan stands divided amid a bitter civil war. For years the noble Hayashi Family has struggled to wrest control of the clan from their rivals, the Hitomi, but one disastrous battle has exhausted their power. Now every warrior within Hayashi territory must decide what role they shall play in the upcoming conflict.

Shiro, the magistrate of an unimportant village, is tasked with a dangerous mission to stop the Hitomi Family’s army. Lacking supplies, troops, and support, he knows any direct confrontation is doomed to failure. Only through guile does he stand a chance against the forces arrayed before him.

Meanwhile, Hayashi Seiko seeks to throw off the oppressive mantle of courtly life by joining her brother in the field as a proper onna-bugeisha. She leapt at the chance to prove her worth as a soldier upon hearing that the war had turned against her family, but can she really escape the politics of a society that reveres duty and honor?”

Ebook available from Amazon and all other major retailers; you can find all the ordering links at the author’s website.

The annual awards of furry fandom are open. Getting an award is only a pat on the back… the real reason is to gather things that furries love, and promote them as a creative community. Don’t be sad if something you love isn’t on the list or doesn’t win an award, because it’s not so much a contest as a celebration for everyone.

Or maybe I’m not revealing the Ultimate Power of the award before I ask this…

Please vote for Dogpatch Press for Best Anthropomorphic Magazine.

The precious award will be mine!  Actually ours.  Fred Patten’s writing makes it possible to put out a post every week day.  Managing the editing and writing other original articles is really hard work.  It’s basically a part time job.  Not just for me, but also with help from Pup Mathias and great guest posters (most recently Dronon.) It’s a team effort to maintain an info source this active.

So please do give a minute to vote, and throw one our way if you liked or shared any article from here in 2015.

Fred shares more…

Voting for the 2015 Ursa Major Awards, for the Best Anthropomorphic Literature and Art of the 2015 calendar year in eleven categories, is open from now until April 15.  The awards will be announced at a presentation ceremony at What the Fur 2016, in Montreal, Quebec, on May 20-22, 2016.

The eleven categories are: Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture, Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short or Series, Best Anthropomorphic Novel, Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction, Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work, Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story, Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip, Best Anthropomorphic Magazine, Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration, Best Anthropomorphic Game and Best Anthropomorphic Website.

Voting is open to all! To vote, go to the Ursa Major Awards website and click on “Voting for 2015” at the left. You will receive instructions on how to register to vote. You do not have to vote in every category. Please vote in only those categories in which you feel knowledgeable.

This final ballot has been compiled from those works receiving the most nominations that were eligible. Please check the dates of publication next year to make sure that your nominations are only for works published during the calendar year (January through December) in question.

Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture

Live-action or animated feature-length movies.

• The Good Dinosaur (Directed by Peter Sohn; November 25)
• Inside Out (Directed by Pete Doctor and Ronaldo Del Carmen; June 19)
• The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar (Directed by Howy Parkins; November 22)
• The Peanuts Movie (Directed by Steve Martino; November 6)
• Shaun the Sheep (Directed by Mark Burton and Richard Starzak; February 5)

Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short or Series

TV series or one-shots, advertisements or short videos.

• Danger Mouse (Directed by Robert Cullen; Season 1 episodes 1-16)
• Harvey Beaks (Directed by C. H.Greenblatt; Season 1 March 29 to November 15)
• Littlest Pet Shop (Directed by Joel Dickie and Steven Garcia; Season 3 episode 17 to Season 4 episode 9)
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Directed by James Thiessen, Jim Miller, Denny Lu; Season 5 episodes 1 to 26, April 4 to November 28)
• Tiger’s Eye (Audio Drama Podcast) (Directed by Alexander Shaw; episodes 1 to 25, May 13 to October 29)
• We Bare Bears (Directed by Manny Hernandez; Season 1 episode 1 to episode 25, July 27 to November 19)

Best Anthropomorphic Novel

Written works of 40,000 words or more. Serialized novels qualify only for the year that the final chapter is published.

• GeneStorm: City in the Sky, by Paul Kidd. (Kitsune Press; May 19)
• Heart Behind the Mask, by N.”Karmakat” Franzetti. (Smashwords; May 4)
• In a Dog’s World, by Mary E. Lowd. (FurPlanet Productions; July 9)
• Tiger’s Eye, by Alexander Shaw. (CreateSpace; November 5)
• Windfall, by Tempe O’Kun (FurPlanet Productions; July 9)

Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction

Stories less than 40,000 words, poetry and other short written works.

• The Analogue Cat, by Alice “Huskyteer” Dryden. (in The Furry Future; FurPlanet Productions; January 15)
• Lunar Cavity, by Mary E. Lowd. (in The Furry Future; FurPlanet Productions; January 15)
• Pocpsin, by Ursula Vernon. (in Apex Magazine, #68, January 6)
• Thebe and the Angry Red Eye, by David Hopkins. (in The Furry Future; January 15)
• Tow, by Watts Martin. (in The Furry Future; January 15)

Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work

Story collections, comic collections, graphic novels, non-fiction works, and convention program books.

• Furries Among Us, edited by Thurston Howl. (Thurston Howl Publications, essay anthology; July 4)
• The Furry Future, edited by Fred Patten. (FurPlanet Publications, short story anthology; January 15)
• Inhuman Acts, edited by Ocean Tigrox. (FurPlanet Productions, short story anthology; September 24)
• The Necromouser and Other Magical Cats, by Mary E. Lowd. (FurPlanet Productipns, short story collection; September 24)
• ROAR volume 6, edited by Mary E. Lowd. (Bad Dog Books, short story anthology; July 9)

Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story

Includes comic books and serialized online stories.

• Endtown, by Aaron Neathery. (Internet; January 1 to December 31)
• The Golden Week, by Douglas Kim. (Internet; January 2 to December 24)
• Lackadaisy, by Tracy J. Butler. (Internet; Lackadaisy Congregation to Lackadaisy Inspiration)
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, by various. (IDW Publishing; Issues #27 to #38)
• TwoKinds, by Tom Fischbach. (Internet; January 4 to December 23)

Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip

For newspaper-style strips, including those with ongoing arcs.

• Carry On, by Kathryn Garrison. (Internet; January 2 to December 30)
• Doc Rat, by Jenner. (Internet; January 1 to December 31)
• Housepets!, by Rick Griffin. (Internet; January 2 to December 30)
• Peter & Company, by Jonathan Ponikvar. (Internet; page 223 to page 243)
• Savestate, by Tim Weeks. (Internet; January 7 to December 30)

Best Anthropomorphic Magazine

Edited collections of creative and/or informational works by various people, professional or amateur, published in print or online in written, pictorial or audio-visual form.

• Dogpatch Press, edited by Patch Packrat. (Internet; January 5 to December 24)
• Fangs and Fonts Podcast. (Internet; podcasts #37 to #56)
• Flayrah, edited by crossaffliction and GreenReaper. (Internet; January 2 to December 31)
• Heat, edited by Black Teagan, Dark End. (Volume #12; Sofawolf Press; July 9)
• In-Fur-Nation, edited by Rod O’Riley. (Internet; January 1 to De ember 31)

Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration

Illustrations for books, magazines, convention program books, cover art for such, coffee table portfolios.

• cover of EuroFurence 21 Program Book by Kenket. (September 26)
• cover of Lost on Dark Trails by Rukis. (FurPlanet Productions; January 15)
• cover of ROAR volume 6 by Teagan Gavet. (Bad Dog Books; July 9)
• front cover of Tiger’s Eye by Antonio Torresan (Amazon, November 5)

Best Anthropomorphic Game

Computer or console games, role-playing games, board games.

• Armello. (League of Geeks; September 1)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s 3. (Scott Cawthorn; March 2)
• Ori and the Blind Forest. (Moon Studios; March 11)
• Undertale. (Toby Fox; September 15)
• Yo-Kai Watch. (Level-5; November 6)

Best Anthropomorphic Website

Online collections of art, stories, and other creative and/or informational works; galleries, story archives, directories, blogs, and personal sites.

• Culturally F’d. YouTube Channel; furry videos)
• E621. (Furry fandom art community site)
• FurAffinity. (Furry art specialty site)
• SoFurry. (Furry artist/writer community)
• WikiFur. (General furry information/history)

​Good afternoon, Papabear:

I'm a new member of furry community, and from what I've seen so far everything looks amazing, However since the last few months I may have discovered the "adult" side of the furry fandom and by that I mean the furporn. I have never seen something like these and from what I have read in your answers to other people's letters, you know everything that is about the fandom and so here is my question. 

Is the furporn considered in a sense bestiality and since I have seen it does that mean that I have seen and committed the sin of bestiality? And if it wasn't, could you please tell me in what capacity does this furporn begin to enter the domain of bestiality like I saw what I think people call "feral and anthro yiffing" together and it is bothering me due to my Catholic background. So if you could please give me your honest opinion of my situation that would be incredibly helpful .... so in case you need anymore details please feel free to ask any question and thank you in advance for your help

Anonymous
 
* * *
 
Dear Furiend,
 
I guess we should start with some definitions here, just to be clear. Bestiality is committed when a human has any sexual relationship with an animal, ranging from actual intercourse to masturbation, to naked rubbing (frottage). A second definition of bestiality means "cruel and depraved behavior," but that's not as relevant here. Zoophilia, which you don’t mention, is feeling aroused by the thought of sex with an animal and having sexual desires for such animals.
 
It doesn’t sound like you are aroused by the images you saw, nor have you committed a sexual act with an animal, so, no, you have not committed a sin of bestiality in my opinion anymore than a man who accidentally sees a nude image of a woman in, say, an advertisement is guilty of adultery. Don’t worry.
 
Are there images of bestiality and zoophilia in the fandom. Yes, there are, and “feral and anthro yiffing” would likely qualify since anthros are quite similar to human beings. If you don’t like seeing such images, you can easily avoid them and still be part of the fandom. You can even join Christian furry groups online. Also, if you are not familiar with this, if you go to FurAffinity there is a button at the top right side of the page that says “SFW.” SFW means “Safe for Work,” which means it will automatically filter out any explicit images on your screen and leave you with the more wholesome images without fear of stumbling on the other stuff.
 
I hope you will stay with the fandom and enjoy the more G-rated stuff. There’s lots of it and many good authors and artists who are clean.
 
Hugs,
Papabear

This is the final of three days of animal-themed poetry by Renee Carter Hall. Renee is curating the 2016 [adjective][species] Poetry Collection, which is open for submissions until 22 April.

The Unicorn at the Zoo

They put it among trees and rose bushes,
ringed a dry moat with an iron fence.
They’re still not sure if it’s
male or female; the ultrasound
goes to static and freezes every time.
They tried to test its blood,
but the silver serum in the tube
swirled and shimmered into nothing.
They held a contest to name it anyway,
and a third-grader won with Moonflower.
Tourists gather at its enclosure with
strollers and cameras,
whinny at it like a horse,
hold their children up to see.
In their snapshots, it is only
a vague white blur, a bit
of pearly horn here, a hint
of cloven hoof there.
The gift shop has no postcards of it,
but the plush horned ponies sell out every week.
The keepers aren’t sure what it eats.
Some say the flowers, but they’re untouched.
Some say water, some say air.
Some say love, but they’re laughed at
by people who feel guilty for it afterward.
The keepers hold somber meetings
with scholars and art historians.
Every day they worry it seems a bit thinner,
its coat a touch paler, more translucent.
The words on the sign at its enclosure
are starting to fade.
Sometimes the zoo director stands
before it in his three-piece suit,
slow tears tracing the lines of his face.
Some say he’s only thinking about
the money he might lose.
Others aren’t so sure.

Pulse

The world
drifts.
Bear sleeps
beneath snow

in the deep dreaming,
the warm dark
of fur and tooth.
Within,

spring’s cubs
slumber, lulled
by the slow rush
of blood and breath.

Outside, the cold
a lullaby;
inside, her heartbeat
a promise.

(Readers can find more of my poetry, on various subjects, at http://www.reneecarterhall.com/poetry.html)

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

Soldiers of Ice, by David Cook. Map. (Forgotten Realms – The Harpers, Nº 7)
Lake Geneva, WI, TSR, Inc., December 1993, paperback $4.95 ([2 +] 312 pages), Kindle $7.99.

There are anthropomorphic novels hidden among the authorized books of popular fantasy-role-playing games. Case in point: TSR’s 1987 Forgotten Realms spinoff of Dungeons & Dragons.

According to Wikipedia: “Forgotten Realms is the name of an imaginary fantasy world that exists somewhere beyond the real world. The setting is described as a world of strange lands, dangerous creatures, and mighty deities, where magic and seemingly supernatural phenomena are quite real. The premise is that, long ago, the Earth and the world of the Forgotten Realms were more closely connected. As time passed, the inhabitants of planet Earth have mostly forgotten about the existence of that other world—hence the term Forgotten Realms.”

The Forgotten Realms merchandising includes well over two hundred novels and short fiction anthologies from 1987 to September 2012, in hardback and paperback editions, from TSR, Inc. (Tactical Studies Rules) and its successor, Wizards of the Coast (including one by furry author Paul Kidd, The Council of Blades). Soldiers of Ice by David Cook, the seventh in the subseries about The Harpers, features the fierce doglike gnolls of the valley of Samek.

“A semi-secret organization for Good, the Harpers fight for freedom and justice in a world populated by tyrants, evil mages, and dread concerns beyond imagination.” (blurb)

“In a snow-bound valley, beyond the aid of even the Harpers, a lone village sits in the path of the relentless advance to ice and the fleeing gnolls, pushing ever southward. Of all the Harpers, only the headstrong Martine of Sembia refuses to abandon the gnomes of Samek to their fate.” (another blurb)

The tomboyish Martine of Sembia is a novice Harper, an acolyte of the foppish wizard Jazrac in the Harper center in Shadowdale. Martine has been getting low-level messenger assignments, and is impatient for some more dramatic mission that will demonstrate that she is ready for full Harper membership. She sees her chance when Jazrac asks her to go to the far northern wastes of the Great Glacier with a talisman that he has prepared, to close an ice volcano dimensional rift.

“’Sometimes things cross over and enter our world. If it’s only one or two of these elemental creatures, it’s not much our concern, but if the rift should expand, it could prove to be a danger. You’re going to go up there and seal it.” (p. 12)

Martine assumes that she can easily fly north on Astriphie, her loyal hippogriff mount; a journey of about a week toward increasingly sparsely inhabited lands and suspicious peoples.

“By this subterfuge, Martine passed through Damara and found herself at last flying over the snowbound ridge of an isolated valley, the last before the walls of the Great Glacier itself. Samek, it was called, home to a village of gnomes, or so the garrulous frontiersman farther south had claimed. ‘Be the last outpost afore the wilds,’ he swore. ‘Mebbe they can guide you to the glacier, though ‘tain’t a harder-headed batch than them little folk. ‘Taint got no trade, an’ they put up with no truck at all from outsiders, big folk especially.’” (p. 19)

Martine lands in the valley of Samek, claims hospitality from Vilheim, the only human settler living there, and asks him to introduce her to the village of gnomes.

“The object of their courtesy was a little man who stood no taller than Vil’s waist […] Despite his stocky build, Martine knew the little man was actually lean for one of his kind. Airy strands of long white beard escaped from the top of the collar […] The gnome’s face seemed ancient, reminding Martine of a shriveled apple. The doorkeeper’s rheumy red eyes were barely noticeable behind his bulbous nose, a pronounced characteristic of his race. Tikkanen’s nose was limned with thin red veins and colored with age spots.” (pgs. 31-32)

Martine asks the gnomes to guide her to the Great Glacier. They decline, but Vil volunteers. Martine and Vilheim, flying on Astriphie, notice a tribe of fierce gnoll warriors at the base of the glacier; the real reason that the gnomes do not want to move further into Samek. The ice volcano on the glacier is more dangerous than Martine expects; Astriphie is killed, marooning her and Vil. The latter returns on foot to the gnomes to get supplies, leaving Martine alone to carry out her mission.

Martine does, but is captured by soldiers of ice, invaders from the other side of the dimensional rift.

“Towering over both of them, a good two feet taller than Martine’s five-foot frame, was an overgrown version of the mephit that had captured her. The beast had the same armor-sheened skin, smoothly flowing over its body to taper off into sharp-edged flares. The icelike carapace rendered the creature insectoid, even though it stood like a man. The look was further enhanced by the fact that its frame was overly thin and elongated […] The creature’s head was triangular, tapering at the chin into a beard of icicles that grew out of its flesh. The barbed ridge of its brow was crusted with more of the same, veiling the deep pits of its eyes. A mouth, small and precise, set below two narrow slots that were its nose, gaped eagerly, revealing a formidable line of spinelike teeth.” (pgs. 70-71)

The cold-blooded creatures dub Martine Hot-Breath because of her warm-bloodedness.

“‘Vreesar, I captured it,’ the mephit boasted with a prattling squeal. The ice-bred imp sprang forward to show off its conquest […] ‘It breathes smoke and steam, hot enough to burn me, but I captured it.’ With these words, the mephit danced about in triumph, waggling its long claws overhead. ‘I captured the Hot Breath! Me!’” (p. 71)

Martine uses her burning warm breath to escape from Icy-White and the other mephitis (ice imps), and is promptly captured by the gnolls. It is at this point that the novel gets furry.

“The leader tore back its parka hood and sniffed the air in suspicion, its glistening muzzle quivering to catch the scents of the night. Its black lips curled back from yellowed fangs as it barked orders to the others. […] The five dog-men acted quickly to take control of their prize. […] ‘What do we with it?’ the smallest gnoll in the group yipped finally. The fur of its hide was still raw beige and downy. It was barely more than a cub, Martine guessed. […] None of the hyenalike men ever once slowed its pace or suggested concern for the struggling human.” (pgs. 78-79)

The hunting pack take Martine back to their longhouse which blends into the snowy moraine at the glacier’s base.

“The fire illuminated a tangle of furry bodies that covered the floor, a carpet that drew back before the blast of winter air that accompanied her entrance. Tawny, spotted arms stretched curiously while muzzles raised to sniff the new scent that had suddenly intruded upon them. Ears twitched; fleshy lips curled back from needle-sharp fangs.” (p. 81)

Martine is about to be killed and eaten by the Burnt Fur [!] tribe when she is saved by Krote Word-Maker, their shaman.

“Martine’s first impression was of a skeletal mockery of a living thing, even of its own kind. He appeared emaciated, with a sunken muzzle and bony pits for eyes. […] From this distance, Martine could see that fully half his taut face was etched with tattooing. Two purple-black scars radiated from one eye, the first cutting a wedge from his matted hairline, the other running down the length of his muzzle.” (pgs. 84-85)

It is obvious to Martine that there is a tribal power struggle going on between the shaman and Hakk Elk-Slayer, the burly chieftain and Brokka, his chief hunter; and that Word-Maker wants to save her for his own ends. Since the alternative is the Burnt Furs’ cookpot, Martine plays along with Word-Maker’s scheming, although his immediate ploy to keep her alive is to persuade chief Hakk to make her part of his harem.

Martine and Word-Maker have just become uneasy allies when the ice warrior leader, Vreesar, arrives to kill Hakk in combat and take over the Burnt Furs. Martine and Krote Word-Maker escape to the village of the gnomes, but Vreesar leads the gnolls after them, on his first step in world conquest and to get Martine to reopen the rift so he can call for more ice soldiers. A grand battle develops of everyone: ice soldiers, gnolls, gnomes, wizards, and Harpers. Of importance to anthro fans is that the focus always remains on Martine and Krote. At first bound by mutual self-interest, they gradually develop a grudging respect for each other that turns into real friendship.

Soldiers of Ice is slow getting started as an anthropomorphic novel, but once Martine joins the gnolls, there are plenty of descriptions of the dog/hyena-man tribe. The original paperback is long out of print, but still available cheaply as a used book, and there is a new Kindle edition.

The somewhat confusing cover by Fred Fields shows Vreesar, the ice elemental (dark blue; he is always described in the novel as icy white), and Martine looking at the body of a gnoll warrior.

– Fred Patten

• On Amazon
• ISFDB.com entry