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Last April Norwegian fursuiter Lumo registered for the contest ‘Garantert Oppgradert’ (Guaranteed Upgrade) on the radio channel Radio Metro, which offered as a winning prize the refurbishment of a house room, valued in 90,000 Norwegian Crowns (11,000 US Dollars). The people wishing to take part in the contest were to send an SMS. A selected few would then receive a call from radio host Hege Tepstad, so they could detail their messed-up appliances. Lumo was chosen as one of 20 finalists, and subsequently had to gain enough votes through Facebook to win over the other 19 contestants. He pleaded for votes in FurAffinity and other social networks, and friends, in the best way a fursuiter can – by being all cutesy!

 
Lumo won by 25% of the votes, and his campaign didn’t go unnoticed to the radio host, who was previously unfamiliar with the furry fandom, and pleasantly surprised by the funny tactics.

“Dan Rogers’ hobby has helped him well on his way for votes, both home and abroad. He dresses up in a blue fur costume as a hobby called furry (you can read more about it on Wikipedia.) Through the weekend he shared several funny images in social media asking for votes.” (link⇒)

That same morning, Monday 25th April, Lumo got a call from the radio host announcing the achievement. Lumo’s voice was snoozy, admittedly because he was tired from traveling abroad that same weekend. He’s been tremendously happy after winning, as shown on his FA journals! (link⇒)

The entry Fursuiter Lumo Wins $11,000 Bathroom Refurbishment Thanks to Furry appears first in FurryFandom.es.

May’s Book of the Month, Fellowship of the Ringtails, is by member Angela “LemurKat” Oliver.

The kingdom of Madigaska is in turmoil. The King has died under suspicious circumstances and now his Queen has usurped the throne. The only remnant of the last ruler is an illegitimate orphan. Born many miles away, and raised by a peaceable fishing tribe, she knows little of her heritage, her destiny. But with the fierce Hunter, Noir, on her trail, what hope does she have?

Set in an alternate world Madagascar, where the dominant life forms are lemurs with a level of technology equal to primitive tribes, “Lemurs: A Saga” contains true elements of Malagasy history and culture, intermingled with a heavy dose of pure fantasy. It is, indeed, epic fantasy, with lemurs.

Available from Amazon in paperback and ebook.

Later this month IDW will be premiering a new creator-owned full-color comic book series called Brutal Nature. “A collection of masks transforms the young man known as Ich into innumerable different beasts and monsters. Using this ancient power, he embarks on a battle that pits the indigenous people of Colombia against the encroaching Spanish empire. But can one man hope to beat back the massive forces of the conquering Spaniards? [Writer] Luciano Saracino and [artist] Ariel Olivetti (Venom: Space Knight) bring readers a stunningly illustrated story of beasts and men fighting for the soul of a nation!” Comics Alliance has more information.

image c. 2016 IDW Publishing

Unfurled is back yet again to accost your ears. Come on in and join Vox, Tal, Roland and Adoom as they talk about another toddler with a gun and YouTube with some new policies! Episode -39 - YouTube doing it right...for once

old episode that didn't transfer over for some reason, so re-uploading! 042 - Dirty Bomb - old episode that didn't transfer over for some re…

Hello Everyone!

We begin this week's podcast with a discussion on "ghosting" furry conventions: What exactly is ghosting, what are the ethics of con attendance, and who is ghosting really hurting (spoiler: everyone).

For our main topic this week, we kick off our Mental Health Month by talking about emotional blackmail. We here at Feral Attraction believe that emotional blackmail can be one of the most insidious poisons in a relationship, and as we have mentioned it in the past, we wanted to dedicate an entire episode to it.

Emotional blackmail can take many forms, and everyone is vulnerable to it — whether you are the child of a passive aggressive parent, or the dom in your D/s relationship. The good news is that there are warning signs of emotional blackmail that you can look out for, and ways to de-escalate and resolve these situations without them turning into a relationship cold war. 

We do discuss some topics relating to abuse and self-harm in this episode, so please be advised of this content. We also would like to reiterate that if you find yourself in an abusive relationship, please seek the appropriate level of care and assistance to get you safely out of that situation.

After our main topic, we take a listener question that is in response to our STI Prevention and Risk Mitigation episode, pertaining to anxiety after being informed of a partner's STI status. Though the asker understands the low risk associated with his partner's STI, he is still a bit nervous when it comes to having a full-blown sex life with his partner. What should he do?

Finally, we close the show with some feedback in which a listener shares resources that may be helpful to the non-monogamous community, focusing on one of our favorite books, More Than Two.

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 017 Emotional Blackmail - What is Emotional Blackmail and how can you protect against it?

Papabear,
 
I love the idea of walking around, wearing a fursuit, making merriment &c. However, I have read that it is not for everyone due to concerns about overheating and claustrophobia. I would like to make sure they are non-issues before I proceed with any commissioning.

I understand that people are reluctant to loan others their fursuits, so I'm not sure how feasible it would be to try one on. Would you recommend an experiment to help determine whether fursuiting is an option.

Also, I'm fat (183 cm 100 kg). Does this present an issue when fursuiting? I read from your reply to the letter entitled "Fursuiting Tips" that one should act lively (as opposed to standing there), so I am not sure how endurance might come in to play.

I appreciate your insight in to this matter and look forward to your reply.

Diogenes 

* * *

Hi, Diogenes,
 
It’s great you’re getting into the fun :-3  Trying on someone else’s fursuit could be a real problem, though. Not so much because you can’t find a nice person willing to loan you a fursuit, but because each fursuit is custom made to the exact measurements of that person. So, unless you are the exact same size, weight, and even shape as the other fursuit wearer, it’s not going to work for you.
 
Being large isn’t so much an issue as your stamina. Skinny or chubby, you are going to sweat, no question about it. So, if you DO get a custom fursuit some day, there are things you can do to ease the discomfort. My bear fursuit has padding all over it because my fursona, Grubbs Grizzly, is stockier than I am. These things help:
 
1. My fursuit maker, Beastcub, installed a fan in the head. It is battery operated. I use lithium batteries, which last longer. Helps a lot.
2. I wear underarmor. This helps wick sweat away from the torso and also helps keep sweat from the fursuit somewhat. People also wear balaclavas.
3. I wear cooling vests. There are a variety of these you can get online. I put ice packs in them and that lasts a couple hours.
 
With the above, I can fursuit for 2 hours comfortably and have been known to go for as long as 4-5 hours before needing a break.
 
If you’re still not sure about taking this step, there are other things you can do. You can get a partial fursuit, including head, arms, tail, feet, keeping your torso free. If you like to wear costumes, such as a wizard’s outfit or Medieval armor or a samurai outfit, this is actually a better way to go and will look very cool.
 
If you really want to experiment around, try this: buy some long underwear and put that one with snow pants, a down jacket, and several other layers of clothing and a wool cap. Do some physical activity while wearing all this stuff and see how you feel.
 
That all said, if you are having health issues because of your weight, I would definitely talk to your doctor and see if this kind of stuff is okay. You might tell him a white lie and say you have been asked to wear a mascot outfit, if that helps. It’s important to have a healthy heart when you fursuit. Heck, the first time I did it, I wore the fursuit too long at a parade and almost fainted. Oh! And it is a good idea to have a fursuit handler, too, especially for newbies. That is someone who helps you not bump or trip on things, helps keep people from harassing you (e.g. kids pulling on your tail), and so forth.
 
Hope that helps! Good luck!
 
Papabear
​

The Poll is up!  The Poll is up!  Tell all your friends, the poll is up! Check here!

No pressure! (Art by Grey)

That’s right, it’s time once again for the furry survey, the fandom’s largest marketing survey.  Completing the survey helps to give us a more complete picture of the furry fandom, because otherwise, it’s just some critters writing about themselves.  Remember, you can take the survey once per year!  If you’ve got a few minutes to spare, take some time to fill out the 2016 Furry Poll.

The poll is up here!

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

DreamKeepers, volume 4, Descent to the Archives, by David & Liz Lille
Monroe, MI, Vivid Independent Publishing, July 2015, trade paperback $24.99 (117 [+ 11] pages).

“Dreamkeepers is a supernatural fantasy adventure series for teens and up.” (publishers’ advisory)

After two years and an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign, here is DreamKeepers, volume 4, Descent to the Archives, containing Chapters 10 through 12. By now, so much has happened that you have to first read What Has Gone Before; either page-by-page for free on the DreamKeepers website or as albums from Amazon.com.

To rephrase what I have said in my reviews of the first three volumes, “The Dreamworld is a mysterious reality that parallels our own,” inhabited by funny-animal DreamKeepers, one for each person in the world. They guard us from the nightmares that would drive us mad. “Everyone’s DreamKeeper is completely unique – your personality and subconscious influence your DreamKeeper’s appearance and abilities.” Since there are now over seven billion people in the world, that’s a lot of almost-all different funny animals; but David Lillie has shown in large crowd scenes that he can draw that many DreamKeepers. Most DreamKeepers live in “Anduruna, the largest DreamKeeper city in the DreamWorld.”

“The protagonist is Mace, a young puppy (or is he a kitten?) in Grunn’s orphanage, a Dickensian hellhole along Anduruna’s eastern seacoast. Mace, the equivalent of a ten- or eleven-year-old human boy, is always getting in trouble for his practical jokes. He doesn’t care that he makes it easy for the orphanage’s real troublemakers to blame their tricks on him. But when his best friend is brutally murdered and he is blamed, he is forced to flee with Whip, his little blue companion (don’t call him a pet) into Anduruna’s lower-class throngs. There he meets Lilith Calah, a female counterpart from the aristocracy’s elite Sabbaton Towers who has just escaped a murder attempt (with the help of her half-sister, Namah) that apparently is connected to a black magic plot (and believe me; Dave & Liz can draw really gory and frightening black magic!) by the Dark DreamKeepers to overthrow the DreamKeepers and bring the nightmare hordes into the ascendency.”

The first three volumes, especially volume 3, Intentions Entwined, establish the original quartet of Mace, Whip, Lilith, and Namah; Bast, who seems to be Mace’s violent enemy but helps them because he has romantic feelings for Lilith; and the trio of Woods, a deer, Bill, a cat, and Damon, a dog. All four albums are “wall-to-wall full-color gorgeous art (no margins) on glossy paper”, printed in China.

This poster shows (front row, left to right) Mace, Paige (Mace’s best friend – she’s murdered in vol. 1), Whip, (second row) Bast, Randy (a bad guy), Lilith, (third & fourth rows) Grunn, Tinsel, Wisp, Namah, (background) Scuttles.

Chapter 10, “Throat of Stone”, begins with Woods, Bill, and Damon having escaped underground, where they are drafted into the Underground to fight the Nightmares (which they don’t believe in). Viriathus (Vi, shown on the cover) teaches them against their will how to fight guerilla-style. But she tries unsuccessfully to get them excused from any action, feeling that they would only be cannon-fodder. Lilith’s group of herself, Namah, Mace, and Whip, with the tagalong Bast, tries to sneak away from the Underground to go even deeper underground, into the caverns beneath Anduruna to find the lost Archives and its books. Meanwhile the Nightmare Lord Nabonidus orders the turncoat DreamKeeper Tinsel Nanaja to go into the caverns (despite her extreme reluctance) to find and get captured by Lilith’s group and get taken by them to the Archives, as a spy to get whatever they learn.

This synopsis omits several other things that are going on. (What is Operation Guillotine?)

Oh, I didn’t mention that each character in the DreamWorld has a superhero psionic talent (Whip = telekinesis, Lilith = healing, Namah = ‘ether tendrils’, Tinsel = ‘burning hair tendrils’, etc). It is illegal in Anduruna to use these, so they are usually undeveloped. In Chapter 11, “Echoes”, Nabonidus wants his agents to start using their powers. He sends the childlike but evil Wisp to train them. Lilith’s group go down and down into the caverns and eventually reach the Archives, but Bast’s legs are broken. After Lilith finds what she needs to fight the Nightmares, they are ready to return except for Bast’s broken legs. While they argue over abandoning Bast or not – he orders them to; they refuse – Lilith suddenly discovers that there is a level lower than the Archives.

In Chapter 12, “Tomb of the Forsaken God”, everybody fights. The Good Guys seem to win, but is it a real victory or just a breathing spell?

“It appears there’s a distinct probability of life as we know it horribly ending.”

“Well … at least we won’t have to file taxes anymore.”

To be continued.

It’s all terribly confusing, but so beautiful that you won’t care. The colors are so vivid (the publisher’s name has been chosen carefully) that they practically glow. The cavern sequences abound in deep purples and fiery reds. There’s a lot of commando action with plenty of bloodshed among cute funny animals, some of whom are so fluffy with such long, flowing tails that it’s impossible that they could keep from tripping over them or keep them from getting slammed in doors.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Learn more about Dreamkeepers
• Dreamkeepers Kickstarter
• Fred’s Review of Volume 3 on Flayrah
• Fred’s Review of Volume 2 on Anthrozine
• Fred’s Review of Volume 1 on Anthrozine

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

Children of Steel, by John Van Stry.
North Charleston, SC, CreateSpace, February 2012, trade paperback $12.99 (350 pages), Kindle $3.99.

Interregnum, by John Van Stry.
North Charleston, SC, CreateSpace, May 2015, trade paperback $9.99 (198 pages), Kindle $2.99.

John Van Stry first came to the notice of furry fandom with the story “Changes” in Yarf! #51, December 1997. But he began writing before that under the pen name of Banner Von Trippen, with “Waiting for Shadamehr (or Someone Like Him)” in Yarf! #49, July 1997. His serialized Dialene, beginning in Yarf! #64, April 2002, under the Von Trippen name, featured a foxmorph living in his Children of Steel universe. Since then he has been publishing through CreateSpace under his real name. Most of his stories have been published as science fiction, not furry fiction, even when they feature anthropomorphic animals.

Children of Steel is set in a familiar-to-furries future. To quote its rear cover, “Raj is just your average everyday genetically modeled and artificially created anthropomorphic worker for one of the many corporations of the future. Extensively trained and conditioned from birth he’s now indentured for the next fifty years of his life; assuming he doesn’t die first, or somehow manage to pay off his creation and training debts. Created by the corporations to deal with the harsh labor shortages of the twenty second century when humans will no longer take on the dangerous jobs Raj finds himself now in the harsh world of space exploration, trading, corporate maneuverings, and sometimes the even more dangerous fanatics that hate Raj and his fellows.”

Raj Rakir is “‘a sentient leopard-man of .7 human norm on the Rourstat scale,’” created by the Tri-Star Mining and Manufacturing corporation. He is presented “‘with your bill for creation and training by the corporation. As covered in the created species act of 2069 you must now work for above said corporation until you have either paid this bill, or completed a term of 50 years indentured servitude.’” (p. 4) The bill comes to three-plus million new dollars. Even with an expected lifespan of a hundred years – assuming he isn’t killed in one of those dangerous space jobs first – Raj can expect to spend most of his life working for Tri-Star. But he’s not worried about it.

“Simply put, the bottom line was that if it wasn’t for Tri-Star I wouldn’t exist. I did owe them that much.

I flexed a bicep and grinned toothily at my reflection in the mirror, and they did design well. I was the biggest leopard in my class, and the strongest. I’d graduated at the head of my advanced combat classes for a reason: I enjoyed kicking ass. Whatever was coming, I’d find my way through it one way or the other.” (p. 5)

Raj’s first assignment is as the junior shuttle pilot on the Tri-Star space freighter Astra, a transport and cargo ship. Even though the Astra is a commercial ship in peacetime, Raj can see how it can be quickly converted into a troop transport if necessary. He meets other “animen” such as a tiger, a fox, an opossum, and a raccoon. There are frequent mentions of twitching tails. The difference between free born animen versus the crèche-born, raised, and trained animen who are indentured servants to their companies, is shown. Raj is talking with Gabriel, the other junior pilot and a more experienced foxmorph.

“‘How’s it going, Raj?’ He asked setting down some paperwork and pulling up a chair.

‘Not too bad, Gabe, just looking over the new changes. What’s with you?’

‘Same shit, different day. I hear we’re supposed to make Hobson’s Choice in twelve weeks. Any info on that?’

‘About what I’ve heard.’

‘Great, I’ve been there before; you’ve got to check it out. It’s really something.’

‘Well, I’ve never been on another planet, so that in itself sounds pretty thrilling to me.’

‘It’s not just that, Hobson’s is thirty percent animan.’

‘So?’

‘Man you really are fresh from the crèche, aren’t you?’

I glared at him a little, my ears going back a bit. ‘I never claimed otherwise.’

‘Hey, don’t get your fur in a ruff! If you had got out more you would have noticed that on Earth, we’re not well liked. Heck in a lot of places we’re not even allowed.’

‘Well, I will admit that I did lead a pretty sheltered life in that aspect. Maybe the company does look out for us?’

‘Oh, there’s no doubt about that. Tri-Star actually treats us like we rate. But on Hobson’s the vast majority feel that way. They still got some Auntie-anns, but you won’t dance with the hangman for defending yourself in a fair fight.’

Auntie-ann was slang for the anti-animen people. On Earth they made up a pretty sizeable chunk of the population and we’d been warned continually to avoid them. It was nice to know that my instructors had been honest about their being less of them on the other planets.

‘And you think you would on Earth?’

‘Damn right, Judge Lynch is out there and waiting!’” (p. 15)

There have been brief mentions throughout this that Raj had a sister and best friend among his siblings from the crèche, Cassandra, another leopardmorph or Lepman; but she has already graduated and gone out into space. Raj hopes that he’ll run into her. In addition to getting to know the rest of the crew, Raj is expected to join “his clan” – the other leopards in the Astra’s crew. There are ten of them – Balizar, Herza, Mist, Katrina, and others — and they become Raj’s new close-knit family and important secondary characters in Children of Steel. He misses Cassandra, though.

That’s the setup. Children of Steel is good interstellar military space opera with a furry cast, mostly anthro leopards, told in a pleasantly chatty style. Raj’s experiences begin mildly – a couple of interesting but non-exciting shipboard incidents – and work up over 200+ pages. After carrying cargo, the Astra switches to carrying troops.

“After telling him [a tiger commando] about the makeup of the hundred or so troops we had on board, he told me about his group. They turned out to be tough sounding group all right. About two hundred big cats, almost a hundred Rhino’s, about another hundred wolves, and the remaining hundred made up of specialists; Eagles, Weasels, Badgers, and Beavers mostly. The last two groups being sappers.” (p. 93)

(The above paragraph is a good example of the poor proofreading in Children of Steel. Other examples are “What not in two months?”, “So tell us about yourself Raj”, and “I found my quarter’s pretty quickly, I was sharing a room with three other’s.”; but it’s not too bad.)

From being a pilot on a ship carrying troops, Raj becomes a soldier himself; then the Astra goes to one of the human-supremacy planets. Much more happens, including exploring new planets and a lot of bloody military action. Tri-Star gets involved in a full-scale war. There are surprises for the reader.

Raj is constantly getting into trouble because of his leopard’s nature. Children of Steel is more than a funny-animal novel, and leopards like Raj have a reputation as hot-headed and troublemakers.

“‘I’ve seen your records, Raj, you’ve got a real classic leopard’s temper. If you don’t control it, you’re going to end up in real bad trouble and I’d hate to see that happen to someone as talented as you.’” (p. 157)

Leopards also have less inhibitions about incest, and it soon becomes clear that Cassandra and Raj are more than brother-and-sister crèche-mates.

That’s Children of Steel (cover uncredited). Interregnum (cover by Amanda Rozga) is more of the same. The war is over, but as the winners, losers, and survivors of World War II could have told you, the transition to peacetime isn’t immediate and isn’t all smooth. Tri-Star is a winner and has inherited several new worlds from the losers and defunct neutrals. The Astra is assigned to investigate them. There are enemy holdouts. There are survivors to be rescued. Raj is kept busy. Readers who enjoy Children of Steel (which will include most fans of military s-f, and s-f about uplifted animals) will enjoy the sequel.

– Fred Patten

• Buy Children of Steel on Amazon
• Buy Interregnum on Amazon

Christopher Locke has worked for many years in the television industry. In 2004 he read the book Fast Food Nation and went through a personal transformation… emerging as a passionate animal rights advocate. He also decided to have a go at writing full-time for a living. The result is a new trilogy of fanciful fiction for young adults called The Enlightenment Adventures. The first book in the series, published in 2015, is called Persimmon Takes on Humanity. “What would you do if you saw someone committing unimaginable acts of cruelty? Turn the other way or defend those in need—no matter the cost? That’s the dilemma thrust upon Persimmon, a clever and compassionate raccoon, and her loyal forest friends. Instantly, the courageous critters spring into action, risking their own lives to rescue any animal they see suffering at the hands of humans. What the team doesn’t know is just how rampant this violence really is, and soon their exciting rescue missions turn shockingly dangerous and deadly. Will they succeed in saving the animals of the world from humans’ brutality, or will they fall victim to the powerful system of abuse they’re trying so desperately to end?” Persimmon is available now at Amazon, and you can find out more about the series at the author’s web site.

image c. 2016 Fathoming Press

 

Characters, plots and themes are all important but all require glue to put them together. We discuss that glue which is known as the aspects of writing technically well: sentence and paragraph structure, grammar, word choice, punctuation, etc. How can you learn to write technically well and how will it help your stories? To help tackle this topic we bring on editor at Sofawolf, Fugue, to sit down with us and discuss.

 
Send us your feedback, questions, concerns, complaints:

@FangsAndFonts

Facebook.com/FangsAndFonts
 

Fangs and Fonts

Click below to Listen http://www.fangsandfonts.com/FnF/Episodes/Ep64-Technically_Correct.mp3

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Ep 64 – Technically Correct - Characters, plots and themes are all important but all require glue to put them together. We discuss that glue which is known as the aspects of writing technically well: sentence and paragraph structure, grammar, word choice, punctuation, etc. How [...]

New Members

Welcome to our newest members Marshall L. Moseley, Gre7g Luterman, Thomas “Faux” Steele, Televassi, and Angela “LemurKat” Oliver!

Member News

In short fiction news, Mary E. Lowd’s flash fiction “Take Them To The Happiness Zoo” appeared in Theme of Absence last month, and Rechan’s story “The Monster Next Door” can be found in Creepy Campfire Quarterly #2.

In poetry news, the Second [adjective][species] Poetry Collection is now live, including poems from several FWG members, and [a][s] also featured a selection of animal-themed poems by the collection’s editor, Renee Carter Hall (day 1, day 2, and day 3).

(Members: Want your news here? Start a thread in our Member News forum!)

Market News

Upcoming deadlines: Issue 3 of A Glimpse of Anthropomorphic Literature is open until May 15.

New markets: The third volume of the charity anthology Wolf Warriors is seeking wolf-themed fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction (deadline June 15), and the second volume of the poetry anthology Civilized Beasts is open for submissions from now until October 1 (see this thread for guidelines and updates).

Remember to keep an eye on our Calls for Submissions thread and our Publishing and Marketing forum for all the latest news and openings!

Guild News

Members, beginning on May 16, we’ll be voting on this proposal to change the FWG by-laws by adding two new officer positions. Watch your inbox for the ballot!

The FWG University is now open! Our first workshop, the FWG Poetry Workshop and Primer, begins tomorrow, May 2. It’s being held entirely in the forums, and all poets are welcome to join in.

Voting is now open through July 1 for this year’s Cóyotl Awards.

Want to hang out and talk shop with other furry writers? Come join us in the forum shoutbox for the Coffeehouse Chats, Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Eastern and Thursdays at 12 p.m. Eastern. More info on the Coffeehouse Chats is here. (Remember, our forums are open to everyone, not just FWG members. Come register and join the conversation!)

Elsewhere on the Internet, we have a Goodreads group with a bookshelf featuring books by our members. Feel free to add any members’ books we’ve missed so far (see the instructions here on how to do that).

Remember, we’re always open for guest blog post submissions from FWG members — it’s a great way to help out fellow writers. See our guidelines for the details.

Have a creative and successful month! If you have news, suggestions, or other feedback to share, send an email to furwritersguild@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

Are online relationships and long distance relationships are REAL? Roo and Tugs are joined by Hobbes and Amy to pursue these questions. We explore these questions, then take a quick detour for the 50th anniversary of Space News!

 



NOW LISTEN!

Show notes coming soon! S5 Episode 14: Online and Long Distance Relationships - Are online relationships and long distance relationships are REAL? Roo and Tugs are joined by Hobbes and Amy to pursue these questions. We explore these questions, then take a quick detour for the 50

If you haven’t caught the word, this May DC Comics and Hanna Barbera plan to take Scooby Doo and the gang in a very… different direction, with the premier of the new full-color comic book series Scooby Apocalypse. “Those meddling kids — Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and their dog, Scooby-Doo — get more ghost-debunking than they bargained for when faced with a fundamental change in their world. The apocalypse has happened. Old rules about logic no longer apply. The creatures of the night are among us, and the crew of the Magical Mystery Machine has to fight to survive—because in the apocalyptic badlands of the near-future, the horrors are real! This new monthly series takes Scooby and the gang to a whole new level and features character designs by comics superstar Jim Lee!” Plus writing by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, with regular art by Howard Porter. Read an interview with Mr. Giffen over at Newsarama.

image c. 2016 DC Comics

Dear Papabear,

I am a 16 year old youngfur who discovered his furry side not that long ago. I first told my brother I was a furry (I'm happy I can confide in him with private stuff). Anyway, as time went on, I finally managed to go through the trouble of telling my father that I'm as furry. He seemed to understand it, though he is a little cautious about the subject (I explained him it's not what he thought). But I eventually did bring up that there's a convention being held in grand rapids, and that I liked to maybe go. He says if I do, it would just be me and him. He has not told my mother yet, or my older sister (thank god), so that helps a little. Anyway my point is, in the chance I do get to go, I have been told bringing your parents to a furcon can help them better understand the fandom, I like to believe this but I'm not sure how exactly this is the case. Can you maybe explain how this might help him understand better, and maybe some tips on what I should do to help things be less awkward if we do go. 

I apologize for this long long paragraph of writing.

Thanks for your help, I appreciate what you do for us people and am looking forward to the furry book!

Sincerely,
Scar

* * *
 
Dear Scar,
 
Thanks for writing :-3 Yes, I have mentioned this before in earlier columns about taking one’s parents or guardians to a furry con. While there have been one or two exceptions, most parents have a great time and learn to understand better what a furry is.
 
I have not been to the Great Lakes Fur Con because it debuted in 2012 after I had already moved to California. But, checking on the website there, it looks to be like most furcons. I see there are forums, games, a fursuit competition, a charity, a guest of honor, and so on. This is all very typical of a furry convention.
 
The reason it will help your parents is that they get to meet furries in real life and see that we’re just people (oooh, shocking, I know). Mostly younger people, yes, but also some greymuzzles. We go to school, many have jobs, and we’re just trying to have some fun and maybe blow off a little steam by being with people who share our interests.
 
My suggestion to you is you approach it like any other convention, such as a comic book convention or a Star Trek convention. All of these have things like forums, guest speakers, and places to shop for things of interest, as well as people dressing up in fun costumes. Really, the only significant difference between a furcon and, say, a Star Trek convention is that the attendees are creating characters who are not part of a franchise owned by a huge corporation like Marvel or Disney. Therefore, there is a lot more freedom involved, and a lot more creativity and adventure.
 
Go. Take your parents. Have a blast. I hope y’all have a fun time!
 
Hugs,
Papabear

What makes a furry movie? Is it the subject mater, the creator, or something else? Join the WagzTail crew this week to talk about movies in general, but especially every furry’s favorite recent movie, Zootopia.

Metadata and Credits Is It a Furry Movie?

Runtime: 39:39m

Cast: Braniff, KZorroFuego, Levi

Editor: Levi

Format: 128kbps ABR split-stereo MP3 Copyright: © 2016 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0. 

Is It a Furry Movie? - What makes a furry movie? Is it the subject mater, the creator, or something else? Join the WagzTail crew this week to talk about movies in general, but especially every furry's favorite recent movie, Zootopia.

What makes a furry movie? Is it the subject mater, the creator, or something else? Join the WagzTail crew this week to talk about movies in general, but especially every furry’s favorite recent movie, Zootopia.

Metadata and Credits Is It a Furry Movie?

Runtime: 39:39m

Cast: Braniff, KZorroFuego, Levi

Editor: Levi

Format: 128kbps ABR split-stereo MP3 Copyright: © 2016 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0. 

Is It a Furry Movie? - What makes a furry movie? Is it the subject mater, the creator, or something else? Join the WagzTail crew this week to talk about movies in general, but especially every furry's favorite recent movie, Zootopia.