Feed aggregator

If you’re not reading Dogpatch Press, you should be watching Culturally F’d!  It’s the Furry youtube series that asks:

Where does the love of anthropomorphics come from? How far back can we dig in history and mass media to really get to the bottom of it? Why does every culture across the face of the earth have a fascination with animal-people?

Here’s what’s been going on with Culturally F’d in the past month:

Episode 20: Tempting St. Anthony

In this episode we look into the fascinating world of Renaissance art at a specific topic that was tackled by many painters of the time. St. Anthony the Great was a catholic monk from the 3rd century who traversed the Egyptian desert and came out the other side having conquered some demons (or rather, temptations). Over a thousand later, artists from the 14th and 15th C took this story and shaped these demons into twisted but fun animal creatures. We look at artworks by Michelangelo, Hieronymus Bosch and Matthias Grünewald but we explore a little beyond them too. Arrkay wants to take the meanings of these paintings and apply them to Furry art in hopes of creating more meaning and thoughtfulness in the artwork of our fandom.

Episode 21: Top 3 Fictional Furries

The latest episode is a bit of a listicle – the top 3 essential characters in pop culture who were also furry. A short and sweet episode that only scrapes up the most obvious examples. Arrkay hopes that people will comment with more positive examples of fictional furries to build upon in a future episode.

“Hugs – The Furry Handshake”

We have shot an episode adapted from an article posted on Dogpatch Press.

Coming up on Culturally F’d:

We have filmed “Misconceptions about Furries and the Furry Fandom” which will address, debunk or confirm 17 common myths and stereotypes about furries. Arrkay wants this upcoming episode to be a resource for furries to access in the event that they confront people who hold these negative or ill-informed views about our fandom.  The episode has had 4 additional contributors including Patch O’Furr, Dronon, Slipwolf and Hysterical.

Coming up even further!

Arrkay will be launching “Culturally F’d: After Dark” at Furnal Equinox in Toronto this year. Patreon subscribers have already gotten a couple of episodes of this side series all about the furry fandom and sex, but this March it will be released publicly.

Arrkay has also been finishing a business plan for the channel, and will be applying for entrepreneurial and arts funding to support the channel as well as launching a web-store later this year, so keep an eye out for that.

Arrkay is still unemployed and relies heavily on his Patreon pledges, so please take the time and check out this link. He’s also desperate enough to sell off some of his goods and attempt to sell some art commissions, so check out his post here and send him a note over FA if you’re interested.

As always, subscribe to the YouTube channel here and check out Culturally F’d on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Furaffinity and Weasyl.

RAWR: Year One Review

by Skunkbomb

 

Earlier this year, I paid to stay up late critiquing roughly 1,500 words a night from talented writers while teetering toward a panic attack as I wrote my first sex scene. I loved every minute of it.

This was the first year of the Regional Anthropomorphic Writers’ Retreat (RAWR) led by Kyell Gold (Out of Position, Green Fairy) with associate instructor Ryan Campbell (God of Clay, Koa of the Drowned Kingdom) and facilitated by Chandra al-Alkani. After an icebreaker dinner, the next five days would begin with lectures from Kyell, Ryan, Watts Martin (Why Coyotes Howl, Indigo Rain) and Jeff Eddy of Sofawolf Press. They covered world building, setting, character, structure, and publishing while some of the attendees were still drinking coffee in their pajamas. It was helpful advice to keep in mind as we moved into critiques.

Critiques swallowed up most of my time at the retreat whether I was critiquing the work of my peers or writing notes on the feedback the other writers provided for my stories. Listening to the other writers point out what’s working and what isn’t in my stories was both intimidating and exhilarating, but that may be my inner masochist (that explains why I applied for this retreat). Despite my fears, getting that feedback was invaluable. Not only could I trust the other writers to give me honest feedback, they always had something positive to say. Above all, RAWR is all about helping writers grow.

Each writer got two critique sessions. Some of us edited the first story and submitted it to be critiqued a second time after revisions. Some of us had two different stories to be critiqued. One of us even submitted a long story in two parts. I went with option two after I told Kyell about the second story I was working on and he encouraged me to submit it despite not being halfway done with the first draft. If you ever need a kick in the pants to finish a story, having a deadline due in less than 24 hours works wonders. There are times when I want to procrastinate, but being in such an environment got me to work on more writing than I’d done in a month.

One of the highlights of the retreat was the opportunity to meet one-on-one with Kyell and Ryan to ask them anything I wanted. I brought a paper with questions to mask the fact I was essentially word vomiting whatever came to mind. This ranged from serious discussion of my writing (How often should I put out new writing to grow my audience?) to the self-indulging (What tips do you have about writing anthro skunks?)

It wasn’t all work. We’d eat together at the private residence where the workshop was held … while finishing a draft before the submission deadline for critiques. We’d watched movies … while critiquing stories. Okay, so work bled into our downtime, but at least we weren’t bringing our laptops to restaurants when we ate out.

By the time the final day of the retreat arrived, I didn’t have peers. I had friends who I would root for whenever they submit work for publication. I had a renewed resolve not only to improve my writing, but also give back to the furry community. This was one of the most exhausting five days of my life that I wouldn’t trade for a spot on the bestseller list.

Four Eyes is a comic book series created by writer Joe Kelly and illustrated by Max Fiumara in 2008. It’s set in Depression-era New York City on an alternate earth where dragons are enslaved by humans. The first story arc, Forged in Flames, “…is about a boy who’s trying to get back at a gang that’s directly responsible for his dad’s death…the world in which they live is a world where underground dragon fighting is entertainment for the masses” [Wikipedia]. Image Comics gathered together Forged in Flames as a trade paperback last year. Well now Image announced the publication of Four Eyes: Hearts of Fire. “Launching the second arc in the critically-acclaimed story of a boy and his dragon on the hunt for revenge in Depression-era New York City. The training begins.” The boy and his 4-eyed runt of a deadly dragon are out on the shelves now.

I want to know if I should repair a friendship or leave it. 

I have a friend, I'll call him Arctic, and he came into my life about a year ago. We quickly became best friends and did basically everything together. We both had extremely similar backgrounds except for some preferences in music. It was good. Then I made the mistake of introducing him to another friend. I'll call that one Timber. 

Timber and I also used to be good friends, but a large part of that was I looked up to him as a spiritual mentor. I went on a church mission for two years and then when I came back he told me he had left the faith. We kept the friendship and hung out a lot. Even though I was emotionally devastated that he was no longer the same person I used to look up to. In fact, before I introduced them, Arctic used to help me a ton getting over that depression. 

The problems started shortly after introducing Arctic and Timber. At first the three of us became close together, but then slowly I was becoming excluded from everything. I thought they just we're hanging out a lot. I became college roommates with Arctic and noticed changing behaviors. He would skip work (a Job I got for him) stay out and up to extreme hours, and wasn't dependable. This made a lot of tension between us. It took nine months and me accidentally discovering gay porn of them that I discovered the reason they were pushing me away. During that time I was trying to get my friends back and hang out, have fun, but I suppose I pushed more than got close. I was often upset at Arctic, who used to be so close, for spending so little time with me, and skipping church and work all the time. After I discovered why (my church is against gay relationships. I apologize to those who think differently, I have nothing against gay people, but am very religious. All our families were from the same church) I was devastated and felt betrayed again by both of them. They tried to be nice, and so did I, but the rift was getting bigger and bigger. I revealed their relationship to their families out of my pain and wish I hadn't. I essentially broke trust after feeling my trust was shattered, after feeling pushed away for so long. I should not have, but I was hurt and lashed out. Up until then, I did not see how much Arctic was trying, but now they both have written me off. Lots of drama roller coaster of both sides being at fault, trying to make up. Arctic caught in the middle most of the time torn between relationships. Me with some trust related PTSD caused by what happened with Timber and depression and them with lots of lies and excuses about why it was okay for them and why they couldn't trust me when they first wanted to date. I feel like if they told me I could have trusted them and let it be instead of how this all blew up. 

What I wanted so badly this whole time was to have my good friend Arctic back. I believe Timber will never forgive me, nor should I be around him because of who he is now and the PTSD I got from him when he left the faith and emotionally devastated me, but I wanted to know if it was a good idea to try and make friends with Arctic again, to give up for a while and try later, or to write him off? I suppose I feel badly and at the least don't want our last words to each other to be so full of hate. 

* * *
 
​Hi, Fellow Furry,
 
Thanks for your letter. A quick question, if you don't mind​: you say you are very religious and your church disapproves of gay people. Do you feel you can accept Arctic in your life even though he is gay? And what if this meant you would have problems with your church because they would not agree with your accepting him?
 
This will help with my reply.
 
Cheers,
Papabear
 
* * *
 
My church is the kind of "hate the sin love the sinner" church, so for me I want my friend to stop, especially with Timber, but I can accept Arctic for who he is. I think the church would accept him too as long as he is willing.
 
* * *
 
Hello again, and thanks for answering that question. (Quick note: you are misusing “PTSD.” Post-traumatic Stress Disorder comes about when you have suffered grievous physical harm or threat of physical harm, such as being a combat soldier or surviving a tsunami. Having difficulty with a friendship doesn’t qualify.)

I hear a lot in your letter about what you miss about your friendship with Arctic and Timber, but I don’t really hear anything about what you contributed to it. And, while you acknowledge that your outing of them to family was wrong, the fact that you did so is very disturbing and is a much deeper betrayal than anything Arctic or Timber did or are perceived to have done to you. Finally, although you say you can accept them for being gay, your church mindset of “hate the sin, love the sinner” means you will never fully accept them for who they are. Just by saying “hate the sin” means you cannot accept gay people and consider being gay to be a moral failing, which it is not. Being gay is not the same as committing a sin, such as murder or stealing. It is simply a state of being, and until you can accept that fully you will never be able to have a healthy relationship with anyone who is a homosexual.

I’m actually impressed by Arctic and Timber for putting forth the effort for so long to be your friend. A real friend would be supportive and not so judgmental. For example, when Arctic was having those behavior problems it was likely because he was struggling tremendously with his sexuality and perhaps also your friendship difficulties. Instead of trying to find out the cause of his missing work etc., it sounds as if you just got angry at him for being unreliable. Arctic needed your support at that time, not your anger.

Until you can learn to be a better friend and to accept homosexuals for who they are and not consider them to be innately sinful, your desire to be friends with Arctic and Timber is contraindicated.
 
Good Luck,
Papabear

​

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

Huntress, by Renee Carter Hall.
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, September 2015, trade paperback $9.95 (213 pages), Kindle $4.99.

Leya is a young adolescent lioness in an anthropomorphic African veld who lives in the village of Lwazi. But she doesn’t want to grow up to become just another tribal wife and mother. She dreams of becoming a karanja, a member of the nomadic band of female expert huntresses who hunt for meat for all the villages. Becoming a karanja is a prestigious, almost religious goal, but it means rigorous training and the renunciation of living with men — of ever getting married, or having children.

“The first time she’d seen them, she had been very young. But she hadn’t been afraid. The other cubs, male and female alike, had hidden behind their mothers, frightened by the huntresses’ fierce eyes and sharp weapons. Where the villagers wore beads or stones, the karanja sported necklaces of bone and hoof and claw, and their loincloths were made of zebra hide in deference to Kamara’s first kill, a material only they were permitted to wear.

They were all mesmerizing, exotic and dangerous and beautiful, their eyeshine flashing like lightning-strikes as they took their places around the fire. But there was one Leya could not look away from.

Masika, the karanjala, first among the karanja. Her headdress of fish-eagle feathers stood out from her noble face like a mane, and her loincloth was of giraffe hide, just as their first male wore. Her eyes were sharp and watchful, her every muscle toned and tensed, and like all the karanja, she proudly bore the twin scars on her chest where her breasts had been cut away. Leya sat silently, drinking in Masika’s presence, watching everything the huntress did, every movement, every manner.” (pgs. 10-11)

Leya follows her goal relentlessly, tirelessly as she grows up. She leaves her village to follow the karanja on their outskirts, and finally her perseverance impresses them enough that she is made one of their group.

But this is only half the story. Goals change over the years. What someone wants to be at six years old, or at eleven, or fourteen, is not the same thing at eighteen or twenty-one or older. Leya begins to regret parting from the village playmate who had just begun to become a lover. She feels longings when the karanja visit a village and she sees mothers with their children.

“Every woman in this village, Leya realized, understood Ayanna’s joy. But not one of them would know what it meant to watch that zebra crumple to the ground, to hold a knife and cut its throat because it meant everything you’d ever wanted. She could tell Ayanna about it, and her friend would smile and nod in the right places, but that would be all.” (p. 83)

No huntress has ever left the karanja (or have they?), but by this time the other karanja are all her friends, and wish her well. But Leya’s hard life, her scars and her lack of breasts have marked her irrevocably. What is an ex-karanja to become? There is no role model for the rest of her life.

“Huntress” is harsh, tender, exhausting, gentle, thoughtful, and beautiful. It won the Cóyotl Award as the Best Anthropomorphic Novella of 2014, presented at the RainFurrest 2015 convention where this book went on sale. It was also a finalist for that year’s Ursa Major Award.

“Huntress”, the novella, was first published in the anthology Five Fortunes in January 2014. But if you’ve read it there, don’t think that you’ve read all there is. Huntress, the book, contains three more, brand-new short stories set in the same world.

“The Shape of the Sky” features Mtoto, the young apprentice of Ndiri, the painted-dogs’ wandering healer:

“The young dog stretched, enjoying the soft breeze on his fur and how the warmth of the sun came back when the breeze stopped. As he preferred, he wore only the clay amulet he’d had since he was born. When he went among the villages to trade his pots and cups, he tied on a loincloth to respect their customs, but here among the baobabs, there was no custom but his own.” (p. 139)

Mtoto is now living alone when a young leopardess with her eland treks across his home. Masozi, the leopardess, is proud but desperate, and Ngoma, her more-than-a-pet who gives her milk and blood, is about to give birth. Mtoto helps them, and without knowing it, he is helped as well.

“Kamara and the Star-Beast” is a story that Leya, as an older cub, tells the still-younger cubs of Lwazi about the legendary first karanja.

“You know Kamara the Huntress was the greatest of all her kind. There was nothing that ran on land that she could not bring down, no bird she couldn’t snare, no fish she couldn’t catch. She was strong, and she was swift, and she was clever – and yes, she was proud.” (p. 160)

One day Kamara comes across a trail of strange hoofprints that suddenly change to the tracks of other animals, even birds. Kamara follows the trail for days.

“At last she caught up with it, and if anything could have been stranger than its trail, it was the beast itself. It had the hindquarters of a zebra, the front legs of a heron, the great ears of the hare, the snout of the red pig, and the tough skin of the elephant.” (p. 161)

The thing taunts Kamara that she can’t catch it. She finally gives up, but complains to the god Yaa about it. Yaa’s decision isn’t exactly what Kamara wants.

“Where the Rivers Meet” tells how Ndiri, the painted-dogs’ wandering healer, grew up to such a lonely profession. She was orphaned when she was too young to know her parents, and she was taken in by a grandmother who was a healer. To her village, a healer was the same thing as a magician, and everyone else feared both Ndiri’s grandmother and her.

This is the story of how Ndiri discovered boys. And Mtoto. And death.

Hall says in an afterword that her fantasy Africa is based on elements from throughout the continent. (And elsewhere – karanja is a Hindi word.) But it feels vividly real, jus as the cover by Sekhmet is so realistic that you almost believe in anthropomorphic lionesses. I cannot recommend Huntress highly enough.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Buy on Furplanet

The time is nigh.  It’s finally here.  It is with a tear in my eye that I post the final episode of Furballd.

This is an episode worthy of a finale.  A three hour mega episode full of fun, laughter, conversation, and alcohol.  Killick, Ringo and Sepko are joined by old favourites Toru and Sabre to help them celebrate the coming end.  What do we talk about?  You’ll need to listen to find out.  It’s been a fun ride, but it had to end some time.  Thank you to everyone who has ever listened.  We hope that we were able to brighten your day and bring a smile to your face with our shenanigans and durpiness.

It is with a heavy heart that we all say, Bye For Now, But Not Forever!

This episode’s song is the wonderfully nostalgic “The Life And Death Of Kirby” by Benjamin Briggs, Insert Rupee, and halc.  You can find the song on OCRemix here.

Follow us on Twitter:

Killick @Killick6

Ringo @RingoDingobear

Sepko @Sepko1

Toru @Toru_Kawauso

Sabre @SabreMc

Some other podcasts to fill the Furballd void:

Unfurled

Fangs and Fonts

The Dollop

Rage Select

The Little Dum Dum Club

One Of Us

News:

Steven Moffat to leave Doctor Who

Sony tries to copyright the phrase “Let’s Play”

Tokyo zoo zebra fursuit rampage

Episode 95 – The Last Furballd Episode Of All Time - The time is nigh.  It's finally here.  It is with a tear in my eye that I post the final episode of Furballd. - This is an episode worthy of a finale.  A three hour mega episode full of fun, laughter, conversation, and alcohol.  Killick,

In addition to the industry-voted honors, each year the Annies celebrate several talented individuals with special honorary awards. This year, all four recipients had a history of anthropomorphic works of one sort or another. The June Foray Award (for service to the community and art of animation) went to veteran Disney producer Don Hahn, who of course helped to shepherd Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King (among many other films) into existence. The Windsor McCay Award went to three individuals for their lifetime achievement in cartoons. Isao Takahata (co-founder of Stuido Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki) is celebrated far and wide for anime films like The Grave of the Fireflies and The Tale of Princess Kaguya, but he also directed the tenuki adventure Pom Poko. (And, early in his career, he directed episodes of Panda! Go Panda!) Phil Roman founded his animation studio Film Roman in the 80’s, and they have since become famous as the home of The Simpsons and King of the Hill. But they are also the studio that gave us furrier works like Garfield and Friends, Cro, Mother Goose and Grimm, C-Bear and Jamal, and The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat. Finally, a special posthumous McCay Award was presented to the memory of Joe Ranft, Pixar Studio’s head of Story, who died in a tragic car accident ten years ago. Over the years Joe worked on numerous animated films at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation, but he may perhaps best be remembered as the voice of Heimlich the caterpillar in Pixar’s movie A Bug’s Life.

image c. 2016 Pixar, Walt Disney Company

Here’s a nice story of community problem solving.

Any time there’s a furry event in San Francisco, Zarafa Giraffe is there. He gets around so much, that he was the featured image (with me too) when SFGate news mentioned “furries” in a silly little story about “The Most Embarrassing Google Searches” per state.

Zarafa is iconic for SF Bay Area furries.  So it was a shock to hear that his fursuit was stolen:

SAN FRANCISCO FURRIES NOW TARGETS FOR ROBBERY.

That’s very nice personal coverage from Broke-Ass Stuart.  He’s a well known San Francisco personality who does travel writing, news blogging, TV hosting, and even ran for mayor.  The news tip came from Smashwolf.  It made great press, counting the city as a place for the wild and creative, and furries as a unique part of it.

Broke-Ass Stuart linked Dogpatch Press.  There was already a story here about the scene of the crime – a crossover between the subculturally hot Frolic furry party, the big party Bootie, and it’s venue, DNA Lounge.

Drag Queens vs. Furries at a legendary San Francisco Party – January 30, 2016.

The fursuit theft happened with a car break-in.  Furries speculated that they were specially targeted, but consensus held that the carry case was a random target.  There had already been high-profile efforts to reduce car robbery in the neighborhood with assistance from night life venues. NBC News reported about DNA Lounge: “After thieves targeted club staff, performers and guests, the promoters chipped in to hire security guard Jonathan Yancey.” (More at SFist.)

As crushing as the loss was, the stage was set for a very visible search.  (The attention shows what I take as a credo… if you don’t like what the media does, Be The Media.) The hunt was on to find a missing purple giraffe.  He’s a good fursona… how many of those are there?

So, after the Frolic/Bootie party in SF last nite, my fursuit was stolen from my locked car trunk-a random urban crime. I'm crushed. :(

— Zarafa (@Zarafagiraffe) January 31, 2016

The silver lining here is you are all overwhelming me with your thoughts and prayers and offers to help. It's a "good" overwhelming. :)

— Zarafa (@Zarafagiraffe) January 31, 2016

Stolen fursuit in the San Francisco area. Purple Giraffe. Please please keep an eye out. Contact us with any info! pic.twitter.com/dQdHrbGIpx

— Made Fur You, INC (@MadeFurYou) January 31, 2016

Everyone! @Zarafagiraffe fursuit was sadly robbed :( please retweet!
Please contact him if found!

Contact info- pic.twitter.com/bHI3kAos0c

— President Woofiss (@Woofiss) February 2, 2016

If history is a guide, a stolen fursuit doesn’t have good chance to be found.  Nobody who’d wear one would steal one, knowing how conspicuous that is.  It’s like stealing famous unfenceable art.  Nobody who’d steal one would know a use for it.  Dumping it is the most likely scenario.

Luckily, the SF Bay Area Furry scene has very dedicated movers to make things happen – none more than Neonbunny, promoter of Frolic.  Neon both put on the party AND put in search hours (with Frolic team member Skibit) to post flyers across the neighborhood. The flyer was collaboratively made by Catwoman69y2K.

One of the flyers did the job.   The sad happening was turned around when everyone worked together for a common goal.

Zarafa’s journal – From Despair to a Miracle: My Fursuit Returns!
Reddit – Unbelievably, Zarafa the purple giraffe fursuit found! A homeless lady found it and returned it! Wonderful news!
Reddit – Zafara the Purple Giraffe has been found!

He was found dumped in an alley, missing a hand and footpaw but otherwise intact, by the homeless lady living in a tent city.  She was paid with a pizza, sleeping bag and reward money.  It’s a very San Francisco story.

This sums up the current situation pretty well. Art by @EmoBurd I am near tears, but now they're the good kind. pic.twitter.com/6Jp2DGfnh4

— Zarafa (@Zarafagiraffe) February 4, 2016

Once again your humble ed-otter was lucky enough to attend the Annie Awards for 2015, presented at UCLA’s Royce Hall on February 6th. Presented by the International Animated Film Society (ASIFA), the Annie Awards honor the best of the animation industry — as selected by members of that industry. Surprising no-one, the night belonged to Pixar’s Inside Out. (It has already won almost every major award it has been nominated for, and of course it’s nominated for an Oscar as well.) Inside Out won in the Best Feature categories for Storyboarding, Editing, Character Design, Music, Character Animation, Production Design, Voice Acting (Phyllis Smith as Sadness), Writing, Directing, and (of course) Best Animated Feature. Bing Bong himself even helped to present some of the awards. (*sniff* Bing Bong…) A few other features managed to sneak in awards, and some of them were even for animal characters! The Good Dinosaur won in the category of Best Effects Animation. (It’s been celebrated far and wide for its realistic backgrounds and water effects.) And The Revenant won Best Animated Character In A Live Action Production for the bear that nearly eats Leonardo DiCaprio. Over in the TV and other divisions, furries were well-represented in several award categories. Disney’s new Mickey Mouse Shorts won for Best Storyboarding, Best Music, and Best Editing. ASIFA favorites. Dreamworks TV had two wins, as Dragons: Race to the Edge won for Best Character Animation and The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show won for Best Production Design. Previous Annie favorites Tumble Leaf and Wander Over Yonder won for Best Production for Preschoolers and Best Production for Children, respectively. Psyop (home of those infamous Orangina commercials!) won Best Commercial for their Coca Cola ad Man and Dog, and Best Animated Game went to the monster adventure Evolve from 2K. [To save space, tomorrow we’ll tell you about the special awards presented at the Annies — and why you should care!] You can find out more about all of these and more over at the ASIFA Hollywood web site.

image c. 2016 Pixar Animation

The unthinkable has happened - a lawyer, Lee, has come into the studio for an entire show! RUN FOR THE HILLS! Once you're there listen closely as Roo and Tugs dive into the subject of Copyright - the basic terms around the world, what you can do, what you own, and what you don't. Do you own your character? Who own art commissions? What can and can't you control about your character? What about creating derivative works? Is uploading your favorite pieces of art to social networks okay? We ask all of these questions and more in this deluxe length episode! We also bring you fresh space news, an old-timey ad, The Mailbag, THE GAME, and a NEW segment! We also have a big announcement at the end of the episode, so relax and enjoy the ride!



NOW LISTEN!

Show Notes

Special Thanks

Lee, our guest!
Retro, for this episode's show cover!
Leo the Artist
Spark the Dragon
Anthrodolphin
Caudle

Music

Opening Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Century Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller– Cloud Fields (Radio Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Some music was provided by Kevin MacLeod at Incompetech.com. We used the following pieces: Spy Glass. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
Space News Music: Fredrik Miller – Orbit. USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Closing Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Headnodic Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller – Cloud Fields (Chill Out Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)

Next episode: Have you ever lost a loved one? How did you deal with it? The next episode of Fur What It's Worth deals with Grief and Loss in the Furry Fandom. Send your emails and voice messages by February 11, 2016. S5 Episode 9 – ©opyright and the Fandom - The unthinkable has happened - a lawyer, Lee, has come into the studio for an entire show! RUN FOR THE HILLS! Once you're there listen closely as Roo and Tugs dive into the subject of Copyright - the basic terms a

[Dear Readers: In the following letter, I had my buddy Tycho Aussie reply because he's an expert on fursuiting for charities.]

Hi, Papa Bear!

I'm a fursuiter, and I'm a little wary of fursuiting without a cause. I really want to donate my time to the local charities by attracting people during their events, but I'm a little unsure of how to approach them about it. Any tips?

Gracie Cat

* * *
Hello Gracie!

Papa Bear asked me to send you a note because it sounds like your interest in fursuiting is a lot like mine. I find a lot of joy in sharing my fursuiting with the greater community, and I spend the majority of my fursuiting time outside of furry cons or even furmeets. Your question is quite timely, actually. Quite a few of us here in the Michigan area have just started a fursuiting group called the Michigan Freelance Mascots. We have been getting requests from an increasing number of charities, fundraisers, and community events, which are really, really fun to attend when working as a team. (See: www.fursuiter.org for our temporary website)

I have, in the past, been a lone fursuiter and I used to ask event organizers verbally if they wanted a volunteer mascot to add some whimsical entertainment to their event. Although this has worked pretty well, I would frequently get asked by confused people who it was that I represent. Everyone is used to fursuiters / mascots being employed by a baseball team, radio station, or other organization. The idea of freelancing is still brand new. For my first two seasons, I stayed unofficial, and relied on word-of-mouth to get event organizers to learn about me. Unfortunately, I lost of one of my most favorite venues when a nervous staff member confronted the organizer and said "We don't know ANYTHING about this person!!" After this happened, I commissioned a full-color, trifold pamphlet that described my character as well as information on the emerging hobby of freelance mascotting. I also included a short biography of real-life self. These pamphlets can be given to event managers, so that if anyone confronts them with nervousness or questions, the manager can show them the pamphlet and answer all of their questions. You can go to www.tychoaussie.com and I will try to scan and upload the pamphlet, which you can use as a template.  So, I would highly recommend that you establish written credentials. 

With these, you can now approach event managers, city and township activities directors, nursing home managers, hospital staff, etcetera, and offer them your services. They will most likely say yes - and it is a great way to learn your craft! I must caution you though, it is quite an intense but rewarding experience. You will have to be a quick study of people's reactions. Some people will engage you and want to hug you like a favorite stuffed animal, whereas others will try their best to avoid you. Don't let those reactions turn you off - because they are just natural. Some people are just adverse to fursuiting in the same way people are sometimes scared of clowns, spiders, or snakes. I find the ratio is about 1 person out of thirty will not want to interact. 

So, I suggest you tune up your fursuit, work on your most outgoing personality, and be prepared to be the salesperson, and sell your performance service to some activity managers! Think about small festivals, ask the chamber of commerce if they would want you to walk with their banner in the local parade. Go to the assisted living center and ask to meet some Alzheimer patients. These types of experiences are how I got started. They are individual and require that you bring only an assistant. In some cases, the facility itself will provide you with a helper. 

In terms of setting up at the venues, if you need a place to change, don't be shy, walk into a nearby store and ask someone. I will usually ask for the manager, explain that I am a freelance mascotter who is about to perform, and that I need a place to change. I have never been turned down. Some of the more unusual places I have changed into Tycho Aussie include:

• Back room of a gas station, next to the tire changer and an old stack of tires
• Middle level of an iron fire escape in the back of a grocery store
• Dozens of bathrooms of McDonalds, grocery stores, conference centers, etc.
• An engine repair machine shop, next to the engine boring machine
• The manager's office of The Home Depot
• Middle of a parking lot with the doors of the truck to offer me cover

This is a great hobby: I can openly fursuit without shame at my university and in my workplace, and my whole family, my aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews all know about it. 

I hope this helps, and if you have any further questions, you can contact me through Papa Bear, on twitter or even facebook. 

Good Luck!

Tycho Aussie

That’s how Image Comics describe their new full-color series Cry Havoc. “X-Men Legacy writer Simon Spurrier and superstar artist Ryan Kelly present fiends, fragility, and firepower in an all-new series, mixing the hard-boiled militaria of Jarhead with the dark folklore of Pan’s Labyrinth. This is not the tale of a lesbian werewolf who goes to war. Except it kind of is.” Over at the Image web site, Mr. Spurrier continues, “Folklore is saturated with monsters. Centuries ago these wonderful fictions were at the bleeding-edge of the Zeitgeist, but they’ve faded from relevance. Cry Havoc asks what happens when those bright-eyed and bloody-fanged stories force themselves back into the modern limelight. Who resists them, and who gets caught in the middle?” Issue #1 is available now.

image c. 2016 Image Comics

Bad Fuzz, no donut. This is a really long episode. Shiva and Savrin had OPINIONS last week, so we got a lot in return. We reply to said opinions.. and thus invite more! Truly we have entered a vicious cycle. Before that though, we talk about PAX South, half price monster titties, and Fuzz not being dead. Want to support the show? We have a Patreon! www.Patreon.com/Knotcast Episode 303 - Half Price Monsters

Guest article by M.C.A. Hogarth, a writer of anthropomorphics, science fiction, and fantasy. Her fiction has variously been recommended for a Nebula, a finalist for the Spectrum, placed on the secondary Tiptree reading list and chosen for two best-of anthologies; her art has appeared in RPGs, magazines and on book covers. She is also Vice President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

This article was originally published on her blog (Part 1, Part 2).

Let me say this first: Yes, I am the vice president of a professional association of writers. And yes, I believe that artists should be paid, and not a pittance, for what they do. I take that as given.

Having said that, though: if I want to give my work away, I have that right. If I want to sell a $1500 painting for a dollar to someone without the money to buy it at full price, that’s my right. If I want to exchange a piece of art for the opportunity to pet a puppy for half an hour, if I want to jack the price down because I like the editor, the venue, the issue, if, basically, for any reason I want to hand my work over for less than people think I should, I’m allowed… and no, I don’t think you’re in the right when you tell me I’m “de-valuing” art.

You know what de-values art? Pretending that it can be bought for money. You cannot put a price on a book that saves your soul, or a painting that gives you joy, or a piece of music that makes you run faster for sheer elation. There is not enough money in the world. When we put a price on art, we are doing something utterly arbitrary, something that has more to do with what the market will bear and what we need to buy groceries than on the value of the work.

Do I think I have an obligation to my fellow artists? Yes, absolutely. But that obligation is not to maintain an artificial price floor like some kind of union member. My obligation is to educate my audience on why art (all art, not just mine) is worth paying for. To do that, I need to understand the value of what I’m offering (see above: priceless). I need to understand that what I do, as an artist, is important: not easy given a society that gives artists mixed signals. And I need to understand business principles, so that I understand how to price my work and what the market will bear.

I understand the drum beat of “don’t undervalue yourself” is intended to combat a lifetime’s worth of conflicting signals received by young artists about whether their work is worth remuneration. And absolutely, I agree, we need to teach each other that we deserve to eat. But not by vilifying non-artists and not by reprimanding each other for our pricing choices. The answer to this conundrum is not “Have every artist set their prices the same.” The answer is to respect the intelligence and sensitivity of your audience, and give them the tools they need to make informed choices. I can’t count the number of artists who have sneered about “everyone wanting to steal art instead of paying for it” or who have told me that if I trust people to tip me for work I give away for free I am being naive because “no one pays for stuff they get for free.” (Ignoring even obvious examples of this being untrue in the existing world: people pay to get into museums. They don’t buy anything with that ticket except the ability to go in and see the work.) I can’t imagine the world these people live in, where they labor to give the work of their hearts to faceless masses they imagine waiting to starve, rob, or betray them. They must live in dark and terrible headspaces.

Because people do pay me for things I give away, generously, joyously, and eagerly. They do it apologizing for how little they have to give, or happily, sharing their own bonuses, paydays, and windfalls with me. And they do it because I tell them: “Look, this is how the art is made. Let me explain how wonderful it is, how long it takes me, how I make the choices I do, why it took me so long to learn that particular trick. Come into my world. Understand this with me. Experience it with me. And if I have given you joy of it, and if you have the money to buy me bread, I will accept it with a grateful heart.”

You do that, and you will be surprised how many people suddenly look around and say, “All this art is made by people, and now I care about the people as well as the art. Because they cared about me.”

That is the duty I have as an artist, to my fellow artists, and I do it faithfully, every day. If you really want to change the culture, if you want to see more of us earning our livings and fewer people “stealing,” then this is the work you must do.

Art is a communion between maker and audience. If you don’t think the audience is capable of valuing that communion, I question more than whether you’re hurting other artists. I question whether you should be making art at all.

No one is obligated to pay me to do what I want. We all need to work for a living. But what people need might not be what you want to give, and forcing them to pay you anyway is coercion. I don’t hold with it. Is it a sad thing when the world won’t compensate you to do something you’re brilliant at because what it really needs is someone to do data entry? Sure. But complaining about it is childish. If I don’t get paid enough to live off the work that I love, then either I make it without compensation—because I love it—or show people why they should pay for it until I can live off the proceeds. Or both. But I am not moved by artists who think that they should make a living on art because it’s what they want to do and, like Bartleby the Scrivener, they’d prefer not to do anything else. We’d all prefer not to do things we have to do. Doing them anyway furnishes us with the experiences that teach us discipline, duty, patience, and strength.

Taste is subjective. The number one complaint I hear from other artists is, “I don’t know why they earn more than I do/got the contract/are more popular when my work is so much better than theirs!” I hate hearing this. It is demeaning to the person saying it, the person it’s aimed at, and all the people who enjoy that person’s work. Art by its nature is subjective. Your “better” work might not speak to the same people who enjoy someone else’s, and you know, that’s okay. It’s okay for people to like “stupid books written for the masses” and “trash movies” and “cartoons with broken anatomy, why have they never studied a real animal argh.” Your tastes and their tastes don’t align. That’s good. It takes all kinds. Cherish the people who love your work; because the people who like the work you hate aren’t going to magically shower you with their money if that other artist goes away and leaves you the spotlight.

If you want people to understand the value of art, you can’t tell them to value only yours, because they might not be suited to your work. Tell them about all the art that matters so that they can find the work that speaks to them… and your peers will start sending you the people who need your work. Be generous. Any other attitude is poisonous.

Sacrifice is relative. When I was a student I saved up for a year to buy one limited edition print from an affordable artist whose work I really liked. Seven years later, as a tech worker at a software start-up, I made that much “play money” in half a month. If you looked at our relative expenditures on art, it would have been easy to assume that Tech Worker Jaguar was the more dedicated patron of the arts. Yet it was Student Jaguar who sacrificed the most for her print. When someone offers me a dollar, or five dollars, and tells me that’s what they have to give, I believe them. I remember that I once was that person who hoped that someone else would pay for a serial episode to be unlocked so she could read it, or who had to wait four months for the library to finally get me a copy of the book everyone read when it was new. And I remember that the artists who made me feel like my $5 mattered to them are the artists I came back to when I was plump in the pocket. “You understood then. Now it’s my turn to give back.”

That cycle never ends, by the way. I have been Jaguar of Little Means and Jaguar of Significant Means, over and over. The wheel turns. Be kind to people trudging through the dark part of that cycle. If they give you their money, no matter how little it is, it matters.

Ignorance is an opportunity. I said earlier that it’s our duty as artists to explain to our audience why art is worth paying for… because I don’t think artists realize how enigmatic the process is from outside our heads. People think ‘well, they like art, how can they not get how much work it takes?’ But you can enjoy the fruits of something without understanding how it works. Do you need to know the ins-and-outs of surgery to benefit from an appendectomy? Do you have to learn how to farm, catch, or sell fish to enjoy eating one? Construction? But we live in buildings. Languages? But we speak one all the time. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that people enjoy art without knowing how it’s made.

There is nothing wrong with being ignorant; there’s too much to be known in this world for any of us to learn it all before we die. Don’t sneer at your audience for not understanding your vocation. Think of it as an opportunity to share your love and enthusiasm for what you do with people who are eager to hear about it, and be grateful those people are willing to listen.

Anyway. I don’t talk about these philosophical things much anymore, but every once in a while I see a cluster of things floating around the internet and I feel like something has to be said. Here it is: The work is sacred. People are awesome. Conduct yourself like someone worthy of a gift. Be grateful.

That should do it.

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

Scarlett: Star on the Run, by Susan Schade and Jon Buller. Illustrated by Jon Buller.
NYC, Papercutz, November 2015, trade paperback $14.99 (173 pages), Kindle $8.81.

Here is another all-ages novel by Susan Schade & Jon Buller (wife & husband) in their signature format of alternating chapters in comic-book format and in traditional-novel text. (I reviewed their three-novel The Fog Mound in 2007.) It is mostly for 8- to 12-year-old children, but it has aspects that adult furry fans will enjoy. This would be a simplistic talking-animal comic book/novel for young children, if it weren’t for the revelation that the talking animals have been scientifically made intelligent and given speech.

Is Shane Pafco, the dictatorial owner of Pafco Studios, a movie producer/director or a Mad Scientist? What year is Scarlett set in, with futuristic cars and flying spycams? When Scarlett, the cat movie star of Pafco Studios, gets the chance to escape, she is quick to take it even into a snowy, freezing outdoors. She is lucky enough to be taken in by grouchy old Frank Mole, a half-crazy, gun-waving hermit who doesn’t trust any people and hears voices. He believes that a talking cat is only part of his delusion; and when Scarlett finds out that Trotter, Pafco’s experimental talking dog, has followed her, she fast-talks Frank into believing that he needs a dog, too. Scarlett wants to be a natural cat and catch mice, until Frank’s messy, vermin-filled cabin gives her the opportunity to do so.

“I don’t know,” she muses. “Something about all that SKIN and HAIR is making me lose my appetite.” (p. 29)

She prefers to share old Frank’s monotonous diet of canned ravioli, until she and Trotter learn to impersonate his nonexistent housekeeper over the ancient landline telephone (“You should get a cell phone,” Scarlett tells Frank, who thinks he’s imagining her and ignores her) to Walt’s Grocery, and add to their diet. Fortunately Frank, who gets an automatic Social Security bank deposit, has been careful to live within his means, and even when Scarlett learns to call other stores and order more, she is careful to not overcharge his credit card.

Frank spends all day vegging out in front of his TV, watching sports games. The TV local news warns that, “Spycams continue to comb the area for several animal robots that escaped from Pafco Studios on Monday. Area residents are advised that, while these robots may look cute, they are NOT REAL. If not handled correctly, they can be very dangerous.” (p. 30) Scarlett is both insulted and frightened. If “they” are lying about Pafco’s escaped animals being dangerous robots, it can’t be good. And “several animal robots”? Who else besides Scarlett and Trotter has escaped from the studio/labs?

All is well until Frank’s horrendously unhealthy lifestyle catches up with him. He is rushed to the hospital in a coma. How long can the cat and dog go on without a compliant human to front for them? Their plight is made worse when a third Pafco animal escapee moves in with them: Vilroy, another dog who was always given a villain’s role because it came so naturally to him. Vilroy is not careful to remain within Frank’s budget, and when he starts demanding that Scarlett order expensive foods and a two thousand dollar massage chair for them, she is aware that not paying a mounting overdraft will quickly end their hidden existence.

Above all the animals’ other concerns is the overriding problem that while Scarlett, Trotter, and Vilroy are an intelligent cat and dogs, they are still instinctually domestic animals. While Scarlett and Trotter had Frank to take care of them/be taken care of by them, they were happy. Now, on their own, they are nervous and fearful, even without Vilroy to worry about. They need another human, and a more practical long-range solution.

Furry fans will appreciate the resolution. Even though Schade & Buller are Americans, this was published first as Scarlett: Star en Cavale by BD Kids in Montrouge, Paris, France in October 2013. Papercutz has specialized in “graphic novels”, with the result that several comics shops are stocking Scarlett and are listing it as #1 in a series. Papercutz is careful not to. Its advertising is all for Schade’s & Buller’s next combination of comic-art and prose, Anne of Green Bagels, coming later in 2016.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Paper Cutz
• Check out another review on Kids Reads
• Fred’s Review of Travels of Thelonius by the same writing team

Dated February 4, here is an article in The Guardian:
http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/feb/04/furry-fandom-subculture-animal-costumes

It describes the furry fandom, and includes words from fursuit maker Sarah Dee (of Menagerie Workshop), social psychologist Kathleen Gerbasi, and Anthrocon chairman Samuel Conway.


Furry fandom, an obscure subculture united in their passion for all things anthropomorphic, can be lucrative business – because artisanal fursuits are haute-couture.

A single design can require up to 200 hours of work and sell for thousands of dollars. The business follows seasonal trends as well: one year it’s neon colours, the next grumpy-looking characters. One season, everyone wanted to be a sled dog. It’s all, of course, about the fur – even sharks, reptiles and birds are adorably fuzzy – and Los Angeles’s fashion district has stores devoted exclusively to hundreds of varieties.

Sarah Dee, a master fursuit maker, flies out twice a year for sourcing, carefully handpicking $5,000 worth of furs (a single suit requires about 5.5 yards), dragging it across town in giant bin bags to the FedEx office and then stuffing 30-inch cardboard boxes addressed to Colorado, where she tailors suits to fulfill the fantasies of fur aficionados worldwide.

Menagerie Workshop, Dee’s one-woman fursuit empire, caters to the full furry spectra, from hobbyists content with a pair of ears or a tail to lifestylers who go all out with role play like “scritching” (scratching and grooming).

Ranging from SpaceX employees to artists, her average customer is in their late 20s – in the “sweet spot” where they have enough money to spend but are not too tied down by family and work – though she’s made costumes for people as young as 12 (with parents’ consent).

To this day, Dee has brought more than 300 “fursonas” (furry personas) to life – including Baltoro the Fox, realistic with taxidermy eyes, hand-molded silicon paws and muzzle and digitigrade hind legs; Zeke the Hyena, cartoonish with hand-stitched stripes and airbrushed abs; and Blaze, a vixen with flirty eyelashes and curvaceously padded chest.

“What draws people in is that they can create this character which is a better version of themselves,” she explains. “It’s fun to just be silly, to use your imagination. To not have to conform to what people think being an adult is like.”

A spirit animal of sorts, the fursona can be just about any real or mythological creature the individual feels connected to. Dogs and big cats never go out of style, though hybrids like “folves” (fox + wolf) and “drynx” (dragon + lynx) are catching on.

New costume makers enter the market every week and fursuits gets ever more advanced: at an additional cost, jaws can move, tails wag and eyes light up with LED-lights. No two creations are alike, though most can be machine-washed and kept shiny with a few strokes with a pet brush.

With more than 40 creations lined up, 2016 is already fully booked.

•••

Stereotyped as less innocent than they look by mainstream media, furries tend to get a bad rap. A 2001 Vanity Fair article brought up both bestiality and plushophilia (sexual attraction to stuffed animals), and defined furry fandom as “sex, religion and a whole new way of life”. The show Entourage presented a pink bunny fursuit as a sexual prop, and in CSI-episode Fur and Loathing in Las Vegas, furries are portrayed as fetishists mainly in it for the “yiff” – furry porn or sex.

“We researchers are horrified by that stuff,” says Kathleen Gerbasi, a social psychologist who has researched the furry community extensively. “Because it really doesn’t represent the reality we see in the fandom.”

In her experience, people have either never heard of furries or they have a wildly distorted idea of it. As a result, fur fandom have become far more stigmatized than other similar nerd niches, such as anime and cosplay.

When Dee made her first costume – a bear, out of couch cushions – eight years ago, she was reluctant to be associated with the community, even as an artist. “Even I had some preconceived notions of like, ‘Gosh, furries are a bunch of deviants; kind of weird,’” Dee remembers, laughing. “And I still have questions.”

Even today, Dee, who quit her advertising job in Denver in 2012 for full-time fursuit making, doesn’t use her real name for business.

“I do think ‘fursectution’ is real,” says Gerbasi (who does not identify as a furry), using a portmanteau term referring to perceived persecution of the fandom from outside elements. “And I think it’s because people are afraid of things they don’t understand.”

She recalls last year’s suspected hate crime at Midwest Furfest in Chicago, which was evacuated after chlorine gas was leaked into the conference venue. Last year, she came across Facebook posts of people claiming they would bring guns to Anthrocon, the world’s largest furry convention, and personally alerted FBI.

For Samuel Conway, a professional research scientist and chairman of Anthrocon, the skewed image of the furry world is explained by its defiantly personal/introvert nature: whereas all other fandoms are consumers of properties put out by studios, authors and networks, furries invent their own idols.

“Furry fandom is unique among fan cultures in that we are not consumers, but rather creators,” Kage explains. “Star Trek fans are chasing someone else’s dream. Furries create our own fandom.“

Unfortunately, Conway explains, the public tend to be very suspicious of things they don’t understand, with an inclination to presume it’s in some way perverted.

“Furry fandom is not now – nor has it ever been – born of a sexual fetish,” Conway insists. “There are no more or fewer persons of alternative sexuality in our fandom than anywhere else.”

If anything, that cliche may be rooted in the community’s inherent tolerance and proud reputation as a safe space: furry fans may simply not feel the need to hide who they are when they’re among friends who won’t judge. He cites comic book historian Mark Evanier: “Furries are fans of each other.”

“People don’t realize it, but the whole anthropomorphism is very mainstream,” says Gerbasi, who spearheaded the multidisciplinary Anthropomorphic Research Project, which has studied about 7,000 furry fans from all continents, except Antarctica (which actually had a small furry gathering, too). While there are certain demographic trends – almost 80% are male, many work in science or tech, with a disproportionate share not identifying as heterosexual – the data, by and large, shows no indication that furries would be psychologically unhealthy.

“Cartoon animals have a universal appeal,” says Conway, who fursuits as ‘Uncle Kage’: a samurai cockroach. “A love of animals and a fascination with the idea of them acting as we do transcends most national, geographic and religious boundaries.”

While the fursuits are the most visible, they only make up only about 20% convention-goers, Conway adds: the rest are performers, writers, puppeteers, dancers, artists and “just plain old fans”.

For a minority, however, it is more than that: 46% of furry fans surveyed by Gerbasi reported identifying as less than 100% human – with 41% admitting that if they could be not human at all, they would. Twenty-nine percent of them reported experiencing being a “non-human species trapped in a human body”.

The parallels with gender identity disorder, upon which the hypothesis was modeled, were striking: much like some transgender individuals report being born the wrong sex, some furries feel a disconnect with their bodies, as if they were stuck in the wrong species. The condition, which Gerbasi et al labeled “species identity disorder”, had a physiological component too, with many reporting experiencing phantom body parts, like tails or wings.

Gerbasi still has no answers to why these individuals feel they’re not human, but stresses the importance for health providers to take them seriously, and without the ridicule that sometimes afflicts even her own research.

As the furry scene continues to grow – last year’s Anthrocon attracted 6,348 visitors – the fans hope for greater acceptance.

“I want folks to realize that we are not any special breed apart, if you’ll pardon the pun,” says Conway. “We have scientists, lawyers, physicians, firefighters, soldiers, police officers, schoolteachers, construction workers, custodians, musicians, journalists – just about anyone that is likely to pass you on a city street may well be a furry fan.”

Dee too, who remains at sidelines of the subculture but frequents conventions to advertise her business, agrees that the tendency to make furry fandom shorthand for sexual paraphilia is utterly misguided.

Throughout Menagerie’s history, only one client ever asked for a suspicious alternation – a zipper between the legs – which Dee agreed to at $1,000 extra, adding that if he ever down the road needed repairs (otherwise offered at $40/hour), she wouldn’t work on it, “because that’s gross”.

For most, Dee believes, furry fandom is more about escapism than anything else.

Slipping into a fursuit can be catharsis – allowing an otherwise shy and reserved person to transform into someone, or something, else – if only momentarily.

“People seem to find a family and a friend group there – people who like them for who they are, and for who they wanna be,” she explains. “Maybe the character is this really buff tiger guy but it doesn’t seem to matter the person is a shorter, overweight, typical nerdy-looking guy.

“They put on that costume and they just become someone completely outside themselves. It gives them anonymity to just, you know, be who they are and act how they want.”

February’s Book of the Month, Claw the Way to Victory, is edited by Sean Rivercritic of AnthroAquatic and includes stories from several FWG members.

We’ve all watched sports played by humans, or have participated in sports with our human limbs and senses.

What would happen if the sporting events we loved were played by animal people?

Claw the Way to Victory looks to answer that question with a variety of stories, each showcasing a different sport and just how the instincts of an animal matched with the intelligence of a human can help or hurt a player.

Scratching? Biting?

Against the rules?

Not this time.

 

Cover art by Pac.

Parental rating General/Mature (possible violent content). Available from Jaffa Books.

And other places. Fluff Buddies describe themselves as “a team of two creative minds who adore the cute, fluffy and fun!” To that end they offer several lines of cute funny animal faces and poses on items like hanging charms, buttons, magnets, and (believe it or not) socks! You’ll find it all there on their web site.

image c. 2016 by Fluff Buddies