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FC-226 Sausage Ambush - Our special edition Thursday show! Lots of discussion on politics, culture and fandom. :3
Our special edition Thursday show! Lots of discussion on politics, culture and fandom. :3
Watch Video Discovered Media:- Guardian article about furries
- Ted Cruz goes to weird anti-gay rally
- Blue (No Correlation to Fayroe, but Fayroes Childhood)
- Zootopia Macro
- Jasonafox’s Tweet on Movies this year
- You can now run Windows 95 in a web browser
- A Whole Rabbit Brain Has Been Cryogenically Preserved
- Rainfurrest 2016 Canceled Loses Venue
- Cuddle Party discusses limits
- Face It, You’d Want To Play This Penis-Punching Video Game
- Naked man wearing Ronald Reagan mask peeps through window, terrifies neighbourhood
- Man Blames Evil Twin for Robberies
- Jared – “Techy Thing – Transition from Audio to Video”
- Horsehead – “For the love of my grandparents, parents, and possible children or grandchildren..”
- Rumelis – “A Brief Question”
- Mellisa – “Ewww Dirty Paws :3”
Inhuman Acts: A Collection of Noir – Book Review by Fred Patten
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Inhuman Acts; A Collection of Noir, edited by Ocean Tigrox.
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, September 2015, trade paperback $19.95 (316 pages), Kindle $9.95.
According to the publisher, this is a horror anthology. “Explore thirteen anthropomorphic noir stories about betrayal, corruption and deceit from award-winning authors and up-and-coming writers. Pour your favourite whiskey and light up a cigarette as Stanley Rivets, PI shares with you his collection of case files from dim to dark to downright ugly.” (blurb)
Stanley Rivets, the stereotypical sable P.I. who tells these stories — “A sable in a long beige trench coat sits behind the desk, dark ears perking at the entrance of the newcomer. The wide brim of his fedora raises to see what visitor would stop by this late at night.” –p. vii. He wears his trench coat and fedora while sitting in his office? Well, maybe he’s just returned, exhausted, from a case — appears only in the very brief Foreword and Afterword. Too bad. It would have been nice to get a full story with him.
Rivets tells 13 stories; not cases of his own, but 13 that he’s heard of. Ocean Tigrox has started out with one of the best here; “Muskrat Blues” by Ianus Wolf. It’s specifically a pastiche of The Maltese Falcon, with Mike Harrison, a pig P.I., investigating the murder of his best friend, another P.I. – a muskrat; two prey animals in a grim & gritty city where the prey animals are usually at the bottom of the anthro-animal social pole. But Alex Richards didn’t take any guff, and neither does Harrison. Wolf packs a neat summary of Hammett’s novel (or Warner Bros.’s movie; take your pick) into a taut 25 pages of noir, with enough originality that even if you’re a fan of The Maltese Falcon, you’re not likely to guess whodunit. And enough presence of predator & prey animal traits to make this a satisfying furry story, too.
The “Fixer” (by Watts Martin) is a 43-year-old squirrel who has been “cleaning up” after criminals so the police won’t suspect anything, for the last twenty years. She’s ready to retire, but Jimmy Espinoza, a wolf minor drug lord, insists on hiring her for one last job. His cacomistle wife Marie had been at a wild party the previous night; the mink hostess, drunk, had gone for a nighttime swim and drowned; and Jimmy doesn’t want anyone to know that Marie had been there when it happened. Miss Fixer takes the job only because she and Marie used to be lesbian lovers. Of course, there’s a dark underside to the story involving doublecrosses, murders, and suicide. Martin’s writing is just right for a noir anthology and the plot is clever, although the talking-animal cast could have been humans just as well.
“Danger in the Lumo-Bay” by Mary E. Lowd is a clever futuristic s-f murder mystery, set in what would be a holodeck if this was Star Trek fiction. The defective lumo-bay in a Tri-Galactic Navy ship is being repaired. Captain Pierre Jacques (hairless sphinx cat), Dr. Waverly Keller (Irish setter), and chief engineer Jordan LeGuin (orange tabby cat) test it with a “Murder in the Morning” scenario that casts the male captain and the female doctor as two P.I.s investigating a Maltese Falcon case with lots of dead bodies. Then something goes wrong with the lumo-bay’s program. Who is the killer in “Murder in the Morning”? Are the captain and the doctor really safe? This is a mystery on two levels.
“River City Nights” by Tana Simensis is narrated by Dick – make that Richard; he doesn’t like to be called Dick – Calloway, a tiger cabbie who picks up the wrong fare. The writing is smooth, but the scenario just isn’t convincing. Sorry.
“Every Breath Closer” by Slip Wolf starts off with a grabber of a paragraph:
“I won’t lie and say the ten thousand I’d lost didn’t cross my mind when the police started to process the scene. Mostly, I was just numb as I watched the dead otter’s limbs twisted around themselves on the wet pavement, rain driving at the tarp that kept blowing off her, all the evidence at the scene finding a drain to go down. There was broken glass around Susan Britches’ body and a gaping, jagged grimace in the condo’s glass side, five stories up. I suspected the broken music award by the curb was used to break the window. In that condo, where Susan had paid me my retainer just days ago and begged me to quietly and discreetly find her missing daughter, was an explanation for Susan’s demise.” (p. 95)
Owen Spenhardy, the squirrel stereotypical hard-drinking, trenchcoat-wearing P.I., expects that he’s lost his client. Instead, he is hired by the daughter’s former teacher to continue the search for her. This story has a real reason for the cast to be anthropomorphic animals: you can stuff and mount animals after their deaths, which you can’t do with humans (unless you’re a mad taxidermist as in House of Wax). Doctor Aiden Engelhände, a fox artistic taxidermist, wants to have Bethany found in order to honor his best student by preserving her after her eventual natural death – he says. This is another well-written story that’s not too believable, but with an imaginative plot that’s undoubtedly furry.
“Ghosts” by Solus Lupus, featuring Helen, a cat, and Rosa, a coyote, is very short, very sad, and very memorable. I like it very much.
“A Blacker Dog” by Huskyteer is creepily eerie. Everyone in the world has an invisible companion, a black dog with glowing red eyes; a sort of canine guardian angel – for anime fans, make that a shinigami. Dobermans. Pomeranians. Chows. Chihuahuas. Poodles. Newfoundlands. Nobody can see them, except Jon Mazza, P.I. His black dog is Hunter, “a portly black Labrador in a trench coat and dark glasses”. Mazza is investigating someone who apparently can not only also see the black dogs, but can use his own to kill. Huskyteer enhances the eeriness by keeping it vague and contradictory as to whether either the people or the black dogs are anthropomorphic or not.
“Crimson on Copper” by Tony Greyfox could be an Isaac Asimov story with anthro animal characters. Detective Faraday, a laughing hyena cop (who isn’t laughing), is called to a sales room where three people have been extremely messily slaughtered, apparently by one of the automatons for sale – but automatons are made so they can’t kill. Faraday has to find either why the machine acted murderously against its programming, or who the real killer is – or both. Greyfox enhances the anthro aspect nicely: “I stepped over the blood cautiously, thankful that hyenas don’t have long tails like the fox who was busily trying to blot blood from his tail tip.” (p. 152)
“Vermin’s Vice” by T. S. McNally is interesting in switching back & forth between the two adversarial main characters, a mouse and a rat, for the narration. Unfortunately, both are stilted and not believable:
“I sat down behind the desk and placed my claws before me. ‘We provide a service here, and if I did not provide it, would society’s demand for it vanish? No. They’d go elsewhere to find their drink, their eye-candy, their thrills.’ I picked up one of the glasses of bourbon I had poured and slid my claw around the rim. ‘You see, my quaint little mouse, all creatures have their vices. That is why I founded the Vermin’s Vice.’
After a moment of silence I moved my paw away from the glass. ‘So, I suppose I must ask what vice brings you to the Vice?’
His somber face was unmoved by my pitch as he returned, ‘I don’t have a vice, I’m just here for work.’” (p. 184)
“Scorned” by K. C. Alpinus also has exaggerated and unconvincing writing, but a more interesting situation: Ivory T. Shadows, a super-sexy snow leopard, has been murdered. Preston, a crooked wolf, wants Maltese, a drunken tigress P.I., to find the real killer before the police frame him as an obvious suspect:
“‘Maltese, you’ve got to lay off the hooch, doesn’t sit well with the dames to see you so bent.’
The tigress grunted deep in her throat and turned her head to the side, dismissing Preston without opening her eyes. ‘Fade, shade. You’re making me lose my edge.’
Preston nodded to a scantily dressed waitress and asked for a glass of water. Once placed in his paws, the wolf hurled the icy liquid, thoroughly soaking Maltese.
‘I’m gonna chin ya!’ She yowled, jumping up and furiously shaking the water off her face.
‘Don’t go getting all evil on me.’ He smirked, passing her a napkin to dry herself with.” (p. 199)
“Bullet Tooth Claw” by Marshall L. Moseley, by contrast has a witty and believable style:
“I was at Tavern Law on 12th, the bar at which I spend so much money I get thank-you cards from the bartender’s Mom. It was three in the afternoon, too early for drinking, which is why I’d started at noon. Basset hounds have an advantage that way – we look droopy and have naturally red-rimmed eyes, so we can get away with being in the bag when most dogs can’t.” (p. 223)
Archie Bellclan, an Uplifted basset P.I., investigates when Simon Tanner, his friend, is murdered. “When your human dies, you’re supposed to do something about it.” The investigation is suitably noirish, and the Uplifted animals’ natural abilities are used intelligently. A winner.
“Guardian Angels” by Nicholas Hardin takes place in a funny-animal society controlled by its worst elements. The cops and political leaders are corrupt. The gangs kidnap the children of anyone who stands up to them and forcibly addict them to drugs. Only the Angels combat them; anonymous animals who have escaped them, banded together, and adopted pseudonyms like Sariel (male mink), Raphael (male cobra), Azriel (female wolf), and several others (unidentified) – all Biblical Angels of Destruction. But due to their gang brainwashing, they do not remember their past identities, and they seem to have more than mortal abilities. Have they become super-vigilantes? No matter; in this story, the Angels have become a serious enough menace to the gangs that they unite in hunting them down. The violence escalates explosively, and for once the Angels are on the defensive.
“Brooklyn Blackie and the Unappetizing Menu” by Bill Kieffer is another animal-P.I.-investigates-a-friend’s-death. And 34 other deaths. Everyone in the turtle’s Harlem apartment building is dead. Blackie, a wolf/dog hybrid P.I., is sure that the police are on a false trail and conducts his own investigation. This is another story that makes clever use of the animal natures of its cast. It has my candidate for the best line in the book: “My soul craved justice, but it would take bloodshed instead.”
13 stories. My favorites are “Muskrat Blues”, “Crimson on Copper”, “Bullet Tooth Claw”, and “Brooklyn Blackie”. Many are well-written but depressing; one has a surprise happy ending. A couple are very good; most are reasonably good; I’d only rate a couple as clunkers. The cover by Seylyn is appealing. Overall, Inhuman Acts is worth the cover price for fans of dark detective fiction.
Big Head, Big Heart, Big Adventure
In case you have missed Harvey Beaks, it’s an animated TV series on Nickelodeon, created by C.H. Greenblatt (who also created the successful series Chowder). From Wikipedia: “The series focuses on Harvey Beaks, a young, friendly bird, and his two best friends, the rambunctious twins Fee and Foo. Together, the trio seek adventure and mischief in Littlebark Grove, a magical forest that they call home.” Now Papercutz (yea, the home of Geronimo Stilton) have announced the publication of a series of Harvey Beaks full-color graphic novels for young readers. “Harvey has a big head and an even bigger heart, which is why everyone in Bigbark Woods loves him! He may be a rule follower, but after Fee and Foo show him some amazing adventures, this bird might just spread his wings.” The first one, Harvey Beaks: Inside Joke, is available in hardcover and paperback this coming March.
image c. 2016 Papercutz
FA 005 Integrity - Ethics, morals, and being a better you
Hello Everyone!
This week we talk about Integrity. While much of what we say is, again, common sense, it is important to discuss the ethics of the furry community and how we, as a fandom, can be better to each other. Also, we answer the question of what it is like to live in a Pack House.
For more information, including a list of topics by timestamp, see our Show Notes for this episode.
Thanks and, as always, be well!
FA 005 Integrity - Ethics, morals, and being a better youNew episodes from Culturally F’d: Twisted Tempting Furry Demons!
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.
Guest post: “RAWR: Year One Review” by Skunkbomb
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.
The Boy and His Dragon Return
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.
He Wants to Be Their Friend Again, but Still Considers Them Sinners for Being Gay
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
Huntress – Book Review by Fred Patten
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.
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, c
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: 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,The Annie Awards, Part 2
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
TigerTails Radio Season 9 Episode 30
Zarafa’s stolen fursuit found in San Francisco, after big support response.
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, 2016The 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, 2016Stolen 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, 2016Everyone! @Zarafagiraffe fursuit was sadly robbed :( please retweet!
Please contact him if found!
Contact info- pic.twitter.com/bHI3kAos0c
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
Furry Winners at the Annie Awards
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
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
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
South Afrifur Pawdcast, 7 Feb 2016 -Nuka
The New and Fun World of Freelance Fursuiting
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
Behold The Modern Monstrosity
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