May 2011
Fourth Menagerie event in Louisville, Kentucky
Posted by ayren on Sun 1 May 2011 - 17:13The Kentucky Anthropomorphic Society will host its fourth "Menagerie" event on Friday May 20.
This 21+ event provides food, drinks, a place to crash (bedding will need to be brought), and a community atmosphere for $10 at the door (BYOB).
Video: Minnesota furs visit ConFurence 8 (1997)
Posted by GreenReaper on Sun 1 May 2011 - 20:57Twin Cities' KARE-11 follows Minnesota furs Julie Bowman and Timothy Fay to ConFurence 8 in this generally upbeat news segment from 1997. [bearetic/furry reddit]
See more: Videos of the convention by FurriesInMotion.
Anthro graphic novel amongst winners at the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes
Posted by Higgs Raccoon on Tue 3 May 2011 - 16:08
The 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were awarded on Friday (April 29, 2011), in a ceremony at the Chandler Auditorium of the Los Angeles Times in California, USA. Amongst the winners, the award for graphic novels went to Adam Hines for the anthropomorphic tale Duncan the Wonder Dog: Show One.
Duncan tells the story of an animal uprising in a world where talking animals chafe under the cruel hand of human dominion. Judges praised the story as a "powerful, prodigious work about the question of who the world belongs to, with an incredibly strong, original visual and narrative aesthetic".
Upon receiving the award, Hines, 27, said "I started working on this book back in 2002 when I was 18, and only just finished last March, and that’s a long time to work on something that you don’t know will be of any good use to anyone". He also stated that he is already working on the second book in what he plans to be a nine-volume epic: "I’ll be working on these books until I’m 70".
Formic Hivemind indicted by grand jury
Posted by Higgs Raccoon on Tue 3 May 2011 - 17:52Formic Hivemind, charged in April with sexually abusing a boy he met over the internet, has been indicted on nineteen charges by a Monroe County grand jury.
It is alleged that Formic Hivemind (the online alias of 19-year-old Richard J. Kretovic) abused the 12-year-old boy after meeting him through Xbox Live. The indictments handed down by the grand jury are for nine counts each of the felonies of first-degree criminal sexual acts and second-degree sexual abuse, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
Kretovic is currently free on $50,000 bail. A date for his appearance in Monroe County Court or the state Supreme Court has yet to be set.
New furry "novel": 'Exiled: Clan of the Claw, Book One'
Posted by Fred on Wed 4 May 2011 - 17:05
Amazon.com lists an August publication date (but publisher Baen Books says June) for "Exiled: Clan of the Claw, Book One", a book containing three connected novellas by Harry Turtledove, John Ringo & Jody Lynn Nye, and S. M. Stirling.
The book is set in a fantasy alternate universe without humans where:
... the Mrem Clan of the Claw and its sister warbands ... face the Lishkash, masters of a cold-blooded empire of slave armies and magic.
Amazon says the book is edited by Bill Fawcett. Update: Read Fred's review.
'The Meowmorphosis' - fluffy retelling of Kafka's classic to be released on May 10
Posted by Higgs Raccoon on Wed 4 May 2011 - 17:47
In Franz Kafka's classic 1915 short story The Metamorphosis, travelling salesman Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to find he has turned into a giant insect. In furry fandom, the story is often considered a pivotal work by lovers of transformation fiction.
The story is now being given a fluffy makeover in Cook Coleridge's The Meowmorphosis. Instead of an insect, Samsa finds himself turned into an adorable kitten.
Published by Quirk Classics (whose previous mashup novels include Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Android Karenina), The Meowmorphosis will be available from May 10. [Trailer video after the cut]
A furry "rare" book?
Posted by Fred on Wed 4 May 2011 - 17:51
Amazon.com lists the price for a used copy of out-of-print short-story anthology "Best in Show: Fifteen Years of Outstanding Furry Fiction" as $348.33 – plus $3.99 shipping.
"Best in Show" won two Ursa Major awards for 2003, for Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work and Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration.
Ed: The anthology was reprinted without interior illustrations as "Furry!: The World's Best Anthropomorphic Fiction", currently available for a far more reasonable $6.09.
Opinion: A call for more criticism of furry
Posted by crossaffliction on Thu 5 May 2011 - 01:57Furry fandom has had more than its fair share of criticism, both from within and without. A Flayrah review of Shawn Keller's "Horrifying Look at the Furries" (2001) notes that Mr. Keller "associated furry with bestiality and pedophilia." A decade later, most of our critics do the same.
But the title was purposely provocative. This may come as a surprise, but I'm not talking about the furry fandom at all. Instead, I'm calling for more criticism of the furry genre.
This piece has three goals: to explain why criticism is needed, what kind of criticism, and finally to offer a few points of criticism as examples.
Florida passes bestiality bill; awaits Gov's signature
Posted by Insane Kangaroo on Thu 5 May 2011 - 16:39A long-standing issue regarding the potential legality of bestiality in Florida is expected to be put to ease soon with the governor's signature.
Animal abuse cases have been known in Florida; many may have seen a story where a blind man named Alan Yoder, known as Jayren in the furry fandom, admitted performing sex acts with his guide dog — although in that case, the lack of a specific law did not prevent him being charged with felony animal cruelty.
Senate Bill 344 (full text), which makes acts of bestiality a first class misdemeanor, passed the House Wednesday at 115-0 and awaits Governor Rick Scott's signature before becoming law. If signed, it becomes effective October 1. The Senate bill previously passed on a vote of 38-0.
Update (May 7): Noted the identity of the man sparking the case, provided by rodox_video.
New Furry paperback series set in Gamma World
Posted by Fred on Thu 5 May 2011 - 20:07Amazon.com has entries for two new paperback novels published by Wizards of the Coast in the post-apocalyptic adventure-comedy D&D series "Gamma World" — a setting where "thousands of possible universes all condensed into a single reality".
In "Sooner Dead" by Mel Odom, published in February: "A bio-engineered super-soldier named Hella and her mutant buffalo sidekick Stampede clash with armadillo bikers and inter-dimensional mutants across the ragged landscape of Gamma-Oklahoma."
In "Red Sails in the Fallout" by Paul Kidd, to be published in July, two desert explorers named Shaani and Xoota – who seem from the cover picture to be anthropomorphic wallabies – "are followed home by a swarm of empathic earwigs."
Japanese company developing brainwave-controlled cat ears
Posted by Higgs Raccoon on Thu 5 May 2011 - 20:22Neurowear is developing a pair of cat ears which respond to the brain activity of their wearer.
Called "necomimi", the ears are mounted on a headband containing sensors, which pick up brain activity and move the ears accordingly. As the wearer concentrates, the ears point upwards, and when they relax the ears flop down and forwards.
Smokey, the world's loudest cat
Posted by Rakuen Growlithe on Fri 6 May 2011 - 08:25
Smokey, a 12-year-old cat from the UK, made world-wide news in March when she was submitted to Guinness as a candidate for the loudest cat in the world.
Reports claimed her purring reached 73 dB (16 times louder than a normal cat). She was recorded by a music expert from Northampton College and the recording was witnessed by four individuals with various backgrounds.
On 5 May, Guinness announced that Smokey was the loudest domestic cat in the world, at 67.7 dB (LA peak).