October 2014
Jeff Goode's play 'Fursona Non Grata' to appear at Fangcon, with other stage events
Posted by Draconis on Thu 9 Oct 2014 - 01:04
Playwright Jeff Goode's Fursona Non Grata is to appear at Fangcon on the weekend of November 7-9 in Knoxville, Tennessee. This play premièred at Wild Nights last year in the Central US, and also played on the West coast at Califur IX. The performance will be a radio play featuring many of the performers in their roles at Wild Nights. There will be some casting, as well as a rehearsal.
This play is just one of the performances the convention will be offering. Fangcon's musical Guest of Honor is NIIC The Singing Dog, who is both a stage and studio performer. He will be presenting his newest album "Instinct". Another musician, Buck (or Husky in Denial) is debuting the album "Kay". These two are just the tip of the iceberg for entertainment. Rhubarb The Bear will be returning to Fangcon; and on stage for their first Eastern appearance is A Dozen Dead Furs - a metalcore band from Oklahoma.
Furry websites face broad denial-of-service attacks
Posted by GreenReaper on Thu 16 Oct 2014 - 00:58
Online furry communities are reeling after a series of distributed denial-of-service attacks now entering their second day, which not only knocked out Fur Affinity, but have impacted a variety of less-well-visited art and chat sites.
Fur Affinity has been practically unavailable since the disruption started, at 10PM EDT on Tuesday. Its forums, which initially remained up, went offline Wednesday afternoon.
SoFurry was the next-worst hit, with almost complete downtime since their attack started, also late on Wednesday, while Inkbunny, Weasyl, e621 and F-list have all suffered attacks.
Reactions to the attacks have been mixed, with Weasyl upgrading servers, while Inkbunny advised users to "take the opportunity to spend time with the important people in your life".
Review: 'God of Clay', by Ryan Campbell
Posted by Fred on Wed 29 Oct 2014 - 18:29
The cover bears the line, The Fire Bearers: Book One, letting you know it ends on a cliffhanger. It is, in fact, the first volume of a trilogy.
In the prehistoric past, when men shared the world with anthropomorphized animal-gods, there were two very different brothers in a tribe. Clay, the older brother, respects and worships the old gods who control all men’s lives, while irreverent Laughing Dog mocks the unseen gods, and swears that he controls his own destiny. The brothers love each other, in their own ways, but their differences lead both to disaster.
Doto crouched in the forest, his clawed fingers pressing down beneath the grasses and bed of fallen leaves to touch the earth below. He went out, out, into the soil, into the trunks of the trees, the branches and leaves, the grasses and ferns. He felt the air swaying branches, the sunlight on the leaves. He felt the rodents skittering across the forest floor. […] He leapt from branch to branch and winged over the canopy. He spread himself out, farther and farther. Through the keen eyes of the birds and the considering gaze of a monkey clinging to a branch above, he could see himself, crouched on the ground far below, so still that he was nearly undetectable. […] All the surrounding life lived through him. But all was not right. There was an uneasiness in the forest, somewhere around the edges. Could great Atekye have risen herself up in the south of the forest, swelling her swamps to flood the forest floor once again? (p. 1)
Sofawolf Press, September 2013, trade paperback $17.95 [on Amazon] ([5] + 259 [+ 2] pages), Kindle $7.99. Illustrated by Zhivago.
Con report: Furry Migration 2014
Posted by dronon on Wed 29 Oct 2014 - 19:02
Over Sept. 12-14 I attended Furry Migration, Minnesota's first furry convention, and it's off to a really strong start - 543 people, 115 of which were in the fursuit parade.
The convention was held in the Ramada hotel near the Mall of America and MSP Airport, and the guests of honor were Foxfeather R. Zenkova, Kyell Gold and Jeff Eddy (head of Sofawolf Press). Overall I had a very good time!
All first-year conventions are a bit wobbly, and Furry Migration is one of the least wobbly ones I've ever attented. They ran it really smoothly, especially registration - amazingly efficient. Apparently there was a bit of a last-minute shuffling of staff in the weeks leading up to the con, and there was no sign of it. The only major let-down was the limited sponsor brunch menu (probably due to budget constraints); some panels were unusually under-attended, but you can't blame staff for that.
Despite the attendance of 543, the halls never felt horribly crowded. Friday night was a little slow, while Saturday was a blast - this is definitely a social con! Now all it needs is a zoo or general-purpose lounge, although I'm not sure where they could put one. Aside from the con suite (well-stocked with drinks and snacks), one of the nicest places to hang out was in the fresh air, there was an inner courtyard with lots of chairs. Holding the evening bonfire there went really well, great energy.