Kindle editions of 2023 Ursa Major Award runner-up Furry Planet are on sale, this Saturday only, for 99¢ or the same in Canada - alas, no deal in the UK or EU.

Want a hardback? That's available too, for $23.99 (or £16.50 / €24.95 / CA$31.99). Released last August,

Furry Planet reveals how anthropomorphism—the desire to imagine non-human animals on an equal footing with the human world—is an instinct hard-wired into our minds since the dawn of civilization. It expresses itself in indigenous traditions and among local cultures who adopt animal identities […] especially in the furry community whose members feel the same visceral connection with the non-human animal world as did their ancient counterparts.

The book is the successor to the 2017 UMA-winning Furry Nation (review), both by Joe Strike. An audiobook version read by Kevin T. Collins is available for $2.66.

Robot Dreams (trailer) is a 102-minute animated film released in December 2023, made by Arcadia, Lokiz and other studios. Based on a 2007 graphic novel (Amazon US - UK - Spanish edition) by Sara Varon, this Spanish-French production was written and directed by Pablo Berger, who had never worked in animation before, so he collaborated closely with art director José Luis Ágreda and storyboard artist Maca Gil for a year and a half to plan the project. It worked out really well!

Two neat things: it's a 2D film in an overbearingly 3D market, and there's no dialog. It takes place in a slightly alternative version of New York City in 1984, a funny-animal one. The main character, "Dog", lives in a Manhattan apartment. He's extremely lonely. One day he sees a TV ad for robot friends, so he orders one; after putting it together - he's not lonely anymore! Aside from this modern leap in artificial intelligence and robotics, the film is as early-80s as it gets: boomboxes, cassettes, VCRs, and Walkmen.

Furrlough is an anthology series specializing in anthropomorphic comics. It has returned to its original publisher, Antarctic Press, with Furrlough #194 in shops on April 24, 2024. PreviewsWorld search says #194 "may be available now at comic shops or can be ordered quickly for you if not in stock." The order code for #194 is JAN241389.

The publisher's page for #194 says, in part:

Cover artist "Holly Daughtrey"/"... COMICS' LONGEST-RUNNING ANTHRO­POMORPHIC TITLE! ...

"Blinth" (Jason Dubes, Noel Serrato): The fallen angels have rebelled and now look to their lord Lucifer for guidance. However, the cat goddess Bast and the dark lord Anubis withhold information from their leader, something that will give rise to a potential new deity.

"The Chosen One" (Charles Brubaker): Fox boy Dewey DeSmall is tasked by an ostrich to save the day from a great danger. But what can a small librarian's assistant do?"

The only future issue listed at distributor Diamond's website is Furrlough #195 (with order code APR241265) with an in-shops date of June 26, 2024. Since it won't ship for a month, your local comic shop should hopefully be able to do a late pre-order.

Diamond's website has a page for the Furrlough series, which had a monthly publication schedule from 1993 to 2008. It was published by Radio Comix starting April 1997.

Contributors this month are dronon and GreenReaper.