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"It's a brutal world for all of us, really, and some aspects of it are not comfortable for the sentimental or the squeamish. Somehow that's never dimmed my love for all animals. I celebrate their beauty, even the darker side of it." (Introduction, The Book of Deadly Animals)

"The predators far outnumbered the vegetarians."
(last words, The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators)

It's October, the "spooky" month with Halloween at the end of it; I sometimes take advantage of that to bring to light something a bit more horror themed than the usual Flayrah fare.

This year, I'd like to share the non-fiction books of Gordon Grice, which are about animals and their sometimes very tense relationship with man, because they are some of the scariest things I've ever read, and so appropriate enough under the "it's about animals and it's spooky" month to stretch the boundaries of what a furry publication can cover. Furthermore, from a personal angle, Grice spent much of his life where I'm originally from, the Oklahoma Panhandle (we share a birth town), and I occasionally like to shine a light on what would be to me local authors.

"The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators", Delacourte Press, 1998, 259 pages, Kindle $5.99, hardcover $19.32, paperback $17.10
"The Book of Deadly Animals", Penguin Books Ltd., 2010, xxvii + 383 pages, Kindle $4.99, paperback $24.00, illustrated, originally published as Deadly Kingdom

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We have another GIANT list of games this season for the Fall 2024 Steam Next Fest! We're looking forward to a ton of these, and have compiled as many as we could find with animals and/or anthropomorphic characters featured in them! Be sure to let us know of any others you find by commenting below!

We'll be playing some of these demos this week and next, and hopefully providing some previews and progress updates throughout development! Additionally, we have an actively updated Furry & Animal Games List over at @GamingFurever that you can follow and get updates for lots of indie titles with TONS of lovely furry characters!

If you're a developer of any of these games, feel free to hit us up on email over on our Contact Us page!

We're sure everyone will find at least a couple games that strike their fancy during this Next Fest!

Check out the full October list here!

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Hoooo boy do we have a long list for all you readers out there! Don't feel like going through 1800+ games to see which ones have furries, animals, creatures, and other wonderfully fluffy, feathery, scaly, or otherwise exciting anthropomorphic qualities?

Well, wonderful GF staff member Valraven did! She's compiled an absolutely crazy list of all the games we could find that had an ounce of furry in em, or some sort of animal focus.

We'll continue to look through the games and see if any slipped through, but even so, this is a big list of games that feature some potentially awesome games in them. Steam links and the image for them provided for easy access!

We'll be playing some of these demos this week and next, hopefully providing some previews, reviews, and developer interviews as many of these games progress through development! We also have an actively-updated Furry & Animal Games list over at @GamingFurever on X that you can follow and get constant updates for lots of indie titles with tons of lovely furry characters.

One of the surprise hits at this year’s Cannes Film Festival was an animated film called Flow. It’s a CGI feature written and directed by Gints Zilbalodis, which features no humans and no dialogue. The synopsis goes like this: “The world seems to be coming to an end, teeming with the vestiges of a human presence. Cat is a solitary animal, but as his home is devastated by a great flood, he finds refuge on a boat populated by various species, and will have to team up with them despite their differences. In the lonesome boat sailing through mystical overflowed landscapes, they navigate the challenges and dangers of adapting to this new world.” And now, Cartoon Brew have let us know that Sideshow Pictures and Janus films have picked up Flow for distribution in North America.

Katy Lipscomb is an artist we met at Furry Weekend Atlanta. We were immediately impressed with her use of color while working in a variety of media. “Whether finding color in the most unexpected places or finding magic in the smallest of moments, Katy has always had an artistic eye for the world around her. Now, acting as the head of her own design firm, Katy shares the creatures she creates on almost every platform imaginable, from Children’s Books to Augmented Reality.” Her web site includes a store with lots of her art available in prints, on stickers, and as a very wide variety of illustrated bookmarks.

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People have long wished to talk to animals and this desire is reflected in cultural objects such as Arthur C. Clarke's novel Dolphin Island. One well-known example of an animal "learning" human language was the horse Clever Hans, who was later shown to be responding to cues from his handler rather than actually understanding. Cases of poorly-controlled claims, like Clever Hans, and speciest notions of human uniqueness have hindered development of the field. However, the wish to communicate through language has remained and many animals have been claimed to use or understand human languages, including dogs.

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The Animal Kingdom (trailer) is a 128-minute live-action French film released in 2023 (Le règne animal). It's the second movie directed by Thomas Cailley, and co-written with Pauline Munier.

Set in modern-day France, there's been a worrying development: some people are slowly mutating into animals, and society has not been adjusting well. The story follows a small family, Émile (Paul Kircher), a disaffected and conflicted teenager, and his father François (Romain Duris), who move to the south-west of France to be near the family's mother, Lana, who's been in government care ever since she began to change. A road accident makes her fate unclear, adding stress to an already stressful situation. With many people heavily biased against the mutations, Émile finds himself starting to change too.

Despite the fantastical premise, it's primarily a drama about the relationship between Émile and his father. I'd hesitate to call it a coming-of-age film, because Émile isn't going to become an adult - at least, not a human one.

Look, we couldn’t even hope to give you a better description of The Mighty Bite than this: “What happens when a couple of prehistoric creatures want to become Internet stars? Trilobite and Amber (a walking whale) dream of fame and fortune. They don’t realize that most of the world thinks that they’re extinct. When a wandering paleo-newscaster introduces them to the world of internet videos, they hop at the chance to get behind the camera. The competition for internet fame will be fierce—Trilobite and Amber will face off against ancient sea creatures, talking cacti, floating cat heads, and more! Friendships will be tested, allies will be made, and cameras will be smashed! Our heroes will have to use all of their newfound skills when they find themselves competing in an all-out video-making battle royale!” All of this thanks to popular cartoonist Nathan Hale. The Mighty Bite is available in hardcover from Amulet Books.

Recently there was a major announcement from the world Magic: The Gathering, the famous fantasy card game. “Welcome to Valley, the bucolic and vibrant home to the animalfolk of Bloomburrow, Magic‘s first all-animal plane. It’s a place where big adventures await even the smallest who are bold, inquisitive, and heroic, while those with more homespun and peaceable yearnings can enjoy the tranquil life… But peace is endangered in Valley as the delicate balance of nature is threatened, and the elemental calamity beasts and the Great-Night Owl imperil the lives of its inhabitants… The animalfolk will have to band together to defend their homes. Led by Mabel, a mousefolk mother and reluctant hero, a party will strike out to investigate what has befallen a neighboring town. Along the way, they’ll be joined by a remarkable companion from a faraway land.” Keep up with the Wizards of the Coast to find out more. As usual with Magic: The Gathering, the artwork for Bloomburrow is absolutely gorgeous.

We came across a brand-new comic from Boom! Studios called Animal Pound. It goes like this: “When animals grow tired of being caged, killed, and sold off-it’s only a matter of time before they’ve had enough… When an uprising puts a pound in control of the animals, they quickly find themselves as comrades, united against everything that walks on two legs. But with this newfound power comes a sudden challenge: how best to lay the groundwork for this new democracy as they write their first constitution!” Written by Tom King (Love Everlasting) and illustrated by award-winning artist Peter Gross (The Books of Magic), Animal Pound comes to comic shops later this week.

Judith Peterson describes her background as coming from education and library science. But along the way she’s found an interesting hobby: Carving original 3D puzzles out of wood. Lucky for us, most of her designs are animals: Current, prehistoric, or mythical. The puzzles range in complexity from 3 pieces to 57 pieces (!). She and her husband have even written books on how to create wooden puzzles using scroll saws. We found them vending at Midwest FurFest, but you can check out FanTaminals’ web site to see the latest designs.

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This episode of Digging Up Positivity: Furry conventions with charities and fundraisers from all around the world, animal news and a lovely interview with Piti Yindee; an amazing animator form Thailand who worked on the Cuphead DLC, the award winning animated short Fossils and much more.

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As in other European countries, tensions have been growing in Slovakia over the return of wolves and an alleged increase in livestock attacks. Wild wolves in Europe are an environmental triumph; as previously reported on Flayrah, wolves were extinct in many European countries and it was only in the year 2000 that the first wild wolf in 150 years was born in Germany. Recent estimates put the wolf population in Europe at approximately 12 000, with around 300 packs living in the Alps.

Despite unhappiness from certain portions of the population, wolves in Slovakia are likely not in imminent danger. As quoted on Deutsche Welle (the German state broadcaster), Juraj Lukac of the WOLF Forest Protection Movement says:

All of this hype about wolves is just fake. They did not harm anyone, and, since the European Commission had made a clear statement on the matter, the conservation of wolves is safe for now.

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Welcome to this months Digging Up Positivity, as this video is premiering, I will be at Eurofurence! And because of that, our special guest is this years Guest of Honour: FoxAmoore! But first, all those amazing charities from in and around the fandom.

We just stumbled across Animal Castle, a new comic series from Ablaze Comics that takes a familiar fable… in a new direction. This is from Bleeding Cool: “On the Farm, all animals were equal. But in the Castle, some are more equal than others… Nestled in the heart of a farm forgotten by men, the Animal Castle is ruled with an iron hoof by President Silvio. The bull and his dog militia savor their power, while the other animals are exhausted by work until the arrival of the mysterious Azelard, a traveling rat who will teach them the secrets of civil disobedience.” Brought to us by Writer Xavier Dorison and artist Felix Dele.