Dogpatch Press

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Dangerous Thoughts, by James L. Steele.
Grove City, OH, KTM Publishing, June 2018, trade paperback, $15.00 (369 [+1] pages).

Dangerous Thoughts is Archeons, Book 1. The setting is so unusual that it needs to be quoted at length:

“A bubble in spacetime expanded from a single point at eye level. It grew wider and wider until it seemed to rest on the circle of stones off the pathway. The bubble wavered and puckered as it held open against the pressure of the surrounding spacetime trying to collapse it.

The opening caught the attention of several inhabitants of this world, and they approached it. On the other side they saw a planet none of them recognized immediately, of fiery volcanoes and two daytime stars in the sky, one red, the other white. Standing on this alien world were the two sentient beings who had opened this hole. The natives of this world instantly recognized them as Deka and Kylac, two Archeons from the planet Rel.

[…]

The Relians visible through the wavering sphere approached it. They grew larger, filled up the opening until finally they emerged from its surface. The first to step through was a theropod covered in blue scales so dark they were nearly black. A red stripe ran up the top of his snout and down his back to the tip of his tail. Immediately after his tail exited the portal, a bipedal canine with digitigrade legs and a slightly hunched posture followed. His belly was white, his forearms were black, and the tip of his tail was white as well. The rest of his body was covered in red fur. They stood side by side and observed the people as the unstable sphere closed behind them.” (pgs. 3-4)

The two Archeons, shown on the cover by ThemeFinland, are Deka, the theropod, and Kylac, the mammal. They have just recovered from an explosion that killed their fellow Relians and destroyed the portals, “leaving hundreds of planets without links to other worlds.” (blurb):

“‘The portals went out!’

‘What happened?!’

‘Ricio told us she can’t make a way offworld anymore!’

‘She was unconscious for days!’

‘We could not reach anyone!’

Deka and Kylac had been among many species who had evolved in herds, and they never tired of their way of welcoming newcomers among them.

The crowd became larger. Movars both furred and furless poured out of the portal on the other side. Word had spread quickly of their arrival, and people from all over the planet came to greet them. Deka and Kylac knew they did not make this much of a fuss over every visitor, but the disaster had touched them as well, and they wanted to know what was happening.

Deka looked around. They had landed on a branch of a stone path designated for unannounced visitors. The branch connected with a larger path that reached for a hundred paces in both directions. Other paths split from this walkway and ended in circles of stone, dozens of them as far as he could see in both directions. Each would normally have held a portal to another world, or to another place on this world. Now he only saw six portals open, and they wavered and rippled, struggling to hold their spherical shape. Movars rushed out of these portals and joined the group around Deka and Kylac. Everyone wanted to touch them, talk to them, hear from them.” (p. 5)

Deka and Kylac had been offworld when Rel was destroyed and the portals collapsed. They were unconscious for days. The first five worlds that they travel to offer no clue to what happened. Movar, the sixth, presents the first clue in the form of dead Rel bodies:

“Kylac, Deka and Ricio stood facing a line of Relian bodies, some reptile, others canine. Swaths of scales and fur were missing. Huge streaks of flesh and bone gone, exposing organs underneath. Enormous holes had been torn through the bodies. Legs missing. Arms half severed. Faces gouged to the bone. Sometimes part of the bone itself was missing, as if it had melted away, leaving the remainder of the skull smooth and polished.” (p. 12)

What happened? That’s what Dangerous Thoughts is about:

“Deka woke up in the middle of the night. It was cold up here without the star to warm his scales, so he reached out and pulled his fox closer. It woke up the fox, and he tapped noses with his raptor. They met each other’s eyes. They had been together long enough to know they were thinking the same thing.

They had only been to five planets. They could not be the last of Rel, and they refused to accept the possibility. They would rest with a herd for a bit, and then they would make a way to a new world. Deka began the calculations.” (p. 13)

Deka and Kylac travel from planet to planet to find out. The inhabited worlds of the entire universe present a myriad of exotic species and spectacles. Warning: the universe is not human-centric. Do not expect human-type civilizations everywhere. Deka and Kylac are intelligent, but as ThemeFinland’s cover shows, the Relians do not have clothes. Neither do most species. Nor are they mammals:

“Birdlike creatures filled the sky, backlit by a tiny, green-hot star. They leaped from the trees, soared down, and landed on the tree stump, surrounding the Relians. The had bright plumage ranging in the blues and yellows and whites and greens. Especially green. Green on this planet was so vibrant it was painful to look at directly.

These birds stood upright about as tall as the theropod and the canine, wings unfolded and waving around, forming broad gestures accentuating their chirps and warbles. The raptor and the fox took a few moments to shed the Movar languages and recall this one. Deka had the easiest time speaking it, as his vocal chords were better suited to imitating their high-pitched chirps. Gradually the words became clear.

‘The portals disappeared!’

‘Is everyone all right?!’

‘What happened? Where is everyone?’

[…]

The birds continued to chirp and squawk and gesticulate. It was difficult to get a word in with these people. Kylac explained what they knew, which was very little. As the fox did, Deka turned around and peered over the edge of the platform. Just under the surface of the ocean, another group had gathered: the aquatic species of the Ixcian culture.” (pgs. 17-18)

This is only to page 18. There is a whole novel to describe the marvels of the universe. To give away a couple of minor spoilers, the disaster is not natural. Deka and Kylac visit Earth. This is only Book 1 of The Archeons.

– Fred Patten

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Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

Thanks Tempe and Dralen for this guest post, a good followup to my “heart of the furry economy“. – Patch

Oxford English Dictionary

The furry fandom is big and complex. We each have our own groups of friends, and our little sub-fandoms centered around specific shows and interests. It’s easy to not see the fursuit for the fluff.

Once it a while, it’s worth taking a step back and looking at it as a whole.

Furry is incredibly socialist.

This seems like a weird statement on its face. How can a community of people who like cartoon animal media be socialist? Well, we make, buy, and sell things.

“But wait!” you might say. “That’s using money! Furry must be capitalism!”

Socialism doesn’t mean abolishing money, like they do on Star Trek. It just means the economy has to benefit regular people, instead of companies and a handful of the ultra-rich. In fact, since the Furry fandom literally invents itself without some overarching canon coming from any one movie, TV, animation, or comics studio, no one person can ever control who gets paid for their unique creations. This power resides in the creators themselves and the furries who support them. Furry is open source.

It’s also important to look at what furry isn’t: As much as furries love mass media aimed at us (either accidentally or intentionally), Furry is not run by any central authority. There is no corporation or boss dictating what can and cannot be in furry. There is also no central source for merchandise and licensing for “Furry,” and this allows everyone to create openly and freely. This decentralizing nature makes Furry impenetrable to corporate interests, by and large. Wal*Mart may sell cheap generic fursuit heads (which may be an inexpensive entry into the suiting lifestyle), but it’s not your character.

Furry also doesn’t own its own venues, hotels, or restaurants, so some of the things that allow furries to meet and mingle are borrowed and rented, and somewhat outside of the control of the event runners. As such, there are some aspects of furry culture that are subject to market forces beyond our control.

But once you learn that “creators controlling their own business” is the dictionary definition of socialism, you realize furries are positively soaking in socialism.

FURRY SOCIALISM

The furry community is exceptionally socialist. We’re just not used to thinking about it as an economy. Most of its commerce (be it art, fursuits, books, et cetera) is done by people who control their own means of production.

What does that mean? Basically: furry content isn’t made in a factory owned by some rich guy. Let’s say you’re drawing some furry art. You own your computer and graphics tablet. You post the art online without having to pay anybody for the privilege. You can even sell it directly to a customer without asking anybody for permission. (When has FurAffinity ever taken a cut of the money for a commission you bought there?) The product of your labor —the money— is pretty much yours alone.

This is the opposite of, say, making a car in a factory. Every tool you use is owned by some rich people, who get even richer by taking a big chunk of what the customers would otherwise be paying you. If you’ve ever worked a job at a restaurant you can’t afford to eat at every day, you’ve run into this same failure. If there are 10 employees and you serve 200 meals in a shift at a 75% profit, shouldn’t you each be able to afford to go to that restaurant —or one like it— about 15 times for each shift you work?

TL;DR:
If your workplace charges ~$20 per meal, your labor’s worth $37.50/hour.
If your workplace charges ~$10 per meal, your labor’s worth $18.75/hour.

This model applies to just about any business: grocery stores, fuel stations, electronics stores, factories—you name it. It’s a simplification, but not by much. (Tempo, one of the writers of this article, worked for almost a decade building account systems for businesses.) Most businesses run on 6th-grader math.

Where does all the money go? A lot of it goes towards paying another company for advertising to get more business to make the higher-ups more money, while the workers have to work harder and longer hours for the same pittance. (A great advertising campaign doesn’t result in wages going up.) Do the math for your own job some time. You just need to plug in different values. Think about how different your life would be if you were paid a fair wage. This is why people get so mad that economic growth and tax cuts get surrendered to the wealthy. If rich people stop getting paid for doing nothing, we can all afford to live the good life.

No matter what you’re doing in the furry fandom, you’re not handing off most of your paycheck to billionaires.

• Art Commissions: It takes a lot of drawings to wear out a graphics tablet. Most of what you’re paying for is the time it takes to practice for a decade or more, read 1000 tutorials, get an art degree, and finally draw the picture of your fursona booping Nick Wilde’s snoot.

Meanwhile, commissioners support artists and share their commissioned pieces for social capital.  It both boosts the artist’s visibility and supports their creative endeavor financially, like the relationship between patrons and artisans in the past, when art was more highly valued socially and culturally.

• Fursuits: Fake fur and plastic foam cost very little compared to the time it takes to make one—and train to make a good one. Not to mention all the extra time and sanity it costs the maker if you’re getting it customized.

• Novels: Even books work this way. About half of the cover price goes to printing, but the rest is split between the publisher (a handful of furries who edit, assemble, and sell the book) and the writer and illustrator who you’re mostly paying like a commissioner. You’re just splitting the commission with everybody else who bought the book!

FURRY CONS

At a larger level, conventions themselves are pretty darn socialist.

• They are controlled by the community, not some outside company. Want to help run the con? Just sign up, work hard, and stick to it year after year. You’ll end up running a panel track or the artist alley or some other big aspect of it. A lot of cons make a big deal about joining as a volunteer and then moving up to staff, but guess what: The staff are all volunteers, too!

• Nobody is getting rich off them. Even the “CEO” of a con is working for free. Your reg fee goes to cover renting the space, printing badges, and other shared expenses. The sponsors and patrons at a con help subsidize and lower the cost for regular attendees.

• Content they produce is available to all furries, even if they didn’t attend. When your favorite author launches a new book, is it only possible to buy it at the convention? No way! It’s usually available online within days of the con ending, if it wasn’t already on pre-order. But convention sales recoup a lot of printing costs, which makes it worthwhile to print the book in the first place. What’s more, a huge amount of projects get started at conventions, simply because you’re putting so many creative furries in the same place and letting them brainstorm. We all benefit. Even if we never attend a single convention.

• More money doesn’t buy you a radically better experience. Even the shiniest super-sponsor only gets additional swag/access—both of which are available to regular attendees. Some cons offer a special “gala” event in thanks to the patrons and sponsors that gives an air of exclusivity and elevates the overall experience without truly stratifying the total experience of all of the different levels of attendees.

FURRY WEBSITES

The same argument could perhaps be made for furry art sites.

• Community-run, non-profit. All the mods and coders are volunteers. When you comment on FA or post photos from a convention on social media or even just add tags on e621, you aren’t doing that for profit. You’re doing that because we’ve all agreed, without ever saying it aloud, that we benefit from people pitching in.

• For the benefit of everyone. For the low price of zero dollars, you can make an account on a furry site and check out tons of cool art and stories. The same applies at the friendly furry newspaper you’re reading right now: articles about the fandom, written by people in the fandom, hosted online for you for free. No pay walls, no levels of membership.

• Money can’t buy you a meaningfully different experience. Some furry sites sell memberships, but this is basically just a PBS tote bag—a thank you for donating money. Having a little star by your username doesn’t change your experience much.

• Even for-profit sites are artist-run. Sexyfur, Tailheat, and anyone on Patreon require payment—but even these often make some version of the content available. Even in these corner cases, you’re still supporting independent artists directly and not giant corporations. Artists that make some or all of their money through Patreon or some other sort of paywall are still controlling their own production, and charging what the market will bear in a collaborative way with their patrons and customers.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?

So the furry fandom is socialist. What good does that do you, as the average furry? Well, it means that the economic system of paying billionaires to do nothing all day isn’t the only game on Steam. We, as a society, have options. And it’s examples like furry that you can point to when you’re having conversations about how the economy should work.

The furry fandom as we know it couldn’t exist without socialism. Just because you’re buying a fox costume doesn’t mean you’re not spending real money.

Socialism isn’t magic. It’s just math. It even works in our fandom, where the math is always a little fuzzy.

About the writers:

Dralen Dragonfox is a Toronto furry that has been in the fandom since 1993, and currently is on staff for Camp Feral!, volunteers for Furnal Equinox, and co-founded the monthly party Howl.

Tempe O’Kun is a novelist (Sixes Wild, Windfall) and writes for furry media analysis channel Culturally F’d. He lives in North Dakota and is a husky dog cowboy.

"Why do millennials hate the rich?"
"Why do millennials pirate everything?"
"Why do millennials drift towards socialism?"
"Why are millennial furries?"

One answer: Disney's Robin Hood

— Zev, Devourer of Chickens (@Fox_Fusion) July 11, 2018

Editor’s note from Patch:

I suggested adding “what furry isn’t”.  If we talk about things not being centrally-planned and stratified, even different wealth or popularity doesn’t stop an average fan from participating DIY-style.

If we say it’s not industrial-capitalist, that means there’s no furry-labor-class with furry-bosses ruled with automation. Even computers and imported fake furs make bespoke, handcrafted goods and experiences. Mass media/pop culture directs other fandoms, but furry has exceptional independence (I call it a dance with the mainstream.) And it was here in the 1980’s, fully-furred with its own cons and hand-made media, before the internet helped it grow.

If it was “libertarian” capitalist you might have to pay a private owner for sharing art. There’s respect for original fursonas, but that’s a social contract when it’s nearly impossible to truly enforce copyright and licensing of collective creations like a fursuit by a designer, maker, performer and photographers. (Stay tuned for my interview with Quietfire Tiger, where that point came from a Hollywood costume department for his TV appearance on Lucifer.)

It’s a village-commons concept. It has cottage industry where “pro fans” make a living fan-to-fan (see the heart of the furry economy.) But the village has no king.

Of course, it’s mostly culture and leisure. Furries don’t own hotels or properties (except some furry houses) so meatspace meets are temporary. But that can also happen for free in a park or a walk around town. While not everyone has the privilege to fly around to cons, uncritical nerdy fandom runs on passion. You can call it a bubble of escapism, and it may skew male and young and highly educated – but it still makes a worthy ideal and working model. (Silicon Valley skews the same way, but it’s seen as a test-bed.)

It’s also organic and nobody decided who could join. If you’re conservative, libertarian, or other, contributing good content outlasts natural disagreement among sub-fandom groups. It takes special effort to earn unwelcome.

I'm friends with people of all affiliations and yet none of them share racist memes, debate the reality of the holocaust, bash LGBT rights or spend time praising fascism.

Differing views don't require hateful behavior, which is why most people choose not to associate with it.

— Chip Foxx (@chipfoxx) July 13, 2018

The village concept and its organic success contradicts some shrill, trollish “OMG communism!” screeching from a fringe. When the community discusses being healthy about itself, rejecting nazi-furs isn’t “dictating” or “totalitarian” at all. It’s simply a very basic standard of free association by those who don’t want to hang out with hateful losers. Speaking of…

Oh look, alt-right fan art!  Enjoy the self-owning irony of using Orwell, as if he wouldn’t say “Nazi Furs Fuck Off”:

“The only regime which, in the long run, will dare to permit freedom of speech is a socialist regime. If Fascism triumphs I am finished as a writer — that is to say, finished in my only effective capacity. That of itself would be a sufficient reason for joining a socialist party.”

– George Orwell, “Why I Joined the Independent Labour Party.”

George Orwell was socialist and his book Animal Farm makes a fine match of furry and politics. He wrote Homage to Catalonia about joining the Lincoln Battalion (the first racially integrated American military force) to fight fascism during the Spanish Civil War. (Read: Far-right commentator gets ‘schooled’ by historian over George Orwell and Antifa.)

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Grubbs Grizzly of “Ask Papabear” has quite an established presence with many followers. Now he’s emerged from his cave to announce an award for other furries who demonstrate Outstanding Community Spirit.

Good furries are everywhere. But sometimes when fandom takes a look at itself and how it can be better, bad furries get attention. From circa-2000 Burned Furs, to Nazi Furs who have ruined furry conventions, troublemakers get more attention than they deserve. (None might be a fair amount.)

The Good Furry Award is coming to reward a fandom member each year for their community spirit. On top of benefit to one, the process of looking at nominees and their work is meant to promote much more conversation about good things that the vast majority of furries do for each other and outsiders alike.

The “Ask Papabear” website is now taking nominations for Good Furries: https://www.askpapabear.com/good-furry-award.html

This isn’t an idea out of nowhere. There’s already a Furry Ambassador program, and the awards will be presented in coordination with it. The winner of the prize will be announced in June 2019. He or she will receive a certificate of achievement and a $1,000 check to be spent at the winner’s discretion.

Who is eligible? Any furry in any country who is active in the fandom is eligible. Someone must nominate them, and background stories will be checked and confirmed. Those submitting nominations are encouraged to also submit photos or other documents.

This isn’t about who is the best artist or writer or fursuiter. You don’t have to own a fursuit. What matters:

• Do you use your time and skills (whatever they may be) to help your fellow furries?
• Do you project a positive image of fun and friendship to the outside, nonfurry world?

Then you can take part! For more information or an interview, contact: Kevin Hile, [email protected], 760-619-8882, or visit www.askpapabear.com.

Cover art by Charleston Rat

The Furry Book: Grubbs Grizzly’s other project!

Grubbs is one of a few ambitious writers who have worked to get fandom happenings into publication for more than inside readers. Others include Joe Strike’s Furry Nation and Fred Patten’s Furry Convention History books. Those were published in 2017 by mainstream publishers. Grubbs posted personal news:

Hi. An update on The Furry Book. I’m about 50,000 words into it and still have a long way to go. I am hunkering down on it this summer and hope to have the bulk of the writing done end of September. Then I have to prepare the index and appendices, get the photos, typeset it, and so on. It may or may not get finished end of the year, but it will be around that time, I pray.

Thank you,
Grubbs Grizzly

Joe Strike’s Furry Nation and Anthrocon news, July 2018

Grubbs isn’t the only one with an update on projects and happenings. Joe Strike has been a frequent friend of the site and anything he shares is guaranteed to perk up some ears here. Joe continues:

Just returned from the greatest Anthrocon EVER! (and keep reading for exciting news about a special Furry Nation offer!)

This past weekend Pittsburgh PA hosted Anthrocon for the 13th time. Until it was recently (and slightly) eclipsed by Chicago’s Midwest FurFest, Anthrocon was the world’s largest furry convention; even in second place, 8,000+ furs were on hand for this year’s iteration. (Not bad for a convention that began in 1997 in Albany NY with all of 500 attendees!)

Pittsburgh embraced Anthrocon and the furry community like never before and nowhere else on Earth; a huge banner on the convention center’s facade merged Anthrocon and Pittsburgh as one, with the city’s landmark bridge behind a pair of smiling furries. (The previous banner was simply the convention’s logo.) Similar banners graced the surrounding streets’ light posts.

My scaly alter-ego, the anthropomorphic Komodo dragon “Komos” appeared in all his reptilian glory, making “friends” with the locals –

… and marched in the fursuit parade with a shout-out to Rob Rogers. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s long-time editorial cartoonist was fired by the publisher for daring to draw numerous anti-Trump cartoons. As you might imagine, my sign elicited no small number of cheers from onlookers who miss Rogers’ scathing depictions of the current occupant of the Oval Office. (You can learn more about Rob Rogers here.)

I placed an ad in the Anthrocon souvenir book featuring some of the nice things people have had to say about Furry Nation:

By the way, if you want to read the Huck article about furry fandom and yours truly, click here to visit the magazine’s website. If you’d like to purchase a hard copy for your furry archives, visit this page. And here’s an article from something called VVROOM incorporating material from Huck along with a few comments of their own. And finally, some really big news:

BRAND NEW FURRY NATION + COMIC BOOK OFFER!

The revised furrynation.com website now features a shopping page where you can (in addition to purchasing Furry Nation from various online vendors) buy a personally autographed copy directly from me – and when you do, you’ll receive a free collector’s edition copy of the very first issue of Komos & Goldie. (I’m probably the only fur whose scaly alter-ego stars in his very own adventure comic!) Sorry, but thanks to Goldie’s preference to go au naturale and her predilection for double entendres, this offer is only for readers 18+.

The book plus the free comic costs $21.50 postpaid. I’ll be glad to autograph either or both to you, someone else if you’re buying it as a gift (or if you’d prefer, not at all). All you have to do is click here to get started!

Thanx much!
-Joe

Congrats @anthrocon for another good con, good summary of news coverage in the wrapup: https://t.co/uxs5auWB9s

Good one for the quirky news factor: https://t.co/eMSi1md0yd

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) July 15, 2018

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

Content warning: hate speech

Meet Sam, a racist troll.

In early 2018, Atlantic City Fur Con, a party and proposed con, had a harassment problem in their chat group. (The organizer has made effort to fix it since then.)

A black member of the group respectfully asked for better behavior.  The quality had fallen from edgy jokes to an all-time low of lazy racism. In retaliation, a cluster of harassers (altfurries and neo-nazis) ganged up to escalate the hate. Apparently one simple request to act grown-up was an “SJW” menace that needed to be aggressively crushed. Some drizzled their profiles with swastikas to compensate for failing so hard at kindergarten-level getting along with others.

One of the worst offenders was Sam/@slizzzler/”Fang” (@jasonafexFa, a fake Telegram account with Jason’s name that Sam uses.)

They did it with confidence that everyone would be their doormats, and didn’t expect to get caught acting like pigs with a news article about it. When it began to come out, Sam threatened me to try stopping publication (as if that wouldn’t get published, or screenshots of someone’s own misbehavior is “slander” somehow.) Then they retaliated used a doxing blog and a fake Telegram account for @midwestfurfest. Sam later claimed responsibility in the altfurry chat, using the “Fang”/@jasonafexFA fake Telegram account. It was part of a pattern of harassment with fake accounts you’ll see below. Here’s Sam/Fang:

Clearly I never share my contacts, racist harassment is “negotiable”, and people who do it are charming geniuses with legitimate opinions. *Sarcasm*

This month, Sam/”Fang”/fake-@jasonafexfa showed up in another normal furry chat exactly when Foxler was getting kicked out. Simultaneously within minutes, the staff was baited by a fake @dogpatchpress Telegram account. It was trying to provoke them to make inflammatory statements. It didn’t work, but then the baiting was found to be hitting innocent bystanders too.

One random target messaged what he thought was my account, but it was a honeypot to get him falsely reported for spam and his account locked for a week. They wanted to piss him off, and other innocent bystanders too, hopefully putting the blame on me. The goal was to spread Fear/Uncertainty/Doubt (FUD) at anyone who shows concern about hate groups in fandom (or just wants people to act better than angry, wet, racist toddlers). He tipped me about the fake account that was using my ID:

Altfurs discuss buying fake accounts to spread more FUD.

Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt is a sales and propaganda tactic you might use if you’re grooming people for recruiting.

First let’s look at altfurries discussing trolling people by buying fake accounts. BE AWARE that they also discuss spreading rumors about doing this, even if they’re lying. They’ve previously tried to get inflammatory rumors like that spread around. It’s predictable trolling.

However, this is being published because of receipts of an altfurry account actually buying fake followers. BE AWARE that exposing it doesn’t mean you should be impressed. It shows a tiny fringe (0.1% of fandom or less) wasting actual money to fake the appearance of support. They would rather harass innocent bystanders and trash a community than get along. These losers are that desperate.

Here’s an altfurry actually buying followers to spread FUD:

• First they spread manipulation by blaming their attack targets for a rise of Altfurry followers.
• 5 days later their followers rise from 44 to 1565 all at once – just one the next day – and then another jump to 2601.
• A look at their follow list finds it full of fake accounts. (Don’t miss the big size image.)

Much more here.

Nothing says "my movement is genuine" quite like buying 2500 fake Twitter followers. pic.twitter.com/L33pBiHWRt

— Enron Musk (@BristleThis) July 15, 2018

Did you catch this in the screenshots? It isn’t just one or two members, the group itself exists to enable this.

If you’re a cool and attractive reader who supports exposing a hate group for being such lame dorks, you may also enjoy: 

I got a tip that a totally non-thirsty altfurry made a fan video for me. 40 MINUTES, PART 1 OF 2, and vid says he already made 4 others. I never noticed (nobody who matters will either.)

Stalkers are cute until you need restraining orders. Fun that it used real fan art though pic.twitter.com/a0ENTmVtg2

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) July 14, 2018

PSA to Alt Right Furries

YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE
GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR FANDOM

And to those who’ve made it their mission to root them out, please be mindful of your mental well being. Don’t be consumed by their hatred.

Full Video: https://t.co/cxyruRwbM1 pic.twitter.com/NLS7Zo3d0U

— Dalmy (@Dalmy_Dog) July 14, 2018

So many questions of people asking me to “define alt right and nazi furries” bc they wanna know if I’m “including them”

If you have to question if you fall into their group. And you find yourself constantly having your points of view supported by them.

Ya might be one hun

— Dalmy (@Dalmy_Dog) July 15, 2018

Dalmy has an excellent point. If you’re seeing bad behavior, make sure to bring equal and opposite balance too. Surround yourself with genuine people who don’t buy fake friends and fake power as a substitute for creative and worthy things.

If you’ve been tricked or love-bombed into complicity with a group that acts so childish, get better friends. Seriously. There’s a whole fandom that doesn’t need a useless clique of trolls for that (and take some with you when you leave). Your better, future self will thank you.

Having transparency about lying by this 0.1% fringe is a good way to neutralize a “both sides” non-troversy. Then the real fandom can get back to doing good things that will always outlast useless negativity.

You can have a welcoming place for good people who do good things, or you can welcome trolling assholes. You can’t have both.

And that will never be fake news.

Shoutouts to the CEO of A.N.T.I.F.A., George Soros for my fursuit, my vast network of goons and spies, CNN, the liberal professors now teaching furry news on college campuses, and the Crying Nazi for being the mascot of altfurries.

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

REGISTER NOW AND THROUGH THE WEEKEND!

Please join our family!https://t.co/J4AOGGw47v

Pre-reg for our campers is open until 11:59pm Sunday, July 15th.

Pre-reg campers have a chance to be selected as Attendee Guest of Honor and be bumped up to Wolf camper! (The winner will be notified Monday, July 16th.)

10/

— Camp Tiny Paws (@TinyPaws_Con) July 13, 2018

 

I’ve enjoyed many kinds of furry conventions with different themes, size, and pacing.

There’s the small local relax-a-con near me, Pacific Anthropomorphics Weekend (November 2018) – an underrated gem in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the party floor is one long open balcony and the whole con can be friends at the same time.  Then there’s the extravagance of Anthrocon, where it feels like a whole neighborhood of Pittsburgh gets in theme without being asked. The playful storefronts and sidewalk signs make it feel like Furry Christmas, and there’s nothing like it anywhere else I’ve been. When the fursuit parade fills the city street, and you’re there with thousands of ordinary citizens cheering for it, it’s one of the 7 Wonders of the Furry World. (Mine, anyways. Make your own list – that’s the beauty of what furries do.)

But I’ve always gone as an ordinary fan like any other. Tiny Paws changed that by inviting me to be a Guest of Honor. Wow! I don’t care whether they stuff 7 hotels like that thing in that other place (who needs elevator lines?) – it makes me wag my tail like a propeller.

Guess what… it’s amazing and special and cool, but it’s also hard work!  Every con depends on volunteers to make it happen (give a special shout out to con staff whenever you can). It’s no different for a GOH.  They’re supposed to be part of the attraction, and that means helping to promote, entertain and provide whatever talent got the invitation.

In this case, it’s being a GOH who isn’t known as an artist. How often do cons recognize non-artists who contribute to the fandom? I don’t know, but it would be a nice topic for a chat.

As for what I can contribute… that means running a panel which I tentatively summarized like this:

DIY Furry Power: Self Employment and what fandom is all about.

“Furry fandom is: Creativity and Doing It Yourself. It’s a dog eat dog world, but self employed people can thrive here – that’s the challenge every artist faces. It’s a sandbox where you build what you want. It’s also about direct exchange of skills, working together, and strength in numbers. In this panel, we’ll look at ways to get into building projects or offering services, what kinds succeed and why, and the state of “the furry economy”. There will be practical discussion for artists and freelancers, but also a fun look at furry creativity for anyone who loves what fandom is about. And maybe some shared spirit of DIY Punk. This panel draws from deep research and experience that Patch writes about at Dogpatch.press, the most active furry news site – and his 14 years of making a living boss-free as a dog on the loose.”

There’s helping to judge the Talent Show, which I think means just sticking a marker in my paws and holding up one of those number cards, and looking fluffy!

There’s having a table in the Expo (Dealer’s Den), where I might put out some silly-headline graphic prints? And maybe some furry soap and stickers?

And showing up all bleary-eyed but ready to snarfle a dog bowl at the Breakfast Buffet for special Wolf level friends of the con.

Some of this is going to involve fellow guests; artist Shadra, Uncle Kage, Boozy Badger, and even his badg-lets(?) Badgotts. I’m not worthy!

Our Wolf campers will also enjoy two exclusive events:

Saturday morning breakfast buffet with our GOHs (@BoozyBadger, @ShadraAvroArt, and @DogpatchPress)

and for our 21+ year old Wolves...
a sake tasting with our GOHs and led by @Unclekage

7/

— Camp Tiny Paws (@TinyPaws_Con) July 13, 2018

This says I’m a non-artist GOH… that’s a bit of a fib. (Fake news!!) I very rarely do any drawing specifically for fandom, and have never been free for commissions, but Tiny Paws is just so special I made an exception. Here’s one I did for promotion (others here.)

Get a gander at this laser-engraved pint glass! Only available as a special gift for our Wolf campers!

Pre-register for Camp Tiny Paws 2018 today! Only FOUR more days left!

(Thank you @DogpatchPress and @ToyPonyStudios who made this beautiful gift possible!) pic.twitter.com/h7pzJXAARx

— Camp Tiny Paws (@TinyPaws_Con) July 11, 2018

If you go, expect this stuff and more (and this is a family-friendly con.)

• Expo
• Large tabletop gaming room
• Charity raffle
• Photo studio
• Open crafting room
• Numerous panels and fun events, three days of fursuit events, and a happy birthday celebration with cake!

Dealers:

• Art By Mitsene
• AshWolves5
• BeanMews
• Cadmiumtea and Tenza
• Copper Centipede
• Crazdude Art & Design
• Dogpatch Press (GOH)
• The Dragon’s Lair
• Fur The More
• gBlazeWear, LLC
• Grandpaw Joe’s Defaced Vinyls And More!
• Hopeful Monster Studio
• How Bout Meow
• JenKiwi
• KatUsedCharm
• K Brand Art
• Lawyers & Liquor (GOH)
• LittlePawzfursuits
• M&T Comics and Cards
• Mad Tea Kreations
• Magical Girl Soap Company
• Magic Foxy Artworks
• Makoto’s Creations
• The Manic Macaw
• Name Tags By Nyght
• NightlineZ
• Open Wing Studio
• Owl’s Mirror Studio
• RCSI Publishing
• Rylucius
• Saba illustration
• Sam Neukirch
• Scents Fur All
• Shadra Avro Art (GOH)
• Star Sweets
• Static Claws
• Stormslegacy Designs
• Technicolour Costumes
• Trot L’Oeil Artistry
• Vulturesong
• Wingtip Designs

Whether you live near or far, hope to see you there. Be fabulous and frisky until it’s time for fun!

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

The Adventures of Peter Gray, by Nathan Hopp.
Green Bay, WI, Written Dreams Publishing, April 2018, hardcover, $25.50 (248 pages), trade paperback $16.99.

The Adventures of Peter Gray is told as an autobiography, being written by an elderly Peter Gray, a wolf Furren, in a retirement home in New York City, presumably in the 1960s or later. (The Epilogue gives a specific date.) There is a reference to watching I Love Lucy on a color TV. He seems to be strongly religious:

“No one stops playing their fancy radios, singing ‘Top of the World’ or watching I Love Lucy on their colored televisions to ever be thankful for what’s been given. Or is to be given. Nobody kneels down and thanks the Lord for how much a single year can impact who you are, who you have become, and who you love. No one even thanks Him that much anymore.” (p. 8)

The autobiography begins on New Year’s Day, 1899, when Peter is a homeless 12-year-old street orphan freezing in the alleys of lower Manhattan. His descriptions make it clear that this is a funny-animal world. There are humans, but they are rare compared to the Furren, who seem almost exactly like the humans:

“A Catholic raccoon, Lance Turner was no taller or older than me, but he was more dedicated to his faith. He was also one of my best friends. We’d known each other for nearly five years, and the raccoon and I had gotten some real bruises from our meets. He was a funny guy when not quoting scripture, though I couldn’t say the same about his older twin brothers.” (p. 15)

“As the she-wolves gathered the items they needed, I glanced at the Furren helping them. It was Alan himself, a six-foot mouse with black fur, an unpleasant face, and covered in burly muscles. I knew the guy, and had once stolen a package of cheese from him earlier in my youth. I prayed the mouse didn’t recognize me.” (p. 16)

“‘Hey, cub. Would ya’ like a new pair of boots?’ a raccoon vendor asked me after he’d crossed the road. He had a single tooth and his musky stench made me gag. I didn’t try hiding my distance. ‘These are made of the finest leather in all of the East Coast, and I’ll give half –’

‘—and I’m a Crown Prince of England. Not interested,’ I mumbled, passing by. ‘We can’t even wear boots.’” (p. 19)

So the Furren don’t wear footwear, at least. The humans are roughly analogous to the African-Americans:

“‘Gosh…’ Lance gasped. ‘Are those…?’

‘Humans?’ I nodded, still staring. I’d heard of them, but had never seen two this close. ‘What else could they be?’

Humans were a very strange species, having no fur or tail as a distinct feature to the bodies, nor any claws or large fangs to hunt. Their short, angular noses didn’t smell as good compared to wolves or bloodhounds. I remember once reading in a newspaper that humans were scattered across the planet and often thrived in bands like packs, keeping together. Others preferred the cities over countryside, but humans were kept far below the Furren in the food chain everywhere. Always under the Furren, especially the carnivores.

It wasn’t until decades ago that they were freed from the chains of slavery in America, thanks to a powerful wolf in the White House. Some, mainly canines, still look down on them as dirtier than sooty snow, but I chose not to. As long as they had a stove and coal, any human was a friend of mine.” (pgs. 21-22)

Peter and Lance make the acquaintance of the Lawtons, who have just moved to NYC from Buffalo for Mr. Lawton to take a better job. James, who is Peter’s and Lance’s age, becomes their friend. James joins Lance in the next to last year of the local elementary school. Peter, as an orphan, isn’t welcome.

Aside from the anthropomorphic animals, it’s a good historical description of the lower classes of New York in 1899. Some of the “facts” might be quibbled with; there weren’t any automobiles in 1899 except rich men’s toys, and I’m pretty sure there were no radios except experimental sets. Peter, wandering homeless, meets a Furren youth selling newspapers:

“A mixed breed of raccoon and whitish fox, maybe some wolfish blood in there, too. […]

The mixed breed wore a black pirate’s patch on his left eye, but his right met mine.

‘Louis Ballat.’ He offered a friendly paw.

Hearing him speak as he set a newspaper beside his ankles, I couldn’t miss his heavy Brooklyn accent. ‘But me friens call me Kid Blink.’” (p. 54)

For those who don’t get the historical reference, it’s to the NYC newsboys’ strike of July 1899. Read the Wikipedia article on it: “The newsboys’ strike of 1899 was a U.S. youth-led campaign to force change in the way that Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers compensated their child labor force of newspaper hawkers. The strike lasted two weeks, causing Pulitzer’s New York World to decrease its circulation from 360,000 to 125,000.” Kid Blink (Wikipedia spells Ballatt with two t’s), a one-eyed 13- or 14-year-old newsboy, was a leader of the strike. Disney made a cleaned-up live-action musical of it, Newsies, in 1992, and of course there is the 2012 Broadway musical, currently touring.

But for most of The Adventures of Peter Gray, it’s the fictional biography of an almost-adolescent cocky homeless orphan and his tenement-dwelling pals of lower Manhattan during 1899, playing kick-the-can in the streets, getting involved in juvenile gang fights, trying to stay cool in the summer – Hopp refers to the problems of Furren with thick fur in a NYC summer — and the like. On page 120, Peter runs into Kid Blink again and he recruits Peter as a newsboy:

“As I walked away, I spotted a certain fox-raccoon hybrid a few yards to my right.

‘Petuh Gray!’ Kid Blink lunged at me for a hug. Standing back, he adjusted his eyepatch and flashed a toothy grin. ‘Great tuh see yuh today.’

‘Blink, it’s good to see ya’!’ I laughed, wagging my tail and perking up my ears. ‘I haven’t seen ya’ in months. How have ya’ been?’” (p. 120)

All the articles on the newsboys’ strike say that Kid Blink was a colorful newsboy strike leader, and the other NYC newspapers that quoted him emphasized his thick Brooklyn accent.

So the last half of The Adventures of Peter Gray (cover by Mark Shamlian) is a historical novel about the strike, with most of the characters being Furren. There are constant mentions of wagging tails, perked or lowered ears, thick fur (and the humans not having any) and the problems of having fleas, and so on to keep you thinking of what a furry novel this is, but it’s really just stage costuming. Read it for a snapshot of 1899 lower Manhattan – with Furren.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Endling: [Book One] The Last, by Katharine Applegate. Illustrated by Max Kostenko. Map,
NYC, HarperCollinsPublishers/Harper, May 2018, hardcover, $17.99 ([vi +] 383 pages), Kindle $10.99.

This first book in a Young Adult fantasy series, recommended for 8 to 12-year-olds, is narrated by Byx, a young dairne; apparently the last of the dairnes – the endling.

“My parents feared I would be the first among us to die when trouble came, and trouble, they knew, was fast approaching.

I was small. And sometimes disappointing.

But I knew I could be brave as well. I was not afraid to be the first to die.

I just did not want to be the last to live.

I did not want to be the endling.” (p. 5)

Dairnes are a golden-furred doglike people with marsupial-like pouches and arm membranes (glissaires) that can glide, like flying squirrels.

“Dairnes were often mistaken for dogs. We share many physical similarities.

Dogs, however, lack opposable thumbs. They can’t walk upright. They aren’t able to glide from tree to tree. They can’t speak to humans.

And dogs aren’t – forgive me – the sharpest claws in the hunt, if you take my meaning.” (p. 4)

Byx lives in the Kingdom of Nedarra, a large land shown on endpaper maps. Nedarra has nine talking animal species including six primary species:

“That was the closest I had ever come to humans, one of the six great governing species. Those six – humans, dairnes, felivets, natites, terramants, and raptidons – had once been considered the most powerful in our land. But now all of them – even the humans – were controlled by the despotic Murdano.” (pgs. 7-8)

Other talking animals of Nedarra include the wobbyks, the starlons, and the gorellis. Below those are the non-talking animals like chimps, whales, horses, crows, crickets, and so on. That’s Byx and Tobble, a wobbyk, on the cover by Max Kostenko. The wobbyks have three tails and are fierce fighters – according to Tobble:

“‘It’s only fair to warn you,’ said Tobble. ‘You do not want to see an angry wobbyk. We are fearsome to behold. I in particular am known for my fierce temper.’

‘Thank you, Tobble,’ I said. ‘But –’

‘Back home they called me Tobble the Terrible.’” (p. 93)

Byx has never seen a human, but they have been described to her.

“And I learned, most importantly, that humans were never to be trusted, and always to be feared.” (p. 8)

But now most are gone, and those left are enslaved by the Murdano. Byx’s pack of dairnes lived in hiding, only 29 left. They are about to migrate to the north searching for other dairne survivors. Byx is away from her home when the Murdano’s human soldiers attack, slaughtering her family and all the remaining dairnes, leaving her as the last of the dairnes – unless she can find any others in hiding.

Byx, alone, comes together with the equally alone Tobble, a wobbyk, and Khara, a 14-year-old renegade human girl. They set out all through Neddara – see the map – for a place where they can be safe and, maybe, find more dairnes. But they are an Odd Threesome, and Byx has been brought up to believe that humans can never be trusted:

“‘We’re going to Cora di Schola.’

I exchanged a look with Tobble. No, he didn’t know what that meant, either.

‘And that is …?’ I asked.

‘It’s an island city. Its real name is the Isle of Ursina. But everyone calls it ‘Cora di Schola.’ It means ‘Heart of the Scholars.’’

‘Why do they call it that?’ Tobble asked.

‘It’s shaped roughly like a human heart. And it’s home to scholars and students. The Imperial Academy of Alchemy, Astronomy, Theurgy, and Science is housed there.’

I had to digest each word separately.

‘Alchemy,’ I’d learned from Dalyntor, was the art of blending substances to create new substances, like medicines. ‘Astronomy,’ I thought, had something to do with stars. ‘Theurgy’ was the study of spells and incantations. And ‘Science’? I was not quite certain what that was, but it sounded impressive.

‘Imperial’ sounded impressive, too, until I remembered –

‘Imperial? I cried. ‘As in the Murdano?’

‘His Imperial Highness, the Murdano of Nedarra, Defender of Truth, Guardian of the Righteous, Peacemaker of the People, and so on and so on and so forth,’ Khara said, waving her hand.” (pgs. 90-91)

Byx and Tobble see amazing sights. Khara is familiar with them, although not entirely:

“Tobble hissed. ‘Pirate ship!’ he said, pointing at a boat slightly smaller than the freighters. It had two raked masts and shining brass cannons arrayed down each side.

‘Don’t worry.   We have no business with pirates,’ Khara assured him. ‘We’re looking for a ferry to the isle.

I looked around and risked a whispered question. ‘If the natites rule the seas, why do they allow pirates?’

‘That’s a very good question,’ Khara said. ‘They allow fishing boats and freighters but will not allow the Murdano to build a navy. No one knows for certain why the natites do anything, but most people believe they tolerate the pirates in exchange for information about the world of the land.   I doubt that’s the only reason, though.’” (p. 129)

Applegate first came to prominence as the author of record of the Animorphs fantasy series, 54 monthly Young Adult novels and ten spinoffs from June 1996 to May 2001. She has since revealed that she was helped by her husband and several editors and friends to produce a novel a month for five years. Since then Applegate has written several Young Adult novels on her own, many of which have been award-winning or –nominated; notably the 2012 The One and Only Ivan, which won the 2013 Newbery Medal. It contains talking animals including Ivan, a caged silverback gorilla. Her Crenshaw is about a boy who has an imaginary giant anthropomorphic cat friend.

With Endling, Applegate has begun a new series full of action, suspense, drama, magic, humor, and taking animals. This first book ends with two humans, a dairne, a wobbyk, a felivet, a horse, and a dog setting out for the north and Byx’s quest for other dairnes, in the hope that she is not an endling, after all.

Endling: The Last was just published in May 2018. I got it almost immediately from the Los Angeles Public Library. Try your local public library.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Buy on HarperCollins Publishing

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

There was a lot of recent drama about Artworktee, an indie operation catering to furries. This video covers how it started, but there’s a lot more to say.

I had mixed feelings on watching it unfold on social media. “But Patch, isn’t reporting not supposed to have feelings?” I’m a fan like any other, and “objective fan” is an oxymoron.  I couldn’t pretend not to be one, or miss the point of having an independent subculture by fans, for fans that’s best written about from inside. For this story, I dug deeper into some of the issues involved:

• Complaints about underpaid artists.
• Questionable practices for the business of art.
• The mission and allegiance involved in profiting from fandom.
• The stakes of overlooking problems and calling it “just business”, vs. how formal business can solve problems too.

Let me try to bring understanding from several perspectives, including the travails of small-business, and the devotion of grassroots fans. This is a great case for that stuff, because it’s not every day that a business comes from this niche fandom that kind of resembles mainstream startup companies. Until now, the most successful commercial enterprise like that is probably Bad Dragon.

Pro-fans and profiteering

Say you’re a devoted furry, maybe even the kind with art prints on your wall, decals on your car and a paw print tattoo. You want to commission quality providers who make you feel good about your hobby and won’t underperform. You can pick one who does a 9-5 job, comes home tired and can’t put their entire soul into what they do.  Or maybe there’s a full-time “pro fan”… one of a special class that has risen up to making a living with direct support from individuals, who can buckle down and deliver without distraction.

There aren’t a lot of people like that, and few of them make big money (most deserve more.) Furry is full of young people, but it’s been going since the 1980’s and there are older ones with kids here. Keeping people at least comfortable matters. Making a living with decent pay isn’t a bad thing.

“The furry economy” is a place where consciously or not, there’s a lot of subsidizing.  Look at how artists work in the zone between hobbyist and freelancer, and fans come to expect low fandom pricing. Cons are run by volunteers and donors, and it’s generally a DIY effort by everyone with little if any outside corporate investment. They largely control the Means of Production. It’s more than business – it’s for love as much as money.

That’s why saying “sellout,” “hack”, “huckster” or “scammer” can strike a nerve, and motive deserves scrutiny. There’s a lot of trust in the love of it, but we all know why there’s a need for Artist Beware type efforts, (and one or two news sites, hopefully) and people resort to callouts. It’s an ad-hoc, organic substitute for formal ratings, mediation or consumer protection. Fans who do that are saying “hey, we built this platform… be accountable to us!”

There’s a concept for mainstream startup business called “growth hacking”. It involves cutting corners, overselling, or taking advantage to outcompete others in the market. A touch of cleverness is supposed to be grease for the wheels of commerce, but isn’t it Machiavellian, the more it’s taken for granted (or lets crime pay and predators win?) And is growth the point here? Fans certainly shouldn’t welcome attempts to squeeze maximum profit from a grassroots art community with minimal care for its noncommercial heart.

Or maybe it’s not always that simple.  America can make independent business operation a matter of blind luck, with brutal problems like lack of access to health care. Imagine having carpal tunnel and depending on furry commissions with no choice about persisting. Like that. Sometimes being caught in such a bind is inevitable. Then cutting corners is an escape tactic. Maybe money earmarked for some other purpose pays off a debt. Or someone resorts to tracing to dial up delivery with an overcommitted queue.

There are highly demanded fursuit makers whose commission queues stretch back 10 years. (Think of all that deposit money as a pile of personal debt, like other households owe to banks… but loaned interest-free by trusting fans). Their rate of accepting new commissions doesn’t show a rosy outlook on fixing that. I could name multiple makers like that I’ve been asked to do stories on (perhaps a list and their cases are needed.) People love their art anyways.

This is why businesses are accommodated to fail and go bankrupt and absolve debt, to encourage starting them. (If only people and families had a better safety net in the USA). Some people are good creators but bad with numbers. Others are full of excuses or malice. The by-fans-for-fans way isn’t necessarily pure. We don’t know every deeper story, so judge carefully case by case. Is the appearance of greed actually evil, or a byproduct of circumstance and risk taking?

Things really get sketchy if there’s a history of bad credibility and failures, intentional deceptive practices, or ducking accountability and rebranding to hide it. Fursonas make that easy. Those might be mitigated by something closer to a mainstream marketplace. That’s where it’s crucial to ask, can it keep the heart?

Scandal: Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

Lets dig deeper into what you saw in the top video, where fans discovered past problems and took the news badly.

In 2015, MLP/Brony fandom site Horse News exposed bad practices by artist Drawponies. He was tracing TV show animation and selling it as custom commissions. The MLP fandom took him to task for being “he’s not sorry he did it, he’s sorry he got caught” and displacing honest hard working artists with aggressive growth methods.

“He’s one of the most successful and well-traveled vendors in the fandom, with plans for over 20 pony, comic, and anime conventions in 2015 alone, and makes enough money off his business, he makes a fulltime income off of it. Drawponies also has turned his artist name into a company of sorts; he needs an artist team to complete all his commissions and help him trace all his artwork.”

• A 2015 public statement/apology from Drawponies was posted to an Artworktee account on Deviantart. In 2018, Artworktee retroactively explained it was one of their manager’s social media presences that got folded into a group company, while citing his efforts to be professional and not repeat mistakes.

That past was rediscovered in a new 2018 complaint about Artworktee underpaying artists. It seemed like Drawponies was part of rebranding for furries with Artworktee calling themselves a new company. Their new concept involved strategically approaching highly-followed popufurs to ride their tails for exposure with an “insert-name fan club” line of shirts. There were even reports of people feeling hassled by aggressive marketing to join. But it worked to sell many shirts of popufur designs by other artists, who may have been commissioned for a mere $50. The price was slammed by critics as vastly undervalued (while citing the 2015 story).

• The 2018 apology from Artworktee offered much better pay to solve the problem – even retroactively. They explained that they previously accepted what artists set as their own rates. However, as professional as the response was, critics made their own conclusions about the history. Had underpaid artists been kept in the dark and was the apology just because of being caught? A number of partners parted ways. One of the biggest may be Majira Strawberry.  However, then he posted an update that was friendly about the separation. Many others posted support for their own good relationships with Artworktee, who said the shirt sales included paying highest commissions compared to other companies for selling their likeness that way.

My impression: Artworktee makes big effort to be responsive to their user base and the fandom that built it… with one Big Caveat we’ll get into below.

For comparison, the business of selling shirts can be a pit of exploitation against indie artists by overseas thieves out of legal reach. They rip off designs with no credit, and would let artists go homeless if they can make a single penny. It’s a small part of counterfeiting abetted by the biggest companies on the internet. A personal, responsive company is miles above others.

Sometimes it’s better to have the devil you know, especially when that devil has shown it’s willing to do better.

— Boozy Badger (@BoozyBadger) June 18, 2018

Remember: nobody is infallible because of their follower count. People fuck up all the time, even giant animal people. How someone responds to their fuck ups is what shows you whether they’re someone worth your time or not.

— Boozy Badger (@BoozyBadger) June 25, 2018

Looking for the heart

My nose for commercializing got started around 2012, when curiosity and love led me to the Furry News biz (and a hundredaire fortune that should get me a title like Magnate, Mogul, or Maven by now.) In 2013 I covered pay-dating services targeting furries with deceptive business practices. The bottom line of that story: “one case of scam worries may not be that prominent, but it seems to be slowly growing above the level of personal fan activity. Be vigilant for the future.”

Like I said above, fans can look much deeper than just for good service. What I saw here made me very curious: Artworktee isn’t a scam operation, and their marketing towards popufurs is methodical and smart. But is the PR just hollow outer packaging?

To follow up, I sent a list of questions to Artworktee with a compliment for their effort with relationships, and an open invite to hear them out. It included asking about how they relate to the community, how they support artists, and questions about a Big Caveat.

Their answer was very comprehensive, with details about their team, company and values.

Around 2 weeks ago, I sent some questions to @artworktee and asked for comments. They responded well about getting them, and just posted a long post with an impressive amount of effort to answer what was coming in from that and elsewhere.https://t.co/kWukl85pat

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) July 2, 2018

But it dodged direct questions about how they make money from people that fandom platforms have stopped supporting for being malicious and toxic. Instead they gave a general non-answer answer. If furries have any reservations about commercializing fandom, consider this as a dividing line.

Question: “I heard that (fill in the blank) sells with you – do you support them?”

Answer: No. As is clearly stated in our terms of service: “ArtworkTee is a marketplace, not a consultancy or agent. ArtworkTee does not endorse any actions or statements by any artist or creator. Compensation, product samples, discounts, promotions, etc do not constitute endorsement.” In the same way that other platforms like Twitter and Facebook don’t endorse content creators, neither does ArtworkTee. Like other marketplace websites, including Etsy, Amazon, and Ebay, we do not judge our vendors based on their actions off of our platform, especially not messages sent in private. This would be an unfair breach of privacy, not to mention impossible to maintain for 400+ vendors. As long as a person complies with our terms of service, they are welcome to sell with us. The exceptions to this include criminal behavior, abusive behavior, or threats of violence against another person. Because our content is uploaded by and created by users, it’s our job to moderate the designs and make sure they don’t violate our terms of service, just like any other user-generated content website. We check every design as it is posted, and also rely on our users as a secondary check to let us know if a design that infringes our terms is posted. We are dedicated to making ArtworkTee the best marketplace for furries and other fandoms to sell shirts, regardless of their religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, heritage, disability, or any other factor.

Agree on both, feels like have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) July 3, 2018

Big Caveat: “Have-Your-Cake-And-Eat-It-Too” ethics.

This isn’t just about general policy. When we’re talking about malicious behavior, you might guess where this is going. Furry Raiders, Alt-furries, and Nazi Furs.

Artworktee has acted on this issue when it involved harming their business or brand. It started with managing PR when Furry Raider/Nazifur Foxler was called out by the “Insert Name Fan Club” shirt designer for stealing their design to troll people.

Yikes. Let me be extremely clear - we did not make this shirt design, and we want nothing to do with it. This is a poor copy of our "fan club" design style and nothing more.

— ArtworkTee (@artworktee) June 19, 2018

Wow. Okay, let me go through these lies one by one. I didn't want to give Foxler any attention, but these lies have to be corrected. pic.twitter.com/GgoYnL7uEX

— ArtworkTee (@artworktee) June 19, 2018

2. “AWT wanted to … listen to all furries bitch about the Raiders.” I can’t believe I’m typing these words, but let me be completely, 100% clear. We do not support or endorse Nazis. People with racist views, including Nazis, are not welcome to sell on ArtworkTee, as they ...

— ArtworkTee (@artworktee) June 19, 2018

Artworktee said they don’t support or endorse Nazis, and racists aren’t welcome… in that one case where they might lose money.

What about working with 2 Gryphon, who is currently using Artworktee and making them money after falling into disgrace and being dropped by cons that used to give him stages? He’s now representing the Altfurry “PR Department”, and spreads hate in ways that harm the fandom itself.

In March, before the underpaid artist issue came up, we’d traded messages about 2 Gryphon selling on their site. It was brought up by furries noticing his later-severed relationship with Eurofurence.

Public criticism led Artworktee to label his merchandise with a nonsupport message. They were obviously aware that he was causing a problem.

I mean if we're talking about supporting toxic people, I never understood why he got to be on T shirts of a rather well known website like a lot of other furry content creators as part of their "Anatomy of __" and "___ fan club" series

— Foster (@Foster_Purrnin) March 8, 2018

I had no idea of this, so I decided to take a look. It's interesting that they include this blurb, yet continue to sell the product.https://t.co/1eyqTHvVwu pic.twitter.com/EhKRe9tbP0

— Kaelis @ KiTX & EVO (@KaelisMirage) March 8, 2018

If there's a message of nonsupport, doesn't "we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" apply?

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) March 8, 2018

My questions about alt-furry representatives using their site got non-answers. Read their terms again. If they don’t want to commit to a stand about it, that’s not considered “support” despite profiting from it.  Apparently, if bad things happen off their site then it’s just business as long as the stuff on the site is in compliance with the terms of the site.

The PR highlights what you might call a double standard in taking a stand or making excuses, depending on who makes them money. Keeping 2 Gryphon could involve a pre-existing contract. Except it gets even more slippery.

After using the nonsupport message to pacify a public problem, they apparently removed it. I can’t find it on his merchandise being sold on the site now.

How can you be a Switzerland-neutral marketplace, comparing it to Ebay or Amazon, but be by fans, for fans at the same time? How can you use fandom and it’s subsidizing and volunteer benefit, but not be accountable to the fans who built it? They can say they have a broader mission – but they’re leveraging furries. The majority don’t want Nazi Furs to use fandom to spread hate and troll their cons to death.  What’s better than a neutral market is being truly responsive.

A contact who runs a pretty high profile operation told me:

If it’s a truly automated upload system and they have a shitload of people creating accounts to upload designs then I don’t expect them to do a ton of research on every user. I’d say they should remain open to community feedback on their users, and also implement a “report this design” function if they don’t have one already.  For shitty people they are supporting, I’d like to see them have some kind of community manager that would look into concerns the community raises and not pull any punches when it comes to excluding problematic people.

Short-term profit at the cost of integrity

Even with the inertia of 2’s following staying in place, he has stopped getting shows at cons because he unambiguously, emphatically sides with hateful trolls.

From what I've heard, he has enough supporters that would want his merchandise to be put *back* on our website. Either way, it's sadly a PR disaster, with both those for and against him fighting about his merch on our site. >~<

— ArtworkTee (@artworktee) March 8, 2018

Opportunistic merchandising might bring money from any kind of customer, but this also isn’t about one bad actor in fandom, it’s an invitation for trouble from more, like these altfurries. Compare it to an arms dealer who sells to both sides to double sales – except “both sides” here means the majority of fandom who wants to minimize trolling vs. a declining fringe of trolls.

And they’re yesterday’s news, not the future, just like Burned Furs before them.

See a lot of "Nazi Furs F*ck Off" ribbons this weekend at con? I hear something else wasn't seen. "2 Gryphon Fan Club" shirts.

Furry fandom is on fire... with the power of being better and better pic.twitter.com/EQHXCsmsic

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) July 9, 2018

Is it worth it to make a few bucks? Is it better to keep dealing with problems when people notice slippery dealing and a double standard, or really make an effort? When Fur Affinity finally banned alt-right trolls, there was brief uproar but it proved hugely popular.

It has something to do with the entire internet culture and how change isn’t likely to come from the top without active attention from the bottom. (See this thread and comments about stock prices, from Seth Rogen about chatting with the CEO of Twitter. This is beyond “politics” because nazis don’t deserve a seat at the table for any reason, and that hasn’t been controversial since 1945.)

I’ve been DMing with @jack about his bizarre need to verify white supremacists on his platform for the last 8 months or so, and after all the exchanges, I’ve reached a conclusion: the dude simply does not seem to give a fuck.

— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) July 3, 2018

I like what ArtworkTee has built. They were extra cool to put in so much effort for talking about it. I truly admire their hard work which is why I put so much effort into this article. I wish them well for considering if they have the right long term strategy for that one Big Caveat, and showing where their heart is.

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Snow in the Year of the Dragon, by H. Leighton Dickson.
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, May 2018, trade paperback, $19.99 (i + 335 pages), Kindle $2.99.

Snow in the Year of the Dragon is dedicated “To Readers of Infinite Patience”. I assume that’s because this is Book 4 of Dickson’s The Rise of the Upper Kingdom series; and it’s been five years since Book 3, Songs in the Year of the Cat.

Has it been worth the wait? YES!!

To summarize, it’s 5,000 years in the future. Civilization has disappeared. In the Far East a new Oriental culture is forming, the Upper Kingdom, a blend of ancient Chinese and Japanese customs with bioengineered animal peoples. To quote the blurb for Book 1, To Journey in the Year of the Tiger:

“This is a powerful, post-apocalyptic story of lions and tigers, wolves and dragons, embracing and blending the cultures of Dynastic China, Ancient India and Feudal Japan. Half feline, half human, this genetically altered world has evolved in the wake of the fall of human civilization.”

In Book 1, Kirin Wynegarde-Grey, a genetic lion-man (yes, he has a tail) is the young Captain of the Empress’ personal guard. While the rest of the great Palace is preparing the celebrations to mark the turning of the Year of the Ox into the Year of the Tiger, he is assigned to leave on a long mission with four others (and several guardsmen). The Upper Kingdom is guided by a Council of Seven, revered Seers whose visions have infallibly led the Empire in wisdom and peace for centuries. Now something, or someone, is killing the Seers, one by one, by unknown means, always in their beds at the close of the Second Watch of the night. Kirin and his companions must discover the cause and stop it.

The four others are Kirin’s adjutant, an aggressive snow leopard woman; the Empire’s Scholar, a young and naïve tigress; the Empire’s Alchemist, an older cheetah-woman of dubious loyalty; and Kerris Wynegarde-Grey, Kirin’s twin but silver-gray where Kirin is golden, the Empire’s Geomancer but a drunken ladies’ man. They have more adventures than they expect, and are led outside the Empire’s borders, into the unknown West (Europe) where they awaken surviving scientists of the forgotten human civilization from suspended cold-sleep. In Book 3, Songs in the Year of the Cat, Kirin and the others return to the Upper Kingdom, and Kirin becomes the Empire’s Shogun-General to mobilize a defense against the awakened Ancestors and their weapons of mass destruction.

Snow in the Year of the Dragon contains action scenes, but it is worth reading for all of Dickson’s writing:

“Dragons are the divine protectors of the Upper Kingdom and the ultimate symbol of Life and Fortune. Their celestial breath, or sheng chi, wards off evil spirits, protects the innocent and bestows safety to all. They show their power in the form of the seasons, bringing water from rain, warmth from sunshine, wind from the seas and soil from the Earth.

Kerris Wynegarde-Grey knows this. Like him, dragons are elemental.

There are wind dragons and water dragons, dragons of fire and dragons of ice. There are dragons that live deep n the earth, crush stone with their teeth and breathe sand like incense. According to Kerris, there are even metal dragons, although these are considerably more rare and are usually closely tied to Ancestors. That makes them dangerous, best to be avoided at all costs.

Perhaps the most dangerous dragon, however, is not really a dragon at all. It is the Year of the Dragon. In a Dragon year there is no peace, said the Chi’Chen Emperor in a previous life, only fire. Dragon years are like the sea – violent and unpredictable with incessant waves of calamity, upheaval and change. Men may make their fortunes in the Year of the Dragon, and just as quickly lose them. And for those born in the Year of the Dragon (called Dragonborn), dragon years are often bad luck.

Empress Thothloryn Parilland Markova Wu was dragonborn,” (pgs. 1-2)

The threat is not from only the reawakened Ancestors. In fact, Jeffery Solomon, in an Ancestor-crewed helijet zeppelin high over the coast of what was once Australia, is one o the “good guys”:

“‘Oh look,’ said Sengupta. ‘Pelicans.’

They all pressed their noses to the glass.

Below them were pelicans, flying low to the water in a perfect V. The birds had changed little despite the wars, plagues and mutations of centuries past. They were familiar, they were natural and to the scientists, they were a comforting sight.

‘I’ll get closer,’ said Ward. She angled the stick and the Griffen dipped a wing. It was a quiet, solar-powered vehicle and soon, they were soaring alongside the flock. Solomon could almost feel the ocean spray on his face.

‘These ae nice,’ said Sengupta. ‘Pelicans are not terribly wild birds.’

‘I love to watch their wings,’ said Dell. ‘Pure biomechanics in motion.

Solomon grinned again, remembering the time a young tigress drove a Humlander along the ruined roads of Turkey. That was not so much biomechanics in motion as an accident waiting to happen.

‘Is that our shadow?’ asked Sengupta and she pointed. There was a dark shape under the water, moving as fast and mirroring the trajectory of the flock.

‘I don’t think so,’ said Solomon. ‘Damaris…’

‘A whale!’ Dell shouted. ‘It’s a whale! I’m sure of it!’

Sengupta turned to look at him.

‘They still have whales?’

‘It’s all worth it then,’ said Dell. ‘Some of us hoped that whales would survive, even if we didn’t.’

The shape grew darker as if rising to the surface. Solomon frowned.

‘Damaris…’

‘Yuh, I’m going to get some altitude,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to be knocked out of the sky by a breaching humpback.’

‘Wait, I want to see it,’ said Dell.

‘I don’t,’ said Sengupta. ‘He can stay in the water where he belongs.’

Solomon leaned forward, pressed his forehead against the glass when suddenly, the shadow burst upward with a great spray of water. Ward threw her weight onto the stick and the helijet banked steeply, sending both men out of their seats to the cabin deck. Solomon scrambled to his feet and, through the window he caught a glimpse of white water and grey skin, a huge gaping mouth and rows of dagger teeth. The body of a pelican struck the glass and the Griffen bucked again before the great creature crashed back to the water to disappear beneath the waves.

‘That was no whale,’ muttered Ward.

‘What was it?’ Sengupta cried. ‘What was it?’

‘Physeter macrocephalus?’ Dell now. ‘Carcharodon carcharias? Both? Neither? An entirely new species? New Genus? New Family? New Order? I have no clue, Jian. It’s blown all my learning out the door.’

Solomon peered at the skies above, the water below.

‘So… where are the pelicans?’ he asked.” (pgs. 5-6)

This isn’t even to page 10 yet. To quote the back-cover blurb: “Meanwhile, Kirin, Kerris and the others journey to the mysterious city of Shin Sekai under the ‘protection’ of the Snow Guard [simian soldiers]. Here, they discover a gruesome secret at the heart of the Capuchin Council and the Court of the Rising Suns. With snow and Snow thwarting their every move, will the leaders of the Nine Thousand Dragons get out of this New World alive?”

The uncredited cover shows Major Ursa Laenskaya, Kirin’s former adjutant, now guardian of the Empress’ Seers and protector of Sha’Hadin; a snow leopardess.

Just read it. Snow in the Year of the Dragon comes to a satisfactory conclusion, but there will be a Book 5.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

The Great & the Small, by A. T. Balsara. Illustrated by the author.
London, Ontario, Common Deer Press, August 2017, hardcover, $31.99 (287 [+ 4] pages), Kindle $4.99.

Don’t be scared off by the price. There is also a trade paperback for $14.99. And most of you will get the Kindle edition, anyway.

The Great & the Small begins with a bustling marketplace scene:

“… in the weak December sun, the harbour city’s popular market was bustling with people looking for last minute presents. Middle-Gate Market was festive with its potted evergreen trees and strands of blinking coloured lights. Shiny red balls trembled on the boughs of the tinsel-dressed pinks as salt air gusted up the hill from the sea below and rattled the lights against the rafters where they were strung.

Watching over all of this, under the faux Gothic clock, stood Middle-Gate’s most famous tourist attraction: a brass statue modeled after the gargoyles of Paris’s Notre Dame cathedral. The monster stood on guard, a five-foot winged beast that stood meekly by while tourists thronged around it, snapped selfies, and rubbed the creature’s flared nostrils for luck.” (p. 9)

Then dips beneath it:

“That was the side of the market the tourists saw and the locals loved. They had no idea of the other side, the one that lay below. A distinct world, with its own ways, its own rules: a colony of rats.

Tunnels wound underneath the hill, tooth-carved thoroughfares, veiled from the eyes of humans. There were tunnels high up and tunnels below that snaked deep into the hill’s belly.

The Uppers were dug alongside the city’s swanky cafés and eateries, and food was never far away. But lower down the hill, below the heart of the market, it was different. Tangles of narrow tunnels limped through broken pipes, leaking sewers, and sodden earth, connecting scores of foul smelling, crumbling burrows.

No rat lived in the Lowers by choice. Except one, that is.” (ibid.)

This novel tells two connecting stories; that of the subterranean rats, focusing upon Fin, the young cousin of the rat community’s Beloved Chairman; and that of the aboveground humans, focusing upon young Ananda Blake, a schoolgirl who happens to be the daughter of Thomas Blake, a cancer researcher who experiments on rats.

The Great & the Small appears to be a macabre tale of naïveté leading inexorably to tragedy. It consists of many short chapters of four to a dozen pages, each introduced by a quotation from one of the journals of the Black Death:

“And now disaster is at hand…”

Gabriele de’ Mussis, lawyer, Italy, 1348

“A staggering number of people died…

In many towns only two people out of twenty survived.”

Jean de Venette, Carmelite friar, 1359-60

The implication is that modern civilization will be wiped out by a new Black Death, and that the rats will spread it deliberately; not knowing – or not caring – that it will wipe them out, too.

This germ warfare seems almost to be justified at first, through numerous examples of the humans’ mistreatment of the rats:

“Fin hunched, quaking in the corner of the box. Fish heads cascaded onto him as the box flaps were torn back. The two-leg was monstrous. It spied Fin, and its mouth gaped open in a roar, teeth bared. Its eyes bulged, red-veined and popping. It swung its arm down hard. Fin dived to one side. A knife whooshed over his head.

Again, the knife swung down. Fin leaped out of the box, onto the two-leg’s bare arm. He vaulted of, soaring through the air, and landed on the pavement. His lame paw bent under his weight. He fell, sprawling.” (p. 16)

Ananda, who seems to be a junior-high student, is having an equally hard time:

The bell rang, bringing Ananda back into the present moment. Looking down at her notebook, she saw that she had doodled the rat at the market. She ripped the paper off and bunched it up, gathered her books and, head down, beelined out the door.

Chris was waiting for her. He bumped her arm and scattered her books. ‘Hey, Rat-Girl!’ he said. His cronies snickered behind her.” (pgs. 44-45)

When the novel isn’t quoting journals of the Black Death, it is quoting Josef Stalin, identified as one of the biggest mass-murderers in history. Fin’s uncle being identified as the Beloved Chairman of the rats gives away that he, like Stalin, is not the kindly leader that he pretends to be. Fin discovers rats being experimented upon by Ananda’s father and wants to help them, but his uncle uses their suffering for his own plans:

“Fin said, ‘Papa! Please! I need to speak!’

Bothwell whirled around, his cheeks puffed out. ‘Oi! I am your superior, my lad!’

Fin pushed by him. ‘Oh shut up!   Papa! Rats are dying! They’re dying while we sit around scratching our fleas and talking about… about nothing!’ He burst into tears. ‘They can’t escape. They’ve tried and they can’t. A two-leg has them trapped, and –’

‘Silence!’ said Papa again.

Fin looked up, startled. His uncle gazed down at him from the carved platform.

‘Lesson Number One: ‘There will always be those who die. For the Common Good, we who lead must rise above emotion.’” (pgs. 89-90)

The Great & the Small (cover by the author) is a Young Adult novel. It is a grim novel, full of suffering and death. Will anyone survive, human or rat? Read it to find out.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Exploring New Places, edited by Fred Patten, is launching at Anthrocon 2018 in Pittsburgh, PA over the July 4th holiday weekend (July 5-8). The book can be pre-ordered from FurPlanet Productions. It will be for sale on the FurPlanet online catalogue afterwards.

Exploring New Places is an all-original anthology of 19 short stories and novelettes of anthropomorphic animals venturing into unfamiliar places, in their own city, on their own world, in space, or in a different dimension. This anthology is designed to appeal to fans of science-fiction and fantasy.

Whether by the power of music to “send you right out of this world”, or a rabbit spaceship captain searching for the creators of her species; a galactic police agent called to a new planet to solve murders, or alien furries who enter a human university; a gorilla student wandering off in a museum, or two-tailed squirrels confronting interstellar explorers; these are stories for your imagination and entertainment.

Contents:

To Drive the Cold Winter Away, by Michael H. Payne
In Search of the Creators, by Alan Loewen
The Rocky Spires of Planet 227, by Mary E. Lowd
Defiant, by Joshua Carpman
Why Indeed, by Pepper Hume
Come to Todor!, by Fred Patten
You Are Our Lifeboat, by Dan Leinir Turthra Jensen
The Animal Game, by Vixyy Fox
Ashland’s Fury, by MikasiWolf
Legacy, by M. R. Anglin
Umbra’s Legion: Shamblers of Woe, by Adam Baker
Umbra’s Legion: Where Pride Planted, by Geoff Galt
Beyond Acacia Ridge, by Amy Fontaine
One Day in Hanoi, by Thomas “Faux” Steele
Welcome, Furries, by Cathy Smith
Back Then, by Frank LeRenard
Tortoise Who, by Mary E. Lowd
I Am the Jaguar, by Cairyn
The Promise of New Heffe, by Kary M. Jomb

Price: $19.95. 401 pages. Wraparound cover by Demicoeur.   ISBN 978-1-61450-421-4.

– Fred Patten

• Pre Order on FurPlanet

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Solo. T.3, Le Monde Cannibale, by Oscar Martin. Illustrated.
Paris, Delcourt, October 2017, hardcover, €16,95 (123 [+ 5] pages).

Thanks, as always with French bandes dessinées, to Lex Nakashima for loaning this to me to review.

Or maybe not. Solo is a three-novel set, and I gave very good reviews to the first two albums. Solo is a bioengineered rat-man warrior in a post-apocalyptic world, trying to build a peaceful home for his wife Lyra and their children. It’s a Conan the Barbarian scenario, full of constant blood, ambushes, gladiatorial combats, rat-vs.-everybody-else warfare, and little else. The action and mood are violent and exhausting, but as long as each album ends with a “to be continued”, there is the hope of a happy ending.

Well, we can forget that about vol, 3, “The Cannibal World”. Solo returns home after an unsuccessful hunt to find it smashed open and Lyra and their three children kidnapped. He searches for them in the human meat farms. He always misses them by days. He’s constantly delayed by fights to the death with humans, monkeys, cats, and bloodthirsty mutants.

On page 67, Solo finds an orphaned puppy. He shifts from searching for his family to caring for the puppy, raising it to become a killer hound. When Solo is eventually killed, the dog avenges him. (But it’s only a momentary victory. We are left to hope that the dog will continue to survive as Solo had.)

Solo. Vol. 3, The Cannibal World isn’t bad, but it’s a real downer. Get it if you want to complete the trilogy, but prepare to be seriously depressed.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

Before you read about fun with the SF Bay Area Furries, remember why Pride matters. A local furry posted about being a target of an unprovoked homophobic attack this week with a photo of a black eye. He got a lot of support and hundreds of comments, but preferred to keep the post friends-only. And while there was one bad thing, expect hundreds of good things for everyone involved.

Now, here’s how to join us animals for one of our biggest events of the year. Let’s prowl and howl for an all-weekend rager!

• Friday, June 22: So Stoked for Pride with Frolic. It’s a special edition of Neonbunny’s legendary furry dance party. (DNA Lounge, 375 11th St, 7PM).
• Saturday, June 23: Rave & Sweets. Furry DJs, rave music and yummy sweets, hosted by MDKai. (Neck of the Woods, 406 Clement St, 8PM.)
• Sunday, June 24th: SF Pride parade furry float. (Embarcadero to Civic Center. Parade starts 10:30AM, furries later in the afternoon.)

SF Pride has had rising furry attendance over several years. More than 70 furries are expected, half in fursuit (a real show-off occasion!) There will be national media coverage (a minute on TV among 280 other groups), and a crowd of over 100,000 watchers.

The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the hearts of the fandom, with likely the most dense furry population in the world. They have been active here since the 1980’s, and took part in Pride several times in the early 2000’s. They re-appeared (I’ve been organizing since 2012) with a float starting in 2014. Their interest starts with a hobby – but surveys find roughly 2/3 identify as LGBT.  With ultimate creativity to make your ideal identity, it’s about being as free as you can be! (See bottom for a timeline with links to their past participation.)

IMPORTANT – the float can’t happen without your help!

 

WE CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT VOLUNTEERS. They monitor the marchers and wheels of the vehicle, so nobody turns into road pizza. Right now we need YOU so we aren’t short. The training is easy and online: 1) Watch a short Youtube video, 2) Answer a few questions, 3) Confirm.

Read these instructions to help: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z49_DL3_3ZU-Og9VaqP_c998_5gNFLYQcCfkRn00Qxk/edit?usp=sharing

New members, be ready to march. Space to ride on the float isn’t guaranteed, it was a reward for the fundraiser (we made the goal with matching from Spottacus).

INFO TO JOIN THE PARADE:

 

GROUPS: There may be planning on the fly, so keep in touch and check for updates.

• Telegram chat: https://t.me/joinchat/B81p1hDA-YHmjrxNVxaUJw
• Meetup page: https://www.meetup.com/SFBayAreaFurs/events/251103810/

HELP: Check for answers below or in the groups before contacting.

• Zoren for donors (@ZorenManray on Telegram or Twitter or [email protected])
• Roman for volunteers (@RomanOtter on Twitter, same on Telegram and most things)
• Groggy (@GroggyFox on Telegram or @Grogginator)
• Patch (@patchmutt on Telegram, or Twitter PM’s).

MAP: Important locations you need to know.

Arrival on Sunday: BART riders, exit at Embarcadero.

Drivers: go to Moscone Center garage, 255 3rd Street. (That’s the middle of the route, for easiest walk to the prep area and back from the endpoint. It’s a 15 minute walk each way.) 1 day parking is $29.  BE AWARE there’s a Giants game the same day.

Marchers and volunteers: Arrive at SF Pride parade assembly point N2, at 123 Main Street. We’re Contingent #175.  Be no earlier than 10am, and no later than 1pm. Everyone should dress in animal theme, ears and tails. If you’re a volunteer, avoid head coverings to keep perfect vision.

Watchers: Be anywhere along the Market Street parade route, and the parade starts at 10:30. Remember, furries will be later in the day, possibly well after 1. If you want to attend the gated Celebration in Civic Center until 6PM, check the Pride website for details. (No bins are allowed inside.)

Fursuiters: No bins! Soft foldable bags only.  Due to space, hard bins are NOT ALLOWED on the parade float. A backpack is OK for small personal items. Consider changing on-street at the float (many do.) A van may be a base for changing or limited storage at Moscone Center garage, 255 3rd Street.

RIDING ON THE FLOAT IS NOT GUARANTEED unless you paid the GoFundMe campaign that earned a spot. Those who start on the float, stay on – it won’t stop. Everyone else be ready to walk the route. Consider outdoor footpaws and partialling.

This isn’t cushy or casual.  It’s on the street, in the sun, and on the move. Be rested and hydrated and stick together. There’s no lounge, the crowds are wild, and it’s a show that needs exertion, so be ready to work it for the crowd!

Parade details: In previous years the real start was hours after the official time.  Be patient, but don’t be late, the parade can’t wait!

Marchers, watch your spacing as a group, and where the float is. Try not to clump up, leave gaps or fall behind. The front-facing banner is where the crowds first see us, but active performing close to the barriers is good too. Use the whole street between the float and crowds on BOTH sides. Pose, give hugs and work it! Look for TV cameras on the right side after Fremont Street (a few blocks from the start.)

Parade length is around 45 minutes – 1 hour. At the drop-off on 8th Street, bags and personal items on the float will be handed back to you.

Refreshments: Bottled Water and Sports Drinks.  Please bring your own snacks or extra water.

Crash space and dinner:  Relay (@relayraccoon on Telegram or Twitter) can host overnight in SF. We can meet at his den after the parade ends to go out for dinner at Picaro, on 16th street near Valencia.

SUITERS, for another changing option consider asking Relay to assemble at his den and leave your stuff. You can wear your fursuit on BART to the parade (he’s a 10 minute walk from 16th.)

Conduct tips: San Francisco gets furries, so be fabulous! Pride was born out of protest and some will let their freak flag fly. Organizers reserve the right to deny participation to anyone (it’s never happened). Contact if your costume may be questionable but the only rule is: Be nice and safe. At large urban events there have been incidents like fursuit thefts or hostility, so stay smart and buddy up. Riding BART in fursuit can be intense with crowds, but it’s doable. They love it just like crowds on the street love fursuit photos.

A LOOK BACK:

 

• 2017 – San Francisco Pride had a furry float after they took the previous year off, and this time it was a Burning Man art car.
• 2016 – Bay Area Furries did a booth and fursuiting instead of a float. They also had two well-attended furmeets for movie screenings (Fursonas and Furries: a documentary) at Frameline Film Fest, the oldest ongoing festival for LGBT cinema.
• 2015 – Return of the furry float. Elsewhere, Silicon Valley Pride invited furries and Fangcon and FWA sponsored furries in their local parades. It was a huge year because same sex marriage bans were overturned across the USA.
• 2014 – The first furry float at SF Pride since 2005, putting them in front of national media and huge crowds.
• 2013 – Growing attendance for informal fursuiting meets at SF Pride.
• 2012 – The first time I organized and covered fursuiting meets at SF Pride (I don’t believe they were active for a long time previously).
• Bay Area Furries were in SF Pride in 2002, 2004 and 2005. Tom Howling posted parade video from 2002 – the first appearance of furries at a Pride event anywhere as far as we know.

Tom Howling said about 2002: “I was one of the (minor) organizers for that, and want to remind people that there was significant pushback from within the furry community — including among some who consider themselves “leaders” — to prevent us from doing this. They felt that associating with such an event would pigeonhole us as The Gay, or sex-crazed, or whatever. At times it was quite a fight. Sometimes you just have to just ignore and contradict “leaders”.”

UPDATE: the anon local fur who was attacked responded: “Hey it’s important to note that there has been an uptick in hate crimes targeting gays. Obviously since the election it’s been up in general, but in this month, pride month- I know of three other guys who got beat up in SOMA. I think it would be cool if you mention them as well. My situation is the 4th that I know of in the past week.”

Building a tighter group is a good way to help.

There’s all the info you need to be ready. Come out and bring your friends, this will be the best weekend of the year!

Come my pelted pals, gather around… and look back to the distant, dusty past Before Furry Cons.  A time when seeing a sexy “fursuit crush” in public was as unimaginable as looking at them on a phone in your pocket. (A phone with the brightness dialed all the way down, of course.)

It was the 1980’s, when apparently everything was written by eye-blasting lasers with no dial-down button, so wear your raddest shades:

Why dial it down when you can be this fresh?

Let’s meet a pioneer. It’s not a label anyone chooses, but what else do you call the first fursuiter at the first furry convention? (ConFurence 0… actually a test before the first one). And they weren’t just a generic cute thing you could see at Disneyland, but a *look away kids!* pleather-clad dominatrix deer. Schwing!

Astonishing vintage VHS footage of this Bigfoot-like creature was unearthed by Changa Lion, archivist for the Prancing Skiltaire (the furry house run by the founders of ConFurence in Southern California.) When Changa posted Hilda’s 1989 con video to Youtube, it went viral outside of fandom (with over 75,000 views to date). Then he found an even earlier one that few have seen until now.

• Gizmodo: This Dominatrix Deer Dancing at an ’80s Furry Convention Is What the Internet Is All About
• Daily Dot: Here’s some amazing raw footage from the world’s first furry convention

In a way, these are like the Declaration of Sex-Positive Furry Independence. (Obligatory disclaimer for subscribers to the squeaky-clean side of fandom: that’s just one kind of furry, not all of them.)

Hilda the Bambioid leapt forth as a very adult fawn, fully-born from the mind of a creator, like none seen before. (OK, it was a fan tribute to artist Jerry Collins, but still.) Who would dare be a sexy furry in 1988? It was a Maculate Conception for a new breed of costuming, with the face of a cute cartoon, and the legs of your most guilty fantasy. (Of course a deer fursona comes with amazing legs!)

With wiggly, jiggly tail-shaking moves, Hilda danced onto a new frontier of fandom, blazing a path to Furry Trash Mountain and it’s eye-popping 1990’s peaks, like Silfur Bunny’s show at Anthrocon 1997. (I hope this stays classic for the 2020’s. Keep Furry Weird!)

Hufff… I want cottonballs on my face:

There may have been others besides Hilda – but not many. I’m unaware of any earlier ones documented and specifically furry (not theme park mascot-style or sci-fi con cosplay). Shawn Keller is credited as one of the first fursuiters in this history vid from Culturally F’d, but in the 1990’s. This article cites Hilda and quotes a lot from me and Fred Patten (“furry’s favorite historian”) about fursuit history and industry:

• Vice: Who Makes Those Intricate, Expensive Furry Suits?

At the time, most fur-meet activity involved stuff like quietly sharing sketchbooks around a table, or passing around comics. Costuming was not the photogenic face of fandom then. Fred Patten has greymuzzle criticism about how fandom has changed from a quiet mouse into the roaring party monster it is today, with fursuits on top (I’m OK with being on bottom.) But I see the rise of costuming as simply the maturation of the skills, resources, and opportunities of the industrious makers who can make your animal self as huggable and tactile as the word “furry” itself.

In the 1980’s, you had to just Figure It Out and Do It Yourself.  None of it was made-to-order and nobody could do it as a fan-to-fan career. They just didn’t have access to the fur, plans, methods, info channels and inspirations that we do now. Cottage industry develops with scale, so now fandom has grown enough to do what people wanted then. The appearance of domination is just because costuming is a live, visual media; I don’t see it as takeover, because art and writing are healthier than ever too. Don’t hate what Hilda helped start when she dared to kick a hoof through that door.

Here’s a classic photo at the crossroads of fandom old and new:

“Fred Patten becomes editor of Rowrbrazzle at the LASFS Clubhouse in January 1989. Present are former editor Marc Schirmeister, and Bob Hill as a Bambioid.” Photo from kayshapero.net

Hilda was, as the headline says, the self-made art of Robert Hill. He was a cartoonist and a professional Disney character costumer who came in at the ground floor of the 1970’s fandom.  But wait, this isn’t just ancient history – he’s around right now, and although perhaps reputed to be a bit reclusive or hard to get an interview with, I got one for you!

That comes in part 2. While you’re waiting, browse his (very adult, fetishy, and hot) Fur Affinity gallery, or his Wiki that mentions some of his successes in getting media notice. Some was for costuming, and some for art (like in the badly intentioned, but well exposed) MTV Sex2K documentary “Plushies and Furries.” This furry doesn’t just follow others as a simple fan!

• Robertbear on FurAffinity
• Wikifur: Robert Hill

Here’s a 2016 Fur Affinity gallery post from him that hints about what to expect in Part 2.

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

Welcome to Bessie, of Marfedblog, a comics review and criticism site. There’s furry stuff there, and much more, with devoted curation by a fan doing exactly what they love. If you like this, give it a follow. And expect more syndicated content from Marfedblog reposted here. (-Patch)

Growing up on a diet of sci-fi and fantasy, transformation stories were the ones I loved and could always rely on the writers of most shows to fall back on one of it’s most loved tropes. For me they were always the most frustrating though, as characters spent their time trying either freaking or trying to change back, usually both. Frustratingly they almost never explored a person staying that way, gaining a new perspective on the world. It’s something I’d find renewed interest in when encountering the Furry Fandom and finally found quite literally in the works of Lobst, a furry comics artist who uses their anthropomorphic characters and an individual take on magical realism to express their unique experiences as a trans person.

As with the bulk of their work two of my favourites, both adult comics, prominently feature transgender characters and story lines. A Slightly Different Role follows the exploits of two huskies, Connor and Alex, the latter of which with the aid of a suitably gothic book of curses, magically endows the other with a vagina. The second, more science-fiction orientated That Curious Sensation takes the subject in an entirely different, rarely explored direction. Distracted from work by unwanted erections red panda Clover strikes upon the idea of nullification, quickly achieving his goal with an easily obtainable injection. In both instances the initial transformation is dealt with quickly and often humorously, instead shifting the focus onto how characters react and adapt to the changes, rather than the change itself as a way to explore other parts of a trans individuals experiences and struggles beyond the post surgery aspects that a lot of mainstream representations fixate upon.

Lobst tells stories and presents their trans and gender fluid characters in an interesting and entertaining manner without the fetishization often present in a lot furry comics staring trans characters. Their artwork explores them in entirely different ways, and using the fantasy elements as a springboard to ask more intimate and rarely asked questions about individuals in the trans community through anthropomorphic characters. Despite the ears, tails and fur, the extended cast appears on the page fully rounded and human. Ultimately what sets Lobst’s work apart is the warmth and tenderness it exudes in both the ways their characters interact and the playful way they write about a complicated and multifaceted subject, tackled both playfully and honestly.

We had a chat:

Has art always been a part of you life or something picked up later? How did your art change after coming into contact with the furry fandom?

I’ve always drawn artwork, although it took quite a while for me to start developing original ideas that spread out into stories.  I was a furry-in-denial for a very long time, since the “mainstream” of it — at the time, comics like Sabrina Online and Jack — either seemed too cloying or edgy for my tastes. It took a long time for me to realise that like any other fandom, furries comprise a wide spectrum of interests, so there was a gradual shift from anthro-animal comics like Cigarro & Cerveja/Living In Greytown to Gene Catlow/Kit & Kay Boodle to Associated Student Bodies, Circles, and the webcomics by my friend Moult, after which I spent yet another very-long-time producing furry media “ironically” in groan worthy “extreme” ways. And I think it was only around 2007 or so (yes, seriously) when I started actually looking at furry art, that I learned how to successfully draw furry snouts; until that point a besnouted face was seriously just a box in front of the standard comic-artist human face shield.

When you first started out making comics did you feel there was a lack of them out there for, or about trans and non-binary genders? Do you feel there are more online webcomics than in mainstream comics?

Oh, one of my first inspirations was about the wealth of gender swap story arcs in webcomics, and how I felt they handled the subject inappropriately. Not that I considered them trans-phobic (even though many if them, in retrospect, probably were); it’s just that I was baffled at why none of the characters, at all, wanted to stay in their altered state. So I made my own story, which ended up being a total mess, but it also ended up inspiring my real-life transition in the first place, so.

When I first started my transition in 2004, I remember being severely disheartened at the apparent lack of trans voices in webcomics, considering how accessible the storytelling format is to anyone with pencil, paper, and a scanner. Thankfully, these days there are trans-assembled webcomics everywhere you look, due in no small part to how gender is discussed today compared to back then.

There are more trans-focused stories in webcomics today than there ever have been in mainstream comics. I don’t follow comics very closely, but you just have to look at the rest of media to see where depictions of trans people are at in the public consciousness. Netflix, the only major studio I’m aware of which hires trans actors to play trans people, focuses exclusively on the post-surgery experience of trans women who pass, when — compared to the rest of the trans experience — not only is it just one small part of a trans woman’s overall journey, but it’s also a situation most often occupied by trans women who can afford surgery, voice lessons, facial feminization, laser hair removal, and so on. And this isn’t to trivialise the struggles those women face, of course; it’s just one of the few pieces of transness that holds appeal for cis people. Compared to the proliferation of stories by and about trans/nonbinary people (like Drop-Out, Crossed Wires, Electricopolis, and Go Ye Dogs!), there’s really no contest.

What reaction do you get to your own comics either within the furry fandom or from readers in general?

I’d call it generally positive, with the caveat that I’ve long since stopped seeking approval from non-furry spaces, and even from furry spaces where trans-phobic language isn’t frowned upon; I essentially only post my art to my website and a few Twitter/Tumblr accounts: some private, some not. I’ve never been a popular artist, but I’ve gotten comfortable enough with occupying my specific niche that I’m fairly sure at this point I’d reject popularity if it was thrust upon me. (My chronic anxiety is a pretty big factor in this, too.)

My self-promotion skills are virtually nonexistent, but through sheer word-of-mouth I’ve gotten a couple of diehard fans, which — considering it’s been multiple years since I’ve committed to an ongoing webcomic project — is baffling to me. I was approached for the first time by one at BLFC this year; they requested an autograph, much to my surprise. I was so taken aback I responded by writing my name alongside “thanks for the company!”, which, in retrospect, is ludicrously depressing — but we laughed it off immediately afterwards, thankfully.

A few of your more recent comics, definitely “Adjustment to an Emulated Brain” have felt very personal. Do you find making these kinds of stories to be cathartic for yourself?

Oh, catharsis is the main reason I produce media these days. The inspiration for the main character of that comic — my main fursona, these days — was my persistent desire, as a heavily dysphoric genderless trans person, to find some practical way out of the ill-proportioned body I’ve been stuck occupying for my entire life. Not that I consider myself a diehard transhumanist or anything; this fantasy has also been explored (in other media I’ve privately written and not fully developed yet, all starring different self-inserts) in the forms of virtual reality, magic bodyswapping rituals, reincarnation, and good old-fashioned TF.

An aside: Since Moments From My Adjustment is one of my most viral comics to date, I think I should note what I consider one of the most important rules of storytelling: If an idea resonates with you, as a creator, there’s absolutely an audience for it. Everything I’ve written and drawn since 2010 (and there’s a lot of stuff that doesn’t make it out) has been for one reason: “This is a neat concept, and I want to draw it.”

Although your work has strong fantasy elements such as magic and TF triggers etc, the reactions and situations your characters find themselves in are often very grounded, what appeals to you about this when you are writing?

Magical realism has always appealed to me far more than fantasy or sci-fi settings, mostly because as fictional worlds get further removed from modern society, they start feeling smaller to me. There’s also a believably factor: setting a supernatural story in a realistic world begs all sorts of questions about why/how the supernatural elements are able to remain hidden, especially in the modern world where information is so easily spread. This sounds like a drawback, but if you’re able to pull off a convincing explanation, presto: the possibilities within your fictional world have suddenly expanded dramatically!

Settings like these also allow for your characters to undergo realistic struggles. The Persona series of videogames, for instance, make it a point to keep their protagonists as ordinary as possible, in the process incorporating fantasy-scary story elements like angry gods, shadow dimensions, and arcane magic (all of which are too heavily-caricatured to take seriously), side-by-side with actually-scary situations like family drama, academic success, and financial trouble. Even non-magical sci-fi benefits heavily if it takes place in the very near future, I think.

A lot of your characters come into contact with each other in various comics or pictures, how important is world building to you in this way and how do you go about it?

It’s important for me that internal crossovers remain plausible, by which I mean that there can’t be more than one connection between previously-separate groups of people, and multiple separate connections (e.g. people getting married) cannot form between those groups afterward — otherwise you run into the small-world situation I described earlier; where everyone’s related to each other and meaningful character change is impossible.

An example: I don’t think this has been formally revealed yet, but Grace (from FoRC) lives in the house That Curious Sensation takes place in. Supernatural stuff briefly happens in what little of FoRC I produced, and TCS hinges on the existence of a unique machine which, setting aside that it’s in a silly sex-comic, harbors significant implications for the fate of gender and physical sex in human society. For Grace to be present during both events, those two situations have to be connected for a narratively consistent reason, related to her in some way; otherwise, it’d be just too much of a coincidence to take seriously.

What would be your fave TF trigger? Do you have a preference for technology or magic or does it all depend on the story and characters?

As far as TF triggers go, a couple of favorites come to mind: first, the idea of being surrounded by people with body shapes that you either explicitly or implicitly desire for yourself, having them overwhelm you, and when they pull back, you’ve somehow become one of them. Another comes from a novel I read last year, “The Showroom: Relationships and Robotics”, where no physical shapeshifting takes place; rather, the person realizes they experience life more vividly with their consciousness processed through a robotic shell, which casts doubt on their own identity as a person. That kind of character dynamic and the internal identity struggle is what I love most about TF as a concept; without it (and there’s more than plenty of TF art that assumes watching the TF sequence itself is enough), TF isn’t nearly as interesting to me.

As for my own work, I definitely prefer technology to magic or spirituality, if only because sci-fi pop culture is in the DNA of actual scientific advancement. Not that I expect my work to play any kind of role in the development of real medical techniques, but well, it couldn’t hurt for an amateur like me to put the ideas out there in a format people might want to read, could it?

A few of your comics have characters only expressing themselves in pictographs, did you find it challenging to convey a story and characters reactions using only them? Were there any first draft ideas that you decided would be too difficult to express in this way?

Pictographs are a great way to set your storytelling apart from others, and a fun challenge; primarily in how it encourages you to tell your story economically/with as few word-balloons as possible. I have an awful habit of getting wordy with my dialogue, so it’s refreshing every now and then to pull away from a panel and see a critical concept expressed in a word balloon people can process in half a second.

I will say, however, that reader feedback is essential for this. That Curious Sensation features a moment where Clover is rejecting being touched; apparently a pictograph of a stop sign comes across as more playful (which is what I was going for) than a hand miming the “stop” signal.

Beyond your Patreon comic, are there any ideas you have for the future in terms of comics? Are there any subjects or ideas you’d like to explore in the future?

Oh, plenty! The most important thing I want to do in the future, however, is give people the tools and vocabulary to deal with various kinds of dysphoria; to let people, if they feel out-of-place in uncommon ways, know that it’s OK to explore, soak into, and even publicly express those feelings; that if this world feels like it wasn’t built for you, you’re not alone; you can find friendship and comfort in the company of others who feel the same.

Lobst’s art can be found at lobstworks.com

– Bessie

What got me into furries was classic and TV cartoons and underground animation, and adventure and fantasy novels (Redwall, Spellsinger). I’d buy them by the armload at the used book store. It was all cool to me whether it came with critical approval or not. I just craved more. A good way to get more is DIY-style and from fandom. I found that in small doses with zines in the 1990’s.

Superhero comics were never my thing (I think the 90’s was a bad time for those). Then I found some indies where muscle-people were as seldom seen as they were for a real bookworm. Indies were a step closer to animation and fantasy stuff I loved. It still didn’t exactly register that there was a divide between supposed lowbrow and highbrow comics. I didn’t care that Art Spiegelman’s Maus got a Pulitzer prize and helped turn “graphic novels” into a regular section in book stores. I did get interested by their connection to that energy of zines.

Now I’d say “graphic journalism” (Maus, Joe Sacco’s Palestine) is a bit of an inspiration. It turned many heads this year when the New York Times got a Pulitzer for a nontraditional graphic story, instead of editorial cartooning.

Would you be into seeing illustrated stories like that here? I’d love to gradually give it a try. Not yet, but if a story really demands it. Up to now this site has been almost exclusively text writing. The visuals are really important and those usually aren’t custom made. But I have the power to give it to you!

Tiny Paws con is getting a little of it. They asked me to make some art, so here it is. If you’re near the con, you should come say hi in August!

The actual Tiny Paws mascot

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Once a Dog, by Shaune Lafferty Webb.
Capalaba, Qld, Australia, Jaffa Books, May 2018, trade paperback, $17.00 (319 pages), Kindle $4.15.

Once a Dog is told from the viewpoint of Jesse B. Collie, a young dog on the farm of Mister Overlord. He is no longer a puppy, but he is still too young to be trained to work like Mother, an experienced sheepdog, so he romps happily around the farmyard with his littermates Lil, Zac, Pixie, and Toby. Mister and Missus Overlord are too busy to play with him, but Oldmister Overlord – Mister Overlord’s father, now retired – plays fetch and other games with him.

The first chapter establishes the dogs’ vocabulary. The sun and moon are hot-ball and cold-ball; day and night are bright-light and slight-light; humans are uprights; dogs are packers; sheep are dumbfluffs; barnyard fowls are jumpfly-gabblegabbles, and so on.

One night there is a commotion in the farmhouse, and the next day Oldmister Overlord does not come out to play with Jesse. The reader can tell that he has died the night before, but Jesse only knows that he does not come out any more. Maybe he went away in the strange rolling-house (an ambulance or hearse) that came that night. When Mister and Missus Overlord soon leave in Truck, and Missus Overlord doesn’t close the farm gate tightly, Jesse sets out to follow them and find Oldmister Overlord. They lead him farther than he expects, into the nearby small town which has a bewildering confusion of uprights.

“He had made a big mistake and strayed into hostile territory. And for that, there was only one solution. He’d just have to try harder to smell his way out. So he lowered his nose to the ground, but that prompted an immediate sneeze. Just as he’d feared, the jumble of smells was awfully confusing. And he couldn’t trust his hearing all that well, either. His desperate attempts to single out the unique frequency of any one upright among the discordant sounds around him failed repeatedly, leaving him no choice but to continue down the road almost completely exposed and defenseless. Those packers who had signed at the bush [dogs that had urinated on a bush] had passed this way, too; he could still smell them sure enough.” (p. 29)

Jesse tracks Mister and Missus Overlord into the church where Oldmister Overlord’s funeral is being held. Mister Overlord leads Jesse into Truck (it’s the first time he’s ever been in Truck; he likes the wind blowing through his fur even more than playing ball with Oldmister) and drives him home. Jesse tells his siblings the exciting things that he saw and did, and when Zac doesn’t believe him, he jumps over the fence to prove it to Zac.

“With a loud sigh, Jesse turned around again and began the trek uphill to join his brother. Once at the top of the rise, he sat, dropped the ball to the ground by his paws and studied the way ahead. There it was again – that field with all those identical and evenly spaced tree stumps in the valley below.

‘Oh, that,’ Jesse said, feigning disinterest although he was in fact elated at having remembered the way after all. A shiver ran down his spine, setting his hair on end. ‘It’s nothing. There’s no one in that field. I already looked.’

‘There is!’ Zac snapped. ‘The rolling-house that just passed us went inside. It’s over there now, beside that small house at the back of the field.’” (p. 53)

Then, with the beginning of Chapter 4 on page 61, the novel takes a completely unexpected turn that I can’t reveal without giving away a gigantic spoiler! I will just say that Jesse is thrown into a very confusing situation.

“‘[…] Personally, I think you’re a fine fellow, who through no fault of your own, became caught up in an unfortunate circumstance.’

Jesse had no clue what the one-eyed packer was talking about. He pawed at the ground in frustration.

‘Let me put it to you directly, then,’ Scratcher said, rolling onto his paws. ‘Do you stand for or against the amendment?’

Jesse’s knees threatened to buckle again and something inside his stomach began to somersault. ‘I don’t even understand it.’

[…]

‘What’s happening?’ Jesse whimpered.

‘Revolution,’ the big hound replied, then jerked his head around to survey each ridge, long ears swinging unrestrained. ‘Those who support the amendment and those who oppose it are about to engage in battle. We’re better off here.’ He turned to Jesse. ‘Unless you want to take a side.’

‘Who, me?’ Jesse howled. ‘This is your fight,’ he said, turning to Scratcher. ‘I want nothing to do with it.’

‘Too late for that,’ Sherlock replied. We’re all in it now.’

Jesse planted his rear on the ground. ‘I have no intention of fighting for something I don’t even understand,’ he snapped.

The big hound’s brow lifted. ‘Good Havens, little fellow, did you think I meant we should get in there and scrap with the rest of them? No, no. I simply meant that we will be at the mercy of whichever side wins the day.’” (pgs. 178-181)

Once a Dog (cover by Lew Viergacht) has an ending that is impossible to guess in advance. The title is part of a phrase continuously cited: “Once a dog, always a dog”. Don’t believe it.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Infurno: The Nine Circles of Furry Hell, edited by Thurston Howl. Illustrated by Drkchaos.
Lansing, MI, Thurston Howl Publications, April 2018, trade paperback, $14.99 (278 [+ 1] pages).

Infurno certainly looks like a descent into Furry Hell. It’s printed in white type on black paper – all 278 pages of it. The full-page illustrations by Drkchaos (identified in the blurb as Joseph Chou) add to the book’s grim aspect.

Actually, Infurno makes a good companion volume to the publisher’s Arcana: A Tarot Anthology, edited by Madison Scott-Clary and also illustrated by Joseph Chou. But where that anthology was weird-horror, this one is more horror-disgusting.

Infurno presents 14 stories themed around the Nine Circles of Dante’s Inferno, divided by a Prologue, eight Interludes, and an Epilogue; unsigned but presumably by the anthology’s editor, Thurston Howl. There are one each for Limbo, Lust, Heresy, and Fraud, and two for Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Violence, and Treachery.

Kyle (sub, jackal) and Terry (dom, squirrel), two gay lovers working alone at Feral Electronics at night, are summoned to the building’s ninth basement floor. (The building doesn’t have nine basements.) There Atha, a mysterious gazelle, leads them further down a staircase.

Atha, their guide into the Inferno, tells them they must witness the final memories of 14 damned souls. Some of the Interludes are more horrific than the stories:

“A three-headed dog as large as a skyscraper loomed over the ocean. The waves themselves, though high and mobile, were thick and viscous, oily yet solid. Breaking the surface all around the dog were drowning souls. When one would breach the surface right below one of the massive heads, the head would swoop down and grab the unfortunate spirit by its head, fling it around it, chew it, and swallow it.” (p. 48) {The sea is shit, not water.]

In “Blur” by Weasel (Limbo), they meet Ely, a white lab mouse who has gotten sick of always giving blow jobs for money and tries to leave that life. “But you can’t stay a whore forever. I started getting tired of sucking dick. The taste of cum started to burn my stomach each time I swallowed.” (p. 18)

In “A New Toy” by Tarl “Voice” Hoch (Lust), Anderson, a fox pornography store owner, is offered ten new Lovecraftian sex toys. “The first impression the toy gave me was of something vagina-pink that I couldn’t make heads of tails of. There were multiple holes that looked like insertion points for a penis, but their locations didn’t make any logical sense.” (p. 38) Moral: don’t stick your prick into any hole if you don’t know where it leads.

In “Down Among the Damned” by R. S. Pyne (Gluttony), Ray Drayner (fox) is a character like Mr. Creosote in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, but where Monty Python played the ridiculously-obese Mr. Creosote for laughs, Ray is an overweight unfunny sadist. “At close to two hundred and eighty pounds, a beleaguered heart registered its distress with the first in a series of minor cardiac arrests. Ray ignored his doctor’s advice to cut down on rich, fatty foods and smoking, give up alcohol, and take more exercise. The glutton’s mantra ruled: life was too short to eat salad and low-fat dressing, or walk anywhere – pass the heavy cream and maple syrup glazed bacon bits.” (p. 52)

“Go Nuts for Donuts” by Jensyn Grayves (Gluttony) features Mike, a raccoon who seems more of a slob and a snob than a glutton. He won’t give any of his company’s leftover donuts to the homeless men (cats) in the company parking lot (“If Brianna wanted to give free food and coffee to these disgusting, lazy, homeless people that couldn’t be bothered to hold down a job, let her. He wouldn’t stoop so low to support their poor life choices.” –p. 68), so when they kill him for not giving them any donuts, his soul goes to the second level of Hell. (Huh?)

“The Eye of Aquana” by Faolan (Greed) features two otter thieves who, when they aren’t stealing, engage in graphic homosexual pleasures. The reader must guess which of them will come to a final memory.

In “The Cold” by Cedric Bacon (Greed), two friends, Masterson (husky) and Bones (setter) go prospecting for gold in the far North. They strike it rich, but Bones gets frostbitten and they delay leaving for town until a blizzard traps them in their cabin. As they wait, Masterson becomes greedy.

“As he looked at Bones, Masterson realized their partnership was always one with a singular purpose. And as far as he was concerned, that purpose was fulfilled when they found the gold. It was Bones who had not held up his end of the bargain, not Masterson.

He glanced down at his feet and saw the sack filled with their gold. It was no longer a matter of dividing it fifty-fifty. Masterson felt he was owed much more than just half. He had a mind to take all of Bones’ share, and he was more than tempted to wake the setter and tell him just that.” (p. 102)

What will Masterson do, and what will happen to him?

“A Cat in Hell’s Chance” by James Hudson (Wrath) cleverly presents a stereotyped animated cartoon cat-&-mouse situation in a more realistic scenario. Jim (cat), crazy with hatred, is determined to kill Terry (mouse) with stacks of dynamite:

“The thought of Terry’s face had thrown Jim into another downward spiral of despair and self-loathing. Even as he imagined his victory, he could not help but linger on the memories of his many defeats. Whether the threat made against Terry had been a legal, verbal, or physical one, he had always been able to side-step it with a grin on his face as if it had been nothing. Jim couldn’t imagine anyone sidestepping an explosion.” (p. 114)

In “Je Reviendrai” by Kirisis (Wrath), Georgia (red panda), an unpleasant woman, is determined to force her philandering stoat husband to submit to her will. This story goes on after the damned soul’s death.

“Metal Hellth” by Ferric (Heresy) features Justin, a Canadian lynx punk rock musician whose act is simulating a black mass on stage including a flaming summoning of Satan. When he dies of a heroin overdose, he finds himself on an infernal stage having to perform for a real devilish audience:

“This was his punishment. For all eternity, he’d be forced to sing the same song as he got burned alive in painful agony, barely even uttering a word as the flames surrounded him in their unforgiving heat and scorching pain. All for writing a few songs about how great this place was.” (p. 167)

“In the Name of Science” by Allison Thai (Violence) is narrated by Sorae Ishii (weasel), in Japan in 1941 who is invited to join his father’s research team in Manchukuo. The World War II German medical experiments on concentration camp prisoners is well-known (Dr. Josef Mengele was called “the Angel of Death”), but the similar Japanese medical experiments in Manchukuo are ignored by comparison. At the end of the war Ishii commits what he says is honorable suicide rather than trying to survive in disguise or in hiding. The reader is left to assume what happens to his soul.

“A Soul Removed” by Stephen Coghlan (Violence) focuses upon Seers, a teenage bull terrier. It seems at first that his sin is Lust, but this is the Circle of those who died in Violence. Guess how.

In “Waiting” by TJ Minde (Fraud), Page (mouse) and Xander (skunk) are gay lovers. Xander thinks only of having sex together, while Page would rather go out on dates and postpone the sex. Guess where the Fraud is.

In “Those Delicate Fingers” by Hypetaph (Treachery), Maverick, a werewolf, decides to make his Nora, his girlfriend, his next victim. That’s treachery. Of course, the story has a surprise.

“The Night Betrayed” by Jaden Drackus (Treachery) features Shadow, a black jaguar assassin serving in the Nightguard of a medieval Emperor. He sends Shadow and his mate, Ra’jarr (caracal) to eliminate the Countess of Tornheim (sika deer), a sadist who has been killing her subjects and may be plotting against him – treachery, for sure.

After this, Kyle’s and Terry’s tour is supposed to take them to the pleasanter realms of Purrgatorio and Pawradiso – but not unmarked.

Infurno is a furry horror anthology that really delivers.

– Fred Patten

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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Longtails: The Storms of Spring, by Jaysen Headley. Map.
Orlando, FL, the author, April 2018, trade paperback, $14.95 (338 [+ 1] pages), Kindle $9.99.

“In a not too distant future, humanity is extinct. The world is now ruled by animals who wield swords, magic and technology to create and protect vast empires. As darkness grows on the horizon, an unlikely hero will be chosen to defend this new world.” (blurb)

I am immediately turned off by this. It’s the difference between the book and the movie of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH/The Secret of NIMH. In the book, things are accomplished through Science. The mice and rats have their intelligence raised through scientific experimentation, but are otherwise unchanged. The new society that the rats build is based on what they need. It doesn’t have lots of electric lights because the rats are used to living without lights. The rats don’t wear clothes because they have fur. They scurry on all fours. Nicodemus, their leader, is a wise rat who studies much. In the movie, the rats walk upright and have built a hidden imitation human town with lots of lighting. They dress in medieval clothes, and Nicodemus is a wizard who can work Magic.

Both the book and the movie have their fans. If you liked the movie, you will probably love Longtails, Book One: The Storms of Spring.

“Biological warfare and radiation during World War 4 have had surprising effects on the creatures of the world. Some for the better. Some for the worse. Raccoons scour the countryside for motorbike parts. Squirrels have taken to the sky aboard flying ships. Danger lurks around every corner.” (p. 1)

Del Hatherhorne is an average brown mouse. “He came to live in an abandoned apartment room in the northern part of the great mouse city of Verden.   His new home was on the third floor of a complex, located at the corner of 14th Street and Larimer – according to their corresponding rusted green street signs at least.” (p. 7) The World War has apparently killed all the humans but left their city intact for the mice to move into. “He’d fallen in love with the vacant studio apartment the moment he’d laid eyes on it. Shelves adorning pale blue walls were filled floor to ceiling with everything from manga (Japanese comics which read right to left), to comics (mostly published by DC but with a spattering of Marvel, Image and Darkhorse), to video games (a wide assortment with role-playing games and puzzlers making up the bulk of it) and even old movies (names like Spielberg, Lucas and Ridley Scott were embossed along the spines of the shimmering boxes).” (p. 8)

Del gets an old human computer, too. It all sounds very Mary-Sue. “From Spider-Man’s troubled youth to Kenshin’s search for redemption, to Batman’s vengeance for his parents’ death, Del was hard-pressed to ever take his furry face away from the pages of a book. But at night, he would finally take a break from reading, only to use an old fuel generator to power up the computer.” (p. 9)

It isn’t all scrounging from the civilization of the dead humans. “It wasn’t all business at the market though. Del also enjoyed overhearing stories of the brave members of the Longtails, a mouse-made military force commanded by the Council of Five. The Council was the ruling body of the Mouselands that decided all things in the way of mouse livelihood. From magic-wielding members of the Spectrum Halls, who fought off an infestation of horned beetles; to brave fighters and sharp-shots defending the Mouselands from foxes and roaming raccoons just past the borders of mouse territories; Del found these stories almost as exciting as those involving Harry, Ron and Hermione as they fought to stop the rising evil of Voldemort alongside their rising piles of Potions homework.” (p. 11)

Do you get the impression from this that Del and the other mice are mouse-sized or human-sized? It sometimes seems like one thing and sometimes like the other.

Well, let’s skip the pages and pages of background and get to the plot. Del is reading a graphic novel in his apartment when his attention is drawn to three of the Longtails in the street below (shown in a later scene on Dexter Allagahrei’s cover), who conveniently address each other by name; Denya (the ladymouse in the red cloak), Roderick (the white mouse in a red coat and feathered hat), and Arthur (in black). That’s Del in green with the navy blue & turquoise scarf on the cover. (Headley’s description is very detailed.) They are being stalked by a mink assassin. Del is suddenly compelled to warn them, at some danger to himself, and he magically defeats the mink, which reveals him as a Trelock with magic powers. The Longtails want him to join them.

“‘You can’t just leave!’ barked Arthur, finally taking Del seriously. There was no more evidence of levity in his voice or in his pale face. ‘Do you have any idea how incredible it is that we found you? Your abilities would be invaluable to the Longtails. You’d be on the shortlist for the most prestigious bands. Leave? I daresay, that would be like shutting the door on your destiny!’

‘I don’t want to join a Longtails band! I don’t want a destiny!’ squeaked Del. ‘I just want to sit on my windowsill and read my book. I just want to go home.’” (pgs. 37-38)

Mary-Sue again, or Bilbo Baggins protesting that he doesn’t want to go on an adventure. You know how well that works.

Headley’s plot is ridiculously simplistic, but his writing is quite good, and it certainly doesn’t lack action:

[Del is reading a manga in his apartment. He hears a noise in the hall outside.]

“Ting. Ting. Ting. A strange sound hit his ears from the direction of the apartment door […] He rolled onto his side to face the door and listened for the source of the sound. The rhythmic metallic clink seemed to be getting faster, like the sound of a fan or engine revving up in slow motion to a steady rotation. He couldn’t quite place it though. It was a completely new noise in the typically quiet building. Sure, there were families living in other units above and below him and even some on the same floor, but he rarely heard so much as a peep from them.

The sound grew faster and closer. He could hear it zipping back and forth from one end of the door’s bottom edge to the other. Del focused his eyes on the lower portion of the door, waiting for some clue as to what was causing the noise. Suddenly, his bubble of solitude broke as loud shots of rapid gunfire filled the air. Bullets sprayed through the bottom half of the door, tearing away at the wood.

Del dove for cover, leaping behind his book as though it might actually be strong enough to protect him. He peeked out just as the bottom fourth of the door was dismantled by bullets. Dust and debris flooded the now empty space between what was left of the door and the hardwood flooring. In the aftermath cloud, Del could just make out a slender shadow stepping through the opening.

As the dust settled around him, it revealed a mink standing on its hind legs with completely jet-black fur, except for a small patch of white on its chin. Del immediately noticed the mink’s right forearm and paw were missing, and in their place was a six-barreled Gatling minigun. It attached just above where the mink’s elbow should have been. As the mink stood in the doorway, the barrels began to spin down slowly, smoke drifting up from them.” (pgs. 49-50)

It might be exciting if Del’s Trelock power didn’t make him so invulnerable. Anyhow, Del joins Roderick, Denya, and Arthur; and if the resulting adventure isn’t as exciting as The Lord of the Rings, it isn’t because Headley doesn’t try. To be continued in Longtails, Book Two: The Wildfires of Summer.

– Fred Patten

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Welcome to Bessie, of Marfedblog, a comics review and criticism site. There’s furry stuff there, and much more, with devoted curation by a fan doing exactly what they love. If you like this, give it a follow. And expect more syndicated content from Marfedblog reposted here. (-Patch)

One thing I’ve briefly alluded to but never directly addressed is feeling ‘down’ over the course of the last three years, maybe more if I’m being brutally honest with you. It’s harder to admit even after eight months of the stabilising effects of Citalopram that it had, without me really noticing, swallowed up the largest part of these years. I struggled along from day to day and mood to mood believing I could just “shrug it off,  Stubbornly refusing to even acknowledge it for what it really was, barely even able to say the word, depression.  Admitting it to others was one of the biggest hurdles and even after finally reaching out and getting help last year I still find the hardest part is just the sheer difficulty in talking about it without truly understanding why I feel this way. Selfishly it’s  one of the reasons I’ve been attracted Jenny Mure’s possum books, the closest paper and ink, maybe any medium has come to depicting the roller coaster of emotions and the even worse bottoming out and endless emptiness that follows. I know,  I know,  “You’re using someone else’s poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing” but hear me out anyway, please.

Unlike the rest of Mure’s polished, predominantly fantasy based work her two volumes of Possum comics are undeniably rough and ready with a done in one, raw immediacy that perfectly fits a diary comic about the everyday struggles that go hand in hand with mental health and art. Sketched in black ink with unequal slanted frames (if any) and following no set format they show Mure living with the ups and crushing downs of depression over a two year period. “At times like these, Opossums talk to my soul more then any other animal” declares a sketchy inked Possum on the opening page and as suggested by the title, she discusses and explores these experiences through a Possum alter ego, perfectly capturing the feeling of not quite feeling like yourself when depression tightens it’s grip on you. Even though everyone experiences it differently and the finer details may change, I was surprised by how many I could relate too and would strike a similar chord with other readers such as peoples well meaning advice to just stop being “such a gloomy motherfucker”. If you haven’t experienced it, it’s impossible to know how hollow, annoying and  useless even a well intentioned tit-bit like that can be.

One that really struck me and stuck with me more then I’d like to admit is when Mure explores setting prohibitive standards and worry onto her possum comics. In a strikingly simplistic sketch of a possum who details the lack of possum comics and attributes it to setting unusually high standards where no one else is expecting them. Essentially stripping the comics of their cathartic purpose and deftly showing how depression and works to break down any of the flimsy coping mechanisms you might have dared built up to protect yourself.

Her second in the series, So I’m still a Possum, tackles the thorny subject of people appreciating and admiring a piece of work that might be difficult for a creator when it’s origins lie in such a dark and difficult time in their life. Mure describes her trepidation about the first volume being the most popular ‘zine in her shop and at shows whilst being “scrappy and unpolished”. It’s something that caused me to hesitate time and time again when I decided I wanted to show my appreciation for her work,not wanting to add to add anything negative to anyone else’s state of mind. Don’t come to Mure’s comics expecting any advice on how to cope with depression or tackle mental health, it’s not that kind of comic, not by a long shot.  Yet, they are all the better for realising this and not reaching out for a resolution or offering hollow advice. It’s a stark and painfully  honest account of her own experiences coping with depression and hopefully their popularity is derived from people like myself being able to hand it to others when our own words wither and  fail us and say “this”. In the very same strip, Mure succinctly sums up the dark, uncomfortable appeal of her Possum work, “All I can hope is it can do the same to other people in some small way. Something to nod and say me too” she explains through her Marsupial alter ego “To feel a little less alone, if nothing else”

Jenny’s artwork can be found at her website, littlemure.com and tweets here.