Dogpatch Press

Furries are on a list of news articles by Kim Wall:

• How Cubans deliver culture without internet
• Inside the Ugandan Mall at the Center of China’s East African Investments
• Asian, queer and dancing defiance: ‘Everything we do now is resistance’
• When China’s Feminists Came to Washington
• Ghost Stories: Idi Amin’s torture chambers
• The Magic Kingdom Meets the Middle Kingdom in Shanghai Disneyland
• Tour Buses to Sri Lanka’s Battlefields
• Can This Tiny Island Restore Haitian Tourism?
• It’s not about sex, it’s about identity: why furries are unique among fan cultures

Does it feel special to be on such an interesting list? It’s on a site for Kim Wall and her work. She was an independent journalist writing about identity, gender, pop-culture, social justice and foreign policy. Tributes from people who knew her paint a portrait of a talented person full of curiosity, who made a warm and lasting impression. Her stories spread that vibe on behalf of their subjects.

This headline understands- “It’s not about sex, it’s about identity: why furries are unique among fan cultures”. The story mentions bad media attention and furries being targets of hate while they celebrate self-expression. In my opinion, we were lucky to get such a good story and it’s one of a handful of the best you can find. This is why to welcome media notice if this little subculture is going to get it.

She loved the idea of fursonas. From a tribute by one of her colleagues, Claire Cameron:

“Kim and I talked about subcultures a lot. I love subcultures, but just for my own interest. When I was younger, I was a goth and a steam punk and I was into body modification, so Kim was fascinated to learn all about it. I love talking about it, so we made a good match. More recently, we talked about even more unusual and niche subcultures — people who install microchips into themselves, for example, so that they can use their own hand as the card key to a building, or some other piece of machinery, and see themselves as cyborgs.

At one point she asked me what I thought my “fursona” would be — the persona I would take on if I were a furry. I told her I hadn’t thought about it, and she was shocked. I asked what her fursona was, and she said “When I was with the designer, she asked me and I just knew immediately, I don’t know why! I am a fox!” Of course she was.

Some of these conversations turned into stories — interviews with vampires and exposés of furry identity and days with desnudas — they are all stories I wish I had written, but I am so proud that Kim wrote them. She did them justice in a way most writers would not. She looked in from the margins and brought the weird and the wonderful into the light — never to mock or to sensationalize, but to tell the story of her subjects with grace and dignity.”

The circumstances of her murder made a dark side to the positivity she found in creative subculture. I was reminded to share the fandom connection and a tribute, because her killer Peter Madsen was convicted this week.

She had been trying to interview Madsen, an eccentric media figure and hobbyist/maker who built rockets and crowdfunded a submarine. I think it was a similar nerdy obsession that drew her to furries, but his took a twisted path with fantasies about sexual torture. He took her for a ride where he carried it out, dumping her body in the sea. She was killed while doing a job she loved like any good journalist would have done.

Danger was part of her writing, with fearless travel to war zones. It was part of her feminism. One irony of the story is how she was killed close to home while feeling safe – that’s not how one expects a journalist to die at work. It’s impossible to separate those circumstances from her concern for social justice, and the way she wrote about furries without othering or phobia, which would have been misplaced in light of where the real harm came from.

The killer had ties to the dark side of subculture. His team was active on Something Awful, the forum that spread hate about furries for many years. That hate was considered ironic, but he collected real videos of torture and murder found on his computer. And he “ironically” admired the Third Reich, styling himself as a military captain for his submarine while criticizing authorities and wanting to play by his own rules. Isn’t that sounding like a familiar checklist?

Furries often teach each other to distrust outside media, but subcultures can contain their own worst enemies (like the hate movements of Gamergate, that tied to the alt-right and it’s bastard child altfurry.) Reactionaries spread anti-intellectualism about “fake news”, but Kim’s article about furries makes an antithesis. I think she saw that what drags us down is lesser than our power to define ourselves as a group.

While the killer stays in prison for life, the bright side will carry on. I asked Menagerie Workshop about being a source for Kim’s article, and was told: “She was a very pleasant person to work with. Her genuine curiosity about the furry fandom was refreshing, she really seemed interested in knowing more about the idea behind the fandom and why people were into it.” It was  mutual.

Amazing artical, beautiful video, Really sad to see such a inspiration go, But I know She Will Live On Within The Fursona of the furry fandom, Thank you Kim

— Aggreskunko (@Viviomana) April 26, 2018

As a dane I've been following the case of her murder really closely. It's insane for something so bizarre to happen in my little country. I'm glad you linked this article, because it shows how many different things Kim wrote about. May she rest in peace.

— Mollybooboo (@MollyMalou87) April 27, 2018

I never knew of this article, and I'm sad to know that we've lost someone that really understood the fandom. Her depth shows a real effort to understand what I the furry fandom is at its core. I am glad that some sort of justice has been found for her.

— Lucavi LaFitte (@LucaviLaFitte) April 27, 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.

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

High Steaks, by Daniel Potter.
El Cerrito, CA, Fallen Kitten Productions, January 2018, trade paperback, $13.99 (373 pages), Kindle $1.99.

This is Book 3 of Potter’s Freelance Familiars series, following Off Leash and Marking Territory. It follows the events in Books #1 and #2 without a What Has Gone Before, so you really need to have read the first two. Or just dive into the action.

Thomas Khatt, an unemployed librarian in Grantsville, PA, leaves a coffee shop (along with another customer) after sending out job résumés. A hit-&-run driver kills the man standing next to him, and Thomas suddenly finds himself transformed into an unanthropomorphized cougar.

In Off Leash, Thomas learns that he has been transported to “the Real World beyond the veil” that is ruled by magic. He is given the power of speech, but that’s all. He is told that he is expected to become the familiar of a wizard or witch; an involuntary magical assistant – in practice, a slave to a magus, for life.

“Yet one thing had become crystal clear; I wanted no part of this world. Losing my thumbs, my house and my girlfriend in exchange for the chance to be sold off to some pimple-faced apprentice did not sound like a fair deal to me.” (Off Leash, p. 35)

To quote from my review of Off Leash:

“Thomas decides to take charge of his own life, even if he is not familiar with the Real World yet. He faces the dangers of our “world beyond the Veil” […], and of the Real World, refusing to join the TAU [Talking Animal Union] or to become bound to a magus – or to an apprentice – as a familiar.”

“To stay off the leash, he’ll have to take advantage of the chaos caused by the local Archmagus’ death and help the Inquisition solve his murder. A pyromaniac squirrel, religious werewolves, and cat-hating cops all add to the pandemonium as Thomas attempts to become the first Freelance Familiar.” (Off Leash; blurb)

Thomas solves the murder and gains an ally; Rudy, the wise-cracking pyromaniac squirrel. In Marking Territory, Thomas becomes involved in magical politics, his werewolf girlfriend is turned into a werecow, and Grantsville is destroyed in the magus’ crossfire. Now it’s eight months later. Thomas and Rudy have led the survivors to Las Vegas – or under it:

“Into this [the Las Vegas underground flood tunnels] had walked about nine thousand people whose town – my town, Grantsville – had been put into a blender, along with six other realities. With help, I’d managed to get most of them out before everyone got liquefied into a refreshing transdimensional smoothie. In the eight months since, those with mutations that could be covered up or which had simply faded with time had found jobs in the above city or had migrated away. The less fortunate had founded small communities in the tunnels, each sustained by donations from those who had left.

The Ranch was the largest of those communities. The residents had all been blended with animals generally found in the barnyard. Trevor and I approached the gate to the Stables, the portion of the Ranch that housed those Grantsvillians whose mutations had gotten worse instead of fading. So complete were their transformations that the lucky ones – the dogs and cats – had been taken on as familiars by the magi above. The rest – the prey animals, those with hoofed feet and limited binocular vision who made poor familiars – were down here without much hope of ever leaving.” (pgs. 14-15)

There are plenty of human-animal blends:

“I threaded around a pair of horses that were playing chess on a high table and nearly tripped over a chicken. […] Horses, cows, goats, and a few sheep loitered in the central aisle, socializing and talking trivialities. […]

A black goat with a pencil in his mouth looked up from the laptop he had been prodding. ‘H-e-e-e-y freelancers!’ he bayed.

‘Hi, Jet.’ The goat was one of the few residents of the Stables who showed no fear in my presence. I came to a stop and blinked. His horns had been painted glow-in-the-dark green.

‘Nice horns. Really goes with the black,’ Rudy snickered.

The goat grinned. ‘Somebody from above sent us a case of the stuff, and now some of the young ‘uns are trying to scrounge up black lights. I’ll let you know when the dance party begins. Gonna be eighties all the way.’ His ears flicked with amusement, and his tail waggled.” (pgs. 17-18)

But the Grantsvillian animal-people are going stir-crazy living hidden in the drainage tunnels underneath Las Vegas. In the Real World, Las Vegas is openly ruled by the Council of Merlins, the five magical Houses (the Council knows the Grantsvillians are there; it apparently doesn’t care), and its allied Talking Animal Union run by Oric, an owl. Officially the TAU is a labor union for familiars that makes sure the familiars are not mistreated by their magi. In practice, Oric and the TAU make sure that the familiars do what the magi tell them to do.

By immemorial tradition, an animal familiar is bound to a human wizard or witch for life. Thomas wants to change that. If he has to be a cougar, he wants to be able to pick his magus, and to switch from magus to magus at his will – to become a Freelance Familiar. By refusing to join the TAU and coming to Las Vegas, Thomas and his only two allies – Rudy the squirrel, and O’Meara, a disbarred witch – are openly challenging the whole Council of Merlins and Oric.

Officially, Thomas and Rudy sign a contract as the Freelance Familiars with House Picatrix (which is headquartered at the Luxor) to do one temporary job. Unofficially, it will prove that familiars don’t need the TAU. Behind the scenes, some of the magi (but which?) plus Oric are trying to kill the cougar and squirrel (and their lone witch ally). The three Freelance Familiars, and the semihuman Grantsvillians beneath Las Vegas, are in for the supernatural fight of their lives against all the organized wizards and witches who rule Las Vegas, plus the TAU’s corrupt owl, not to mention the werewolves and vampire ghosts.

The animals are mostly unanthropomorphized except for being intelligent and able to talk:

“There, pulled up to the curb, was a pristine white limo that would have been quite classy if not for the line of bullet holes that raked its side. Before either of us could recover, the passenger door of the cab popped open, and a capybara in a smart-looking chauffeur’s cap leapt out. He had a plastic water bottle clasped in his jaws. The dog-sized rodent hurried down the length of the limo and splashed water against the silver door handle. There was a hissing sound, and steam rose from the metal. The bottle bounced on the ground while the capybara popped open the handle with his teeth. With a quick backwards hind-legged hop, the door yawned open. Rudy lay sprawled belly up on the seat next to a martini glass full of shelled hazelnuts.

He waved.” (p. 77) [The two Capy Bros. run the limo service. One steers while the other works the gas and brake pedals. The water bottle doesn’t have any magical significance; it’s hot outdoors in daytime in Las Vegas!]

“‘It is far too early for an employee to be drinking.’ A smooth voice pulled my eyes away from the woman and back to the doorway of the bar. A cheetah stalked toward me. His body appeared to be thin and breakable, but his motions spoke of supreme confidence. The patrons of the bar shifted uneasily; mugs of golden liquid were quickly pulled out of his line of sight. The tension in the bar ratcheted up several notches, and the air around us threatened to snap in half.” (p. 84)

“Where Bobby had sat, a coyote the size of a horse flashed an omnidirectional grin. She tossed her head back and howled like a hurricane. A downpour of power surged through the room, pinning me to the stool. Glasses shattered, the beer running over the tables as the employees desperately covered their ears. The howl faded, and Bobby trotted out into the casino, past the fallen linemen.” (p. 190)

High Steaks (cover by Ebooklaunch.com, which presumably means that Potter paid Amazon/CreateSpace the maximum to have it printed, well proofread, cover-customized, and published under his own imprint) features necromantic attacks (“‘You can’t be too paranoid in Vegas.’”), bar brawls, assassinations, pathos (“A crying cow was not a pretty sight.”), a sorcerous heist caper, a deadly romance between Thomas and another cougar familiar (a feline femme fatale), the Freelance Familiars vs. the TAU (Thomas vs. Oric), Rudy firing bombs and rockets (“‘Booooooom, baby!’”), and all the talking animals that a furry fan could want. Don’t miss the Fallen Kitten Productions’ website for a free Freelance Familiars short story.

– 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.

Furclubbing: “A repeat/regular nightclub event by furries for furries.” The concept has been spreading since the late 2000’s. It’s a dance party independent from cons. It builds on their growth but takes things farther. It’s more ambitious than informal meets and events that happen once. Those can stay inner-focused, but this brings partnership with new kinds of venues, and new support for what they host. It crosses a line to public space, so a stranger can walk in and discover their new favorite thing. It encourages new blood and crossover to other scenes. It makes subculture thrive. It’s a movement!

Parties that give a Q&A get a featured article. See The Furclub survey for questions and party list. Here’s Fluff Party in Salt Lake City, from organizer Oaken.

The party launch: 

Fluff Party was started on April 28th, 2017, at Club Try-Angles then known as “Bar Night” in the local Utah Furry group. Fluff Party started out with a sizeable furry group, for a small major city, of around 25 attendees. During the 2017 AWU Convention in downtown SLC, “Bar Night” transformed into Fluff Party. The event, held on October 27th, ended up being the largest to date with nearly 75 attendees from Washington, Colorado, and Idaho. This was later eclipsed by the January 2018 Fluff Party which had nearly 100 attendees. In February 2018, the Party extended the weekend to include a Saturday event with its first ever After Party, held at Area 51 Club in Salt Lake City, an 18+ dance club.

Who is involved: 

Inspired by Tail! Party in California, Fluff Party was started by Oaken. Fluff Party uses the house DJ at Try-Angles. During the AWU Fluff Party, DJ zeroføx played.

What kind of party:

Fluff Party is a bar atmosphere with billiards going on all evening, fursuit dancing to DJ music. Styles of music depend on the DJ but range from old to current pop, electronic music.

When:

Fluff Party occurs every fourth Friday of the month. Originally, the party was coupled with Club Try-Angles’ “Leather & Gear Night”; however, due to lack of participation from the local leather community and immense support from the local Furry community, club ownership granted the furs their very own night. The first event occurred on April 28th, 2017.

Where:

Fluff Party is located at Club Try-Angles (251 West Harvey Milk Boulevard, Salt Lake City, Utah). Fluff Party’s After Party is located at Area 51 (451 South 400 West, Salt Lake City, Utah). Furries attend from Salt Lake and surrounding cities (Ogden to Provo). Several out of state furs have come in from Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Colorado.

How: 

Oaken first danced in fursuit at 2016 RMFC, and became inspired to provide an event for the local Utah Furry group– which already organized general regular monthly events at public location– that was geared more towards the adult furry crowd. After being convinced to finally overcome his fears of going to a gay club’s Underwear Night, Oaken found Club Try-Angles and the local gay community to be a welcoming one to all walks of life. Wearing his tail to the club a few times and getting a very warm response from the locals at the club, Oaken approached club ownership about having fursuiters come to the club. Many years prior, a few locals had gone to the club in fursuit but never in large numbers nor the immense support that Fluff Party has received from the local furry community. Fluff Party continues to grow and expand.

Vibe:

Unique to most major cities, Club Try-Angles is one of two identifying gay clubs in the entire state of Utah. Club Try-Angles plays host to many lifestyles, kinks, and fetishes. Supporting nights such as Drag events, Bear, Underwear, and Leather nights. The general public has received furries at Fluff Party in very good light. A review was even posted to the club’s Google page stating how they were going to attend Furry night! Local furs have mentioned going to events such as Pride events in SLC in fursuit and having the public mention the furry event at Club Try-Angles. Many general public attendees have become regulars at Fluff Party!

Promotion: 

Initially, the event started out as a member meet, “Bar Night”, hosted by Oaken who is an administrator and event coordinator for the local furry community. Meets were created on the groups Facebook and Meetup pages as well as word of mouth due to the disjointed nature of the local community at the time. It later became named Fluff Party during the AWU convention where it was promoted with fliers and promotions. Before the January 2018 Fluff Party, a twitter account @FluffParty was created, which resulted in the event having the largest turnout to date. As well as increased exposure to nearby communities.

Follow @FluffParty on Twitter for most updated news. Thanks to Oaken for giving great responses and organizing this for the community!

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 Snake’s Song: A Labyrinth of Souls Novel, by Mary E. Lowd.
Eugene, OR, ShadowSpinners Press, March 2018, trade paperback, $11.99 (210 [+ 1] pages), Kindle $3.99.

ShadowSpinners Press says, “Labyrinth of Souls novels must contain the idea of an underworld labyrinth. The form of the labyrinth and the nature of the underworld are left to the fevered imagination of the author. […] Most stories will lean toward dark fantasy but science fiction, horror, psychological thriller, Noir, mystery, etc. will be considered.” The Snake’s Song is its sixth novel, and its first furry one.

The Snake’s Song is a work of fabulism rather than traditional furry fiction. “The snake sang,” it begins. “The snake sang and mice knew better than to listen. Mice and rats and songbirds and frogs – none of them listened to snakes. Songbirds and frogs sang their own songs; mice and rats told stories. None of them listened to snakes.

And neither did squirrels.

But one day, a gray squirrel named Witch-Hazel stopped to listen to a soft hissing carried on the wind, a susurrus coming from a tunnel, hidden beneath a bush. With melancholy sighs and mesmerizing murmurs, the hissing voice sang a song of days gone by, days long ago when the earth and sky and underground were bound together with a river that flowed in endless, looping circles; tree branches embraced the heavens, and tree roots held the depths in their woody arms; and all the creatures of Earth could make a pilgrimage into the sky to meet the All-Being who had created every animal.” (p. 13, reformatted)

Squirrels don’t listen to snakes, but now Witch-Hazel does:

“‘Tell me about the All-Being,’ Witch-Hazel asked breathlessly.

‘The All-Being is why birds can fly, fish breathe water, beavers are builders, and bees can turn pollen into honey. Each of them reflects the glory of the All-Being.’

Witch-Hazel wondered how she reflected the All-Being’s glory. ‘How about squirrels?’ she asked.” (p. 14)

Is the snake trying to lure her into its underground lair? But she dimly remembers her mother telling her of the All-Being when she was a tiny kitten, and of the Celestial Fragments – the Sun Shard that grants strength, the Star Sliver that grants endless breath, and the Moon Opal that grants flight. Witch-Hazel is too wary to follow the snake into its hole, but she can’t stop thinking about the Celestial Fragments and the All-Being.

“Witch-Hazel pictured a creature with one bat wing and one sparrow wing; a green cat eye and a yellow coyote eye; a long rabbit ear and a round mouse ear; a deer antler and an antelope horn; a hoofed foreleg and a webbed paw; a mountain lion’s golden haunches and a squirrel’s silver tail – because no creature on Earth has a tail more beautiful than a squirrel.” (pgs. 17-18)

If she could find the Celestial Fragments, she could fly into the heavens higher than the birds and see the All-Being. Squirrels are used to missing treasures being hidden underground; that’s where they bury their nuts.

“She wanted to find the Celestial Fragments.

In her nest that night, Witch-Hazel felt the empty space all around her. The air flowed around her branch like the rivers the snake told her had once encircled the under-earth and sky. She wanted to travel those rivers.” (p. 18)

So the next day she packs a knapsack:

“Then she swiped a flask of pear cider from her biggest sister’s nest – her sister wouldn’t mind – and stuffed that in her knapsack too.

Finally, Witch-Hazel left a note in her own nest for her sisters and brothers, in case they came looking for her: ‘Gone adventuring. Don’t worry. – Witch-Hazel” (p. 19)

And she returns to the hole after the snake has gone:

“Witch-Hazel squeezed into the small round hole under the bush. She’d never entered a snake’s lair before. To her knowledge, no squirrel ever had. Once she was inside, the hole opened up into a passage large enough for her to walk upright. She kept her firethorns in front of her.” (p. 21)

What does she find underground? Think of Alice entering Wonderland. Think of Orpheus entering Hades’ realm looking for Eurydice. Think of Dante entering the Inferno searching for Beatrice.

There are animals, of course, or The Snake’s Song would not be reviewed here:

“Witch-Hazel leaned in close to the gold medallions and carefully examined the animal etchings. The same set of thirty animals graced each of them. Many of the animals were familiar – mouse, sparrow, squirrel, snake, otter, beaver, raccoon, deer. Some of them were strange – one had two humps on it back; another seemed to be like a bird, but it had long legs and a sinuous neck unlike any bird she’d ever seen; another had a nose like a snake, flappy ears, and legs like tree stumps. That one was the largest of the animals, so she tried turning the medallion until it was at the top of the starburst. Then she turned the second medallion until the mouse was on top.   Smallest and largest.” (p. 25)

This is only up to page 25. There is a whole novel to come. Witch-Hazel sings to herself/an imaginary friend to keep up her nerve:

“When she finished the song, Witch-Hazel said to her new imaginary friend, ‘Shall we sing a different one next?’

Her heart nearly stopped when her echo answered, ‘All right. Do you know ‘Hills and Trees Yonder’?’” (p. 35)

Not all the animals are mortal ones:

“The lioness’s face rose higher as the giant creature stepped forward on the rocky ledge beside Witch-Hazel. Her body resolved in shades of gray in the darkness – her head rose from a long slender neck that sprouted out of narrow shoulders, leading into a pair of delicately crossed human arms. She had a human woman’s torso, but beneath it was an entire four-legged lion’s body, complete with a swishing, tufted tail. ‘I am a kind of sphinx,’ the creature said. ‘Sister to the sphinx, precisely. My sister who was celebrated in Greece and Egypt usually claims the name. I am less well-known. I am a leontaur, and I don’t ask riddles.’” (p. 55)

The Snake’s Song (cover by Josephe Vandel) is eerie, wonderful, horrifying, marvelous, and above all, dreamlike. Dreams encompass nightmares. What is the All-Being?

“Dare to Enter the Labyrinth of Souls”

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Visit Mary E. Lowd’s Website

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.

ARTISTS WANTED! Please share. Artist of the month is a program to commission and promote furries. It’s paid by site funding with gratitude to patrons. There will be a headline post for the chosen furry, and regular comics may be added too. Here’s art that previously appeared, and this month’s banner and comic from Hugo the Pink Cat.

Twitter: HugoThePinkCat
FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/hugothepinkcat/ (some NSFW stuff)

“I’m 34 years old, from Montreal, been in the fandom since 1999 , active since 2001. Been drawing more seriously for the last 7 years. I don’t exactly have a college formation in arts but I’ve been self-taught for the last decade and take a lot of inspiration from European graphic novels and early western animation. “Ligne claire” and bright lively colours are my thing. I like to think I fill a nice little niche between cartoony and still somehow alluring. (Or so my friends say).”

TO APPLY please submit this to [email protected]:

• One favorite piece, a one-paragraph bio, and your links.
• Your price for a banner for the top of this site.
• (Optional) price for one comic with artistic freedom (any format, a panel, strip, or page.)
• Price for a six month/six comic contract.

Banner should be at least 1000 x 200 (.jpg, png or gif). Toony furry characters never fail, but it doesn’t have to have characters if it says “furry news” somehow (a graphic design with a fur pattern or collage of headlines would work – experimenting is good.) If you need any idea about what the site is for, try the About page. A comic can be any format – strip, single panel political cartoon, or a story page. Use artistic freedom. It can have existing characters of yours, or just a funny joke. It could be about a story on the site from the last month, issues in fandom, or toon characters talking about stuff in the regular world. Try to keep it SFW. Happy subjects are great but criticism with a point is OK too.

Special shout outs to other artists for this fan art! 

@DogpatchPress: "-mossy swamp ghost gator with a battery powered smoke machine"

I was inspired! 2 ver gator suit & a made-up gator. #anthro #furryart #reptile pic.twitter.com/O3GLcEmlA4

— Jackqua (@Jackqua92) April 9, 2018

Fan art of @DogpatchPress @patch_packrat pic.twitter.com/Jvhv9E9Bml

— Wolf Tanuki (@jacobspencer04) April 9, 2018

@eddie_mote asked me a question in PM and I spent a while answering so he sent a drawing in his style. So cool! Was not expecting that! The floofy tail and ears are my favorite part :3 pic.twitter.com/M0W75LhqXo

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) April 18, 2018

Gift art from @eddie_mote for answering some stuff in PM. No need to give anything for that, but I love it! This one is from my rat. (He forgot to draw part of the tail but I'm going to make that part of the sona, he's so sneaky he does the detachable thumb trick with tails.) pic.twitter.com/9B4rzQTSDP

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) April 24, 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.

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

Chlorophylle et le Monstre des Trois Sources, by Jean-Luc Cornette (writer) and René Hausman (artist). Illustrated.
Brussels, Le Lombard, March 2016, hardcover, €14,99 (48 pages), Kindle €9,99.

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

I am a big fan of the original Chlorophylle stories written and drawn by Raymond Macherot (1924-2008) in the 1950s and 1960s. They have all been reprinted in an attractive three-volume Intégrale set, which I applaud and recommend.

Today Le Lombard is having new adventures produced of many of its most popular comic strips of the French-Belgian “Golden Age” of the 1950s and 1960s, by the most prestigious artists of today. (You should see what has been done with Mickey Mouse!)

Both Cornette and Hausman have had long careers in the French-Belgian comic-book industry as both artists and writers. I will speculate that the main attraction of Chlorophylle and the Monster of Three Sources is Hausman’s detailed watercolor art.

I can appreciate it intellectually. But on a basic emotional level, it seems wrong. It’s like seeing a Donald Duck or Uncle Scrooge story by Jack Kirby or Art Spiegelman in their own art styles – or, contrariwise, a Captain America adventure or a Maus episode drawn in Carl Barks’ art style. But this is being done deliberately.

Macherot made Chloro’s woodland village in “le petit bosquet” (the little grove) look like a little animal village in the forest. The houses in treetrunks and hillocks had front doors and windows. The mice and rabbits and crows wore scarves and hats. In Hausman’s interpretation, they are all unclothed animals living in bushes and tall grasses that are so spiky with twigs and thorns that it’s a wonder the smaller animals don’t spend their time caught up in tangles.

S. Salin in BDGest says that this is an homage, a makeover; not an imitation. Hausman knew and respected Macherot and his work, and he chose to draw Chloro and his northern European woodland grove in a more realistic style than Macherot did. This is Chloro and Minimum just before they abandoned the grove for the island of Coquefredouille and its animal civilization.

Chloro (dormouse) and Minimum (mouse) have had their adventure in a small human city (Pas de Salami pour Célimène, 1957) and returned to the little grove. Minimum has gotten a crush on Particule Piquechester, the youngest and prettiest of the three Piquechester mouse sisters. Particule has chosen to leave her sisters and build her own cabin on the shore of the lake of three sources (three small riverlets feed into it), where she goes swimming.

“‘Particule, do you know that we’re swimming in an enchanted lake?’ Minimum asks. ‘Do you know the legend of the lake of three sources?’ ‘No! I’ve never heard of it.’ ‘They say that the three riverlets are those of friendship… of love…and of separation. The water of the three riverlets mixes in the lake. When someone swims in it, they have to go to a place far from friendship and love to find separation.’” (pgs. 9-10) The next day Particule is missing and her cabin has been smashed to rubble. Chloro leads a rescue mission of Serpolet the rabbit, Particule’s sisters Olive and Vinaigrette, the beaver family, and others to find her (Minimum is too distraught to do anything practical).

To give away a major spoiler, Particule has been kidnapped by Caczor, a genuine Frankenstein’s monster sewn together from a badger and a hedgehog. But like the monster in Shelly’s original novel, Caczor is more a creature of pathos than of horror. The bittersweet ending leaves Minimum free to go with Chloro on future adventures.

Chlorophylle et le Monstre des Trois Sources is successful on its own terms as an-homage-and-not-an-imitation. It’s interesting to see Chloro the dormouse, Minimum the mouse, Serpolet the rabbit, Torpedo the otter, and others drawn in – well, not a realistic style, but more realistically than in Macherot’s funny-animal style. I certainly wouldn’t have recognized them if they hadn’t been addressed by name in the dialogue. Get it as a sample of René Hausman’s — a major European cartoonist’s – art style, in a rare example of his talking-animal art.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

La souris Pâquerette a disparu. Chlorophylle et Minimum comprennent très vite qu’elle a été enlevée par le terrible monstre du lac. Sans perdre un instant, les deux compères et leurs amis se lancent sur les traces de la créature. Mais la chasse au monstre leur réserve bien des surprises… René Hausman et Jean-Luc Cornette unissent leurs talents pour rendre un éblouissant hommage au héros culte de Raymond Macherot.

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.

Black Friday, by Jan Stryvant.
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, September 2017, trade paperback, $9.99 (226         pages, Kindle $3.95.

Perfect Strangers, by Jan Stryvant.
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, September 2017, trade paperback, $9.99 (240 pages), Kindle $3.99.

Over Our Heads, by Jan Stryvant.
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, October 2017, trade paperback, $10.99 (252 pages), Kindle $3.99.

Head Down, by Jan Stryvant.
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, November 2017, trade paperback, $10.99 (250 pages), Kindle $3.99.

When It Falls, by Jan Stryvant.
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, January 2018, trade paperback, $10.99 (284 pages), Kindle $3.99.

Stand On It, by Jan Stryvant.
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, January 2018, trade paperback, $10.99 (256 pages), Kindle $3.99.

The first sentence of Black Friday is, “Sean looked both ways as he started across the street, not that there was much traffic during the day here at the University of Nevada, Reno campus this late in the day.” The third sentence is, “Mid-terms had just finished and he was pretty happy with his grades this semester, he’d finally gotten the hang of this whole ‘college’ thing, so what if it had taken him nearly three years!” Sean may be a college student, but I’ll bet he hasn’t been taking any writing courses.

Black Friday is the first novel in the six-volume The Valens Legacy. It is one of the five novels on the 2017 Ursa Major Awards ballot for Best Anthropomorphic Novel of the Year. It has 506(!) customer reviews currently on Amazon (most books are lucky to get 10 customer reviews), mostly five-star and 4-star reviews, although I agree more with the first cited, a two-star review: “Entirely avoidable grammatical mistakes, misuse of terms and DEAR LORD the treatment of adjectives!”

The other four Ursa Major finalists for Best Novel are Always Gray in Winter by Mark J. Engels, Otters in Space III: Octopus Ascending by Mary E. Lowd, Kismet by Watts Martin, and The Wayward Astronomer by Geoffrey Thomas. I have seen all four of these discussed on furry-fandom websites. I have not seen any indication that anyone in furry fandom has been reading Black Friday. Where did its nominations come from?

Sean Valens has been a student at UN,R for three years. He is walking across the campus when someone tries to kidnap him.

“A van screeched to a halt in front of him, the side door sliding open as a man with his face covered jumped out and ran to help the guy Sean was now struggling with. When a hand came over his mouth as he started to yell, he bit down hard, enjoying the curse of pain from behind him, the guy being distracted enough for Sean to move to his right and slam his hand back into the man’s crotch.

[…]

Sean came to slowly, to the sound of gunfire. In the tight enclosure of the van, it was painfully loud. Grabbing for the hood over his head he gasped in pain, his right arm lit up in agony. Using his left he ripped the hood off and looking around it was complete and utter mayhem. He was covered in blood, and from the bone sticking out of his forearm, it was pretty clear that a lot of it was his.

The van was a complete wreck, the windshield was gone and from the blood and pieces of flesh on the broken jagged edges, he suspected someone had gone through it. There was now a telephone pole where the passenger’s seat used to be. The driver, who was either dead or unconscious, was slumped over the steering wheel, still belted into the seat.

[…]

But that wasn’t the part that was strange; it was what the man was shooting at.

A lion.

He was shooting at a lion.

But this lion didn’t look like any lion Sean had ever seen before, and again, living in Reno, he’d seen quite a few. No, this lion was huge, well wait, weren’t all lions huge?

It hit him, it was a lion-man, and just as the kidnapper fired another shot, the lion-man finally grabbed the arm that was holding the gun, and with a sickening wet sound he ripped it off.” (pgs. 5-8)

The writing may leave something to be desired, but you can’t say it lacks action. This is on the UN,R campus in broad daylight, remember.

Sean and the lion-man escape. The lion-man, who is a were-lion friend of Sean’s dead father, has been shot with silver bullets several times and is dying, so he hurriedly bites Sean and turns him into a were-lion with instantaneous healing abilities.

The rest of the book, and presumably the next five, are about Sean with the aura of an alpha-lion. Everyone knows that in lion prides, the males just relax and let the lionesses do all the work.

“‘Let’s go back to my place,’ Roxy said, grabbing his arm. She could see the conflict raging behind his eyes. His beast was starting to come out.

‘Are you sure?’ Sean asked, because he was totally unsure of himself right now, he knew if he got her alone, well, he was sure to get himself in trouble!

‘Yes,’ Roxy said dropping her voice to a more sultry timber, ‘I’m very sure.’” (p. 22)

Roxy Channing knows this because she’s already a werecheetah. They have mucho macho sex together. Roxy recruits her best friend, Jolene, a tantric (sex) witch, to be part of Sean’s pride.

“‘Also, lycans are looked down on by most magic users and the greater magical community.’

‘Why?’ Sean asked, and then gave her a little nip that made her gasp.

‘Because you’re animals, of course.’

‘Animals?’ Sean growled and gave another, harder, nip, enjoying the way Jolene arched her back and moaned.

‘Oh, they have a low opinion of tantric magic users, too; they say we’re all sluts and whores.’” (p. 110)

Roxy’s father, also a werecheetah, is resigned to her becoming part of Sean’s pride.

“‘Yeah, lions are like that. They fill their prides with kick ass women and then go absolutely mental if anyone even looks at them sideways.’

[…]

Her father shook his head. ‘You know that the different councils that oversee the wizards and other magic users don’t care for us, Honey. They’re not going to want to tell me anything about Sean’s father, and this definitely sounds like the kind of screwed up mess that they’d cause with their politicking.’” (pgs. 115-116)

It turns out that Sean’s father, who was mysteriously murdered long ago, was a rogue alchemist who was friendly to lycans (lycanthropes), and was killed to keep him from developing some magical benefit for them. Now Sean is within a week of his 21st birthday, and these councils of human wizards are afraid that Sean will inherit his father’s power and complete his work. The bad guys who try to kidnap or kill Sean are from the Council of Vestibulum and the rival Council of Gradatim.

The climax (which has a double meaning in this case) has Sean, Roxy, and Jolene attacked by lightning elementals:

“‘So,’ Sean asked, ‘does a lightning elemental look like a ball of static electricity?’

‘Huh?’

Sean pointed down out the doorway and into the area they’d just left. There coming down the staircase was what could only be described as a ball of lighting [sic].

‘Shit,’ Jolene said and pulling out a piece of chalk she started drawing on the floor. ‘Guys, I know this is rude, but if the two of you could start fucking like bunnies, that would be great.’” (pgs. 213-214)

Does Black Friday (cover by eBook Launch) have any female readers? It seems like such an adolescent male fantasy. The covers of some of the later volumes of The Valens Legacy show that Sean’s harem pride grows. Both Roxy and Sean shift into their humanoid cheetah and lion forms, and there are other lycans seen briefly such as a wereboar, that furry fans will not feel disappointed for that reason. Happy rutting!

Black Friday is a Ursa Major Award finalist! Have any furry fans read it?

– Fred Patten

• Buy Black Friday (Book 1) on Amazon
• Buy Perfect Strangers (Book 2) on Amazon
• Buy Over Our Heads (Book 3) on Amazon
• Buy Head Down (Book 4) on Amazon
• Buy When It Falls (Book 5) on Amazon
• Buy Stand On It (Book 6) on Amazon
• Visit Jan Stryvant’s Website

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.

Fred Patten started off with a message to Patch O’Furr:

This is a rant, as much as anything.  I wrote, as Secretary of the ALAA (AKA the Ursa Major Awards) to the AnthrOhio Committee, to invite it to host next year’s award presentation ceremony.  AnthrOhio is the new name of former Morphicon in Columbus, Ohio. They presented the Ursa Majors in 2008, 2011, and 2015.

I got a very nice reply from Danny Travis, this year’s Director of Programming for AnthrOhio.  He thinks it’s a great idea and has agreed.  But his reply implies that he’s never heard of the Ursa Major Awards, and that he was unaware that they have been presented at Morphicon/AnthrOhio in the past.

This makes me wonder how many of today’s furry conventions are being organized by people who are mainly interested in putting on a big party with fursuits, and little interest or knowledge in furry fandom beyond their own convention, including their own con’s history.  Some like Anthrocon with Dr. Sam Conway and CaliFur with Rod O’Riley (and any con with staffers who have been around for a while) know what’s going on. But how many are being organized by young people who only use the trappings of furry fandom to have a good time?

You have been following not only the conventions but a lot of the smaller furry parties and raves.  Do you get the impression that most attendees are more interested in partying then other active fandom?

Patch wrote back:

I think part of that may be the reach the Ursa Major Awards have. This award has been around for 17 years or so, before some new furries were born.  The growing population of new, young members are less likely to know the founders. They might not be uninterested with everything else fans do – they might just be out of reach.

Kyell Gold’s books, for example, are really popular with young people. Kyell was so successful with the awards that he had to bow out. I’m not sure how many of his fans are even aware about that.

For more reach, keeping a more active presence for the awards year round would be much better than taking it out of hibernation once a year. It would take hard work, like updating a Twitter regularly. That’s why, a while back, I suggested doing a regular “where are they now” series about award winners (and maybe con guests) from the past. There could be an interesting feature about them once a month to sustain regular interest.

Fred answered with an update about recent Ursa Major Award voting:

The voting for the 2017 Ursa Major Awards is closed, and this year’s voting statistics are in. 1,247 people requested a ballot. 882 actually voted. 250 of those waited until the final day to vote.

That isn’t very good. It’s really bad! The ALAA has statistics back to 2009 for the 2008 awards, the first year that the ballot was completely by e-mail (rather than people requesting a paper ballot to be voted upon and physically mailed in). The number of people actually voting, rather than requesting a ballot, have been:

• 2008 = 273
• 2009 = 1,150
• 2010 = 1,372
• 2011 = 1,782
• 2012 = 1,112
• 2013 = 856
• 2014 = 2,851
• 2015 = 1,157
• 2016 = 1,446
• 2017 = 882

The nominees for 2014 included Guardians of the Galaxy for Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture, and Furry Force for Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short Work or Series. Furry Force was broadcast on College Humor and was one of the few movie or TV productions to acknowledge its Ursa Major nomination. Maybe that was the reason for the unusually large number of votes that year.

Furry fandom supposedly has hundreds of thousands of members and is growing. Theoretically the number of people who know about the Ursa Major Award is also growing each year. But that isn’t reflected in the number of voters each year. It’s been stagnant at 1,200 to 1,300, and took a sharp nosedive this year for reasons unknown.

Some Internet creators ask their fans on their websites to vote for them in the UMAs. We may get a few votes for that reason, but the number of voters still doesn’t go up each year. This year, the Ursa Majors initiated a GoFundMe campaign, and while that has been successful financially, it has not brought any increase in the number of voters. It’s frustrating.

The votes vary from complete ballots – votes in all twelve categories – to votes in only a single category. Most ballots contain votes in about half of the twelve categories. The most popular are Motion Picture, Dramatic Short or Series, and Game – the three that would fall the most if the Ursa Majors were turned into an award for furry fandom creators only.  Movies, TV, and games tend not to be created within furry fandom.  I’m afraid that Best Anthropomorphic Magazine, where Dogpatch Press qualifies, is consistently one of the least voted-upon categories.

Patch thought about it:

This could involve saturation. It’s math – while audience grows, their attention span stays the same. If a group goes from 1,000 to 10,000, but each spend the same hour a day on media, and many of those 10,000 people are also creating media themselves – you see the problem of falling attention span to watch everything.

Creating costs time and money and those who grow a fanbase invest extra effort beyond just enjoying a hobby. If a pool of creators shares revenue among individuals, when they grow, a more-or-less basic share to everyone gets more expensive. Value per person falls and entry cost gets more prohibitive. I think that’s why Youtube creators had ad revenue they depended on cut this year. Only larger producers with more views get it now.

Mainstream book publishing is like that with a few high-traffic bestsellers pulling weight for thousands of “wallpaper” titles. There also used to be the midlist thing with authors who were productive and reliable, even if rarely bestsellers, but I suspect there’s been a lot of polarization with Amazon killing competitors and gaining a monopoly. Furry authors may know the challenge.

Saturation goes with electronic media that can repeat infinitely compared to printing paper. It can go out of control and test the human brain and learning. Black Mirror is a great TV show telling dark futuristic stories about society changing that way. On a down-to-earth level, that saturation can just make a slippery business with a race to the bottom nature.

This is why I think conventions and parties, and the popularity of fursuiting are important community glue. It’s valuable to have real, tangible experiences you can’t download. That’s why this fandom is great compared to others. In fandom there can be advantages for media that’s tethered to a real foundation (like book sales at cons). Engagement can also benefit from the timing of getting it from each other independently of corporate media production schedules.

I think the Ursas could harness that energy from face to face groups and events. How about more focused con panels, workshops, parties, contests, regional awards, or even book clubs? It takes team work, but I hope that helps for ideas about how to keep the awards active. Instead of parties competing against fandom creativity, putting them together could improve both things.

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 reposted here. (- Patch)

Even in a room full of people wearing cartoon animal costumes, a guy lugging a box of old vinyl to his table is going to stand out, especially when he starts drawing and painting on them. This is what caught my eye the first time I saw Eryshé Falafe, also known as Joe Meyer, at Pittsburgh’s Anthrocon around 2011. I ended up getting one myself that still takes up pride of place in my office, and eventually ended up carting a not insubstantial pile of vinyl across the pond for him to deface on my latest pilgrimage to Pittsburgh. One of them was the bawdily British  “Sinful Rugby Songs” which was quickly snapped up by a commissioner who also saw it’s parody potential.

Alternating between his three fursonas, cat-bunny hybrid Eryshé Falafe, red roo Divvy and rabbitdeer Galahad he has been producing comics since he was a kid, discovering furry around 2001, with a number of published works including. Slammin Buneez, the autobiographical In the Meantime and his scathing, satirical and unrelenting look at the fandom, Furry Nuuze Teevee. The strips feature Twiggy, a dumb overly enthusiastic canine TV reporter and host of his own show who diligently reports on the fandom. As a character reserved for lambasting and commenting on internal politics and drama that flair up in the fandom with alarming regularity he usually ends up reflecting the positive side of the fandom while making fun of the negative elements and people.

Running since 2006 and the flip side of the coin to FNTV, Destroying the Illusion is Meyer’s series of diary comics about his daily exploits, conventions and the absurdity of everyday life. Instead of the general drama and negativity this series is more introspective autobiographical comics about Joe’s time in the fandom and goings on in his life. Almost always overwhelmingly positive they often reiterate what anyone will say about the furry fandom and tell you makes for a great con experience: the people. Befitting the immediacy of the travel, diary comic  style, Joe’s art on the strips, mostly in black and white have a cartoony look to them and a sketchy quality.

My favourite of his work though has to be his defaced vinyls. Maybe it’s the same feeling that comes from graffiti, that thrill of doing something you’re not supposed too. Don’t worry for the most part the ones he uses are some truly awful records. Inspired in part by a tumblr group featuring vinyl that had been found defaced in simple and random ways. Scribbles, scrawls and misplaced labels from the original owners, the majority of them are ‘found art’ curiosities discovered in charity shops and yard sales. Taking the idea one step further and with more care and attention Joe has altered and tinkered with  them in various ways, reinterpreting them as unique pieces of artwork. Painting over aspects of the cover, usually the figures with a commissioner’s fusona. I love how fun they are and how even within the confines of what’s already on the sleeve he can capture the personalities of the people behind the characters he paints onto them.

The site hosting the older comics is currently down but newer Destroying the Illusion comics (fondly dubbed DTI2.0) are currently hosted on his own site.

Art by Sisk

Before the web, zines were a gateway to subculture. In the 1990’s, one of my subscriptions was to Industrialnation, a zine for music where robots met punk. I never expected the prison-industrial complex to get involved. It offered a free ad for subscribers, so to be silly, I put something like “send pranks and hate mail”. The underground obliged. I got comics, tapes, and a cursed baby doll with monster fangs and one eye popped out (plus spiders, nails and burned nipples). It was gross-out hilarious. But the most unexpected thing was mail from lonely prisoners. A few of the letters needed to get picked up with tongs and thrown in a barbeque, but most were just forgotten people who’d write to anyone with an open mailbox. It was almost like bottling it and throwing it in the sea. They were in no position to hurt me, and just wanted a voice from outside. Now imagine having a family that didn’t communicate well, and a parent intercepting a letter and shitting squirrels about it. I felt misunderstood. That’s how giving an ear to society’s trash can become mind opening.

http://www.saveoursisk.org is the introduction you need for why Sisk is jailed for a sex offense. Please be familiar with “Sisk’s Story” to make informed comments about her guest post.

I don’t claim to know more facts, and I have questions, but here’s some context I found important. For sex charges against an LGBT person, with extradition from Utah to Arizona, one place is Mormon and the other has Joe Arpaio’s “concentration camps”.  It seems like being gay in Uganda and getting sent to Mordor. If this did involve misunderstanding/prejudice, expect railroading. Whatever the case may be, she’s getting what a court deemed to be fair punishment. Here’s what Sisk has to say about it. – Patch

>> Due to unforeseeable events and a twisted view to "justice" my life as a #trans woman is resident to a male yard in an AZ prison. I'm very much alone as a woman, here, and I face daily trials by those taking advantage of my gender. >>#SaveOurSisk #TDOV #TransDayOfVisibility pic.twitter.com/JStjnpBNpQ

— Siskmarek Namaruk ~☆ (@Tailpoof) March 31, 2018

ORANGE IS THE NEW FLUFF: Furry Life in Prison

 

“Mommy!” A short, bald Chicano squeaks as he glomps me from behind. Others in line with us stare in confusion, annoyance, and a lot of other descriptive words. Even more heads turn as he makes cute animal noises, then pants like a happy dog. Is this a furmeet at the local theatre?

Nope! It’s prison!

I can’t say this is what I expected when I was sentenced. Meeting furries in the wild has always felt like the Internet sprung a leak, and when those furs are in prison the whole experience takes a turn to the twilight zone. It’s as jarring as finding a phone booth on top of a mountain, and I can legitimately make that comparison, because I really did find a phone booth on top of a mountain once! Granted, our numbers are small, but we exist, taking things one day at a time in the Meadows Unit of the Eyman Prison Complex in Sunny Arizona.

Meadows is one of several medium-security protective custody yards dedicated to housing sex offenders. Due to the nature of many sex crimes and the type of people who commit them, sex offender yards are considered “easy” as far as prison experiences go — inmates in here joke that Meadows is a “retirement home” — though no prison is without danger, especially if one sticks out.

For me, being a transgender woman on a male sex offender yard crowds out all other concerns. Dodging predators aside, I’ve never felt the need to bring up my involvement in the furry fandom unless asked. If I did bring it up unprompted, inmates would give me a blank stare, shrug, then move on. The few who have heard of us give the standard line of, “Oh, those guys who have sex in animal costumes?” Given where we are, though, fursuit sex is ordinary compared to that creepy old guy on the yard who pays young inmates for baggies of their semen. For what purpose, you ask? Not even the angels know for sure.

Thus, my experience being a fur in prison is a personal one. For others I’ve had the chance to observe and talk to, it hasn’t always ended well. Sometimes that’s their fault; other times it couldn’t be helped. That’s just how it goes in prison. Boo.

Sometimes A Golf Pencil Is All You’ve Got

Yes, furry prison fetish exists. Art by GabbyGerbs.

My small notoriety in the fandom comes from me being a webcomic artist, and, more recently, from a few other things as well. I eventually decided to violate my probation a few years ago by going online in the face of a lifetime, court mandated ban on my internet access. The wisdom of that decision is arguable, but the loss of my online life was so devastating that I attempted suicide shortly after I was sentenced. That most definitely was a mistake, and after taking almost a month to recover, I concluded that if things were bad enough to die, then they were bad enough to live.

I lived, and did some of my best work with my webcomic, “Ask Keis”. I also helped a lot of people both online and off. Then I learned that ex-wives can be really vindictive. In short, getting into a heated disagreement with a vindictive spouse while they have the leverage to see you thrown in jail is a bad idea. HOMEWRECKING: NOT EVEN ONCE. (I joke).

That I thought the gamble was worth it says how I feel about my connection to the furry fandom. It’s easy to scoff at that, and say it’s just cartoon art and stories, but when you’ve been neck-deep at the bottom of the Geek Hierarchy for two-thirds of your life, all of that becomes you. So when a judge points at you and says your very identity must end, that’s as terrifying as an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. That’s what made me want to die, then want to live.

This is all a lot of words to say that I am my ability to create art and stories that those inside and outside the furry fandom can enjoy, and because this connection still exists even while I’m in a dreadful place like this, I still exist. As long as I still exist, I can do some good in this world, and I have my fiance to thank for that. He works hard to not only build our future, but to also keep my online presence alive.

Working my craft in here is not easy, though. Prisons are negativity vortexes that are fed by an internal culture incompatible with external society. If you think your work environment is bad, try concentrating on a drawing while someone is getting stomped a few bunks away for not paying his debts. Depression is highly contagious, and as of this writing, I’ve been struggling with it for a while. Sorry about that.

On the flipside, being an artist in prison is like being an artist in the fandom: it bestows a special status. There’s no shortage of inmates wanting custom cards or other crafts for their loved ones, and every prison has a thriving, policy-violating tattoo industry. I can neither confirm or deny that my art has made it onto people’s bodies, but I do have an advantage when it comes to stuff like birthday cards for kids. Children are natural furries, so it works out great for the both of us, because I really like drawing fluffy things.

Delivering art in here gives me something I rarely got to experience on the outside, too, and that’s to see my clients’ faces light up in person. Being a prison artist also gives me something else: I get to be seen as just an artist. It’s my fault that I carry the furry artist label on the outside, but in here my art is just art, except for the few who lump my work into the “anime” category. I silently rage inside whenever that happens. Still, it’s a refreshing experience.

Ironically, what’s also a refreshing experience is the challenge of creating art with a minimal set of often sub-par supplies and tools. I don’t know why I’m wired this way, but I take pride in gnawing the tip of a golf pencil to sharpen it, because proper sharpeners aren’t allowed in isolated confinement. If even a golf pencil wasn’t an option, I’d fall back to my own blood. I’ve used it in art before, and I sure as hell will use it again.

opportunity for artists and teachers

It can’t be all tailpoofs and pawprints in here, unfortunately. If you’re a furry artist who’s planning on going to prison, be sure to brush up on your busty human babes, angel wings, demons, skulls, and celtic knotwork.

…or you can, y’know, not go to prison. That works, too. Congratz if you’re on top of this.

The Antithesis Of Furry Culture. Sort Of.

The furries that reside here don’t get much of a chance to socialize together. Meadows is split into East and West yards by a fence, and although there’s a central gate, movement across it is only allowed for limited reasons, and meeting fellow fluffs is not one of them.

An additional barrier is racial. Prisons are racism training camps, and suspicion can easily arise if inmates of different races mingle too much. Caution could be thrown to the wind, but I am aware of another subculture that faced the same racial barrier, and lost: the Juggalos; fans of the Insane Clown Posse, and embracers of weirdness much like furries do.

Juggalos wanted their own “political” group in which they could manage their own affairs, but the established races shut that down quick. They couldn’t have members of their race ignoring edicts because they also held allegiance to another group. LGBT groups have also fallen to this political logic, and a furry group would surely follow in their footsteps. Whatever sense of community a furry was brought up to exercise, that must be left at the prison gate, and a new community beyond their control to belong to will be assigned.

That sounds extreme, but it’s a reality, and I have flirted with disaster on the previous yard I was housed on when I spent most of my time with a guy not of my race, but who was the only person who hailed from the same Internet culture of games, memes, and shit-posting I was a part of. I don’t really know how I can put it any other way than it sucks. I’m doing some serious mental gymnastics to not walk out of here with a trained distrust for other races. My only choice may be to throw in with otherkin, and just hate humanity as a whole.

An unfortunate commonality between prison and furry culture is punishment of those who mess up. There is a fingersnap readiness to brigade and bully, and there are always a few inmates wandering around who have been put on “shine” — don’t interact with them; don’t help them. Trust is able to be rebuilt again, but never fully. History sticks, and instead of websites that list transgressions, prison uses an oral history, and memories are long. The only thing the online world lacks is the ability to punch people over TCP/IP, though I’m sure there’s an RFC working on that. That leaves prison one up.

Another commonality that is really a symptom afflicting modern society as a whole is the age of offenders. A lot of guys I’ve talked with in here were pulled in for crossing that barrier that decides who gets to vote, or get shot at by foreign armies. The depressing average seems to be 18-20 years, and a few were cuffed younger than that, and tried as adults.

All but one of the other furs in here fall in that early adulthood range for their offense. I, myself, was 23 when I committed my crime. It’s up to readers on how to interpret that information, though the low-hanging fruit seems to be that young people are more prone to being dumbasses. That drugs or alcohol were a factor of their offense lends credence to this hypothesis.

I sat with a fur recently, and discussed an uncomfortable subject. We wondered if the fandom was more prone to producing sex offenders than other subcultures. There’s not many furs in here, maybe seven or eight, but in proportion to the total yard population, that’s a high number. I’m in no position to investigate this, and although I have my suspicions, the scientist in me must fall back on the philosophical razor of Newton’s Flaming Laser Sword: Anything not settled empirically is not worth debating. Any sociologists out there are welcome to study this, though, and then piss off the entire fandom if it turns out to be true.

StrawberryNeko: The Crib

Dramatis Fursonae

I’ll spare my readers the detailed biographies of every fur that is or has been on the yard, but a few notables do deserve paragraph space. Their experiences probably speak louder than mine.

Winter is a siberian husky punk rocker with gauged ears, a split tongue, and plenty of piercings, all which match his real self. Seeing him wiggle the two halves of his tongue independent of one another is disturbing and cool, and he’s chill with having his gauged lobes tugged on. That’s probably the best way to describe him: chill, except when he works in the kitchen, apparently. Then he wants to stab people. Winter’s former job on the outside was a porn actor specializing in BDSM. He’s willing to do a lot unless it involves midgets. He’s afraid of midgets. I felt it was inappropriate to press him as to why.

This husky is a recent member of the fandom, having joined two years ago. He’s taken to it fairly well, staying low key for the most part, but not afraid to bring it up in conversation as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Winter is not afraid to say a lot of things, actually. My first exposure to him was on the last yard I lived on (though, I didn’t know he was a furry then), and it involved him jumping atop an outside park table, pointing at me, and shouting, “You’re my next rape victim!” How charming.

Despite what most would consider a horrific introduction (including me), Winter’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of mellow, take-life-as-it-comes happiness is an island of positivity in an ocean of suck. I have yet to see the guy in a bad mood. I love having him around.

Winter has a tag-along called Blue Jay, a jackal convert from the anime fandom. In real life, genetics conspired against him to deliver perhaps the most unfortunate mole placement ever: on his filtrum, right between his nose and lips. The resulting effect is an emo-style Mexican Hitler, and we jokingly call him “Mexler” when we want to be dicks about it. Blue Jay rolls with it, a sure sign of immunity built up from years of teasing. Goddamn, what luck, though!

Blue Jay is an up-and-coming artist, formerly into pure anime, but Winter helped him to see his furry side in the past few months. On reflection, Blue Jay thinks he’s always been a furry, but just didn’t make the connection until now. After seeing some of my art, he’s hyped up for sergals, and has drawn a group picture of Winter, him, and me together as our glorious furry selves. I haven’t known Blue Jay for as long, but he’s similarly low-key from what I’ve observed, and I’m getting a fanboy vibe from him towards me. He’s amazed at how fast I can draw, but he doesn’t know how lazy I am between drawings. I think it evens out between him and me. Unfortunately, both Winter and Blue Jay are not of my race, so my exposure to them has to be limited. Boo.

Emerald arrived late last year, a full-fledged, green-furred sparkle wolf who also crosses over into the MLP fandom. This poor kid had absolutely everything going against him: he hit the yard with a snitch jacket — wherever he was before, he ratted out another inmate; he was utterly obsessed with the furry and MLP fandoms, and he let you know it; and he had a shrill voice that was even more intolerable to listen to than two cats making carnal love. Emerald also had the tendency to lie. A lot.

I consider this kid’s story to be a tragedy, though. Emerald — or Emmie, as I called him — had a lot of mental health issues, foremost being his autism. His obsessive babbling about ponies and wolf-kitsune crosses to anyone unlucky enough to be in earshot reminded me of my mentally handicapped sister, but replacing furries with movies. Emmie was mentally ten years younger than his actual age, and given his size and youth, he could’ve easily passed for a teen.

The yard heads banned Emmie from entering their buildings, and the youngsters harassed him constantly. Things got bad enough that he confessed to me he wanted to end his own life. I talked him down from it, but I knew the idea would remain. Emmie was facing four years — not a horrible sentence, but might as well be an eternity for a scared kid like this. Worse, several lifetime probation terms awaited him at the gate, and I can’t see him being successful with that. If Emmie somehow survives this four-year gauntlet, her’s not likely to make it through the second, or the third, or…

My friend and I were his only support. We did our best to teach Emmie about prison life, made sure he had enough hygiene, swatted bullies away, and let hims play in our Pathfinder campaign to keep him away from the drama. We both saw the writing on the wall for this one, but we had to try.

And then one morning Emmie was no longer there. We would learn later that several inmates conspired to drive him out. The kid was easy to manipulate, so they set him up to do something extremely taboo, “caught” him in the act, and then threatened to beat the shit out of him if he didn’t bounce to another yard. So.. Emmie bounced.

Several days later, my friend and I were sitting on a curb, and our talk turned to Emmie, and the dirty way he was ran off the yard. He said something then that hurt to hear, but I knew was true.

“That kid is going to get raped.”

We got Emmie to let on a little of why he was in prison. We didn’t twist his arm too hard about it, but from what little he spoke of, I can guess what happened: Emmie had a furry boyfriend who was underage, and he got caught sexting him. That’s upsetting, y’know? Arizona might have well sentenced this kid to death, or worse, and for that.

…Give me a few moments. That was a tough one to write about…

Artist: Rainy-bleu

There are some other personalities I could cover, but for the sake of brevity, I will skip those whose main claim to fame is shoving shampoo bottles into orifices not explicitly recommended on the label, getting busted for mailing out furry porn, or pissing off enough people with their entitlement to get several visits from the Fist Fairy. Amidst that chaff, however, is the story of Dez and Llewellynn, and their story is one worth telling.

My first encounter with Dez was in front of medical. The transgender woman had just arrived, and was slated for a two month run before going back out on probation. She was speaking to another transwoman, and dropped that she was waiting for her legal paperwork to come in, because one of those papers had a drawing of her fursona on the back of it. This was a blatant fishing attempt, but I couldn’t help but look at the sky and groan.

Dez is actually the first known furry I met in prison. She is a cat-jackal hybrid, a self-labeled sociopath, and skilled “cyber-warrior”. Dez considered herself to be untouchable, and carried herself as such, surveying the prison landscape with the aloofness of a cop. In fact, she claimed that one day she wanted to work as a corrections officer. That’s probably not a good thing to say when you’re wearing orange.

While not as obnoxious as Emmie, Dez made sure to put her furriness on display, much to the chagrin of others. She drew pawprints on her shoes and arms, like tiny kittens had stepped on an ink pad, and then walked all over her. Dez would also meow and make cute gestures while waiting in line for meds. At one point, she wore her ID lanyard like a tail until the cops chewed her out for it.

This is the weird thing, though: As much as you hated Dez, you still wanted her around. That is a terrifying power to have, and before long even my friend, who had threatened to deck Dez for starting an annoying cat chorus, came to like her.

I think half of it was that the yard had never seen anyone like Dez before. Usually, inmates get checked in the chin for not leaving their freak at home, but everyone was swept into this surreal spectacle of a trans woman pretending to be a cat. Two inmates were so taken by this display that they became furries themselves. Dez was a furry virus slowly infecting those around her.

One of those converts would come to call himself Llewellynn, choosing to be a femboi fennec with a massive, floofy tail. He is the one I described glomping me at the start of this essay. He would could to be an even grander spectacle than Dez.

Dez and Llewellynn eventually hooked up. The relationship was highly exploitative, and even dangerous. Her untouchable attitude, and her expensive wants and vices did not endear her to those wanting payment, but Llewynn was smitten by Dez, and he made it his personal mission to protect her. Her debts became his debts, and her attitude became his problems. The fennec took a lot of punches because of Dez. For a time, it seemed like every new day brought a fresh bruise. He fought back valiantly, but the regularity of battles demoralized him, and Dez showed no sympathy to him, nor did she express a desire to change her behavior to spare him the violence.

Despite this, Dez retained her magnetic pull, not just on him, but on all of us. We picked up her mannerisms, like faux-sneezing cutely when our nose is touched. I have never acted that murry-purry in real life; prison has ruined me.

I did try to pry Llewellynn away from her, but since they both weren’t of my race, the options were limited. Llewynn wouldn’t listen to what advice I gave anyway. She was, depressingly enough, his first real relationship. I could do nothing except watch.

As we all ticked over to 2018, Dez went back out onto the streets. Llewellynn was crushed, and spent nearly two week indoors. When he did come out he would howl, forlorn. Fennecs aren’t really known for that, but I let it slide. I was relieved Dez was gone for Llewellynn’s sake, but standing in line at medical wasn’t the same anymore. That ambivalence is scary. Dez is one of the worst people I have ever met in person, but a small part of me wishes she was still here.

I may get my wish: we had friends keep tabs on her, and about a month and a half into her probation, she made a violation, and was sent to jail. Apparently Dez flipped out and assaulted her probation officer. As stupid as that was for her to do, I totally get why she did it. WITNESSED.

Even if she doesn’t come back to this yard, Dez’s legacy will live on for a long time. She changed people, including me. She also brought Winter to my attention, and Winter then went on to make another convert. For better or for worse, Dez is responsible for giving furries a foothold in prison, bringing them together (as much as prison life allows), and expanding the ranks. Furries are now a subculture here at Meadows, alongside the races, the nerds, the comic book/manga enthusiasts, the pagans, the Juggalos, and so on. Yes, Dez is one for the history books. Goddamn cats.

I’m proud of Llewellynn. However unhealthy his relationship was with Dez, Llewellynn stood his ground where lesser men (or furs) would have fled. This little femboi fennec held onto his new furry identity in an environment that can easily respond violently against it. If there’s anyone I know who has been through real “fursecution”, it’s Llewellynn. Out of all the people on this yard, I admire him the most, and I wish he didn’t face the decades of prison ahead of him. I wish he could have a second chance.

I asked Llewellynn how he felt about being a furry in prison. “It sucks”, he replied, “but I wouldn’t want to be anything else.”

I feel the same way.

#ArtvsArtist Hola! I'm Sisk - illustrator of aliens, builder of worlds, and visual creator who uses what little is at her disposal.

Which, at present, is not much more than lead, a pen, ten colored pencils, some envelopes, and the help of my friends. pic.twitter.com/jJV5ZaYj5J

— Siskmarek Namaruk ~☆ (@Tailpoof) April 11, 2018

The Tail End Of Things

As of this writing, I have approximately a year and a half to go. What happens after that is an ominous question mark. The #Justice4Sisk and #SaveOurSisk campaigns garnered a lot of support, but brought out a lot of powerful enemies, too. Most of their advocacy centered on me, but they also paint a bigger picture of a felon’s life — the lives of sex offenders especially. It’s easy to forget that criminals are still human, and it’s just as easy to look the other way from how cruel and damaging prisons can be, both physically and mentally. What’s hardly thought of at all is the swath of destruction wrought not only in the lives of victims’ families and friends, but also in the offenders’ loved ones. When offenders lose everything, the pull of their criminal past strengthens, and these men and women who have the greatest need of help to stop a destructive cycle are the least likely to get it.

I heard what happened to RC Fox. I won’t condone what he did, but neither will I condone what the fandom did to him. It’s been a joke for as long as furs have been around that our main export is drama, but whenever you maliciously harass someone, online or off, you’re acting like a criminal. You’re acting like a convict.

The furry fandom is all about fantasy. We get to tell stories about, or imagine ourselves to be, anthropomorphic animals, often in an idealized way. If we’re going to do that, then we can go one step farther, and rise above what humanity does to each other.

We’re halfway there, I think. Furries have created a racial diversity inspired by nature, and in that diversity is a near totality of acceptance of different species. It’s still fantasy, but it’s remarkable that a wolf and rabbit can fall deeply in love with each other. It’s normal, not only to the happy couple, but to their peers as well.

We can still be better. Remember, we have to convince geneticists that creating real anthro animals is a great (if not extremely far fetched) idea. Don’t mess this one up for all of us, guys.

–Farrah “Sisk” Barney

Mail to Sisk can be sent with the guidelines on this page.

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

Love Match, Book 2 (2010-2012) by Kyell Gold. Illustrated by Rukis.
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, February 2018, trade paperback, $19.95 (316 pages), e-books $9.99.

This is book 2 of Gold’s Love Match trilogy. Book 1, titled just Love Match, was published last year in January 2017, and the final volume will presumably be published in early 2019.

Gold’s Love Match trilogy is a loose follow-up to his five “Dev and Lee” novels, set in his Forester University world; but its theme is tennis instead of football. Young (14 years old) Rochi “Rocky” N’Guwe, a black-backed jackal from the African nation of Lunda, is brought to the States with his mother in 2008 on a scholarship from the Palm Gables Tennis Center, a leading tennis college. During the two years of Book 1, Rocky matures, realizes his homosexuality, and develops a romance with his best friend, Marquize Alhazhari, a cheetah from Madiyah. He is horrified to discover that his younger sister Ori, to whom he is devoted and who has been left behind in Lunda, is being betrothed by their aunt in an arranged marriage. Rocky tries to earn enough money to bring Ori to Palm Gables. At the end of Book 1, Rocky and Marquize leave the Palm Gables Center and are thrust into the world of professional tennis.

And that’s about all that I can say about Book 2 without giving away major spoilers. There is a six-page Prologue set in the present (2015), during a climactic game between Rocky and his ongoing rival Braden Longacre, before getting into the main story. It establishes that both will get into tennis’ top ranks. But for the three years of Book 2, 2010 to 2012 – well, nothing much happens.

The story is narrated by Rocky N’Guwe, and it’s about him growing up from 16 to 18 years old in the environment of professional tennis. His friendship/gay romance with Marquize ebbs and flows. Rocky’s mother, who at first is always present as his chaperone and coach, leaves him to the care of a professional tennis coach while she concentrates on getting Ori into the States. He briefly crosses paths with Braden Longacre. Rocky, under his coach’s care, travels to tennis tournaments in several cities and develops new friendships among the other tennis players. In his free time on his own, he explores gay bars and clubs.

“Flying by myself was strange. Ma had taken care of most of our trips over the past year: she’d handled our tickets, checked us in, checked our bags, gotten us through airport security and to the right gate, out onto the tarmac and up the stairs to the plane.

I’d walked with her for all of that, but those memories didn’t help me navigate the signs and counters. I was proud of myself for only getting lost twice in the airport and for reaching the correct gate half an hour before the plane started boarding (Ma had insisted I arrive at the airport two hours before the flight was to leave).” (pgs. 91-92)

Rocky’s story, in many respects, is like that of any gay older adolescent professional sportsman growing up. As usual with Gold’s fiction, the descriptions of the anthro animal world include many incidental animal touches. In a long conversation that Rocky has with another tennis player, a red fox, the fox’s ears constantly go up, flatten, or sweep back.

“My first endorsement came in that May, from an athletic gear company called Purrformance. They had a lot of cat spokespeople and wanted to get some canids as well, so they were targeting younger players in various sports, and Lochen [Rocky’s manager] brokered a deal for me.” (p. 130)

Rocky’s mother believes that he faces some prejudice because jackals are rare in North America. He doesn’t, because the other animals he meets include such non-North Americans as a cacomistle and a pangolin.

“‘How long has it been with them?’

‘Two weeks since the last phone call.’ I tried not to show my nervousness. ‘We had two other companies interview but they both came back with offers that Lochen didn’t want to take.’

‘It’s because he’s a jackal,’ Ma said to Paulie.

‘Ma.’

‘It is. If you were a fox, there would be no problem. Or a coyote.’ She nodded to Paulie.” (pgs. 139-140)

There is a lot of technical tennis talk:

“I hadn’t had to worry about how my opponents were analyzing my game very often in the past. Now I had to do that while at the same time trying to find the cracks in his game. The problem was that while I knew he was vulnerable to net play, I wasn’t sure how to get him off-balance enough in his baseline game to give myself openings at the net, at least not on his serve.

In the second set, I found my answer. We had a long rally from the baseline on his first service game during which I managed to disguise a few backhands successfully. He reminded me of some of the baseline pounders I’d played at school, but he had a much faster stroke, a really good snap of the wrist, and better placement than most of the guys at the Academy. He kept me off balance. But as I returned his shot, I saw where he’d go with the next one and had two seconds to plan my return. If I could pull him off to the side…” (pgs. 26-27)

Love Match, Book 2 (2010-2012) (cover and interior illustrations by Rukis) is good reading, but it is clearly the middle volume of a trilogy. There are several hints that Book 3 will be more dramatic.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Furplanet
• Buy on Bad Dog Books

Cover by Rukis

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.

Guest post by Arrkay from Culturally F’d, the furry youtube channel. See their tag on Dogpatch Press for more.

Furry and Punk have a lot in common, way more than you think! Arrkay discusses the parallels of the two movements, their philosophies, their work ethic and more! We’re really excited for this episode as it’s been on the list of suggestions for over a year!

This episode came together with the help of a lot of different furs! This article is going to look at some of the research we used, and a shoutout for everyone who helped.

Buy Fluff Punk Merch today at http://www.culturallyfd.com

The YCH in the thumbnail is our patreon sponsor Reggie Fox with art by Underbite Dragon. Get your own or some other cool stuff here https://www.patreon.com/culturallyfd

The episode was divided into several sections, the titles only really make sense in the written script and are otherwise lost in the translation to video:

1. Punk Primer
2. DIY Ethics (at about 3:57)
3. Anti-Establishment (about 6:06)
4. Kink as Fashion (about 8:21)
5. No Fascists at this party (about 9:31)
6. Close-out (about 12:59)

DIY:

Also, sending some love to @boilerroo for providing us with lots of punk art and photography. Here's some posters we didn't end up putting in this weeks episode: pic.twitter.com/HDSkI5EL5v

— Culturally F'd! (@CulturallyFd) April 11, 2018

Also shout out to Reggie Fox, who not only has a sweet sponsor spot in the YCH thumbnail, but also helped us track down that punk-pamphlet via twitter:

Apparently a pic of my fursona was used on the cover of a furry anarchist pamphlet back around 2012. #punkrock pic.twitter.com/24fP7w5j9B

— Aiden @ BLFC (@AidenPup) January 5, 2016

We should note that the pamphlet did not directly inspire the video, the script was already drafted when we rediscovered it. It did help us confirm some of our suspicions though. The creator of the pamphlet is still a mystery!

Our research also dug up this limited edition punk art and design book focusing on the sexual elements of the arts movement. NSFW imagery:

Provocative new book explores sex in punk

Additional Research links:
A collection of YouTube posted Documentaries on Punk. They feature nazi-punks a lot though, so heads up: https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/kz8jqx/the-5-best-punk-documentaries-on-youtube

I have a digital copy of Furry Nation by Joe Strike, so I was able to quickly find any instances of the word “Punk” in the manuscript, leading to the quote by Boomer the Dog and his fursuit Papey: http://furrynation.com/

We also used a track by Xephyr, which Underbite Dragon now drums for. Check out their music, which is more prog-rock than punk, but we won’t hold it against them: https://www.youtube.com/user/XephyrRocks

 

NO FASCISTS AT THIS PARTY

Here is an article by GQ that has a series of short anecdotes of punk-rockers having to deal with neo-nazi’s showing up to ruin their shows. It has many examples of how to deal with them nonviolently, and their violent reactions to being shown the door. Open clashes were rare, but there are a few instances of those as mentioned here as well: https://www.gq.com/story/punks-and-nazis-oral-history

Ever hear that Altfurries are just trolls? A real Nazi leader is taking them seriously.

I have one more thing I want to express to alt-furries and anyone sympathizing with neo-nazis. I think one day soon there’s going to be a very furry version of this classic Dead Kennedys track:

 

Like this and want more? Buy Culturally F’d Merch, Support Culturally F’d on Patreon, and subscribe to the Newsletter.

Postcards handed out at Furry Weekend Atlanta

On Kickstarter: an Anthropomorphic Art Magazine is being launched by Zoion Media and its creator Pulsar. (It ends on April 29, so don’t wait to support.)

Our goal is to create a contemporary, well designed, image-driven magazine focusing on clean, evocative, highly artistic, well developed and well executed anthropomorphic art and themes. We want to make something the average furry is proud to show their non-furry friends to give them an idea of what furry art is all about.

Pulsar talked about inspiration for a print magazine to promote furry fandom creators and artists:

“I’ve always been an artist and I read a lot on contemporary fine art. I remember standing in the bookstore browsing Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose and thinking, ‘there needs to be something just like this for furry art’.”

Those names stood out to me. So did the focus on clean art. That sounds smart for professional reasons. If it open-mindedly supports creators who do adult art elsewhere (which includes Pulsar himself), that could make a needed gateway between fandom and the mainstream, where the word “furry” is less sensitive.

Zoion is meant to feature strong curation and professional execution to appeal both inside and outside of fandom. Although it’s visually driven, it can be for more than art, too – like writing about creative process, artist profiles and interviews, themed media reviews, and critical analysis.

Pulsar has a blog piece that talks about rationale for the project. (He’ll share more aspects of design and planning there). He says:

…the fandom has been growing rapidly and has also been getting more mainstream attention. The tone of that attention has shifted as well, from the CSI days of furry being known exclusively as this weird fetishy thing, to more journalists, charities, and internet denizens standing up to defend furries when they come up in threads or news.

…I believe this desire for legitimacy in the furry fandom means it’s right time to launch that idea for an anthro art magazine I had five years ago.

There’s a precedent for mainstream crossover. In 2016, furry artist Onta (of porn site Hardblush.com) featured in mainstream comic anthology Island, from Image Comics. (Read an interview about it with Onta by Bessie, an occasional Dogpatch Press contributor.)

I rarely do headlines about crowdfunding, but publishing is special to me. Last week, that included a furry photo art book project, “At Home With the Furries” by Tom Broadbent. It succeeded with raising over $13,000. It’s a great time for this stuff, with Joe Strike’s Furry Nation being a milestone too. I think investing effort for real, physical media is a step beyond fandom into a movement. That’s why I’m happy to see the term “art movement” explicitly associated with Zoion.

Furry art is one of the first, and quite possibly the largest art movement to exist primarily as new media. This is a big reason we feel a print magazine is a great idea. Here's our take:https://t.co/f6JP2sRWz7

— Zoion (@ZoionMedia) April 3, 2018

Pulsar added:

“I think there’s a real desire in the furry fandom to be able to talk more openly about furry as an interest or a hobby. But pointing friends to a website or Twitter account can be difficult because furries tend to mix styles, types, and levels of maturity in their art,” Pulsar said. “Zoion would provide a way to showcase the best of anthro art in one place, in a way that’s not being done on any other platform.”

Zoion Media is soliciting for artists and creators who want to participate. To be considered, visit zoionmedia.com and find “Submission Info” to submit.

Following Part 1 and Part 2 here’s one more take. (Sorry if it’s beating a dead horse, or pup, but it has to post week-of). Thanks to Jones for submitting. Good boy!

This was a very lively discussion.

Many puppy players ARE furries. @Pup_Leo: “mixing my pup gear with my fursona”

Hello. I’m Devin Jones, your friendly local furry hermit. I’ve been in the fandom for 16 years, both active and periphery, and I’ve been a pup for seven years. This recent incident at FWA has called me to bring my expertise in both spaces to bear on making a decision on how I, personally, should react and handle the overlap between the pup and furry communities.

Jones

I am not under the impression that ‘furry’ is a fetish. Perhaps, for some, that’s the definition of ‘furry’. A kink for anthropomorphic animals of various species, some of them paradoxically not having fur. But I, myself, find that shallow. Furry is more than just wanting to get schtupped by werewolves or wanting to tie the fox-boy down. Furry is a culture all its own. A culture made of artists and aficionados, of kinksters and prudes, of artisans and consumers and people of an age range that is staggering in its broad reach. To claim that furry is merely a fetish is myopic. It does no one any good to cheapen it in such a way. It’s like saying that footwear is merely a fetish.

I don’t shy away from or attempt to whitewash the sexual side of the fandom. It isn’t something that can be ignored. The ‘AD culture’ is just as much a part of it as the fluffier side. Both parts make up the whole, with much overlap in between. The sexual side of the fandom is broad in spectrum, ranging from vanilla, everyday sex to ‘shocking’ fetishes with a touch of weird. It has hooks in everything from BDSM to weight gain. Pup play is not exempt from this broad outreach of interests.

Pups are some of the best people I have come across in my long tenure in the BDSM community. Most are innocuous, friendly and eager to please to a fault like the animals they wish to emulate. They are a good lot, overall, and one that I happily throw my hat in with. There is no shame in being a pup. In my experience, it’s a good way of letting the stress of the world leave you. You are a dog. You don’t have to worry about taxes, money, your job or everyday life. You are there to be A Good Boy. Nothing more, nothing less. Pup mentality asks only for a simple existence as a being. It asks you to be happy in what you are. Be that a service dog or a, well, “service” dog, if you get my meaning, or simply a companion.

Hoods are a mark of honor for most pups. A way of becoming the mask, much like fursuits, hoods can be anything from a simple cover for the face that emulates a dog’s in shape, all the way to a head-encompassing leather or rubber fixture that removes all semblance of being a human being. Some eschew hoods for personal reasons, be that cost efficiency or simple dislike of being confined in one.

What happened at FWA, while it was late at night, was more than a faux pas in the pup community. Regardless of excuse, it endangers the reputation of the pup community and by proxy, the furry community. Open, public play is not an act that is acceptable under all but the most explicit circumstances. There is a difference between a pup meet or a demo at a BDSM gathering, and a true public space like the lobby of a hotel. Random passersby did not consent to being shown this fetish act. This should be clear. Condemnation of TEKpup and Murrlin is the only course of action that is morally acceptable. There is no question in my mind that, had this happened at a public munch or a BDSM con, that the two would be ejected and blacklisted from area meetups.

Forcing someone to witness a sexual act is inherently a transgression on that person of a sexual nature. BDSM, pup play included, is about consent of all involved parties. There’s no argument to be had here.

The periphery question of pup hood being ‘allowed’ in con spaces is one with no clear answer. My heart tells me that pup play, while not always sexual, is a fetish. It has not had the PR and precedent that fursuiting has had to give it an innocuous feeling. This recent incident does not help it in that matter. My opinion is simple; Pup hoods and harnesses are fetish gear, and it’s up to the con to decide if fetish gear is acceptable in public spaces.

Thank you for indulging the ramblings of a hermit.

The good news for folks who are into that is even though furry isn't set up for the scene there are specific conventions and events that are hosted for that specific purpose and those are better adults only spaces for safely and consensually enjoying such activities. pic.twitter.com/JfRIqwpXGS

— Deo (@DeoTasDevil) April 9, 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.

Continuing from part 1: Controversy erupted about a video from FWA that appeared to show sex in public, but it didn’t. It was puppy players wrestling (moshing). Pup play is an offshoot of the leather scene that overlaps with furry, but isn’t always welcome. The behavior at FWA was one issue – and then a separate, bigger debate came up about welcoming that interest at furry cons. Here’s a point/counterpoint about it.

nobody clutches their pearls harder than furries pretending to be shocked at pup play

— Hashtag (@HashtagPurr) April 8, 2018

for the record, if you gonna grind on the floor, do it in your room. but fuck this puritanical crusade against the gear scene. sorry their version of the fandom isn’t walking stuffed animals, get over it

— Hashtag (@HashtagPurr) April 8, 2018

I have some words to say to Furry and Pup Twitter over the FWA video. Not because I want attention but because I’ve been a furry since 2010 and a pup for 3 1/2 Years and these last few days have been rough for me.

— David “there’s a gif for everything” Popovich (@Bookworm_Review) April 9, 2018

As for you furries... for a group that spent years trying to say “Blame the person not the fandom” you can at times be hypocritical about that. This was a bad situation but by individuals not a community. So why attack all of us leaves me tired.

— David “there’s a gif for everything” Popovich (@Bookworm_Review) April 9, 2018

Click through above for more from Pup Matthias, a Dogpatch Press staffer who says “Pups are a spectrum of sexual and non sexual like furries, but they haven’t had people whitewash their history”. 

He gave further explanation:

A pup hood is an extension for someone when they are in pup space. Some people misinterpret that you need a hood to be a pup, but you don’t. There is no “gear” requirement to show you’re a pup. What makes someone a pup is what they wish to express a “dog” behavior.

Some are playful. Others are service, as in serving the community by volunteering at events. Others are protectors and others are sexual. The problem I have with the “Pup Hoods in public fur con space” debate is that it’s misguided. If a person was in full fetish gear: hood, harness, jockstrap, butt plug tail, etc. there would be no debate. Most people have common sense for what is and isn’t right to wear at certain events and would call out something like that.

If the person was in hood and wearing a harness with no shirt, I wouldn’t have a problem with that because of the circles I’m in, but I can understand where people come from about kink and fetish. I would expect that at an event like Claw, or LA Hear, over a general furry space.

But just a pup hood alone? While properly dressed? Unless I’m missing details, or the pup in question was being a huge dick, I don’t see that as wrong. When we do that we’re just expressing ourselves in a non sexual way. When I see what’s been discussed on Twitter, I can’t really agree on what people are saying in context of just wearing a hood while being PG. The Pup community is sexual, but there’s a spectrum of people, some I know personally who aren’t. There’s more to the community than what people are saying. I feel the Pup community needs to step up to educate while recognizing the nuances.

I started a group chat with more opinions.

Puppy play in a hotel lobby? They were defensive that it was at 4 AM. It’s still a lobby.

Arrkay:

I like pup masks, they look neat and I think can fit in with furry just fine. But I mean more like kink friendly design/fashion. That doesn’t condone this behavior, they should have done it in private.

Pup Matthias:

I’m a pup and have been for 3 1/2 years. When I discovered it I saw a lot of crossover with furry and my interest with BDSM. I know puppy comes from a sexual background but being in the community I’ve seen that not all pups are sexual. There are some who do it just to role play no different from when furries fursuit. In fact I’ve had 2-3 different encounters with little kids while wearing my hood at public events and they were amazed to see me. But when it comes to criticism of Pups most of it comes not from outside, but from furries. And it’s funny because we have been yelled at by the old guard leather about how we don’t respect pups sexual humiliation origins. While furries say we’re too sexy. I even had one at a fur event yell at my face that I didn’t belong wearing my hood to a furry event. So there is some personal baggage when stuff like this happens.

Arrkay:

Furry origins are dripping in sex and kink, I think it’s hypocritical to reject pups.

Aristide:

They’re not furry, just furry adjacent. There’s also an explicit fetish assumption with pups, whereas furry has minors that can participate safely.

Arrkay:

Lots of cross over in the venn diagram. And you’re right, furry is an all ages thing. So no yiffing in the lobby. But I think it should be fine to don a pup hood with plain clothes, and romp around conspace. FE had a rule that any kink gear like hoods and harnesses could only be in the conspace after 9pm, I think thats a reasonable compromise.

This is a separate convo between “yiffing in the lobby” vs “pups place within furry.”

Tex:

I’m open to learn about anything. I assumed pup hoods were just sexual. I also assumed BDSM is inherently sexual. I’m open to the idea that I’m wrong about this all, I don’t have a lot of experience with it.

Arrkay:

If I had a pup hood it would def be more for fashion than sex. They look heckin neat IMO.

Aristide:

Pup hoods are anti-fashion IMO.

Pup Matthias:

It makes me think of a few months ago when someone saw a puppy with his hood walking in the lobby, and everyone on Twitter, including me had an opinion.

Deo:

I’m cool with harnesses and pup hoods worn around the con at all times. It was the inappropriate public dry humping that I didn’t like. I’d feel that way no matter what they were wearing, plain clothes, fursuits, or pup gear. It’s less about the gear and more about conducting ourselves decently and respectfully in public spaces. Those other people around them didn’t consent to being a part of sexual play as background onlookers. Touchy stuff like that needs to take place in private hotel rooms.

Pup play may originate with BDSM but the roleplay elements and escapism are very close to reasons why some furries fursuit. Pup hoods can be original works of art just like fursuit heads. As long as everyone is fully dressed without genitalia explicitly showing, and as long as they leave people alone who are uncomfortable (same with fursuiters needing to not force interaction), I’m cool with it.

Tempe O’Kun:

I’m not into pup/pony play, but I would also argue that it’s kinda furry – RPing as an animal and all. That said, sometimes we do have to cool it for the sake of having an all ages con (or have more adults-only cons). Furries, the media, hotel staff, and even the family of furries benefit from having clear and simple rules on when/where you can wear obvious kink gear.

Vandell:

I think pups are fine in the fandom. I don’t even have much against the hoods being worn in public (sort of; wait for the chilluns to go to bed first). I think grinding in a public hotel lobby is the frustrating part.

Deo:

It’s not about y’all tho. Forreal.

The furry con doesn’t have to cater to your fetish, they literally have BDSM cons for this stuff. This is so god damn selfish. Embrace public decency and stop dropping inappropriate public behaviors on others.

Get a grip.
Do better. https://t.co/V0b1xXOctQ

— mawther (@inkiiorchid) April 9, 2018

There is a good point that a furry con doesn’t have to cater to individual fetishes and that specific fetish events and conventions exist for the reason of fulfilling that role for people.

I gotta say though some pup hoods are lovely pieces of artwork that really show skill and craft.

Mulefoot Boar made these and I want one.

There’s no reason these can’t be considered art masks.

These are artistic too. All of this is just head wear, not much different than any other mask except for the prejudice/expectation of it being solely sexual.

Pup Matthias:

After digesting this more, I know and understand that what the pups did is wrong, but it reads and feels like those talking about it are using to broadly talk about pups being bad in general. Let’s not forgot what happened when one person complained on Twitter during Arizona Fur Con just about seeing someone in a hood.

It feels hypocritical to see furries do that, but honestly furries have always had an issue with its “image”. It’s like a needy girl who needs total strangers to approve of her.

And the thing about the hoods being works of art can be true. It can also be hurtful to Pups in the community because we always have some who feel they need to get a hood just to be accepted, and you don’t need one to pup. It’s a state of mind. The hood is just fashion to either help get into that space or express yourself. It’s not required.

hi i'm old enough to remember when fursuits were considered fetish gear and lots of furries didn't want ppl wearing them on the floor at conventions. consider that acceptance of smth originally born of sexuality can lead to identity & culture beyond its birthplace

— artdecade (@artdecaderoo) April 8, 2018

ScaleyStaffer:

People forget things like pet auctions existed in the fandom at one point and were major convention events.

Deo:

Sorry, I mentioned the hoods being works of art because they have gotten the bulk of the stigma recently. I know pup is a state of mind, but without the hoods the “romping” would have been attributed to drunk furries, rather than blamed on “BDSM Pups are being publicly kinky in our Furry Fandom”.

Pup Matthias:

That is true, and seeing them as art is an important thing. I’m just bringing up something I’ve seen way too much on the pup side. Hoods can actually be a sore topic for pups, depending.

Tempe O’Kun:

Sort of like how some people feel like they aren’t real furries without suits?

Edward:

I feel the gear is fine as long as there is no nudity involved, especially in open con spaces.

Pup Matthias:

It’s the same language and the same issues. Being noticed, being accepted, and seeing which ones are popular and wanting to be like them.

Edward:

I see some of the people saying pup hoods should be banned are also people that think murrsuits are terrible and should also be banned. Not sure if that stems from personal issues about sex or what, but I feel that as long as things are kept strictly G rated in areas that are not designated for more adult things, it’s fine. Use common sense and better judgement. Drunk people will do dumb things, but judging an entire subculture within a subculture because of the actions of a couple drunks is kinda unfair IMO.

Like artdecade says in that tweet, fursuits were also considered fetish gear. They still are in many circles. It’s not the fursuit or the pup hood that made those two dry hump in a public area. Banning the gear is not going to stop that behavior.

Tempe O’Kun:

Also: collars/leashes. Most places, that would automatically be considered a sex thing. Some furries just wear that stuff as a fashion item.

Edward:

I wore a collar in public years ago, and it was just shrugged off as a ‘goth thing’. It wasn’t at all, but hey, worked in my favor.

Tempe O’Kun:

Right. Context.

I think we need to recognize that the behavior was the problem not what they were wearing. It would be equally wrong no matter what they were wearing- plain clothes, fursuit, or pup. It's less about the gear more about conducting ourselves respectfully in public spaces. pic.twitter.com/W7C8sghQp6

— Deo (@DeoTasDevil) April 9, 2018

Pup Matthias:

I understand there is a lot to learn about and I feel the fandom still has an image issue it needs to both grow from and loosen up in other areas.

Summercat:

I will say that we do a lot of nonfurry stuff at furry cons that furries are interested in. Ham radio, aerospace meetups – heck, most gaming isn’t furry. So to me, saying that pup stuff is BDSM and not furry doesn’t quite wash, even if you ignore the overlap in categorization.

At the same time I dont think gimp suits should be allowed and I’m iffy about the full body latex zentai suits I’ve seen run around.

Deo:

Good point on the furry adjacent hobbies and interests that carry over to be shared a cons between furry fans.

Summercat:

Are cons about Anthropomorphic Media, or are they about Furry Fandom? Are they about the art movement, or upon the culture? I’ve always seen conventions to be like a county fair, where a community or set of communities come together to do trade/business, show off their best works, enter into contests, and socialize. So I guess I’m in the latter of this.

Tex:

A lot less grey area here. I know the discussion for sex positivity in the fandom is all but won.

I know two people who classify themselves as asexual and would like to Disney-ify cons. One proudly kinkshames because she finds it all disgusting and feels like cons are no place for it. The other literally says that everything should be held to a “rated E” standard, and feels like the whole of the con space should be FOR KIDS. The people I’m introducing are the only sex-negative people I know personally.

Some people legit want to give the fandom a bubble bath, and purify it by their own arbitrary sense of shame, and they are NOT silent about this and take incidents like the video to churn up weaponized outrage at kinks and fetishes, and shape the fandom to their will. They’re not very good at it. The ones I know and quietly dislike intensely, but they stand in the way of a sex-positive fandom as I’d like to see it, and I’m sure they’re not alone. They do it under the guise of asexuality too, which just gives aces a bad name.

They’re more or less just disgusted by sex and live in an imaginary Disney land. They don’t have the means to effect that change and I’m glad they don’t.

Closing – a little teaser of news.

I hope you enjoyed this chat that covered a LOT of ground beyond drama about one video.  On the other paw, when Anthro Northwest had their first convention in late 2017, there was a lot of controversy about their family-friendly rules that were attacked with assumptions about religious motivation behind the scenes.  Personally, I was never doubtful that furry should have a place for a family-friendly con.  Fandom is growing and there’s a lot of room for different flavors and approaches. That makes me mention that there’s serious talk of starting an adult-specific furry convention for 2020.

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.

Seriously!! Right in front of my Convention!? #FWA18 @Cajuntagious pic.twitter.com/s5ZYsXfEaY

— KoidelCoyote@BLFC (@KoidelCoyote) April 8, 2018

Furry twitter was growling about two puppies wrestling in the middle of a hotel lobby. It was an “OMG! Furs are having sex in public at FWA” thing. It started with one tweet of a video that sort of looks like people having sex – but then the subjects posted a close-up 360 video showing it wasn’t. Even so, online outrage kept getting the video taken down from Youtube (see it on Vimeo).

Changa Lion of the Prancing Skiltaire house, a graymuzzle furry who staffed at ConFurence and tipped me about this, said it resembled plenty of previous “bullshit said about older cons that wasn’t actually true”:

It’s like it becomes self-reinforcing. No matter what is said, it’s now firmly in place in people’s minds that furs were having sex in public at FWA. I almost want a yearly award for the biggest fan outrage of the year that is actually bullshit.

What were they doing?

Puppy Play is a recently rising community rooted in the classic BDSM leather scene. Think hoods and wrestling gear reminiscent of the gimp look, wagging tails and barking – but sex is optional while “primal headspace” is the point, according to them. Playing together in gear is a “mosh”.

Overlap of puppies and furries is especially noticeable with a hot spot like Seattle, where SEAPAH (Seattle Pups and Handlers) throws a monthly mosh at a leather bar that attracts fursuiters. For incentive to mingle, that furry scene seems to need more established night life, like regular dance parties other cities have.

Things don’t always mingle so casually at fur cons, where pups have been accused of making things creepy, yelled at or been told not to wear hoods. That’s not fair, say the pups. Furries can get similar friction about fursuits that they don’t deserve (or they used to.)

When the issue came out at FWA, it was inflamed by baggage and bad attitudes from several sides. Does puppy play belong in furry at all? Is furry actually a fetish itself? Can you call either thing nonsexual? Are furries overreacting to purify parts of themselves? Should they lighten up because the same judgement was thrown at them before? Or do both groups share some ambiguous no-mans-land, with closer ties than they want to admit?

Put your collars on and follow my lead – let’s jump into the fray for a closer look.

Furry ambiguity

I will always say that families and kids belong in furry. But so does the After Dark side. Oddly enough, they coexist even if they aren’t supposed to mingle. I call it a “big tent from Disney to Dirty.” Duality like that is everywhere, because parents have sex to have kids and raise them too. It’s just human, but I think the duality is closer to the surface in this subculture, with more blurry lines. That can make it complicated to decide what’s appropriate and how flexible the lines are. Appropriateness can be very ambiguous when things like “fursuit crushes” are in the eye of the beholder.

For example, this is an innocent kid’s cartoon, except when it isn’t:

remember that time on the Batman cartoon when Batman fought the hot Olympic athlete whose steroids keep turning him into a werewolf

and then they wrestle

i do pic.twitter.com/SmVWMOanuq

— Anthony Oliveira (@meakoopa) April 7, 2018

Here’s an icon that achieved self awareness about it:

I’m all for showing your stripes, feathers, etc. But let’s keep things gr-r-reat – & family-friendly if you could. Cubs could be watching

— Tony the Tiger (@realtonytiger) January 28, 2016

There’s a time and place for everything

Tony The Tiger didn’t object because of being a satirical furry thirst object, it was because lewdness got so public. On the other hand, even boundaries for public lewdness can be more flexible than people think.

Try Folsom Street Fair, the world’s biggest outdoor fetish event.  It’s held in San Francisco every year since 1984, and officially sponsored by the city. It’s 18+ to enter, gated for 13 city blocks, and 400,000 people go. Furries have a popular furmeet there. Fursuiting in the sun with a giant crowd takes a lot of endurance, but it’s unbeatable for excitement. I mean, actually it is beatable. You know what they say, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me…” When every other person is in bondage gear, that becomes plain and usual. What was really special was the time I found someone’s slave chained to a telephone pole, and gave them furry tickle torture while the crowd laughed.

NSFW public lewdness is on video with “Folsom Street Fair” getting 1776 hits on Pornhub. That was the year of American independence, and it’s nobody’s business to judge it, unless you’re rating how good the videos are. Naughty voyeurs should send appreciation to any furry in them you’ve been watching.

Not everyone chooses the right place. I wouldn’t tickle-torture a slave in a hotel lobby.

Fear of repeating Oklacon and Rainfurrest

Rainfurrest fell apart in 2015, and a lot of blame was thrown at a widely-shared photo of a rubber-clad guy wearing a diaper in public space. But the guy was just quickly going to a panel where he was expected. He wasn’t hanging out to show off. Nobody besides furries cared that Furry Twitter was sharing a photo of a weird looking guy. The real harm came from vandalism. Fetishists got unfairly blamed.

So we are clear: Babyfurs and their friends were not responsible for the loss of our previous hotel. Damage to hotel rooms was responsible.

— RainFurrest (@rainfurrest) June 25, 2016

Oklacon also fell apart in 2015 when park rangers were alerted to a sex act that happened outside with 3 intoxicated people. Members discussed a history of tensions with the park including homophobia – and we’re talking about a camp after dark. I’ll bet more people than not have sex outdoors (on a beach, etc), or get drunk while camping. I think they should have given the con a break, but it was still a pretty obvious cause.

The FWA video made drama worse.

The video of puppy play was shot from far away and a few floors up. @Tekpup and @Murrlin posted their close-up video showing a different view of wrestling in puppy play gear, AKA a pup mosh. They explained that there was no sex, and it happened at 4AM with no kids around, and dismissed criticism. But it was still a public lobby, so the defenses didn’t stop the tension between pups and furries.

Part 2 looks closer at this with a point/counterpoint including Pup Matthias, a Dogpatch Press staffer. The main point is that how they were behaving was not OK, but what they were wearing needs to be separated.

Man, that's a shallow take. Kink is great, I organize pup friendly events and plan them differently depending on context and wouldn't support that take. Think a bit harder plz.

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) April 8, 2018

EDIT: For a reminder that things aren’t as clear cut as some might wish, the first fursuit at a furry con in 1989 was a fetish suit. And for a reminder that overreacting can blow up in your face – here was a story about supposed public sex in fursuits that was a harmful hoax.

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.

Crafter’s Passion by Kris Schnee.
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, March 2018, trade paperback, $7.99 (247 pages).

This actually shouldn’t be reviewed here because it’s not anthropomorphic. But it’s in Kris Schnee’s Thousand Tales series, and the previous four books all had protagonists who became fantasy animals: a griffin, a squirrel-girl, a coyote-man, and a pegasus. If you’re a Thousand Tales fan, you’ll want to read it despite its protagonist remaining human.

Schnee’s Thousand Tales books aren’t meant to be furry fiction, but science-fiction. Schnee postulates that by 2038, Artificial Intelligences have become so advanced/powerful that when a new one code-named Ludo is put in charge of the Thousand Tales interactive game, and programmed to make sure its players “have fun”, Ludo does everything to ensure that they have fun – including giving them the choice of abandoning their human bodies and living in Thousand Tales permanently, as the creature of their choice.

The process involves the scanning of their brains (an expensive process that results in the death of their human bodies) and the transfer of their minds to Ludo’s control within its Thousand Tales universe. Most governments (much more regimented than today) oppose this. But it involves a person’s free choice, and some experts argue that the process involves the successful transferral of the person into a new body without being killed.

“On a whim he set the two computers down on opposite sides of the room. He said to the Slab, ‘Tell me about Thousand Tales.’

It displayed a list of search results. The first three were about a shadowy tax-cheat corporation encouraging the rich to abandon society through the guise of a video game that ought to be banned. The fourth was something about the game’s AI doing charity work. The fifth was back to negative coverage of why the expensive brain uploading procedure was really just a form of suicide. Stan had grown up knowing how search engines were engineered to ‘guide public opinion’ by arranging the results the right way. He could read between the lines and see that the people doing the guiding hated this game.” (p. 12)

Crafter’s Passion is set in 2038, when Thousand Tales is just getting started. Stan Cooper has recently graduated from high school, and is enrolled in a mandatory Youth Community Center to perform government services, to decide whether he will be allowed to advance to college. He becomes a farmer in California’s Imperial Valley, growing needed food. Stan emphatically does not want to be a farmer. Like most older adolescents, he is addicted to video/interactive games, and the hottest new one is Thousand Tales. Supposedly if you can afford it, you can have your brain transferred into the fantasy world to live in its virtual paradise world permanently. But Stan is penniless. He can only afford to buy a handheld console, to enter the virtual world temporarily in his spare time.

Stan is not interested in becoming a fantasy animal, and is happy to remain human. What he is interested in is creating things; in earning his own way rather than having things given to him, whether it’s the government’s minimum for all citizens or the game’s minimum for players who do not advance themselves:

“He checked his inventory. Besides the garbage and default clothes he had nothing. That was better than being handed a ready-made warrior. ‘How do I get a weapon?’

‘You can ask around for a hand-me-down, or start off with some beach-combing for rocks and sticks. There’s a basic crafting bench outside.’

He didn’t want anybody’s handouts. ‘Thanks, I’ll look around.’” (p. 9)

Stan slowly becomes skilled in wood- and metal-working and similar crafts, both for himself and selling what he makes to others. He can use his skills in both the gaming world and the real world, but his supervisor at the Youth Community Center tries to force him to spend all his time doing what the government orders:

“‘What’s so funny?’ said Hal.

‘It’s not important.’

‘Your thoughts are important. I want to know what was going through your head when you decided to run off for this particular event.’

‘I already said I’d scheduled it in advance. I didn’t know I was being automatically signed up for the blood drive.’ Stan sat up straighter. ‘I didn’t think the Community would start claiming my blood without my formal permission.’

‘You gave permission to the necessary rules by coming to the Youth Community Program.’

‘I never had a choice about doing national service years.’” (p. 131)

In the course of the novel, Stan spends more and more time in Thousand Tales and rises with Ludo’s help. This is at the expense of his duties at the Youth Community Center, and he suffers for it.

In addition to the lack of anthro animals, there are other differences. Ludo spends most of the time appearing to Stan as a man “with spiky hair, cool sunglasses and a cape made of stars,” instead of as a beautiful woman.

And Crafter’s Passion isn’t entirely without any anthro animals:

“The camera went to third-person to show him growing, stretching, until he burst free of the net in a flick of… fins? He was solid grey, a horizontal fluked tail thrashed behind him, and his air meter had expanded. He was a dolphin!” (p. 35)

“‘You’re a myth,’ he said.

The griffin said, ‘Not anymore!’” (p. 119)

“A series of thumps sounded from inside, and a muffled ‘Darn it!’ Something metal crashed and bounced. Stan stepped back from the door just as it opened. He found a harried white rabbit-man with his fur mussed, half-dressed in a steel breastplate and holding a pair of leather gloves with his big teeth. The bunny stood at about Stan’s height (counting ears) and was fumbling to get his armor on.

‘Davis?’ said Stan.

‘Yes, sir, I do believe I am. And what else I am is late. ‘Scuse me.’ He fiddled with some buckles.

‘Can I help?’

‘You know what? Yes.’ He turned around and let Stan help him with the armor. ‘Sorry not to be hospitable, but I am on set in five. Another time?’” (p. 198)

Crafter’s Passion (cover by NextMars) doesn’t have many anthro animals in it, and it’s very heavily into Thousand Tales as an electronic playable interactive video game rather than a fantasy world. But it’s still a Thousand Tales novel. Fans of Schnee’s series will know what to expect.

– 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.

On April 6, catch the convention debut of an Official Selection from SF IndieFest and the SXSW Film Festival. 

FWA just updated their schedule with all the details. Director Brett Hanover and collaborators will be in attendance. It will be an “After Dark Panel.” FWA is part of the story of the movie – it’s a local con for the film makers who come from Memphis.

Rukus (2018, 87 min):

• Trailer and a short review.
• Announcement from the San Francisco premiere, and a look at furry indie movies.

In January I helped bring a large furry group to SF Indiefest. It was an awesome experience, and cinema lovers who appreciate the art form should get a thrill from it. Rukus is punk influenced storytelling between queer coming-of-age story, experimental fiction, and a love letter to fandom. This isn’t a sunny movie but it has joy and passion in it. There’s suicide, sex, and finding identity. It rewards multiple watches where you can peel up the rough edges to find a lot going on underneath. My favorite part is how it takes chances with a shoestring budget, and it’s something a community can count as a DIY product from itself. (I’d love to see that become a scene.) Plus, screening at SXSW is a big deal in the larger scheme of things.

I think one of the reasons I find the furry fandom so appealing and cool is that it facilitates an identity around creation instead of consumption.

It feels more like a community than a result of a good marketing campaign.

— several gay monsters (@Orcanist) January 22, 2018

I am just completely floored that someone made a movie about an old friend of ours, Rukus, and that it's being played at SXSW. https://t.co/xuGUurekAF
Lots of weird feels...

— Triad (@triadfox) March 20, 2018

Brett Hanover tells me:

It was really well received at SXSW – good turnouts for all three screenings, and a very positive response from the Austin furry community. Had a few other people from the film there who weren’t in SF, too – so overall, a very positive, emotional week.

Next screenings for Rukus:

• April 13: Indie Grits Film Fest in Columbia, SC
• April 20 and 24: Anthology Film Archives in NYC. That’s part of a film series organized by Madsen Minax called “The Cinema of Gender Transgression: Trans Film.”

Article about Rukus, the indie furry doc/fiction hybrid movie. It just screened at @sxsw, a big honor to get. I love that the director mentions the furmeet for the premiere in San Francisco, by me, @RelayRaccoon and a few dozen furs. https://t.co/HuS2EZiBeJ

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) March 16, 2018

Brett Hanover’s RUKUS is an incredible, indescribable movie that has been in production for over ten years. It had a major effect on all of us in the audience. Go in blind, as I did. #SXSW pic.twitter.com/xCi5pRDrRr

— Blair Hoyle (@Blair_Hoyle) March 11, 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.

The animation business joins the #metoo movement, a campaign for awareness of sexual harassment that started with powerful people in Hollywood.

John Kricfalusi, creator of the Ren & Stimpy show that gained a cult and influenced many 1990’s TV cartoons, is subject of a report about grooming and sexual abuse of young girls. They were taken under his wing as aspiring artists.

These aren’t just allegations; when he was around 40 he had an underage girlfriend, as mentioned in a book about him, and his attorney admits it was true.

Ren & Stimpy played at the Spike & Mike Animation fest in the 1990’s. I remember getting my mind blown when the fest toured to my town. It inspired me to do indie stuff (like this news site.) There’s more of a furry connection than just fandom, though.

There’s a general industry connection. Since the #metoo campaign came out in October 2017, I’ve been holding on to an animation story by request due to sensitivity about the climate (nothing more than that). Pro talk on a furry site can be a bit tricky because of general stigma.

There’s a personal story too. I didn’t expect this in 2018, because I hadn’t thought about John K. in a while – but I’m not surprised. In the early 2000’s, I saw blog commenters joke about him being a Svengali to pretty young girl artists (I had no idea about the underage part). 15 years ago, give or take, I went to a party at his house in Ontario and saw something myself there.

Oh, we’re arguing today because the guy who made Ren & Stimpy groomed minors and had a 16 year old live-in girlfriend when he was in his 40’s, despite the fact the age of consent in California has been 18 since 1970?

...What exactly are we arguing about here?

— Boozy Badger (@BoozyBadger) March 30, 2018

Does 2 Gryphon know it's the lawyers job to defend people? What does he know about John K, whose lawyer confirmed he had a 16 year old girlfriend in his 40s. Calling foul isnt the same as court guilt, there are times to both-sides it but this isn't one. https://t.co/tOmMczokh4

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) March 30, 2018

There are actual furry artists in this community who have worked for John K, saw this first hand, and mentioned seeing it while it was happening. Even without his lawyer saying so, we know this is true, I met witnesses at Further Confusion who were -there-.

— Chakat Slamfire (@ChakatSlamfire) March 31, 2018

back in 2007—ELEVEN DANG YEARS AGO—i wrote a humor column AS John K. to make fun of him. it's incredibly fucked up that the allegations against him are so much more extreme than my actual jokes pic.twitter.com/OC7Fw74Bqw

— Wow, Bob Mackey! (@bobservo) March 30, 2018

Trashy! My original fursona is a punk pack rat.

Background to my story: in 2003 I was in Canada, in a sort of punk collective and the animation scene. (That’s how I knew the director of the Furry Force animation I was in for a second; he’s a great friend and we shared space at one point.) I was noncitizen, so I couldn’t take offers of animation studio jobs. That left me homeless and looking for a path while sleeping in boiler rooms, closets or on couches of people I was helping to start projects. Then there was crashing parties – (and sometimes dumpster diving clothes and even food, freegan-style, because sell-by dates aren’t use-by dates on good sealed stuff. But that’s another story!)

John K. was at an animation event I was at. I got his address for the afterparty. His house was 1960’s bachelor-pad style, with vintage kids toys, wrestling vids and a shag carpet party basement thing. I got fed, had some beers, looked at some stacks of intern art submissions, and watched girls get rounded up to a closed room where John was going to play ukelele for them. Only the girls, including hopeful young students. It was a bit odd.

Only in 15 year hindsight does it click into a pattern. Now I can suggest that what I saw is a supporting detail for info that just came out. In 2003, it appeared to be no more than “this stranger is weird”. I neither owned a computer, had a presence online, or was professionally or personally connected enough to follow up, so it was useless info without context.

Also, talking to police was dangerous. I’d been caught in a cop’s spotlight after midnight, diving in a dumpster and retrieving bagged day-old bakery stuff. (Call me if you ever need garbology for investigative journalism.) The cop took my business card for ID, trusted my talk and let me go – unaware that my student visa was expired and I could have been deported across a border and away from people I relied on. That was a scary feeling, and a very small clue about challenges for reporting things.

Now if you can imagine yourself in furry animal paws, think about being brown or a non English speaker in the USA, or underage with a story that’s hard to tell.

 

John K. was a boss and mentor to people speaking up now, including artists Katie Rice and Robyn Byrd. Cartoon Brew is one of the most active sources for insider news, and the founder (Amid Amidi) had worked with them and John K. In 2018, Amid is praising these women for speaking up. He says the reporting has many details he didn’t know. They’re also commenting on the story in their own words.

I wonder if this has anything to do with 2017 news that Ren & Stimpy were rejected from proposed movies? They cited poor reception for the 2003 “Adult Party Cartoon.” (It could be another furry topic, maybe, about stigma on adult stuff and whether or not abuse was in the equation at the time.)

This is a story about people who are popular and looked up to, and trusted when maybe they shouldn’t be. Fandom knows this well, or it should.

Another thing we know well is supporting others. Check out the art and comics of Katie Rice and Robyn Byrd.

Maybe it's perverse but for now I'm just going to keep lobbing the photo "receipts" at the universe. John's 16-year-old girlfriend was really a thing! It was me! (And at 17, 18, 19, 20, 21...) #johnk #JohnKricfalusi #MeToo pic.twitter.com/RQSY6fEN38

— Robyn Byrd (@TopographicFish) March 31, 2018

Deepest love and respect for @TopographicFish. We were brought together as girls with the same weird, funny ambitions. Instead of nurturing our friendship we were pitted against each other by an egotistical pervert. He's not in control anymore.

— Katie Rice (@katiejrice) March 31, 2018

Hey also, @arianelange of Buzzfeed deserves a huge shout out. For six months she's been doing countless interviews, scouring blogs and books, and wading through giant piles of emails and transcripts, all to corroborate our stories and keep us safe by making our case air-tight.

— Katie Rice (@katiejrice) April 1, 2018

Thanks @DogpatchPress for doing this writeup with followups from your perspective! https://t.co/DkFx2qiH26

— Robyn Byrd (@TopographicFish) April 4, 2018

pic.twitter.com/SXrXEetklz

— Sarah Andersen (@SarahCAndersen) March 31, 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.

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

Cold Clay: A Murder Mystery by Juneau Black.
Philadelphia, PA, Hammer & Birch, November 2017, trade paperback, $12.95 (198 {+ 1] pages), Kindle $4.99.

This sequel to Shady Hollow: A Murder Mystery, described as “a Murder, She Wrote with animals”, is a worthy followup to it. Again the cast is:

“Vera Vixen: This cunning, foxy reporter has a nose for trouble and a desire to find out the truth, no matter where the path leads.

Deputy Orville Braun: This large brown bear is the more hardworking half of the Shady Hollow constabulary. He works by the book. But his book has half the pages ripped out.

Joe Elkin: This genial giant of a moose runs the town coffee shop – the local gathering spot. If gossip is spoken, Joe has heard it, but this time, he is the gossip.”

And too many others to list here. Cold Clay takes place several months after the events in Shady Hollow.   The animal inhabitants of the village of Shady Hollow are settling back into their peaceful routine – newspaper reporter Vera Vixen might call it boring – when the rabbit farm workers of Cold Clay Orchards who are transplanting an apple tree find the skeleton of a moose buried beneath it.

The news soon spreads, and all thoughts turn to the popular moose proprietor of Joe’s Mug, Shady Hollow’s coffee shop. Joe’s wife Julia disappeared eleven years ago. She was flighty and hadn’t wanted to stay in what she considered a nowheresville, so when she vanished, leaving Joe with their baby son, everyone assumed that she had walked out on them. But a moose’s skeleton, which is soon determined to be the missing Julia’s, and that she was murdered, sets all Shady Hollow talking again. There’s not really any evidence against Joe, but there isn’t against anyone else, either.

“Orville gestured for Vera to come to his desk. He handed her a copy of the arrest report, and said, ‘The orders from Chief Meade [another bear] are clear. In light of the evidence of a troubled marriage and Julia’s disappearance eleven years ago, and the recovery of the body this week, we arrested Joe Elkin on the charge of murder.’

‘Oh, Orville,’ Vera said, unable to hide her disappointment.

He bent his head, saying in a much lower voice, ‘You can’t print this, Vera. Meade insisted I arrest somebody, and Joe is the only suspect. He wants it to be understood that the police are on top of the matter.’

‘But you don’t think Joe did it!’ Vera guessed.

‘If he’s innocent, he’ll be fine.’ Orville’s expression was one of extreme doubt.” (pgs. 91-92)

Vera, an investigative reporter, is determined to discover who really did it since the police aren’t looking for anyone else. But where are there clues to an unsuspected murder eleven years earlier? And Vera is forcibly sidetracked when Octavia Grey, a haughty silver-furred mink, moves to Shady Hollow, starts a school of etiquette, and takes out a full-page ad for it in Vera’s newspaper. Vera’s skunk editor, who doesn’t want to offend a major advertiser, orders Vera to enroll in Ms. Grey’s school and spend all her time writing puff pieces on it.

Vera senses something suspicious about the aristocratic Ms. Grey almost immediately. But she suspects some kind of con artist at worst. How could a newcomer to Shady Hollow be connected to a murder eleven years in the past?

Cold Clay is full of the animal inhabitants of Shady Hollow. There’s Vera’s friend Lenore Lee, the raven proprietor of the village’s bookshop. There are Edith Von Beaverpelt and her daughter Anastasia, snobs who don’t want to be interviewed by a lowly reporter, and Howard Chitters, Mrs. Von Beaverpelt’s mouse manager of the local sawmill. There are Gladys Honeysuckle, the town gossip (a professional; she writes a gossip column for the Shady Hollow Herald), and Sun Li, the panda owner of The Bamboo Patch, an Oriental vegetarian restaurant. Professor Ambrosius Heidegger, the owl philosopher, seems too stuffy to be a serious suspect.

“‘Hmpf.’ Lenore ruffled her feathers. She wasnot the most cheerful of birds. ‘So what’s she like, then? This new mink?’

‘She’s very classy,’ Vera said. ‘But nice as well. Shesounds like she’s had an interesting life. Born into a family of aristocrats and has all sorts of stories about meeting royalty and such.’

Lenore gave a skeptical-sounding squawk. ‘Oh, indeed? And she gave it all up for Shady Hollow?’

‘There’s nothing wrong with Shady Hollow,’ Vera said defensively.

‘Course there is! No place is perfect, and we have bones out in the orchard, don’t we?’” (p. 62)

Cold Clay (cover by James T. Egan) is a second witty “cozy” murder mystery by “Juneau Black” (Jocelyn Koehler and Sharon Nagel). With animals. The characters are mostly funny animals (although Lenore Lee, a raven, does fly looking for clues from the air), but if this doesn’t bother you, it’s an enjoyable light read.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Publisher’s site