Dogpatch Press

Welcome back, my shopping friends. Let me tell you a story! I almost missed this first entry because I don’t usually sift through the music section of KickStarter for projects to share. Imagine the egg on my face had I not found it. People don’t tell me these things! I have to find out on my own! I’m here to tell YOU about these things!! So these things, here they are!

MUSIC

Muh. A Pepper Coyote Album

I shouldn’t need to introduce Pepper Coyote. This is for his new album, along with Fox Amoore, Runtt and Koro. You can also get it on Vinyl!

COMICS

Scurry: The Drowned Forest – a post-apocalyptic mouse tale

This is Book 2 of an amazing looking graphic novel. You can also get Book 1 if you’re new to the series.

(A preview for Scurry) >>>

The Oswald Chronicles, Passing Queens #4, 5, 6

Another comic I am new to and it being it’s next set of issues. Again you can get caught up with the whole series if this one interests you. You can also get Text-less covers if you like the cover art.

Rescue Cats (Number One)

This is a 35 page digital only PDF comic of cats with super powers. The KS says it is already done and you’ll get the PDF as soon as the campaign ends.  It’s only live for 3 more days and the only pledge is for $5.

47 Furious Tails: Issue One (Samurai Comic Book)

This is a retelling of an old Samurai legend, but with Furries! Based on historical events, this comic is in color and is 28 pages long. Only 1 issue.

GAMES

Werebeasts

An interesting new take on the Social Deduction genre. Players auction for Were-creatures to collect the ones they want, and others they don’t, so as to throw off the other players who can knock you out if they correctly guess which beast you’re going for.  You can also get, as an add-on, this group’s last game, also Were-related Social Deduction game, but which is that of a Word Game; Were-Words.

Wander: “The Cult of Barnacle Bay”

I’ll let the graphic for this one do the talking for me.

Griff the Winged Lion – Retro-inspired 3D Platformer

This is the 2nd time I’ve seen Griff come to KickStarter, the first time it failed, and this time it’s not doing too well either. It wants to be a modern classic like that of Spyro from the PSX Era.

Vasty Wilds: The Card-Based Board Game

The last board game this week is full of garden critters and cards. It is a game of exploring and collecting objectives on a changing, modular board.

Claws of Furry

Claws is a side-scrolling character action beat em up with skills to unlock and level up.  This one is also not doing too well with less than 2 weeks remaining and less than 20% funding.

ARTS & CRAFTS:

Halloween Cat Enamel Pins

Finally we have one set of Pins this week. Not a half dozen! Just 1. Of Cats. For Halloween. Halloween Cats. 3 days remain!

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon, where you can access exclusive stuff for just $1.

(Thanks for tip from Tinkafur)

Not all heroes wear capes https://t.co/rFGiQ57Rms

— Bristol Post (@BristolPost) September 17, 2017

On Saturday, September 16, a highway accident killed four and hospitalized three in South Gloucestershire, in the south west of England.  A truck suffered a tire blowout and lost control. It crossed into the oncoming lane, demolishing cars and a motorbike before landing in a ditch.

Three witnesses were in a car 30 seconds behind the crash. They rushed to help at a traumatic scene.  Kids were pulled from a car on fire, while rescue crews were stuck in traffic.  Eyewitness Katie Sultana says:

“Everyone ran out of their cars and the public were incredible, they managed to help many casualties out of the accident.

There were many people with blood on their bodies and then the car that had been forced down into the ditch with the lorry was surrounded by many men who were trying their hardest to get out the people inside… the emergency services were incredible, but honestly it was the worst crash I’ve ever seen.”

Those three men are being called heroes by British media for going to the aid of strangers.  But there hasn’t been recognition for another special quality they share. Not all heroes wear capes, but some wear fursuits.  They are Jasper Foxx , Dodger (Daniel Stevenson) and Ash.

Jasper’s Facebook is filling up with thank-you’s.

Dodger is posting about having a hard time dealing with the aftermath, so send him a hug:

Dodger mentions sharing a furry house with Jasper and others. Here’s more of Dodger (right) and Jasper below.

That cookie looks yummy, can I have a bite? #fursuitfriday pic.twitter.com/iLNEtf9XnU

— Lupo (@LupoWuff) August 25, 2017

#BTCC at the Rob Austin owner club! Been awesome! @JasperFoxx @LupoWuff @DodgerTheHusky pic.twitter.com/q4CEbWoFA7

— Red Baron ✈️ (@redbaron_wolf) May 7, 2017

These furries are no strangers to doing charity. In May 2017, “Walk the Track for Billy” was a fundraiser for teenage racing driver Billy Monger, who lost his legs in a crash. Dodger and Jasper brought friends to walk in fursuits, raising over $300 and making it fun and positive.Whether it’s fundraising or an urgent emergency, helping people is a furry thing. That’s the good part of a sad story. Thanks to Dodger, Jasper and Ash for showing what the community is made of and being the best kind of people, with or without fursonas.

Thanks to Summercat for this guest post.

Intimate Little Secrets by Rechan
March 2017, Furplanet and Bad Dog Books

Intimate Little Secrets is a collection of 9 short stories by Rechan. After randomly encountering him in a non-Furry location I promised to review his latest work. I went into reading this book expecting a collection of erotica and was blind-sided by well written stories that I connected with emotionally, if not erotically.

Fanservice – Robin, frustrated with her coworker Dean’s missing of her signals, decides to seduce him by cosplaying as a character from a show he likes. The quick pace from flirting to office sex raised an eyebrow. One issue I noticed is that while Robin’s species is put in early enough, Dean’s is not mentioned until after he is first mentioned and we are brought down Robin’s memory lane. However, even when one character is indistinct, I was still able to get a sense of the action playing out. The emotions and reactions of the characters are fairly real and relatable, alternating between awkward inexperience and passionate confidence when they forget to be worried.

Strange on a Train – Marjani, a serval, reads some erotic fiction on a train and enlists another passenger to assist with her arousal. This story is very well written, we’re given imagery exactly where we need it and when we need it. Marjani’s actions are not out of character for her established personality. We’re given only information about the other passenger, a skunk, that Marjani notices on her own; the name used for him is a nickname she mentally calls him. The sex itself has multiple stages; the skill with which Rechan shows rather than tells is apparent throughout. Setting aside the smut, this is a well constructed story with good progression and even a Chekov’s Gun. Despite the lack of time to develop the skunk character, he’s still given enough personality that he’s more than a two-dimensional cardboard extra. This was a fun and engaging read that I’ll be thinking back to in the future.

Missed – Janine Pendigrass is a collie school librarian in a BDSM relationship with teacher Beth, a mink. While in a lunch-break session, a complication in their relationship arises when Beth asks permission to date a man. Though BDSM is not my cup of tea, I’m still able to mentally see how the scene is playing out. Both characters are displayed with emotion. Despite my initial dislike for Pendigrass, the end of the story has me sympathetic towards her.

Fireworks – A first person story told from the viewpoint of a gazelle, Desiree, an escort hired by Jacob, a deer, to pretend to be his girlfriend for a family gathering. This isn’t exactly ‘guy gains confidence after night with a hooker’ because these characters come across as people and not tropes. The sex scene was well constructed and showed rather than told how the movements went. It also easily explained some items that would have tripped my suspension of disbelief. However, I feel it was overshadowed by the rest of the story. As a piece of erotica, Fireworks does not do well; as a story with an erotic scene, it does.

Teeth – Another first person story, this one is a sex scene between the lioness Carli and an unnamed female wolf. This story is very short, and has some structural issues that give it some flaws. We’re not told what species the POV character is for almost the first third, and we don’t get a clear answer for what gender she is until halfway through. This makes the mental imagery hard to form. Though the action is still well put together, the details and context clues needed are buried too deep in the text. Of course, this is a 750-word story, so “too deep” isn’t that far in page-wise.

When The Paint Dries – Luis the cacomistle gets a surprise call from his remarried ex-wife asking for a major favor. This is not erotica. But it is a good story, and I cannot give an explanation as to why without spoiling it.

Rickety V – A follow-up to Missed, where Conner, a golden retriever, is a spanner in the works in Beth and Janine’s relationship. There is a sex scene that fits and works with the story, driving the plot forward, but a majority of the story covers the relationship between the three characters. Conner’s character is delightfully wholesome and innocent, forcing the issues at hand to be confronted. Rickety V resolves a lot of my concerns with Beth and Janine’s relationship as shown in Missed. I am glad that a follow-up was written.

Three to Tango – A follow-up to Strange on a Train, featuring Marjani’s husband Amadi. Still at her family’s house, the serval woman wants to make up to her husband about bending their rules on the train by hiring chipmunk Kahlua to entertain Amadi while Marjani is on the phone. There’s not much character development here, but there doesn’t need to be. There’s also no real plot or story; the text is nearly all erotic action. While not nearly as engaging as “Train”, Three to Tango has a decent pacing and evokes a good mental image of the action.

TLC – Margaret and Henry, an elderly fox couple, deal with how Henry’s illness has impacted their lives and lovemaking. This is a heavy story, and I found it difficult to read it the multiple times needed for the review. It is a good story, and we feel a strong connection with the two characters, both in their despair and pain, and in the mutual joy they feel. It ends on a somewhat happy note.

I have to say I enjoyed Intimate Little Secrets. “Fanservice” and “Strange on a Train” mislead my assumption of what to expect but I guess you could say that I “Missed” the mark. This is not a collection of erotica so much a collection of stories about people and relationships, with erotica in them. In that sense I feel that “Strange on a Train” and “Three to Tango” don’t quite fit with the others, as they are pure sexual romps rather than stories with plot development. Thematically speaking, I would have preferred to see a follow-up to “Fanservice” and “Fireworks” in this volume, but I don’t feel this disqualifies the book as a whole (especially as I was engaged by “Strange on a Train”).

This anthology is a slice-of-life selection of stories, giving the reader an intimate glimpse into the lives of characters that feel real. The plot flows nicely, and Rechan has a mastery of imagery, giving a clear picture of the action going on, be it sitting in a Chinese restaurant or having raunchy sex in the living room. What weaknesses he has is often not putting important descriptors before said imagery, but this is only an issue in two of the stories and may be me being picky.

If slice of life stories that contain erotic M/F or F/F sex scenes something you enjoy, I would recommend giving Intimate Little Secrets a read.

– Summercat

• Buy on FurPlanet
• Buy on BadDogBooks
• Another video review:

Have you ever hung up the phone on a jerk? Frozen out a bully who acted like a wasp in your hair?  Rejected a stalker who can’t stop asking to sniff your socks?  Shut the door on a creep who wants to get you into a crackpot religion, or to sign a petition to legalize hunting at zoos? Blocked spam to sell you a miracle cure for crotch rot, made from the powdered toenails of a peruvian jungle sloth?

Good. You stood up for yourself like an adult and moderated a nuisance. And now the power is yours to do it better than before. At least with one hate group.

The Altfurry Twitter blocklist (updated 9/24/2017 – now on Blocktogether)

 

• Download the file. Go to Twitter: Settings > Blocked Accounts > Advanced > Import.
• Preview allows screening by eye.  It’s your choice to verify each block.
• The blocklist is often updated. Check this page for fresh info or subscribe to Blocktogether.

Oh no, blocklist sounds like “blacklist.” At least if you don’t think too hard about simply separating signal from noise. But blocking is a self-defense against nuisance.  A list empowers you with crowdsourced support to moderate your boundaries.  And if you’ve been ganged up on, it can handle aggression like jiu-jitsu, especially the more widely it’s used.

Right off the bat, expect predictable complaints.  It’s as if standards which everyone uses (like spam filtering, or SFW limits for a group) are somehow antithetical to a free-floating ideal of universal “free speech.” It’s as if there’s no community attached, everyone is for themselves, and consequences don’t exist.  Supposed enemies of free speech might point to the National Communication Association and the difference between censorship and moderation. (Paraphrasing added):

Moderation is the practice of prohibiting speech in a particular virtual community by authorities within that community. (Crowdsourced in this case, the authority is you.) A topic that is moderated on one virtual community can be communicated elsewhere, so those who wish to discuss it can migrate.

When there is no moderation, the effect of a large number of irrelevant or hurtful messages can be the same as censorship; that is, a group’s ability to discuss a particular topic is curtailed and members leave.

There is one circumstance where community migration is not feasible- when the community is opposed by an adversarial group. An adversarial group defines itself as the opponent of another group. Nazis and creationists, for example, are opposed to Jews and evolutionists. And any group that exists online must communicate its beliefs, as there is no online presence without communication. To assert their identity as an adversarial group, the adversarial group argues with the opposed group. The relationship between the adversarial and opposed group is inherently parasitical.

Conversely, the opposed group does not necessarily define itself in relationship to the adversarial group. Jews and evolutionists would generally prefer that Nazis and creationists leave them alone.

Without moderation, when a member of the adversarial group communicates belief to the opposed group, the value of the virtual community decreases for every member of the opposed group.  For opposed groups, adversarial group messages have properties identical to censorship.

So “free speech” isn’t a consequence-free ideal. Freedom can be self-negating without a sense of community. What does this say about the altfurry blocklist?

• Alt-furry (alt-right or “alternative furry”) behaves like an adversarial, parasitical group to furry fandom. Notice there’s no “fandom” in altfurry.  They act like the only thing in common is selfish media consumption.  But there is a community.  Moderation supports it.
• This applies to Twitter, not between government and public.  And online filtering and moderation goes back to the days of Usenet. However this kind of social media eliminates the cost of it to benefit the company. Moderation is left to your personal work.
• When you have free speech, that doesn’t mean a right to scream in someone’s ear when they walk away. Blocking is freedom of association. Don’t let anyone tell you not to use your freedom or expect you to be a pushover about it.

What are the sources for the list? The team that assembled it (which doesn’t include me, I’m a messenger) used this criteria:

• Much of the list is Altfurry Discord users, seen in the logs where you can verify why they are listed.
• Several lists were merged that include observed supporters for altfurry.
• Hundreds of accounts were checked individually.

Communication makes a better solution:

• To make a case for not being on the list, comment here. (Again, I don’t add anyone and will pass messages.)
• @AltFurryBlocker on Twitter is a more direct method to reach the team.

We are proud to introduce Version 1.0 of the AltFurryBlocker block list, available via BlockTogether! https://t.co/QU7cT7HeXt

— AltFurryBlocker (@AltFurryBlocker) September 24, 2017

Have you released any information on what your criteria is for inclusion on the block list? I'm seeing some questionable names on the list.

— King of Sheps (@TheSteelShep) September 24, 2017

Broadly speaking, deep dives of certain hashtags, Twitter account post history, cross referencing Twitter accounts with FA and Discord..

— AltFurryBlocker (@AltFurryBlocker) September 24, 2017

How to use it actively and why it matters:

• No tool is perfect. It calls for being part of an active solution and being informed (it’s better than complaining but doing nothing, right?)
• Altfurry is a tiny splinter group so the list isn’t an unmanageable mass of thousands without transparency. You can judge it by eye.
• There will always be way more members needing this than wanting it gone. Each supporter makes it stronger for everyone.
• Nazism has nothing to say. It was killed and discredited generations ago and isn’t up for debate.  But some would welcome it back if they could.
• Forgiving is easy and requires honest change. Instead Altfurry chose to obscure their most racist elements from public view but not repudiate it internally.  They work to provoke reaction to falsely depict opponents as aggressors and milk it for attention.  Being on the list is avoidable by not wedging open a door for nazism, and just owning their shit. When that doesn’t happen the community has a right to moderate itself.
• If they want to use this to find others to follow, they can out themselves and make the list easier to manage.
• Honestly changing is how people who landed on the list can make it unnecessary. Until then nothing is stopping them from enjoying an alt-fandom without trashing this one.

Coming soon: FurAffinity blocklist and Do Not Commission list.

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monsterparty.cafe

It’s fun to go to themed places that make you feel like you’re in a movie. There’s Speakeasy and Tiki bars, or even Horror and Clown themed bars. For a spooky time, try The Jeckyl and Hyde Club in NYC, Donnie Dirk’s Zombie Den in Minneapolis, or Lovecraft Bar in Portland, Oregon. How about a visit to Toontown?

For some people, it’s more than fun. Night life is real life. Some places support subculture or identity like Gay and Leather bars.

Why not a furry bar? It’s a half-joke/half-suggestion I’ve been making for years. One night a month, you can do dances like Frolic in San Francisco, Foxtrot in Denver, Tail! Party in Long Beach, or Howl Toronto.  But what if there was a place to be your furry self almost any night?

There have been a lot of “fandom firsts” in a short while – some good, some bad. There was the first mainstream-accessible furry movie and the first Furry political scandal.  Now, new ground has been broken by a permanent establishment with a furry theme. It’s an idea that could go much farther, but take a look.

Sometimes I joke "there should be a Furry Bar." Then I heard about a furry-themed cafe opening in Japan. Open now: https://t.co/o4nb83h9Dr

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) September 12, 2017

Hello! We are now open for business! Please come when you can. We're on the 8th floor opposite Gachapon Kaikan, Akihabara. Last order is 6PM pic.twitter.com/OgFpa8QBlo

— MONSTER PARTY (@MonsterPartyJP) September 12, 2017

ENGLISH VERSION
Tsukiyo here! In anticipation of the new Monster Party cafe opening soon in Akihabara, we want to hold a furry themed party! pic.twitter.com/ULLVT3WzPR

— Tsukiyo@MonsterParty (@tsukiyo_fur) September 7, 2017

Group Photo from @MonsterPartyJP opening! I had fun! #monsterparty pic.twitter.com/xQKDYPDRd0

— クルーン (@clunandseesaw) September 10, 2017

Thank you everyone for a wonderful evening! It made all the hard work worthwhile! すばらしい夕方に皆さんありがとう！それはすべての勤勉を価値あるものにしました！ pic.twitter.com/TCQP9uyj5j

— Tsukiyo@MonsterParty (@tsukiyo_fur) September 10, 2017

I asked Tsukiyo to help with questions about the cafe and furry stuff in Japan, but they were busy. Maybe someone else can help?

This reminds me of what FuzzWolf of Furplanet says he’ll do if he wins the lottery – open a permanent furry book store. Germany’s Fusselschwarm is an LGBT bookstore with a furry curator and furry section (or was, may be all-online now).

I’d become an angel investor in the fandom. Funding artists, open a brick and mortar furry store. Who cares if it loses money.

— Uncle Fuzz️‍ (@FuzzWolf) June 30, 2017

How about a furry-themed community center, maybe powered by a cafe/gallery to host art shows, movie screenings, and fursuit dances and classes? Like the furry-themed Artsplosion event at an LGBT community center in San Jose CA, but all the time. At some point, I’ll follow up with a post about “What would a fantasy furry store look like?”

This kind of stuff inspired my “Furry Good Ideas” article. I can’t wait to see some of these come true one day. Be ambitious, you loveable animals.

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

The Pride of Parahumans, by Joel Kreissman
Knoxville, TN, Thurston Howl Publications, December 2016, trade paperback $11.99 (161 pages), Kindle $2.99.

The Pride of Parahumans starts with a small, cramped prospecting spaceship in the Asteroid Belt in the late 2100s or early 2200s, crewed by four parahumans (bioengineered anthro animals); Argentum, the black fox mineral analyst (and narrator); Cole, the raven pilot, Denal, the red panda mechanic, and Aniya, a human-wolf-possum mix taur rescue/medic. They’re exploring asteroids, looking for a big strike. They may have just discovered one when they’re attacked by an unknown pirate spaceship. They shoot back and destroy it, killing its one-parahuman crew.

Unfortunately, they (and probably the pirate) are from the Ceres Directorate, the major Asteroid Belt and parahuman government. And the Ceres Directorate has a draconian law against killing. Self-defense is no excuse. Anyone (and in this case the whole crew) who kills has all assets seized and is sentenced to fifty years at hard labor. They agree to keep everything secret and return to Ceres.

“Naturally, we got the first indication that things on Ceres were about to go wrong just as we were leaving the cavern.” (p. 24)

The Pride of Parahumans begins as an okay space opera, full of action and suspense. Unfortunately, it seems very similar to Kismet by Watts Martin, which is also about an anthro space pilot involved in action and suspense in an asteroid belt full of furry characters and space governments, published at almost the same time. And Kismet is MUCH better written.

There are differences. Argentum is a bioengineered experiment, designed to be without genitals and androgynous. (The pronoun zie is used.) The other furries have genitals but they were made sterile (they reproduce by cloning), so they can indulge in lots of sex without worrying about getting pregnant. (Argen qveches that zie’s missing out on the fun.) The Asteroid Belt governments are more chaotic and dictatorial – they all seem like wretched hives of scum and villainy — which increases the suspense, but are less logical.

In almost every respect in which The Pride of Parahumans can be compared with Kismet, it comes off second. Pride begins with huge expository lumps to describe the parahumans and their Asteroid Belt culture:

“Anyways, that brief history of Ceres does not do justice to the wonder that is the market caverns. As the corps mined out the dwarf planet they dug huge holes miles beneath the surface in order to get to the largest concentrations of mass in the asteroid. These tunnels were a minimum of two meters tall to accommodate the miners and their equipment, but the caves that had held the most valuable minerals often reached five meters in height and a football field or two in length or width. Since there was plenty of pre-existing living space in the worker barracks and tunnels, many of these caverns had been reinforced with long titanium columns and filled with multiple levels of storefronts. The .028 gravities made it easy for most people to simply jump from one level to another through holes in the rickety paneling placed in front of shops so the customers had something to window browse from. It’s rather incredible, in a ramshackle slum kind of way.” (p. 21)

Kismet blends the setting into the action smoothly. Kismet’s third-person narration is more natural to a novel, while Pride is narrated by Argen in a conversational style that makes you constantly wonder who zie’s supposed to be talking to.

In Pride, the parahumans were bioengineered by human corporations to explore and mine the Asteroid Belt. They successfully revolted and set up their own Asteroid Belt nations. Kismet also has furry nations in the Asteroid Belt, but the animal types seem more reasonable for space exploration and exploitation. Rats, wolves, foxes, large dogs, the big felines. In Pride there are those, but also enlarged ravens and others such as “a heavy set spider monkey”, parrots, and octopi, that do not seem to be logical for space mining. The ravens have sort-of hands:

“His [Cole’s] wings were also modified with small claws at the ends, apparently a small atavism the bioengineers found that dated back to the earliest birds from the time of the dinosaurs. They enabled him to hang onto an overhead handlebar while his feet manipulated the flight controls. Apparently there was a prevailing theory among some of the corps that created us that creatures that evolved in a three dimensional environment would be better suited to navigating the depths of space than us terrestrials. So rather than adding some animal genes to a human baseline genome like most did for their deep space workforce, they took the genomes of dolphins, parrots, octopi, corvids, and seals – basically any aquatic or flying animal that showed a decent level of intelligence – and boosted their brainpower until they could operate a spaceship. I don’t know how well it worked but I do know that for all his annoying quirks, Cole was a great pilot.” (pgs. 4-5)

This is imaginative and more colorful – birds or octopi piloting spaceships? — but is less plausible than the big mammals of Kismet.

Another imaginative bit is the culture of cloning. Parahumans buy their “children”. Here the four protagonists have moved from Ceres to Vesta. They find that the manufacture of clones there is controlled by the Society for the Preservation of Parahuman Species.

“Then he [Denal] paused as if in contemplation. ‘Hey, maybe we should all get clones. We can be like one of those human families. Me and Cole can be the dads, Aniya can be the mom, but what would that make you?’

I snorted derisively. ‘Save it until we have enough money to actually buy clones. I doubt they would charge a bunch of prospectors fresh from Ceres anything less than full price. And last I checked, clones were expensive.’” (p. 53)

And then, slightly less than halfway through, The Pride of Parahumans swings in a completely new direction! The quality of the writing improves (the expository lump is over), and the plot becomes entirely original – not just in comparison to Kismet but to other s-f. What had seemed like a pale imitation of Kismet becomes impossible to guess at – and very worth reading.

The Pride of Parahumans (cover by Donryu) is still not as good as Kismet, but you wouldn’t believe how two novels that begin so similarly can become so different. Read both, and if the beginning of Pride seems too similar to Kismet at first, stick with it. You’ll be glad that you did.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon, where you can access exclusive stuff for just $1.

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

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm, by Greg Keyes. Based on the screenplay written by Mark Bomback and Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver, based on characters created by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver.
London, Titan Books, May 2014, paperback $ and £7.99 (304 pages), Kindle $7.99 and £3.99.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization, by Alex Irvine.
London, Titan Books, July 2014, paperback $ and £7.99 (313 pages), Kindle $7.99 and £3.79.

La Planète des Singes, the original novel, was written by Pierre Boule in France and published in January 1963. Forget about it. It has almost nothing to do with the movies except inspiring the first of them.

Planet of the Apes, the first movie, was produced by 20th Century Fox and released in April 1968. Boulle’s novel was so extensively rewritten by numerous hands as to create an original plot. It was mega-popular, launching numerous theatrical sequels, TV spinoffs, novels and novelizations, and comic books. The comic books have arguably birthed the most bizarre variations in the form of authorized teamups. Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes. Green Lantern on the Planet of the Apes.

But we digress. All (with one exception) of the movies and TV series have had paperback novelizations and authorized prequels or sequels. Beneath the Planet of the Apes, the first movie sequel, was novelized by Michael Avallone. Most of the other books have been by different authors. Here are the two written for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the next to last movie.

The Planet of the Apes movies can be roughly divided into two groups. The first includes the first movie in 1968 and its four sequels through 1973, plus two TV series. They are set in 3978 A.D. and the next few years, when time-traveling American astronauts find that intelligent chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas have replaced humanity. The first movie was remade in 2001. Not only did that have a novelization by William T. Quick, he wrote two paperback sequels. The second group, telling how the apes replaced humanity, began in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is the only movie that did not have a book, only a six-issue comic book prequel. In the near future Will Rodman is a scientist at Gen Sys, a San Francisco biotech company testing ALZ112, a viral-based drug designed to cure Alzheimer’s disease. The drug is tested on chimpanzees and unexpectedly greatly increases their intelligence. Rodman’s superior has the chimps killed, but Will and his assistant discover that a female had just had a baby. Will names the infant chimp Caesar and raises him as his own son. Events result in Caesar being taken from Will and imprisoned in the San Bruno Primate Shelter, where he learns to distrust humanity except Will. Gen Sys experiments with ALZ113, a more powerful aerosol drug. Caesar escapes, steals the ALZ113 from Will’s house, and returns to the shelter to raise the intelligence of all the apes there. They all escape under Caesar’s leadership, add apes from Gen Sys and the San Francisco Zoo, and form an army to battle the humans as they cross the Golden Gate Bridge into nearby Muir Woods. Will goes after them and begs Caesar to surrender since the apes cannot defeat all humanity, but Caesar’s loyalty is now with the other apes. However, mixed with a few earlier scenes and the movie’s closing credits is a foretelling that while the ALZ113 increases apes’ intelligence, it creates an Ebola-like lightning fatal pandemic in humans.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm is “The Official PREQUEL to the Dramatic New Film from 20th Century Fox”. It was “The all-new bridge between Rise of the Planet of the Apes [released August 5, 2011] and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” published two months before Dawn was released on July 11, 2014.

Firestorm tells several stories simultaneously. It begins less than a week after Rise. San Francisco is calming down after “Monkeygate”, the strange simian escape across the Golden Gate Bridge, and focusing on the coming mayoral election between incumbent Mayor House and ex-police chief Dreyfus. The news is claiming that only ten or twenty apes have escaped, not hundreds. And the first deaths come from the new disease.

The interlocked stories, all sympathetic, are those of the apes under Caesar to reach a place of safety; a team sent to catch them, including primatologist Clancy Stoppard and a Congo expert ape tracker, Malakai Youmans; Dr. Natalia Kosar of one of San Francisco’s major hospitals, who is the first to get patients of the new plague; Dreyfus, the mayoral challenger; and the biography of the chimpanzee Koba, one of Caesar’s lieutenants.

Clancy and the older Malakai, who become friends, become aware that all the others on the team sent after the apes are not police or animal experts but professional hunters employed by Anvil, a private paramilitary contractor. Anvil’s team leader, Corbin, is impatient with the two “civilians”, and there are doubts that their rifles are only tranquilizer-dart guns. Caesar and his closest newly-intelligent lieutenants, the chimpanzees Koba and Rocket and Maurice, an orangutan, try to escape without harming any humans, but as they become increasingly desperate, the risk of deadly violence increases. The apes cannot talk in speech; they use sign language. Talia Kosar, an ER doctor, sees her accident and crime patients replaced by the new plague patients, who quickly overwhelm the hospital. In less than two weeks, San Francisco has over ten thousand fatalities, and there is widespread panicking. Dreyfus, the mayoral candidate, uses the plague in his campaign but he is genuinely concerned for the city’s welfare, and he provides the leadership that the incumbent mayor doesn’t. Koba’s life story before Caesar frees the apes and they become intelligent is full of human mistreatment and brutality. This justifies the apes’ escape, and also explains Koba’s hatred of all humans.

The apes’ stories are outnumbered by the multiple human’s stories, but they are all fast-moving and dramatic:

“Then she [Talia] turned toward him. ‘What’s up?’

‘You went to that symposium on respiratory infection last month.’

‘Mm-hmm,’ she said. ‘Sexiest symposium ever. Better than that rectal bleeding thing, even.’

‘I’ve got a woman I’d like you to take a look at.’

‘What are her symptoms?’

‘She’s sneezing up blood,’ he said.

‘Allergic rhinitis?’

‘She says she never has trouble with allergies – I had a look, and didn’t see anything,’ he said. ‘I’ve ordered a CT scan, but they’re backed up. Plus, she has a temperature of a hundred and four. She’s also showing some signs of subcutaneous bleeding.’

Talia was about to take another grudging drink, but stopped with the coffee cup halfway to her mouth.

‘How old is she?’ she asked.

‘Thirty-two.’

‘Let me see her,’ she said.” (p. 20)

They are well blended so the reader does not know what is coming next.

The scenes with the apes will be of most interest. They do not have human vocal chords, but Caesar has learned human sign language from Will Rodman and he teaches it to what he thinks are the brightest of the apes that he gives “Will’s mist” to:

“Rocket spotted the helicopter first, and a moment’s observation showed the machine coming straight for them.

Find this many, he [Caesar] signed to Rocket, holding up six fingers. Go, and be quick. Then he raced back down, leaping from tree to tree, toward the main body of his troop. Most were in the middle canopy, and he searched through them, making low calming noises, until he found one [of] the orangutans, Maurice. Maurice knew the hand language that Caesar had been taught.

Calm them, he told Maurice. Make them quiet, and lead them in that direction. He pointed off toward a thicker region of the woods, away from the approaching helicopter.” (p. 30)

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm is both suspenseful and fatalistic. The reader knows that whatever happens in the story, the Simian Flu will ultimately kill almost all humans and destroy civilization. Greg Keyes is a New York Times bestselling author of both original s-f/fantasy novels and many novels set in movie & TV s-f franchises.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization is set ten years later. It is quickly obvious that Alex Irvine’s writing style is much wordier and more leisurely than Greg Keyes; filled with more description than dialogue.

The first chapters establish the apes’ village, in a rainy forest near San Francisco:

“Their home, which lay behind a wall of timbers and a heavy gate, spiraled around the flanks of the mountain. It was a place made for them.

Apes looked over the walls and hung from the timbers higher up the mountain, hooting out excited welcomes as they watched the troop approach. The noise increased as news of the hunting party’s return spread.

[…] There was a central open area anchored by a large fire pit. Around it scattered clusters of huts and lean-tos followed the natural shape of the mountain’s slopes, continuing along the edge of a steep canyon bridged by fallen trees. The sound of the river rushing through the bottom of the canyon rose and fell with the seasons. […]

The village was united by a network of paths along the ground and timbers in the air, running from higher slopes to the branches of larger trees that grew within the walls. These trees, which served as lookout posts and homes, were connected to each other by woven grass ropes and swinging bridges.” (pgs. 16-17)

The apes are still led by Caesar and his lieutenants, Koba and Rocket, and their almost-adolescent sons, Caesar’s Blue Eyes and Rocket’s Ash. The apes ride horses, and hunt the elk and bears that have multiplied since man’s disappearance. Maurice has become a teacher in their village. It is close enough to San Francisco that the human city can be seen in the distance:

“Caesar had gotten them off to a good start. He would lead the apes until he was no longer able, and then his children and their children would spread over the world.

Perhaps someday they would return to the city where they had come from. He looked over it now from the upper part of his house, the side that faced away from the canyon and toward the jumbled hills and the ocean, far away, gleaming orange under the setting sun. Caesar remembered the first time he climbed one of the great redwoods and looked at the city, back when Will was alive. There had been so much motion then […]

Now he saw the city from much farther away. The air was clear and nothing moved. In the shadows among the buildings, no lights came on as the sun sank into the ocean.” (pgs. 29-30)

“I wonder if they really are all gone, he signed.

Ten winters now, Maurice signed. And for the last two, no sign of them. He shrugged. They must be.

Caesar wasn’t so sure. Humans had been strong enough and smart enough to create great cities. They had made roads across the world. They had built machines that could fly. Will had told him once that humans had even walked on the moon. If they could do that, what could kill all of them off? He knew some of them had been sick when the apes had escaped after becoming smarter, but apes got sick sometimes, too.

Yet no sickness killed them all.” (p. 31)

The humans are not all dead, of course, but they don’t appear until page 39, in Chapter 9 that establishes that Blue Eyes and Ash are best friends, but Blue Eyes resents that Ash is allowed more freedom than Caesar gives him.

The few human survivors have coalesced in San Francisco and are just beginning, with their children, to spread out again. Their group consists of five adult men led by Malcolm, his wife Ellie, and his son Alex. Malcolm is a reasonable man, but one of the others, Carver, is trigger-happy. He wounds Ash and almost starts a new ape-human war. Caesar lets the human leave, but everything is new from there. The apes, with spears and clubs, have to prepare for a new confrontation with humans with guns and worse.

Caesar sends Koba and his lieutenants, Grey and Stone, to follow the humans and report back. In this movie and novelization, Koba’s hatred of humans is intensified to fanatacism. Koba at first considers himself a loyal follower of Caesar, but that Caesar is too peaceful and the humans too aggressive. Koba is determined to kill all the humans this time, if he has to kill Carsar, blame it on the humans, and take over leadership of the apes.

The human Colony, in an unfinished skyscraper in downtown San Francisco, is led by Dreyfus.

“The lower twenty floors or so had flooring, and had been turned into housing for the few thousand people who, for all they knew, were the last surviving humans on earth. The bottom six floors occupied the entire block, and enclosed what had been envisioned as an upscale mall and luxury office complex.

Dreyfus had chosen the location carefully. The triple arch of the building’s main gateway was easily defended, and other entrances had been blocked for years. At first they had built defenses against gangs and loose militias that had ravaged the city during the plague’s first years. As time went on and more and more people died, however, many of those marauders ‘came in from the cold,’ as it were, joining what came to be called the Colony.” (p. 62)

Under other circumstances Dreyfus would have been happy to ignore the apes, but the apes’ village is near a dam that the Colony needs for hydroelectric power. Also, if the apes have spears and clubs, now that they know there are human survivors, will they attack? Dreyfus and Malcolm want to prepare for defense of the human Colony if necessary, while Carver and his followers want to take warfare to the apes.

Malcolm gets Dreyfus to put him in charge of a peaceful mission to get the apes to let them restart the hydroelectric dam. Carver sabotages that, which is what Koba needs to shoot Caesar with a stolen human gun and lead the apes to attack the Colony. Read the novelization or see the movie for the details of what happens; but to summarize, Malcolm and his family nurse Caesar back to health, Caesar realizes that apes can be as corrupt and untrustworthy as humans, Caesar takes back leadership of the apes after a fight to the death with Koba, and the apes prepare to defend themselves against another group of humans from a military base with advanced weapons.

See War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) for the sequel. Its book prequel and movie novelization will be reviewed in the future. These two Dawn books are well-written and worth reading, especially Firestorm. The movie novelization, which is a bit slow, may be skippable for those who are familiar with the movie.

– Fred Patten

• Buy Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm on Amazon
• Buy the Novelization of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes on Amazon

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Thanks to Summercat for this guest post.

The Tower and the Fox is the Kyell Gold novel I’ve been waiting for him to write for years, and it has been worth the wait.

Like many people, I was entranced with The Prisoner’s Release and the rest of the Volle stories, but most of Kyell Gold’s work did not resonate with me, as he primarily wrote for the genre of “Coming of Age Gay Romance”. There’s nothing wrong with the genre, and the struggle to find one’s place in the world in the context of romance (and lots of gay sex) certainly can speak to multiple generations of furries.

Only, I never had those struggles and I tend to skip sex scenes in my furry novels. The prevalent nature of the genre has turned me off to a lot of written Furry fiction, even to the point I hesitate to read what I know would be clean. Yet even then, I enjoyed Kyell’s worldbuilding and storytelling. I felt Shadow of the Father was a fine novel that would have been improved by the removal of the sexual content, and had hoped to one day see Kyell’s skill turned towards a more traditional fantasy.

There’s not even a romance subplot in The Tower and The Fox, and the story is stronger for it.

The Tower and The Fox takes place in an alternate and magical history, set sometime after the Napoleonic Wars have ended. The North American colonies remain part of the Empire, with the only mention of a historical figure being John Adams. However, this is a world of humans, and the Calatians – magically-created animal-human hybrids – are a minority, and an ill-treated one at that, for many humans see them as naught but beasts, with many rights denied to them.

The story’s narration follows Kip, a fox Calatian, as he enters the Prince George’s College of Sorcery to be the first Calatian sorcerer. He is eventually joined by his otter friend Coppy, and makes friends with other students, including Emily, who wishes to be the first female sorcerer.

The book covers the time between the student’s admission and the selection of the Masters for their apprentices. We see Kip and his friends have to deal with challenges from other students, their teachers, and their own personal issues, with the selection of students near the end.

The construction of the plot was nothing new or unexpected, yet Kyell’s work on polishing makes it seem fresh. In addition, the different struggles and prejudices the characters each face are displayed wonderfully without being preachy. The novel ends in a set up for a sequel while still tying many loose ends. There are unanswered questions remaining, but I was left knowing that the characters would get to them in time rather than wonder if they had forgotten.

In the end, I lost track of time while reading The Tower and The Fox, and didn’t put the book down until I finished it. If you are a fan of Kyell Gold’s work or interested in a Furry Colonial Fantasy, I definitely suggest picking up a copy.

– Summercat

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

The Tower and the Fox, by Tim Susman. Illustrated by Laura Garabedian.
Dallas, TX, Argyll Productions, June 2017, trade paperback $17.95 (265 pages, ebook $9.95.

Grump! This begins in media res, with 19-year-old fox-Calatian Kip Penfold grasping the locked gate of Prince George’s College of Sorcery in New Cambridge, Massachusetts in the early 1800s. Anything further that I say about it would be a spoiler.

Well, if the book’s blurb can give away several spoilers, so can I. The setting is a world like ours, but with magic. Think Harry Potter. Magic has apparently always existed. There were Sumerian and Akkadian sorcerers. The first Calatians (anthropomorphic animals) were created by magic in 1402. Magic helped win the War of the Roses in 1480. There has not yet been an American Revolution, and the British North American Colonies are still loyal to the Crown, although some people are restive about that. Others are unhappy with the social order of the times: Europeans › Colonists › Irish › slaves/Negroes › women › Calatians. The social order of the last four is uncertain; maybe females rank slightly higher than male Irish or Negroes, or Calatians are higher than them. But all four are definitely inferior to human Caucasian menfolk, Continental or Colonial. (Where the American Indians stand in this is uncertain.)

“He turned on his heel. Emily shouted after him, ‘Why do we have to prove ourselves?’ but he did not respond, nor turn, and this time she did not pursue him.

Kip felt a sinking feeling in his chest, watching the sorcerer walk away. ‘Because we always have to prove ourselves,’ he said. ‘Because of how we look.’

‘Rubbish,’ Emily said. ‘We’re living in the age of enlightenment, for God’s sake. There’s no reason a woman can’t be a sorcerer. Nor a Calatian, for that matter.’

‘I hope not.’ Kip rubbed his paws together. ‘But none has, not ever.’

Because of people like him.’ She didn’t have to specify whom she meant. ‘Because of people who think men are the only capable creatures God made. Only men can own property or have a voice in government. Can you own property?’” (p. 11)

In a sense, this is a typical British schoolboy novel in a fantasy setting. The main characters are the four “unnatural” applicants to the College: Philip “Kip” Penfold, a fox-Calatian; his friend Copper “Coppey” Lutris, an otter-Calatian; Emily Carswell, a human woman; and Malcolm O’Brien, an Irishman*. There have never been any but White (Caucasian) male sorcerers before, but an emergency situation has forced the College to open itself to a wider call for applicants – “any Colonist of magical inclination and ability may apply” – and the four take advantage of it.

Despite the official call for applicants, there are those among both the college faculty and the other students who consider it disgraceful that non-Whites (including Irish), animals/Calatians, and women are allowed to become students. They are determined to make them fail.

“The rest of the exam proceeded much like that; when Kip gave the correct answer, Patris said nothing. When he gave a correct answer that could be better worded, or was slightly incomplete, Patris corrected him with a slight sneer of condescension.

Forty-five minutes into the examination, Patris said curtly, ‘You are done.’ He made two more marks on Kip’s paper and then shuffled it aside.   He didn’t even look up to meet Kip’s eyes.

Kip walked out the back without a word, but had to walk back and forth to work off his anger before he could sit down with the others. Coppy had been treated much the same, but it didn’t bother him. ‘Least he listened to me,’ he said.

Emily, though, was still furious. ‘Whenever I didn’t know something, he would say, ‘as I expected,’ or he would just smile, and once I was so angry that I said. ‘If people would take the time to teach mathematics to women, they would find many willing to learn,’ and he said, ‘women do not have the proper parts of their brains to learn mathematics.’ Aren’t they supposed to be intelligent here? I expected him to start measuring my skull with calipers to see how in balance my humors were! It’s completely laughable.’” (pgs. 65-66)

The Tower and the Fox covers the first semester of the College of Sorcery’s new class. In addition to internal dissention, Kip has to face disapproval among his own Calatians in New Cambridge– some feel that he is putting himself above the place of Calatians by trying to learn magic at the College, and that social retribution will fall on all Calatians – and some in the government oppose letting any Calatians learn magic for fear they will join the growing revolutionary movement seeking independence for the Colonies from the British Empire. Kip just wants to learn magic for his own sake, but each of his friends and enemies have their own motives – and magic ensures that the College’s Masters do not know as much as they believe they do.

Tim Susman wrote or edited his first three books (Breaking the Ice, Shadows in Snow, and Common and Precious) under his own name from 2002 to 2007. In 2005 he began using the pseudonym of Kyell Gold, and has written two dozen books under that name, including many award-winners. Now he is returning to his own name with The Calatians, of which this is Book One. The Tower and the Fox has a cover and nineteen chapter-heading drawings by Laura Garabedian. It comes to a satisfactory conclusion, but the adventures of Kip Penfold and his human and Calatian friends and enemies – not to mention demons and elementals – are just beginning.

*If you think the Irish were considered White men by the British upper classes before World War I, I have some old British racist jokes for you. One stuffy British colonel to another: “I say, who do you consider the most reliable Colonial troops to be? The Gurkhas? The West Africans?” “Oh, the Irish, definitely. When led by White officers.”

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Fur Planet
• Buy E-Book on Bad Dog Books

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“Through Being Cool” by Devo

We’re through being cool
We’re through being cool

Eliminate the ninnies and the twits
Going to bang some heads
Going to beat some butts
Time to show those evil spuds what’s what

If you live in a small town
You might meet a dozen or two
Young alien types who step out
And dare to declare

We’re through being cool

In three stories I’m sharing today, look for small-town closed-mindedness.  It’s a force that propels many furries. If you’re young, have a big imagination and live in a place that can’t contain it, what do you do? Make friends out there in the furry world.  That was me in the mid-to-late 90’s (Woof! It sure wasn’t a phase), so there’s no lack of personal experience for the connections I’m making.

These stories happened in smallish cities near New England: West Windsor NJ (population 27,000), Burlington VT (population 42,000), and – in this week’s news – New Milford CT (population 28,000). They show a bit of political fursecution, honest-to-dog.

OK, they aren’t black and white. They have issues for debate like 1) throwing an overstuffed party, 2) regulating hate groups, or 3) representing political constituents with an acceptable image. But then there’s freedom to have fun and hobbies (or even express private, consenting kink), instead of being forced into a closet made of overbearing judgement. Who was really harmed in these stories – judgers, or furries themselves?

While you read, stay positive. New Milford is the closest location to the new Tiny Paws con, this weekend. They can’t hold furries down!

Art by Autumn Sunrise

1) The NJ FurBQ hoax of 2012. Media: NJ.com – Communitynews.org –  Fox 5 News video – Dogpatch Press

The town council of West Windsor wanted to shut down volunteer emergency services based at a community center. Meanwhile, the community center was being used by the community; one of the volunteers organized a popular furry party there. It had fun and fursuiting, DJ’s and almost 200 adults enjoying beer and being boisterous (shock, horror.) What happened next resembled Mayberry in the 1950’s, if you switched Red Scare with Yiff Panic.  A town council member claimed to have photos of fursuiters humping on a car. News media piled on with their best stab at smearing adults for legal drinking and saying a swear word or two. The scapegoat was set up, and the council knocked it down with a vote to remove the community center funding and emergency service with it.

Livejournal comment

It was a perfect hit, except… the photos didn’t exist, and the council member hadn’t been there. The details only came out after online confusion where many furries bought the “fursuit sex” story, and rushed to blame each other for bad behavior that never happened.

Although the party was on Memorial Day in May, suspiciously, the news was released to exactly coincide with the spike of Anthrocon promotion in July. The volunteer service and $45,000 of funding were replaced with six figures worth of paid service (hmm, I wonder what crony got paid?)  There was also an election for a mayor (who just finished his fifth and final term in 2017). Furries were used as a big fluffy doormat for political gain.

2) Vermont fursuiters fight prejudice in 2015. Media: SevendaysVT.com / update – VPR.net – Dogpatch Press / update

Burlington had a public Mardi Gras event attended by costumers including the Vermont Furs. They were active organizers of charity events and had recently been invited to liven up an official Christmas tree lighting in a nearby town.  But an official told them that fursuiting wasn’t allowed in the town commons. Others wore masks for the event, so why stop fursuiters? They were told it was “just different”. A 1960’s-era law intended to stop masked KKK activity was cited. The furries applied for an entertainer’s permit (for buskers who made money) but the city gave them a paperwork runaround.

As a common theme in these stories, this one also hinted about sensational furry fear. The town mentioned a Times Square incident where a “bootleg Elmo” mascot hassled someone. I commented that it was hundreds of miles away and involved panhandling for money, not fursuiting.  And comments on my article reached for stereotype about a “babyfur” with no evidence. No harm mentioned, just labels. Again furries were bashing each other.

Eventually, the ACLU stepped in and backed the Vermont Furries. They tied the issue to political protests attended by masked Anonymous protesters. Furries went in front of the town council and got the law amended to only apply to masked crime. This time, being engaged with the lawmakers gained a positive resolution through nonjudgemental listening to others.

3) Connecticut councilman forced to resign by unwilling exposure of furry hobby. Media: Newstimes.com – NY Post

New Milford residents were upset to see Rick Agee‘s post on the town’s Facebook group. It smeared a Democrat town councilman elected in 2015. In the google cache and a screenshot, it got 68 comments and was a gallery revealing a private Sofurry profile that’s now gone.

I compared public accounts of this fellow furry. Their written profile portrays a nice older married person who is creative and seems to care about others. But these were used against him:

1. There was weak separation of life and hobby. Their twitter has pics of their political role mixed with their fursuit by Sarahcat. He might as well have doxed himself. Not that you should have to worry if you’re a good person; but sadly others took the choice away.
2. The closed SoFurry profile shows F-List-like topics. The info suggests this was written fiction and RP – for reading or writing with consenting adults – but no implication of practicing stuff that shouldn’t be. Furries are typically gentle and tolerant about such expression, but it’s liable to shock a small-town Facebook audience when it’s yanked out of private context.
3. FA has yiff art from a comic. It’s labeled a soap opera, and does looks like very emotionally-focused narrative, something furries excel at – using cartoons to depict more humanity than ‘regular’ porn. It’s a shame that outsiders don’t understand how that’s positive, but they didn’t and it wasn’t hidden.

Here’s what followed the unwilling exposure:

On Thursday night, as town Democrats held a previously scheduled opening ceremony of party headquarters on Bank Street, a small group of protesters gathered outside.  Among them was Rick Agee, the resident who had made the original Facebook post. He carried a sign saying, “No perverts running our town!” – ”I have kids and grandkids in this town, and I don’t want him representing us,” Agee said.

@kt_domino noticed: “Rick Agee uses his company’s twitter to support the GOP.”

Wait, how did barging onto someone else’s private page involve kids?  Was there a reason someone HAD to? That’s the entire issue from this side; why don’t people just ask, or talk and listen about this stuff if it’s necessary?  Wouldn’t society be better with appreciation of healthy sexuality in all it’s permutations (even harmless “age play”, to some extent)?  Well, that isn’t the world we live in. Understanding gets stomped by judgement and power. There’s more in a followup post on the town page that’s still live. Facebook reaction post – Mayor’s post. It ties to an upcoming reelection campaign.

Politics is ugly. Anyone in it has to lock down their private life extra hard. Anything will be used against them.

— Wuff-in-Disguise Ren (@RenDireWolf) September 8, 2017

This guy didn’t hurt anyone for real.  The concerns these people are giving go far beyond the mayor’s careful wording about “higher standard”; they are trashing him for things that most fellow furries know he probably isn’t doing – in the balance of things, fears should be outweighed by knowing that expressing kink is mentally healthy and it’s his private business.

But mistakes were made. Not every place can be like it is near my den in San Francisco. The world crushes idealism, but it grows in the furry community anyways. Wherever you are, try to support each other, don’t fall for fearmongering, and stay safe and happy, furry friends.

Let me give the last word to the former councilman, as he wrote in 2014: “Our most enduring value as furs is the right to be who and what we want.”

UPDATE:

1. I HAVE MET THIS MAN.

2. HE IS AMAZINGLY GENEROUS TO CHARITIES.

3. THESE PEOPLE ARE MORONS. https://t.co/EmilAcSa3X

— Boozy Badger (@BoozyBadger) September 8, 2017

Perhaps he should take up residence in Pittsburgh.

— Uncle Kage (@Unclekage) September 8, 2017

This article characterizes furry as just an animal costume fetish, but parts of this story make no sense unless you know about furry fiction

— Boxer Bunny (@BoxerBunny_) September 8, 2017

It's not sensible... There is a line between fantasy and reality. Rape in fantasy is not a crime and not comparable to the real thing.

— Just Khaz (@KhazWolf) September 8, 2017

This is NOT OKAY. It's sad this is what America has come to. Getting shamed for being unique. This is why I hate incompetent human beings!

— Sheptember Link! (@LinkThePup) September 9, 2017

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Ask a Cat, by Charles Brubaker. Illustrated.
Martin, TN, Smallbug Press, June 2017, trade paperback $9.99 (127 pages).

The Fuzzy Princess, vol. 1, by Charles Brubaker. Illustrated.
Martin, TN, Smallbug Press, July 2017, trade paperback $10.99 (184 pages).

Charles Brubaker is a fan and expert of comic strips and Japanese TV anime. He has been drawing his own comics for several years. Both The Fuzzy Princess and Ask a Cat currently appear on the internet, the former in color and the latter in black-&-white. Now he is producing collections of them through his own Smallbug Press.

Brubaker says in his Introduction to Ask a Cat that it began as a minor throwaway panel within a comic strip about a little witch that he was preparing to submit to a syndicate. It was a parody of the “ask a character” fillers in other strips where readers can send in questions about the strip. Since Brubaker’s strip about the witch hadn’t come out yet, he filled the “ask” panel with a cat, and asked on a message board for silly questions about cats for him to answer. He got more questions about cats than he expected, and the syndicate liked his throwaway panel better than his strip about the witch. Ask a Cat began on June 22, 2015. The solicited message board questions were soon replaced by genuine questions submitted by his readers. Now, after two years, here is a collection of his panels.

Although Ask a Cat is designed as a weekly gag strip, many of the questions are semi-serious, such as “Why do you absolutely have to catch that mysterious red dot?” and “What’s in the box?” Others are nonsensical, like “What actually happened to Schrodinger’s cat?” and “Did you file your taxes this year?” Brubaker answers them all in the proper spirit of feline condescending arrogance. “Do you like vacuum cleaners?” “You’re kidding, right? Those tech-demons can go back to wherever they came from. The only acceptable vacuum cleaners are the Roombas. It’s basically a glorified cat lift, perfect for us lazy furballs. I should go on a road trip with this thing.”

The Fuzzy Princess (since October 17, 2016; published two or three times a week) presents the adventures on Earth of Princess Katrina of St. Paws, her royal escorts Chiro (a bat) and Kuma (a bear) who have been sent by her father to watch over her while on Earth, and those they meet there, mainly the young wizard Jackson (that’s Kat and Jackson on the cover of vol. 1), his sister Jordan, their human friends (Gladdie, Tara, Rick) and enemies (Bloated Whale and Max), and Krisa, a rat spy from Mousechester who is usually locked inside a birdcage.

The Fuzzy Princess (in black-&-white in this book) has a stronger story line than Ask a Cat. It is harder to tell who is weirder; Princess Kat and her bat and bear escorts, or the humans and Krisa. Kat and her companions come to Earth in a flying box (cats love boxes) that has her large interdimensional room inside it. Kat has a detachable tail that can be magically turned into anything. This vol. 1 has an introduction by Bill Holbrook of Kevin & Kell fame.

The best way to review a collection of gag-a-day cartoons is to just show them. If you like them, here are two whole books of them.

– Fred Patten

• Buy Ask a Cat on Amazon
• Buy The Fuzzy Princess Vol. 1 on Smallbug

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon, where you can access exclusive stuff for just $1.

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

The Art of Racing in the Rain; A Novel, by Garth Stein
NYC, HarperCollinsPublishers/Harper, May 2008, hardcover $23.95 (321 [+ 1] pages), Kindle $9.99.

“Gestures are all that I have; sometimes they must be grand in nature. And when I occasionally step over the line and into the world of the melodramatic, it is what I must do in order to communicate clearly and effectively. In order to make my point understood without question. I have no words I can rely on because, much to my dismay, my tongue was designed long and flat and loose, and therefore, is a horribly ineffective tool for pushing food around my mouth while chewing, and an even less effective tool for making clever and complicated polysyllabic sounds that can be linked together to form sentences. And that’s why I’m here now waiting for Denny to come home – he should be here soon – lying on the cool tiles of the kitchen floor in a puddle of my own urine.” (p. 1)

The narrator is Enzo, a mixed-breed retriever, the pet dog of Denny Swift, a human retired racecar driver. Enzo is dying of canine old age, but he is looking forward eagerly to his death. He has educated himself by watching television with Denny, and has accepted a documentary on Mongolian belief in reincarnation as reality. He believes that when he dies as a dog, he will be reborn as a human and will become Denny’s best friend.

The novel is Enzo’s autobiography.

“I remember the heat on the day I left the farm. Every day was hot in Spangle, and I thought the world was just a hot place because I never knew what cold was about. I had never seen rain, didn’t know much about water. Water was the stuff in the buckets that the older dogs drank, and it was the stuff the alpha man sprayed out of the hose and into the faces of dogs who might want to pick a fight. But the day Denny arrived was exceptionally hot. My littermates and I were tussling around like we always did, and a hand reached into the pile and found my scruff and suddenly I was dangling high in the air.

‘This one,’ a man said.” (p. 11)

Denny and Enzo have always watched the television together. At first it was videos associated with Denny’s auto racing, and Denny provided a running commentary for Enzo. One of the first things Enzo learned was where this title is from.

“‘Very gently. Like there are eggshells on your pedals,’ Denny always says, ‘and you don’t want to break them. That’s how you drive in the rain.’” (p. 13)

The novel is a rambling mixture of Enzo’s thoughts about what he sees on TV with Denny, his philosophies, and the years of Denny’s marriage and his having a daughter. Enzo is jealous of thumbs:

“The platypus is horribly stupid, but is only slightly dumber than a monkey. Yet monkeys have thumbs. These monkey-thumbs were meant for dogs. Give me my thumbs, you fucking monkeys!” (p. 17)

When Denny meets Eve and marries her, Enzo doesn’t resent her as much for coming between the two of them as he’s jealous because she has thumbs.

Denny always leaves the TV on for Enzo to watch while he’s out racing. The TV is usually on the Speed Channel.

“The classic races are the best, and I especially like Formula One. I like NASCAR, too, but I prefer it when they race on the road circuits. While racing is my favorite, Denny told me it was good for me to have variety in my life, so he often puts on other channels, which I enjoy very much as well.” (pgs. 17-18)

Enzo rambles about his life with Denny, and Eve, and later their daughter Zoë, interrupted by his obsession on monkeys and thumbs and the superiority of canines; seeing them through a dog’s perspective:

“Case-in-Pont #2: The Werewolf.

The full moon rises. The fog clings to the lowest branches of the spruce trees. The man steps out of the darkest corner of the forest and finds himself transformed into …

A monkey?

I think not.” (p. 20)

The reader sees them through a human’s eyes. When Denny gets the chance to race at Daytona, in the 24 Hours of Daytona which he has spent a year lobbying in the racing world for, he and Enzo are ecstatic. But it’s just when Zoë is born. Eve is happy for him, but she can’t help resenting that he puts his racing ahead of his daughter.

Denny’s situation is worsened by Eve’s parents, Maxwell and Trish, who move into their home to help Eve while Denny is away. Their help becomes an active dominance over their daughter and granddaughter; always badmouthing Denny for caring more for his racing than for his family. Enzo thinks of them as the Twins because they are so much alike in their appearance and their nagging.

“From the moment they arrived, the Twins had been admonishing Eve for having her baby at home. They told her she was endangering her baby’s welfare and that in these modern times, it was irresponsible to give birth anywhere but in the most prestigious of all hospitals with the most expensive of all doctors.” (p. 27)

Eve stands up to them, and for the first few years of Zoë’s life they are happy. Denny stays home as much as he can, and Enzo takes his role as Zoë’s protector and big brother seriously. Denny and Eve move from an apartment to a house to give Zoë a real home, and Enzo has a grassy yard to run around in. But Enzo, having a dog’s senses, is the first to know when Eve develops cancer.

Eve’s long bout with cancer ruins their lives. Denny can’t afford to race any more. And as soon as Eve dies, Maxwell and Trish go to court for custody of Zoë on the grounds that Denny can’t raise her by himself. That he’s not fit to raise a child. That he shouldn’t be allowed to see her.

The Art of Racing in the Rain (cover by Archie Ferguson) is a melodramatic soap opera as seen by a dog. It’s funny in places, and a real tearjerker in others. Enzo’s constant description of everything in a mixture of a canine viewpoint and in racing car terms keeps your interest. This is not a furry novel, but it is of interest to furry fans.

Garth Stein has written, not a sequel, but a series of young children’s picture books about Enzo: Enzo Races in the Rain!, Enzo and the Christmas Tree Hunt, Enzo’s Very Scary Halloween, and Enzo and the Fourth of July Races. It’s also worth noting that the adult novel is available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle; and that each cover shows another view of Enzo. A 2010 paperback edition has an amusing different cover.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Author’s site

Poor Texas. I can’t wrap my mind around the extent of devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey.  It’s taught me a few things I never knew, like, most of Texas has no fire codes.  That’s how you get to see a chemical plant blowing up worse than a bunch of MFF gas attacks. I think the lack of safety precautions is caused by political lobbying, and in a way it’s all about putting short-term profit ahead of preparedness for the future. It makes as much sense to me as inviting Godzilla to stomp in.  OK, enough silliness though. I just needed a mental image to make you click for a good cause.

Things are easier to understand when they’re personal. I wanted to see a furry side to the hurricane, so last week I posted about donating to animal rescues.  And I kept wondering, what happened to friends of the fandom in the hurricane’s path?

The answer hit closer than anything I expected.  Andre “Dracokon” Kon, friend of Dogpatch Press and syndicated furry news contributor, had his house and creative studio flattened.  And speaking of politics and profits (there was a reason) – Dracokon is getting double-stuffed by insurance and FEMA. (Is this another weird Texas thing?)

FEMA has informed me that they will be covering a grand total of $0 in property damages. This is because the building was zoned as commercial even though I fucking lived there. Between FEMA and insurance I literally have nothing, rebuilding will come 100% OUT OF POCKET.

He had insurance but they won’t cover it for absurd reasons. In my professional estimation as an amateur newsdog – arrgh!

The wrecked studio is where Dracokon made his Youtube content (Gatorbox and What’s Yiffin’) that we share.  He has been wonderfully generous with his time and talent. Every month he put exceptional effort into writeups to go with the videos just for readers here.  I hope that he’s entertained some of you as much as me with these posts:

February – March – April – May – June – July – August

To help him rebuild and get back to work, I have a favor to ask. Dracokon says there won’t be a What’s Yiffin’ for at least a couple of months, but if you can send a few bucks to his Patreon, even a little goes a long way.  It will get my thanks and his. Here’s what else he said:

As for what’s lost, my family as a whole was hit the hardest.  My father and I lost our workshop (we are self-employed), my parents’ home was damaged, and our insurance company just informed us that our mobile home (which my father and brother are currently staying in) will need to be totaled. I also live at the workshop. What’s left of it is the section that I live in, but the roof was partially torn off and water got in, so carpet will need to be replaced, roof fixed, furniture probably replaced, appliances replaced, etc.  Right now I’m staying out of town until Friday, after which I have to go back to Rockport and just hope that power/water is restored.

I have the Patreon page for Gatorbox, but I also have a direct PayPal link.  (It doesn’t have my name associated because it’s the business account of the company that pays for Gatorbox.)

We were at least a little fortunate because the walls of the workshop collapsed like dominoes and sort of “shielded” what contents inside didn’t get broken outright. Everything along the back wall that got ripped away was lost though. It was mostly just appliances on that wall, but it was also where the breaker box was kept and where some of the larger tools like air compressors were placed. Getting power back to the workshop will likely require completely rebuilding the circuit. Supposedly my computers are okay, but I haven’t been down there to check so I can’t confirm. Fingers crossed.

We've confirmed that the @gatorbox set/studio has been demolished. We are now on indefinite hiatus until further notice. Thanks for 5 years.

— Gatorbox (@gatorbox) August 28, 2017

I'VE DECIDED TO LEAVE GATORBOX'S PATREON PAGE OPEN. If you'd like to contribute to the "relief fund", please pledge: https://t.co/3vzhZLOcPl

— Dracokon / André Kon (@Dracokon) August 28, 2017

Look, I'd like to imagine I'm above begging for money, but I'm completely fucked. If I've EVER entertained you in some form, please help me.

— Dracokon / André Kon (@Dracokon) August 31, 2017

Just wanted to make another public thank you post to everyone who has donated to help cover the recovery costs of my property. <3

— Dracokon / André Kon (@Dracokon) September 2, 2017

Here’s a followup to previous coverage of the tiny alt-right fringe of furry fandom (Altfurry).  See: 1) Altfurry supports neo-nazi violence, with member Nathan Gate on camera in Charlottesville. And 2) Furries resist hate, Altfurry Discord logs go public, Casey Hoerth removed by employers. Hate isn’t being welcomed, and this is the third furry name in a headline about it here. There are more to come.

Andrew Dodson in Charlottesville, August 11-12

It turns out that a well circulated photo from the Charlottesville “Unite The Right” hate rally is of a known furry.  Andrew Dodson is (or used to be) a furry going by the names GoldenZoltan and Flukepup. This is his former FA page. (archive) More on that below. First let’s look at how he came to be pictured.

The photo circulated with the events in this story: Arkansas-linked Charlottesville marcher identified, apologizes to those misidentified.

In a telephone interview with the Arkansas Times, Dodson apologized for the trouble he caused the state and, specifically, an Engineering professor at the University of Arkansas who was misidentified as the person carrying a torch at a march last Friday night. The professor became the target of social media vitriol.

In the article, Dodson explains that he went to Charlottesville because he wanted to “see who these alt-right people were.” He denies being “a Nazi, or a KKK, or a white supremacist.” The story depicts him as pleading innocence.

But it reports “Dodson lost his job, he said, because of participation in the rally.” That explains why the denial is a dubious about-face. Read his white supremacist remarks in this prior article in The Atlantic, by Daniel Lombroso:

White nationalists who gathered for the Unite the Right rally blame those who turned out to stop them. They’re “damn communists,” says Andrew Dodson, a 33-year-old inventor who calls himself a “racial realist” and says he is fighting to save white America.

Charlottesville is now the epicenter of the struggle for white America, Dodson told me. And just because Saturday’s violence seemed to have been contained, the alt-right will continue to “give them hell” in the city.

“This is a phenomenal victory,” he said.

“Our ideas are so powerful, that the cops have to break the law and use violence against us to shut us down,” he said in a text message after our initial conversation. “This shows just what an unbelievable threat we are to the system.”

Andrew Dodson sounds like a pretty radicalized believer, wouldn’t you say?

If you aren’t sure, watch this video I found from August 11 in Charlottesville. At the Confederate statue at the center of the hate rally, students chant “Black Lives Matter” while they are swarmed, violently beaten, and driven away. At 0:33, Dodson leaps on the statue’s pedestal and raises a torch like he’s won a game. At 1:22, the crowd chants “White Lives Matter” while Dodson hugs a bro who throws a Nazi salute. Beside them is a flag of the Vanguard America hate group.  

Fight breaks out between racist group #UniteTheRight and decent folks opposing their hate. #WeGotThis #AltRight pic.twitter.com/iBiEa78AeY

— Thinker (@areta) August 12, 2017

The person who shared the video, Emily G, reports: “Damn I got punched a lot – I can see where I was when I got maced, too.”

So how does one journey from furry fandom to neo-nazi hate? 

Is it just random chance?  Let’s start with his Flukepup page on FurAffinity. His photo posted there (archive) has 9-year-old comments by his friend Naskatan, AKA “Kekkus of Akkad” or “Kekus Lupus”.  That’s the altfurry whose behavior after the Charlottesville rally got his twitter account banned.  Kekkus mocked the murder of Heather Heyer (his post was seen in the Flayrah article “‘Alt-Furry’ suffers blowback after Alt-Right rally leads to death of citizen”.)

It’s one hint about hate festering for a long time.  Let’s look at many more.

Andrew’s account was banned from Furaffinity. That doesn’t make it clear if he is still active in the fandom.  According to tips I received, he moved from Arkansas to New England after the time it was active.

In Arkansas, Andrew was in a relationship with a fursuit maker named White Wolf, maker of FurAffinity’s mascot. (In the 3rd commission on this page you’ll see in the tags where she used Andrew’s real name.)  When they broke up she reported that he physically abused her and stole from her, as described in her post on Livejournal. She obtained an order of protection because of his abusive behavior.

This info is supported by tips from two more furries who visually identified his Charlottesville photo: one who used to live in Arkansas at the time, and this one who posted the photo with a public comment:

This guy. I know him. I know a lot about him. He poisoned a friend of mine, and talked at length about wanting to kill cops. pic.twitter.com/HHdkGkJ6YW

— Ambien (@AskMrOwlAgain) August 17, 2017

Ambien is White Wolf’s ex-husband. He shared details about Andrew:

“Goldenzoltan” Fursona

I knew him fairly well, he dated my ex and she complained about him all the time. I kinda considered him a casual friend before that. When the restraining order was filed against him in late 2009, that was the end of me speaking to him.

He went by the name “goldenzoltan”. I think he still has a LiveJournal. He was partially responsible for one of the big FA password leaks sometime around 2006(?). He’s dated men and women in the fandom.

Andrew is, at best as I can describe, a sociopath. I’d say he has some limited ability to feel empathy, but NO impulse control. I spoke up about it on Twitter and contacted the reporter that interviewed him at the Atlantic because the facade that Drew maintains is completely fake. He’s really good at getting people to trust him, and that makes him dangerous.

I sent questions and Ambien continued:

1) I had to force Andrew out of my house in 2009 because he wouldn’t stop ranting about how much he hated cops and a bunch of crazy conspiracy theory shit. I brought that up at the order of protection trial.

2) I don’t have any details about the leak from FA, I don’t know how he acquired the passwords, he’s an electrical engineering major but not really the coding type… if I remember correctly.

3) I’ve been told that he attends conventions, I was informed about a year ago about him attending Furpocalypse. He lives in or near Boston, last I heard.

4) There are dangerous people in the fandom and they can appear to be your friend. Andrew has sort of a frat boy kind of thing going on. Fun at parties until he poisons someone with nightshade tea or sexually assaults someone (both are things that have actually occurred).

Let’s dig more. Here’s an old photobucket account for Goldenzoltan that has pics of a young skinny Andrew, furry costuming, and a racist meme.

In 2010, he asked to be removed from his Wikifur page. He was listed as a member of Livejournal trolling group Gayfaggotinc around 2005.  The bottom of this Wikifur page says he was involved with hacking of Furaffinity that released a lot of passwords around then:

LJ user Golden Zoltan was banned from LJ for cross-posting said passwords. He was the one FA shit a brick about, if I’m not mistaken. – Leam, March 2007

An archive of his banned Livejournal from 2005 confirms connections; his real name, school, and furry friends.

In 2006, Nitrogen the Cat posted to Livejournal about rooming with GoldenZoltan at Anthrocon. (I wonder if Nitrogen ever got his $115 back?)

Comments on the post show the banned Goldenzoltan Livejournal account was replaced by Andrew’s new one, dog0fwar.  Here’s dog0fwar posting about being banned from the Nazi Furs community. Andrew’s LJ account was active until 2014, and the ID links him to a lot more than trolling.

Organizing with other neo-nazis.

Googling “dog0fwar” gets a hit for the neo-nazi website that was taken down in the aftermath of the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville.

Here’s a comment by dog0fwar on the Livejournal of Weev, notorious neo-nazi hacker.

Andrew mentions his professional work in nuclear energy – and hanging out with Weev, who is now the system administrator for The Daily Stormer.

Oh really… that’s nice. Oh wait. I thought it said “FLOWERS”.

Google has Daily Stormer comments by dog0fwar. Andrew jokes about the murder here, and invites nazis to hang out with him in Dorchester MA in July 2017.  And here, he helped plan alt-right marching in Boston in May 2017, including discussing violence. It starts under “Evidently, someone from 8Chan attended a pre-planning meeting by the leftist’s, and recorded, took notes of their strategy” … “Funny thing is I played innocent and they just let me stay in the meeting and take notes.”

Notice skype ID and meeting Sam Hyde (who funded Daily Stormer’s legal defense.) The Skype ID is verifiably Andrew’s (1)(2).  Here’s a different comment with it asking to meet Sam Hyde in Boston.

I guess it was a lie when Andrew said he was in Charlottesville to “see who these alt-right people were”. I hope this leaves no doubt about the real Andrew Dodson – and hints about who altfurry is friends with, and how incompatible they are with the furry community.

Imagine if a smart guy who works with nuclear power had taken the positive fork in the road, and was planning conventions and fursuit parades instead of hate marches. That’s you in the fandom.

One of the furries who sent tips gave a final thought:

I mainly share this since none of us are sure if he’s still active in the fandom, due to the possibility that he could have fully changed identities in the fandom after the move to New England. So we really would like to know if he’s still in our midst or not so others can be made aware.

UPDATE 9/2/17:

Personal stories about knowing “Goldenzoltan” came in, and readers made repeated comparison to Foxler of the Furry Raiders joining a neo-nazi group and saying “I just wanted to see what they were about.”

He used to flash his abs at me and challenge me to math for some reason.

— Zilch Woofs (@ZilchWoofs) September 2, 2017

Check out this article about general alt-right activity. The author labeled it “How white supremacists talk to each other when they think no one’s watching.” They match tactics you can see in the altfurry Discord dumps:

• They obscure their most racist elements from public view, but won’t repudiate it internally.
• They provoke reaction to depict opponents as aggressors.

The tactics are in Andrew’s planning for alt-right marching in Boston in May 2017, when he said “DO NOT STRIKE FIRST. BUT, IF YOU’RE HIT, FINISH THE FIGHT WITH YOUR FRIENDS.” You can see it in practice with the video of people surrounded with torches and beaten – then the man speaking to the camera says: “they’re attacking us!”

Look, Andrew’s current twitter.

Hello xydexx it's goldenzoltan back from the grave to troll you booooooo

— Dog0fWar88 (@Dog0fWar88) August 10, 2017

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon, where you can access exclusive stuff for just $1.

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

Bleak Horizons, edited by Tarl “Voice” HochDallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, March 2017, trade paperback $19.95 (338 pages), e-book $9.95.

Tarl Hoch states on Amazon that he “is a Canadian writer of primarily horror, mythos and erotic fiction”, with stories of his own in several non-furry horror anthologies. Bleak Horizons is his second book for FurPlanet. His first was the 2014 Abandoned Places, a furry horror anthology. Bleak Horizons is also a horror anthology; “fifteen stories about what horrors lie waiting for those who look to the future.”

Ha! To me, the horror is that most of these fifteen are just funny-animal stories that might as well be with humans. But they are all – well, fourteen of the fifteen — good s-f technological suspense stories.

“Adrift” by Kandrel distinguishes fear, terror, and panic through Evan, an anthropomorphic cat passenger on a starship with his wife Mia and his young son Sammy. There is a disaster:

“The hall is blocked by a family of warthogs trying to drag luggage with them. Stupid, he thinks. You can’t bring luggage into the life pods. There’s no room. This isn’t a time to worry about your things. Leave them. The burly male shouts something as Evan leaps over shoulders and uses the wall to get height. With a bound, he climbs over the unfortunate’s head. A hairy fist swings wildly but misses. He spares no more thought for the warthogs. They’d probably be too slow anyway.” (pgs. 10-11)

Evan, Mia, and Sam make it to the life pod and launch into space. But something goes wrong. Evan wakes from cryosleep in the faulty made-by-the-lowest-bidder life pod while his wife and son are still frozen. Can Evan fix it, or must he watch his wife and toddler die? There are references to Mia’s long horns and muzzle before it’s revealed what she is, but obviously she’s no cat (so what is Sammy?). There’s a plot point to Evan and his wife being different species, which makes “Adrift” more than a funny-animal story.

“4/13/2060” by Franklin Leo, is narrated by Sara (fox), a technical writer working independently with Dr. Walter Burns, a computer scientist (described as both a stoat and a weasel). They have gotten to be close friends. The story opens with Sara and a police officer looking at Burns’ gorily murdered wife, Alice, whom he loved deeply.

“The retriever sighed, his one cyber-eye whirring and glowing silently against his auburn fur. I felt like I’d ruined his entire day.

I turned to look at Mrs. Burns’ body one last time; a white sheet stretched over her with blood spattered where her head should have been. […]

‘I’ve got one more thing to show you. It’s upstairs.’ The dog gestured with his paw, letting me out first. I nodded and got out of there as quickly as I could.

[…]

‘That’s my name,’ I said. ‘Why does he have my name scrawled everywhere?’

‘We thought you could maybe explain that for us. We followed his trail downstairs, so we’re assuming that he had this all done before he killed his wife.’” (pgs. 31-32)

The story alternates between the present, 4/13/2060, and the near past to show why the initially-friendly Dr. Burns becomes more and more withdrawn and paranoid, and Sara finds herself in more and more danger. The ending of this story may remind readers of a famous s-f movie, but “4/13/2060” is still original and well-told.

“Hardwire” by Ton Inktail opens with a line from the narrator that all red-blooded male furry fans should like:

“‘I love you, Master. Won’t you fuck me?’” (p. 55)

Vix is a vixen sex robot, built to have only one purpose, with a human Master.

“‘I missed you, Tod. I love you. Won’t you fuck me?’ I swish my tail and smile.

‘Not now, Vix. I’m looking for the spare dishes. Having a party tomorrow.’

What is party? Or dishes? But he doesn’t like it if I ask too many questions. I perk my ears forward and part my lips. ‘After you find them, then will you fuck me?’” (p. 56)

Vix tries to learn more to please Tod more. She learns too much.

“Hardwire” is a good story, but depressing rather than chilling. The ending is somewhat unconvincing. If Vix is a store-bought sex robot, surely the manufacturer would be aware of its robots’ abilities to learn more, and the resulting consequences.

“The Ouroboros Plate” by Slip Wolf: Imperial Prime Agent Vix Pon Hallord (weasel) arrives at an isolated space station inhabited by only research scientist Doctor Lisker (another weasel) and an Artificial Intelligence. Hallord is on a routine visit to check the progress of Doctor Lisker in developing a top-secret invention for the Predet Empire to use against its livestock rebellions. Hallord finds the Doctor dead and her space station only hours from irreversible self destruction. Can he find what killed her and stop the space station’s destruction in time? This is less horror than a detective puzzler – until the climax.

“The First Viewing” by Corgi W is narrated by a nameless lioness art student interviewing Doschehov, an arrogant tall brown otter artist. He has a private gallery in which he exhibits his works of Neuro-art.

“‘Is he attached to a simulation?’ I asked, not knowing if I wanted to hear the answer.

‘He was a God-fearing wolf,’ Doschehov said. His grin widened, pushing up the fur and skin on his face. It set his beady black eyes deep within heavy folds of fur. ‘So, I came up with a suitable reality to immerse him in: Every one of his virtues is being broken down as we speak. I have simulated what he believed to be hell.’ He paused.” (p. 93)

To reveal more of the plot would be a spoiler. “The First Viewing” could be easily rewritten to make the characters human, but it’s undeniably successful as a creepy futuristic s-f horror tale.

“Clicking” by Ianus J. Wolf: an exploration spaceship (one of many) from no-longer-habitable Earth Prime is searching the galaxy for new planets to colonize. Acting Captain Marco Shane (ram), xenobiologist Robert Maceone (green iguana), xenobotanist Anna Corman (pigeon), and security officer Nathan Higgins (rat) are the forward team who go down to 67 Manticore d, a jungle planet, to check it out.

“‘Have you found the one [life form] yet that keeps making that clicking noise?’ Anna asked while gathering another floral sample from a bloom she hadn’t seen before.

The three of them looked at her quizzically. Marco hadn’t heard any clicking in their entire trip. Anna noticed the look and stared back at them. “What?’

‘What are you talking about?’ Maceone said, genuinely curious. ‘What noise?’” (pgs. 113-114)

Science-fiction has a long tradition of exploring an alien world that seems safe for colonization at first, only to have things slowly turn deadly. There is a reason for the four explorers to be a ram, an iguana, a pigeon, and a rat.

“Blink” by James Stone is a time-travel story. Commander Rhett (tiger) is leading a squad in an interplanetary war against the blinks. The blinks are described only as fast-moving things with tentacles, suckers, and teeth. Rhett and his troopers are in individual enclosed battle armor with time-jump capability.

But Rhett may be time-jumping too often. “Why do I remember combat when the rest of you don’t?” “Are you real, or am I hallucinating?” (pgs. 143 & 144) Troopers are only supposed to jump one second, but Rhett suddenly finds himself alone on a planet except for the blinks. What went wrong? Where is everyone? Almost all time-jump stories get complex and confusing. “Blink” is no exception.

“Pentangle” by Ross Whitlock is one of the weirdest stories I’ve ever read. Five alien seed-things come to Earth and destroy civilization. They eat all metal and merge all people into blobby clusters. Two-people clusters become a Snake-Eyes. Three people become a Coven. Four become a Groat. Six become a Sestina. Eight become a Tarantula. Clusters of twelve become an Apostle, the ultimate (they claim); the rulers. But there are no five-person Pentagles. Pentagles are cursed. Pentagles are evil! Pentagles are to be killed on sight!!!

“Pentagle” is about five people who become a Pentagle amidst the clusters in the tent-city around what used to be San Antonio, and what they-it does about it.

Talk about funny-animal stories where the characters absolutely do not need to be furry instead of human! I won’t say what anthro-animals Pettybone, Stantz, Lakshin, Ciel, and Bishop used to be. It Doesn’t Matter! (But talk about stories that you won’t forget…)

“Starless” by Searska GreyRaven: the merchant spaceship Caliban is infected by an electronic virus that fries most of the ship’s computers and the crew’s cybernetic enhancements. The ship and its crew – Captain Carmine (stoat), navigator Fritz (cocatiel), pilot Ellie (goat), weapons officer Ila (hyena), and others – are thrown off-course into an empty area of the galaxy where there are no stars, no planets, nothing … except … an opera house? Except for the interstellar setting, this is a very effective, old-fashioned Haunted House thriller, with something stalking the Caliban’s crew, one by one.

“This Way” by Frances Pauli is a standalone story in Pauli’s Star Spiders series. (See her The Earth Tigers; Gastropod Press, February 2017.)

“The breeze that rattled the jungle canopy also vibrated through the tips of Dotar’s velvet toes. He heard it in the way his bristles danced, in the soft thrumming of the world beneath each of his eight feet. A gentle wind. A whisper of weather beneath the mesh of jungle that only let scattered patches of sunlight through to warm his carapace.

‘Hurry up, daydreamer.’ The steady drumming of his partner’s toes brought his thoughts back to their mission. ‘We’re meant to be home by tomorrow.’” (p.207)

Dotar and Mifla are two of the large, intelligent spiders of their world, where spiders and humans live in symbiosis. They are on scouting duty for their city. Everything seems normal, until they come to a human village that has been recently deserted …

“Outlier” by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt is a good story completely different in detail, but too similar to “Clicking” as to its basic plot. Both are about an exploration starship coming to what seems at first like a perfect world. Then its furry crew start to die …

“Not Like Us” by KC Alpinus is very melodramatic, about a peaceful suburban community that experiences strange power outages, and degenerates from mild curiosity into panicked accusations and savage neighbor-vs.-neighbor fighting. Is it terrorists, or invading aliens turning everyone into zombies? Sorry, but I felt this story was ultimately unbelievable, mostly from unnatural dialogue but also several unconvincing details like making all animals and small birds anthropomorphized to the same size, a teenage vixen hoping Timothy Turtle will ask her out on a date, and errors like calling an Army Sergeant an officer.

Here is a tough Army non-com talking.

“‘From the homeless otter who was accidentally shot and left in the street like meat, to the mother who clutched her lifeless pup who died from drinking tainted water… The stench of fear and mistrust was everywhere, filling my muzzle and burning my eyes, making my heart race. Fear, kid, it changes people, and those poor otters were just reacting to a perceived threat. They couldn’t help it.’” (p. 244) – Do tough soldiers talk like that?

“Clear and Cruel” by Bill Kieffer: all humans mutate into anthropomorphic dogs. Or cats. William adjusts worse than most. He has to be taken to doctors, by the dog who might be his wife.

“As the dog he came with passed him off to the nurse, he tried to ignore the strange sensation as its … her small hand … (paw?) touched his back to steer him through the door. ‘Yvonne,’ he said as he opened his eyes.

Sharp teeth broke out all over her face, sending her deep brown eyes spinning across her face. The lipstick on her nose seemed a pretty shade of pink as she softly said, ‘Yes, Honey. I’m Yvonne. Let’s hop on this scale, please.’ He was childishly proud of himself. He wondered if he’d been growing younger since the aliens used Earth to break out of hyperspace or whatever accident that caused so many mutations across the world.

He forced himself to stop thinking about it.” (p. 267)

Or mummies. Or werewolves. Or monsters.

“Blessed Are the Meek” by Rechan features a whole planetful of lapens, anthro rabbits, who are building something to do with increasing atmospheric oxygen for the gods. When they are finished, the gods will return. L277, the protagonist, is ordered to take the body of R294 in a rocketship Chariot to the gods. It is so obvious what’s going on that you can probably guess from this synopsis alone, but it’s still a good, cynical story.

“Hollow” by Chris “Sparf” Williams: Liam Sams is a first-generation snow leopard colonist on Mars, along with a team of other snow leopards, malamutes, and others, led by Rottweiler Commander Mike Sloane. And twin-bodied Mitrians.

“Mitrians resembled arctic wolves from Earth by way of Fantastic Tales. Their muzzles were half-again as long, and an extra pair of golden-irised eyes rested just below and to the outside of where an earth wolf’s would be. Mitrian ears were batlike: furless and blue with sharp angles, and from the top center of their head jutted a single appendage like the antennae of a gigantic insect, but covered in short, thin fur.” (p. 296)

They are all inside a squat, domed satellite base while they explore and very slowly Terraform Mars to be livable for Earth settlers (and Mitrians); at least for those like Liam’s snow leopard ancestors in the rocky foothills of the Himalayas. When a large meteorite falls near the base, Liam and two Mitrians, Koresh and Selar, are sent in a rover in sealed envirosuits to examine it and the crater it makes. The meteorite turns out to be a crashed Mitrian spaceship. With its crew slaughtered. Has the galactic horror that has been killing Mitrians, that killed the spaceship’s crew, followed them onto Mars?

Bleak Horizons (cover by Kappy, possibly illustrating “Hollow”) is a good anthology of “creeping dread and the things that terrify people”, to quote from one of the author profiles. I may kvech about the funny-animal nature of most of the stories, which could Easily Feature Humans, but as s-f horror, these 14/15ths successfully deliver a chill up your spine. 14/15th is worth $19.95. (Or $9.95 if you get the e-book edition.)

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Furplanet
• Buy on Bad Dog Books
• Editor’s Facebook page

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Co written by Pup Matthias and Patch.

Joe Garcia and Heidi. Photo: David J. Phillip / AP

Hurricane Harvey has been one of the biggest storms to hit the US.  As a category 4 storm, it hit Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana over the weekend, filling our newsfeed with stories of tragedy, courage, and sacrifice. It puts us as a nation and people to the test. We’ve heard the stories: from big ones like the news crew finding a man trapped in his truck and flagging down emergency vehicles to help – to smaller personal stories of neighbors helping neighbors.

Outside of the storm’s path, there’s a lot of talk about how the effects impact the country in many different ways. (Our own Uncle Kage addressed evacuation from his experience as an Emergency Manager Coordinator.)  If you can only watch from afar, the most important way to help is by donating. Even now, all emergency organizations, along with groups and personal accounts are asking for donations to combat the damage Hurricane Harvey will leave.

This is a great time to highlight efforts to help animals. Furry news is a good place for it.  The Furry community has always been proud about raising funds for charity, and that isn’t just for cons.

We found him stranded on a car surrounded by floodwater. But I'm glad to report this dog abandoned by his owners has been rescued! pic.twitter.com/6Ggqe64GY9

— J.D. Miles (@jdmiles11) August 29, 2017

Remember that 250,000 pets were displaced or died in Hurricane Katrina, and some people refused to evacuate without them – it has become an important part of disaster planning, according to this video about saving animals in Hurricane Harvey. 

News stories from People, ABC News, and NBC have covered more efforts to help animals in need. I’m sure several of you heard or seen the hawk story. Many others will struggle to be heard. Patch has been collecting as many as he can find so we can spread the word and assist with donating what you can.

Interrupting furry tweets to say: Texas animal rescues need help because of the hurricane. Please send ones that need signal boost!

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) August 29, 2017

Another one. It's hard to find what's going on because of so much stuff to look at. https://t.co/ESaKBpoaFk

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) August 29, 2017

To help out our furry friends, below are a few local organizations and GoFundMe pages that Patch found. We encourage you to share, donate, and provide info on others we may have missed.

Organizations and Funds:

• Forgotten Dogs of the 5th Ward Project – a Houston Non Profit. They had a sketch artist rewarding donors for a limited time with sketches of their pet. Perhaps some furry artist would like to volunteer more?
• Austin Pets Alive! – APA’s FaceBook Page. They are housing hundreds of animals and hope for $20,000 in support.
• American Humane – A highly rated national organization sending volunteers to help.
• Houston SPCA and SPCA of Texas – Facebook pages (1) and (2)
• Louisiana SPCA – Currently recommending donation to the Texas SPCA’s above.
• Dallas Dogrrr – They are on the scene with boats.
• Doug and Sherry Jackson – They rescue dogs but the hurricane wrecked their home. Help them get $15,000 for repair.
• 4 Paws Farm/Harvey Disaster Animal Fund – This nonprofit is partnered with I Love My Dog, an online community of over 5 million followers.
• List of animal shelters and rescues in the path of Hurricane Harvey.

More info about it. https://t.co/fNzz3K6uGc

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) August 29, 2017

Please share. Need donations. pic.twitter.com/WjkeJycsRx

— Kat 5 (@nola_lady) August 29, 2017

Again, help spread the word and donate what you can. We Furries pride ourselves in helping those in need. If you have find others, please send them our way. There haven’t been any specific furry-fandom angles brought to our attention, but we can boost that kind of story unlike other places for news.

Like the story of the starfish, even if we might not save everyone, we can still save one and make a difference. Thank you to Uncle Kage for forwarding us that story.  And thank you for retweeting and reposting ours to help.  Until next time fluffer nutters, have a nice day.

-Pup Matthias

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

In June, my review of The Art of Cars 3 was posted here. In it, I said:

“It has been acknowledged that these “art of” books featuring animated films are money-losers, subsidized by the advertising budgets for those films, made for the promotion of those films and for the morale of the artists and technical crews that produced them. The Art of Cars 3 is full of the art of the animators, layout artists, production designers, story artists, digital renderers, graphic designers, modelers, and others who created Cars 3 .”

I had gotten that information – about the art-of animation books being money-losers that were published for their movie’s advertising and for their production staff’s morale – from a February 2017 story by Amid Amidi on the Cartoon Brew website. It was about Illumination Entertainment’s animated films — the Despicable Me franchise, The Secret Life of Pets, and Sing. The pertinent paragraphs were:

“Among the things that Illumination Entertainment does differently from other major animation studios is they don’t produce art-of/making-of books for each of their films.

From a business perspective, it makes sense. Most art-of books don’t make their money back, have limited reach, and add unnecessary costs to a film’s marketing budget. But they do have intangible benefits, like boosting morale among studio employees and helping build stronger relationships with the studio’s most passionate fans. I might agree that it doesn’t make sense to create an art-of book for every film, but perhaps Illumination could publish an anniversary art-of book at some point. Their tenth film is coming up in 2019, while 2020 will mark ten years since the release of their first film. Both of those dates seem like ideal milestones.”

April Whitney, the publicist at Chronicle Books for The Art of Cars 3, took exception to that statement. She said that Chronicle’s “art of” de luxe animation books, which cover most Disney•Pixar animated features, sell very well and are not, as I implied, subsidized by Disney’s marketing department.

April’s response to me:

“The difference in our publishing is that we are a third party that licenses the ability to make these books, so if they didn’t earn back their cost and make money, we would lose money and discontinue publishing them. It’s not a vanity project for us. There may be some books in the market that are completely funded by the studio, and sold with little expectations, but I only have experience working on Chronicle titles and that is not the case here.

“While we don’t share print run numbers or revenue, you could look to The Art of Zootopia for instance and note that it appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, which should give you an idea of the demand for that book.

“Another anecdote is that a few years ago, one of our editors brought to our attention that the out-of-stock book The Art of Monsters, Inc was being sold on eBay for over $100. We decided to reprint. And when we debuted the reprint at San Diego Comic-Con I encountered several people who were thrilled that it was available again at the actual retail price of $40. They were *especially* excited that we sell all books at that show for 30% off.

“Of course not all ‘Art of’ books sell the same, and it does have much to do with how well the film itself does. It has been a while since I worked on The Art of Frozen but I do recall that book sold well with multiple reprints. It was a highly successful film.

“Of course we never know how well a film will perform. We’re book makers not filmmakers nor critics, but we do know that a sizable number of customers are curious about the process of bringing these movies to life, and many of them enjoy the peek into that process that the ‘Art of’ provides.”

Patch O’Furr, the editor of Dogpatch Press who has professional experience in the business, agrees with Whitney.

“I think April is right. Any book that needs a reprint is doing better than cost if it’s part of an established product line like Chronicle’s – (excepting limited cases that may be more expensive to make than they sell for.) This type of book has unique content and doesn’t just reproduce stuff you already saw.

I have definitely seen ‘art of’ animation books sell out and their prices jump much higher than cover, a good sign of success.”

Cartoon Brew’s editor Amid Amidi, who wrote the article that I quoted, is a recognized animation expert (I reviewed his Cartoon Modern ten years ago). I wrote to him, to give him the opportunity to reply to Whitney’s and Patch’s comments. He has declined:

“I have no comment for publication about this”.

– Fred Patten

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Rune’s Furry Blog showcases “people within the Furry Community… their characters, life, thoughts, and beliefs”. It also covers furry issues and media plus some personal blogging. Rune joins other guest posters to Dogpatch Press like Andre Kon (What’s Yiffin’?) and Arrkay (Culturally F’d). Welcome Rune! – Patch

Originally, when I heard about BioMutant, I wasn’t sure whether or not it should be featured on my Furry Blog or my Gaming Blog— so I just put it on both!

The last time I saw cute, little, fuzzy creatures being the main stars of ANY console RPG, was when I learned about TERA. Did I ever play it? No…

But for those who love the MMO-scene, and especially for furries, this was a huge deal. When it comes to RPGs on consoles, I don’t ask for much. I don’t care the race of my characters so long as there’s a bit of customization involved (even if it’s just a difference in your appearances based on weapon or armor equipped).  If the game has a deep-story, I’m all set.

If I want character customization, I just stick to my PC-MMORPGS like World-of-Warcraft or Guild Wars 2… but I must say that after reading about BioMutant, I’m actually curious to see what more it will offer in the future.  With it being on the XBOXone, I’m actually considering making this a part of my purchase wish-list when it hits the market.

• So what is BioMutant?

”THQ Nordic revealed BioMutant, an “open-world, post-apocalyptic kung fu fable,” for PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.”

— But we want more of an explanation than that, right?

We don’t know who these raccoon-like creatures are, where they originated, or anything like that but, according to the Official Website for the game, we know that the Tree of Life is DYING.

The main life-source for this world has been contaminated. Now it’s up to your character to save the world – or can it even be saved? According to the website, there are divided tribes which must be reunited to face off against the great evils coming from the root of the plague-stricken tree… buuuuuut that’s all the developers seem to be leaking about the main story.

• What makes the game so unique?

— The game itself is supposed to be a unique twist on 3rd person combat. The main allure will be the way in which your character utilizes their own fighting style. These little creatures learn combat from various Masters scattered across the land. You can mix-and-match kung-fu combos. It’s supposed to keep the combat new and fresh so it never gets boring.

Hand-to-hand combat isn’t the only thing that can defeat the monsters of this world. There’s a weapon crafting system, allowing your characters to mix-and-match parts to create unique weapons. They can defeat enemies as well. However this article from Polygon suggests that while the weapon-system may seem cool, the main focus will be the mastery of the kung-fu styles and really getting up-close-and-personal with your opponents.

Lastly there are the “powers”. These are harder to explain. While they can be used for various things including fighting, this also seems to tie in with the way character customization will work.

• So what are these Mutations?

— The game is called BioMutant, right? So how do Mutations work in this world? According to the official website, as you traverse this world, radioactive substances and bio-contamination (as well as other chemicals) let you re-code your genetic structure to unlock attributes. This can change your appearance such as giving you long claws, barbed tails, and more. Other attributes aren’t so visible… but it’s said you will be able to unlock things like Telekenisis and Levitation. That’s sure to change the way you play the game. Some things may make combat easier, while others might be strictly for traversing the world in new ways.  Not much else has been said or shown on this development.

For other character customization options, nothing has been shown. It’s uncertain if there will be more. Gear and mutations might be the limit of character customization.

• Is it an MMO?

— Screenshots have shown multiple furry-creatures in one frame, but this doesn’t seem to be an MMORPG. It’s not being advertised as such. It might be cool if it were, but with all the stuff being incorporated, I think keeping it a single-player experience is for the best.

• An Open World…

— There’s little known of the game, but it has been claimed that a player can build their own adventure in this open world. The official website also said that the ending depends on the actions of the players. It gives a very “Fable-ish” feel because it claims that we can either be the force that unites the tribes, or the force that brings them down. The official website says it’s an “Unusual Story with an Unusual End”, guided by a narrator as we make choices that determine the fate of this world. So, replay-ability seems rather high for this game already. It promises limitless possibilities since the world is going to be so massive!

• Conclusion:

— Open-World games have always been a favorite of mine, so I’m excited for this! I do get lost sometimes in just exploring (and forget to do the campaign), but that’s really the appeal of games like this. It’s all done at your own leisure. I love the fact that I get to choose how my story ends, and unique character customization will allow fun experimenting to get that “perfect character” for your personal play-style.

It looks beautiful. The characters are unique. I think it has been awhile since we had a good RPG set in a fantastical world that wasn’t all online. I love MMORPGs, but I miss the old days of Oblivion and Skyrim, even Fallout and Fable… and just having that singular adventure.

I’m also excited because this game mixes my two favorite genres, Fantasy and Post-apocalyptic-worlds!

But what do YOU think? Are you excited for this game?  What would you hope they add to make it better? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll see you all in the next blog.

– Rune

Guest post by Arrkay from Culturally F’d, the furry youtube channel.

With all the fire and ‘furry’ in the news, I think we should take a break from the political hardship to look at some awesome positive activity that’s been going on in the fandom. So let’s see what Furry has to celebrate lately:

“Vix N dwnq” reaches 100,000 Subscribers on YouTube

 

A milestone for the fandom. While not the first YouTuber who is a furry to gain the “Silver Play Button”, such as “Your Movie SucksDOTorg” and others, Rika and her channel Vix N dwnq is the first fursuiting channel to gain this level of success on her own merit. She wasn’t raised to this point by collaborating with mainstream YouTuber’s or by an aggressive marketing campaign. Instead her genuine fun in fursuit videos have gotten there organically, and she’s not alone. Majira Strawberry and Kero The Wolf are quick behind her which shows that this isn’t a single one-off event but a trend of rising Furry stars on the YouTube platform. It’s a big win for the fandom, and especially those on YouTube.

IT IS TIME GUYS pic.twitter.com/IcBTLPco2W

— Freaka (@VixNdwnq) August 16, 2017

 

Take all the furries attending cons last year and DOUBLE IT #100KFurries @tallfuzzball @VixNdwnq @KerotheWolf pic.twitter.com/NVfFAMnH9B

— Culturally F'd! (@CulturallyFd) July 23, 2017

The most popular artists on FA have ~70K subscribers. Furry YouTubers are topping that! #100KFurries @tallfuzzball @VixNdwnq @KerotheWolf

— Culturally F'd! (@CulturallyFd) July 23, 2017

Astounding subscription numbers. Could fill stadiums like The Rose Bowl, or LA Coliseum #100KFurries @tallfuzzball @VixNdwnq @KerotheWolf pic.twitter.com/XeAPberz8g

— Culturally F'd! (@CulturallyFd) July 23, 2017

Documentary maker Eric Risher Receives an Emmy

So this arrived yesterday. I'm still in great disbelief, but I'm honored to announce that I'm officially the owner of an Emmy Award. pic.twitter.com/ehElMsCBh7

— Eric (Ash) @MFF (@FurryFilmmaker) August 22, 2017

The Emmy award that Eric received is for his editing work on “Insight with John Ferrugia: Surviving Suicide“. Eric is the mastermind behind “Furries: A Documentary” which saw some success in the film-festival racket and even got a major distribution deal. The creator has also been working on short-format online videos like this amazing “Art Jam” video, the first of many we hope.

This is just in the past few weeks of course. You could argue that Zootopia’s Oscar win counts toward fandom recognition and of course we have had writers and artists receive other prestigious awards such as Ursula Vernon’s “Digger” series getting a Hugo award. I think this is yet another sign of mainstream acceptance of our quirky fandom. In a recent Vice Media Special on the fandom, Cooper/Roach said this:

“If you look back in fandom history, people were calling Trekkies weird, Trekkies were the weird thing. Being huge into Star Trek or huge into Star Wars was freaky. Now it’s casual. It’s like an initiation process for every different fandom or different lifestyle or hobby. It’s going to go through a period where it’s made fun of for quite a while or beat to shit and then it’s going to basically be accepted”

I think we’re nearing this breaking point of acceptance in pop-culture. Big companies are noticing us. Walmart, Hot Topic and Target are all selling what are essentially cheap fursuit heads and kigurumi’s, and Chinese mass-production facilities are stealing our very fursonas out of our paws. As a fandom our press coverage has never been more positive or well informed. As Furry becomes more known and accepted, it becomes easier for Furries to share their large portfolios and get meaningful, paid work out of it. As more furries see mainstream recognition, it gets much less awkward to share your weird hobby. Everyone benefits when they can be open and comfortable and taking on the bigger and better opportunities coming from it.

It’s a good time to be a furry.

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

The Big Bad Fox, by Benjamin Renner. [Translated by Joe Johnson.] Illustrated.
NYC, First Second, June 2017, trade paperback $15.99 (187 pages), Kindle $9.99.

Benjamin Renner is a French animator and cartoonist. He first became known in America as the co-director of the 2012 Belgian animated feature Ernest & Célestine, released in America in 2013. That was an adaptation of Belgian children’s books by Gabrielle Vincent, and featured Vincent’s art style. It was an international animation festival favorite, winning many awards, and was a 2014 Oscar Best Animated Feature nominee.

In 2015 Renner began to develop Le Grand Méchant Renard, a cartoon idea for a series of three French half-hour TV specials in his own art style. He wrote and drew his own cartoon-art book to promote them, published by Delcourt in January 2015. The TV cartoon specials grew into an 80-minute theatrical feature, Le Grand Méchant Renard et Autres Contes … (The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales …), released in France on June 21, 2017.

Now Renner’s French book has been published in English as a trade paperback by First Second Books, an American publisher of literary graphic novels.

The main characters in The Big Bad Fox are the title fox, a wimpy loser; the fearsome Mr. Wolf; what Amazon calls an idiot rabbit, a gardener pig, a lazy guard dog, and a typical hen who organizes the other hens into The Fox Exterminators’ Club; and the three little chicks that the fox becomes the Mommy of.

The main reason that the fox remains endearing is that, although he is a puny weakling who never gets respect (a sparrow calls him “fartface”), he never gives up. He always comes back for another try. He develops a personal relationship with the farm animals. The duck, rabbit, and goose call out friendly greetings. The dog grumbles that his visits always mean cleaning up after him. The gardener pig sets aside a basket of turnips or beets for him. His entering the henhouse leads to one of the favorite scenes of the book or the movie trailer. Fox (to hen who is ignoring him): “GRROWWWL!!!” Hen: “No way! Not again!! This is the third time this week!” Fox: “Well, yeah, but I’m hungry.” Hen: “I DON’T CARE!” (p. 5)

Later, when the fox is talking with the wolf: Fox: “I don’t get it! Why doesn’t it work for me? What’s my problem?” Wolf: “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because you look about as strong as an oyster. Or because you have as much charisma as a dried slug in a jar of salt. Also, you’re about as ferocious as a geriatric tortoise.” (p. 13)

Continuing routines include the hens’ demands for the guard dog to take his job more seriously, and the lazy dog’s attempts to avoid any real work; the wolf’s attempts to get the fox to lure the hens from the farm into the forest, where he can get at them; and the book and movie’s main plot: the fox’s stealing three eggs to raise into hens they (mainly the wolf) can eat, and the fox’s becoming the three chicks’ “Mommy” who comes to care for them, and to protect them from his wolf partner.

The fox can’t convince the chicks that he isn’t their mother. At first they see him as a Mommy Hen. When he finally convinces them he’s the Big Bad Fox, they decide this means they must be Little Bad Foxes. When he can’t put off the hungry wolf any longer, the fox flees with the chicks to the farm. There he has to go disguised as a chicken, and the chicks endanger themselves by insisting that they are Little Bad Foxes and biting the other chicks instead of playing with them.

The Big Bad Fox tells only the middle of the three tales in the movie. According to the movie reviews in The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, the three tales are “A Baby to Deliver”, in which a stork who breaks his wing tries to persuade the rabbit, the pig, and a duck who can’t swim to deliver a human baby for him; “The Big Bad Fox, this tale which is the longest; and “The Perfect Christmas”, in which the rabbit and duck believe they’ve killed Santa Claus and frantically try to fill in for him.

The movie and book both feature Renner’s art (or its animated imitation) as watercolors. The watercolor sketches in the book seem almost like storyboards for the movie.

The book contains much witty dialogue. A sparrow about to be eaten chooses the wolf over the fox. “If I have to get eaten, it might as well be by a creature with flair.” (p. 17) The guard dog to the hen, who has just stomped the fox into pulp: “In the future, I’d rather you didn’t throw your trash into my home. Thank you in advance.” (p. 26) Chick: “You love us, don’t you? Fox: “I don’t know. I haven’t tasted you yet.” (p. 103)

The book has an Amazon age rating of 7 to 11 years old; grades 3 to 7. Everyone else seems to consider it an All Ages book. The Big Bad Fox certainly is a graphic novel that furry fans should enjoy.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Eight Page preview on Mac Millan

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