Dogpatch Press

Furry buddies--let me make a point real quick.

Marches are about visibility.
Fursuits are real damn visible.

— The Wombat Resists (@UrsulaV) January 29, 2017

Political Animals.

What does Furry have to do with politics?  Nothing. Or a lot.  (Kinda like kink). It’s up to you. Maybe you just like talking-animal media.  Or maybe you like media that’s inseparable from a culture that’s cracking apart.

This group is about talking animals, but it’s made of people, and we don’t exist in a vacuum. (The vacuum is just there to pick up all the shedding.) So for those who care… Let’s recap some previous stories that relate to this, then see what’s up now.

Start with the San Francisco Bay Area.  It has the world’s most dense population of furries, and it’s the epicenter for a rent crisis. That big trend hit the local group when their premiere monthly event, Frolic furry dance was pushed out of it’s home.

Across the bay, on the day Frolic restarted, the Ghost Ship warehouse fire killed 36 fellow party goers at an electronic music show.  It instigated a national purge of underground cultural spaces.  This blog is written from one of those spaces, and narrowly escaped being forced out in a wave of evictions.  Economic class issues are personal here.

Go back to 2012 and the East Coast.  Money, sex and politics crashed into furry fandom in a mini-scandal of “fake news” with the New Jersey FurBQ Hoax.  Looking back now, you might see some of the sparks that turned into 2017’s political dumpster fire. I’m talking about the way the group was split up by dishonesty and xenophobia, and manipulated as pawns for politics.

Furries got scapegoated for having a harmless party. It made me say: “Fun is serious business because it has to do with liberties.”

There’s some examples of how furries have long experience with fake news, they can be vulnerable as a subculture, and they can share a common cause with other marginal communities. (Don’t forget their sizeable queer membership.) You don’t have to agree about politics, but there are good reasons to pay attention. From anti-mask laws, to anti-LGBT legislation and anti-kink moral panic, furries will be part of many fights to come.

Dirty Words.

Speaking of fake news and manipulating the public, here’s some really dirty words: plutocracy, oligarchy, Trump. During the Gropenführer’s campaign, I tried to avoid playing into his outrage-spreading, except for one article about furries vs. conservatives, Gamergate and Trump. Now it’s a good time to push back.

Check this story from April 2016: Nation-wide radio station hack airs hours of vulgar “furry sex” ramblings. It set the stage for a recent followup: Someone Keeps Hacking Radio Stations To Play “Fuck Donald Trump”.

Radio was hacked to play 'explicit furry podcast', now it's Fuck Donald Trump. A precedent to mock the president! https://t.co/4fFFwZdWEC

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) February 1, 2017

It's been 2 days since PutinPup officially collared me and I just know we're going to be together for ever and ever and ever ❤️❤️❤️

— Donnie J. Trumpypaws (@trumpypaws) February 7, 2017

Meme wars.

Furry fandom has it’s own “alt-right” invasion with a supposed quantity of members using “ironic” memes and trolling to spread it. But it has very little creativity or substance. The point is just to beg for attention, and that doesn’t last. I get told that it’s real and there’s lots of members – but it’s always the same handful trying too hard to get me to believe it.  Ignore it and it will wither. More from Vice: Even Furries Are Fighting Fascists.

RMFC will officially ban paraphernalia that is deemed offensive by those in charge of the convention. (2/4)

— RMFC (@RMFC_Denver) January 27, 2017

@KikiDoodleTweet @sigilgoat Per our post last night, we will not be allowing FRs armbands at our convention.

— RMFC (@RMFC_Denver) January 27, 2017

The same furs supporting Milo & Richard Spencer are offering free drinks and prizes to get furs into the event...
Buying friends. ????

— Chip Fox ???? (@chipfoxx) February 11, 2017

Nazis are afraid of being punched. Would you use a #fursuit to get their guard down? #AfraidofFurries #SadNazis

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) February 9, 2017

Getting Real.

Propaganda was a big thing before an election, from low effort memes to fake news.  Now, a freedom-loving subculture has more ways to push back than just lurking behind a keyboard.

FYI to smart fursuiters who care: Under Armour supports Trump, people are boycotting. https://t.co/9AZhk62G3r

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) February 9, 2017

What will furries use now that they can't use @UnderArmour and not feel totally dirty about it? https://t.co/gDo7ZmQ8M3

— Kovu Cougar (@KovuCougar) February 8, 2017

I know this is a popular brand choice in the furry community. Nike makes a similar product and opposed the EO/ban. I recommend them. https://t.co/beyrevFjsn

— Roux/Tracey ️‍ (@kai_fox) February 8, 2017

Looking for an alternative to underarmor? Why not something custom instead? https://t.co/e0kgFmdwle Works great/same cooling under a fursuit

— Matrices (@RaisedbyDogs) February 9, 2017

General Strike: February 17.

Activists Are Calling for an All-Out Strike to Protest Trump on February 17. Buy nothing, stop work, and be on the street. See local protests around the US.

It could be silly to go fursuiting. It’s not just the heat, it’s the pepper spray!  I don’t need to hear obvious criticism about that, but street fursuiting is my favorite thing.  If you’re tough enough and expect low risk…

Someone mentioned fursuiting at a protest this weekend. This is a bad idea, don't do it. Not fuzzy animal time.

— Nahani Otieno (@Poingah) January 20, 2017

@UrsulaV Wavy Gravy would dress up for protests because police don't like being seen arresting Santa Claus or The Easter Bunny.

— Bill Stewart (@BillStewart415) January 29, 2017

The country is being dragged down with heinous actions like immigrant bans targeting entire classes of people. (Remember this: Syrian Refugees Get Put Up in Same Hotel As Furries, Kids LOVE It.)  There’s a part in this for you, whether you feel like openly protesting, or just quietly resisting by being you.

May this be a reminder of what the furry fandom is all about! I am proud & honored to be associated with you all.https://t.co/SEO3ghJM5y

— Reo Grayfox (@Reo_GrayFox) January 29, 2017

I love that #FurryBlackHistoryMonth is a thing right now. This is dope.

— EarCat Supreme™ (@KashmirDaLynx) February 7, 2017

A lot of negative in the world, have a fox that's doing all he can to stay positive! pic.twitter.com/hruidIlgKi

— Hawaiian Hoosier Fox (@wildfox34) February 1, 2017

The most punk and anti establishment thing you can do, in a society that does not give a shit, is to give a shit. Caring is resistance.

— Menokh A'Khadim (@Menokh) February 9, 2017

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

Domino, by Kia Heavey.
Greenwich, CT, Unfiltered Creative, January 2016, trade paperback $11.95 (267 pages), Kindle $3.49.

Domino is a large black-&-white barn cat on the Browns’ farm, encouraged to roam it for rodent control. He is unneutered to make him more aggressive. He is complacent as one of the socially dominant cats in the nearby residential neighborhood prowl, along with his best friend Flufferdoodle and others such as Tiger, Cricket, Mister, Lady, Rudy, and Izzy.

Then two new cats enter the neighborhood. Celine is a black field stray who likes a free life, living outside of being a housecat. She becomes Domino’s equal, supporter, and eventually mate. Socrates is a supercilious but charismatic Siamese intellectual who spellbinds most of the other cats with the philosophy that all animals are transcendent – they can transcend their feral instincts if they only try. They all have souls and similar emotions. The cats all have humans who feed them, so they don’t need to go hunting for prey. Domino is amused at first, then alarmed as he sees more and more of his friends listening to Socrates. He is gradually isolated and sidelined as a social boor and killer of helpless wildlife. Domino suspects that Socrates and his housemate, Max the dog, have an ulterior motive, but he can’t figure out what it is.

Then Socrates introduces the rats.

The cover by Damon Bowie shows that either Domino is a small cat, or those are large rats. Domino is a very large cat.

Heavey writes clever dialogue:

“The rat’s back end was invisible in the sharp shadow alongside the wall, but its front end was starkly lit in the harsh midday sunlight. It was still panting from its recent dash for its life, but with its would-be killer safely in sight, it soon regained its typical arrogance. ‘Well, well, not so fast today, are we, cat?’

Domino’s sensitive ears flicked at the squeaky tones of the rat’s voice. ‘I’m not the one who was so scared I pissed myself,’ he replied. While he spoke, his eyes scanned the scene, seeking a way to approach the creature.

The rat laughed. ‘Maybe so, but I’m not the one who ran through it. Even now, I can smell my piss on you. When you bathe later, enjoy the taste,’ it taunted. ‘That’s what you like anyway, isn’t it?’

‘And you little sociopaths wonder why we kill your species whenever we get the chance.’ As Domino bantered, his mind raced. If only he could gain the shadow, he could slither along the base of the tumbledown wall. He took a tentative step closer.” (p. 3)

—

“‘Come here, you’ve got to meet the new guy,’ said a tabby cat with the predictable name of Tiger.

‘Looking forward to it,’ said Domino. Since Socrates had not moved, he allowed himself to be led to the odd cat. ‘Welcome,’ he meowed when he reached him.

Socrates didn’t look at Domino so much as he evaluated the way the other cats treated the barn cat: with deference and respect. His eyes narrowed before he finally returned Domino’s look. ‘Nice of you to join us,’ he said finally. He did not come down from his strange sitting up position.

‘I know you’re new to the neighborhood,’ began Domino, ‘but around here, we greet by touching noses.’

‘How quaint.’” (p. 15)

—

“As Domino watched, a smaller creature emerged from the woods, ghostly pale and eerily calm. It was Socrates, trailing along behind Max to see that Rudy was properly dispatched. Domino’s fur bristled so hard it made his skin hurt. Socrates sat and watched with cold eyes as Max finished with the body and dropped it, eventually lost interest, and sniffed his way to a nearly tussock, lifting his leg to urinate on it.

Socrates was innocent, Domino remembered Rudy saying. But certainly not now, he thought. That cat is as evil and corrupt as the meanest rat ever born.” (p. 151)

Domino builds slowly, but once it reaches its climax, there does not seem to be any way for Domino to survive. The climax is a shocker. The novel’s ending, while pleasant, is a bit of an anticlimax. But don’t miss the book’s first 259 pages.

• Buy on Amazon.

– Fred Patten

Recently, I posted “The history of My Little Pony and thoughts about growing up with cartoons” to prepare for chat with Sherilyn Connelly.  Sherilyn is a journalist local to the San Francisco Bay Area Furries. (She has given them notice in publications like SF Weekly.) Her first book is out this April: Ponyville Confidential, a pop culture history of the My Little Pony media empire. (Please like the book’s Facebook page!)

Hi Sherilyn, thanks for talking about Ponyville Confidential!  Let me start by asking – who needs to read it? Will it be manely for fans?  Will there be parts to tempt furry readers?

“Manely!” I see what you did there. Obviously everypony needs to read it, and it’s by no means intended just for My Little Pony fans; I hope that people who are interested in pop-culture history in general will give it a look as well. And there are many references to the Furry fandom, including shout-outs to Frolic, Further Confusion, and Anthrocon.

I know you as a committed, active fan who comes to Furry events and writes journalism about them (and movies, and more.) Can you give a brief intro about your background and writing?

I’ve wanted to be a writer ever since I was old enough to want to be anything at all. I started writing professionally for SF Weekly in 2011 — within a few months when I started grad school and began watching My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, so it was a momentous year in retrospect — and wrote quite a lot about the the local Furry scene at the time. I began contributing film reviews to the Village Voice in 2012, and became the Weekly‘s permanent film critic in January 2013.

I hear this is your first book, congrats – how excited are you? Would anything surprise you about how it might be received?

Very excited, and yet strangely numb; I don’t think it’s really hit me yet, mostly because as I write this I haven’t yet held the published book in my hands. I’m sure it’ll seem very real when that fateful package arrives. Indeed, it’s all so abstract right now that the only thing that would truly surprise me at this point would be for Joan Didion to come out of retirement and write about it for the New York Review of Books. And since that ain’t gonna happen…

Will it get fandom promotion, have a place in the regular publishing world, or will you do hoofwork to promote it yourself like with readings?

It’s being published by McFarland & Company, a well-established purveyor of scholarly nonfiction books — though, for the record, Ponyville Confidential‘s specific genre is scholarly sparkliness — and McFarland’s titles are found in both public and academic libraries around the world. (For sure, I’ll be checking WorldCat on a regular basis in the coming months to see what far-flung shelves it’s landed on, which is possibly the nerdiest version of ego-surfing this side of Google-Scholaring yourself.) That said, I will indeed be doing a lot of hoofwork to promote it on my own, including readings at local libraries and bookstores. As for whether any segment of the fanbase chooses to promote it, I can’t begin to predict — though I do hope the fans of My Little Pony Generations 1-3 enjoy the book, since it’s for them in a lot of ways.

You do library events with a screening and discussion of MLP:FiM. That’s a good way to connect with people for real. What part did it play for your book?

Truth be told, none at all. My monthly TV Club is for fillies and colts 4-8 years old (who are too young to read Ponyville Confidential) and is part of my other day job as a librarian. Between that and writing for the Voice and the Weekly, I’m fortunate that my paying gigs also allow me to engage on a professional level with the pop culture I already enjoy. Can’t ask for more than that, really.

The book comes out at the same time as BABSCON 2017, sharing some organizers with SF Bay furry groups.

You called Ponyville Confidential well-researched with a bit of a political view (but fun silly parts too.) What might be provocative about it?

The research was one of the most fun parts of writing the book; the last 40-50 pages are entirely taken up by the double-column Bibilography, and are preceded by about two dozen pages of double-column chapter notes, so I make a point of showing my work whenever I’m stating facts and figures. If you think the 1986 Transformers: The Movie is awesome and are offended that I would describe it as “a financial failure,” please direct your flames to the August 30, 1987 Los Angeles Times.

Some readers will no doubt be irritated that just like on Friendship Is Magic, indefinite personal pronouns in Ponyville Confidential take the form of “anypony,” “somepony,” and so forth — scholarly sparkliness, yo! — but what I suspect may prove most provocative is that the book is very much from my point of view and nopony else’s. Which seems like it should go without saying, and it’s of course the case with pretty much every single-author book ever written, particularly history books; that’s why even though there are already dozens of biographies of LBJ, the four books Robert Caro has written so far in his The Years of Lyndon Johnson series total over 3,000 pages, and yet he’s only now getting to Johnson’s actual presidency. But many more people have much stronger feelings about My Little Pony than LBJ at the moment, and my superhellaleftyqueerfeminist politics often shine through (in Ponyville Confidential, not The Years of Lyndon Johnson). The people who share my general worldview will like that aspect, and those who don’t will not — and I am not unaware of the irony that the publisher of this queer-positive, smash-the-gender-binary book is based in North Carolina.

Also, I don’t wave the flag of any organized fandom. The only My Little Pony fans I interact with on a regular basis are the kids at the library, so I didn’t realize until researching Ponyville Confidential just how different my feelings about the franchise are compared to many of the Bronies — particularly regarding the Equestria Girls films, the backlash against which by Bronies and civilians alike I examine in great detail. But I realized early on than I could either write the book I wanted to write, or I could choose to not fully express myself for fear of getting Tweeted at by strangers who are angry that my opinions about My Little Pony are contrary to their own, so I decided to take a cue from Lin-Manuel Miranda and not throw away my shot. (Again, that’s why I decided to use ponyfied pronouns for Ponyville Confidential, since they wouldn’t be appropriate for the new, non-Pony film history book I’m currently writing.) Other people will no doubt write their own books about the history of My Little Pony working from the same set of facts, and come to different conclusions — and I look forward to reading those books! — but Ponyville Confidential is my take on the subject.

“This live production of My Little Pony y Equestria Girls: El Show en Vivo is discussed on pp. 179-180 of Ponyville Confidential, and the show is still going strong in Mexico City!”

Do you have any feeling about coming as a non-household name to a property that is one?

Heh. Let’s put it this way: outside of my friends and family, I’m under no illusion that the anypony who buys the book is doing so because it’s written by the film critic for a disreputable alt-weekly. I’m also well aware that being the only critic whose reviews of all four Equestria Girls films are listed on Rotten Tomatoes also doesn’t count for a hill of beans, but I’m a little proud of it, which is clear based on the fact that I just went out of my way to mention it.

You told me about being inspired by David Gerrold’s writing about Star Trek. How does that relate to ponies?

Star Trek comes up a few times in Ponyville Confidential, and David Gerrold’s books The Trouble With Tribbles (about that making of that episode, which he wrote) and The World of Star Trek (about the original series overall) were my introduction to nonfiction about pop culture. I read The Trouble with Tribbles dozens of times growing up, and quote from it in my book regarding the Friendship Is Magic episode “Swarm of the Century.” Nothing would make me happier than for somepony growing up with My Little Pony to read Ponyville Confidential and be inspired to write their own book someday about a beloved pop-culture franchise — though, to be clear, I am not suggesting any kind of equivalency between me and Mr. Gerrold. In addition to him being a faaaaaaaaaaaar more accomplished writer, he has been intimately involved with Star Trek since the original series and is an authority on the subject, whereas I am merely a My Little Pony fan with no official connection to the franchise.

Think about how MLP is regarded among kid-type media… in the past and now. I have a feeling there have been a few surprising changes. What’s changed, and what hasn’t?

What has changed is that there isn’t nearly as much of a cultural distinction between media intended for children and that intended for adults, hence seven of the ten highest-grossing films of 2016 being franchise pictures based on properties originally intended for children — even the single R-rated film is based on a comic book character, albeit a quote-edgy-unquote one — and the three of them not based on an existing intellectual properties are PG-rated cartoons. What hasn’t changed is that the majority of them are geared toward boys (read: lots of shit blowing up and punches being thrown, albeit at a PG-13 level) and/or have primarily male casts. Though My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is popular across demographic boundaries to an extent that lead to widespread head-scratching in the media, it should be interesting to see how the My Little Pony feature film slated to come out this October will fare. I have a hunch that it won’t do very well, but I’m also a terrible futurist.

I know you used Transformers to compare and contrast – are there other shows or types of media that make good comparison too?

The Transformers toy range is the salient point of comparison with My Little Pony because they’re Hasbro stablemates that appeared both appeared in the early 1980s, and their fortunes have always been rather intertwined. Transformers: The Movie premiered a few months after My Little Pony: The Movie in 1986, though it’s worth noting that while the Transformers movie came after the third season of the original Transformers cartoon, there had only been two half-hour Pony television specials before the Pony movie was released to theaters, and the single-season My Little Pony ‘n Friends series had not yet debuted. That said, I also make references in Ponyville Confidential to Star Wars, the aforementioned Star Trek, and the current run of Marvel films, mostly in terms of controversies over commercialism. (Spoiler: there’s a huge double standard between My Little Pony and the others.)

Did you learn anything notable about the history of MLP, like that dormant period between 1992-2003?

Lots, and in some ways it’s the most important section of the book. (By the way, I’d like to officially apologize to the non-English-speaking countries in which the toys continued to be produced throughout that 1990s; it was necessary for clarity’s sake to treat the franchise as moribund.) What struck me the most about the period I call the Long Dark Saturday Morning of the Soul is how even though My Little Pony was no longer being produced in North America or the UK, it was evoked whenever somepony needed an example of what they considered to be the worst aspects of children’s entertainment, or by a producer who wanted to provide an example of what their awesome new cartoons would not be like. It was also frequently referred to as a Saturday morning cartoon, when My Little Pony ‘n Friends was a syndicated show broadcast on weekdays, and it’s lesser-known 1992 followup My Little Pony Tales was an afternoon show on the Disney Channel. It’s a minor but telling detail, because it demonstrates that criticizing My Little Pony for its misdeeds never requires knowing what its deeds actually are. One of my favorites was in 1999 when Billboard described My Little Pony as having “made the leap from retail to Saturday morning cartoons and then video” in the early 1980s, and that it “paved the way for numerous others,” none of which is accurate.

Did you learn anything about the fandom for it, like how how older generation fans compare to new ones?

Short answer: Oh my yes. Slightly longer answer, at least in terms of letters: Read the book.

Let’s look beyond the show. MLP is upbeat and positive and not so focused on competitive values… something we could use in difficult times. The book blurb mentions “cultural significance” of the show.  What bigger trends do you see?

I think the cultural significance of My Little Pony can best be summed by the fact that we’re still talking about it after thirty-some years. The bigger, more unfortunate trend that I found — and which has been played out on the national stage in a truly horrifying manner after I finished writing Ponyville Confidential last May — is that sexism, misogyny, and the fear of feminism are still alive and well in our culture. But I also find a glimmer of hope in the young boys who are growing up with Friendship Is Magic — such as the ones who attend TV Club, and participate just as enthusiastically as the girls — and I believe that some of them may become adults who make the world a slightly more compassionate place. And every bit will help.

Can you share a few words for writers who may be reading, especially from the semi-pro-fan level, like from the Furry Writers Guild?

Write! If you’re a writer, do it. Make many words about the things that interest you. Most of those words will be terrible at first, and nopony may want to put them on paper, but keep at it.

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

Culdesac; A Novella from the War With No Name, by Robert Repino.
NYC, Soho Press, November 2016, trade paperback $9.99 (110 pages + an 11-page preview of D’Arc), Kindle $7.99.

This is a side-story to Repino’s Mort(e), reviewed here in June 2015. In Mort(e), the ants declare a war of extinction against mankind. In addition to fighting humanity by themselves, including producing human-sized ant warriors, they use their “mysterious technology” to transform all animals into anthropomorphic intelligent beings. “Suddenly, farm animals, ferals, and pets could think and speak. Their bodies changed, allowing them to walk on their hind legs and use their hands like a human.” (p. 1)

The protagonist of Mort(e) is Sebastian, a pet housecat. When he is transformed, he takes the name Mort(e) and becomes a warrior in the elite Red Sphinx guerilla company under Captain Culdesac, a bobcat. When the ants and animals win, he is given ownership of the home he used to live in as a pet. But he remains a loner, skeptical about the animals’ alliance with the Colony, the underground ant super-nest; and about the animals’ ability to build a new society more successful than the humans’ had been. When the last human survivors resume the war with a new weapon, Mort(e) rejoins the Red Sphinx. The conclusion of the novel reveals whether the animals’ new world is stable, what the Colony’s true goal is, and what happens to Mort(e).

Culdesac takes place during Mort(e). It focuses upon the bobcat commander of the Red Sphinx, who is only a minor supporting character in Mort(e). Unlike Mort(e), who had known humans as a pampered pet and had doubts about turning upon them, Culdesac was a wild predator who grew up knowing only the law of kill-or-be-killed. He brings that attitude to the Red Sphinx.   “Relentless, bloody, and unforgiving, Culdesac is the story of an antihero with no soul to lose, carving a path of destruction that consumes the innocent and the guilty alike.” (blurb)

“Culdesac was no mere conscript in the war with no name. He fought it his entire life, long before the Queen uplifted him, changing him from an animal to something more.

[…]

“He and his brother did not have names. Culdesac knew his brother by scent, and by the growling noise his mother made when she called him. When something dangerous approached, his mother let out two quick grunts: mer-mer. At night, when they ate from a carcass, Culdesac’s brother would sometimes lick the blood from his mother’s face and paws. In these moments, she would say his name more gently, both a salutation and a thank-you. Years later, after the Change gave Culdesac the ability to speak, he thought of his brother as Murmur. A fitting name for a powerful bobcat who rarely needed to speak.” (pgs. 6-7)

Culdesac is set when Mort(e) is a new member of the Red Sphinx. He has just become Culdesac’s second-in-command. Other feline warriors, Culdesac’s and Mort(e)’s mates, include Tiberius, Uzi, Dutch, Anansi, Dread, Gai Den, Seljuk, and others. The Red Sphinx has been advancing toward an abandoned East Coast town:

“The town itself did not make things any easier. Once called Milton, the little hamlet resembled so many other deserted places Culdesac encountered, with a lonely highway ramp leading onto a main street consisting of gas stations, bars, a church, a school, a strip mall. Several rows of houses cut into the forest beyond. An old factory, abandoned long before the war, sat rotting near the train tracks, its boarded windows covered with graffiti, a black hole of decay that sucked in the surrounding buildings. A decades-old housing project quarantined the poor from the rest of the community. Several monuments to the town’s history stood rusting in the more prosperous neighborhood, including a war memorial and a few plaques commemorating houses that were used for both the Underground Railroad and for bootlegging.” (pgs. 16-17)

Book poster

The ants and their uplifted animal allies have been winning their war against the humans, advancing on all fronts. The animals have been reclaiming the humans’ towns. But the ant Colony’s Queen is still directing the war, and she has ordered the Red Sphinx to go into Milton and evacuate the town.   Neither the warriors nor the civilian animals in Milton understand the need to evacuate:

“A few of the townsfolk gathered around the square, most likely attracted by the smell, but also curious about this band of feline warriors. Culdesac counted a family of squirrels, a few dogs and cats, a raccoon, a rabbit. As the only all-feline unit in the army, answering directly to the Queen, the Red Sphinx earned a reputation among the animals. But here, the fearsome soldiers played games with the children. Bailarina kicked a soccer ball along the cobblestone street with two kittens. One of them pointed to her gun, and she told him that it was not a toy. When a kitten slipped and fell on the wet stones, Bailarina helped him to his feet and brushed the dirt from his fur. Nearby, Folsom let a puppy wear his helmet. A few sizes too big, the helmet covered the dog’s eyes, making her giggle and wag her tail. Soon the other children wanted to try it on.” (p. 42)

As far as Culdesac, Mort(e), and the Red Sphinx soldiers are concerned, orders are orders. But the animals of Milton do not want to give up their homes. Their spokeswoman/cat is Nox:

“The cat shuffled out from her hiding spot. She rose on her hind legs to a height taller than the others, almost as tall as Culdesac. Her irises had a golden tinge. Brown, gray, and black stripes cut across her thick coat. Shaggy hair hung from her cheekbones, and a tuft of fur formed a little patch under her chin. Her bushy tail slid out from behind the crate like a python. Culdesac recognized the breed: a Maine coon cat, no doubt raised by wealthy humans to appear feral while at the same time being affectionate, loyal, docile. Like a goddamn dog, almost.” (pgs. 27-28)

Needless to say, Culdesac and Nox do not hit it off. Or do they? Nox was the pet of the owners of Milton’s Royal Inn, its biggest hotel. Since the animals’ uplift, she has become the new mistress of the hotel, which she has turned into a brothel for Milton’s cats and dogs. But her arguments to Culdesac against the evacuation are more intellectual than sensual. Why should they evacuate if the animals are winning? The animals and ants are supposed to rule the world together, in partnership and equality; why are the ants still giving orders? Culdesac, who is unused to logic and debating, falls back on “orders are orders”, at the same time getting the feeling that Nox and the other town animals have another, secret reason for not wanting to leave Milton.

Culdesac (cover by Sam Chung) is a worthy followup to Mort(e). The novella ends with a ten-page preview of D’Arc, the next full novel in the War With No Name series, due in May 2017.

• Buy on Amazon
• Interview with author

– Fred Patten

It’s been hard to keep this a secret.  Here’s a flash notice about a one-of-a-kind show I’ve been excited about for weeks. I had to hold back from telling you until shortly before it opens, because they want it to materialize like one of those shops in stories that sell magic genie bottles and cursed monkey paws.

RSVP on Facebook: Anthropomorphic Enchantment – at Red Victorian, 1665 Haight St, San Francisco, 6PM to midnight.

“Enter a world of mysterious creatures and unfamiliar erotic magiks. The lines betweens species, gender, and forms blur. Carnal natures emerge. Give into your primal state.

Meander through the realms of the fantastic nymphs and beasts dreamt up by our resident artists. Gaze upon their wicked flesh and unearthly rituals!

Fursuiters, pet players, casual cats, rabbit fantasists, fetishists, gawkers, and all humanoids welcome. Send instagrams home to your pets. Art will be on display for several weeks with much of it remaining through February.”

Art by Arboreal

Artists:

• Arboreal
• Doppelganger
• Quokka
• Ghostblanketboy
• Richie Rhombus
• Salena Angel.
• Music by Papa Bear

It’s the kind of furry thing I want to see much more often. It’s daring, cute, friendly and inviting, and meant to cross the line of the inner world of fandom.  The organizer told me more:

“My magical deer friend Arboreal is featuring, as well as several other bay area artists. See his work (NSFW:) Playfuldeer on Tumblr.

“Ghostblanketboy will have some art – check him out on FurAffinity (NSFW.)  We’ll have music by local DJs – not only Papa Bear but also Phoxwit who plays Frolic sometimes.

This was my idea; I am totally in love with Arboreal and his art. We go to a lot of fetish as well as furry events and a lot of his art is inspired by people he knows and personas we emulate.

The Red Victorian is a commune on Haight St, with 15 residents and 10 guest spaces, where anyone can book hostel-style lodging. We host dozens of events per month, including rotating art exhibits, where we feature local artists and host opening night parties. We try to find art that is provoking and experimental; this is no exception – much of the art is explicit and weaves together ideas of challenging sexuality and gender by also playing with species.  At the Red Vic, in addition to exciting monthly art, we love to host all sorts of community events, so there may be more furry stuff in our future!

I expect a mish-mash of interests and communities, since our artists and residents are all from different primary interests and may have excitement for the art but not knowledge about the furry fandom.

If anyone is interested in hosting events at the Red Vic, including furry-centric events, pup moshes, etc (the sky’s the limit!) send an email to [email protected].”

Hope to see you there for an unforgettable show.

Patch O’Furr

Art by Aberguine

Is it me or are Furries popping up in news stories more? It feels strange to bring it up, but I swear the fandom has been getting more media attention and a good amount of it has been positive. Yes, I know, it weirds me out too. The reason I’m writing this opinion piece is, in part, because of my own history in the fandom. I got involved with the Furry Fandom around 2009. If you were a Furry around that time you were under the shadow of, what I prefer to call, the “Vanity Fair Era”. Named that cause of the infamous article published by Vanity Fair titled, “Pleasures of the Fur”, in 2001. Which presented the Furry Fandom as a sexual fetish and only as a sexual fetish. Along with MTV’s Sex2K episode, “Plushies and Furries,” and the famous CSI episode, “Fur and Loathing,” in 2003 that painted a clear picture of the fandom to mainstream audiences. Supposedly we are about sex and only sex.

Of course that isn’t true. It’s a part of the fandom but it’s not what defines the fandom. Furries are people who love walking talking animals and how they show that love depends on the person. It is as silly for people as it is serious. You can have a fursuit or not. You can create artwork in the fandom or be an observer. It can be sexual for you and it cannot. We all have different levels based around that same love and as long as we are respectful and understand people’s different viewpoints we bring forward a beauty of community the Furry Fandom provides. Anyone who has been in or actually explores the fandom understands that, but with stories like CSI that wasn’t what people were seeing. It’s why for the longest time, and still to a degree, Furries don’t talk to the media because the media has done a poor job with representing us.

Which has lead to moments like the Inside Edition undercover story at FC in 2015 or several smaller press organizations trying to sneak in to get the right sound bite that fits into the ‘Furries as only a sexual fetish’ narrative. I remember when getting involved with the fandom watching those Uncle Kage videos about how to interact/ avoid the media or how he responded when the media went to him. There was no question about it. If you were a Furry under the Vanity Fair Era you were one of the lowest of the low. Someone to be openly mocked and ridiculed. Something you had to hide.

Now we are clearly out of the Vanity Fair Era. I can’t say when it ended, with history there’s rarely any cut off date, eras come in waves and in the last few years the previous wave has died down. As it was dying, around the start of the 2010’s, I began to come across several small articles now and again actually tackling the topic of Furries and what the fandom is about. Though the main word here is “small”, with coverage from local press outlets of a local convention or a furmeet with an even smaller audience. For a point of reference, the biggest outlet I can remember covering Furries outside of a sexual fetish was Buzzfeed. If you listen closely you can here several people clutching their pearls right now.

While the biggest story I can remember coming from mainstream presses at the time was the Gas Attack on Midwest Fur Fest in 2014 where one news anchor, who had no idea what Furries were, couldn’t stop herself from laughing. But it was after that, for some strange reason that this new wave of Furry stories really started to take off. There were still the standard small press stuff, along with coverage about the Fursonas doc, but then around 2016 we got hit with one of the biggest positive articles for the fandom. The Syrian Refugees at VancouFur. To say that story put the fandom under a new light would be an understatement. It was a watershed moment that spread like wildfire over social media.

Then we come to this year where the stories continue. Notably, popular writer Kyell Gold’s new book, “The Time He Desires,” getting featured on Slate’s LGBT Blog Outward, about tackling a gay immigrant Muslim romance involving furries in front of current events took social media by storm. Offering more exposure to Furry writers then anyone could ask for. Along with the obvious hate that came with it. Have you ever witnessed someone being triggered on Tumblr? Think of that, but with Nazis – which is funny to watch. Shortly after that, YouTube puts a Furry YouTuber, Rainy Chaos, on their Creators on the Rise bringing forward a lot of attention both good and bad. Rainy Chaos discusses her experience following the event.

So why are Furries being featured more? Hard to say. My best hypothesis would be that since the novelty of making fun of Furries has died down it has open us up more to be who we are and able to feature the full spectrum of the community. That’s not to say it’s all peaches and sunshine. As big as having these stories break out, it has also brought out a lot of the same hate that has haunt the fandom. Not to mention stories like the ridiculous Tonygate to the sad like the recent murders in Orange County to the disturbing from Philadelphia about the men arrested for pedophilia who were part of the fandom.

If there is a silver lining with the last two stories, it would be one – these monsters have been caught, and two – when the topic of the fandom came up they never tried to connect the fandom as the cause. These are tragic stories that just so happened in the Furry Fandom. No different than if the same stories came from a Trekkie, Anime, or Comic fandom. The only draw back I’ve seen is how several articles are using pictures of unrelated fursuiters, which can leave the impression that that person was a part of it. These stories do bring up the question of reasonability in the fandom, but that’s a discussion for another day.

The main thing I want to bring up with this moment in the fandom, is that things are changing. The fandom is not seen as it was over a decade ago. However, it still has a lot to prove. There will always be someone who will openly hate us, make fun of us, or make us out as the worse. But if we are given the chance, we can show who we are, all the good we can do, and occasionally step up if something bad happens close to us.

We now have a chance to bring a spotlight where we want it, rather than ducking if it catches us unaware.  How far do we go to get it? That’s an easy question with no easy answer. Till next time you crazy Fluffer Nutters. Stay amazing. Stay awesome. Stay you.

-Matthias

Longtime creator, Roz Gibson, is running a Kickstarter for her final novel of the Griffin Ranger series The Monster Lands. Better known for her art like the character Jack Salem, the comic series City of Ice, and, one of my favorite, an amazing comic adaptation of The Killers song, Mr. Brightside. In recent years, she has expanded into the world of writing with her first novel, Griffin Rangers: Crossline Plains.

Now she is wrapping the story up, but needs your help to make it happen. As stated on the Kickstarter, The Monster Lands pick up where Crossline Plains left off. The Griffin Ranger, Harrell, wishes to find his missing daughter, but his journey will take him to our very own earth where he is captured and force to fight for his very life while hoping his fellow Rangers, Kwap and Tirrsill, can rescue him as they themselves are being hunted.

With a goal of 4,500, the money will go towards editing, cover art, and printing cost. Depending on what you donate, you can get e-books of books one and 2, backer exclusive artwork by Roz herself, signed copies of the books, original artwork, etc… The book will be available in paperback and Kindle and will be published by FurPlanet. If you are a fan of Roz’s work or just a big old nerd for griffins, then check out the Kickstarter and check out the first book. Till next time Fluffer Nutters. Stay awesome. Stay amazing. Stay you.

-Matthias

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

Artstuffs, by Melody Wang
Toronto, Ontario, The artist, November 2016, $20.00 (unpaged [48 pages]).

This is not a book as much as a book-format folio of 48 pages of the artist’s color illustrations, drawings, and sketches, on thick glossy paper. There is no subject. Like most artist’s sketchbooks, this is a hodgepodge of whatever the artist has felt like drawing.

What Melody Wang has felt most like drawing is anthropomorphic animals. There are Constable Nips and Inspector Porkington, of her student film. There are rabbits, pigs, and other animals in late-Victorian dress. Even when she is sketching the plants in a greenhouse, she usually has added an anthropomorphic animal or two. Her birds, “Wingfolk”, are particularly wonderful. A couple, such as the one of a man turning into a mandrill to his young daughter’s delight, cry out for having a story behind them.

Some of these are in black-&-white linework, but most are in full color. There are experiments in pastels and linocuts as well.

Wang’s webpage at http://mellowatt.tumblr.com/ shows many of these with additional notes, including the dates when they were drawn. From the dates, these are Wang’s sketches made from September 2015 through November 2016. An exciting comment is dated Feb. 28, 2016: “A studio approached me about developing N&P as a TV series! It’s an exciting idea but understanding the business end of things has been… mildly harrowing.”

This folio may disappoint those who want a plot. Readers who just want to see what an artist feels like sketching over a year will mostly be as delighted as the young girl watching her father turn into a mandrill.

“Melody Wang spent four years in engineering school before dabbling in animation at Sheridan College. Transfixed by its dark magic, she stuck to it and currently works as a storyboard artist and illustrator in Toronto. Her mother and maternal grandparents are also artists.”

Artstuffs is available from the Stuart Ng Books catalogue.

–Fred Patten

• Buy at Stuart NG Books

Fred Patten‘s Furry Fandom Conventions, 1989-2015 is out.

Until now, if you looked up “furry” at a mainstream book store, you might find a tiny handful of drawing, costume making or novelty books, but little about the fans themselves. You would have to sift the sands of the internet. This kind of recognition has been a long time coming. (We had TV specials in the early 90’s!)

Fred says:

“This is the first study of furry fandom published by a publisher outside of the furry specialty press itself. It indicates that furry fandom is becoming an accepted subject for academic study. Dr. Kathy Gerbasi of the IARP introduces it (she wanted to write a Furword rather than a Foreword.) I worked on this for more than three years.”

Furry Fandom Conventions, 1989-2015 is from McFarland, a well-known publisher of histories and academic reference books.  It’s $39.95, with 242 pages, illustrated in black-&-white and 8 pages in color, with an index and over 50 illustrations of furry con graphics.  It covers all furry fandom conventions around the world, from the first in January 1989 to the end of 2015.

Data about conventions could be a ‘read between the lines’ experience for those seeking a narrative story of the roots, and how this crazy thing blew up.  Get it as a companion for more great things to come in publishing this year. Cleis Press is publishing Joe Strike’s Furry Nation, and Grubbs Grizzly has his Furry Book in the works. This is what comes after “The Year of Furry” in 2016 (with Zootopia, the Fursonas movie, and positive press like never before.)

And how can I not mention furry publishing?  2017 is also bringing Thurston Howl’s Furries Among Us II. (I loved getting invited to contribute!)  It will expand the first essay collection that won the Ursa Major, and even led the award committee to establish a new award for nonfiction.

Buy Fred’s book here from McFarland.

Book description:

Furry fandom—an adult social group interested in anthropomorphic animals in art, literature and culture—has grown since the 1980s to include an estimated 50,000 “furries.” Their largest annual convention drew more than 6,000 attendees in 2015, including 1,000 dressed in “fur suits” or mascot-type animal costumes. Conventions typically include awards, organizations, art, literature and movies, encompassing a wide range of creative pursuits beyond animal costuming.

This study of the furry subculture presents a history of the oft-misunderstood group and lists all conventions around the world from 1989 through 2015, including organizers, guests of honor and donations to charity.

About the Author:

Fred Patten is a noted expert with awards in animation and science fiction, and is one of the founders of the social subcultures of furry fandom and Japanese anime fandom. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

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

Urchin and the Raven War, by M. I. McAllister. (The Mistmantle Chronicles, Book 4.) Illustrated by Omar Rayyan.
NYC, Hyperion Books for Children, October 2008, hardcover $17.99 (284 pages), Kindle $6.99.

Urchin and the Rage Tide, by M. I. McAllister. (The Mistmantle Chronicles, Book 5.) Illustrated by Omar Rayyan.
NYC, Disney • Hyperion Books, July 2010, hardcover $17.99 (268 pages), Kindle $6.99.

This is a guilty review. I reviewed the first three Mistmantle Chronicles for Cubist’s Anthro magazine in 2007 and 2008. Then Anthro ceased publication. An additional complication was that the first three books appeared first as British paperbacks, with the American hardcovers as reprints. When I looked for any subsequent books, I looked on Amazon.uk and didn’t find any. This was because there weren’t any more British editions. Books 4 and 5 were only published in America. So I never reviewed them when they were first published.

Fortunately, they are still available, so I am correcting that error now. The Mistmantle Chronicles are technically children’s books, but they are very similar to Brian Jacques’ Redwall novels, and those are enjoyed by readers of all ages. If you are fond of serious adventures featuring talking animals, don’t miss The Mistmantle Chronicles.

The setting of Urchin of the Riding Stars (January 2005), Urchin and the Heartstone (April 2006), and The Heir of Mistmantle (March 2007) is the isolated island of Mistmantle, hidden by thick sea mists (I was going to say fog, but McAllister makes a distinction between fog and mists). It is a kingdom shared by four British woodland animal species living in harmony: hedgehogs, moles, otters, and squirrels. When the series starts, Mistmantle is ruled by good King Brushen, a hedgehog. But there have been other dynasties in the past, and there is no prejudice against a new king from one of the other species. Whenever a dynasty does not have an heir, the senior captain becomes the next king. The captain (there are traditionally three) is a combination of a royal advisor and leader of the royal guards.

In the first three books, Urchin, a young squirrel, hopes to become a page to Captain Crispin, another squirrel. There is plotting and skullduggery at the highest level, Urchin helps expose the real villain but not before King Brushen and his heir are killed, and Crispin is chosen as the new king. In Book 2, Urchin discovers another island hidden in the sea mists, Whitewings, and gets involved in its politics. Book 3 is about the kidnapping of King Crispin’s newborn daughter, and a new crisis that casts doubt on Crispin’s leadership ability. Urchin helps to get Crispin’s heir back, and to demonstrate to Mistmantle’s people that Crispin will be a fine leader.

In Urchin and the Raven War, Urchin has become a trusted member of King Crispin’s inner Circle. The story begins when a group of swans arrive from Swan Island:

“Five swans drifted down from the sky and skimmed onto the sea so smoothly that a graceful track flared through the water behind each one. But they looked weary and ragged. Swans usually held their necks tall and their heads high, but these drooped over the waves. Their badly ruffled feathers were smudged with mud, blood, and weed. Their eyes were hollow with strain and tiredness. their leader – bigger than the rest and still struggling to hold his head and wings high – swam to the shallows and stepped on great webbed feet to the shore. Fingal [an otter], as a member of the Circle, went to greet him. The swan lowered his beak just a little.” (p. 10)

The swans report that their island has been overrun by ravens. Although ravens are usually carrion eaters, only concerned with those already dead, these ravens are killing everything first. The Circle decides that they have to help the swans, both to repay past aid and for their own self-interest:

“‘Then assuming that a good look at the Threadings proves us right,’ said Crispin, ‘we have to help Lord Arcneck, and not only for his sake. If the ravens are as bad as he says, they won’t be content with one island. When they’ve finished killing and feasting there, they’ll start on the next, and the next. Sooner or later it would be Whitewings, Mistmantle, and every other island in the sea. Battle plans, then.’” (p. 23)

“‘So we fly on swans!’ said Crispin, and smiled up brightly at the Circle animals. Some gasped with excitement, while others looked worried or, like Tay, appalled. ‘But we can’t send much of a fighting force with only five swans, even if one can carry two of us. Tactics, anyone? Very good tactics?’

‘They’ll have to be brilliant tactics,’ said Captain Arran [otter], Padra’s wife. Her gold circlet was half hidden by the rough, tufty fur around the top of her head. ‘A lot of vicious creatures who can fly against a handful who can’t.’

Silence followed as Urchin tried hard to think of an idea, and couldn’t. He could see that everyone else felt the same.” (pgs. 23-24)

Uh-oh! The plot isn’t turning out as I thought it would. In fact, there are unexpected changes every few pages. Arrgh! I can’t figure out how to describe any of them without giving away major spoilers! There’s action and adventure and despair and suspense. There are spies and traitors and sacrifice and death. Many deaths.

“‘Somebody’s going to die,’ she muttered. ‘Somebody important.’

‘How do you know’ asked Urchin, but Needle [a hedgehog] shook her head.

Urchin had discovered before that he could be strong and calm when he really needed to, even when he hadn’t felt remotely strong and calm before. It worked now.

‘Needle,’ he said. ‘we all know that. We’re all important, and this is a war. Some of us are going to die.’

With pain and horror in her eyes, she swung around to face him. ‘Don’t say ‘us’!’ she cried. ‘You mustn’t say ‘us’!’ She turned and ran for the stair.” (pgs. 169-170)

Let’s move on to Urchin and the Rage Tide. A rage tide is a storm-driven flood tide that causes massive coastal and inland damage. King Crispen and his Circle (including Urchin) prepare for it as best they can, but meanwhile they have to deal with Mossberry, a mad squirrel who preaches to the animals that only he is the true deliverer, and that they should listen to him rather than to Crispen and his officials.

“He rose with a fierce intensity in his eyes. His work must be done, and nobody must stand in his way. He ran to Watchtop Hill, where he climbed a tree and looked out over the island as the tree swayed in the wind, rocking him.

It was no good trying to talk to those animals in the tower. They all thought they knew best, but he could always find animals who’d listen to him. He already had followers, animals who were weak and confused and knew how much they needed him.” (p. 31)

Since Mossberry is truly deluded and not a villain, they try go easy on him and his followers. This is a mistake, especially when this rage tide turns out to be particularly horrific. It engulfs the entire island and the seas around the neighboring islands.

“‘Heart help us!’ yelled Corr [an otter], and hoped that the Heart heard the crying of his own heart though the fury and crash of the waves drowned out his voice. The boat lurched and tipped, water swirling around Corr’s paws. He bailed furiously. Crown’s [a swan] strong beak held the tiller as the little boat pitched. A wave flung itself over them. Spray blinded Corr. A second wave hurled him into the water and threw him back against the boat, knocking the breath from him. Gripping the side with both paws he heaved himself back in, tumbling onto the soaked benches, and when he raised his head he saw something he had never seen before, and would never forget.” (p. 176)

I’ve always preferred McAllister’s Mistmantle books to Jacques’ Redwall books. For one thing, the Redwall series all seem like the same adventure with just cosmetic changes, while the Mistmantle adventures are all different. For another, the Redwall novels rely on smart Redwallers – both the adults and the children – and really stupid vermin. The Mistmantle novels pit intelligent heroes against intelligent villains. In Redwall, only the villains die. In Mistmantle, …

The two series are both alike in having illustrations that are only small chapter headings. Of these, I prefer those in the Redwall books. Omar Rayyan’s art style is too detailed, especially in his squirrels’ fluffy fur, for his small chapter heading drawings.

The five Mistmantle Chronicles are not only still available on sale, they are in most public libraries. If you don’t want copies to keep, you should be able to borrow them for free.

–Fred Patten

• Buy Urchin and the Raven War on Amazon
• Buy Urchin and the Rage Tide on Amazon

Thanks to Matthias for writing for our mission: to show that furries don’t just dream, they make things with awesome DIY power. EZ Wolf’s shirt says it all. – Patch

Such a wonderful last night at AC. Here's Patch O'Furr and EZ Wolf, both famous documentarians of the furry scene! pic.twitter.com/DK9PnLWEXZ

— Vox Fox (@minstrelbill) July 13, 2015

Wearing a fursuit is a pain in the tail. I wouldn’t know myself, since I would like to have a roof over my head for the next month. However, ask anyone who has had the joy of bringing their amazing characters to life, and they’ll tell you it’s like wearing your couch. There’s a lot of sweat and heat that goes into bringing the magic to life. But one member of our fandom has gone out of his way to battle this problem, and has developed one of the most successful fandom businesses. I’m talking about the EZ Cool Down vests created by well-known photographer and video maker, EZ Wolf.  Here’s what he told me.

Introduced in 2013, the vest has become a standard for many Furries to stay cool under their fursuit.

(EZ Wolf:) “The EZCooldown Performers vest is specially designed for actors, cosplayers, LARPers, fursuiters, and other costume performers.

This cooling vest provides hours of cooling comfort and prevention against heat stress thanks to four special PCM inserts which provide comfortable cooling relief for up to four hours, even during strenuous activities in high-temperature environments.

Each vest has four inserts made of phase change material.

The four inserts contain biological phase change material (PCM), which retains cold.

The PCM inserts can be quickly activated in your refrigerator or freezer or by putting them in ice water, and they can be reused over and over again. Once activated, the PCM maintains its temperature for a long period, providing comfortable cooling relief.

The EZCooldown Performers vest is made out of thin yet durable polyester mesh, which won’t add a thermal insulating layer to your outfit.

The four inside pockets can house four PCM inserts: two on your chest and two on your lower back.

Our vests come in three sizes and can be easily adjusted with the six Velcro straps to fit each individual wearer perfectly.”

Unlike fursuit making, this is a step up from the process of custom handiwork.  EZ Cool Down does not make the vest themselves.

“We work with renowned manufacturers in The Netherlands, China and Poland. All the designing is done here in The Netherlands.

Next to cooling vests we’re currently working on a new neck cooler and cooling shorts, especially useful for fursuiters with digitigrade leg padding.”

When introduced to the fandom, it was received with open paws.

“The feedback we get is overwhelmingly positive!

Some folks are a bit sceptic at first, but during furcons we always have a few vests available for people to try. Once they put it on, you always hear the same reaction: ‘Oh! this feels really nice!’

Next to that it’s the fursuiters who already own an EZCooldown vest who are our biggest and best promoters. I think half of our sales comes from word of mouth promotion.”

Out of curiosity, I asked EZ Wolf how many Fursuiters use his vests:

“Currently, more than 2000 fursuiters are being kept cool by an EZCooldown cooling vest.

It’s something I never could have guessed when I started with this idea only 3 years ago. This also leaves us with a serious responsibility: Fursuiters and costume performers depend on their cooling vest and we want to be sure they have a product that meets up to their expectations. We take after-sales service very seriously and we’re trying to help our customers as much as possible to get the most out of their purchase.”

While EZ Wolf enjoys the success of his business, the journey to making them though was long and full of roadblocks.

“Next to an enthusiastic cosplayer and fursuiter, I am a professional photographer and filmmaker. Combining these two activities, I found myself shooting films with cosplayers and fursuiters since 1999. One of the major problems I encountered was to keep actors cool and comfortable during the extensive shootings, which quite often took place in the blistering sun or under hot studio lighting.

An item on CNN which showed US soldiers wearing PCM vests was a real eye opener for me. I did some research to see if these vests would be suitable for fursuiters, but I quickly learnt they weren’t.

Most industrial and military vests are too bulky to wear under a costume. Other vests combine PCM with evaporation technology which makes them ideal for athletes, football players and Formula 1 drivers but not for costume performers as the vest is not exposed to airflow under a costume. So basically I got stuck with these amazing PCM inserts without a matching vest suitable for costume performers.

From my film making experience I’ve learned that when something you need does not exist, you build it yourself. So I started to design a decent, costume-friendly cooling vest.

I had some ideas about the qualifications and features it needed from my own experiences as a fursuiter but unfortunately I’m not a tailor. That is why I found a good sports clothing manufacturer and together we designed the EZCD vest.
First I tested various versions of PCM applications and asked my fursuit friends to try them out and give feedback. This lead to the first EZCD prototype vests, which were introduced during Eurofurence 2013. Fursuiters who tried it instantly loved it!

After a few modifications I introduced the 1st production version of the EZcooldown vest, which instantly got a lot of positive feedback from fursuiters across the globe.

Early 2016, my partner Tom Lord a.k.a. ‘Malamutt’ joined the company. He designs and maintains our webstores and manages logistics.

Together we’re now catering a broad market in personal cooling solutions: We offer a variety of cooling vests for virtually anyone who needs cooling in whatever situation: entertainment, medical, construction, industry, military, leisure and sports.”

You read right. While the vest was created primarily for fursuits and costume performers, the company has expanded into several other industries.

“We started out creating a product for fursuiters and costume performers. It was a few months until other industries found out about our Performers Vest.

Today our cooling vests are being used by:

• pharmaceutical scientists in Indianapolis US
• ferry boat engine operators in Scandinavia
• oil rig workers on the US West Coast
• cardiovascular patients and people who suffer from MS across the globe
• one of the world’s most famous church organ player
• construction workers at Dubai International Airport
• mascots in the world’s most famous movie theme park
• cargo workers in Lahore, Pakistan
• professional video game testers in Canada
• housekeeping staff at hotels in Singapore and Hong Kong
• go-kart racers in The Netherlands, France and Brazil
• the Swiss Guard in Vatican City
• lots of Stormtroopers, Boba Fetts and Wookiees all over the world.”

With all that, what has EZ Wolf taken away the most with his experience doing EZ Cool Down?

“Most of our customers are costumers. The fact that we can offer a solution to one of the biggest inconveniences with fursuiting is definitely a huge takeaway.

Another one is that we’ve been learning a LOT about doing business within the furry fandom. In fact: the last few years have been quite a roller coaster. We’re happy to share our knowledge with other furs who’re thinking about starting an enterprise.

We’ve hosted some ‘business-furs’ panels during cons and we’re helping a few individual startups by sharing our experiences and the pitfalls we’ve encountered.

The furry fandom is an amazing and awesome community. Working for and with furries, and being able to make a living out of something you love doing is simply fantastic!”

So where do you go to buy these vest?

“We have two web stores: one for the US & Canada:

http://www.ezcooldown.com

And one for Europe:

http://www.ezcooldown.eu

We’re also present in dealer dens at major furcons in Europe and we have plans to attend US cons again in 2017.”

Keep your eyes on EZ Wolf’s Twitter and company Twitter to keep up with all con news. The company still goes out of their way to add to the store. They announced back in November they will be releasing a PCM CoolCollar to help performers keep cool so the magic can go on and on like the Energizer Bunny. If you are a fursuiter and haven’t yet tried an EZ Cool Down vest, ask around or try one at a con if you can.

Stay cool Fluffer Nutters. Stay awesome. Stay amazing. Stay you.

-Matthias

It’s an honor to welcome guest posting with Culturally F’d, the furry channel most in tune with everything we do here. Thanks Arrkay! – Patch

Hey Fluff Punks, it’s Arrkay here from Culturally F’d. Hope you had a restful holiday! Today we’re going to round up 2016’s best of furry YouTube.

Hilda The Bambioid at ConFurence Zero. This outstanding blast from the past surfaced from a very early organized furry event.  It was one of the first furry-made fursuits. This cheesy dance was part of this very small con’s masquerade, long before there were enough fursuits to clog the con halls with a parade.

(Comment from Patch: This was digitized and uploaded by Changa Lion, from the original video in the library of the Prancing Skiltaire furry house. I got dinner with him at Further Confusion and got to hear his surprise and amusement at seeing this go unexpectedly viral! He mentioned that the suit-wearer always intended the performance to be undercover without identity.  It’s easy to find today, although it’s unknown if credit would be welcomed now.)

FurScience “Just Like You” campaign. I got a sneak peak of this back in March at Furnal Equinox.  The IARP has rebranded its public face as “FurScience” in an effort to combat furry stigma and give the parents of furries some information and relief.

“The Natural World” by EZ Wolf. He knocks our socks off again with a twist on the typical convention video, a mockumentary of furries in the wild.

“Furries in the Media” by Aberguine.  She shines a light on the scene in her own series, where she picks apart instances in TV and the news where furries are used, and grades them on accuracy and spirit. Here is her dissection of the infamous CSI Episode “Fur and Loathing”:

The Raccoons Den also had the lead up to their season finale start, in a dramatic recreation of a news blogger manipulating furry fandom interviews for yet another click-baity headline on the deviancy of Furry.

Furry.Today’s Best videos from 2016

 

I’m a regular visitor at Furry.today and so should you be! I spend most of my time on YouTube, but Changa Lion curates Furry Today from Vimeo as well.

(Comment from Patch: Changa Lion is a greymuzzle who lives with “furry founders” RodO’Riley and Mark Merlino at the Prancing Skiltaire. All of us got dinner at Further Confusion and I heard a wealth of fandom wisdom from the 1980’s and older.  They told me great stories of associating with Golden Age animation royalty like Chuck Jones and influencing animation history, such as getting obscure anime screened for Disney artists who used it for parts of movies you would recognize.  Changa has professional broadcast graphics experience, and described himself as a “video hoarder.” He has long compiled animation festivals worth of content to show at cons.  I told him that deserved much wider audience, even a touring festival of its own. The fandom is big and active enough to support one now.)  

I reached out for Changa’s top picks from 2016, and here’s what we’ve got.

Music Videos:

• Buy Everything: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM30LBhHDrQ
• Felix Cosgrave, Dont Hurt Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pviC25b3Lv8 
• I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmN1BX1m9HU 
• Love Today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7173laZFlJg 
• Mata Hari: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AByKKHvNJ_U 
• Vancufur Welcome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki0CR6mKgTU 
• VivziePop, Silhouette: https://youtu.be/t47fADGOaxc
• Zootopia AMV Hell of a Season: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhUbjhW8C1k 

Commercial:

• Audi Comeback: https://vimeo.com/182819920
• Kia Hamsters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQQkElKi0NQ 
• OK,Cupid: https://vimeo.com/100353394

Films:

• Desert Critters: https://vimeo.com/164132084
• Dogtor: https://vimeo.com/164036464
• Fox In Space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uieM18rZdHY 
• New Pigs In Space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmI77ZBeJrQ
• Untamed: https://vimeo.com/153783875

Culturally F’d in 2016:

 

At Culturally F’d, we worked our tails off to produce and upload about 70 videos in 2016 – bringing our total uploaded to a cool 100. The most popular was one we felt was sorely needed and took about 6 collaborators to write – Culturally F’d’s 17 Misconceptions about Furries and the Furry Fandom:

Our crossover with Aberguine was a double whammy and a huge highlight for our year as well. She’s delightful to work with and her channel delivers consistent reviews of furries in the news, reality TV and talk shows and anywhere else we show up.

On the fun side of our channel, our official mascot Rusty has been working throughout the year on his own fursuit, a wolf-husky sparkledog named, with the help of our viewers, “Tetanus”. This compilation will conveniently catch you up on how Rusty inadvertently breathed life into his horrifically ugly fursuit.

Our best episodes of the year were all written with outside help. So thank you to everyone who’s reached out to Culturally F’d or let us use your work in some way. We’re hoping that 2017 will have more collaboration and cross-overs between furries on YouTube.

Culturally F’d recent news:

 

Here’s what’s been happening on Culturally F’d: We took the holiday off of doing proper episodes and gave you a few bonus episodes including: The Art of F’d, a look at how our thumbnails are painted by Underbite, the Tetanus and Rusty compilation above and last week Rusty punched 2016 in the face. This week we’re taking a look at “Death and Bunnies: RIP Watership Down author R. Adams” and doing an author spotlight on the late Richard Adams and his work.

We also launched our store! Please check out our store at: http://www.culturallyfd.com to check out some sweet t-shirts. Fluff Punk is a play on how SteamPunk and Dieselpunk can just take on “punk” onto something to make it an arts movement, furries get to be Fluff Punks (if you want). We also have a gorgeous full print design based on the work by J.C.Leyendecker. It was the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in the July edition 1905.

It’s also Ursa Major Award Nominations Season! Send them your nominations for the best in Furry from 2016, including videos and video creators. Sign up now, it’s super easy, and keep an eye out here on Dogpatch.press for their annual Ursa Major award articles.

Submit YOUR favorite videos from last year down in the comments section!

Coming soon at Dogpatch Press – a Q&A with the author of Ponyville Confidential: a History of My Little Pony.

Sherilyn Connelly is a journalist local to the Bay Area Furries.  She gives them supportive notice in publications like SF Weekly. Now her first book is coming from McFarland publishing. Ponyville Confidential will dig deep into culture while being a fun read for everypony.  (I’m told there are some parts specifically about furries.) If you like the show and can give support back to Sherilyn, please visit the book’s Facebook page and give a ‘like’ right now!

I have only seen 6 or 7 episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, and they were great.  Even with low experience, it makes me want to share some thoughts before the Q&A.  This is more personal than about the show or the book.

Growing up with cartoons.

When I talked with Sherilyn, she described a double standard about audience gender. It’s a thesis in the book that when My Little Pony first aired in 1986, it was disrespected as a prime example of crass commercialism. They said it was all about selling toys. By comparison, similar toy-related “boy” shows, like Transformers, got a pass. “Girly” shows had extra stigma.

It gives me curiosity about my own puppyhood in the 1980’s, but parts that were a bit outside of my consciousness.  I didn’t watch My Little Pony, and similar sparkly friendly shows like Rainbow Brite and Strawberry Shortcake. I experienced them being judged as sissy girly stuff, and they would make me do barfing noises. Instead I loved He-Man, G.I. Joe, and most of all the Transformers.

There was another kind of stigma with “boy” shows. Even if “girl” shows could be disrespected as trivial, they could still be considered inherently nice. But my favorites were judged as morally questionable.  Parents were suspicious of indulging a masculine sense of adventure and danger, even with stories about justice.  Action and “violence” would corrupt impressionable minds.  It had to be policed to keep kids pure and innocent.

I was sad to hear that He-Man was against god, because the show was called “The Masters of the Universe,” but there could only be one. When I was about five, I had a concept that bigness = godliness. So I admired Mr. T and the absurdly swole He-Man – until I compared his legs to my mom’s as a compliment, with disastrous results. I didn’t see toys denied to girls for being too girly, but some toys I wanted were called too violent. It didn’t stop me from using Legos for battles full of little yellow severed heads, though. Many lego-men gave their lives for the cause. That kind of play was going to happen no matter what.

In short, “Boy” shows were forbidden fruit. That made them more thrilling, even when I got in trouble and had to sneak around, like secretly watching the forbidden R-rated Terminator. Yay for killer robots.

Metal skin and morals.

Whether it was Arnie or Optimus Prime, it didn’t matter if the characters were good or evil. Their toughness felt positive, because their stories were cathartic for real life situations like getting beaten up by bullies. There was coping value with role models made of metal who could walk through fire.

Speaking of robots: “unnatural body-image” is criticized with girl shows, but at least those characters are human. (To be honest, I don’t like how people project eggshell-fragility that way to empower morals police).  The robot on the left is male even with no flesh, right?  A downside of steely toughness is how it isn’t realistically likely to help you with real life fights.  And I don’t know if those shows helped to develop other character, even if some of them awkwardly shoe-horned a moral in the end.

Cheesy morals were for more than pandering. They were mandated. American culture was under the sway of Pat Robertson and the Moral Majority in the Reagan years.  D&D was considered satanic, and Tipper Gore led a crusade to neuter dangerous music. Cartoon guns were replaced with soft laserbeams, and if a plane was shot down, there had to be a parachute popping out to save the pilot.

Years later I encountered TV content standards while working on a Disney show. Executives wanted my art edited because it wasn’t OK to depict children in proximity with bees (even happy friendly bees). Perhaps some kid would go play with bees, get stung and there would be a lawsuit. Isn’t that absurd? (I think healthy curiosity about nature could inspire care for the planet, but that’s beyond their scope.) Rules like that feel so fake and shallow, I can’t stand it.

If awkward moralizing is a result of stigma, shallow focus on cartoon violence (and ignoring it’s cathartic value) is a way to suppress healthy masculinity.

Furries – the third kind.

In between watching kids TV shows in the 1980’s and working on them, I got interested in seeking out and enjoying underground culture. Anything from banned books, indie zines and music, avante-garde art, to disrepected low/trash culture. Low culture can include furries, who can take pride in the independent spirit of how they exist.

Although I mentioned rejecting girly shows, that was more like fitting in and far from anything I took to heart.  That’s how it was OK to love funny animal cartoons.  They could be exciting like action shows, but also lovable for secretly “girly” qualities, covering both genders and more.  Furry characters were too soft and fuzzy for rigid roles.  They could be cute and fun but also bad-ass.  Bugs Bunny dressed like a girl to boldly mock authority, and Robin Hood fox was cuddly and full of manly confidence (with no pants). That led to my secret crushes on Robin Hood and most of the cast of the Disney Afternoon shows. It’s totally weird and silly, and how do you talk about it as a very young and inexperienced person? You don’t.

It’s important that furry fans include a huge majority of guys as well as LGBT identities.  It seems like nobody has a good explanation for that, or more like they hold back from making connections.  (There are so many overreactions about being “just” a fan and not an identity.)  Loving furry stuff has to do with expressing things repressed by normativity.  There are even ways that’s countercultural.  There are lots of guy furries because guys can be held back in unique ways and furry fandom makes new ways to express things.

You can dress on the outside like you really feel like inside, and be more than your everyday self. That’s what furries do.

Bronies have similar reasons, although Sherilyn’s book is about much more than them. After all, the majority of fans of My Little Pony are little girls as originally intended, and now their moms. But if it’s unfair to have stigma on girls or boys, then the show is for everypony.

PART TWO – the Q&A posts soon.

SEE ALSO: Snow White vs. All Dogs Go To Heaven: A Look at How Kid’s Movies Encouraged the Founding of the Furry Fandom.

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

Dogs of War, edited by Fred Patten, is launching at Further Confusion 2017 in San Jose, California over the January 12-16 five-day weekend. The book can be pre-ordered from FurPlanet Productions. It will be for sale on the FurPlanet online catalogue afterwards.

Dogs of War is an all-original anthology of 23 short stories and novelettes of anthropomorphic animals (not just dogs) in military scenarios, from battle action to boot camps, on land, at sea, and in space. This is designed to appeal to both s-f & fantasy fans, and fans of military s-f.

From a rabbit army’s training camp, to a human army turned into wolves, praying mantises in spacesuits, rattlesnake troops, prejudice against uplifted rat sailors, multi-tailed fox warrior priestesses, and more; these are stories for your imagination and enjoyment.

Contents:

• Nosy and Wolf, by Ken McGregor
• After Their Kind, by Taylor Harbin
• Succession, by Devin Hallsworth
• Two If By Sea, by Field T. Mouse
• The Queens’ Confederate Space Marines, by Elizabeth McCoy
• The Loving Children, by Bill McCormick
• Strike, But Hear Me, by Jefferson P. Swycaffer
• End of Ages, by BanWynn Oakshadow
• Shells On The Beach, by Tom Mullins
• Cross of Valor Reception for the Raccoon, Tanner Williams, Declassified Transcript, by John Kulp
• Last Man Standing, by Frances Pauli
• Hunter’s Fall, by Angela Oliver
• Old Regimes, by Gullwolf
• The Shrine War, by Alan Loewen
• The Monster in the Mist, by Madison Keller
• Wolves in Winter, by Searska GrayRaven
• The Third Variety, by Rob Baird
• The Best and Worst of Worlds, by Mary E. Lowd
• Tooth, Claw and Fang, by Stephen Coughlan
• Sacrifice, by J. N. Wolfe
• War of Attrition, by Lisa Timpf
• Fathers to Sons, by MikasiWolf
• Hoodies and Horses, by Michael D. Winkle

Price: $19.95. 455 pages. Wraparound cover by Teagan Gavet.  ISBN 978-1-61450-346-0.

–Fred Patten

• Pre Order at Furplanet

The Prancing Skiltaire

Ever been to a furry house? 

They don’t smell like barns or zoos, with shedding all over the place. But they are full of nerdy games and comics, fursuit parts, and framed animation and fursona commission art on the walls. Sometimes there’s art that might cause awkwardness during a pizza delivery or surprise visit from mom. But it’s not for them. It’s by and for fellow furries when they get together for meets, parties, art jams, and movie screenings as a community.

A furry house is a special place. It’s more immersive than activity by yourself. If you live there, you’ll never get PCD. It’s a dimensional crossroads where the limits of reality dissolve and you can be furry 24/7.

Inside the Prancing Skiltaire.

Bases for creativity.

Culture gains energy from physical bases. It’s hard to say what comes first – a gathering place, or an industry that produces what people want. I guess it can depend on categories of subculture.

Fandoms are one type that seem to form out of the air.  They’re made by media before they materialize in space.

Look at the beginning of modern fandom. I’ve heard academic “aca-fans” say that it started with Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective got popular in 1887 with the growing business of cheap printed mass media (which then gave birth to the modern art form of comics.) That history is for another time, but it’s useful for looking at how industry can lead culture.

(I remember seeing Miyazaki’s Sherlock Hound on my first visit to a furry house in the mid-1990’s.)

On the opposite level from such big happenings, there’s cottage industry. That’s part of the subculture of furries, who aren’t exactly tied to large permanent spaces or industry. This fandom isn’t like ones led from the top. It’s more grassroots – look at the rise of fursuiting from home-based creation.

Houses that gather for an interest or ideal are hotbeds of creativity. It’s baked into their foundations. You can find it in back in 1960’s counterculture communities, punk houses and squats, and industrial live-work art spaces. (Those are in the news now because of a national purge on them, after the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland CA. It got attention here from one subculture to another).

Furry houses are part of why furries are special and different from other fandoms. They make me curious, because they’re very under the radar. They don’t advertise and if you’re not a fur you probably have no idea that they exist.

Photo tour of Wild Life studio, by Tommy Bruce.

Fursuit making with Tanidareal

TheKarelia Fursuits studio

The beginning of furry spaces.

Do you know of any other fandoms that have their own houses?

I barely do, but there were some for old-school science fiction fandom. They had ‘Slan Shacks’ (named after classic novel Slan, by A. E. van Vogt, about a race of superbeings.) And they had clubhouses. In the late 1970’s those helped furry fandom to form. One of the roots was anime fan meets at the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society. (Fred Patten can tell you a lot about that.)

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

Furry grew with the 1980’s indie publishing boom. Cons began to support furs to gather for short events. Then things exploded with the internet.  It enabled a niche to gather with freedom beyond small local areas and limited access to media. When they began share homes, many were in for keeps.

Those ones used to be looked down on as ‘lifestylers’. That seems like a fairly useless judgement now, after it’s grown to an international network of cons and members. Some can do fan stuff for a career. Others even partner up and make multiple generations together.

Furry houses now.

For some local groups, they’re like community centers. They’re all over the place, but the San Francisco Bay area (and the West Coast US) has more than I know of elsewhere. They can go from very informal roommate sharing, all the way to animal rescue sanctuaries, party venues, or even places with BDSM dungeons.

One is a platform for fursuiting that hosts monthly nights for DTD building. (You need at least 3 people to make a Duct Tape Dummy, and it helps if they are furs who know what that’s for.)

I can imagine one day having furs pitch in to support a 24/7 furry clubhouse – a place for a library, game nights, art jams, and projects like building parade floats. (I wonder where Australia’s Sydney furs built their LGBT Mardi Gras parade float? I’m told it took most of a year to plan and execute.)

World’s biggest furry joke from the OzFurs at Sydney’s LGBT Mardi Gras

How about a place to customize and keep a furry event truck (with art on the outside and a mobile fursuit lounge inside), with sound system included for the many street fairs and Burning Man events that Bay Area Furries love.

There is interest, and as fandom grows maybe there will be a critical mass to make it real.

So when does this post show you the inside stuff?  Sorry, I don’t have the wherewithall to go visit and document a furry house at this time.  (But check Tommy Bruce’s tour linked above.)  I have a feeling that it would be better to hear from people who live in them.

Got any stories for the comments?

Furry friends, I’m honored to share a special invitation to you from media producer Ben McShane. A professional studio is being offered for you to make YOUR video show. (Please be aware this is on site in Burbank, CA.)

When Ben’s call for furry talent came to my inbox, I had to be careful to screen it.  (We know about ‘the media,’ right?) I saw that Ben’s genuinely into cool stuff, has worked on some shows you may know (Battlebots, Shark Tank), and is associated with Nerdist. I’m copying from his resume to show the guy who’s inviting you:

Producer, Project Alpha – Legendary Digital Networks / Nerdist Industries

“Currently I am the producer on a number of shows for Project Alpha, the exclusive, interactive, live-streaming SVOD portal for Legendary Digital Networks. I manage a small budget, oversee staff hires for the shows, and lead creative. Many hats!

Live broadcast and digital content are exciting new frontiers for me as a producer. As a life-long table top gamer and über-geek, coming to work with the Nerdist and Geek & Sundry families has already been one of the most memorable stops of my career. I can’t wait for the shows to launch so I can say more!”

Check Project Alpha and browse the shows to get some idea of what they already have… I sense a great opportunity.

Ben shares details of the project:

“On Public Access, we turn our Nerdist stage over to people from outside the company to produce their show for 22 minutes. I bring the stage, the lights, the crew… the on-camera folks bring the show.

I’m completely sensitive to the public perception issues that can make furry fans wary… but the great thing is, whoever steps up and does “the furry show” on Public Access gets to control the content 100% – within the technical confines of our stage. The show streams live; there’s no deceptive editing or after-the-fact commentary.

The only other restriction is that everything has to be clearable. Everyone appearing needs to sign a one-page appearance release, any artwork shown needs a one-page materials release signed by the artist, etc.

I definitely want the show to include fursuits in some form, because a user clicking in will find it visually striking, but I think a broader “insider” fandom discussion, that either directly or indirectly dispels misconceptions, would be terrific. Or it could be 22 minutes in fursona. It can be almost anything. I’m really just looking for someone within the fandom to take charge and “make it so!”

Public Access shoots in Burbank, CA on Sundays from 3:30p to 6:00p. I have slots open on 1/8, 1/15, and 1/22 and am really hoping to get something from the community on one of those dates.

All shows are 22 minutes long and tape live. We set the stage for your show, lock our three cameras, and the board operator switches cameras back and forth live as the show streams-out.  Some technical and creative limitations…

• It’s a three camera show
• Once the show begins, we can’t reposition cameras; cameras are locked
• It’s difficult to fit more than four people on stage at a time
• We can play graphics, sounds, and roll video clips
• All persons appearing on camera need to sign our 1 page release
• All intellectual property needs to be cleared with our 1 page release
• After streaming, the episode’s live on our site. Clearance releases are non-exclusive (the owner retains rights to those works), but our non-exclusive license is worldwide and perpetual; meaning the parent company can continue to show the episode after it streams indefinitely.

3-5 days after taping, the show’s live on our site video-on-demand. We air on Project Alpha, a subscriber-based portal from the same folks who do Nerdist and Geek & Sundry. Alpha offers 30 day trials, so your fans and friends can sign-up to watch your show for free. Here’s the site: www.projectalpha.com. If you sign-up for a trial, navigate to Shows, “See All,” and then find the Public Access page, you can see some of the previous shows we’ve filmed.” (- Ben)

Again, this happens on site in Burbank!  Some furries are already involved.  New responders might either join them or talk to Ben about doing your own.  

Serious responders, please send a short intro about your capability, and a short message about what kind of show you’d make. I’ll forward.

Email to [email protected].

Goddess by Arilin Thorferra – guest review submitted by Bill Kieffer, AKA Grayflank (author of The Goat: Building a Perfect Victim.)  See also Fred Patten’s review of Goddess.  Guests are invited to submit articles to: patch.ofurr(at)gmail.com.

A childhood full of monster of the week movies made me into the horse I am today. As a horror fan, giants hold a very special place in my heart. Giants played no small (ahem) part in helping me see monsters as more often dangerously misunderstood creatures than outright evil figures.

And, yet, I don’t particularly find myself attracted to the giant mythos. Not that I’m against Macrofurry stuff. I do like transformation stories and I do like submissive characters; so there’s quite a bit of overlap there with size shifting.

In this tale, set in a furry universe in a vague period prior to Hawaii’s statehood, Russel the cougar is looking to become a literature professor at a very posh American University in San Francisco. It’s probably in the 1950’s, even if the villain of the piece, Cornelius Bennett, is known as a “rail baron.” The first few pages felt nearly as staid and boring as any academic event that one might expect, but when the curvaceous otter Kailani enters the scene, things to pick up. I enjoyed every scene Kailani was in; even the scene where they are discussing The Great Gatsby. She is simply one of those people who are larger than life. *ahem*

And it’s to the authors credit that Kailani’s robust presence doesn’t overshadow the other characters in the scene with her. Russell becomes a bigger personality when he’s with her and, later, trying to be with her. Often in stories with this type of transformation from quiet protagonist with a plan to hero of the tale, the author relies on the cast to tell the hero/heroine that she changed. Here, I felt it.

No one had to tell me.

I especially liked feeling all of Russell’s conflicting emotions and I cheered as he scrapped the burden of a lifetime of checklists and mile-markers. Any sex is discreetly offstage and even the violence is discreet… maybe even too discreet, but I understand the choice.

I liked that both San Francisco and the islands felt very real and well researched. I did not feel the time period as well researched, but then I am OK with an alternate reality of an Earth packed with multiple species having a different history. I tend to demand it, in fact, so I didn’t really miss the temporal veracity too much. It’s enough that nothing really contradicted the feeling of a mid-20th century America… not even the color’s in the magazine Russell should hide when he has company.

Trader Vic being in San Francisco, also suggests the 1950’s… but that brings me to the only serious flaw to this tale. There are too many mentions of things from our mundane universe. I say this fully aware that this isn’t a big deal for most of the Furry reading community. Things change in a culture with multiple species, I should think, otherwise all these creatures might as well be humans in zipper back fur suits.

But that said, this novella is worth reading for the adventure and the soft romance… even if I sometimes forgot what species Russell was. And if you love giant, powerful female furs going doing a bit of wrecking ball work, this book is a must buy.

– Bill Kieffer

Here’s a special announcement from Joe Strike.  Joe’s a writer and reporter about animation for the New York Daily News and Animation World Network. His website shows work with TV cartoons you may know. He’s a first-wave furry “greymuzzle.”  And he talks like a velvet alligator on the phone.

Joe has an incredibly exciting book coming out.  He’s putting the story of furry fandom in print from an established publisher.  He wants your help.

I want to tell your story in Furry Nation.

I’m in the final stages of writing Furry Nation, the first book to chart the birth and growth of furry fandom and its relation to the anthropomorphic instinct that’s been part of civilization from prehistoric cave paintings of animal people and animal-headed Egyptian gods to the modern day. Furry Nation will be published fall 2017 by Cleis Press. To learn more visit www.furrynation.com

Furry Nation will include a handful of profiles of furry artists, published authors and craftspeople. (Furry sculptures, clothing, accessories, etc.) If you’d like to be in the book, please contact me by December 26 at info[at]furrynation[dot]com. I want to hear about your work, your first interest in anthro characters, and how you found the fandom; please include links to your work. (Sorry fursuiters but that section of the book has already been written.)

Thanx much!
– Joe Strike

Write to info[at]furrynation[dot]com, by January 6.

 

Personally, I have been urging the creation of a coffee table furry book for years – from the history and graphics, to fursuit fashion photography.  Like the kind of beautiful but info-packed bibles that Taschen is known for.  (I even outlined such a book – but what a big project that is!)

Now I’m delighted to hear that Joe has a contract with Cleis Press to publish Furry Nation in fall 2017.  Cleis has an eminent 36-year history as “the largest independent sexuality publishing company in the United States.” Don’t get too mad about being grouped with erotica; emphasize independent.  It’s a chance-taking, open-minded platform that can do justice to an alternative subculture.  They explain on LinkedIn:

Cleis Press publishes provocative, intelligent books across genres. Whether literary fiction, human rights, mystery, romance, erotica, LGBTQ studies, pulp fiction, or memoir, you know that if it’s outside the ordinary, it’s Cleis Press.

Don’t overlook more cool books! Dogpatch Press’s own star guest poster, Fred Patten, has Furry Fandom Conventions, 1989-2015 from McFarland Press.  (That’s an academic/reference publisher where you’d find the book in a library.  So you might consider Joe’s the “first” as a narrative history on the shelf at an indie or alternative bookstore.)

Fred’s Publishing for Furries article helps to show how special these are in the publishing world.  Until now, there’s been almost nothing at book stores.  Whatever you’re looking for in a furry book, these are extremely cool happenings.

And I can’t wait to see more. Grubbs Grizzzly (of Ask Papabear) has The Furry Book on the way, too.

Book by Grubbs, cover by Charleston Rat

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

The Art of Moana, by Jessica Julius and Maggie Malone. Preface by John Lasseter. Foreword by Ron Clements and John Musker.
San Francisco, CA, Chronicle Books, November 2016, hardcover $40.00 (160 pages), Kindle $16.19.

Moana is a 103-minute 3D computer-animated comedy fantasy feature film from Walt Disney Animation Studios, released on November 23rd, 2016. The Art of Moana is a coffee-table, full-color art book describing that film, and its making, in detail. Jessica Julius and Maggie Malone, the book’s authors, are both veteran executives at Walt Disney Animation. Julius wrote The Art of Big Hero Six and The Art of Zootopia. The preface is by John Lasseter, the director responsible for turning the Pixar and Disney studios into the powerhouses of theatrical feature animation in the last two decades. The foreword is by Ron Clements and John Musker, the co-directors of many other Disney features including The Little Mermaid and Aladdin.

The Art of Moana is a de luxe art book about the film and its making, with detailed visual samples and background information. For those interested in the film, this book is worth getting for the names of all the characters alone. The rejected preliminary designs of the main characters will be fascinating, also.

The film’s plot is summarized in its official blurb.

“Three thousand years ago, the greatest sailors in the world ventured across the Pacific, discovering the many islands of Oceania. But then, for a millennium, their voyages stopped—and no one today knows why. From Walt Disney Animation Studios, Moana is a CG-animated adventure about a spirited teenager who sails out on a daring mission to prove herself a master wayfinder and fulfill her ancestors’ unfinished quest. During her journey, Moana meets the once-mighty demi-god Maui and together they traverse the open ocean on an action-packed adventure, encountering enormous fiery creatures and impossible odds.”

Moana is a weak film from a furry aspect. Most of the characters are humans. Maui, a demi-god, is human for most of the time. But Maui is a shapeshifter who can also change into many beasts; mainly a giant hawk that Moana can ride, but also other birds, animals, fish, and bugs.

Andy Harkness, digital

Moana wouldn’t be a Disney animated feature without at lest one cute semi-anthropomorphized animal sidekick; in this case Pua, Moana’s pet piglet – a New Zealand Kunekune pig. He doesn’t talk, but his human expressions display his human intelligence. The film also features Heihei, a comedy-relief bantam rooster, but Heihei doesn’t exhibit any human intelligence. Or any other kind of intelligence.

The Art of Moana focuses upon the feature’s characters, in full detail from preliminary designs to finished computer-graphic art. Moana, the adolescent Polynesian heroine, gets 12 pages showing her growth from a toddler to a teenager in a full range of costumes; from a native villager to a lone (until she meets Maui) oceanic voyager.   The art is by the Disney artists who designed her: Manu Arenas, Neysa Bové. Jin Kim, Brittney Lee, Hyun Min Lee, Minkyu Lee, Annette Marnat, John Musker, Griselda Sastrawinata-Lemay, Bill Schwab, Chad Stubblefield, and Scott Watanabe. Other island villagers who get about two to four pages each are Gramma Tala, Chief Tui and Moana’s mother Sini, and the animals Pui and Heihei. The villagers in general are shown in their costumes (working and ceremonial) and jewelry. Motonui, Moana’s home Pacific island where she grows up, is treated like a character and fully developed.

Once Moana begins her voyage of exploration, the film (and the book) shifts to Oceana: the marine life and the traditional sailing craft. Maui is introduced and gets almost twenty pages, including four showing his shapeshifting forms. The ocean itself is anthropomorphized to a minor extent. “Into the Realm of the Fantastic” shows what Moana and Maui find, from the little Kakamora creatures (sort of anti-Minions; tiny and cute but never nice) to the Pacific monsters like Tamatoa, the giant crab. “‘The monsters in Lalotai were inspired by real fish and flora found in the deep sea, like angler fish and bioluminescent deep sea eels, but there’s also an eight-eyed bat and a monster eel from from the Maui legends. So they’re fantastic but grounded in something real.’ –Bill Schwab, art director of characters; p. 135.” Tamatoa is a giant anthropomorphized coconut crab with a nasty grin. The film culminates in a battle between Moana and Maui versus Te Kā, the volcano god.

The Art of Moana mostly concentrates on visual portraits of the characters, but there are also storyboards, environment models, and color keys. If you want to know anything about Moana including its anthropomorphic characters, here it is.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

Achievement Unlocked! New WORLD record 297 attendees, 131 fursuiters at #WFS25 an amazing day for @FurlifeNW community. Photo by ChaosReign pic.twitter.com/3TH8zX2WNc

— FaRaRaRaRAWR Lion (@kijani_lion) November 13, 2016

If you only saw furries in the media, you might think they only meet at cons.  But after the con, there’s local events you won’t know about unless you’re tuned in to their channels.  Some of them are established with their own names, venues and dedicated dates. You can go and say tonight, this place is ours. That’s a sign of a full-fledged subculture.

Independent furry dance parties are well covered at Dogpatch Press.  That’s adult night life. But for all ages, there’s furry bowling.  Big bowling meets can be bigger than small cons.  They happen all over the place, but how many does the furry world have?  I doubt anyone knows!

I’d love to know more, considering how fabulous some of them seem.

Here’s a special look at the thriving community of the Pacific Northwest furries. (Member pics: Whenfurballsstrike.net)

November 12, 2016 – When Furballs Strike 25 – Fursuit bowling in Kenmore, Washington. 

• ‘When Furballs Strike’ appears to be the biggest bowling meet for any furry community. If it was a con, it would just enter the Top 40 by attendance.
• Their nearest rival for size is a bowling meet in Brazil! How many outsiders are in touch with that corner of fandom? It shows how widespread this is.
• The Pacific Northwest furry community has remarkable activity. Does any other have an event calendar like Furlife on Meetup with over 2,000 members? (Disney’s marketers went to Furlife to reach furries for Zootopia.)
• Furry dance parties have tried to get established in the Pacific Northwest without the success you might expect, making this their biggest meet.  (And their popular local con Rainfurrest shut down, but an unprecedented four are now proposed there.)

I talked to Kijani Lion, meet organizer:

Tell me more about the broken record?

“The record that was broken was actually our own record for “largest attendance at a furry/anthropomorphics fan bowling meet”. We had 297 attendees at When Furballs Strike 25, which broke our old record of 271 at When Furballs Strike 22. Before that, the Brazilian furbowl Furboliche had the record with 248 attendees at Furboliche 4 which took place Halloween 2015.”

Can you tell more about yourself?

“I am the lead organizer of both When Furballs Strike and FurLife: Pacific Northwest Furries, our large Meetup group with over 2,300 members. I do have some much-needed help on meet days from some wonderful FurLife members who assist me at the registration desk, take the official attendance and shoot video and photos for our website.

A little more about me – I was an employee of our host center for When Furballs Strike, Kenmore Lanes, for more than seven years. During that time I worked as a porter, front-desk attendant, server in the restaurant and finally a casino dealer – there was a small cardroom which was attached to the bowling center at the time. Around that time I graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Journalism, and I got hired as a sports reporter and editor of a small local newspaper. I did that for five years before returning back to the casino industry as a dealer which I have been doing since 2013.

I have been around bowling most of my life, starting in junior leagues at the age of nine. I started bowling competitively in high school and bowled for the University of Washington Huskies for two years, traveling the country with the team to bowl events. Nowadays I compete in leagues and tournaments in the Seattle area and am currently averaging 216. I have 11 perfect 300 games to my credit, two of them in sanctioned league play. The thing that’s great about bowling and why it’s so popular among furries, I think, is that while it’s certainly challenging (especially in fursuit!), unlike other sports you don’t necessarily have to be good at it, or particularly athletic, to enjoy it.”

Kijani, what’s the history of the meet?

“I joined FurLife, and the furry fandom, back in 2008 and noticed there was no regular bowling meet for our local community, so I decided to try and change that. Towards the end of that year, I approached the manager of Kenmore Lanes, whom I had a great relationship with, and told him about my idea to host an event where many attendees would be bowling in mascot-like animal costumes. I got the go-ahead and the first WFS was held in December 2008 with a modest 40 attendees and eight fursuiters.

In about 2010, the meet started to really pick up as word got around and people started traveling father to attend, some from across the state of Washington, and even Oregon and Canada. Around WFS 5 or 6, I decided to add a post-event dinner gathering to the schedule so our attendees could share a meal together and make it a more social event. We started out in the party room of a local Denny’s, but we very quickly outgrew that, so I moved our dinner to, basically, the nearest buffet restaurant large enough to host us and we’ve been there ever since.

Over the years, I’ve keep the meet fresh by adding things like the prize raffle, where hundreds of dollars of prizes are given away to attendees after the bowling ends – mostly animal or furry-themed gifts, and I always supply a few very nice prizes like new bowling balls, huge framed Zootopia posters and things like that. We also got clearance to have a DJ play at the meet which has been a huge hit with our attendees. Furries, and fursuiters especially, love to dance and it’s really cool to see the bowling alley concourse turn into a makeshift dance floor!

I pride myself on hosting a well-run, organized and drama-free meet, so I go to great lengths to make sure that everything is in order before WFS meet days and that I do everything I can to make sure everyone has a fantastic time while they are there, even small things like helping people work the overhead consoles. We seem to have a large number of new members or first-time attendees at each one, and it’s my goal to make sure they feel welcome and enjoy themselves. I’ve found that once I do the legwork and get it going, the meet kind of runs itself. I think the meet’s success proves the old adage, “If you build it, they will come!”

Whenfurballsstrike.net

What’s the local scene like?  What are the biggest gatherings for it?

“The local fandom scene in the Pacific Northwest is very large and vibrant. We have approximately 2,300 members on our Meetup site, and I feel that only represents a small portion of the furry fandom members who actually live in the Pacific Northwest. Naturally, with a community that large, most people have their own circle of friends they hang out with, which is why large meets like WFS are important to bring all those groups together. The meet has sometimes been referred to as a mini-con, and I don’t think that’s inaccurate. FurLife has meets almost every weekend and meetup.com has been a great tool to help our local furries get connected with each other. WFS is by far the biggest gathering for FurLife – we have had summer barbecues and gatherings of that nature that have pulled approximately 150 attendees, but nothing to the scale of what WFS has become.”

What do outsiders think?

“They love it! We are fortunate that our host facility, Kenmore Lanes, is the largest bowling alley in the Pacific Northwest with 50 lanes, because we need to rent out around half of them for When Furballs Strike. The other half of the lanes is usually filled with families bowling and kids’ birthday parties, and most of them love the fursuiters. The general manager came up to me one day and jokingly said, “You know, when we have birthday parties scheduled with the furries, we tell the kids that we brought the characters in specially for them!”

I do a lot of public fursuiting and charity work on the side, and some of the best moments to me are when a child comes in to bowl with his or her family and their eyes light up when they see all these cartoon animals come to life, it’s like they woke up in fantasy land! Occasionally we will get a child or adult who has a fear of masks, and that can prove to be a challenge for us, since our party room is on the opposite end of the building from where we bowl. But thankfully the Seattle area is generally very open and accepting to things that may seem strange to others, so overall I’d say the public’s reaction to seeing the fursuiters at our meet has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Whenfurballsstrike.net

“How does it feel to be part of it?”

It wasn’t until a couple years ago, about WFS 17 or 18 when we were finally approaching 200 attendees, that I realized that we had something really special going. One day I just decided to take a short break from my filming and organizing duties and just look around and take it all in – it was almost like a small furry convention: You saw people walking around with tails and ears on, artists drawing and sketching at the tables, friends enjoying each other’s company over cold beverages, the young child of one of our attendees hugging a fursuiter with the biggest smile on her face, other furries dancing and cameras everywhere taking pictures of the many amazing and creative costumes.

It just feels amazing to be able help bring this kind of event to the great Pacific Northwest furry community, especially right now since we’re reeling a little bit at the loss of Rainfurrest. Being part of this community has given me so much over the years including many great friendships, and it’s really an honor to be able to give back.

What lies ahead in the future?

“Just continuing what has made us successful for all these years. I’ll keep on making minor changes to accommodate our ever-growing attendance rate, such as starting a pre-registration system to alleviate the long registration line, and other small things to ensure things run as smoothly as possible. I always welcome suggestions from our FurLife members, but I’m of the belief that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” It’s been an amazing run so far and I really have our wonderful FurLife community to thank for that, along with the great staff and management at Kenmore Lanes that truly loves furries and welcomes us with open arms.”

Pics and videos:

“Here is an album full of WFS25 photos from our official meet photographer, ChaosReign, and there are a bunch more on our website from years past.  I do a more or less official FurLife video for every WFS meet.  Here’s a YouTube playlist with all the WFS videos on it for convenience.

Thanks so much for reaching out!  – Kijani”

Whenfurballsstrike.net