Dogpatch Press

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

Huntress, by Renee Carter Hall.
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, September 2015, trade paperback $9.95 (213 pages), Kindle $4.99.

Leya is a young adolescent lioness in an anthropomorphic African veld who lives in the village of Lwazi. But she doesn’t want to grow up to become just another tribal wife and mother. She dreams of becoming a karanja, a member of the nomadic band of female expert huntresses who hunt for meat for all the villages. Becoming a karanja is a prestigious, almost religious goal, but it means rigorous training and the renunciation of living with men — of ever getting married, or having children.

“The first time she’d seen them, she had been very young. But she hadn’t been afraid. The other cubs, male and female alike, had hidden behind their mothers, frightened by the huntresses’ fierce eyes and sharp weapons. Where the villagers wore beads or stones, the karanja sported necklaces of bone and hoof and claw, and their loincloths were made of zebra hide in deference to Kamara’s first kill, a material only they were permitted to wear.

They were all mesmerizing, exotic and dangerous and beautiful, their eyeshine flashing like lightning-strikes as they took their places around the fire. But there was one Leya could not look away from.

Masika, the karanjala, first among the karanja. Her headdress of fish-eagle feathers stood out from her noble face like a mane, and her loincloth was of giraffe hide, just as their first male wore. Her eyes were sharp and watchful, her every muscle toned and tensed, and like all the karanja, she proudly bore the twin scars on her chest where her breasts had been cut away. Leya sat silently, drinking in Masika’s presence, watching everything the huntress did, every movement, every manner.” (pgs. 10-11)

Leya follows her goal relentlessly, tirelessly as she grows up. She leaves her village to follow the karanja on their outskirts, and finally her perseverance impresses them enough that she is made one of their group.

But this is only half the story. Goals change over the years. What someone wants to be at six years old, or at eleven, or fourteen, is not the same thing at eighteen or twenty-one or older. Leya begins to regret parting from the village playmate who had just begun to become a lover. She feels longings when the karanja visit a village and she sees mothers with their children.

“Every woman in this village, Leya realized, understood Ayanna’s joy. But not one of them would know what it meant to watch that zebra crumple to the ground, to hold a knife and cut its throat because it meant everything you’d ever wanted. She could tell Ayanna about it, and her friend would smile and nod in the right places, but that would be all.” (p. 83)

No huntress has ever left the karanja (or have they?), but by this time the other karanja are all her friends, and wish her well. But Leya’s hard life, her scars and her lack of breasts have marked her irrevocably. What is an ex-karanja to become? There is no role model for the rest of her life.

“Huntress” is harsh, tender, exhausting, gentle, thoughtful, and beautiful. It won the Cóyotl Award as the Best Anthropomorphic Novella of 2014, presented at the RainFurrest 2015 convention where this book went on sale. It was also a finalist for that year’s Ursa Major Award.

“Huntress”, the novella, was first published in the anthology Five Fortunes in January 2014. But if you’ve read it there, don’t think that you’ve read all there is. Huntress, the book, contains three more, brand-new short stories set in the same world.

“The Shape of the Sky” features Mtoto, the young apprentice of Ndiri, the painted-dogs’ wandering healer:

“The young dog stretched, enjoying the soft breeze on his fur and how the warmth of the sun came back when the breeze stopped. As he preferred, he wore only the clay amulet he’d had since he was born. When he went among the villages to trade his pots and cups, he tied on a loincloth to respect their customs, but here among the baobabs, there was no custom but his own.” (p. 139)

Mtoto is now living alone when a young leopardess with her eland treks across his home. Masozi, the leopardess, is proud but desperate, and Ngoma, her more-than-a-pet who gives her milk and blood, is about to give birth. Mtoto helps them, and without knowing it, he is helped as well.

“Kamara and the Star-Beast” is a story that Leya, as an older cub, tells the still-younger cubs of Lwazi about the legendary first karanja.

“You know Kamara the Huntress was the greatest of all her kind. There was nothing that ran on land that she could not bring down, no bird she couldn’t snare, no fish she couldn’t catch. She was strong, and she was swift, and she was clever – and yes, she was proud.” (p. 160)

One day Kamara comes across a trail of strange hoofprints that suddenly change to the tracks of other animals, even birds. Kamara follows the trail for days.

“At last she caught up with it, and if anything could have been stranger than its trail, it was the beast itself. It had the hindquarters of a zebra, the front legs of a heron, the great ears of the hare, the snout of the red pig, and the tough skin of the elephant.” (p. 161)

The thing taunts Kamara that she can’t catch it. She finally gives up, but complains to the god Yaa about it. Yaa’s decision isn’t exactly what Kamara wants.

“Where the Rivers Meet” tells how Ndiri, the painted-dogs’ wandering healer, grew up to such a lonely profession. She was orphaned when she was too young to know her parents, and she was taken in by a grandmother who was a healer. To her village, a healer was the same thing as a magician, and everyone else feared both Ndiri’s grandmother and her.

This is the story of how Ndiri discovered boys. And Mtoto. And death.

Hall says in an afterword that her fantasy Africa is based on elements from throughout the continent. (And elsewhere – karanja is a Hindi word.) But it feels vividly real, jus as the cover by Sekhmet is so realistic that you almost believe in anthropomorphic lionesses. I cannot recommend Huntress highly enough.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Buy on Furplanet

Here’s a nice story of community problem solving.

Any time there’s a furry event in San Francisco, Zarafa Giraffe is there. He gets around so much, that he was the featured image (with me too) when SFGate news mentioned “furries” in a silly little story about “The Most Embarrassing Google Searches” per state.

Zarafa is iconic for SF Bay Area furries.  So it was a shock to hear that his fursuit was stolen:

SAN FRANCISCO FURRIES NOW TARGETS FOR ROBBERY.

That’s very nice personal coverage from Broke-Ass Stuart.  He’s a well known San Francisco personality who does travel writing, news blogging, TV hosting, and even ran for mayor.  The news tip came from Smashwolf.  It made great press, counting the city as a place for the wild and creative, and furries as a unique part of it.

Broke-Ass Stuart linked Dogpatch Press.  There was already a story here about the scene of the crime – a crossover between the subculturally hot Frolic furry party, the big party Bootie, and it’s venue, DNA Lounge.

Drag Queens vs. Furries at a legendary San Francisco Party – January 30, 2016.

The fursuit theft happened with a car break-in.  Furries speculated that they were specially targeted, but consensus held that the carry case was a random target.  There had already been high-profile efforts to reduce car robbery in the neighborhood with assistance from night life venues. NBC News reported about DNA Lounge: “After thieves targeted club staff, performers and guests, the promoters chipped in to hire security guard Jonathan Yancey.” (More at SFist.)

As crushing as the loss was, the stage was set for a very visible search.  (The attention shows what I take as a credo… if you don’t like what the media does, Be The Media.) The hunt was on to find a missing purple giraffe.  He’s a good fursona… how many of those are there?

So, after the Frolic/Bootie party in SF last nite, my fursuit was stolen from my locked car trunk-a random urban crime. I'm crushed. :(

— Zarafa (@Zarafagiraffe) January 31, 2016

The silver lining here is you are all overwhelming me with your thoughts and prayers and offers to help. It's a "good" overwhelming. :)

— Zarafa (@Zarafagiraffe) January 31, 2016

Stolen fursuit in the San Francisco area. Purple Giraffe. Please please keep an eye out. Contact us with any info! pic.twitter.com/dQdHrbGIpx

— Made Fur You, INC (@MadeFurYou) January 31, 2016

Everyone! @Zarafagiraffe fursuit was sadly robbed :( please retweet!
Please contact him if found!

Contact info- pic.twitter.com/bHI3kAos0c

— President Woofiss (@Woofiss) February 2, 2016

If history is a guide, a stolen fursuit doesn’t have good chance to be found.  Nobody who’d wear one would steal one, knowing how conspicuous that is.  It’s like stealing famous unfenceable art.  Nobody who’d steal one would know a use for it.  Dumping it is the most likely scenario.

Luckily, the SF Bay Area Furry scene has very dedicated movers to make things happen – none more than Neonbunny, promoter of Frolic.  Neon both put on the party AND put in search hours (with Frolic team member Skibit) to post flyers across the neighborhood. The flyer was collaboratively made by Catwoman69y2K.

One of the flyers did the job.   The sad happening was turned around when everyone worked together for a common goal.

Zarafa’s journal – From Despair to a Miracle: My Fursuit Returns!
Reddit – Unbelievably, Zarafa the purple giraffe fursuit found! A homeless lady found it and returned it! Wonderful news!
Reddit – Zafara the Purple Giraffe has been found!

He was found dumped in an alley, missing a hand and footpaw but otherwise intact, by the homeless lady living in a tent city.  She was paid with a pizza, sleeping bag and reward money.  It’s a very San Francisco story.

This sums up the current situation pretty well. Art by @EmoBurd I am near tears, but now they're the good kind. pic.twitter.com/6Jp2DGfnh4

— Zarafa (@Zarafagiraffe) February 4, 2016

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

Scarlett: Star on the Run, by Susan Schade and Jon Buller. Illustrated by Jon Buller.
NYC, Papercutz, November 2015, trade paperback $14.99 (173 pages), Kindle $8.81.

Here is another all-ages novel by Susan Schade & Jon Buller (wife & husband) in their signature format of alternating chapters in comic-book format and in traditional-novel text. (I reviewed their three-novel The Fog Mound in 2007.) It is mostly for 8- to 12-year-old children, but it has aspects that adult furry fans will enjoy. This would be a simplistic talking-animal comic book/novel for young children, if it weren’t for the revelation that the talking animals have been scientifically made intelligent and given speech.

Is Shane Pafco, the dictatorial owner of Pafco Studios, a movie producer/director or a Mad Scientist? What year is Scarlett set in, with futuristic cars and flying spycams? When Scarlett, the cat movie star of Pafco Studios, gets the chance to escape, she is quick to take it even into a snowy, freezing outdoors. She is lucky enough to be taken in by grouchy old Frank Mole, a half-crazy, gun-waving hermit who doesn’t trust any people and hears voices. He believes that a talking cat is only part of his delusion; and when Scarlett finds out that Trotter, Pafco’s experimental talking dog, has followed her, she fast-talks Frank into believing that he needs a dog, too. Scarlett wants to be a natural cat and catch mice, until Frank’s messy, vermin-filled cabin gives her the opportunity to do so.

“I don’t know,” she muses. “Something about all that SKIN and HAIR is making me lose my appetite.” (p. 29)

She prefers to share old Frank’s monotonous diet of canned ravioli, until she and Trotter learn to impersonate his nonexistent housekeeper over the ancient landline telephone (“You should get a cell phone,” Scarlett tells Frank, who thinks he’s imagining her and ignores her) to Walt’s Grocery, and add to their diet. Fortunately Frank, who gets an automatic Social Security bank deposit, has been careful to live within his means, and even when Scarlett learns to call other stores and order more, she is careful to not overcharge his credit card.

Frank spends all day vegging out in front of his TV, watching sports games. The TV local news warns that, “Spycams continue to comb the area for several animal robots that escaped from Pafco Studios on Monday. Area residents are advised that, while these robots may look cute, they are NOT REAL. If not handled correctly, they can be very dangerous.” (p. 30) Scarlett is both insulted and frightened. If “they” are lying about Pafco’s escaped animals being dangerous robots, it can’t be good. And “several animal robots”? Who else besides Scarlett and Trotter has escaped from the studio/labs?

All is well until Frank’s horrendously unhealthy lifestyle catches up with him. He is rushed to the hospital in a coma. How long can the cat and dog go on without a compliant human to front for them? Their plight is made worse when a third Pafco animal escapee moves in with them: Vilroy, another dog who was always given a villain’s role because it came so naturally to him. Vilroy is not careful to remain within Frank’s budget, and when he starts demanding that Scarlett order expensive foods and a two thousand dollar massage chair for them, she is aware that not paying a mounting overdraft will quickly end their hidden existence.

Above all the animals’ other concerns is the overriding problem that while Scarlett, Trotter, and Vilroy are an intelligent cat and dogs, they are still instinctually domestic animals. While Scarlett and Trotter had Frank to take care of them/be taken care of by them, they were happy. Now, on their own, they are nervous and fearful, even without Vilroy to worry about. They need another human, and a more practical long-range solution.

Furry fans will appreciate the resolution. Even though Schade & Buller are Americans, this was published first as Scarlett: Star en Cavale by BD Kids in Montrouge, Paris, France in October 2013. Papercutz has specialized in “graphic novels”, with the result that several comics shops are stocking Scarlett and are listing it as #1 in a series. Papercutz is careful not to. Its advertising is all for Schade’s & Buller’s next combination of comic-art and prose, Anne of Green Bagels, coming later in 2016.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Paper Cutz
• Check out another review on Kids Reads
• Fred’s Review of Travels of Thelonius by the same writing team

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

Amphibians’ End: A Kulipari Novel, by Trevor Pryce with Joel Naftali. Illustrated by Sanford Greene.
NYC, Abrams/Amulet Books, October 2015, hardcover $15.95 ([5 +] 291 [+ 3] pages), Kindle $10.49.

Here is the conclusion of this rousing Young Adult trilogy of warfare between the defending poisonous frogs of the Amphibilands and the invading arachnids of the Outback desert. “Frogs and Platypuses versus Scorpions and Spiders”, says the caption in the full-color list of characters.

In An Army of Frogs and The Rainbow Serpent, the first and second volumes of this novel in three parts, teenage frog warrior Darel and his friend Gurnugan (Gee) find themselves facing all the adventure they have ever wanted when the desert spider and scorpion armies unite under the latter’s power-mad leader, Lord Marmoo, to invade the lush green Amphibilands. Darel had always wanted to become a Kulipari warrior, one of the band of legendary invincible defenders of the Amphibilands. But the Kulipari had all disappeared a generation ago.

When the endless scorpion armies reappear out of the desert, and Gee is captured, Darel thinks that the Amphibilands’ only hope of salvation is to find where the Kulipari have vanished to and persuade them to return.   The Rainbow Serpent introduces little Pippi of the platypus village and her search to find the mysterious frog warrior Darel, whom their elderly seer has had a vision of as being their savior. The book mixes Pippi’s adventures with Darel’s own with the Kulipari. He’s found them – but unfortunately they aren’t as invincible as legend has built them up to be. Can Darel’s joining them restore them to greatness?

Amphibian’s End is the climax. The mystic Veil that the now-dead turtle King Sergu had placed around the Amphibilands to hide them from the scorpions and spiders has been torn by the spider’s evil Queen Jarrah. Yabber, the turtle king’s Dreamcaster heir, has restored the Veil; but now that Lord Marmoo knows where to look for it, how long can the Amphibiands hold out?

“‘The spiders tore the Veil once,’ he [Lord Marmoo] snapped. ‘They can do it again.’

‘But Queen Jarrah is dead,’ Pigo said, his voice soft. He knew better than to mention that Lord Marmoo himself had killed her.

‘So they need a new queen.’ A tattered sneer spread across Marmoo’s face. ‘Or a king.’” (p. 7)

Darel is now the frog’s hero, but when he joins them in beseeching the heavenly Rainbow Serpent to maintain the Veil that hides them, he is aghast when the visions indicate that they should discard the Veil instead.

“‘I …’ Darel swallowed. ‘I saw the Serpent on the mountaintop. And then again outside the platypus village, after the chief sacrificed herself to beat Marmoo. The Stargazer showed me a rainbow on the river – and that’s when I knew. That’s when the Serpent told me, Lower the Veil.’

‘Why?’ a Baw Baw asked.

‘I don’t know. Maybe because we need to face our enemy once and for all. Maybe we need to stop hiding and rejoin the outback. Maybe … I’m not sure. All I know is, we have to have faith.’” (p. 12)

Kulipari (assuming that all three books are to be taken as a single novel) is an annoying mixture of the overly dramatic and desperate, and the overly playful, with words like amphibitastic, platyperfect and platypretty, and dialogue like:

‘I am serious. Haven’t you heard the saying ‘An army marches on its stomach’?’

‘I think that only applies to gastropods,’ Darel said.” (p. 33)

If they aren’t to have the Veil to protect them, what are the frogs and platypuses to do? Darel leads a mission outside the Amphibilands, hoping to find new allies among the possums, lizards, and emus, while Marmoo is sidetracked trying to make himself the new king of the spiders despite the unwilling cooperation of the dead Queen Jarrah’s own heir apparent, Lady Fahlga. As you can see from the cover illustration, things look increasingly bleak for the frogs – until the end.

To repeat the information from my review of An Army of Frogs: “Trevor Pryce is best-known as a NFL veteran for 14 years as a defensive end for the Denver Broncos, the Baltimore Ravens, and the New York Jets. Joel Naftali is the author of both Young Adult novels and career guides for recent high school and college graduates. Illustrator Sanford Greene is a currently “hot” artist of realistic adventure and costumed-hero comic books for DC, Marvel, and Dark Horse.” The three books are illustrated in full color on glossy paper throughout, and have color-tinted text pages: forest-green in An Army of Frogs, watery-blue in The Rainbow Serpent, and fiery-red in Amphibians’ End.

Kulipari: An Army of Frogs is also coming as a 13-episode animated program to Netflix in 2016. It is being produced by the Paris-based Splash Entertainment animation studio and Pryce’s Outlook Company. Pryce originally developed the plot in 2010 as a proposed animated movie for Sony:

“‘The movie idea was a lot heavier and a lot darker than this,’ Pryce told USA Today in 2013. ‘I had pitched it as ‘300’ but with outback animals. It was like an action-adventure movie, just animated.’”

Pryce was quoted in an article in The Caw, the news site of the Baltimore Ravens football team. When it failed to sell as a movie, Pryce rewrote it into a Young Adult trilogy and a TV animated series. There will also be the usual merchandising based on a children’s cartoon series: toys, action figures, etc.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Learn more about the book on Abrams
• Fred’s Review of Book 2: The Rainbow Serpent
• Fred’s Review of Book 1: An Army of Frogs
• Learn more about the Kulipari
• Learn about the Netflix Animated Series
• The Animated Series Announcement
• More news about the series
• And even more news about the series (Take your pick)

Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  Guest posts welcome. Tips: [email protected]. 

Fabfelipe on DA

Site goes down with high traffic for #tonytigergate – and the hits keep coming.

The Twitter joke of #tonytigergate drew enough mainstream curiosity to overload this site. (An upgrade may hopefully prevent that next time.)  After the story about it was posted here, it kept getting mainstream traction – highlighting a cheeky dichotomy. On one hand, there’s reputation concern – on the other hand, tickling an audience is kind of validating. It’s two sides to the coin of furry subculture and I don’t think that will ever change.

• Slate.com: Avid Furries Pit Tony the Tiger Against Chester the Cheetah in Junk-Food Sex War.
• Theblemish.com: Chester Cheetah Is Down With the Furry Lust Rejected by Tony the Tiger.
• Gay Times: Tony the Tiger is sick of Furries sending him porn.

It reminded Fred Patten of something else:

Dear Patch; I vaguely remember that during all the news and publicity in 1987 for  Who Framed Roger Rabbit, there was a report that Charles Fleischer, the voice actor for Roger, got many NSFW erotic invitations from women, addressed specifically to Roger, not to him.

For National Hugging Day, the new episode of Culturally F’d is based on a Dogpatch Press article.

National Hugging Day is every January 21 for normal people.  (It’s every day for furries.)  I propose making a special occasion of it next year. And it was like a big fuzzy hug to get surprised with an entire video based on my article – “Hugs are the handshake of furries.” Wow thanks Arrkay and crew, nice to see you used it!  Anyone can freely use any content on this site that way.

Hero Cop stops suicide with a hug. It’s another way to suit up and make a difference. They need a whole squad for this… I know some willing volunteers.

Adafruit does a panel at Further Confusion 2016.

“Adafruit visits FurCon San Jose.” The 50-employee company calls itself “the best place online for learning electronics and making the best designed products for makers of all ages and skill levels.” They have a large category of electronic products to assist Cosplay/Costuming. Phil B says Furries are ‘power users’ for that:

What really sets this group apart is the emphasis on world-building and personal characters. Also, there’s more costume electronics…and more Adafruit electronics especially…at this one convention than I’ve seen in an entire year’s worth of anime, comics and steampunk events.

Super Smash Brothers at FC 2016.

‘Our Fuzzy Neighbors: Further Confusion 2016‘. On the weekend of Jan. 15, there was a national tournament series for Nintendo’s crossover fighting games on the other side of the San Jose convention center. It was ‘one the largest most spectacular events Smash has ever seen’.  eSports Writer SmashCapps was welcomed as a guest to Fur Con.  He said it was the most warm welcome he had ever received.  He enjoyed a guided tour, borrowed a fursuit, and went to the dance. He covers ‘what the furry community can teach us on running better events’ in his Part 2 to the article.

FC2016 wrapup. 3,536 attendees, 760 fursuiters, and a move to an expanded con center next year.

FurnightATX in Austin – first show is a success.

A blog post looks back on the show.  This newest ‘Furclub’ dance was pre-announced here. “Attendance was amazing” at around 100 with 25 fursuiters.  The 2010’s growing movement of furry dance nights gets a lot of notice in my articles – I think it’s really exciting to see a first-time show start bigger than some well established ones, like Foxtrot in Denver.

Furry Con History Map. Huscoon is a fursuiter and Professional Data Analyst.

The History of Furry Conventions in North America. In map form. pic.twitter.com/tZKbMSdKAl

— Ian Huscoon² (@Huscoon) January 20, 2016

Rightwing ranter picks on furries.

His actual profile pic wasn’t singled out to show constipation. That’s built in.

Make-believe is fun. Paranoia about imaginary threats is disturbing.  The Gay Agenda and the even more bizarrely imagined Furry Agenda are what grinds the gears of Phil E. at “World Net Daily.”  His spirit animal must be a potato… he can’t get his mind out of the dirt.  He would have little to say if he couldn’t rant about the sex lives of strangers, as if anyone asked for HIS opinion.

The furries are coming!  Phil fears they’ll hug his manhood away.  But he’s not going to take that fluff like a little girly-man. He’s getting steely hard to beat us off.  Some people with pent-up aggression bully the weak or kick puppies… this guy picks on people who role-play as puppies.  Out of anyone, why would he target a tiny and harmless subculture (instead of fighting crime or terrorists to save us all?)

Oh, I found out why.  He’s been stalking a Furry for a year with a grudge, because that one mocked his writing in a news column that had nothing to do with furries. He seems to take these things badly. (There’s more silliness at Encyclopedia Dramatica.)

People get negative like this out of deep insecurity.  Actually, I sympathize for Phil.  I’m sorry that Disney is catering to us instead of making manly wrassle-fests for him.  This is happening.  We’re just cool, and he’s not – cool with ourselves enough to dress how we want.  We have friends and fun.  We’re not mad.  That’s what being big is about… being a cool cat no matter what Spudboy thinks.

Movie seeks furries… furries not OK with it.

At the Rochesterfurs forum, old school greymuzzle PeterCat reports reading a movie script. Ron Perlman (Hellboy, etc) is involved. PeterCat says to avoid the same old, same old tasteless cliches in it.  But apparently a pair of furries ignored taste and appeared as fursuit extras in the film.  That’s under Non-Disclosure, so no more will be said for a while… but just so you know, Hollywood has some crap coming through the pipes.

Searching Joan Jett’s ‘Bad Reputation’ + Furry gets this.

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AMAZING FURRY NEWS COMING SOON –  #7 Will Make You Roll Around Like A Hedgehog!

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Toys R Us Accidentally Puts Bad Dragon On Hot Christmas Gifts List

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) September 30, 2015

Scandal Erupts When ABDL Furries Keep It In Their Rooms And Can't Be Glared At In Public

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) September 29, 2015

Hotel Guest Trapped In Elevator With Furries No Longer Recognizes Relatives, Has New Family Now

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) September 30, 2015

Fursuit Parade Followed By Guy With Shovel

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 1, 2015

Wall Street Journal Covers Mounting Business For Bad Dragon

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 1, 2015

Reviews: Which Mutagenic Ooze Is Best For Your Fur?

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 1, 2015

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

My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria, by Mary Jane Begin. Foreword by Jayson Thiessen. Illustrated.
NYC, Abrams, October 2015, hardcover $29.95 (215 [+ 1] pages), Kindle $13.49.

Furry fandom has had a sometimes adversarial relationship with the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic TV series and its fandom, or at least its Brony often-extremist fans. The TV animated cartoon series that premiered on October 10, 2010 is in its fifth season/year now. It has won the Ursa Major Award as the Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short or Series for 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013, resulting in screams of both (from within furry fandom), “Oh, no! How could it have lost!?” (in 2014, to Furry Force), and (from Brony fandom), “How dare you furry fans try to hijack our program!? MLP:FIM is totally unanthropomorphic! The ponies of Equestria can just talk and sometimes fly, that’s all!”

My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria is an Everything You Want To Know About MLP:FIM, lavish, heavily-illustrated, full-color coffee-table art book. It has already been reviewed and analyzed in detail by the MLP:FIM fans, to general praise. Here is a review for furry fandom.

The book is a how-to and how-it-was-done about the TV animation series and the development of its world of Equestria, rather than an exploration in detail of Equestria and the “Mane Six” ponies, although the reader does get that, too. It begins with a double-page map, described below. A Foreword by the Supervising Director at DHX Media, the animation studio in Vancouver, outlines on one page the basic framework of the series.

“Equestria is a land where the dominant sentient life-forms are derived from the genus Equus – basically, horse-like creatures. Since there are no humans in Equestria, everything that was ever designed or built in this world had to be done by ponies, for ponies. Tables, chairs, doorways, props – all have to work in a way that befits a world existing under this premise. […] There are three basic types of ponies: Unicorns, Pegasus ponies, and Earth ponies. Unicorns, as we all know, are horses with a single horn on their forehead that can cast magic. They are the upper-class elite who live in the mountains. Their cities are made of more robust and expensive materials: stone, granite, and marble. Everything is polished and shiny. Pegasus ponies are winged, they fly and live in the clouds. So their cities are literally made of clouds and are built with fliers in mind: No stairs are needed, and roofs are optional since it doesn’t rain above the clouds. There is a distinctly ancient Greek aesthetic about it, with all the architecture, and this is a nod to the Greek mythological character for which they are named. Finally, there are the Earth ponies, who keep their hooves planted firmly on the ground. They are regular ponies without any fancy appendages who live in more traditional-looking houses and towns like we are used to seeing and deal mostly with earthbound issues such as agriculture and animals. All of this is kept in mind when we’re designing locations to ensure that it feels logical that those characters would actually live I the environment hey are placed in.” (p. 9)

There are seven main parts. “Pony Evolution” is the history of Hasbro’s My Little Pony from 1983, when the toy line was launched, to the present. “Everypony” is a profile of “The Mane Six” characters of today (Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie), and their “extended family: Spike, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and the other major characters. “Foils & Foes” describes some recurring villains like Ahuizotl, King Sombra, and Lord Tirek. “Creatures & Mythical Beasts” lists some of the dangerous non-sentient wild animals of Equestria; classic beasts like the Cerberus, Chimera, and Minotaur, and new creations like the Timberwolf (a giant wolf of living wood), Cragadile, and Sea Serpent. “Exploring Equestria” examines some principal cities and towns such as Ponyville, Cloudsdale, the capital of Canterlot, and specific locations like Twilight Sparkle’s Golden Oak Library and Applejack’s Sweet Apple Acres. “Behind the Scenes” is technical information. And “Pony Revolution” looks to the future.

The art includes many artists’ rough sketches, including creator Lauren Faust’s presentation that brought Hasbro’s existing toy line & TV cartoons into the present. There are discarded early designs of some main characters showing what they might have looked like. And there is that double-page map that leads the book off. The series’ developers clearly had fun creating equine-based place names mimicking those around North America, from the metropolises of Manehattan and Filly Delphia on the East Coast to Vanhoover and Los Pegasus in the West, and landmarks such as the San Palomino Desert.

My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria is designed for both the casual fan and the regular watcher of the TV series. “My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria is the ultimate guidebook, collector’s item, and fan keepsake.” (blurb) Well, it should satisfy everyone except the fanatic followers who want an illustrated profile of all 117 (as of press time) episodes.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Learn more at Abrams
• Learn more at the MLP wiki
• Check out a video review by Sketchy Talks
• Learn more about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic here

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

Off Leash, by Daniel Potter. Illustrated by Sabertooth Ermine.
El Cerrito, CA, Fallen Kitten Productions, October 2015, trade paperback $12.99 (vi + i +288 pages), Kindle $3.99.

“It had started as a good day. Objectively that was a lie, but after six months of unemployment self-delusion becomes a survival trait. I was two days from getting booted off unemployment, with my girlfriend AWOL for the last week. By ‘good day’ I mean I had wrestled a small drop of hope out of my heart that one of the half dozen jobs I had applied to while guzzling down iced coffees might result in an interview.” (p. 1)

Thomas Khatt, unemployed librarian, has been practically living in his local coffee shop for the last six months as he applies for job after job. Over the weeks he has noticed his reclusive neighbor as another regular customer; an old man, presumably retired, reading books with a pet cat. One day Thomas and the old man happen to leave the shop at the same time. The old man is immediately struck by a hit-&-run car. As he dies, Thomas blacks out and awakens in his own home as a cougar.

While he is trying to figure out what has happened to him, his door unlocks itself and an elderly hippie witch, Mistress Sabrina, comes in to welcome him to “the Real World”. She demonstrates enough magical power to convince him that objecting would be a bad idea, so he follows her and Rudy, a talking squirrel, to her home where he meets her familiar, a sable named Cornealius. They magically restore his power of speech. While this is going on, Thomas is barraged with a confusing flood of information about how the Real World works:

“‘TAU?’ I paced below him [Rudy], eyes crossing, trying to look at my muzzle, the spell wire looked to thread in and out of it.

Rudy responded with the tone of voice of a phone employee reading the company boilerplate. ‘Talking Animal Union. We represent all animals with the gift of speech or capable of speech within the domain of the council of Merlins. An animal being defined as a being possessing corporeal form but lacking hands and viewed as nonhuman by those on the other side of the Veil. The TAU endeavors to insure familiars are well treated and allows no bonding to take place without its blessing.’” (p. 32)

Thomas is overwhelmed by what he learns, but generally doesn’t like the sound of it:

“I watched the squirrel warily; every question I asked generated at least a half dozen more. Yet one thing had become crystal clear; I wanted no part of this world. Losing my thumbs, my house and my girlfriend in exchange for the chance to be sold off to some pimple-faced apprentice did not sound like a fair deal to me.” (p. 35)

He especially doesn’t like it when he starts to wonder how and why it applies to him in particular:

“My thoughts drifted out, back into the world. How had this happened to me? My mind probed into the last day, looking for things I had overlooked. It all went back to the old man, who had to be another magus. O’Meara had said that a magus named Archibald had been murdered. What had the baristas called the old man? Archie? Archie the Archmagus, poor guy. And that horrible car accident – surely nothing about it had been accidental.” (p. 43)

Thomas decides to take charge of his own life, even if he is not familiar with the Real World yet. He faces the dangers of our “world beyond the Veil”, of being a cougar loose in a San Francisco residential neighborhood, and of the Real World, refusing to join the TAU or to become bound to a magus – or to an apprentice – as a familiar.

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

Yes, this is Book 1 of a series, and judging by Off Leash, it’s a winner. All of the characters are intelligent, with many in the Real World hiding secrets. Potter’s writing is wry and full of detail: “The cat, who looked like the sort of thing a Chihuahua could beat up for lunch money” … “For a moment I feared I had fallen into a Disney film and the kitchen appliances were about to burst into song. I gave the toaster a withering look just in case.” … “No need to sweat, or in my case, pant, however.” … “‘It’s bigger on the inside,’ voices from Doctor Who exclaimed in my head. They were right.” … “The white cat rolled her eyes. ‘I’m so glad I was never human. The thumb fetish you all have is so undignified.’” Thomas, in looking out for himself as a cougar in two worlds, becomes enmeshed in the deadly magical politics of the Real World.

Stories of one individual taking on The System are always enjoyable, and are doubly so when it’s a partially furry system. Off Leash does not feature just animal-headed humans. The animal natures of the talking but otherwise unmodified cougar, the squirrel, the owl, the housecat, the redneck werewolves, and others are important plot elements.

Some additional information: The Kindle edition was published in July, three months ahead of the paper edition. The cover is attributed to Ebooklaunch.com, which offers covers from $99 to $379; presumably this is one of the customized, more expensive ones. The illustration by Sabertooth Ermine [sic.; she usually goes by Sabretoothed Ermine] consists of just a single full-page drawing just before the end of the book. The author’s Fallen Kitten Productions website contains an offer of a free ebook story, “Rudy and the Warren Warriors”, featuring the pyromaniac squirrel.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Get a free e-book at Fallen Kitten

The Year of Furry keeps bringing unexpected surprises.  Shortly before 2016’s furry fever explodes with Zootopia, here’s the satirical scandal of #tonytigergate.

Get ready to hack up a hairball about this, if you want furry fandom to get taken seriously without a speck of sexy humor about make-believe mascots.  (Or if you’re prudish and think cartoon kink is worse than ISIS.)  Stuff like this must have Disney’s defensive shields on maximum.

It started with furry flirting at Tony the Tiger’s Twitter account.  In November 2015, news media noticed that he was a long time Furry crush.  The buff, yiffable mascot for Frosted Flakes couldn’t tweet about cereal without pleas for his sweet tigermanmilk.  I shared all the news stories I could find about it:

• Tony the Tiger is being harassed by horny furries on Twitter
• Furries Take Cat-Calling To The Next Level On Tony The Tiger’s Twitter
• Tony The Tiger’s Twitter Account Keeps Getting Mentioned By Furries Looking For Sex
• Tony the Tiger gets harassed by furries all the time on Twitter
• Tony the Tiger Can’t Tweet Without Furries Begging Him for Sex

Kelloggs Answers Requests For Tony Tiger Dick Pics With 'Adult Edition' Cereal Kept Behind Counter @Gawker @realtonytiger @ashleyfeinberg

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) November 9, 2015

If y'all weren't aware, John Harvey Kellogg invented corn flakes to stop children from masturbating. Apparently it didn't work.

— Mouse of Habsburg (@favoritemouse) January 28, 2016

Tony’s sex appeal is a little ironic, when Kellogg’s is a company with the most over-the-top, puritanical sex-negative history you can imagine.

On the flip side, be amused or confused about a really dirty meaning for Tony’s bandana in gay hanky code.  This is hilarious to strange, dark corners of the internet.  Here’s a reference about it for those into Serious Cinema as much as Cereal Sin.  In 1980’s Cruising, Al Pacino learns things as an undercover cop:

Tony the Tiger turns tail.

 

Behind the scenes with Tony’s social media team, all of this heat was too much to handle.  Maybe they felt like it was Brand Vandalism… and this wasn’t even the first time this fall that Tony was target for a well organized prank. The first had nothing to do with furries- that PR crisis was fake, satirical ads.

Things came to a head in January 2016.  They started blocking all furries en masse, whether they deserved it or not.

• Gawker: Tony the Tiger Turns His Back on Twitter’s Horny Furries
• Huffington Post: Tony The Tiger Is Really Not Into All These Furries Asking For Sex
• NY Daily News: Tony the Tiger is getting harassed on Twitter by sexually aroused furries  
• Metro UK:  Tony the Tiger has started blocking furries due to their sexual fascination with him
• MTV News: Thirsty Furries Are Sexually Harrassing Tony The Tiger And He Doesn’t Think It’s Grrreat

Furry Twitter today pic.twitter.com/UbGFiVw8Ul

— WCKD DRGNS (@VeryDragons) January 27, 2016

Jerberjer on Twitter

Tony is testy, but Chester Cheetah wants to chill.

 

Across the internet, furries on the sidelines grabbed popcorn, or wagged their paws in shame.  Others cried about rejection by Tony and got the #tonytigergate hashtag trending.  This led another corporate spokeskitty to notice the poor, lonely furries.

A TALE OF TWO MASCOTS: HOW FURRIES SPURNED BY TONY THE TIGER ARE BEING EMBRACED BY CHESTER CHEETAH.

In short order, more corporate PR accounts jumped in to show tolerance against Furryphobia.  Their free hype was quite a spectacle of capitalist opportunity, with a cheesy coating of fun for those who staffed the boring social media jobs.

@WitchyCats @CasualFennec I welcome all fans to my twitter feed. Scales, feathers, or fur, if you enjoy my tweets then welcome!

— Chester Cheetah (@ChesterCheetah) January 26, 2016

i can't fucking handle this, tony the tiger blocked all the furries but chester cheetah is loving it pic.twitter.com/Sf0llpO0kb

— lion to myself (@taizou_hori) January 26, 2016

@Aldohusky @CasualFennec We're having an amazing time because we've got you amazing furries to talk to. ~ARA

— Applebee's (@Applebees) January 27, 2016

RPing with restaurants is my new favourite thing pic.twitter.com/yLVFU8Myk2

— #Applebae (@CasualFennec) January 27, 2016

What about this guy?  He probably doesn’t want to come out of the kennel, because all of this publicity is too hot to handle.  But check out his Chester fursuit.

Found a furry positive cereal. @RealCapnCrunch and @RealSeaDog are mates for life, says it right on his account. #furries #tonytigergate

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) January 28, 2016

@RealCapnCrunch is such a furry lover! https://t.co/bT32A14QK0

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) January 28, 2016

I don’t normally go as a land animal for Halloween, but @ChesterCheetah has the second best facial hair in the biz. pic.twitter.com/EfdP4nVfnX

— Cap'n Crunch (@RealCapnCrunch) October 31, 2015 Tony gets back to selling wholesome diabeetus – and the Daily Show calls.

 

It must have hurt Tony’s pride to see Chester being the bigger cat.  Alpha jocks can be like that.  But in the end, he’s got cereal to sell and customers to please.  He put out a message to make nice.  Too bad he doesn’t realize what ‘cub’ means to a certain crowd…

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

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

Swords and Sausages, by Jan
Hong Kong, Tiger Knight Comics, September 2015, trade paperback $30.00 (unpaged [128 pages]).

“Once upon a time, nestled somewhere amongst the rolling hills of Vale Valley, was a lively, albeit small, kingdom. And in this kingdom was …”

The main things that there “was” are Tor (a hunky tiger) and Silver (a svelte white vixen), two inept street thieves, would-be con artists, and even more would-be road warriors (robbers), plus the local sheriff (lion). Other supporting characters include the sheriff’s town guard (wolves), and varied town merchants (assorted anthropomorphized mammals, reptiles, and birds). The gryphons are unanthropomorphized and are treated as eagles.

This first collection relates the occasionally bawdy misadventures of Tor and Silver (she loses her clothing a lot, if funny-animal cartoon nudity bothers you) around Vale Valley proper and surrounding small towns. They regularly get thrown into the VV pokey, and are released or escape after a few days. It’s not that Tor and Silver are stupid, but they are less intelligent than anyone else. The stories feature typical funny-animal slightly exaggerated comedy-adventure. The social level here is about what you’d find at a Renaissance Faire or a Society for Creative Anachronisms event. This collection turns slightly more serious at the end as the tiger & vixen wander outside of Vale Valley and discover that the two neighboring kingdoms are at war.

This first collection of Jan’s Swords and Sorcery webcomic is in a “Sunday-page” format of two tiers per page in a large 12” x 9” size, in full color on thick, glossy paper. $30.00 may seem expensive, but when you see how large and impressive this collection is, you will feel it is worth it. It contains the first eight chapters of the strip, from June 1, 2011 to December 28, 2014, plus an original 8-page bonus chapter. Unlike the collection of College Catastrophe, Jan’s other webcomic, which is a black-&-white paperback that feels designed to fit into your pocket, this Swords and Sausages compendium is a large, lavish volume fit to be a full-sized coffee-table art book as much as a comic-strip collection. If you like a bright anthro pre-1600 A.D. world without the dirt and disease that real history was full of, get this book – or read Swords and Sausages online.

Jan’s College Catastrophe collection is actually printed in Hong Kong, where Jan lives. Swords and Sausages is produced by Jan’s printer in the U.S., Paw Pad Printing in Memphis, Tennessee (the printer of the Memphis FurMeet’s publications). Orders are shipped by Paw Pad through FedEx, resulting in faster delivery of American orders.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Tiger Knight

San Francisco Bay Area Furries are fluffing up for this weekend’s party.  It’s the kind of subcultural crossover that makes this place Furry Mecca. (Except when Pittsburgh takes the title once a year.)  Organizer Neonbunny says:

We did this a couple of years ago, and it was a ton of fun. We’ll have a space for fursuiters only, so we won’t have to worry about drag queens wondering what happens when glitter is combined with industrial fans.  I do hope you’ll join us!

Frolic @ Bootie Saturday, January 30th, 9pm – 3:30am (room runs until 2am). DNA Lounge, 375 11th St, San Francisco.  21+.

Frolic, San Francisco premiere furry party, is teaming up with Bootie, San Francisco’s top mashup & bootleg party, to bring you a mashup of multiple cultures, including furries, drag queens, hipsters, live bands, and dj’s.

Frolic will be hosting the upstairs space (over DNA pizza), with changing space for fursuiters. Guest DJs include LycanCatt, Ikumma, Raid Zero, and NeonBunny. Groggy will be mixing up some video for us!

Fursuiters are free, just show your fursuit to the person at the door (Bootie’s policy is full costumes & makeup are free all night).  And of course, this includes access to the all 4 rooms of Bootie, all night, from 9pm until 3:30 am (our room closes at 2am, but the main room goes much later!)

$10 before 10pm, $20 after — CASH ONLY $15 advance tickets — SKIP THE LINE! available here.

See the official facebook post about the night, and more info about Bootie’s night:

San Francisco is home to many amazing subcultures, some of which have gone mainstream, like drag queens, and others that are a little more confusing to the general population, like furries. But both are facets of the diversity that makes SF great. So tonight, Bootie brings them together for one insane party to blow your mind! At 11 PM, Pepperspray, the Bay Area’s favorite drag rock band, takes the stage for a special live set, and for the Midnight Mashup Show, Catalysta takes to the silks high above the floor to present thrilling aerial escapades. Main Room mashup DJs A Plus D and Entyme keep the party rolling late into the night with the best mashups in the universe, keeping your tails wagging and your wigs bobbing!

Personally I like going a level beyond drag… but whether it’s gender or species, there might be more crossover than you think.  Check these out:

Article: Facebook’s ‘Real Name’ controversy, Drag queens, and Furries.  And a little bit of NSFW art:

Can you think of some good “Furry Drag” names?  My drag dog fursona could be Rin Tin Tits. Drop a comment with yours.

Yesterday’s extra long post about Zootopia described complicated relationships between fans and marketers, and asked: are they intentionally winking at furries, but keeping it hidden?  According to Fred’s wisdom, the sensitivity is nothing new.  

Dear Patch;

Cartoon Brew’s article described the petition against fan pornography of Disney’s forthcoming Zootopia and the reaction to the subject.

What seems most interesting to me is the apparent assumption that furry fandom (and people in general) are just discovering the pornography of high-profile animated cartoon characters with Zootopia.  Doesn’t anyone remember the furry fan pornography of Warner Bros.’ Tiny Toon Adventures TV series in the early 1990s, with the series’ own emphasis on gags about Buster Bunny’s not wearing any pants? It faded away after the program went off the air. It’s discussed in Reading the Rabbit by Kevin Sandler, an anthology of articles about Warners’ cartoon characters from Rutgers University Press.

I said in a review at the time:

Fans will doubtlessly be most interested in the next-to-last essay, Bill Mikulak’s Fans versus Time Warner: Who Owns Looney Tunes? This cites the Hollywood Reporter’s November 1, 1995 story about Warner Bros.’s discovery on the Internet of fan-drawn pornographic cartoons featuring its characters, and follows it up. The essay is rather one-sided since Time Warner’s legal department had little to say publicly whereas Mikulak downloaded plenty of fannish comments. He also obtained copies of two of Time Warner’s cease-and-desist letters from the fans, and he quotes these to present WB’s official stance. Mikulak notes that the ‘appropriation’ of popular copyrighted characters by their fans for their own non-commercial, and often erotic use has a long tradition (he cites Star Trek fandom), and that WB’s charge that erotic depictions are a ‘perversion of [WB’s] innocent cartoon characters’ is belied by the obviously lusty nature of much of the humor and innuendos basic to such personalities as Pepé le Pew and Minerva Mink, which build upon an established public acceptance of exaggerated cartoon sexual humor going back to Tex Avery’s Red Hot Riding Hood (1943).

In demonstrating his point, Mikulak quotes from numerous fannish Internet open conversations. These require his defining for the academic record of such terms as ‘furvert’, ‘spooge’, ‘anthropomorphics’, ‘furries’, ‘FurryMUCK’ and ‘Drooling Babs Fanboy’. Furry fandom isn’t being discovered by only the sensationalistic tabloid media any more; this book is from Rutgers University Press.

Most of the most daring Internet pornography was by Karri Aronon, who lived in Turku, Finland, and assumed that he was safe from Warner Bros.’ lawyers there. I never heard the outcome of that — whether the lawyers finally shut him down; whether Aronen stopped on his own after he grew up; or whether everyone lost interest in porn of the Tiny Toon characters after WB ended the TV series.  I haven’t heard of Aronen since then.

Anyhow, furry fan pornography of popular animated funny animals certainly predates Zootopia.

Best wishes;

Fred

“Mature” stuff isn’t built in to a fandom for talking animal art, but it sure makes everyone hot under the collar – whether they love it, or just giggle about how weird it is. Keep that in mind for the below topics: The Latest Hype – The Weird Factor – Why Marketers Care – “Furry Chic” – and Making Buzz With PR Control.

THE LATEST HYPE – AND FOUR REASONS WHY FURRIES CAN’T WAIT FOR ZOOTOPIA.  

Hot discussion.  Coinciding with release of the movie’s trailer #3, an article about Zootopia and furry porn got showered with comments at Cartoon Brew. (Reporting like that is why it’s one of the most read animation blogs). It asks:

“To what extent are Zootopia’s filmmakers aware that they are stoking an adult community of fans?… It would appear that they are intentionally attempting to attract an older crowd with mature and titillating content.”

Aggressive marketing is mentioned in this short article. (That goes both ways – watch for an upcoming article about highly anticipated Zootopia furmeets.)

Exceptional anthropomorphism.  Storytelling appeal is what’s really making fans like me pant with anticipation. See Zootopia Guide: How Disney’s New Film Builds a Different Kind of World –

“We’ve really never seen animals in the modern world, where humans never existed.” 

Provocative art. Reddit furries discuss eye popping animation in the trailers-

• “There’s no denying that they know who they’re marketing to.”
• “Big, beefy, sparkly tigers. They know what they’re doing with stuff like these, and nobody’s gonna tell me otherwise.”
• “And people still claim they’re not marketing to us. ha. ha. ha.”

Those are great reasons for why this movie is making everyone stand to attention. Does it add up to a capital-F “Furry” movie?  (With all this hype, we don’t even know if it’s GOOD yet! The marketing is as interesting as the movie so far.)

Intentionally marketing with furries could be very strategic. It could be “winking” at us behind plausible deniability, making an asset and risk at the same time.  That’s been a showbiz game since bare ankles were naughty, but there’s something new here too.  The 1940’s Golden Age of animation didn’t have alternative fandom like we do now.

It’s hard to tell how much anyone is really teasing us.  Maybe people are just seeing what they want to see.  But Disney directors have been fur con guests since the 1990’s, and marketers are well aware of what goes on.  It sure would be interesting to get such attention. Let’s look at reasons why this may be happening.

THE WEIRD FACTOR – FURRIES TURN HEADS.

 

One day in San Francisco, I was taking a train in my fursuit as a fabulous sparkly Husky.  I was on the way to my favorite thing – a furmeet at a street fair. There would be hours of high-paws and literal tail-shaking to the music.

“Look, a plushie!” shouted a girl waiting for the train with her friends. “We don’t judge you!” yelled one of the guys. They were all smiles to see me in full regalia.  It was the opposite of blending in, and I flaunted it a little. It wasn’t a big deal if they got the meaning wrong.

In public, besides making a spectacle, there’s a certain outsized reputation that turns heads.  People giggle and ask questions.  If you’re not a member of this group, some things can be hard to get.  That makes imaginations run wild.  People fill in the blanks with rumors and sensational media influence.

But furmeets are just harmless socializing and creativity.  Weird feelings from outsiders are defused by the friendly reality.  It makes weirdness fun. It’s in headlines about cons:  Furries are “Silicon Valley’s last, best hope at weird” and “modeling eccentricity for a staid tech culture.”

Cons are on a fertile border between Furry and Normal.  Their grassroots spirit makes them naturally bloom with growth outside of commercialism. It makes bystanders turn their heads.  But marketers might smell money.

Many people deny that companies care about this niche group, because it doesn’t make an audience of real size. My counterpoint is that subculture is tiny, but buzz is mighty. It’s not how many tickets you buy, it’s how many heads you turn.

If marketers want a little piece of that action, it could work like my experience at the train station.  And it’s a good time to get on this hype train.

WHY MARKETERS CARE.

 

Marketers always want to know what’s going to be a trend, and how to get in at the roots. The potential attracts them like plants to the sun.

Reddit:  “According to the google search trends, the term “furry” has never had so many searches before.”

Here’s where this leads. Mainstream advertising: “More and more, Furries are being hinted at in marketing media!”  Some of it is even Furry-led. Cons in Pittsburgh, PA and San Jose, CA are getting city support to spread attention:

I'm at the airport and I see this. Wtf are you ppl!? pic.twitter.com/IapcZMDdiO

— Arokh74 (@Arokh74) December 23, 2015

Attention comes in different forms. I’d say that Buzz naturally spreads from person to person.  Marketing is the effort to intentionally cultivate it, and it brings a reinforcing effect of Hype (or backlash).  I think cultivation crosses a line, and I suspect that’s happening here. (Call it a gut feeling from running the most active Furry News blog… and I have, er, a few connections.) Recognition will have lag time, but speculation is high now.

“FURRY CHIC” IN 2016.

 

We might be in a special era.  Call it the Fursplosion of 2016, or the Year of Furry. It was a minor blog topic last year: “Marvel Looking To Capture The Furry Market?“ and now it’s bigger – Disney Prepares to Cash In on the Furry Demographic with “Zootopia”.

On the day of writing this article (1/23/16), a furry-made documentary (‘Fursonas’) got unprecedented recognition.  It screened at the Slamdance film festival (“one of the most significant Film festivals in the world”) and instantly sold to a distributor. Here’s their press release. Look for it on Netflix.

We're so thrilled that the 1st screened film on our 1st day of #slamdance2016 acquired distribution!! @FursonasDoc https://t.co/VvlXQHEvKM

— Slamdance (@Slamdance) January 23, 2016

Film critics love eras in movies that say something about society.  “Furry Chic” is my way of harkening back (tastefully or not) to 1970’s “Porno Chic”.  Those movies had unprecedented mainstream success, coinciding with social revolution and gutsy exploitation for topics that Hollywood wouldn’t touch.  That era even made Furry roots with the first X-rated animated movie, Fritz The Cat.  It makes it funny when John Lasseter says Zootopia has “Disney’s first ‘nude scene.’”

Furry is already it’s own thing.  This is about mainstream notice that could bring more stuff we like.

Stigma can be risky for marketers.  See: “How Esurance Lost Its Mascot to the Internet” and Kellogg’s deals with sexy tweeting at Tony the Tiger. Hints and winks help them to stay coy.  But after that comes bold recognition.  See CollegeHumor making raunchy in your face “fursploitation” parodies – and Casper Mattress making a gentle mention without explaining.  It tells me that people in high places now know that they don’t have to define us to get recognition.

@DogpatchPress We don’t sleep and tell.

— Casper (@Casper) August 3, 2015

That’s not even a hidden wink. See what I mean about their approach?

MAKING BUZZ WITH P.R. CONTROL.

 

Zootopia might arguably be the most “furry” thing a movie studio has made in decades.  You might even suspect they’re not shy with flirting at the mature side (“what do you call a three humped camel? Pregnant.”)

Of course kid’s animated movies have been full of winks for a long time.  It’s smart to keep parents entertained with jokes that go over kid’s heads.  They’re experts at that.

I got quoted in the news: “patch_ofurr writes ‘don’t ever think a giant corporation doesn’t know EXACTLY what they’re doing…'” 

I believe there are clues about them coyly tailoring social outreach for “no direct Furry engagement” while enjoying fan attention.  It’s probably in their rulebook. You can get the feeling from what they don’t and WON’T say.

@SeiRruf Looks like he removed his tweet.. Luckily, this is the internet. It's preserved in this screenshot. :) pic.twitter.com/B3f6bD0Xw9

— ✎ S e i R r u f (@SeiRruf) November 10, 2015

Reddit comments (two from others, and two from me:)

The “Community engagement representative” probably told him to pull it because it could be misleading. It doesn’t have to be for negative reasons, their PR department may simply not want the message to be “we made this for the furries!”. Employee interaction with the community tends to be pretty heavily regulated when it comes to media.

This. PR control for big projects like this is MASSIVE. There’s a reason most companies have a Community Manager to act as their pointman. It’s very easy for an employee to unknowingly say something they weren’t supposed to, or imply something that isn’t true. One needs only look at extremely public companies like Riot Games to see where an employee post can be blown out of proportion rather quickly.

If they’re pulling messages at furries, that says something about awareness as much as if they were reaching out to them. See here.

No other movie has needed to explain what “anthropomorphic” means. Putting the word in the trailer is like putting “furry” on a giant neon sign… They probably had a board meeting just about using that word. You might call it a subcultural signifier, like shared slang words, because it has special power even though it’s a dictionary word.  Furries love being recognized by each other. Notice from Disney might make them feel extra special. If they’re winking, it’s working.

Whatever this all means, it’s shaping up to make great movie fun with big budget gloss, everything fans love, and likely spawning a new generation of furries.  At the same time, I believe that companies will always keep some distance and avoid stuff like sponsoring cons.  That could let fandom keep freedom that’s beyond safe and corporate, and let everyone treat mature stuff as no big deal – after all, we’re not hurting anyone.  That would be the best of both worlds.  Even if it makes disapproval here and there, those who enjoy it will end up with big silly grins all over their faces.

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

Foxcraft: Book One, The Taken, by Inbali Iserles. Illustrated by the author. Map by Jared Blando.
NYC, Scholastic Press, September 2015, hardcover $16.99 ([3] + 252 [+ 8] pages), Kindle $8.87.

Foxcraft: Book One, The Taken, by Inbali Iserles. Illustrated by the author. Map by Jared Blando.
London, Scholastic Press, October 2015, paperback £5.99 ([3] + 252 [+ 8] pages), Audio CD £27.70.

Foxcraft: Die Magie der Füchse, by Inbali Iserles. Illustrated by the author. Map by Jared Blando. Translated by Katharina Orgaß.
Frankfurt, Fischer KJB, September 2015, hardcover €14.99 ([3] + 252 [+ 8] pages), Kindle €12.99.

I won’t guarantee the accuracy of the descriptions of the British and German editions, because I have not seen them. The American cover by Liam Peters is actually a wraparound digital painting, but the back cover portion does not seem to be online anywhere.

Foxcraft is another series for Young Adults; recommended for 8- to 12-year-olds or grades 4 to 7. The blurb calls it “The first book in a thrilling fantasy trilogy”, so we know that it will be only three novels.

“My paws slipped on dry earth. I kicked up shrouds of dust as I hurtled toward the fence. Swerving to avoid it, I righted myself and dived under the splintering dead wood. My pursuer was gaining on me as I grasped for the wildway, the tangle of greenery on the other side. I caught the rich aroma of hazel and cedar, the quiet and peace of the world beyond the web of grass.” (p. 1)

Isla is a young vixen who lives with her larger brother Pirie, and her Fa and Ma and Greatma in a den within a patch by a wildway, a path of green, tall grass, and a few trees between the gray territories of the two-legged furless. The reader will recognize this as a semi-developed human residential neighborhood between the true wilderness and a fully-urbanized city; and that Isla’s family are what are known as urban foxes, living close to the humans but not in their fully-urbanized cities. They are mostly scavengers, but not entirely; they eat well on the rats that infest all human cities. Isla and Petrie, the foxlings, play together while the adults forage for food.

The three elders call Petrie and Isla in from their play when rain threatens. But Isla thinks she scents berries near their wildway and is lured after them. She is gone longer than she expects, and when she returns to her den, she finds redness and smoke and five or six strange foxes prowling in the ruins of her home. The leader of the intruders is a one-eyed vixen:

“‘Death,’ she hissed, and the foxes stiffened. ‘The Master has spoken – all traitors will die!’” (p. 12)

Isla flees into the heart of what her family has called the Great Snarl, and what she learns other wild animals call the Graylands; the human city. She does not know what has happened to her family or where to look for them. For the first four chapters the reader wanders throughout the city with Isla, seeing it with a fox’s bleak eyes and learning some vulpine language; “death rivers” or “deathways” for highways, and “manglers” for automobiles. Then she learns that she is being followed by Siffrin, another fox who hopes that she will lead him to Petrie. But Siffrin is not an ordinary fox. He can look like another animal, or Isla herself:

“My ears flicked back. ‘Is it … Do you turn into different creatures?’

His voice was so low I could hardly hear him. ‘It’s a foxcraft, an ancient form of shape-shifting. With it I can mimic the appearance of another cub of Canista. I copy what I see, what I feel with my senses. I do not become someone else – it just looks that way to the untrained eye.” (p. 70)

This foxcraft is called wa’akkir. Isla wants to learn wa’akkir, and what other foxcrafts there are like slimmering, and what happened to her family, and why Siffrin and the Elders who she has never heard of want Petrie, and who the deadly foxes are who destroyed her den and are mortal enemies of the Elders, and …

And lots more. By the end of The Taken, Isla has had desperate adventures and escaped from them. She has learned the answers to most of these questions, but she has not found Pirie yet (although she now knows that he is still alive). Further adventures lie ahead. Book 2, The Elders, will be published in Fall 2016.

Foxcraft is a mixture of genuine vulpine lore and Iserles’ invention of their culture. A group of foxes is called a skulk. (True.) The high-pitched barking that foxes make while on a hunt is called gekkering. (True.) Foxes call the wisest fox, the master of foxcraft, the Black Fox. (Iserles.) In addition to wa’akkir and slimmering, other forms of foxcraft are karakking and maa-sharm. (Iserles.)

Urban foxes are more common in Great Britain than in North America, and Iserles lives in England. Her first books were the Young Adult fantasies The Tygrine Cat and The Tygrine Cat On The Run, a dulogy featuring talking cats. Iserles has since become one of the pseudonymous “Erin Hunter” authors collaborating on the Young Adult fantasy Survivors series, featuring talking dogs (six so far). Iserles has become an expert at writing from an animal’s point of view.

In addition to writing Foxcraft, Iserles has illustrated it, but not with traditional drawings. She has created circular pen-&-ink chapter headings that symbolize each chapter. The American edition has double-spread endpapers by her that are not in the British or German editions.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon (American Edition)
• Buy on Amazon (British Edition)
• Buy on Scholastic (British Edition)
• Buy on Amazon (German Edition)
• Buy on Fischerverlage (German Edition)
• Learn more about the series on Scholastic
• Q&A with the author about the series
• Inbali Iserles Website 

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

Fuzzy Business 3: End Game, by Amelia Ritner
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, November 2015, trade paperback $7.99 (173 pages), Kindle $1.99.

You would think that any book in a series subtitled “End Game” would be the final volume, wouldn’t you? Well, maybe you’d be right and maybe not.

In Fuzzy Business (May 2013) and Fuzzy Business 2: Fuzz Harder (December 2013), the young humanimal cat-girl Miara Cooper (she has cat ears, whiskers, a tail, and light fur) in San Francisco in the last half of the 21st Century finds herself the target of PAGE, a brutal anti-humanimal hate group who intend to make her a fatal example of what they do to anyone not 100% human. She is defended by the mysterious hunky coyote-man biker John, who starts out by kidnaping her, and the equally-handsome human Connor who, when she asks for help, comes running with “[…] An AR-15, a scoped hunting rifle with a wooden stock, a pump action shotgun, two .38 revolvers, a Glock identical to the one that John had pointed earlier, a laser-equipped Glock 26 that John snickered at when he saw, ten varying boxes of ammunition, a stun gun, a .22 semiautomatic rifle with an obscenely huge magazine of bullets attached to it […]” (Fuzzy Business, p. 113) and a lot more. She also has the help, whether she wants it or not, of pro-humanimal activists who insist on recruiting her into their groups. And PETA.

As I said in my review of the first two books, “If Fuzzy Business were dunked in any more feminine pheromones, it would read like a furry paranormal romance.” That doesn’t mean that there is no serious danger. Fuzzy Business 2: Fuzz Harder ends with John shot at close range and left for dead.

Fuzzy Business 3: End Game begins with Miara and lots of people including the police gathered around John’s hospital bed. He’s recovering, and it looks like they now have all the support and police protection that they need. The local and state governments are demonstrating their support of what the activists call Animal-Americans, the 100% human bigots are laying low, and the equally-murderous humanimal extremists who have declared any humanimals who believe in equality with humans to be traitors (one of them, Fox, shot John) are on the run. But there are still dangers, as are shown by another attempt on John’s life in the hospital.

Ritner tells two intermixed stories; Miara’s own, trying to get John to accept a witness protection program and trying to find a new job following the events in Fuzz Harder, and that of the humanimals in general society. While there is an active pure-human minority, many people are almost too much in favor of the humanimals. Mothers want their babies to be cute cat-, dog-, raccoon-, lion-, or tiger-human hybrids despite the sky-high costs.   Even beaver and moose humanimals. The government’s attempt to rigidly control the humanimal process is failing:

“The evidence of the existence of an underground market for Genetic Manipulation is overwhelming. There is no possible way that, even with multiple assisting surgeons and technicians, Dr. Finchley’s facility could produce as many manipulated individuals as we are seeing in the current generation.” (pgs. 47-48)

Since the legitimate medical process of manipulating a human embryo into a human-animal hybrid is extremely difficult and expensive, numerous cheaper though still expensive facilities of dubious legality are assumed by the public to have sprung up. Unlicensed and underground laboratories risk killing the mother or child, or having the embryo turn out to be a malformed freak.

“I took another sip of my tea, and thanked my lucky stars that my parents had already lived in California, and had caught the inaugural wave of Dr. Finchley’s treatment before he rose to great fame and fortune. I was sure there were thousands of women just like my mother, dying to augment their babies the same way I had been, who simply couldn’t go through with it now because of how much that rich bastard charged for his services.” (p. 50)

Miara had been studying for a P.I.’s license while working as a mall cop in Book 2. She now decides to track down Fox and the Mammal Mafia extremists by herself, especially since there is evidence that Fox is stalking her.

All of this is intermixed with Miara’s running commentary about her love life. She has not decided yet between the coyote-man or the human, and with John disappearing temporarily into the authorities’ witness relocation program, she concentrates on Connor.

“We had our differences, sure, but the sex was amazing.” (p. 60)

That’s Miara and Connor in the parking lot of a dance hall in Solapi’s cover painting. Fox, their nemesis, is in the car. Page 123.

Another murder provides Miara with the clue that leads her, Connor, and the police to the killers, after a lot of exciting risk-taking. Well, maybe not entirely exciting:

“‘Can you slow down a bit?’ I asked, readjusting my butt in my seat. Sitting on my tail was always uncomfortable, but Connor’s reckless driving was shifting my body back and forth over it. ‘You’re making me queasy.’

‘We’re being followed,’ Connor said simply.

[…]

‘Do you have any guns in here?’

He glanced at me with a lifted eyebrow. I let out a breath of air, hard, to calm myself. This was Connor. Of course he had weapons in his car. But would they be enough to stop Fox?” (pgs. 134-135)

Miara and Connor decide not to miss this opportunity to take down Fox personally, with the police screaming over Miara’s cell phone to let them handle it.

“My left hand touched something with angular plastic edges, and my fingers grasped it so I could pull it out. Was it a cheap knife? A throwing star, perhaps?

I opened my hand and looked at the thing inside. It was a Batman PEZ dispenser.” (pgs. 146-147)

What does Miara do with a Batman PEZ dispenser against a gun? Read Fuzzy Business 3: End Game to find out.

I won’t say how this ends, but it seems to conclude the series definitely. On the other hand, there are a few loose threads that could lead to more sequels. Ritner says in a note in my review copy that this is deliberate. “I left the book open ended enough that I may pick up the series again one day.”

But for now, Fuzzy Business is complete in three books; cheap as trade paperbacks and even cheaper on Kindle. If you’re not familiar with the first two yet, start with Book 1.

– Fred Patten

• Buy Fuzzy Business 3 on Amazon
• Buy Fuzzy Business on Amazon
• Buy Fuzzy Business 2 on Amazon
• Fred’s Review of Fuzzy Business 2 on Flayrah

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

Unnaturals [1]: The Battle Begins, by Devon Hughes. Illustrated by Owen Richardson.
NYC, HarperCollins Publishers/Katherine Tegen Books, October 2015, hardcover $16.99 ([5] + 335 [+ 4] pages), Kindle $9.99.

Unnaturals (the animals in the story are called “the Unnaturals”) is a fantasy-adventure series for 8- to 12-year-old readers; grades 3 to 7. The standard formula is to produce 4 or 5 annual serialized novels, each up to the last ending on a minor conclusion and cliffhanger leading to the next.

The futuristic city of Lion’s Head is populated by both humans and feral domestic animals; in this case, dogs. The story starts with two dogs of one alley pack, Castor and his brother Runt. The pack is led by the brutal Alpha. Castor and Runt have a German shepherd mother and a Mexican wolf father. Since this is a fantasy, the animals can converse intelligently in “animal talk”.

“The brothers ran together, matching step for step, breath for breath. The farther they went into the city, the taller and more packed together the black glass towers grew. The domed walkways that ran between them crisscrossed until they blocked out every last bit of sun. It was never dark, though – every side of every building flashed dozens of lifelike images each minute: political nonsense and Lion’s Head news. Pictures selling things that glittered and things that glowed and things that promised to change your life. Humans like you never saw them in real life – with faces three stories tall instead of tiny dots, sitting outside, grinning up at the sun with exposed pink and brown flesh, looking like they weren’t afraid of all the things crawling up their upturned noses through the air.

Over the years, Castor had taught himself to read by staring at those changing pictures. It was a useless hobby and one he never would’ve admitted to in front of Alpha, but Runt got a kick out of hearing about the strange human world, and he was constantly bugging Castor for updates.

[…]

‘If we run into Chauncy Chow, I’ve got your back like always,’ Castor promised, scanning the narrow alleyways between the factories for their territory rivals.

‘I don’t care about Chauncy or his wee weenies,’ Runt scoffed. ‘They’re just fancy rodents.’

Castor barked a laugh. It was true. Humans had bred miniature breeds when space was tight, but now that virtual pets were in fashion, the pampered minis were being dumped on the streets, too. The so-called ‘rival pack’ was a whiny group of dachshunds led by an entitled puffball.” (pgs. 6-8)

The older dogs, called Gray Whiskers, are wary of humans. The younger dogs scoff at them. The humans spend all their time “behind thick glass. They can’t handle dust or heat or raw food.”

The humans’ favorite sport is watching the currently top-popular Mega Monster Mash-up featuring “this season’s murderous mutants!!!” on their floor-to-ceiling warp screen walls. The humans hold gladiatorial battles between the mutated Unnaturals, who are stars to human and animal alike, in the huge Dome, the city’s arena. The feral animals of Lion’s Head also have their legends of the Greenplains where wild game like deer and rabbits lived. “The only prey these littered streets had in abundance were rats – small, sneaky things that would scrunch up their faces to taunt you, their beady eyes glowing red in the shadows.” (p. 11) Castor dismisses the Greenplains as only old nursery tales the Gray Whiskers tell, while Runt believes they are (or were) real.

The biggest danger in the alleys isn’t rival dog packs, or the rats or wily raccoons. It’s the Crusher Slushers; huge semi-robotic Waste Management machines that grab any animal they can catch and turn it into paste.

The first human protagonist of Unnaturals is eleven-year-old Marcus, who lives in an apartment 247 stories up and is a rabid fan of the Mega Monster Mash-up battles on the simulink network. Marcus, and the rest of the public, believe that the “murderous mutants” shown – the star gladiators like the Invincible, a giant tiger with a scorpion’s tail; Pookie the Poisonous, a Chihuahua-spider; the Crunch, a cockroach-crocodile; the Hellion, a Komodo dragon-hippopotamus mix; the Fearless, a saber-toothed grizzly bear; the Enforcer, an octo-elephant; and others – are only virtual reality characters, the technological descendants of computer-generated animation, or maybe androids; in any case, not real.

Slightly older Leesa, in an underground slum apartment, knows the truth since one of the Unnaturals used to be Pookie, her pet Chihuahua, before he disappeared four years earlier and reemerged in the Dome as a Chihuahua’s head grafted onto a giant spider’s body.

When Castor is trapped by a Crusher Slusher while fighting a rival dog pack, its human drivers decide that he is too good a fighter to be reduced to slime. They sell him to NuFormz, the laboratory that mutates animals into the Unnaturals. There he meets Jazlyn the rabbit, Enza the tigress, Rainner the monitor lizard, Deja the snake, and other animals scheduled to become “monsters” designed for entertainment. NuFormz turns out to be secretly owned by Mayor Eva Eris, who realizes that the best way to remain at the top of Lion’s Head’s politicians is to give the voters plenty of bread & games: Mega Monster Mash-up’s “fantasy” animals’ gladiatorial contests. She quietly encourages the city’s Waste Management workers to bring likely-looking feral animals to NuFormz’s scientists and animal handlers who design ferocious-looking monsters. She also diverts exotic predators from the city’s zoo to the NuFormz labs.

The Unnaturals are mostly alpha predators bioengineered to fight more savagely, with an occasional prey Unnatural like Jazlyn, who becomes the Swift, a super-speedy panther-rabbit. Castor is turned into the Underdog, a handsome eagle-winged dog that is supposed to win the viewers’ sympathy.

The cover by Owen Richardson is representative of Unnaturals: The Battle Begins. Although several of the book’s 49 chapters feature Marcus, Leesa, and their associates, it is Castor and his animal friends and enemies in Lion’s Head’s secret labs and huge Dome who are the main cast, appearing most often. The two children, who know or learn The Truth, become determined to free the mutated monsters who are still alive. Castor becomes the leader of the Unnaturals in the NuFormz labs and in the Dome, or at least those Unnaturals who have not become kill-crazy. Several supporting characters emerge among the Unnaturals. Castor’s brother and original pack quickly fade out of The Battle Begins, though they will doubtlessly reappear in later volumes.

Owen Richardson’s illustrations consist of chapter-heading drawings, most repeated several times. The text descriptions and illustrations of Castor are curiously inconsistent, ranging from a German shepherd with large wings, to the glorified flying dog shown on the cover, to a traditional griffin. Possibly Castor evolves over the course of the series; in The Battle Begins, just the descriptions of a regular German shepherd with an eagle’s wings seems the most accurate. If you like talking exotic animals, you should enjoy this series.

Comics and animation fans should be familiar with the theme of characters turned into cyborgs or “monsters” against their will, who use their new powers to combat evil. There has especially been a lot of it in Japanese manga, going back to Shōtarō Ishinomori’s 1964 Cyborg 009 and Taiko Saito’s 1967 The Shadowman. This is the first time that I have seen it applied to talking animals.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

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

The Long Road Home, by Rukis. Illustrated by the author.
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, July 2015, hardcover $29.95 (403 pages), trade paperback $19.95, electronic edition $12.95.

This is a mature content book.  Please ensure that you are of legal age to purchase this material in your state or region (publisher’s advisory.)

This is the final volume of the trilogy begun in Off the Beaten Path and continued in Lost On Dark Trails. Those were first published as trade paperbacks; now all three are available as $29.95 hardcovers.

The trilogy follows Shivah, the bobcat narrator, a Carvecian native “squaw” in an anthropomorphic world roughly similar to late 18th-century North America (the Amurescan colonies in Carvecia fought a war for their independence and formed the United Carvecian Nations a little over a generation earlier); and her two companions, Ransom, a coyote trapper, and Puck (Puquanah), a blind silver fox shaman. Shivah is on a quest for vengeance against Methoa’nuk (also a bobcat), Shivah’s ex-husband, a cruel native warrior who has joined a band of raiders that have wiped out Shivah’s tribe and now threaten the new UCN peoples along the Eastern Seaboard. Lost On Dark Trails went in a major new direction from Off the Beaten Path, so it should be no surprise that The Long Way Home does the same.

In this conclusion to the trilogy, Shivah’s quest changes from vengeance against her personal enemies and those of her native peoples to finding a cure for the Fever that has been killing natives and UCN peoples alike. Ransom, Puck, and Magpie the rat take her deeper into the lands of the strange foreigners from overseas:

“I was beginning to see different sorts of people as well, the closer we got to the enormous settlement. Peoples I’d never before heard of, or even imagined. More and more varieties of Otherwolves, felines with brightly-colored fur and wild markings, spots and stripes and patchworks of different colors, and some peoples I couldn’t even begin to identify.

By the time we reached the city itself, I’d been seeing it in the distance for nearly half the day. The hilly terrain surrounding this ‘Arbordale’ sloped down onto the flatlands that lead towards the ocean, so we could see the immense, sprawling settlement after we’d crested the last of the rolling mountains along our trek. In fact, it was all I could see for miles.” (pgs. 13-14)

Rukis’ talent for rich description is evident:

“When Ransom made his way towards her, the [polar] bear looked up, as did the black canine she was talking to. The bear was a very large woman, built like most bears, dense and strong, but definitely female. She was wearing a richly-colored blue tunic with gold trim, and a long, cream-colored wrap skirt beneath. She looked very regal, very impressive. It wasn’t often I saw a woman who commanded respect. It was refreshing.

‘I know you, don’t I?’ the bear said with half a smile, pointing a finger at Ransom. ‘I never forget a scar.’” (p, 19)

Shivah’s party is headed away from the lands that she has always known, to the Dark Continent to find a cure for the deadly Fever. Shivah is also still pursuing the fleeing last target of her vengeance. But the Dark Continent has become so dangerous that the Amurescan king is evacuating its colonies there. The only ships that the four can find that are going there are a tiny fleet of three privateers, more like pirates; completely untrustworthy.

I hesitate to reveal any more for fear of giving away spoilers, but there are wonders here. Before Shivah even gets to the Dark Continent, there is action at sea:

“And then I saw something bizarre. Something I hadn’t expected, considering we were two weeks away from land, as far as I knew.

‘Are you certain we’re two weeks from landfall?’ I asked Grayson [the wolf captain] curiously.

‘Ten days maybe, with these winds,’ the wolf mused. ‘Why?’

[…]

I shook my head, still keeping my gaze on the bizarre specks I’d noticed. I was fairly certain now… I could see wings. ‘It’s not land,’ I said, ‘it’s birds.’

‘What?!’ the wolf suddenly snapped, and grabbed the spyglass out of my hands. He looked through it for a few moments, searching for what I’d seen, and then he froze. I watched his expression shift from concern to outright alarm.

[…]

‘What are they? What are they carrying?’ I asked, as we dropped down onto the top platform, and the wolf stopped there, grabbing at the edge of it and screaming down at one of the rats far beneath us, ‘Bring the sails in, damnit! Now!’

I made it to his side at that, and the wolf pulled out his pistols, one by one, checking them. ‘Drakes,’ he growled, ‘carrying fire bombs. Baskets of burning pitch and tar, and whatever else they feel like loading those blasted things with. They sunk my fourth boat a few years back. The Leverage.’ He snarled, shoving the last of the pistols into his bandolier. ‘We have to take them down before they get close.’” (pgs. 99-101)

The Long Road Home is full of unexpected drama, new characters, the end of Shivah’s long quest, and over a half-dozen illustrations by Rukis. There are a few brief scenes of adult intimate sexuality, both hetero and homo, which is the reason for FurPlanet’s advisory, but they are tastefully and nonerotically presented. The trilogy is really one long novel in three parts, so if you are not familiar with it yet, you should start with Off the Beaten Path. If you have read it and Lost On Dark Trails, you don’t need me to tell you to get this climactic volume.

Cover from Rukis from Furaffinity

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Fur Planet
• Buy the e-book on Bad Dog Books
• Fred’s Review of Off The Beaten Path
• Fred’s Review of Lost on Dark Trails

Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  Guest posts welcome. Tips: [email protected]. 

Zootopia marketing inspires visions of a feature length Orangina commercial. This short article shares a new image and says the movie is having “aggressive marketing”. And Reddit furries discuss hot tigers:

• “There’s no denying that they know who they’re marketing to.”
• “Big, beefy, sparkly tigers. They know what they’re doing with stuff like these, and nobody’s gonna tell me otherwise.”
• “And people still claim they’re not marketing to us. ha. ha. ha.”

Marketing meets Rule 34.  “How Esurance Lost Its Mascot to the Internet.” Not furry, but this will ring some bells.

Puzzle Cheetah in Subway ad (via Greenreaper.) Puzzle is a UK fursuiter. Put this on the list of mainstream marketing featuring furries.

Fursonas, a documentary About “Furries”, goes to the Slamdance Film Festival.  It’s prestigious to debut in a national film festival like this.  As far as I know, it’s the best exposure a Furry-made documentary has yet gotten.  Some observers have some criticism about a main focus on fursuiters (but doesn’t that fit visual media?) The film maker’s statements leads me to think it will aim above plain explanations we’ve all seen, to offer more interesting philosophy about identity.

Fursona has a great article in the maker’s local Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The production was boosted by winning a $10,000 grant from Pittsburgh’s Sprout Fund. It’s a competition that awards support to winning short film makers so they can develop longer work, to nurture deserving members of the community. This tells me that Anthrocon’s influence is continuing to spread. Here’s a clip from the doc that has Uncle Kage.

French convention “Fursuit Black Light” was visited by a French journalism blog. Here’s a translation.  The blog does a monthly deep investigation into internet subculture topics like 4Chan, Hentai, etc.  One of it’s journalists made this extensive report of visiting the French con as an outsider, with permission to write about it. It reports 66 attendees (a 4-fold growth since the first event in 2013) and mentions much activity on Anthrocity and FranceFurs.com.

“The popularity of furries benefits a young Quebec company”.  French translated news about Fur The Win Studios.

Kigurumi vs Furries – a lazy journalist poops out a sub-par article. It’s a fashion piece in Oregon’s Willamette Week. If a journalist is doing a bad job, they’re most likely quoting that 2001 attack article from Vanity Fair (which is more stale than a white poo on the sidewalk).  Subtitled “How to tell the difference between adults doing sex stuff with stuffed animals and kids mimicking Japanese culture.”

RIP David Bowie – a tribute from Neonbunny. Neon’s fursuit eyes are an awesome feature for a ‘sona (I always thought it was a reference to Alice in Wonderland.)  Here’s the story of Bowie’s unusual eyes.

RIP- popular adult FurAffinity artist Jasen Tamiia. Reddit has links to his art and an appeal for help with funeral costs. It was an accident at home and it’s sad to see someone die before their time.

RIP – Long time Bay Area Furry, Steelehart.  There was much appreciative rememberance from the community for his contributions. I received comments that he should be remembered for over 15 years of good support.  He leaves a partner who deserves support back in kind. There were medical bills and there’s a GoFundMe appeal for help with costs.

RIP – Brian Bedford, voice of Disney’s ‘Robin Hood’.  Flayrah has the story, and here’s a tribute from the director of Zootopia:

Brian Bedford voice of Robin Hood passed away. #RobinHood is my inspiration for creating #Zootopia.He will be missed pic.twitter.com/vo9SpQ3cVx

— Byron Howard (@ByronPHoward) January 14, 2016

“Dawgtown” animated movie updates. Facebook has new short sample clips of traditional animation.  The indie movie is being directed by a single creator, a gutsy approach with only a special niche of models like Ralph Bakshi.  Check the Dawgtown tag for a creator interview and more.

Oculus Rift to ship with anthro game. Lucky’s Tail is a platformer with a “fun-loving fox”, a made-for-VR game to be included with the immersive VR viewer.

Abominably Adorable: Wisconsin woman walks her poodle while dressed as abominable snowman.

Google Doodle, 1-12-15: Puss In Boots (Tip: Fred.) The google “doodle” for Charles Perrault’s birthday featured Puss in Boots.  Perrault “laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale.”

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AMAZING FURRY NEWS COMING SOON – You Won’t Believe How Much This Furry Paid For Porn In #7!

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Upside Down Bat Fursuiter Can't Figure Out Which Way To Unzip

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) September 24, 2015

Pittsburgh Bans Species Discrimination, Hires Fursuiters For K9 Police

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) September 24, 2015

Anthro Clams Demand To Be Called 'Furry' Without Giggles

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) September 25, 2015

'Famous' Fursuiter Seeks Career As Sidewalk Sign Twirler

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) September 25, 2015

Furry Neutering Campaign Just Wants To Make Fandom More Respectful

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) September 29, 2015

'Murrsuit' Added To Oxford English Dictionary

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) September 29, 2015

Guest post submitted by Akhetnu.

Furry is a unique exploration and interpretation of the human experience, warts and all, through the lens of animals both real and fantastic.  Many of these creatures are unique to certain parts of the world, especially the imaginary ones that form part of the mythological archetypes of the cultures other than our own.  When it comes to looking at humanity, we also tend to investigate these various cultures as they existed and continue to exist throughout time. 

As a result, there are many fursuits, fursonas and furry art of beings such as dragons from East Asia adorned in silk kimono, wolves dressed as Navajo warriors, and raptors wearing uniforms of the imperial Prussian army (that was a shameless plug for myself, incidentally).  Still others may adopt a small piece of a cultural artifact such as a ying-yang symbol, Alpaca poncho, or a Chinese character tattoo.  Furries may even refer to their fursonas as ‘totems’, at least if that concept is in the popular consciousness of their society.   

Many of these furries are not themselves descendants of the cultures portrayed on their fursonas or suits.  This had led to concerns over cultural appropriation, which is believed by many to be problematic in that is dehumanizes the people of other cultures and robs them of their own identities, as and hence is thought to represent Western white oppression of minorities. 

An example in the real world was at Yale University where a letter was circulated urging students not to adopt Halloween costumes portraying other cultures, as it was allegedly harmful to others of those cultures.  An art exhibit wherein people could try on the kimono used in a painting by Monet was shut down after protests accusing the art gallery of cultural appropriation.  A Columbian student in Canada was told not to wear his own Columbian poncho and hat for Halloween, not because it was him culturally appropriating (can you appropriate from yourself?) but because other students may have mistaken it for such.

What, then, is the appropriate way to appropriate?  I would first offer the suggestion that cultural appropriation is not in itself problematic or objectively harmful.  Rather, it is a natural and historical outcome of the interaction between any two cultures, and is invariably two-way.   For example, American blue jeans or cowboy images are popular throughout the world, even as samurai literature fueled cowboy Western films, which were themselves produced in Italy.  Not only that, but specific cultural ideas and artifacts adopted from one culture by another will invariably be altered by the latter to suit their own needs. 

Voodoo came from West African slaves incorporating Christianity into their native religious practices.  Many Chinese in Shanghai would don a Western fedora and scarf with their own cheongsam, Japanese tempura was adopted from Portugese deep frying, Japanese Judo is practiced in Brazil, while Zen Buddhism came to the US in the 1950s and adopted a unique character all its own, even as Japanese Zen was different in some ways from the original Chinese Chan Buddhism.

Some may counter that the difference between such cultural exchanges and cultural appropriation is the latter involves one culture dominating another.  Yet, it is impossible for any culture to encounter each other on a purely level playing field, technologically, militarily, politically or economically.  In addition, the end results of the cultural exchanges between different power balances seem similar: each culture is influenced by the other regardless of who has more power.

Cultural appropriation may actually help keep fading cultures in the public consciousness. The Boy Scouts get accused of cultural appropriation of Native American symbolism in their Order of the Arrow group, but that many native tribes actually like what they do because it keeps their traditions alive.  In fact the Order of the Arrow is advised by representatives of Native American tribes.  Meanwhile, the Japanese love when others adopt elements of their cultures so much that they have a term for it, “cool Japan”. 

When you look at who is accusing other people of cultural appropriation, it often comes from those outside of the cultures they claim are being harmed. In fact, it tends to be people who were born and/or raised in the US.  Even Speedy Gonzalez is loved by many Mexicans; they recognize that as a comic character he will have humorous exaggerations, but his ultimate heroism and amusement is something they find enjoyable.  Polling consistently shows many native Americans do not mind mascots patterned on their people.  When an Arab character was shown in a recent Street Fighter video game, audiences in the middle east cheered while some Americans wrung their hands.  As with anything, opinions vary inside and outside the cultures portrayed in Western media.

Another issue brought up is appropriation being undesirable in the context of commerce: using other cultures for marketing or selling items inspired by said cultures. Again, I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing…trade is among the first interactions between cultures, after all. Settlers and native peoples would usually exchange ornamentation and fabrics they created.  In fact, cultural exchange is often enabled by trade.  That much of it took the form of bartering means it also took place outside of a purely ‘capitalist’ system.  All cultures have also bought and sold most of their artifacts among themselves, such as clothing, food and other items, to begin with.

While cultural appropriation is natural and largely beneficial, it does not seem unreasonable to take certain steps when adopting the trappings of another culture, if one is presenting themselves as authentic representations of that culture.  At that point, they are fulfilling the role of educator in a sense, or at least a reenactor, and hence it is useful to follow the rules reenactors adopt. 

Essentially, they should undertake research and attention to detail with all due diligence.  They should clarify, if needed, that they are not from that culture, not pretend to know what they do not know, and can point to a good source for more information.  That way they do not misrepresent what they are portraying, and faithfully represent it all they can within the limits of their budget and research.

At the same time, if someone is just using a symbol, cultural artifact or idea as part of their fursona, with a different interpretation or as part of an eclectic presentation, they need not have to fit any strictly traditional or historical pattern.  All they need is to be honest about that too, drawing a distinction between “portraying X” versus “being inspired by X”.  After all, being inspired by someone or something is to respect that aspect of them, because you feel it is worthy enough to incorporate into your own experience. 

In addition, it is courteous at the very least to not portray the other culture in a mean spirited manner that mocks it.  This is ultimately a judgment call, since some comic exaggeration is not uncommon in any furry portrayal.  As long as the intent of the suiter or fan is not to ridicule the other culture, it is reasonable to avoid reading a mocking intent into it without asking.  For example, in San Francisco Chinatown I have seen conical hats and even caps with fake queues for sale.  These can be considered ‘costumes’ but even the ethnic Chinese shopkeepers sell them voluntarily, and seem happy to make money off of what may be very silly looking tourists donning their wares.  Of course, all countries have their own ‘national costume’, so cultures ARE costumes.  Everything is a costume if it’s not what you normally wear. 

In furry we are all about costumes: we appropriate species by definition, and if you ask enough vegans, you’ll find out that some view humans as oppressing animals as well.

In spite of all this, there is one aspect to cultural appropriation that does seem more clear cut: adopting unearned honors.  Any society will use symbols to designate those members who have proven their merit in some aspect of the social hierarchy.  Military medals for valor, the Nobel Prize, and doctoral degrees come to mind.  To wear an item of such importance that is still being awarded by an existing culture, while not having done what is necessary to earn it, can be construed as misrepresenting one’s self and diluting the honor associated with the item.  Since those cultures still exist, their members expect those symbols to represent and communicate certain things about the wearer. 

In my own Prussian officer fursuit, I wear only two medals: the German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge (a real, modern German award I have actually earned in the Army), and the WWI version of the Iron Cross Second Class (a defunct award no longer given, with no living recipients).  I even wear military rank that corresponds to my current Army rank of captain.

So what if you are from a culture being portrayed in some way in fandom? 

If you see errors, it’s certainly appropriate to politely correct any misconceptions or simply give additional information for the benefit of the “appropriator” and the audience.  At the same time, one should also ask if the person is trying to be a full reenactor of their culture, or is just using part of it in a new way.  Asking that person’s view of the culture is perhaps the most revealing: if they enjoy or admire some aspects of it, whatever they are doing is unlikely to be with the intent of ridicule.  If they admit to disliking the culture and are portraying it in a manner that seems ridiculous, expressing one’s disapproval is equally valid.  Just because someone can do something legally does not mean it is illegal for someone to likewise explain why they find it offensive.

– Akhetnu

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

Dear Patch;

FurPlanet is advertising that its appearance at Further Confusion will be the final opportunity at present to buy the RainFurrest charity anthologies.  FurPlanet is no longer carrying them after last December 31st and it is bringing its final printed copies for sale at FC 2016.  The book is at least temporarily unavailable, because it will be up to the con to take over printing and selling after this year. – Fred

A Menagerie of Heroes; A Rainfurrest Anthology, edited by Ryan Hickey and Garrett Biggerstaff.
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, September 2015, trade paperback $15.00 (320 pages).

Seattle’s annual RainFurrest convention has published a charity anthology every year since 2011, growing from 108 pages in 2011 to 269 pages in 2014. All stories are donated to RainFurrest by mid-June, and the anthology is printed by FurPlanet Productions in Dallas to be sold at the convention in September, with all proceeds donated to that year’s charity. RainFurrest 2015’s total donation was over $10,000 to the Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah, Washington. The anthologies are subsequently sold through the FurPlanet catalogue.

In 2015 for the first time there were two charity anthologies; the “clean” A Menagerie of Heroes with 14 stories totaling 320 pages, and the “adult” Naughty Sexy Furry Writing; Enter at your own Risk with six stories totaling 124 pages. Here is the G- and PG-rated one, featuring RainFurrest 2015’s theme of Swords and Sorcery.

“Fox Confessor Brings the Flood” by Wilfred B. Wolf is a charming story, but you have to get through some clunky writing to read it. In a medieval Japanese fantasy setting, Gasu Yeo is a Bard, a gifted musician and a royal official sent out to spread the news and the latest royal pronouncements to the farthest corners of the Empire. He is also one of the first Kitsu Bards; one of the first of the Empire’s foxlike anthros to be accepted into the Bards. When he is assigned to visit a distant village that has never seen a Kitsu, he is mistaken for a mythical fox trickster bringing bad luck or a curse. Yeo must convince the human peasants that while he may look like a humanoid fox, he is as human and peaceful (and a royal official) as any of them. The story is delightful, even though given a choice of words, Wolf picks a flat one every time.

“The Lady’s Service” by Renee Carter Hall may not be a better story, but it is much better written. The animal Kingdom of Asteria is about to fall into civil war. The throne has been usurped by Roden, a dictator, and Prince Tiren is about to try to seize it back. But Roden’s soldiers are battle-hardened elks, and Tiren’s are small forest animals, mostly squirrels. Their advantages are that they’re really fast and can climb, but to win a war they’ll have to fight at close quarters, as well. All the squirrels are in training with quarterstaffs and knives in their hidden forest home. Breckon, a young rabbit, wants to join them. Breckon is earnest and determined, but a rabbit isn’t a squirrel. Over the months of training, both Breckon and the squirrels learn that. He grows from a clumsy beginner and an outsider to a confident warrior who also learns how to find friendship.

“Playing the Hero” by Billy Bob Butler is also set in a medieval animal kingdom plagued by war. Here it’s the Avin Empire ruled by harpy eagles, a part of the Fellowship of the Five Kingdoms. The protagonists are four children in the city of Havenpin: Aerin and Claire, two crane sisters; Simon, their hawk step-brother; and Riki, a muskrat:

“The City of Havenpin’s inhabitants were mostly Avin: hawks, corvids, and cranes. However, despite the predominantly Avin population, one could still see representation from all five of the Fellowship Kingdoms. A Scaled merchant was arguing with two Avin over a peculiar rug she was trying to sell, presumably about how muddy the red dyes were in it. Riki learned quickly to not call the them [sic.] lizards. He could still remember the guttural hissing the Scaled emitted before telling him to leave his stall front.” (p. 69)

Riki is a refugee from Moorsend, a nearby city currently occupied by the cat and dog warriors of the Ferrin enemy. He wants to become part of Havenpin’s Watch guards, or maybe a Ranger scout, but his father wants him to succeed him in the family business of being an alchemist. But when the four children venture out into the Ravenwoods on an approved mentorship expedition, it is Riki’s alchemical training that saves them all from an unexpected deadly danger. “Playing the Hero” is a good story, but somehow I was left expecting more. There is too much background, resulting in the story feeling like a brief excerpt taken from a longer novel. I hope that Butler writes it.

“Come the Storm” by Tony Greyfox presents two young animals, Talia the deer and Kristan the bobcat. Each is on a quest of salvation for her or his village, which is dying of thirst:

“It had been many years since the grass had gone this dry, but the elders remembered what had happened before, stories passed down from generation to generation about the long summers and the suffering that had followed – famine and death through the cold winters that invariably came on the heels of the heat.” (pgs. 91-92)

Each youth has been sent with gifts to the gods who supposedly dwell within legendary Oakbend Forest far to the south, to plea for rains. The two youths meet on the parched plains and decide to travel together for safety, although a predator and a prey animal together – well, it isn’t usual. As Talia and Kristan trade tales of their deer and bobcat peoples, convenience develops into friendship, which leads to … (to tell would be a spoiler).

That’s actually a plot synopsis, not a review. “Come the Storm” is neither good enough to be memorable, or bad enough to criticize. It’s just mediocre. The same can be said for most of the other stories in A Menagerie of Heroes. Most are serious: “The Pendant of Westbriar Swamp”, by Skunkbomb; “The Monster’s Story”, by Amy Fontaine; “Tach’s Tale”, by Garrett “Hunter” Biggerstaff; “Tiny Hooves”, by Yannarra Cheetah; “The Black Fang’s Bite”, by Ocean Tigrox; “A Guard’s Tale”, by Tarl “Hoch” Vincnt; “Bond of Spirit”, by Anor-Roc Wildheart; and “In the Days of the Witch-Queens”, by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt. One is humorous: “The Princess and the Dragon”, by Kandrel Fox.

These are all funny-animal stories, many narrated in the first person, about wolf or lion or fox warriors, or cat maidens, most of whom could have just as easily been humans. Several are about dragons, evil or good, and a couple are about kobolds. All are in pseudo-medieval European settings, except for “In the Days of the Witch-Queen” which takes place in the tribal African Veldt. None are bad; most are pleasant to read. They just are not really memorable. The day after you’ve read them, you’ll find it difficult to remember what any of them were about.

There is one other standout: “The Dragon Tax”, by Madison Keller. This gets an A+ for imagination. Riastel is a traditional dragon; fire-breathing, maiden-eating, gold-and-jewels-hoarding, living in a cave; the whole nine yards. His cave is in the Kingdom of Thima. The King of Thima doesn’t want to kill him as much as to make him pay an income tax on his hoard.

“‘As, as a citizen of Thima…’ the man [the royal tax collector] trailed off, gulped, then continued. ‘You are required to pay a tax on all your income. Ten percent, to the King.’

The rear end of the donkey hit the sand as Riastel blew jets of flame into the air. ‘Pay tax, to a human kingdom? Thank you for the meal and the laugh.’ Riastel scooped back up the donkey in one talon and the dead ox in the other.

His flared wings seized the sea breeze and a quick flap took him away from the laughable human. Taxes indeed.” (pgs. 130-131)

So the King hires Sybil Dragonsbane, a professional dragonslayer:

‘I think you have a dragon that’s too alive for your tastes.’ Sybil shrugged. Why else would anyone call her?

‘Actually, we quite like having a dragon on the island.’ The King said. He sat up now, eyes shining in the mage-light from the sconces on the wall. Multiple chins jiggled as he wagged his hands around theatrically. ‘Brings lots of adventurers through town, they drop gold at local businesses, and, of course, pay an entry tax to come to Thima. If they survive or not, not my problem. Boosts the local economy.’” (pgs. 131-132)

Sybil has never been hired to force a dragon to pay a tax instead of killing it. She wants double pay for the job:

“‘Double?!’ The anger in the King’s voice tore her attention away from the bottle. ‘I’m not asking you to kill the thing.’

‘True. What you’re asking is even more dangerous. You’re asking me to leave a dragon alive. A very pissed-off, angry dragon who now knows my scent.’ […]” (p. 133)

So far the story is humorous, but to give away a major spoiler, what the King and his tax collector really want is far more than ten percent of the dragon’s hoard. The adventure rapidly turns grimly serious, forcing the dragon and the dragonslayer to team up to stay alive. Even with this revealed, there are surprises aplenty. “The Dragon Tax” is one story that you will not forget soon, and “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood” (despite its poor writing) and “Playing the Hero” are also pleasantly memorable. The rest are the literary equivalent of snack food; tasty and filling, but not a real meal.

Five of the stories are illustrated, and Jan, the RainFurrest 2015 guest-of-honor, did separate front and back covers. Remember, it’s for charity.

Features the following stories:

Back cover art by Jan

• Fox Confessor Brings The Flood by Wilford B Wolf
• The Lady’s Service by Renee Carter Hall
• Playing the Hero by Billy Bob Butler
• Come The Storm by Tony Greyfox
• The Pendant of Westbriar Swamp by Skunkbomb
• The Dragon Tax by Madison Keller
• The Monster’s Story by Amy Fontaine
• Tatch’s Tale by Garret “Hunter” Biggerstaff
• The Princess and the Dragon by Kandrel Fox
• Tiny Hooves by Yannarra Cheenah
• The Black Fang’s Bite by Ocean Tigrox
• A Guard’s Tale by Tarl “Voice” Hoch
• Bond of Spirit by Anor-Roc Wildheart
• In the Days of the Witch-Queens by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt

Featuring art by Tim Weeks, Cadmiumtea, Markel Soikes, Kelly Tsvahl, Ben Butler, and cover by Jan.

Previous Rainfurrest anthology reviews:

• Furtual Horizons
• ‘Dancing in the Moonlight: RainFurrest 2013 Charity Anthology’
• ‘Tails of a Clockwork World’
• ‘Stories of Camp RainFurrest’

– Fred Patten

Cats and More Cats; Feline Fantasy Fiction, edited by Fred Patten, is launching at Further Confusion 2016 in San Jose, California over the January 14-18 five-day weekend.  The book can be pre-ordered online from FurPlanet Productions.  It will be for sale on the FurPlanet online catalogue afterwards.

Cats and More Cats is a reprint anthology of 14 short stories and novelettes of feline fantasy fiction (“the best of the best”) from 1989 to the present, most of them out-of-print today, plus a new essay and an extensive bibliography of cat fantasy books.  This is designed to appeal to both s-f & fantasy fans, and all cat-lovers.

Contents:

Trouble, by P. M. Griffin (from Catfantastic; Nine Lives and Fifteen Tales, 1989)

Bomber and the Bismarck, by Clare Bell (from Catfantastic II, 1991)

… But a Glove, by John E. Johnston III (from Catfantastic III, 1994)

Born Again, by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (from Catfantastic IV, 1996)

Masters and Students, by Bryan Derksen (from the Transformation Stories Contests website, 1997)

Trixie, by Lawrence Watt-Evans (from Catfantastic V, 1999)

Destiny, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (from Creature Fantastic, 2001)

Three-Inch Trouble, by Andre Norton (from A Constellation of Cats, 2001)

Defender of the Small, by Jody Lynn Nye (from Turn the Other Chick, 2004)

The Luck of the Dauntless, by James M. Ward (from Furry Fantastic, 2006)

After Tony’s Fall, by Jean Rabe (from Catopolis, 2008)

Magtwilla and the Mouse, by Mary E. Lowd (from Allasso volume 2, 2012)

A Spoiled Rotten Cat Lives Here, by Dusty Rainbolt (from The Mystical Cat, 2013)

The Emerald Mage, by Renee Carter Hall (from Hero’s Best Friend, 2014)

Furry Fandom and Cats, by Fred Patten (original, 2016)

A Bibliography for Bast, by Fred Patten (original, 2016)

Price:  $19.95.  261 pages. Wraparound cover by Donryu.  ISBN 978-1-61450-297-5

– Fred Patten