Furry Writers' Guild

Well, here we are at the closing of another year. I hardly know what to say after the events of November. We will get through the next few years just as we’ve weathered other storms, and we will do so with heads high, hearts open, and teeth bared if necessary.

One exciting thing is the imminent publication of the guild’s latest anthology, Tales from the Guild: Blood and Water, published through Fenris. The original plan was for a release at Midwest FurFest, but the publishing process is a slow one with lots of moving parts. Currently the cover art is being finished, so it’s close, but the publication date has had to be moved back a little.

What are your writing goals for 2025? If you’re not feeling great about the future, writing can be an escape–a way to live temporarily in a world where you control every detail. It’s also a beacon to declare that art (and the artist’s soul) will always triumph.

Along with the new year comes awards season, so if there are recently-published books on your to-read pile, this is a good time to bump them to the top. If you have recently-published works, this is also a good time to send in updates for your guild member profile and the suggested reading lists. If you have a book coming out soon, let us know so we can list it in future posts. Make it easy for potential readers to find what you’ve written!

Here are the current open markets for your short stories:
Spirit of the Wolf – Deadline March 31st 2025
The Second Hayven Celestia Anthology – Deadline July 15, 2025
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full

Please also check out the latest book releases from our members:

Shadow Sun, by Jess E. Owen. Released August 30th, 2024.
Legend of Ahya: Broken Empires, by Matthew Colvath. Released October 2nd 2024.
Space Dragons: Luxorian’s Crew, by Veo Corva. Released November 12th 2024.
Catfish and Other Stories, by K.C. Shaw. Released November 30th 2024.
Wolf Tech 3: The Alphas, by Adam Webster. Release date December 10th 2024.

Happy writing!

Kate Shaw

Furry Book Month has drawn to a close for another year. Hopefully everyone who wanted a copy of the 2024 book bundle had a chance to download it.

For those of us who participated in the first Furry Novel Jam, congratulations! Even if you only wrote a handful of words in October, those were words you hadn’t written before. I didn’t finish my novella, but I wrote over 15,000 words total and feel really good about my progress. The Furry Novel Jam doesn’t have to end if you don’t want it to end!

Awards season is coming up fast, so if there are recently-published books on your to-read pile, this is a good time to bump them to the top. If you have recently-published works, this is also a good time to send in updates for your guild member profile and the suggested reading lists. If you have a book coming out soon, let us know so we can list it in future posts. Make it easy for potential readers to find what you’ve written!

Here are the current open markets for your short stories:
Paw Anthology: Volume 2 – Deadline November 21st 2024
Spirit of the Wolf – Deadline March 31st 2025
The Second Hayven Celestia Anthology – Deadline July 15, 2025
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full

Please also check out the latest releases from our members:

Shadow Sun, by Jess E. Owen. Released August 30th
Legend of Ahya: Broken Empires, by Matthew Colvath. Released October 2nd 2024.

Happy writing!

Kate Shaw

Happy furry book month! My laptop decided to celebrate by bluescreening on September 30, so while I have managed to get it up and running again, it’s unfortunately delayed the book bundle release by a day or two.

Edited to add: Many thanks to JFR Coates, who stepped up and got the book bundle put together last night. It’s now available for purchase on Gumroad! There are two versions of the bundle, one with only books suitable for a general audience and one with those books and the 18+ books. The price works out to only $1 per book in the bundle, plus an extra $1 that goes to the guild to help with our recurring expenses. That’s a fantastic price for so many amazing books!

In the meantime, you can write your own book during our first Furry Novel Jam! The rules are simple: work out a writing goal that you feel you can accomplish during October, and start writing. You can begin a brand new project, finish a project you’ve been stuck on, or jump from project to project. As long as you get some words down during October, you win the novel jam and deserve accolades and possibly a cake.

We have some fun novel jam activities going on in the Telegram chat and Discord server, including word sprints, challenges, and a certain amount of complaining (all part of the writing life). Come join us!

We’re still looking for guild members who are interested in an officer position. We’ll be holding elections in April as usual, but if you’d like to help out sooner, just let one of the officers know. Duties are generally modest and the other officers (mostly) don’t bite.

Here are the current open markets for your short stories:
Paw Anthology: Volume 2 – Deadline November 21st 2024
Spirit of the Wolf – Deadline March 31st 2025
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full
Beyond Their Pale – Deadline When Full

Please also check out the latest releases from our members.
Squeak Thief, by Kyell Gold. Released July 2024.
The Heavens Within Our Grasp, edited by Maddison Scott-Clary, featuring stories by multiple FWG Members. Released July 1st 2024.
Far Flung, by Utunu. Released July 3rd 2024.
The Eternal Party, by DarkEnd. Released July 4th 2024.
Therianthropic Dreams, by NightEyes DaySpring. Released July 15th 2024.
Return of the Queen, by Shaun M. McGrath. Released July 31st.
Shadow Sun, by Jess E. Owen. Released August 30th
Legend of Ahya: Broken Empires, by Matthew Colvath. Available for pre-orders. Released October 2nd 2024.

Happy writing!

Kate Shaw

October is Furry Book Month, and we’re only a few weeks away! We have a few fun things going on next month to celebrate, including another book bundle!

We are taking submissions for both a general audiences and an 18+ book bundle until Sept. 26, 2024. To submit your novel for consideration, please keep the following qualifications in mind:

The author must be a member of the Furry Writers’ Guild.
The story must be self-published.
The story must be a novel.
The story must be a stand-alone or first in a series (no sequels).
The story must be furry.
The story cannot have been included in a previous bundle.

The bundles will be available on Gumroad for pay-what-you-want (minimum price of $10), with proceeds split evenly between all contributing authors and the FWG. Please get your entries in before September 26th, since we want the bundle to go live on October 1st. We would like to include around ten novels per bundle. Since we want to showcase as wide a variety of writers as possible, we are more likely to choose submissions by authors who have not been featured in a previous bundle.

Please fill out this form to submit:
https://forms.gle/rbGk3FVz4Pj2zpkX6

In other Furry Book Month news, it’s time to sharpen your typing claws because we’re launching the first Furry Novel Jam! This is similar to the November novel writing challenge that most of us have heard of. Instead of November, we’ll be writing throughout October–hopefully without as many distractions from holidays, school deadlines, etc.

The rules are pretty simple. Set a writing goal for October, and on Oct. 1, start! You can cheer on your fellow writers on the Discord server, arrange word sprints and mini competitions, and basically just have fun. It’s easy to lose the joy of writing amid the pressures we put on ourselves, and it can also be hard to make time to write. Sometimes turning the solitary, cerebral practice of writing into a ridiculous race with a bunch of likeminded people can help you regain both joy and discipline.

My planned novella is outlined (uh, mostly). What are you planning to write?

Well, here we are. It’s September, the start of a new season and a new chapter in FWG’s history as our previous long-serving president, JFR (Jaye) Coates has stepped down and I am officially the new president. My name is Kate Shaw (writing usually as K.C. Shaw), and I’ve been in the background as vice president for several years now. I don’t post much so you might not know me, but I love everything the guild stands for and I’m proud to have helped Jaye bring so many important changes about since 2021. I hope I can continue her stellar work going forward.

Jaye will still be around, of course, as a guild member, moderator on various platforms, and editor of the forthcoming Tales from the Guild: Blood and Water anthology. We’ll miss her as president, but we’re all excited to see her writing and publishing adventures continue.

That said, we are now down several guild officers. If you’ve ever considered helping out, we currently need a treasurer and vice president. Feel free to contact me or any other guild officer if you’d like to step up, although we will also be holding officer elections as usual in April of 2025.

I’m delighted that my first “official” act as president is to congratulate guild member Edi Álvarez for doing so well in the International Latino Book Awards! His novel Virtus Draconis was a finalist for Best Fantasy Novel and won honorable mention for Best First Book. It’s available in both Spanish and English editions. His book Como una Fiera also won honorable mention for Most Inspirational Young Adult Book. Congratulations!

Here are the current open markets for your short stories:
Paw Anthology: Volume 2 – Deadline November 21st 2024
Spirit of the Wolf – Deadline March 31st 2025
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full
Beyond Their Pale – Deadline When Full

Please also check out the latest releases from our members.
Squeak Thief, by Kyell Gold. Released July 2024.
The Heavens Within Our Grasp, edited by Maddison Scott-Clary, featuring stories by multiple FWG Members. Released July 1st 2024.
Far Flung, by Utunu. Released July 3rd 2024.
The Eternal Party, by DarkEnd. Released July 4th 2024.
Therianthropic Dreams, by NightEyes DaySpring. Released July 15th 2024.
Return of the Queen, by Shaun M. McGrath. Released July 31st.
Shadow Sun, by Jess E. Owen. Available for pre-orders. Released August 30th
Legend of Ahya: Broken Empires, by Matthew Colvath. Available for pre-orders. Released October 2nd 2024.

Many thanks to Jaye for her hard work over the years. I’ll do my best to ensure a seamless transition.

Kate Shaw

Ever since I stepped up to president in 2021, I have been proud to lead the Furry Writers Guild. It has been an absolute joy to see the talent and passion amongst the writing community.

Sadly, all things must come to an end. I have decided to step down as president of the guild effective immediately.

I have not achieved all I wanted for the guild, but I truly believe I have left it in a better place than I began. Every president has left their mark in expanding and evolving the guild, and I am happy with what I achieved. I have simply come to realise that I no longer have the time and energy to devote to running the guild in the way that it deserves.

For that reason, I will be stepping down. My VP K.C. Shaw will be stepping up to fulfil the rest of the current term, with a decision to be made in April next year to continue or to initiate an election. Over the next few days and weeks, I will be assisting Kate to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible.

You will still be able to find me around the Telegram and Discord as always – I’ll be sticking around to help moderate the chats, though our wonderful members always make it so easy by never having any drama to police!

It has been an honour and privilege leading the guild these past three and a bit years. Thank you everyone for entrusting me with the presidency.

But! This is still a blog post, and that means there are markets to share! Check these out if you have a short story within you.
F/F Non Erotic Anthology – Deadline August 31st 2024
Isekai Me! – Deadline August 31st 2024
Paw Anthology: Volume 2 – Deadline November 21st 2024
Spirit of the Wolf – Deadline March 31st 2025
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full
Beyond Their Pale – Deadline When Full

Please also check out the latest releases from our members.
Squeak Thief, by Kyell Gold. Released July 2024.
The Heavens Within Our Grasp, edited by Maddison Scott-Clary, featuring stories by multiple FWG Members. Released July 1st 2024.
Far Flung, by Utunu. Released July 3rd 2024.
The Eternal Party, by DarkEnd. Released July 4th 2024.
Therianthropic Dreams, by NightEyes DaySpring. Released July 15th 2024.
Return of the Queen, by Shaun M. McGrath. Released July 31st.
Shadow Sun, by Jess E. Owen. Available for pre-orders. Released August 30th
Legend of Ahya: Broken Empires, by Matthew Colvath. Available for pre-orders. Released October 2nd 2024.

There might be one more monthly blog from me, depending on how the transition goes with Kate. If there is, I will see you then.

If not, I leave you in the very capable hands of Kate.

Thank you everyone.
Stay safe and happy writing.
J.F.R. Coates

July in Disability Pride month, and for this, we discussed disability in furry fiction with Anastasia Spinet, who was happy to answer some questions about how her disability has affected her life and her writing, including her debut novel Quicksilver.

For those who don’t know you, can you introduce yourself and your work?

Hi! I typically go by “Emp” in online and fandom spaces, but my penname is Anastasia Spinet. I’ve always loved anthropomorphic characters, but I officially started labelling myself as a “furry” around 2002 when I discovered the term on Neopets. I’m a vet tech by trade, and when I’m not writing or wrangling saucy cats, I can be found hanging in the woods, talking to crows, reading books, or gaming. I’m pretty much the stereotypical “woodsy, witchy introvert” type. I’m here for disability month because I have a super rare disability called Holt-Oram Syndrome (AKA, “hand-heart syndrome”) that impacts pretty much every facet of my life. It’s a chromosomal mutation that impedes the development of the limbs and heart in utero. For me, that means a deformed left hand, a pacemaker, and severe chronic fatigue. I often joke that X-Men lied to me as a kid, because being a mutant cyborg in the real world is rather tedious lol.

I published my first official paid piece when I was 17, where a short I wrote appeared as an in-game readable book item for a super obscure (and dearly missed) online pet sim called NeuroGalaxy. As an adult, I’ve been published in a handful of anthologies since 2019, and this year I published my first novel, an anthropomorphic cyberpunk adventure called Quicksilver. Usually my work has a supernatural or folkloric slant to it, but Quicksilver is unique among my pieces in that it’s cyberpunk, and I drew on my own real-world experiences with technology, disability, and my fears over loss of bodily autonomy as a means of flavoring the narrative and its themes.

How do you believe your disability has shaped your work?

It is absolutely a major reason why I enjoy furry fiction, in addition to other forms of SF/F that feature non-human (ie: alien, monster, robot, etc) protagonists. My bread and butter is protagonists who aren’t physically human. I was very isolated in my formative years due to my hand deformity. Starting around 6 years old, when I began attending public school, I had to deal with a lot of “don’t be her friend! If you touch her, your hands will look like that too!” I was not old enough to correctly articulate the negative emotions I felt from dealing with that five days a week for several hours every day, so I fell into a world of vivid escapism and started creating my own stories – typically involving cats — from a very early age. I also loved animals, largely because they would still interact with me and love me with all their hearts no matter how I looked. A lot of my dissatisfaction with my body and the fears I felt from emergency medical intervention (which I am super grateful for it, but as a kid you don’t fully understand why they are sticking needles in you or busting open your sternum, and that terror stays forever) was poured into the character Jet, who I created when I was still in grade school to help me deal with these emotions.

Additionally, there are certain clusters of tropes that I strongly enjoy writing (and reading) because they have parallels to my own experiences, but are removed enough that I can enjoy the escapism aspect of the story. A lot of furry novels and series that I’m quick to recommend to others also utilise a lot of these tropes. I especially love a protagonist who is born with a trait they never would have chosen to posses, and I enjoy seeing protagonists like that learn to grow, change, and navigate their own unique reality. Both Tammy and Jet from Quicksilver fall under this trope, and I used my own emotions towards my body and my life to color certain aspects of their experiences, especially in regards to medical experimentation, self-hatred, and a sense of isolation from their own communities. I’m very focused on emotions when it comes to writing, because I feel that emotions are what connects us and makes us human. You might not be able to understand how it feels to have a deformity or a hunk of metal powering your heart, but I think we have all felt isolated or persecuted at some point in our lives, and I think exploring those feelings through entertaining fiction can help open discussions and build bridges with people who we might otherwise see ourselves as having little in common with.

How do you feel the wider furry community is handling people with a disability? What do you think needs to be done to improve things?

I’d argue it’s a mixed bag, but, a lot of that has to do with just how vastly diverse disabilities as a whole are. Like, even though we are both ‘disabled’, I have a very different set of needs than my friend with cerebral palsy. Even within the Holt-Oram community, the severity of the disability occurs on a wide spectrum, and “accessibility” for us is not a one size fits all by any means. Overall, however, I find most “geek” communities are somewhat better than average concerning things like accessibility, at least in terms of my experience. For example, because of my HOS, I have a very bad heart. I currently have a pacemaker, but it looks like I may need even more “borg parts” or possibly a transplant in the near future. Currently, if I’m left standing up for too long (for me that’s 30 minutes+) I can become very ill from a lack of blood flow to my brain, so being able to sit for a bit is something I legitimately need. I can say that within the sphere of “geekdom” is the one place where I have never received any direct flack for this, and I’m super grateful for that.

The biggest thing that does bother me in geek spaces, however, is getting treated a bit like a zoo animal, or like I’m part of some special club. I’m not “special” – I’m sick, and it sucks, but I’m a survivor and I want to live and engage in my hobbies for as long as I can. I ultimately just want to be treated with respect as a human being. It’s a tough thing to describe to people who haven’t been on the receiving end of the behaviour, but sometimes you will get this specific tone or attitude where you can tell they are trying to be “inclusive” but they’re trying so hard that they’re actually coming across as condescending and rude. I think the solution for this is for group leaders (be it a con, meet, etc) to learn to actively listen to those of us who request disability accommodation. If someone makes a request for accommodation and you feel that’s something you can provide, don’t make a big deal over it; just do it. I can only speak for myself, but, for me, when weird groveling behaviour gets involved after I disclose I’m disabled, it feels a lot like mockery and often leaves me feeling ashamed for asking for something as simple as a chair. I asked for a chair, not a circle of worshippers. White it’s definitely preferable to naked bigotry, I do feel like it’s still an inappropriate way to treat people, especially if you want us to feel comfortable at an event. It’s good to recognise when someone is disabled, but it’s not so good to treat them like that disability is the only thing that defines them.

What does the inclusion of disability in fiction mean to you?

When it specifically comes to fictional characters, this is probably a bit of a spicy take but, to me personally, I’m fairly indifferent. I’m very happy that disabled folks who are into that kind of thing can more easily find the type of narratives they are looking for in this day and age but, for me, I engage in sci-fi and fantasy as a means to escape the painful reality of my life. I used to be a very athletic person in my youth, and losing those abilities in my late 20’s and 30’s has been hard for me, especially knowing that it’s only going to get worse as I age. I use fiction to live vicariously through the characters. This is why Tammy and Jet have cool animal and cyborg powers rather than deformed limbs and catastrophic cardiovascular failure. When it comes to SF/F specifically, I’m more engaged with metaphorical and allegorical explorations of the emotions that surround disability, rather than the disability itself. That’s not to say I don’t like seeing disabled characters in fiction (I do) but you’ll rarely see me picking up a book solely because the protagonist is disabled, as I can find a way to project onto pretty much any character if they are well developed enough.

Where inclusion in fiction does strongly matter to me is the publication of fiction by talented authors who have a disability. I like supporting and reading the perspectives from other authors who are disabled, regardless of whether or not they include their specific disability in their work. That gives me a tangible sense of community, and gives me a means to support others who have also struggled due to physical characteristics that they can not change and did not choose. Talented disabled voices can be brushed under the rug due to our unique struggles with physical health, and I want to hear and support those voices by purchasing, reading, and/or discussing their work. At the end of the day, fictional characters are not real, and, when it comes to disability, I’m more concerned with the work and life experiences of the real disabled human beings behind the words than I am with directly “seeing myself” through a figment.

Do you see a difference between stories written by authors with a disability and authors without, when it comes to writing characters with disabilities?

Generally I do find “own voices” narratives often have a certain undercurrent of authenticity that narratives simply written by allies often lack. This is something I’ve noticed across the board for a large swath of fiction centered on minority characters, by minority writers. There are some experiences that you can’t fully understand unless you have lived them, even if you can find deep empathy for the situation. For example, I found the character AO from Nnedi Okorafor’s novel Noor relatable to a degree that I can only describe as haunting.

This isn’t always the rule though, as, talented writers can (and frequently do!) create wonderful characters whose struggles are outside the scope of the author’s own experiences. For example, a disabled character I adore is Samson Harker from David Marusek’s cyberpunk-esque novel, Counting Heads. As far as I know, Marusek does not have any sort of degenerative disease (nanite-induced or otherwise) but the character of Simon, his struggles with a failing body, his musings about death, etc strongly resonated with me. Likewise, Anne McCaffrey Brainship series feels like the ultimate wish-fulfilment fantasy for me because, oh, what I would do to trade my failing human husk vessel for a badass spaceship body lmao. This veers out of written fiction and into film territory but, Toph from Avatar the Last Airbender is also an excellent example of a well-written character whose creators lack her specific disability.

What do you think is the most important thing for a writer to do when considering how to write characters with a disability?

My best advice is is to always remember the humanity of your character. Their personhood should always come first before their disability status. What do they do, what do they like? Hobbies? What were they like as a kid? What are their core values? There are a myriad of questions to ask, but what I mean by all this is that their only defining trait should never be “they are disabled”. When I think of Toph, the first words I think of to describe her are “disabled” or “blind”, I think of how tough and pragmatic she is, and how I deeply related to her because of those traits. Her disability is important to her character and adds incredible nuance to her as a person, but it’s not her defining trait. If the most interesting thing about your character is their disability, then you may want to rethink how you are writing them. Characters like that, who often exist purely to signal the creator’s inclusive politics, are often how you accidentally fall into dehumanisation and offensive tropes, even if you mean well. There is a certain level of condescending preachiness that comes with stories created for the sole purpose of signalling the author’s/publisher’s politics, and it can come across as not just offensive, but downright dehumanising when you, the disabled person in the audience, are keenly aware that you are only seeing yourself included because the author wants to look like the paragon of virtue, rather than because they actually, truly desire telling an interesting story about someone with a disability. Even if I might appreciate the sentiment, the execution is often lacking, and the execution is the most important aspect of telling a story. Being disabled isn’t inherently political; it just is. I’d rather read something entertaining than something preachy, and when someone like me is specifically the subject of the preachiness, it comes back to feeling like a zoo animal or, worse, an attraction at a carnival side show.

A big tip I have on how to avoid falling into the above trap is that I highly recommend listening to people. Active listening goes a long way in building bridges. If you don’t have that disability yourself, go find people who do, and listen to how they feel about their situation. And, yes, that should include even those whose feelings towards their situation you might disagree with. I’d argue the latter is important even if you are a disabled person creating an “own voices” story, as there can often be quite a diversity of ideas and experiences from within your own little sphere. (For example, there are some disability advocates who absolutely hate McCaffrey’s Brainships. I completely disagree with them, but their perspectives are still interesting and worthy of respect, even if I, personally, see things differently.) If you don’t know anyone who has a disability similar to what you’re writing about, biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs exist and are a wealth of interesting and important information regarding the human experience.

Are there any common failings you see amongst furry fiction?

The biggest hurdle I’ve faced in furry fiction has been the structure of awards and how the biggest one (Ursas) often rewards quantity over quality, especially in terms of written fiction. My opinions on whether quantity even warrants an award aside, quantity can be a very difficult bar for disabled people to meet, but especially for those with progressive illnesses like mine. In the past four weeks, I have had a doctor’s visit of some sort almost every day, except the weekend. That’s exhausting. I do not have the time or energy to be a literature mill, so I have to pick and choose which stories I feel are strong enough to warrant completion. For this reason, I’m confident that my stories are good and worthy of recognition, but that’s a tough thing to achieve when quantity seems to be rewarded above all else. I know rewards do not make the writer, but it can leave you feeling quite sour when you know you’re work will rarely be on a ballot because you couldn’t make dozens of pieces in a year due to your physical condition. Part of the reason these rewards exist is to build community, and the latter can really leave you feeling like you’re being shut out of the community. I would love for the showrunners of the UMA to be more open to making adjustments to how nominations are run. I’ve seen many interesting discussions regarding this (hence why I wish the Ursas would be more open to discussing this matter with the community at large, because it’s clearly a discussion the community wants) but my personal quick fix would be to simply limit nominations so that a single person can only have one work nominated per category. This would open the door for a larger variety of voices to be showcased, while also maintaining a way for those who are more prolific to secure multiple nominations if they are varied in their work, which they typically are.

On the flip side, in terms of including real disabled people in anthologies or publishing their work, I think furry is often a cut above the norm, and I really appreciate that. From my experience, this rings true for most indie writing and publishing circles. I attribute a lot of that to the fact that there is a bigger focus on the artistic side of things rather than maximising mainstream marketability or, worse, appeasing the insensible sensibilities of the suits. I can think of talented furry authors with disabilities off the top of my head without much effort, and I’ve always found that super awesome. Furry writing is a very small, very niche thing, and the fact that I don’t have to wrack my brains to think of talented disabled authors, despite the relatively small size of the community, is a massive plus. I can think of way bigger, older hobby communities that should, in theory, have recognisable disabled voices in their midst, but they don’t. So, I really feel like furry, and the indie publishing world as a whole, does a really great job at including diverse voices and narratives.

What book featuring characters with a disability and/or written by an author with a disability would you most recommend to people?

For furry authors with disabilities, I recommend checking out the works by the late (and dearly missed) K.C. Alpinus (my favorites by her are “The Night the Stars Fell” from Dogs of War II: Aftermath, and the anthology she edited called SOAR) and the short stories by former Guild president, Linnea “LiteralGrill” Capps (“The Glow” from The Electric Sewer is a major favorite of mine).

For non-furry, anything by the aforementioned Nnedi Okorafor is a solid bet. Noor is my favourite, but the Binti series is also excellent.

Additionally, like I said before, while I understand the criticism of them, I personally adore the Brainship series (including the ones not written by McCaffrey) and I definitely recommend it if you’re like me and you’ve frequently entertained “brain in a jar” fantasies regarding yourself.

And, finally, where can we find your works?

You can find my shorts in SPECIES: Otters, BREEDS: Wildcats, and The Haunted Den, all of which can be purchased via Amazon. Currently, Quicksilver can only be purchased from the publisher’s website. Right now I’m editing my very first anthology for Armoured Fox Press themed around lesbian romance, and I’m super excited to show off the authors and stories I’ve selected. (It is still open until the end of August, if anyone reading this would be interested in submitting!)

I will be selling signed copies of all my currently published books at the New Age of Heroes convention in Springfield, MA this coming November, so if you are in the New England area then, please do drop by and say hello!

Apologies for the delay and brevity on the blog this month – end of June and start of July is one of the busiest parts of the year for me during my day-to-day stuff, so I haven’t had the chance to get much prepared for this post.

It’s fair to say, we loved seeing the sharing of so much LGBT+ positive work last month, and we’re very happy for that to continue – this community is a celebration of diversity, and that’s isn’t limited to a single month. Pride may be over, but the furry community will never stop being queer.

There are a couple of anthology deadlines coming up soon – one at the start of August and one towards the end. If you’re eyeing up these submission windows, then you’re running short of time to get your stories polished!

Furry Femdom Erotica – Deadline August 1st 2024
F/F Non Erotic Anthology – Deadline August 31st 2024
Isekai Me! – Deadline August 31st 2024
Spirit of the Wolf – Deadline March 31st 2025
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full
Beyond Their Pale – Deadline When Full

Anthrocon always sees a lot of new books coming out, and this year has been no different!

Sun Runner, by Frances Pauli. Released May 30th.
Squeak Thief, by Kyell Gold. Released July 2024.
The Heavens Within Our Grasp, edited by Maddison Scott-Clary, featuring stories by multiple FWG Members. Released July 1st 2024.
Far Flung, by Utunu. Released July 3rd 2024.
The Eternal Party, by DarkEnd. Released July 4th 2024.
Therianthropic Dreams, by NightEyes DaySpring. Available for pre-orders. Released July 15th 2024.
Legend of Ahya: Broken Empires, by Matthew Colvath. Available for pre-orders. Released October 2nd 2024.

I hope to have a lot more for you next month, with hopefully a bit more time to put aside for some guild plans.

Until then. Stay safe and happy writing.
J.F.R. Coates

Happy Pride!

The furry community has always been strong with huge diversity from the LGBTQ+ community, and writers are no different. This month, we would like to respect those who identify as LGBTQ+, whether out and proud or still in the closet. Just know that you all have a welcoming environment within the Furry Writers Guild spaces. We do not tolerate bigotry of any kind.

And LGB is always with the T.

At the start of the month, we started to share posts on social media to spotlight LGBTQ+ authors – whether they’re members of the guild or not.

You can see our posts – and contribute your own works if you have not already done so, here:

https://furries.club/@furrywritersguild/112538465433534482

https://bsky.app/profile/furrywritersguild.bsky.social/post/3ktt5t3rcrs2a

https://twitter.com/FurWritersGuild/status/1796696108862959764

For the moment, most of the guild staff are hard at work on the editing phase for Blood and Water – we adored the stories submitted for the anthology, and we are very excited to share this work with everyone. After editing has finished, we expect to start pushing on with some of our plans for the remainder of the year. We hope to start sharing some things in the coming month.

For those looking to submit their stories to anthologies, we have the current open markets:

Furry Femdom Erotica – Deadline August 1st 2024
F/F Non Erotic Anthology – Deadline August 31st 2024
Isekai Me! – Deadline August 31st 2024
Spirit of the Wolf – Deadline March 31st 2025
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full
Beyond Their Pale – Deadline When Full

Please also check out our upcoming and recent releases from FWG members:

Gravitational Pull, by Ty Fox. Released April 15th.
Sun Runner, by Frances Pauli. Released May 30th.
Squeak Thief, by Kyell Gold. Released July 2024.
The Heavens Within Our Grasp, edited by Maddison Scott-Clary, featuring stories by multiple FWG Members. Available for pre-orders. Released July 1st 2024.
Far Flung, by Utunu. Available for pre-orders. Released July 3rd 2024.
The Eternal Party, by DarkEnd. Released July 4th 2024.
Therianthropic Dreams, by NightEyes DaySpring. Available for pre-orders. Released July 15th 2024.

As always, FWG members – let us know when you have a new book coming out soon!

Wishing you all a safe and joyful month of Pride.
J.F.R. Coates

Looks like you’re stuck with me for another year at least! I am very proud to be serving as the FWG President for my fourth term. Alongside me remains K.C. Shaw as Vice-President, ScribblesCheetah as Markets Manager, and Resolute as the Public Relations Officer.

Watts Martin has decided to step down as the Treasurer, so for now we will be subsuming that role into the other officer positions, though we will likely put out a call for volunteers should anyone wish to step up. We will also be discussing with Maddie about the transition to formally handing over the Coyotl Awards to a new officer.

And speaking of the Coyotls – the winners have been internally verified and will be announced on Friday at FWA. K.C. Shaw will be presenting them live. We are looking into options for livestreaming, but we are currently unsure if this will be viable.

Blood and Water letters will also be going out on the weekend – it was incredible difficult to pick out a selection of stories from an incredibly competitive and skilled submission field. We firmly believe that this will be a fantastic anthology.

The guild officers will be meeting soon to discuss our plans for the year ahead. We will also share any calls for volunteers to fill any availabilities within the team.

For those looking to submit their stories to anthologies, we have the current open markets:

F/F Non Erotic Anthology – Deadline August 31st 2024
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Furry Femdom Erotica – Deadline When Full
Isekai Me! – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full
Beyond Their Pale – Deadline When Full

Please also check out our upcoming and recent releases from FWG members:

Gravitational Pull, by Ty Fox. Released April 15th.
Squeak Thief, by Kyell Gold. Released July 2024.
The Heavens Within Our Grasp, edited by Maddison Scott-Clary, featuring stories by multiple FWG Members. Available for pre-orders. Released July 1st 2024.
Far Flung, by Utunu. Available for pre-orders. Released July 3rd 2024.
Therianthropic Dreams, by NightEyes DaySpring. Available for pre-orders. Released July 15th 2024.

As always, FWG members – let us know when you have a new book coming out soon!

Until next time, and for another year, keep safe and happy writing!
J.F.R. Coates

It’s been a busy start to the month for the FWG, so apologies for the slight delay in getting the blog out!

Not only have we closed for submissions on Blood and Water (39 submissions in total, and we’re already getting stuck in to reading them!), but the Coyotl Awards have also closed for nominations. We’re currently collating the numbers now, with an announcement on the finalists and voting to begin tomorrow.

With both of those happening, it should also not be forgotten that April is the start of the election period for FWG officers. Any FWG member is eligible to stand for any of the five officer positions, with an election to be held for each if more than one nomination is received.

All candidates should declare their intention to stand for election in the designated thread on the forums: https://forums.furrywritersguild.com/t/guild-elections-2024-2025/2463

Details about the election will be shared in early May if one is required. All candidates have until April 30 to declare their intention to stand.

With so much happening that is already known, there is not much else to discuss on the blog this month so I will keep it short.

I also wish to remind you that we are open for guest blogs across the year. Topics can relate to anything around the furry writing community or furry writing as a whole. Submissions to the blog can be made at this link:

https://forms.gle/icEUzYtZQ5tFE6w47

As usual, we have the current open markets:

F/F Non Erotic Anthology – Deadline August 31st 2024
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Furry Femdom Erotica – Deadline When Full
Isekai Me! – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full
Beyond Their Pale – Deadline When Full

Please also check out the latest and upcoming releases from guild members:

Kelpie Thrall, by Frances Pauli. Released March 3rd 2024.
Quicksilver, by Anastasia Spinet. Released March 6th 2024.
Far Flung, by Utunu. Released July 3rd 2024.

If you are a Furry Writers Guild member and have an upcoming release you would like shared on the blog, please feel free to let us know!

We can’t wait to get through the submissions for Blood and Water. Also keep an eye out for the opening of the voting period for the Coyotls!

Until next time, keep safe and happy writing.
J.F.R. Coates

by Chase Anderson

Seeing your story rendered in ink and paper is a goal for many writers, but how do you make that happen? The business of publishing can seem opaque and intimidating. There’s a lot you’re expected to know, and the purpose of this blog post is to equip you with the tools and knowledge to get your writing chosen by editors for publication.

0 | Is this the right path for you?

Every writer has different measurements of success, and that’s okay. Just like how there’s writers who can’t imagine ever self-publishing their story, there’s writers who can’t imagine the opposite.

So, you need to ask yourself: do I want to go through this process? Is this the best thing to do for me and this story?

Fanfiction won’t be published, for legal reasons, and your story might fit a niche so specific that all your readers only exist on FurAffinity. Multi-media pieces, interactive fiction, and other hybrid works inherently limit where they can be published.

Traditional publishing doesn’t make you a “realer” or “better” writer than someone who doesn’t, and that’s important to remember.

1 | Have a piece to publish

You can’t sell a story if you haven’t written it! Make it the best possible version you can, and then get feedback from your fellow writers and make it even better. The amount of editing a publication will do is likely minimal, focusing on making your grammar and punctuation match their “house style,” not fixing the ending.

Once that’s done, you need to make the files you’ll be submitting. 90%+ will ask for—or expect—“standard manuscript formatting,” which means Shunn’s standard modern formatting [link: https://www.shunn.net/format/story/]. You’ll put your legal name on the top left and your byline (pen name, fandom name, etc.) under the title. Save the file as a .docx and name it something like [My Awesome Story – John Smith].

Make a copy of that file and remove your name from the title. Remove all the personal info from the document (byline, personal info on page 1, and name in the header). This is an “anonymized” version of your story, which some markets request to limit bias caused by assuming the gender, religion, nationality, etc. from a person’s name or where they live.

Some places will ask for something different, like a PDF file or the font to be in Courier. Make a separate file and save it to another folder so you don’t constantly fiddle with the main file (and forget to change it back!)

2 | Find a market

This can be an anthology, a zine, a literary journal, a website, an eBook, a podcast…I’ve even seen places that publish stories as games on Telegram or performances on stage. The all fall under the term “market.”

There’re several resources for finding markets:

• The Submission Grinder
• Duotrope (costs money)
• Chill Subs
• The Short List
• The Furry Writers Guild Discord + Website

The last one is for furry-specific markets, of course! Writing communities like forums or local clubs share opportunities with their members. If you find a market that’s perfect for a friend’s story, send it to them! Build up your fellow writers instead of seeing them as competition.

Once you find a market, look for the submission guidelines (could be under “about” or called “writers guidelines”) and see what genres, tones, subjects, and wordcounts they’re looking for. Some markets are very narrow—especially anthologies—and others are very broad. If you’re unsure if your piece fits the tone or subject matter, sub anyways! The worst they’ll do is say no, and they’ll never say yes if you don’t give them the chance.

Some places accept AI-generated writing, use AI-generated artwork, and/or require writers to pay a fee with their submission. Some markets have strong political opinions or are tied to specific groups. Whether or not you want to submit is up to you. Would you be proud for your story to be in that market? Is this market promoting ideas you’re okay with? When your story is published in a market, they profit from it. Are you okay with them benefiting from your (under/unpaid) labor?

Finally, some markets only publish stories from specific writers, such as women, LGBTQIA2S+ folx, POC/BIPOC, people with neurodivergences or disabilities, immigrants, or inhabitants of certain countries. They may want to amplify certain voices or they need to publish a certain percent of, say, Canadians to get a grant from the Canadian government. It’s up to you if you feel like you belong to one of those groups. And if you’re not a member of one of these groups, please don’t lie about it. There’s plenty of markets out there.

3 | Submit your story

You’ll need to find a couple bits of important information from the guidelines:

• The method of submission (email, Moksha, Submittable, their own form, etc.)
• Any specific requests for the file (file type, anonymized, etc.)
• Wordcount (It’s okay if you’re above/below the limit by a word or three)
• When you can expect to hear back from them (can be specific date or after X days/weeks/months)
• Payment (if it’s not listed, it’s probably unpaid)
• What rights they want (I’ll go into further details about this in the acceptance step)
• If they accept simultaneous and/or multiple submissions

Sometimes, you might encounter something you don’t like, or isn’t a good fit for your story, so it’s okay to pass on a market at that time.

A simultaneous submission is when you have open submissions to multiple markets for the same piece. Many places accept them, but those who don’t usually have good reason. If you’re caught secretly simsubbing, it won’t make the editor happy, and that’s not something you want. If a market doesn’t say either way, you could assume they’re okay with it, but it doesn’t hurt to do some googling or even asking them on social media.

Multiple submissions are having multiple open submissions at the same market, for multiple pieces. This is expected with poetry, and some flash fiction (1,000 words or less) markets, but is almost always forbidden for longer works. If a market doesn’t mention either way, you should assume they’re not okay with it.

Most places ask for a cover letter. It’s nothing like the one for a job or a query letter for a novel. It’s so simple, I have an Excel script to write one for me!

Dear editor,

Please consider “MOVE X TO Y2K” (1500 words). It has been previously published in the Further Confusion 2023 conbook on January 12, 2023 and I have the rights to have it reprinted elsewhere.
I have stories published in The Razor, One Universe to the Left, and Another Name for Darkness.
Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Chase Anderson

It’s the bare minimum needed to help an editor make a decision and track your submission in their system. No explaining your story, no begging for an acceptance. Don’t overthink it.

If the story hasn’t been published before, you can state that if you want. Most markets consider a piece previously published if it’s on your website, social media, a display site (FurAffinity, Wattpad, etc.), a chapbook with a print run of only 20…if the story has ever been “out there” for people to find and read, it’s been published, even if you’ve since taken it down. Sharing a story with a critique group or private writing forum does not count as previously published, as it’s not available for anyone to find.

If you don’t have any previously published work, that’s also okay! You can leave out that part. If you have several, pick the most important/impressive two or three and say “and elsewhere” or the like. It’s also okay if you want to keep your “fandom” writing separate from your “professional human” writing. So if you submit to Asimov’s Science Fiction, you don’t need to tell them you’ve been published in a furry anthology if you don’t want to.

Some places will want a “brief bio.” This is in the third person, about you, and either up to 50 or 100 words. Write both and keep them on hand. Here’s my <100-word bio, as an example:

Chase is a weird, queer, digital storyteller who writes weird, queer stories. He dropped out of chemical engineering to pursue a journalism degree and escape calculus. He draws inspiration from biology, chemistry, medicine, history, and whatever his neurochemicals are doing today. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he handles eCommerce integrations, marketing, spreadsheet wrangling, and identification of his coworkers’s backyard birds. Find his writing and more at chasej.xyz

You can list all the places you’ve been published, your job, your hobbies, anything that might be interesting about you. You don’t have to say the exact city, state, or even country you live in. But you should include where people can find you online!

I know this feels like a lot, and some of these requests seem silly. But markets must sift through hundreds, if not thousands of stories to pick a dozen or so to publish. Breaking or ignoring a rule might give them a reason to reject you and move on to the next thing.

4 | Wait

This is what most of your time will be spent doing. Some places will get back to you in a few days, others a few months. A couple places even take a year or more. Databases like The Submission Grinder aggregates data from many submissions to calculate average response times. Sometimes these are a lot longer or shorter than what a publisher says. So, wait until the longer of the two passes before you do something about it.

As soon as you submit something, you should record it. The minimum should be the name of the market, the name of the piece you sent, and when you should expect to hear back (calculate the specific date instead of writing “in 90 days”). Feel free to add whatever other data points you feel are important. Use a spreadsheet, a notebook, whatever works for you. You don’t want to accidentally simsub or multisub or send the same piece to a market twice.

In the submission guidelines, you might have seen something about querying. This is when you ask for the status of a piece:

Dear editor,
I would like to inquire about the status of my short story [story title] submitted to [publisher] on [date].
Thank you for your time.

Chase Anderson

They might say “We’re working on it” or “it’s being held for additional consideration” or even “our records don’t show your submission, internet gremlins must have eaten it.” Which happens sometimes, and it sucks, but all you can do is send in your piece again and reset the counter.

Some markets won’t respond if they reject your piece. This also sucks, but publishing is a lot like job hunting. You will be ghosted, so try not to take it personally. A market might also not respond to you because they closed shop. Check their website and social media to see if they’ve posted anything in the past 12 months. If not, you can assume you’ll never hear back.

But while you wait, don’t keep refreshing your inbox. Go do something else, like writing your next story! It’s very easy to obsess over the data and hype yourself up that a long wait means it’ll likely get accepted when there’s no reason to think that.

Pick a day of the week or month where you’ll spend an hour or so looking for new markets and checking up on your old submissions. Even if you only have one piece out and it’s not being simsubbed, you can make a list where to send it next. You also might find a brand-new market with a theme or prompt you really like, which will inspire you to write something new.

5 | So, you got a rejection

It’s going to happen. A lot, probably. I even got one while editing this! And it might hurt, and that’s okay. And it’s possible to drive yourself into an anxious mess by reading too much into a rejection. Here’s the one I just got (with names removed):

Dear Chase,

Thank you so much for submitting to [market]! While your submission was not selected for publication, we sincerely appreciate the time and trust it took to send your work our way, and hope you’ll keep us in mind for future work.
Take care and, as always, keep writing!

Warmly,

A. Person

This is a “form rejection,” which is going to be most of your rejections. “Doesn’t meet our needs” or “wasn’t quite the right fit” or “not what we’re looking for” is vague, and that’s by design. And not every place will say “best of luck placing it elsewhere” or “we hope to see more from you.” That doesn’t mean they hate you or your story! There isn’t any secret to glean from these, it’s not that deep.

But if you get a personalized rejection, that’s a good sign. They took the time to say specific things they liked about your story or what they think can improve it. That isn’t permission to send in a revised version of the story, unless they explicitly say so.

You might even get a “We loved X, Y, and Z, but there is only so many spots, and, unfortunately, we have to pass on this.” This means you probably made it to the very final round. And this is a very good sign! Your story is a good one to get that far. It’ll find a home soon.

You might disagree with criticism in a personalized rejection, and that’s okay. Just because an editor didn’t like a part of your story, it doesn’t mean everyone won’t like it. Editors have personal tastes, and not every story is going to land with every person. But if they highlight an issue and you feel it’s a valid criticism, feel free to revise your story to address it.

It does get easier the more rejections you get. But they can still hurt, a lot. It might be a piece you’re really proud of, or one you wrote specifically for that market, or you’re having a bad day and this is the fifth rejection you got that afternoon. It happens, and that’s okay. Do something nice for yourself. And, remember: it’s all about having the right piece end up at the right editor at the right market at the right time. It can take dozens, if not hundreds of no’s before you get a yes.

6 | You got an acceptance!

You may now jump up and down and post a bunch of emojis in the group chat.

Once you’ve calmed down, let’s read the acceptance email closely. Are there edits they want first? Is there a specific date they plan to publish it? How about a contract?

I know that sounds scary! But you probably don’t need a lawyer, especially for the amount of money going on here. Unpaid markets might not have contracts, but you’re going to want one for larger amounts of money. At least get information about payment, publication dates, and needed editing in writing.

Here’s some terms you’re likely to see in a contract, and what they mean:

• First [X] rights: This market will be the first place to publish this specific piece in [X] way. These are more valuable than reprint rights and pay out more.
• English/Spanish/etc. rights: The right to publish the piece in the English/Spanish/etc. language.
• Serial rights: The right to publish your piece in a periodical (i.e. a magazine or newspaper)
• Anthology rights: The right to publish your piece in an anthology.
• [country/region] rights: The right to publish a piece in a certain country/region.
• Worldwide/global rights: Thanks to the Internet and eBooks, this is a lot more common. It means anyone in any country can buy/read your story.
• Audio rights: The right to adapt your story into an audio format, like an audio book or podcast.
• Perpetual/archival rights: The piece can be accessed for forever in some way. Theoretically; the website might go down some day or the publisher goes out of business. This is common with websites and print on demand books.
• Exclusive [X] rights: This market will be the only place that can publish your piece in [X] for a specific period. If your piece comes out on January 1 and there is a 6-month exclusive period, it means no other place (even your own website) can publish that story until July 1. There’s usually an explicitly stated exception for “best of” anthologies.
• Non-exclusive [X] rights: You’re free to publish your piece in other markets in [X] as much as you like…as long as no one else is requesting exclusive rights at the same time, of course.
• Reprint rights: This story has already been published elsewhere.
• Contributor copy: A free copy of the publication that’s sent to you. Very common with magazines, but might not be possible if you live in a different country than the publisher.

They’re probably going to stick a bunch of those into one string, like “First English worldwide serial and audio rights,” and that just means each of those things apply at the same time.

If there’s something in there you don’t like or have questions about, don’t be afraid to ask the editors about it. Or other writers. Don’t sign something you don’t understand or don’t feel okay with signing.

Example: There is a Buzzfeed spinoff YouTube channel that I shall not name who was requesting people submit stories for one of their series. They want you to sign off your rights when you submit the piece (), and they want rights to the work in perpetuity (normal-ish enough), across the universe (), and the ability to make derivative works () and they won’t need to pay () or even credit you () for it. Did I mention they didn’t even pay you for the story in the first place?

As you can imagine, the stories they got were terrible and/or written by staff members of the channel. Why should a writer do free labor to submit a story that could be turned into a movie that makes millions of dollars and they receive neither payment nor credit for it? If a place has an awful contract and they won’t change it, or there’s anything you don’t like, you can turn them down!

If your story was simultaneously submitted, you’ll need to withdraw the story from other markets. I usually wait until I get a contract I am okay with signing before doing this, in case it falls through. Submission systems will have a button to withdraw, but in other situations, you’ll need to send a withdrawal email. Check the submission guidelines page for an email address. If there isn’t one, you could use the submission email address.

Here’s a template for a withdrawal email:

Dear editor:

I would like to withdraw my short story “A Cool Title” from further consideration, as it has been accepted elsewhere. I submitted it to you on DATE, 202X.
I apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Chase Anderson

Ask the editor when you’re allowed to publicly announce the acceptance. Some want to keep the table of contents private until it’s settled, others are cool with you telling people ASAP. Once you get the okay, post to your heart’s content!

7 | It’s publishing day!

Your story is now out in the world! Now it’s time to tell everyone about it!

• Your social media channels (Facebook, Twitter and Twitter alternatives, FurAffinity, etc.)
• Your website (either as a blog post or a listing on your bibliography)
• Your mailing list.
• Communities you’re a part of, like the Furry Writers Guild, your local critique group, etc.

Include a link to where people can read or buy your story and a little tidbit about it to draw them in. If there’s any relevant content warnings, it would be kind to include them, too. Save a copy of the publication for yourself, in case the website ever goes down, and save the link in a spreadsheet or bookmarks folder so you can find it quickly in the future.

Final Thoughts

I know this seems intimidating, but once you’ve prepared your materials, it’s actually quite easy. The worst part is waiting.

But don’t stop everything while waiting for a piece to sell. Write the next story, and the next, and the next one. The more stories you have, the more submissions you can send, which means more opportunities for one of them to become an acceptance. Plus, with every piece you write, you get better as a writer, which further increases your chances of getting published.

Publishing can be a real emotional roller coaster; without those lows, the highs won’t feel as sweet. And once you get off, you’ll want to run back to the line again. Try to bring some friends along to make the wait go by quicker.

And so in a flash, the shortest month of the year has been and gone. Welcome to March, and the theoretical end of winter (or summer if you’re like me in the south!).

I know we were hoping to have the Coyotl Awards open for nominations at this stage, but there have been a couple of behind the scenes snags preventing this. We are hoping to have this resolved as soon as possible – nominations will be running until April, so there is still no shortage of time to have this resolved.

Update: The Coyotl Awards are now open for nominations. See here for more information: https://coyotlawards.com/2023-coyotl-awards/

Part of the reason for this has been the recent resignation of Maddison Scott-Clary from running the Coyotls. Maddie has been magnificent in keeping the Coyotls running over the last few years, but she has announced her intention to step down after completing her commitments to finish off the 2022 awards. The 2023 awards are primarily being handled by the FWG officers, but we will be opening up for a volunteer to take on Maddie’s role as the Coyotl Chair. To put yourself forward as a candidate, simply message myself (J.F.R. Coates) on telegram or discord.

Maddie has done a fantastic job with the Coyotls for a few years now. We look forward to having her successor in place to start the preparations for next year’s awards.

Everyone at the guild is hoping for the best for one of our members. Kirisis (K.C. Alpinus) has been hospitalised in Sweden while attending Nordic Fuzzcon. Her husband, Ocean has been providing updates on Twitter. We’re all hoping the best for Kirisis. I am sure any well-wishes would be gratefully received by Ocean in this difficult time.

I also wish to remind you that we are open for guest blogs across the year. Topics can relate to anything around the furry writing community or furry writing as a whole. Submissions to the blog can be made at this link:

https://forms.gle/icEUzYtZQ5tFE6w47

As usual, we have the current open markets:

Tales From The Guild: Blood And Water – Deadline March 31st 2024
F/F Non Erotic Anthology – Deadline August 31st 2024
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Furry Femdom Erotica – Deadline When Full
Isekai Me! – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full
Beyond Their Pale – Deadline When Full

Please also check out the latest and upcoming releases from guild members:

The Enigma Letters, by Harry Wozzeck. Released February 3rd 2024.
Kelpie Thrall, by Frances Pauli. Released March 3rd 2024.
Quicksilver, by Anastasia Spinet. Released March 6th 2024.
Far Flung, by Utunu. Released July 3rd 2024.

If you are a Furry Writers Guild member and have an upcoming release you would like shared on the blog, please feel free to let us know!

As soon as we have the nominations open for the Coyotl Awards, we’ll be sure to update this blog and share it on our socials. Keep an eye out for that announcement!

Until then, keep safe and happy writing.
J.F.R. Coates

For those who don’t know you, can you introduce yourself and your work?
Hello! My name is Cedric G! Bacon, or occasionally Batced but primarily by the former. I am a writer and editor, former publisher of Thurston Howl Publications, and you might’ve seen my work in things like Furry Trash, Foxers and Fur-iefs, Lost in Time, Leave the Lights On, ROAR 11, and Thrill of the Hunt. I’m something of a bat-of-all trades, writing where an idea takes me, but I’m probably best known for horror and erotica, sometimes merging both.

Do you see a difference between diversity of authors and diversity of characters? Or are they intrinsically linked? Are there any common failings you see amongst furry fiction?
I think usually when you’re writing about diversity it helps to have knowledge of the subject so that your character would ring true instead of seeming like a trope or a just a stock character plucked from your brain’s casting call. I remember reading the book Trigger Warning by William W. and J.A. Johnstone (never mind the fact that William Johnstone, famous for his western novels, had been dead for almost twenty years when that book came out and so his relative uses the older man’s name on “new” work) which was replete with condemnations of the higher education and even diversity classes, which are shown to be ridiculous and coddling and rewarding for the most minimal of efforts, including a scene where the “protagonist” is made to feel shame for being a war veteran. I think the author—whom I suspect is someone in their 60s—just regurgitated whatever it is they’re spoonfed through far-right media and believed that that’s what diversity and especially the need for diverse conversation, is really like, and after reading I was just left uncomfortable that there are people who would rather retain the status quo as it is instead of trying to make changes to broaden diverse opportunities where there might not be any.

As welcoming as furry fiction is, I do think there is this absence that keeps diversity from being much wider than it is. There are some truly well meaning individuals but it’s almost like not enough gets spotlighted or put out and it is a shame really. Part of that also falls on those who could have a voice and a platform but do not use it, or perhaps have used it and are burnt out by it. That I can understand due to how hard it can be trying to make the conversation happen and you’re met by many walls and find you can’t quite cross the bridge you’d like to make inroads. Little by little it will get better I feel as more will come to the fandom and wish to write stories that do showcase more voices that you would not typically find, but it does take time. Which I also do think is on our side.

Do you believe progress has been made in the last few years?
Slowly and surely it has, but not nearly enough. When we ran Difursity Volume 2 through THP, our turnout was not as plentiful as we would’ve liked. However, I think we do have many essayists and non-fiction writers coming into the fold who have many things to say and ideas, so where Difursity Volume 2 did not have as much widespread reach as its predecessor, it did get a lot of ideas going for some that “Hey, I can express myself and my thoughts on this topic without fear of being shut down for being ‘uppity’.” I would love to see some more of that happen, and I would gladly do my part as well to get the engines roaring on more diverse volumes and work in the furry fiction community.

Does the degree of anonymity of a fursona being your public face help or hinder your goals as an author in the furry community?
I think engagement and talking with others and making connections helps in the furry community, as a lot of interactions do tend to be behind screens and keyboards so that face begins merging with the real person behind the fursona, so that even if your fursona is a winged canine-dragon creature and that’s not who you are offline away from the furry community, it doesn’t really make anyone who is already a fan or coming to know you think different about you. Your goals, I think, are what you want of them, and for me in the furry community, my goals were at the start to get back into writing after a long spell away, make connections with my peers, share some ideas with said peers, and learn new things along the way…maybe about the craft I’ve devoted a chunk of my life to or even about myself and my own worldviews. But as for if that degree of anonymity has helped or hindered those goals? I think they have helped, but it had to take a lot on my part to let any masks or walls come down and trust the other parties I conversed with, same as I imagine it would be for them when talking to me. It would only hinder if I was not able to do that and trust my peers and open up when needing help or advice, or actually developing friendships with a few I’ve been grateful enough to meet in person.

What do you think is the most important thing for a writer to do when considering diversity?
Patience. Absolutely the most important thing to keep in mind. If a writer is thinking about diversity, think first about what means and don’t make any assumptions and just do the first thing that you think you may know about diversity. Look around, talk to folk who have more experience or have some insight about their own struggles for diverse conversations.

There is this whole thing about “woke” but it’s a corruption of what it actually meant to be woke, in that it means keeping one’s eyes open at all times to the situation be it to the injustices racial, social, or political (and that’s a clue that anyone who is using the term to slag something that they don’t like with the most bad faith argument, you know that is someone to definitely side-eye). But when I say that it does matter to stay woke, it means exactly what it was supposed to mean, especially when thinking about diversity and ask yourself as that writer about why is there so much anger among marginalized communities and voices, and especially to stay woke and read the room to know that even though the answer may be complicated to discover, you as the writer will have an understanding about diversity and that need for more diverse voices instead of ones that regurgitate points that do not challenge anything or make efforts to make changes.

What book featuring diverse characters and/or written by a diverse author would you most recommend to people?
Not a book though it was based upon a book, so I’m going to cheat a little here, but I do think many should check out the 2020 HBO series Lovecraft Country, inspired by the book of the same name by Matt Ruff. By title alone would probably be put off by it due to the legacy which surrounds author H.P. Lovecraft and his very loud statements on race both in his letters and in his fiction, but that is actually something that is worked to the show’s advantage, as the main protagonist is a young black man who too has to grapple with being a fan of Lovecraft while knowing full well Lovecraft might not have enjoyed having him as a fan.

Executive produced by a woman of color in Misha Green, and with one of the producers being Jordan Peele, it already ticks of the box of diversity in a big way, but goes a step further with its cast, with Jurnee Smollett (whom I rather enjoyed as the real star of Birds of Prey when shy played Dinah Lance/Black Canary) alongside Jonathan Majors, Michael K. Williams, Jamie Chung, it furthers having diverse voices and roles with its focus on a young black man (played by Majors) and his family’s life in 1950s America, which is stark and uncompromising in its vocal disdain for people of color (loudly at that time, muted but still unfortunately in existence now) and right off the jump in the first episode, you have a scene involving a chase out of town by a lynch mob and threats of being lynched by racist policemen when the protagonists don’t leave a sundown town by the required time.

Rather than be a straight adaptation of the novel, the series makes many, many changes by giving more roles for women and dropping some plotlines that were wayward in the novel and making things streamlined and tight. But one of the things that I did find to be a triumph was using the 1921 Tulsa race massacre as a major plot point, but the intriguing parts are the character development in this one episode that focuses on family, homosexuality, abuse, and how sometimes the roots of generational evil isn’t found in some dusty old tome like the Necronomicon, that it can be found within us as the individual unless we break the cycle. The show is violent, brilliantly choreographed, uncompromising in its language and historical framing (another episode takes place during the funeral for Emmett Till, and while we in the modern age can’t quite comprehend the real horror and drama of what happened to him, much like the Tulsa massacre using it in fiction I hope inspires the curious to look further and read and remember and equally never forget, hoping it doesn’t happen to someone else), sexuality and identity, all packed within ten episodes that, four years later, I still think was the greatest TV show on the subject of diversity I’ve ever watched.

And finally, where can we find your works?
I’m in the process of getting them uploaded to furaffinity and SoFurry, so just stay tuned for that eventual update. In the meantime, if you have these in your bookshelves, find me in:
Ironclaw: Book of Legends (“The Black City”)
Furry Trash (“One Night Last Summer”)
Slashers (“Komakino”)
Thrill of the Hunt (“Silhouettes”)
Foxers and Fur-iefs (“Getchoo”)
Lost in Time (“Spear and Fang”)
Leave the Lights On (“Wormwood”, “Old Garfield’s Debt”, “The Shambler in the Dark”)
The Electric Sewer (“The Jack”)
Species: Wildcats (“Wanderlust”)
Howloween (“Venus in White”)
Howloween 2 (“Upon Thy Grave”)
Swept Under the Fur Rug (“Ikezu”)
Furmiliar Spaces (“El Scorcho”, prequel to “Getchoo” in Foxers and Fur-iefs)
The Furry Cookbook (“The Flower of Carnage”)
ROAR 11 (“Poyekhali!”)
Furries Hate Nazis (“The Battler”)
12 Days of Yiffmas (“Yule Carol”)
Paw-ly Love (“Catch a Wave”)

February may be the shortest month of the year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fit plenty in! We’ve already received plenty of submissions for the guild’s upcoming anthology Blood and Water, but for those of you still working on your stories,. there’s still just under two months left to get your submissions in!

The furry awards season is well and truly underway, with all three awards now open at various stages.

Nominations for the Ursa Major Awards are open until February 17th: https://ursamajorawards.org/nominations.htm

The Coyotl Awards Reading List is open until February 16th, with Nominations then opening on February 19th. https://coyotlawards.com/2023-coyotl-awards-reading-list/

The Leo Awards are open for Nominations until March 1st: https://furrybookreview.com/leo-literary-award/

We will also be opening up the blog for guest writers over the course of the year. We have one lined up for Black History Month with a couple more hopefully to come. Do you think you have something to contribute to the blog? Topics can relate to anything around the furry writing community or furry writing as a whole. Submissions to the blog can be made at this link:

https://forms.gle/icEUzYtZQ5tFE6w47

Not sure about a blog, but have plenty of ideas for short stories? Check out the open markets we are aware of:

Tales From The Guild: Blood And Water – Deadline March 31st 2024
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Furry Femdom Erotica – Deadline When Full
F/F No Erotic Anthology – Deadline When Full
Isekai Me! – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full
Beyond Their Pale – Deadline When Full

Please also check out the latest and upcoming releases from guild members:

Evolution Eye Floater, by James L. Steele. Released January 9th 2024.
Empathy (The Fate Series), by Flash Kitterson. Released January 26th 2024
Far Flung, by Utunu. Released July 3rd 2024.

If you are a Furry Writers Guild member and have an upcoming release you would like shared on the blog, please feel free to let us know!

Keep your eye out for a couple of guest blogs this month and to come throughout the year.

Until next time, happy writing!
Stay safe.
J.F.R.Coates

I had to check that I had the year right, but we are here in 2024! From everyone here at the guild, I hope you had a pleasant Christmas period and new year, however you choose to celebrate or not.

The start of a new year is always an exciting one, filled with plans and expectations for the twelve months to come. It’s no different for us at the FWG! We also have several plans which we are hoping to set in motion that will allow the guild to better serve the furry writing community.

The first of these is one that we have already announced – we are finally bringing out a third anthology! Tales from the Guild in 2014 with Music To Your Ears, and was followed up with World Tour in 2018. Six years later, and we’re back with Blood and Water! We are now open for submissions and will be until the end of March. See the entry below in the market updates for more information.

Secondly, we plan on opening up the blog to more guest authors. This can include author spotlights, essays, and other content. The spotlight with Joaquin Baldwin was received well last year, as were the spotlights we ran for Furry Book Month in 2022. We will be opening up for submissions for general blogs – aiming for at least one guest blog per month – as well as topical ones during months/days of focus, such as Black History Month, Pride Month, and International Women’s Day. This list is not exhaustive, so if you think your blog idea fits with any topical day, week, or month, send it in to us and we can make judgements on whether it is appropriate to feature. Note: the blog itself does not need to be strictly related to the topical focus – so long as the author is a part of the relevant group.

Submissions to the blog may be made through the following form:

https://forms.gle/icEUzYtZQ5tFE6w47

We hope to share more updates and news with you as the year progresses – and that will of course include the Coyotl Awards! Start getting your list of eligible works together, as it should not be long before we have the Reading List ready to go. Authors may submit their own works to the Reading List for the consideration of the FWG Members who will then nominate works to the shortlist.

Didn’t have anything ready for the Coyotls this year? Perhaps you can find a home for a short story to become eligible for next year!

Indulge – Deadline January 31st 2024
Get Wild – Deadline February 1st 2024
Tales From The Guild: Blood And Water – Deadline March 31st 2024
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Furry Femdom Erotica – Deadline When Full
F/F No Erotic Anthology – Deadline When Full
Isekai Me! – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full
Beyond Their Pale – Deadline When Full

We also have a few recent releases from guild members to check out!

Peace And Love, by Huskyteer. Released December 1st 2023.

Evolution Eye Floater, by James L. Steele. Released December 14th 2023.

Axinstone (10 Year Anniversary Edition), by J.F.R. Coates. Released December 26th 2023.

Impossible Magic (10 Year Anniversary Edition), by J.F.R. Coates. Released December 26th 2023.

Fate of Three (10 Year Anniversary Edition), by J.F.R. Coates. Released December 26th 2023.

As always, guild members, if you have something coming out soon, send it our way so we can include it every month!

I am really excited to see what 2024 can bring. I hope that your writing plans come to fruition. All of us at the FWG are interested to see what you can come up with!

Stay safe.
Happy writing.
J.F.R. Coates

It’s finally time for another Tales From The Guild! It’s been many years since our World Tour, so we’d like to officially announce the third anthology edited by the Furry Writers Guild – Blood and Water! This anthology will be published by Fenris Publishing.

Previously, we have had Music To Your Years, themed around music, and World Tour, themed around travel.

Blood and Water will be themed around family – those bound by blood and the family we choose and find. Give us your best families – those that are perfect and wholesome or those dysfunctional and chaotic! Families can be defined by blood and shared relationships, or they can be the close friends we develop through hardship. However your family works, we want to see it! We are looking forward to seeing what stories you can create that fits in with this theme!

The editors for this anthology are all guild staff: J.F.R. Coates, K.C. Shaw, Resolute, and Scribbles Cheetah.

What are we seeking:

• Short stories up to 6000 words in length. (Anything more than this, query with the editors).
• Stories must be furry/anthropomorphic in some capacity.
• Stories must be themed around ‘family’ in some capacity – though interpretation of this theme is open.
• Stories should not be explicit in adult content. The anthology is aiming for PG13/M content. Let the editors know if you’re not sure how your story will fit.
• Stories can be of any genre, so long as they fit with the overall theme.
• We do not want any stories that portray topics like racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, etc in a positive light.
• Previously unpublished stories are significantly preferred, but reprints may be considered if the story is right.
• Authors do not need to be a FWG member to submit.

Other important details:

• Stories should be sent by email to [email protected] – with the subject line Blood And Water – [Story Title] in a .doc or .docx format. Please include your name on the first page only.
• Multiple submissions are allowed – up to three per author. A maximum of one story per author will be selected. Please no simultaneous submissions.
• Payment is 1c/word.
• Submissions open 1st January 2024.
• Submissions close 31st March 2024.
• All stories should receive a response by 30th April 2024.
• Expected release will be at Megaplex or MFF 2024.
• Publication for this anthology consumes the First Worldwide English rights for your story. Exclusive Digital and Print rights for a period of twelve (12) months following the first date of publication are required, and non-exclusive worldwide rights to digital and print publication of the Work in perpetuity.

We can’t wait to see what you come up with! Happy writing!

And here we are, at the end of the year! December is here, and NaNoWriMo is behind us. I hope everyone participating was able to hit their targets – even if it wasn’t the 50,000 words. Any word written is one more than you had before!

There isn’t much news for the guild at the moment, though I certainly hope to start bring out a few of the updates and changes we have planned in 2024. Feedback will soon be requested over initiatives such as Oxfurred Comma, the book bundles, and the possibility of opening up to guest blogs.

I look back on the last few years as being president of the FWG and I am certainly satisfied with the progress made, but there is still a long way to go before the work is done! I hope next year will take another few big steps forward.

Did you work on some short stories during NaNoWriMo that need a home? Check out the open anthology market calls:

Night of the Howling Dead – Deadline December 8th 2023
Indulge – Deadline January 31st 2024
Tales From The Guild: Blood And Water – Deadline March 31st 2024
Androids and Dragons – Deadline When Full
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Furry Femdom Erotica – Deadline When Full
F/F No Erotic Anthology – Deadline When Full
Isekai Me! – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full
Beyond Their Pale – Deadline When Full
#ohmurr! – Deadline: Ongoing

Need a new book before the end of the year? Perhaps a last minute Christmas present? We have you covered with some new and upcoming releases:

The Price of Thorns, by Tim Susman. Released November 14th 2023.

One Universe To The Left, featuring Chase Anderson. Released November 17th 2023.

Peace And Love, by Huskyteer. Available for pre-order. Released December 1st 2023.

Evolution Eye Floater, by James L. Steele. Released December 14th 2023.

Until next year. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, no matter how you do (or do not) celebrate it.

Keep safe. Stay writing.

J.F.R. Coates

Quietly now – it’s NaNoWriMo, and many writers are hard at work on completing the annual 50k words in a month challenge! Best of luck to those of you who are taking part – either with the official goal, or with your own targets. Just remember, any amount of writing is more than you had before!

Of course, with NaNoWriMo here, that means Furry Book Month has come to an end. I hope readers and writers alike were able to find some new books – especially through the book bundles the guild ran. We will be in contact with the contributing authors soon to pass on their royalties.

We will also soon start to open discussions about the possibility of restarting Oxfurred Comma next year, to determine what the members of our community would like to see, and if the event is feasible going forward. Either way, it is likely that some change of format will be required to ensure that we don’t have a repeat of this year’s attempt.

For those trying NaNoWriMo a different way and trying out some short stories instead of novels, there are some open markets that may provide some inspiration:

Altered States: Draconic Desire – Deadline November 30th 2023
Get Wild – Deadline December 1st 2023
Sniff – Deadline December 1st 2023
Night of the Howling Dead – Deadline December 8th 2023
Indulge – Deadline January 31st 2024
Androids and Dragons – Deadline When Full
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Furry Femdom Erotica – Deadline When Full
F/F No Erotic Anthology – Deadline When Full
Isekai Me! – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full
Beyond Their Pale – Deadline When Full
#ohmurr! – Deadline: Ongoing

And if you’re looking for some inspiration in the form of recently released or upcoming books, then we have you covered as well! Who knows – maybe your current project will be listed here soon.

The Price of Thorns, by Tim Susman. Available for pre-order. Released November 14th 2023.

Commander Annie and Other Adventures, by Mary E. Lowd. Available for pre-order. Released November 14th 2023.

Peace And Love, by Huskyteer. Available for pre-order. Released December 1st 2023.

For those of you who bought books during Furry Book Month, your journey may not be over yet! If you have enjoyed reading what the furry writing community has to offer, please let people know! Either through reviews, recommendations, or contacting the authors directly.

Until next month, happy reading and writing!
J.F.R. Coates

Not all furry works are created by those within the community. Sometimes, those out-of-fandom creators can find their way towards our wonderful community, and sometimes they like what they see so much that they decide to stick around! That is very much the case with today’s author spotlight – Joaquín Baldwin.

Joaquín was kind enough to answer a few questions about his writing process and works. I hope you find them insightful and interesting!

For those who aren’t familiar with you, did you want to introduce yourself and your novel?
You might know me better for posting dank Zootopia memes, or for my work at Disney or in animated shorts, but I’ve been working on my own novels for quite a while now and trying to make this my main, big project for the next several years. Wolf of Withervale is the first book of the Noss Saga, an ambitious epic told in six parts (all six books are fully written, don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging). It’s an intrinsically queer story, the kind of tale I wanted to read growing up (although this is an adult novel, not YA, but that wouldn’t have stopped young me). It deals with a magical mask, with themes of transformation, of the nature of consciousness, of gender and identity. It’s a very sex- and size-positive series, but it also has all that you’d expect from an epic tale of massive scope.

What is your writing process like? Do you outline and plot, or are you a pantser?
I’m in the middle. I outline key events I want to get to (including the ending), so I know what I’m telling is something that will go somewhere important, and then I write linearly from start to finish trying to reach those moments. In my outlines I don’t know much about the characters I’ll encounter, except a few, so I’m always surprised at who shows up and what their personalities are, and sometimes the assholes end up taking primary roles and screw up my plans, making me have to reshuffle certain things in my outlines. I enjoy those surprises, but I also need structure. Key moments to me can be a philosophical debate, a romantic thing, a time of self-discovery, a big battle, a death, an arrival at a key piece of information that will unravel the next stage in the adventure. It varies a lot, but it’s those chapters I just can’t wait to write, so once I get to them they pour out truly fast.

The first few days of writing a novel can be the most exciting and daunting part of the writing process. How easily did the first idea for The Noss Saga spawn into a functioning story? Where did that initial spark of an idea come from?
There are many ideas put together into one here. There is one core idea that came to me at 4 am on October 3rd 2020, that core piece tied all my other ideas together into something I could use for worldbuilding at a scale I had not considered before. I didn’t sleep much after that 4am dreamlike moment, and just kept planning around this new idea, then told myself I’d start writing on November 1st to coincide with NaNoWriMo (that’d give me enough time to mull it over, plan a bit, while also forcing me to actually start and not put it off forever). I don’t know where the idea came from. I’m a light sleeper, I wake up all the time at night and semi-hallucinate as I try to fall back asleep. It just came, unprompted. What was that core idea? I can’t tell you because it’d be a massive spoiler, but it has to do with the way the magic of Noss works.

What was the most enjoyable part of creating this series?
The epiphanies. Like that 4am one mentioned above, I had many others where things just clicked together, where a big story problem was solved (often between 2am and 4am, unfortunately), and it feels so great to have that happen. Often it also happens while writing, during those moments of pure flow where something clicks in place and it makes it look like I had planned setups and payoffs for ages just to get to this point, but it just happens in the spur of the moment and it brightens my day.

What was the most challenging aspect?
Giving up on having a life. I started this at the start of the pandemic, which at that time made it easy since there was no going out anywhere anyway. But it’s been consuming every moment of free time I have. I watch only a handful of movies a year, one or two TV shows at most, zero videogames, been going out on fewer photo roadtrips (what kept me sane before this all started), etc. I’m doing too much in too short a time, and it’s taking its toll.

Which authors or specific books have most influenced your work?
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
As obvious as this may be, I have to include this here. I read it when I was 15 years old, and I immediately fell in love with the world as much as with the characters.

The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King.
King’s series adds a grittier tone to fantasy that I truly enjoyed. The tone through a lot of the Noss Saga borrows from it. Even the very first line in my prologue echoes the first line of The Gunslinger!

The Broken Earth Series by N.K. Jemisin.
Orogeny, the magic system in this series, greatly inspired me to create my own magic system based on strict rules leaning more toward sci-fi than traditional fantasy. Incredible series that tackles themes of racism and climate change.

Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany.
I don’t recall enjoying this thick book, but I’m still thinking about it. It’s weird, it’s visceral, chaotic, and I can’t even explain what it’s about. It’s a love it or hate it book, or perhaps both.

The Aleph and Other Stories by Jorge Luis Borges.
Reading Borges is knowing you’ll never write as well as Borges. These short stories are much larger than the scant pages they inhabit, and their imagery is elusive in their clarity. It’s poetry in prose. Read them in the original Spanish if possible.

Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.
This series tackles sociological issues in a compelling way, and evolving through time. It’s the best kind of sci-fi, already starting big but then getting so big that you could never had seen it coming.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
A different kind of post-apocalyptic story. In the Noss Saga I explore similar themes of discovery about what was left behind by an ancient world, and how future generations reinterpret old norms and technology.

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan.
Sagan in general taught me to be a skeptic, to think with clarity and reason, but also to be a dreamer. Despite there being a “magic” of sorts in my fantasy world, it is tightly grounded in scientific concepts.

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter.
The prevalent themes of consciousness and self-awareness in my saga are tightly linked to me reading this intimidating book. It is, to this date, my favorite non-fiction book of all time. It tries to explain consciousness from as close to a scientific way as can be approached, while playing mindtricks on the reader in increasingly more complex self-referential ways.

Imajica by Clive Barker.
Barker’s writings never hold back. He simply digs into his guts and pulls out the imagery that is needed, the emotions that are most raw. This book is huge in scope, and how it deals with sex and gender was refreshing, honest, uninhibited.

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman.
Another series that ties magic to tightly grounded scientific concepts, while still allowing itself to remain whimsical when needed. The animal and anthropomorphic aspects of the series remain a strong influence in what I crafted with Noss.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
The kindness of Gaiman is what strikes me most about his writing. His observations, his knowledge, his way of crafting myths of myths always come from a place of empathy and understanding. Sometimes when I’m stuck editing my own work, I try to read it in Gaiman’s soothing and mellifluous voice, then I find where the pacing is off.

The Kingkiller Chronicle Series by Patrick Rothfuss.
Rothfuss’ voice is lyrical, flowing effortlessly. His worldbuilding is entrancing, and his magic system solid and engaging. Being a debut author himself, it became a big inspiration for me to keep on pushing with my own work.

City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende.
A more lighthearted kind of fantasy written for young adults. As in Noss, this one deals with hidden worlds and the beauty of nature.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern.
Another poetic voice that hit me deeply. Beautiful imagery, iconic, mythical, made of so many snippets of other stories and voices but tying them together perfectly. My favorite fiction book in the last decade.

Xenogenesis Series by Octavia E. Butler.
Sci-fi that cleverly deals with sex and sexuality, as well as how the hierarchical mindset of humans ultimately become self-destructive.

Contact by Carl Sagan.
The movie was cool, but it’s an abbreviated thought. The book is vast, reaching to an idea so big and mind-blowing that was not possible to put into the film version. Although Book 1 in my series starts relatively small in scope, by the sixth book things do expand to unexpected places.

A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir by Donald Worster.
There is a character in Book 1 clearly inspired by Muir in his demeanor, philosophy, and even voice. This is a great introduction to Muir’s life and his life-long struggle to preserve wilderness.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
The man knows how to craft magic systems and write action sequences.

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman
Unbounded curiosity. I often try to recreate that sense of wonder and discovery in Noss, and how joyful and exciting things small and things big can be.

What is the last book you read that you really love?
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. Pure poetry, visually mesmerizing.

What character of yours do you most identify with? And why?
It’s gonna be pretty obvious that Lago, the protagonist, is the closest. Gay, loves big bears and big guys, loves adventure, the stars, is kinda nerdy. But he’s not me. I put a lot of myself into all the characters I write, even the villains. Particularly with the villains I think that’s important, since it’s a way for me to make them more real and not just caricatures.

Besides writing, how do you like to spend your free time?
*cries at the mention of “free time”*

I used to have a life…

My biggest hobby is nature photography, but I haven’t had a chance to do it that often lately. It’s the perfect excuse to explore the world and see remote places you normally wouldn’t get to. My husband and I like to roadtrip and just wing it as we go, mostly skipping the touristy crap and getting lost on smaller roads, finding the good stuff.

You were embraced by the furry community after Zootopia. How much do you credit this community for shaping this book, and for wanting to see it through to the end?
A huge amount! As I said on the Acknowledgments page of the book, “In particular, thank you to my fervent furry following, who taught me to be courageous enough to be myself, to write a story that speaks my truth. You inspire me.” I’ve always enjoyed anthro art but wasn’t involved with the community till Zootopia, and that changed my path entirely. There’d be no Noss without the fandom.

Do you have any advice to give other writers?
Set a starting date between now and, say, 3 months from now. No more. Then start writing that day. You’re never ready to get started until you get started, so you have to take that first step. From there, it’s just a matter of consistency (I won’t say “write X amount every day” because I know people have different ways of working, and my own is for me alone, you have to find what works for you).

What types of stories would you like to see other people write more of?
I’d like to see more stories that feel consequential. An event, an opus, a grand orchestrated epic that has a purpose and it’s not just a way to sell books or to wing it from side story to side story. To me, themes of discovery, of the beauty of the natural world, of diverse ways of thought, those are the things that fascinate me. Sexuality and sex written in a natural, nuanced and revelatory way can be amazing.

It’s still early days, but what is next after The Noss Saga? Are there more stories waiting to be told?
It’s a huge world! I have ideas for stories that take place during certain events of the six-book series, and also ideas for a sci-fi story set in the same world but thousands of years in the future. There’s also the possibility of a tabletop RPG game, card game, and other things of that sort, but I promised myself I would not jump onto those things until after Book 6 is out, otherwise they’d become distractions. I want this project to last till I’m gone and after. I have too many illustrations to do, too many characters to design, too many more maps to add details to.

Most importantly of all, where can we find your work?
At https://www.joaquinbaldwin.com/

And also find me on Bluesky, at https://bsky.app/profile/joabaldwin.com, where I post stuff about what I’m working on. And you can also find me on that other website but who wants to go there any more? Screw that other website.

Illustration by Ilse Gort (aka Caraid).

Please do check out Joaquín’s new book – and I hope some of the answers he has provided has helped discover something a little new about your writing process – or given you some great new books to read from his fantastic recommendations.

I am hopeful to bring back more of these author spotlights in the future – either from similar Q&As or guest blogs, or any number of possible avenues!

Until next time. Enjoy the remainder of Furry Book Month and share those great furry stories.
J.F.R. Coates