U.S. cable channel Adult Swim is showing an episode of Check It Out! about furries, entitled 'Animals', to be broadcast Sunday 11:30PM CST (10:30PM MST, 12:30AM Monday EST/PST).

Update (18 Apr): The full segment is now available, but has no more furry-specific content.

Interviewer 'Dr. Steve Brule' leads with such incisive questions as "How come you wanna be an animal?", "What kind of animal do you want to be?" and "How do you catch an animal?" Excited by the concept, he suggests "[turning] into some animals and see what'd happen!"

Brule (dressed in a donkey suit) was not impressed by the resulting mini-fursuit-parade, calling it "not that fun", but "what else are you gonna do, dressed up like a dang animal?"

The furs, Amy and Crash the Dog, were recruited after the producers had difficulty finding participants. [Higgs Raccoon]

I can't believe that nobody has posted this here yet! Coming June 8.

On io9, Ron Miller posted a gallery of his photos of Cosplayers from 1970's science fiction conventions. (NSFW)

This subculture spun off Furries, and it made me wonder if any proto-furry costumes were included. The closest I saw were a bird-woman and insect characters, who could be described as anthropomorphic, but not "furry".

What are the earliest records of organized furry activities? I'd guess these are somewhat underexposed and could be better documented [Yarf #46 (Jan 1997)].

Note: This book deals with homoerotic themes and desctiptions [sic.] of erotic acts. (publisher’s advisory)

Prince Natier of Llyra, heir to the throne, is a spoiled brat. As far as King Rasdill is concerned, Natier can do no wrong.

Every night, Natier sneaks out into the city; there, he takes on the persona of Rivard, a slightly more mild-mannered fox. As Rivard, Natier is able to do all the things that would not become a prince -- he goes to brothels, helps a local gang of thieves pull off robberies, and gets drunk off his tail on mead. (back-cover blurb)

The Prince of Knaves gets off to a good Furry start. There are a fox king and prince, a cougar catamite, an otter bath attendant, two bear guards, a raccoon exchequer, and a squirrel secretary, in just the first five pages.

But – EVERY NIGHT the prince sneaks into the city, disguises himself as a commoner, spends the night in drunken revelry, even helps a local gang of thieves to pull off robberies, and neither his royal father nor any of the palace servants suspect anything? (No wonder he sleeps all morning, every day.)

Las Vegas, NV, Rabbit Valley Comics, March 2012, trade paperback $20.00 (406 pages + map).

Flying Fur by George Griffin (1981) may be the unFurriest Furry cartoon that I have ever seen. But it sure is anthropomorphic. And surrealistic. And funny!

Here is a “fairy tale” fantasy novel with a young anthropomorphic unicorn prince who must fight to regain his kingdom from the evil elk lord who has usurped the throne. Old-fashioned? Yes, but “once upon a time” never goes out of style.

Prince Tiran of Silverglen may be heir to the throne of all Asteria, but he's always felt more at home among the villagers, no matter how many lectures he gets from his father. But when the elk-lord Roden slaughters the royal family and claims the throne for himself, only Tiran is left to avenge their deaths and take his place as the rightful king. (publisher’s blurb)

Hamlet, anyone? Prince Tiran has always preferred to rub shoulders with the peasants and commoners of his kingdom than to take an interest in the affairs of state, as King Sevrin, his father, wishes. That is why Tiran is in a tavern, playing dice, when Duke Roden, a visiting elk-lord with his retinue, kills the king and the rest of his family at the castle banquet and takes over the kingdom.

Anthropomorphic Dreams Publishing, February 2012, trade paperback $13.95 (207 [+ 3] pages), Kindle $5.95. Cover by Sara "Caribou" Miles, photography by Jeff Hall.

Ted Blasingame writes long Furry novels. That’s okay, because they are well-written, very interesting novels. (“Has written”? He’s retired from writing? Yarst!)

Sunset of Furmankind tackles a tough premise. The main character hates bioengineered Furries, and on the first page he murders one. He is sentenced to be either executed or made into one against his will. The reader can guess that he will eventually change his mind about them, but can the author make him a sympathetic-enough character to keep a readership of Furry fans interested in what happens to him until this occurs?

While I recommend buying Sunset of Furmankind in its trade paperback or Kindle edition, Blasingame has also made it available for free on his website. Sunset is worth having a permanent copy for your library, though.

Raleigh, NC, Lulu Press, September 2011, trade paperback $19.99 (510 pages), Kindle $2.99.

Eldvar seems like a stereotypical fantasy world, inhabited by humans, pointy-eared elves, dwarves, and orcs alike; some of whom are skilled magic-users. But they all persecute the animal peoples, the wildlings, like Estin.

While the town [the city-state of Altis] may have been run by an amalgam of races, his kind were not welcome. (p. 2)

North Charleston, SC, CreateSpace, August 2011, trade paperback $13.99 (452 pages), Kindle $2.99.

Less than a month after the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City, California held its “Animal Kingdom” exhibition of Josh Agle’s Furry-inspired paintings, the WWA Gallery, also in Culver City’s Art District, is holding its “Gag Me With a Toon 4” exhibition, from March 17 to April 21, of paintings by different artists irreverently inspired by “last century’s” animated cartoon and comic book characters.

The majority of the paintings in this exhibition feature non-anthropomorphic characters like Superman, George & Jane Jetson, Boris Badenov & Natasha Fatale, and Fred Flintstone. But there are enough paintings of cartoon animals like the Angry Beavers, the Animaniacs, Beany and Cecil, Chip ‘n’ Dale, Garfield, Gossamer, Heathcliff, Mickey Mouse, Mighty Mouse, Roger Rabbit, Scooby Doo, and the ThunderCats to make “Gag Me With a Toon 4” of interest to Furry fans.

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

In an anthropomorphic mixed-species medieval world, Stannis, the eighteen-year-old rabbit narrator, sells himself into slavery at the Slavers’ Guildhall in Jazinsk’s capital for the 100 ducats it will bring to his impoverished mother, and to remove one mouth to feed among his large family. He immediately begins to learn his new status:

The [slave] lynx’s eyes widened, snapping away from mine to look over my shoulder. A moment later, a single clawtip touched the back of my neck, just above the collar that had already begun to itch. ‘That was your one free mistake,’ the [raccoon] slaver said, her voice suddenly full of ice. ‘I warned you before you crossed that threshold: your life is no longer your own. At this point, it no longer matters what happens to you. If I were a harsh master, I’d have beaten you the instant you spoke. If I were a cruel one, I’d have beat you before I collared you and made you thank me for being owned. You won’t always be told the rules. They may change without warning. They may not exist. Regardless, you must do your best to obey. Eventually, you’ll fail, and even if you don’t, you’ll still suffer for it. I’ll try to teach you the basics of your new life, but I will not hesitate to reprimand you, even for rules you do not yet know. Do you understand?’ (p. 8)

Bonds of Silver, Bonds of Gold is a novel of humiliation. Primarily sexual humiliation, described in graphic detail, but whatever kind his masters, their families, and his fellow slaves can put Stannis into.

FurPlanet Productions, January 2012, trade paperback $19.95 (304 [+ 1] pages).

Award-winning sci-fi author John Scalzi used a kitten campaign to win a poll by prominent SF publisher Tor, for his short story Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue.

His novel Fuzzy Nation (review), a reboot of H. Beam Piper's 1962 novel Little Fuzzy, placed 8th in its category. From Tor:

For those unfamiliar with Scalzi’s story, its origin can be traced back to our Best SFF Novels of the Decade Readers’ Poll and the subsequent data it generated in regards to most used words in fantasy titles. We joked that “Shadow War of the etc etc etc.” would be a powerhouse of a fantasy tale and lo, John Scalzi made our dreams come true a few weeks later.

Blotch's Nordguard: Across Thin Ice (review), published by Sofawolf Press, was #1 in comics.

Ted R. Blasingame, creator and primary writer of the long-running Blue Horizon series has finished a three-year endeavor to write a new human/furman transformation tale called Sunset of Furmankind.

Completed in September 2011, this 510 page paperback is available through the author's Lulu Press bookstore, for ebook purchase from Lulu, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Books and Amazon.com in ePub and Kindle formats, and on the author's website to read chapter-by-chapter for free.

Follow one man's journey through psychological demons, pain and revelation through an unwanted transformation into the life of a beast destined to explore other worlds.

Nominations for the 2011 Ursa Major Awards, intended to recognize the best works published in the field of anthropomorphics last year, close in just two weeks, on February 29. Nominate now or lose your chance to pick the five finalists in each category.

Voting starts March 15 and closes May 4 (to allow last-minute voting from Morphicon 2012).

The 2011 Awards will be announced and presented in a ceremony at CaliFur VIII in Irvine, CA, June 1–3.

Available awards include Best Motion Picture, Dramatic Short Work or Series, Novel, Short Fiction, Other Literary Work, Graphic Story, Comic Strip, Magazine, Website, Published Illustration, and Game.

If you cannot think of five worthwhile nominees in each category, see the 2011 Recommended Anthropomorphics List for suggestions. Find us now on Facebook!

Graveyard Greg explains in his Foreword how he came to write this novel. Firstly, there was the Second Life virtual-reality world, for which he created a jackal persona with a red Mohawk wearing black jeans and red sunglasses. Secondly, there was his brief job as a barista at a Starbucks. Thirdly, there was John “The Gneech” Robey’s series Fictionlets: The Extremely Brief Adventures of Bridgid and Greg, each of 400 words or less. Fourthly, there was his own imagination, which blended them together, named his jackal Venti and gave him a job as a part-time barista at a Starbucks clone, and he was off and running in a series of short-short-short chapters of one page or slightly over each. Voilà; Welcome to Cappuccinos! (exclamation point optional).

FurPlanet Productions, January 2012, trade paperback $19.95 (246 pages). Illustrated by Mitternacht.