Part-time furry cartoonist and full-time MD Jenner, creator of UMA-nominated strip Doc Rat, has become an editorial cartoonist for Australian Doctor.

Jenner, better known in the medical world as Melbourne GP Dr. Craig Hilton, has been cartooning for over 25 years. Within the fandom, he is best known for the adventures of Dr. Benjamin Rat, which started June 2006.

The position at Aus Doc opened up after the retirement of Dr. Bob Futcher. [tip: Fred Patten]

Endtown is an Ursa Major Award-nominated black & white web-comic by Aaron Neathery. “A mutagenic plague followed by a global war fought with disintegration weaponry has left much of the Earth a desert of fine powder, and what remains of humanity fragmented into humans, animal-like mutants and bloodthirsty monstrosities with lots of teeth. The surface, still teeming with the mutagenic virus, has become the domain of the dreaded Topsiders: Well-organized, technologically advanced, and heavily armed un-mutated humans sworn to exterminate mutations of any kind in order to clear the way for the eventual resurgence of a new, genetically clean humanity. Faced with annihilation, mutants and ‘impure’ humans have retreated into the depths of the planet to form communities and hope to win, or at least survive, what may prove to be mankind’s final war.” The strip continues weekly on Gocomics, and now Jarlidium Press have announced that the first two years of the comic will soon be released in two paperback volumes. Pre-orders have already closed, but the books will be available for general sale this June.

M.C.A. Hogarth is a furry artist and writer whose works have appeared in several publications. A guest of honor at Midwest FurFest 2003 and 2009, her short story In the Line of Duty was the winner of the 2003 Ursa Major Award for Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction. Recently, Hogarth's e-novel Spots the Space Marine was the target of a claim of trademark violation by Games Workshop, developer and publisher of tabletop wargames Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, and The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game.

It was on December 13 that Hogarth received an e-mail from online retailer Amazon.com, informing her that they had stopped selling Spots the Space Marine. The explanation given centred around the use of the phrase "space marine". Although an archetype of science fiction dating back to 1932, Games Workshop holds trademarks on the phrase in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe.

Rabbit Valley are looking for authors to submit stories for their ongoing anthology projects. They will be publishing several anthologies in 2013 and need authors to submit stories for review. Check out their submissions page for details.

Listen: Isiah Jacobs interviews Andrew Rabbit about their anthologies [25Mb MP3, 28:13]

For the first time on printed paper, Keenspot will soon be releasing Twokinds as a pair of full-color graphic novels in trade paperback.  This Ursa Major Award-winning on-line comic is written and illustrated by Thom Fischbach. “After waking up without any memory of his past, the lone mage Trace finds himself in the company of Flora, a girl from a bestial species known as the Keidran. Along with a reluctant Basitin warrior named Keith, they journey in search of a place to call their own. But with war between the races brewing, love conflicts with loyalty.” Volume 1 includes a special 5-page epilogue that was not printed on line. Though the release has been pushed back a few times, both Volume 1 and Volume 2 are currently set to hit the shelves this October. You can order them both at the Mile High Comics web site.

image c. 2012 by Thomas Fischbach

As Furry Fandom’s Ursa Major Awards enter their 10th year, Fred Patten (a long-time member of the Awards’ parent organization, the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association) has collected and edited some of the best winners and nominees from the Awards’ “Short Fiction” category into a new book, the Ursa Major Awards Anthology. It’s coming at the end of June from Fur Planet Productions. Featuring short stories by Brock Hoagland, Michael H. Payne, M.C.A. Hogarth, Chas P.A. Melville, Kristin Fontaine, Kyell Gold, Jim Hayden, Samuel C. Conway, Paul Di Filippo, and Naomi Kritzer, as well as original illustrations, the anthology also features a new wrap-around cover by Blotch. Sample copies of the anthology were available at Anthrocon — and sold briskly. You can find out more at Fur Planet Productions’ pre-order page.

image c. 2012 Fur Planet Productions

On May 27, Melange Books published The Unimaginable Road; the first book in Eddie Drueding's "Arraborough" series, revolving around the mysterious going's-on in a small town on a strange planet inhabited by anthropomorphic animals.

As Flayrah reported, Melange is the first non-furry publisher to create a separate listing for furry/anthropomorphic work. Eddie was one of those who requested that it be added, as he felt that no existing category fit his work. He is the third author to be published in it, after furry regular Phil Geusz and fellow newcomer A.C. Withey.

More about the series can be found on its Facebook page, and the book's entry on Melange's website. The author can be reached through Facebook, or at EddieDrueding@hotmail.com.

Publisher Melange Books couldn't decide how to categorize author Phil Geusz's new novel, Stick and Bones – so it created a "Furry/Anthropomorphic" section for works in the genre.

Phil, whose novel joins his No Glory Sought series and C. A. Withey's Savagery in the section, highlighted the novelty of such treatment from a non-furry-specific publisher:

To my knowledge this is the first time that anyone, anywhere has done such a thing.

Melange spares no buzzwords in promoting the "downright magical" topic, describing furry as "the dynamic new genre that's pushing the limits and breaking the rules in every possible direction [...] where the young, cutting-edge authors with new ideas have all vanished to."

Read more: Furry writers discuss Melange at the FWG forums

Grubbs Grizzly's advice column "Ask Papabear", originally distributed by Furry News Network, has moved to its own site, although it will still be available to FNN for syndication.

The greymuzzle's letters of advice cover both traditional and furry-specific topics, including the nature of furry fandom, personal relationships, dealing with adversity, and "coming out" as a furry.

Grubss' previous host appears to be on hiatus, having added no content in over a month. 771 pieces (aggregated and original) were posted last year, but submissions declined sharply after July 2011, and slowed to a trickle late least year.

Update (17 May): Looks like FNN was listening; several new stories have been published.

As an alternative to the Ursa Major Awards, the Furry Writers' Guild (FWG) recently set up the Cóyotl Awards to promote quality writing within furry fandom. Unlike the Ursas, which have open nominations and a rank-based voting system, the Cóyotl Awards are using a more complex scoring structure based on plot, character, setting and literary merit.

Both general and mature works are eligible for nomination, but you can't nominate work you are directly involved with (as specified in the rules). Nominations are to close after April 15.

Nominating and voting is limited to people in the Guild, whose membership requires having stories previously published by other people (i.e., submitted to and accepted by the editor of an online or print publication; not posted to your Fur Affinity or SoFurry page).

E-commerce service PayPal has started a campaign to stop independent e-book publishers from including certain kinds of erotic content in their catalogs, should they be using PayPal to conduct business.

On Saturday February 18, PayPal began threatening to deactivate the accounts of indie book publishers and distributors, if they did not remove books containing certain sexual material – including themes and implied scenarios of: incest, pseudo-incest (including "daddy" fantasies, step-family), fantasies about non-consensual sex or rape, bestiality (widened to include non-human fantasy creatures), and BDSM.

The ban on "non-human fantasy creatures" has prompted some internet commentators to wonder where this leaves publishers of furry erotica, with Bernard Doove's chakats given as an example of what is banned under the new rules.

Seattle area furry convention Rainfurrest has issued a call for entries for this year's charity anthology. [tip: earthfurst]

The group is looking for G–PG short stories of 5,000–8,000 words under the theme "Steam Punk, Weird Science/mad science". Draft submissions are due by February 2.

Proceeds are to go to the upcoming convention's charity. Contributing authors will receive a copy of the book.

2011's entries were collected in Stories of Camp Rainfurrest, with stories by Gene Armstrong, Sorin, Garret Biggerstaff, Daniel and Mary E. Lowd, Ryan Hickey, Kandrel, May Kay Biggerstaff, James Stringer and Trey Jackson, illustrations by Balto and Sarah Alderate, and a cover by WerePuppy.

On the last day of 2011, the latest issue of ANTHRO — #32 — is uploaded and ready for your browsing pleasure! In honor of the season, this issue's cover image is a tastefully-colorized version of Lucius Appaloosius' classic ANTHRO CLAUS. And what (you may well ask) can be found behind that jolly old reindeer's portrait? Find out 'below the fold'!

Bad Dog Books has become an imprint of FurPlanet, as announced yesterday by BDB founder Alex Vance. [Ryffnah]

BDB had already contracted printing to FurPlanet, and Alex expressed hope that the move would facilitate the distribution of BDB works as e-books:

This is something I’m personally very excited about, as it’ll make our portfolio of furry fiction more convenient and accessible to modern readers.

The change is not expected to impact the release of BDB's fiction anthologies FANG and ROAR #4, but does reduce the diversity of furry publishing venues.

FurPlanet is celebrating the deal with a $5 sale on existing BDB titles, which appears to stack with an existing 10% off coupon.

Looking to stock up on presents for the holidays? Several furry retailers are participating in 'Cyber Monday', including Rabbit Valley (15% off $100 or more, in-stock only, to Dec. 1, code 'Cyber2011'), FurPlanet (15% off everything, 'FOXES') and FetishZone (NSFW; up to 50% off).

Bad Dragon had (NSFW) 40% off black, medium-firm toys for Black Friday, but sold out; a 10% global discount remains in effect for the next ten hours. [scottbob3/reddit]