News

Now we’re getting word on Illumination’s next animated feature project. We got this from Deadline: Migration is billed as a modern-day comedy following a family of ducks who convince their overprotective father to go on the vacation of a lifetime as they attempt to migrate from New England, through New York City, and ultimately down to the Bahamas. Oscar nominee Benjamin Renner (Ernest et Célestine) is directing the pic from an original screenplay by Mike White (School of Rock, The White Lotus).” They migrate this way in December of 2023.

image c. 2022 Illumination

Don’t blame us — that’s their joke. Here’s another phenomenon we somehow missed — brought back to us now by Acme Ink. “Here comes the first exciting issue of Charley & Humphrey — with cover art by Darick Robertson! When a motley crew of fleas stow away on Charley — it’s up to accident-prone Humphrey to save the day before the itchy interlopers ruin an important ceremony down at the Sea Horse Docks. Based upon the popular puppet characters created by Pat McCormick — which have delighted audiences for over 60 year! Get in on the adventures of America’s favorite Dog and Pony show!” Told you. It’s written by Justin Sane (!), with interior art by John Hageman.

image c. 2022 Acme Ink

Apparently this is a thing we missed — but now it’s available over here. Cat + Gamer is a black & white manga written and illustrated by Wataru Nadatani, now translated and distributed by Dark Horse. “Riko’s coworkers can’t quite figure her out — she never talks about her personal life, she never works overtime, and she never joins them for happy hour. Is she antisocial? Nope, she’s rushing home to play video games! One day, a stray cat is found in the office parking lot, and before Riko knows it, the cat has moved in with her! Having no experience with pets, Riko uses lessons drawn from video games to guide her in cat care, while her cute companion tries to understand her behavior through a cat’s worldview.”

image c. 2022 Dark Horse Press

Coming Sunday June 26, 2022

The SF Bay Area has the world’s most dense population of furries, but back in 2012, SF Pride didn’t have activities for the love of anthropomorphic animals. They had a parade contingent in 2002-2005, but it needed help to start again. (See a 2002 video or the Pride tag for more history.) 

Whose job is it to make it happen? Everyone’s. In 2012-2019 I was one of the organizers for award-winning floats in the parade, with hundreds of supporters and members. In 2019 (the second year to get an award) we won “Absolutely Outrageous” out of more than 200 parade contingents. The parade was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, but finally, it’s here again.

The Nor Cal Furries are going this weekend with a new trailer, built by @Zoren and @MrDisk0Dog and funded by community donations and volunteers to give everyone an experience to remember. (Funds still accepted, anything extra will pay forward.) Here’s how great it was in 2019:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alexa (@alexadotphoto)

We're going to march again in the SF pride 2022 parade!!

Funding is now live for the NorCal Furries 2022 SF Pride contingent.. https://t.co/7FdpF0Hqev

— Zoren Manray (@Zoren) May 8, 2022

PARADE INFO FOR THE FURRY CONTINGENT:

For Sunday, June 26 the parade is on Market Street from Embarcadero to the Celebration area at Civic Center. General info is at SFpride.org. Spectators will be watching on Market Street from 10:30 a.m. until late afternoon. ABC7 will be broadcasting the parade to watch from home.

• Our Telegram info channel: Announcements only, no chat.
• Our Telegram chat group: The live connection to everyone.
• If you haven’t signed up to march, RSVP for standby and come anyway. If it hasn’t hit 100 people, more can march, but extras may be turned away over 100.

TRAVEL TO ASSEMBLY: See this map for the parade route.

• By car: No cars or dropoff at the assembly. Try the parking garage on 833 Mission St (middle of parade route, 15 minutes walk from each end) or 33 Mission St (near parade end at 8th and Mission.) Or park farther away and take rideshare as close as it gets. Beware of traffic for a huge event, earlier is better.
• BART riders, go to Embarcadero. The south central exit is closest to the assembly.
• Officially we are signed up as Bay Area Furries, in assembly location #124.

ASSEMBLE NO LATER THAN 12 PM: East side of Main Between Mission and Howard. (At the Rainbow paw on the map, near 111 Main.)

• Arrive to assembly by NOON. Allow time for costume change. (Float setup starts as early as 9 AM so we will be there).
• As with prior years, there could be hours to wait before Step-off. If you bring cooling packs to survive in fursuit they may not last.
• Be patient, bring snacks, but don’t be late or delay others. If there’s a signal to go, anyone who isn’t ready will be left behind!
• The trailer may fit 30 people and those with mobility issues have priority.
• If you walk, it’s a hot, high energy event. Water will be available but hydrate yourself too.
• At end of the parade near 8th and Mission, be ready for the float to sweep people and gear off and leave right away.
• From the dropoff, walk or consider pooling together for self-serve transport.

FURSUITER BASICS — No hard bins. No lounge.

• SOFT FOLDING BAGS ONLY. 100 people have to share the back of 1 car for storage. Minimize gear for a moving event.
• Don’t need change space? Change at your car before coming, or change on the street. We do it every year.
• Want change space? Start and end at Relay’s.

DINNER, and OPTIONAL BEFORE/AFTER FURSUIT CHANGING — Dinner is at 6:00 pm at Relay’s Den. Address by request.

• Notify @RelayRaccoon if you will come. Remember, street parking will be scarce.
• 8:00 am: Relay’s Den will open for fursuit changing. A continental breakfast will be provided (coffee, juice, bagels, bananas, etc.).
• 11:00 am: Relay’s Den will close and we will head to the assembly. Make your own arrangements to get to the assembly. Try MUNI (Church & 16th station is 2 blocks away; Church & Market station is 4 blocks away), BART (16th & Mission station is 4 blocks away) or LYFT/UBER.
• 4:00-5:00pm: After the parade, return promptly to change out of suit. Here’s a map with transit options to get there from the parade dropoff.
• 6:00pm: Dinner is 21+ and here’s the menu.
• To spend the night on Saturday, there’s limited crash space with priority for those from outside the bay area. (Ask @RelayRaccoon).

SAFETY AND MORE

• Big crowds always have potential risk… read this safety page!
• Parade attire: Members have family who want to watch on TV from home. If your costume may make TV cameras skip the group, please contact an organizer for case-by-case arrangements.
• The float won’t stop. It’s a mile and about an hour to march. Keep up the pace, avoid the wheels, and listen to the monitors.
• Contingent Monitors are VERY IMPORTANT to march. Please follow them and be on the job if you are one.
• Marchers, watch where the float is. Try not to bunch up, leave gaps or get too far away. The front-facing banner is where the crowds first see us, but going up to the street side barriers is good too. Use the whole street between the float and crowds on BOTH sides. Dance, pose, give hugs and high fives. Look for TV cameras after Fremont Street, a few blocks from the start.
• No glass bottles, no hard bins, and afterwards there’s an 18” x 18” size restriction on bags if you enter the festival at Civic Center.
• Please volunteer to share photos/videos! #Norcalfurries is the hashtag for social media. #Furrypride works too.

NEED HELP ON SITE? 

• Organizers will be hard-pressed, so please contact only for emergencies after using the net, the group and other members.
• General organizing: @Zorenmanray and @Patchmutt. Car, float, storage issues: @Mr_Disk0.

SEE YOU THERE! Art for banners by Kado Husky.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon.Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

You may have heard about the upcoming movie adaptation of Bernard Waber‘s bestselling and beloved book Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. Well now Sony Pictures has dropped the first teaser trailer for the film, directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck (both of whom recently worked on Hit Monkey). Turns out that star Javier Bardem does not voice Lyle, the crocodile from New York — that honor goes to singer Shawn Mendes. Bardem instead plays the impresario who is trying to make Lyle into a star — if the big reptile can avoid New York Animal Control, that is. Lyle, Lyle comes to theaters this October.

image c. 2022 Sony Pictures

Some time ago, writer and illustrator Molly Knox Ostertag gave us The Witch Boy, a coming-of-age graphic novel about a young werewolf boy with… different preferences. We’ll tell you all about that one soon. Right now we want to point you at her latest comic work, The Girl From The Sea. “This sweet graphic novel follows Morgan, a 15-year-old girl living on a small island in Canada, who one day meets a mysterious selkie named Keltie. At first, Morgan is annoyed by Keltie, but as they spend more time together, she realizes her feelings may be stronger than she anticipated.” It’s available now in paperback from Scholastic.

image c. 2022 Scholastic

What is Rhythm Bastard? Hardcore Nerdcore Punk Rock. Alternative Laptop Punk. A DIY one-man-band with a furry Florida Man.

“Rhythm Bastard takes the stage armed only with his voice, his guitar and his bandmate, a laptop, playing a mix of punk and garage rock, with music inspired by every thing from video games, anime, comics and everything in between.” – Bio

His newest music is coming on July 1, so let’s hear about it from the Bastard.

(Dogpatch Press): You’re a hardcore nerdcore punk rocker with 10 years of making albums and playing nerd cons. What’s this collection you have coming out?

“Hardcore Nerdcore Punk Rock” is a Road Mix where I redid a lot of the songs I play live, but haven’t been on a proper physical album. Also in 10 years of writing and making music, I’ve learned a lot of new things and made a lot of tracks I’m proud of, so this is a way to look back on everything and go “damn, I’m kind of good at this”.

You’re swole, made your own fursuit, do a podcast about gaming, and could probably wrestle a bear. What talent don’t you have?

I DON’T have the talent to do it all on my own.

A lot of what I’ve done comes from reaching out to other people and always being ready to learn. Like when I was making my Thrash fursuit, I was always engaging with the Telegram groups for questions and feedback, and it’s a project I learned a lot from. When it comes to music, I’m ALWAYS bothering friends and family for feedback regardless of musical knowledge, since I just want to know how the song hits. Even though it might feel cut-throat and ultra competitive, there’s no downside to someone else learning what you know.

Other stuff I’m learning because I’m eager to do it? Writing a visual novel, learning Wwise, and making a VRChat avatar.

Are you really a bastard, and why or why not? What’s the story behind the music?

Depends on your definition ;). So the name “Rhythm Bastard” came from a blog I ran when I was first learning guitar, where I’d learn all the songs from the video game Rock Band, Initially, it was called “The Rock Band Experiment ”, shortened to RBExperiemnt. However, as I got into it, I realized I wanted to do MORE with music, so I decided to scrap the original concept and keep working on playing and learning. However, I wanted to keep the RB initials, so the R stood for Rhythm, because I like playing Rhythm Games, and the B became Bastard, because at that time I was really getting into the comic series Transmetropolitian. The main character, a Hunter S. Thompson expy named Spider Jerusalem uses the word Bastard a lot, so I always have this rebellious connotation toward the word. Anytime I bring up changing it to make it more “PG” or at least Ad friendly, people tell me “NO, IT’S PERFECT”

Thrash the Trash Panda is your fursona, when was he born and what’s his story?

The comedy website Something Awful used to have a weekly music column called “Your Band Sucks”. Occasionally they’d have a Q&A article where readers can send in questions. My predilection for raccoons came from one question where someone asked:

If animals (humans don’t count in this case) could play music, what species do you think would have the most talent and why?

and the answer given by Dr. David Thorpe was:

” I’d give it to Raccoons, because they have all the hallmarks of a great rock band: they come from working-class backgrounds, they’re not afraid to get down and dirty, they have an awesome gimmick (wearing masks), and they’re cute as heck. They’ve also got those little hands, so they could probably play guitars.”

And I felt that described me to a T.

Years later, when Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (a movie I have not seen even though I LOVED the first one, and LOVE James Gunn’s work) came out and Peter Quill brought the term Trash Panda into popularity, I leaned into the pun of “Thrash” panda, and the song was born. Eventually I just liked getting art of this character I made up for the song whenever I’d recite the lyrics so much, I made it official.

One fun tidbit I came up with is real name isn’t “Thrash Panda”, but something that’s foreign and hard to pronounce so he was like “Fine, yup, that’s it”.

When I commissioned HELLBREAKFAST to do the cover art for my album Bastardmania, which was the music I did for a video game that ended up being not used, I wanted the cover to resemble that of the game WWF No Mercy for the Nintendo 64. Obviously I’d be The Rock in center, but for the people on sides, I figured I’d do cameos from my musical ouvre. On the left is “Jonesy Spencerson”, a Radio Announcer character who did the interludes on my album Status Quo Radio, and on the right is Thrash. I loved the outfit so much I thought “YUP, IT’S CANON NOW”

Recently you played Furry Weekend Atlanta, where you had volunteers serve you as human mike stands. Could that be someone’s kink, or were you wholesome and just in a panel room without full amenities while grinding your way to main stage time?

I’m going to go with the former, since that sounds more badass. I tend to bring a lot of equipment whenever I do a show because I never know what a con will and won’t have, and most of the time I get thrown into a panel room instead of a stage, so I have to do whatever I can to make things interesting. I rarely play outside of Florida, where I can bring whatever I need, but when I have to factor in traveling further than a few hours, it gets dicey.

FWA was great, though. The show still ruled. I make things happen.

What kind of amazing show would you do on main stage? Would you include an interlude where you actually wrestle a bear? Should I include a call for furry bear volunteers? Or would you do something else amazing that gets cons to put you on?

To compensate for being on my own, I’ve learned to add more to my solo sets: Before my first song I do a big lipsync introduction to hype the crowd up, I throw Magic The Gathering cards into the audience, and I’m looking into a projector and videos that play during my songs to increase the WOW factor.

Getting a full band would also be a big help for sure. I’ve always been a victim of “Other Band Syndrome”, where I’ll start playing with a couple people and then their OTHER project starts doing well so they have to devote more time to that. But actually having a band with me would give me so much more flexibility and interaction.

As for your suggestion of bear wrestling, I’d be down for booking a Fursuiter Wrestling show at a larger con. That’s just a damn good idea. Neko Chan Punchy/Mr. Cat set the precedent for such a thing, so maybe you can see a Raccoon vs. Cat Grudge Match in the future.

Some highlights from when I fought my arch nemesis @DamonLeigh Full match at https://t.co/vPgd05yV6n pic.twitter.com/SbhrIxQYj6

— Neko Chan Punchi (Mr. Cat) (@realfozzcat) July 15, 2018

You wrote “Furry cons are Ren Faires mixed with Pride Parades.” That’s a cool description, do you want to give any more details?

Why I went with Renaissance Faires in particular, it’s that while there are inroads from corporate pop culture (i.e. Going to a Ren Faire because you like Game Of Thrones, Lord Of The Rings, The Witcher, etc. vs. going to a fur con because of Disney movies, Starfox, etc.), the VAST majority of people who dress up for them are going as their own character that fits the theming. The comparison to Pride Parades is that at Furry Weekend Atlanta, I saw people being themselves at 110% and loved it. While yes, the furry fandom is very heavily LGBTQ+, that comes from the fact that participation in the subculutre ENCOURAGES you to look at yourself in a different light.

What I like about the furry fandom is that it’s not around something specific, but rather a general concept, like being a fan of Fantasy or Sci-Fi, so it’s creator owned, and there’s no REQUIREMENTS. I play a lot of anime conventions in Florida and people tend to lose interest since while I’m playing songs inspired by video games and comics, something the con goers enjoy as well, they bail when they realize I’m not doing VGM covers or rapping over anime beats. Furries have been more keen to take a chance on me and my music, so that’s why I’ve been leaning more toward my furry side.

Have you encountered haters making bad decisions to mess with you and the fandom? I didn’t get the idea that most of your music is provocative, but I saw you did a Fuck TERFs song.

“Fuck TERFs” came out when SonicFox got temporarily suspended from Twitter for saying “Fuck TERFs”. A LOT of people get banned for sticking up for themselves, so I wanted to make a song where everyone can shout it out without having to worry about a Websites protecting Transphobes feelings. The only pushback I’ve gotten from it is online, and a lot of TERF hate directed at a 6’1″ attractive swole Cis Man sticking up for Transgender people comes off as really pathetic insults, like “moid” (the “male” equivalent of “Femoid”, an incel term for women) and “penis haver”.

What made me really happy was when I saw an uptick from people watching the song on YouTube because someone posted it on a transgender-led meme subreddit, and the comments were “This is what I needed, thank you!”. Occasionally I’ll do a twitter search and people quote it!

I also have a song called “Run Over Ronnie”, written shortly after Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis legalized running over protestors in the wake of the protests from the summer of 2020, and reworked the MC Lars song “Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock” to “Think Geek Is Not Nerdcore” that focused on the consumerism of the Geek Brand, so I can be provocative when I want to be.

Have any good con stories?

At Anime Iwai 2021 in Fort Lauderdale, I participated in a cosplay runway competition as Meowscles from the game Fortnite, who is a muscular cat man with an otherwise human body. I didn’t win, but I was clearly the fan favorite. What I didn’t expect was someone recorded it, posted it on TikTok over some hella sexy music, and had a bit of a viral moment. I was moving at the time, so it made things a little less hellish seeing all the thirst.

Are you going to Anthrocon and what do you look forward to there?

Anthrocon is VERY up in the air for me right now since I’m waiting to hear back from them. Megaplex is local, and I enjoyed the experience of FWA so much that I’m still open to playing cons all over!

Is there anything else we should cover?

My manager is making me say this; HARDCORE NERDCORE PUNK ROCK COMES OUT JULY 1ST, support your local swole punk rock furry by checking out the linktree and if you want to book me, email info@fireworksfactorymgmt.com!

Also follow here:

• Rhythm Bastard main site
• Patreon
• Bandcamp
• Soundcloud
• Facebook
• YouTube

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon.Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

Furries and freedom are the common topic between an incident in America and one in Russia. This builds on previous stories of anti-LGBT harassment and opposing war in furry news on Dogpatch Press.

Let’s start close to home for many readers. Across America, right-wing attacks have been punching through furries to strike LGBT rights. These attacks are based on debunked hoaxes, but in May, one caused real damage in a Wyoming school district. A board member mocked furries and ignored bullied students while the district removed anti-discrimination protection for LGBT people. This shows the rising stakes for anyone included in Pride month, which many furries count as part of their fandom and freedom. These attacks are starting small to aim for a big goal that already exists in Russia.

Across Russia, LGBT people have no protection. Russia’s government treats LGBT identity as a political stance for just… existing. Meanwhile, they’re threatened and forced to hide. But Russians can’t easily protest for rights without punishment. It’s also dangerous to show anti-war beliefs, especially if a group is already disfavored. Their free speech is oppressed as anti-government.

Under these conditions, police raided a furry meet in Moscow. It was first reported by OVD Info, a human rights org that monitors political persecution in Russia:

Numerous furries were detained by police in Moscow after one was seen with anti-war pamphlets and protest ribbons. https://t.co/ULVoKqZvUH pic.twitter.com/pOotb30Ysm

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) June 9, 2022

PolarLight Wolf

The local view

The Moscow meet was an ordinary fursuit walk that has been covered on Dogpatch Press from close contact with organizers. It’s a social event in public places that follows Russian law in staying apolitical, not even displaying identity. There have been attempts to frame such gatherings. At one, a provocateur tried to jump in photos with a pup mask to get them in trouble. And an anime fan gathering was framed by someone giving them rainbow flags for photos that led to arrests. Those incidents presage this one.

At this walk, police picked people for searches and claimed to find antiwar items in someone’s bag, causing them to detain a lot of members.

More info was submitted that day by PolarLight Wolf, a Russian fursuit maker who gathered it to pass on:

“I would like to share commentary on today’s events.

Talvi Ferret helped to coordinate legal assistance for today’s detainees. Here is what he says in short:

“In Moscow city 11 furries were detained by police today. Some of the detainees were held in a stuffed airless police van for hours. According to the furry event participants words, they were detained for “unusual looks and loud behavior”. They did not confirm misinformation about possible provocation that was spread among the social networks.

A lawyer from the OVDInfo[1] human rights defenders group went to the detainees. I coordinated the actions together with OVDInfo hot line, to not leave anyone in the police station, to help provide legal assistance if needed. This is a standard work practice of human rights defenders during mass detentions – to not leave anyone in the police station. Most of the detainees were released without charge reports, beside the one, minor, who was charged with “discreditation of Russian army”[2], supposedly because of “possessing papers of certain content”. This was not real, and he wasn’t handing out any leaflets – other witnesses among furry meet participants confirm it. A few hours later he was released from the police station.”

Notes:

1. OVDInfo is a russian human rights defenders and media activists group. They specialize in providing legal help to people detained or arrested for peaceful protests and other public actions.
2. Article 20.3.3 of Russia’s Code of Administrative Offenses, adopted 04/03/22 and appended 22/03/22 introduces punishment for “Public actions aimed at discreditation of Russian armed forces”, states fines from 30,000 to 50,000RUB for persons, and this offense creates res judicata that may lead to charge under eponymous article 280.3 of Criminal Code which states jail up to 3 years.

Proof of location – Talvi’s photo from the police station yard in the Moscow central district where furries were detained:

Talvi Ferret also shared a personal message to the Russian furry fandom:

“My dear furry friends. As the man who was at the police station and coordinated the help for detainees, I would like to ask you all to stop spreading unconfirmed rumors and fake news. In terms of law, of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, international treaties that Russia signed, and you are the citizens of this country, handing out leaflets of certain content (that you are tattling about) is not an offense. Whatever say the “laws” that were adopted by the current regime. Slavery also was legal. German racist and antisemite laws also were legal. In this system you also can become out of law – and we hear and see the examples already. This is the first thing. I ask you to think about it seriously.

The second one. I won’t put it to the public, but it is needed. There wasn’t any distribution of any leaflets. No one endangered anyone. I can’t talk about it in detail – I have no right for it. But according to meet participants and witnesses testimonies that I collected, here’s how the situation looks from this side: Special police forces and/or national guard began detaining people on the street because of their unusual look. Some of the participants had long hair, some had rainbow colored socks. [Bolded by editor]. Just as some of us were dressing like 10 years ago (and I remember it, being a member of the community for a long time), we were noisy and had fun, maybe we were going a bit too far… This attracted the attention of others. But today, in Russia of 2022, generic law enforcement sees this as an offense.

You are accusing the man, who you don’t know anything about, of absolute bullshit (okay, also by the words of others that were nearby, but if you have some confirmed info that contradicts it, you can send it to my PMs). I won’t share further details of the incident. But none of this person’ actions was unlawful. He wasn’t distributing anything, he even did not resist the detention. Please stop all your gossip. You weren’t around. Better to think about it as an important precedent. This is the first incident of this kind to happen. And it will get only worse. Please think about yourselves and those who you care about, and how to be less hostile to each other. Think about the life of furries in other countries, how they walk in capitals of their countries, and also even photographing in fursuits at the main state monuments. And where the police protect them and not pack them into airless police vans.

Remember, in the year 2022, it came for us all. Just as in that famous saying about fascism. They came for us now.

Talvi the ferret

P.S. I tried to change something in this country, and very seriously. I did not succeed. But we’ll be back.”

And the last thing that he consider the most important:

“My very-most-important comment on this situation. My role in today’s events is not so big. I just tried to coordinate the help, to be sure that everyone involved can get the legal assistance. That all of them will be released from the police station.

The main merit is the visit of the lawyer. She found the time to go to the police station, and she helped the detainees. And we’re really thankful to her for this. Most important – is that we have OVDInfo and other human rights organizations. People were on the phone, helping detainees via Telegram chats. They are helping us all. Please pay attention to them. Please give them some words of gratitude.

And yes, OVDInfo always existed thanks to small donations from ordinary people. And I ask you to support them. Your donation will help to fund the legal assistance and lawyer visits, who will help you in cases like that. Your donation will also help to support the project’s IT infrastructure, their operators and technicians, and other specialists. They helped you all.

Please consider sending some small donations to them. Even the price of a cup of coffee. Price of burger. Price of a coke bottle. The flow of these little donations makes the OVDInfo go.

You can support the OVDInfo project by this link – https://donate.ovd.legal/

Tomorrow the regime may come for you too. And you should understand it.

I call for furry solidarity. And take care of yourselves.”

After messages from Polarlight Wolf and Talvi, one of the Moscow furmeet organizers was consulted. The person blamed for bringing anti-war leaflets wasn’t known to anyone in the group. His social media was deleted and it’s unknown if it was a real name, and they’re unable to find a police report in his name. He was called a non-furry provocateur working for the authorities.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon.Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

Recently at the Annecy animation festival, GCI Film gave a first glimpse of their new feature film Ozi: Voice of the Forest, directed by Tim Harper. “The independently financed feature follows the journey of a teenage orangutan, Ozi, and her friends, who set out on a voyage of discovery across the rainforest in a quest to find her parents in a land that has fallen victim to deforestation. Supported by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions, and Academy Award-winning producer, Mike Medavoy, the feature brings to light critical issues as the world’s rainforests face ever-growing levels of deforestation and its impact on the ecosystems within. The voice cast includes Amandla Stenberg as Ozi, Laura Dern, RuPaul, Donald Sutherland, and Djimon Hounsou. Harper helms the project alongside creators Keith Chapman (Paw Patrol, Bob the Builder) and Rodrigo Blaas (Pixar’s Wall-E, Finding Nemo). Emmy Award-winning Ricky Roxburgh (Tangled, Spy Kids) wrote the original screenplay.” The film is currently in production. Stay tooned.

image c. 2022 GCI Film

Formerly a Wall Street investor, currently a teacher and storyteller, Mystery Mike McHale has created a new illustrated book for kids, Dino Dogz, with the help of artist Mike Goldstein. “The DinoDogz (half Dogz/half Dinosaurs) are on a Mission to rescue five StegoPup eggs that have been stolen by the evil Dr. D. Stroy (their creator) before the doctor uses them to create an army of DinoDogz to take over the world!!!! Along the way, the Dogz must face off against enemies controlled by the doctor to collect their DinoDNA to transform into their true DinoDogz selves.” The official web site includes the on-line Dino Dogz game. Mystery Mike says there’s a mascot costume on the way too!

image c. 2022 Mystery Mike’s Funhouse

The things we find. Ham-Let: A Shakespearean Mash-Up is a new full-color graphic novel for young readers, brought to us in hardcover by Dark Horse Press. “The eponymous Pig Prince himself returns home from college to find that his uncle Claude betrayed and murdered his father to seize the throne! But this familiar fable veers into the zany and adventurous when Ham-let calls upon his best friend Horatio and a troupe of rowdy, self-centered actors to aid him in halting his uncle’s evil plans.” Ham-Let is written by Jim Burnstein, Garrett Schiff, and Andrew Cosby, with illustrations by Elisa Ferrari. Go check out the preview pages over at the Dark Horse web site.

image c. 2022 Dark Horse Press

A singing furry was on a TV reality show! First the story, then some questions…

The Got Talent franchise started with America’s Got Talent in 2006, which spun off over 69 versions in other countries. Nice. Canada’s Got Talent first aired in 2012. It only just came back with a 2nd season for 2022 featuring Cassidy Civet, the first furry in any of the franchises. The show format has been used for more than singing, including dance, comedy, acrobats, novelty acts, and animal acts. Now I’m confused about Cassidy’s category… let’s just call her awesome.

You can browse some of Cassidy’s talents below, and look out for her upcoming video about appearing on Eurovision.

• Newest Song: Raise A Glass (feat. Pepper Coyote)
• Debut Album: Double Take
• Support: Patreon – Merch shop – Ko-Fi
• Social Media: Twitter – Tiktok – Every link

Here’s the video, and then Cassidy tells more.

(Dogpatch Press): Tell me about yourself and why you love furries!

Well hi! I’m Cassidy Civet, and I am a furry! I love the furry fandom for bringing together so many interests and talented people who just don’t fit in other niches. Nothing wrong with that, we made our own space. I think the imagination of the fandom is boundless and I’m happy to add my own to the scene with my music. ^^

How did it feel to be nominated for an award (the Ursa Major)?

Of course it’s flattering just to be nominated, but since then I’ve won the 2021 Good Furry Award, which I am even more proud of!

What have you been up to during the pandemic?

You mean the still 2 year ongoing pandemic? Well I auditioned for Canada’s Got Talent, flew to Europe to audition for Eurovision, and did 16 cons since August 2021

Tell me how you got into music.

Growing up my dad was a DJ, but not like the furry rave kind, more like school dances and weddings. So my music brain comes from knowing basically all the hits for every generation, exposure to so much music through the hit singles of every given era and culture, that’s how I got into music!

Do you have any thoughts about creating, like how can other people turn their experiences into interesting stories or creations?

Just maintaining oneself and not being discouraged or brought down is hard enough. The biggest thing you can do to be creative is to trust yourself. If you have something you believe in, you need to be prepared to toil those long uncomfortable spans of time where stuff might be working, but eventually it will, so stick with it and you’ll figure out your path eventually.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon.Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

[Back from Biggest Little Fur Con, and there’s still more to catch up with…] At the L.A. Times Festival of Books this year we discovered Creative Creature Catcher — an “augmented reality children’s book”, to use the publisher’s phrase for it. “Welcome to the Society of Creative Creature Catchers! Your mission is simple: Find and learn about a variety of fantastical animals who have ended up lost in our world and then it’s your job to send them home to their families! Some hide in the curtains. Others hide under the bed. Don’t worry. They won’t hurt you. They’re scared, and their parents are worried about them.” Sounds like an interesting story, but then it goes further… “But this is just half the story. Creative Creature Catcher isn’t just about reading. It’s about doing. Anyone can read about these unfortunate animals, but Malcolm will teach you how to get personally involved. Grab your Apple or Android device (phone or tablet), and even stubborn readers will want to know more about the shifty Grumbaloo or the quick-footed Eeking Sfifter as 3D characters leap to life with Augmented Reality.” Visit their official web site to see more of what they’re talking about.

image c. 2022 Anomaly Productions

Sorry. The Girl Who Speaks Bear is a recent novel for young readers written by Sophie Anderson. “Discovered in a bear cave as a baby, 12-year-old Yanka dreams of knowing who she really is. Although Yanka is happy at home with her loving foster mother, she feels out of place in the village where the other children mock her for her unusual size and strength. So when Yanka wakes up one morning to find that her legs have become bear legs, she knows she has no choice but to leave her village. She has to find somewhere she truly belongs, so she ventures into the Snow Forest with her pet weasel, Mousetrap, in search of the truth about her past. But deep in the forest there are many dangers, and Yanka discovers that even the most fantastic stories she grew up hearing are true. And just as she draws close to discovering who she really is, something terrifying happens that could trap her in the forest…forever.” Published by Scholastic, it’s available now in hardcover. [And with that, we’ll see you all again after a trip to Biggest Little Fur Con! — ye ed-otter]

Since 2019, the Good Furry Awards have been recognizing furries who make outstanding positive contributions to the fandom.

Founder Grubbs Grizzly says:

For the 2022 awards, there will be a LIVE presentation at Biggest Little Fur Con in Reno, Nevada! The ceremony will be on Friday, June 3, at 5pm in the Ruby Room, so if you’re going to BLFC I hope to see you there!

The awards will be broadcast live on the Bearly Furcasting podcast.

ALSO! This year there will be a new Lifetime Achievement Award! This special award is selected by Uncle Bear Publishing and is in addition to our regular awards.

You can learn more by visiting the Ask Papabear website or SEE THE NOMINEES LIST HERE.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

Once Upon A Camel is the fairy-tale sounding title of a new illustrated novel by Kathi Appelt. “Zada is a camel with a treasure trove of stories to tell. She’s won camel races for the royal Pasha of Smyrna, crossed treacherous oceans to new land, led army missions with her best camel friend by her side, and outsmarted a far too pompous mountain lion. But those stories were from before. Now, Zada wanders the desert as the last camel in Texas. She’s not, however, alone. Two tiny kestrel chicks are nestled in the fluff of fur between her ears — kee-killy-keeing for their missing parents — and a dust storm the size of a mountain is taking Zada on one more grand adventure. And it could lead to this achy old camel’s most brilliant story yet.” That story is illustrated by Eric Rohmann and available now in hardcover from Simon & Schuster.

image c. 2022 Simon & Schuster

Hello, it’s me again!

I am delighted to be taking on my second term as president of the Furry Writers’ Guild. I have a few things in mind that I would like to implement during this term, including an improved member directory that would better allow authors to showcase their work, and for readers to better search for the genres and themes they want. The guild is also moving towards the final stages of becoming an official non-profit organisation, which will open up new opportunities for what the guild can provide as a service. Watch this space for some exciting updates to come over the next year!

If any guild member has some suggestions for what they would like to see from the guild, I am always happy to receive emails and messages on your thoughts.

There are a few ongoing submission calls for short stories, though we have not seen many themed anthology calls at this stage. If you see something that you think can be highlighted by the FWG, then please contact us with information about it!

Isekai Me! – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full
#ohmurr! – Deadline: Ongoing
Zooscape – Temporarily closed for submissions. Reoccurring submission windows.

Please also consider checking out some of the new and upcoming releases from our members.

Winter Without End, by Casimir Laski. Available for pre-order. Released Early June 2022.

Red Pandamonium, by Roan Rosser. Available for pre-order. Released June 13th 2022.

Jiao Tu’s Endeavour, by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt. Available for pre-order. Released June 16th 2022.

Roar Volume 11, Edited by Ian Madison Keller. Released at Anthrocon 2022.

Opinicus: Gryphon Insurrection 7, by K. Vale Nagle. Available for pre-order. Released July 1st 2022.

Unfinished Business, by Tim Susman. Available for pre-order. Released July 5th 2022.

A Furry Faux Paw, by Jessica Kara. Available for pre-order. Released July 12th (Date changed from May 24th 2022.)

Nevi’im, by Madison Scott-Clary. Available for pre-order. Released July 21st.

Pirating Pups, edited by Rhonda Parrish. Featuring a short story from FWG member Alice Dryden. Available for pre-order. Released August 9th.

As always, any guild members who want to see their upcoming books included in the newsletter, please let us know! We try to keep up to date with everything, but there will always be some things we miss.

Seems like every time we turn around we’re reviewing something new by Katherine Applegate — author of Crenshaw, The One and Only Ivan, and the Animorphs series, among many others. This time it’s Willodeen, and it’s very hard to explain… We’ll let the publisher try: “Eleven-year-old Willodeen adores creatures of all kinds, but her favorites are the most unlovable beasts in the land: strange beasts known as “screechers.” The villagers of Perchance call them pests, even monsters, but Willodeen believes the animals serve a vital role in the complicated web of nature. Lately, though, nature has seemed angry indeed. Perchance has been cursed with fires and mudslides, droughts and fevers, and even the annual migration of hummingbears, a source of local pride and income, has dwindled. For as long as anyone can remember, the tiny animals have overwintered in shimmering bubble nests perched atop blue willow trees, drawing tourists from far and wide. This year, however, not a single hummingbear has returned to Perchance, and no one knows why. When a handmade birthday gift brings unexpected magic to Willodeen and her new friend, Connor, she’s determined to speak up for the animals she loves, and perhaps even uncover the answer to the mystery of the missing hummingbears.” Find the book in hardcover at MacMillan Publishers and it should all make more sense.

image c. 2022 MacMillan Publishers

The mind that gave us Wicked turns toward anthropomorphic animals as Gregory Maguire brings us Cress Watercress, a new hardcover novel for young readers. “When Papa doesn’t return from a nocturnal honey-gathering expedition, Cress holds out hope, but her mother assumes the worst. It’s a dangerous world for rabbits, after all. Mama moves what’s left of the Watercress family to the basement unit of the Broken Arms, a run-down apartment oak with a suspect owl landlord, a nosy mouse super, a rowdy family of squirrels, and a pair of songbirds who broadcast everyone’s business. Can a dead tree full of annoying neighbors, and no Papa, ever be home?” Illustrated by David Litchfield, Cress is available now from Penguin Random House.

image c. 2022 Penguin Random House

The Sheep, The Rooster, and The Duck is the oh-so-innocent sounding title of a very unusual novel for young readers written and illustrated by Matt Phelan. “The very first passengers to ride in a hot-air balloon were a sheep, a rooster, and a duck in 1783. And while hot-air balloons are indeed wondrous, ten-year-old Emile is too busy being the fastidious caretaker of ambassador Benjamin Franklin’s château in Paris to think much about them. But soon, young Emile finds himself right in the middle of a sinister plot. And right in the middle of the secret headquarters for France’s undercover guardians — the very same sheep, rooster, and duck that piloted the first hot-air balloon. If Emile can muster his courage and be bold, he may be the key to helping the heroes save both Benjamin Franklin and the world.” Find out more in hardcover from Harper Collins.

image c. 2022 Harper Collins