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Special Bump celebrating our milestone of hitting 5,000 subscribers, featuring all 15 members of the group. Milestone reached on JANUARY 1ST, 2025 Editing: @BanditTheRaccoon Fursona Artwork: Weka http://www.Twitter.com/DrawsWeka See more at: http://www.TheRaccoonsDen.com FACEBOOK: http://www.Facebook.com/TheRaccoonsDen TWITTER: http://www.Twitter.com/TheRaccoonsDen FURAFFINITY: http://www.FurAffinity.net/user/TheRaccoonsDen INSTAGRAM: http://www.Instagram.com/TheRaccoonsDen #TheRaccoonsDen #5kSubscribers #FurryFandom

Fellow beast, raise your snouts and notice a change in the gaming landscape. Once dominated primarily by human characters, the gaming ecosystem is booming with projects where the protagonists are quadrupedal animals, anthropomorphic animals, or monsters. We’re surviving in a Rain World, preserving the young of the Endling: Extinction is Forever, in competitions where Friends vs Friends, leading cults like the Cult of the Lamb, leading nations in an Age of Wonders, and reclaiming a kingdom through Tails of Iron. These stories are depicted through simple hand-drawn art, abstract lighting, stop motion, and fully rendered 3D environments. Beast races are making a return, not simply as niche characters, but as epics, expanded upon and featured as the main characters of mythological stories, like in Black Myth: Wukong.

Fuzz and Savrin have themselves a nice hangout and chat. We talk about our holidays, our ideas for going forward in the uncertainty of 2025, a convention asking perhaps too many questions, and show recommendations for AppleTV+ given that it's a free weekend.

LINKS
Transcendent Fiction Publishing
Transcendent Fiction Publishing (@tfpublishing.bsky.social) — Bluesky

Telegram: https://t.me/+KsOQnsQqWfA0Zjkx
email: southpawscast@gmail.com 

Episode 566 - Fursonal Jesus

Catching up again, here’s a science fiction comic series from Boom! Studios that we missed last year: Man’s Best, written by Pornsak Pichetshote (The Good Asian) and illustrated by Jesse Lonergan. “Homeward Bound on an alien world, Man’s Best follows three emotional support pets living on the Starship Horizon – a spacecraft searching for a new home to house a humanity compromised by bad decisions and corporate greed. But after the ship crashes and the crew is captured, these loyal pets are their owner’s only hope. Outfitted in outrageous tech, these three best friends must traverse a hostile world to rescue their owners–leaving them the only hope for a humanity that might not be worth saving. In a harrowing adventure, the pets are faced with challenges that threaten to destroy their most valuable treasure: Their friendship.” Issues are still available from Boom! and at comic shops [Happy New Year, everyone! Let’s work together to make it good, safe, and prosperous.]

image c. 2025 Boom! Studios

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season whatever you celebrate, and if you don’t celebrate anything, I hope you got a few days off work where you could rest and recharge.

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel fiercely hopeful for 2025. We’re heading for a lot of change, but as we all know, transformations can be difficult but ultimately positive. We just have to stay strong, stick together, and protect the most vulnerable among us.

The guild has dropped Twitter/X completely, since that platform no longer feels appropriate for the furry writing community. While our Telegram and Discord are most active, we have moved to Bluesky and it seems like a pretty good place at the moment. If you’re a guild member who has also joined Bluesky, and the guild account hasn’t followed you back, feel free to drop an email or message to let us know your handle. This is also a good time to update your contact information if your email has changed or if there’s anything else we should update in the guild membership records. Don’t forget to update your available works too! There’s a link to the right that you can fill out.

I used to never set new year resolutions (except one in 2011 that I still keep, to floss my teeth every day. Yay healthy teeth and gums!), but these days I like the idea that the new year is a reset button. If I decide to make a change in my life that others will notice–the way I dress, my hairstyle, pronouns used, etc.–people are more likely to accept this change as normal right after the new year. Sometimes the hardest part of being one’s true self is worrying about what others will think. That’s truer today than it has been in my entire lifetime, unfortunately.

So, what are some of your resolutions for 2025? I have plans to change jobs later this year and move to another state to go back to school in fall, which has me really excited (and scared)! Along the way I want to finish the three writing projects I’ve been working on, including the novella I started in October.

As for guild stuff, we have lots coming up! We still don’t have the firm publication date for the Blood & Water anthology, except that it should be verrrrry soon, but we definitely have the Cóyotl Awards coming up! Later this month I’ll post the dates for nominations and voting, along with the link for the pre-nomination phase: the recommended reading list! That’s specifically for 2024 works that are eligible, and it’s a great way to find works that you missed last year.

We also have guild elections coming up in April, but if you’ve been considering stepping up to an officer position, we can really use your help sooner than that. Three officer positions are currently vacant: vice president, treasurer, and Cóyotl Awards Chair. I am acting president but would really like to step down to treasurer instead. While I’m pretty good at the back-end details of updating the website and so forth, I don’t feel I’m the right person to lead the guild. We need someone with vision and enthusiasm who can devote time to the position and not (as a totally random example) neglect social media to sew fursuits to fund her upcoming move and tuition.

Whatever your writing goals for the new year, the Furry Writers’ Guild will be there to support you!

Check out the Kickstarter campaign for a new pro-paying furry/furry-adjacent story market, Plott Hound Magazine!

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. Released December 10th 2024.

Happy writing!

Kate Shaw

Dear Furiends,

As Papabear orbits the sun for his 60th time, I'm reflecting on all that has changed since I arrived on this planet in 1965. Here is a summary of life in America and the world at the time I was born . . . 

When I was born, The Beatles were at their height; Bob Dylan released "Like a Rolling Stone," and The Who released "My Generation"; miniskirts were the rage; Star Trek TOS had not even aired yet, but the pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," was reworked and filmed in the version we know today; Frank Herbert published Dune; The Sound of Music is released, as is A Charlie Brown Christmas; JFK had been dead 2 years; but his presence was still felt in America; NASA had launched Gemini 3, the first multiperson spacecraft, Gemini 4, the first American spacewalk (astronaut Ed White), and Gemini 5, the first manned weeklong mission, Gemini 6 and 7 perform first rendezvous in space,  Ranger 8 had scoped out the Moon for landing sites, Mariner 4 flies by Mars to give us our first close-up photos of the Red Planet, and the SNAP-10 became the first nuclear-powered spacecraft; meanwhile, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov performed the first spacewalk; women still didn't have the right to own a credit card without their husbands name on it, and we were 8 years away from Roe v. Wade still, but the SCOTUS ruled that the banning of contraceptives under Connecticut law was unconstitutional; also 4 years away was Stonewall, and anti-sodomy laws (really, anti-gay laws) were the rule in most states, although in 1961, Illinois had banned such laws, the first state to back off of homosexuality being illegal; in good news, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 had just been passed; Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965, which established Medicare and Medicaid for the first time; but Vietnam was an escalating nightmare, and the U.S. was criticized by the international community for using chemical weapons against the Vietcong; Muhammad Ali successfully argued against being drafted on the principle that he was a pacifist (kudos!); Johnson makes burning your draft card a crime punishable by 5 years in prison (the draft doesn't end until 1973); the Watts Riots cause civil unrest in the country for a week; President Johnson signed the Nationality and Immigration Act of 1965, which basically removed the restriction placed on allowing immigrants from entering the country from certain places, especially Asians and eastern and southern Europeans; Johnson also signs Executive Order 11246, banning employment discrimination based on race; he also signs the Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act, the first federal law controlling car emissions; an 8.7 earthquake had devastated Alaska, and a 7.4 earthquake killed 500 people in Chile; Canada--get this!--had just adopted its maple leaf flag! The Cold War was getting nightmarish, with the USSR testing a nuclear weapon in Kazakhstan; in Alabama, Governor "Dickhead" Wallace, in his efforts to stop Dr. King's Selma to Montgomery march, approved what became Bloody Sunday, with cops beating the marchers with clubs and whips until they finally forced them to stop at the Edmund Pettus Bridge; in the tech and science world, the first magnetic video tape recorder to be commercially available to the public, the Ampex VRX-1000, was released; Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson at Bell Labs discovered cosmic microwave background radiation, solid evidence supporting the Big Bang Theory; the first portable defibrillator is used in Belfast; the first all-news channel, WINS 1010AM in New York, began broadcasting, and The Today Show became the first TV program broadcast via satellite; the first computer dating service is debuted by a joint MIT/Harvard University venture (so blame them); the first pushbutton telephone had come out only 2 years ago, and the first video game, Pong, would not come out by Atari until 1971.

As you can see, life was very different. We made a lot of progress since the 1960s, but now much of that progress is being threatened by those who resent the strides in civil rights we have made. I often get nostalgic for the 60s and 70s, but as you can see, there was a lot of stuff that was not so great during those years, years that those born in the 21st century would feel like a totally different reality. 

The Trump Administration and Republicans want to take us back to a time before women's rights, immigration rights, LGBTQ rights, and more. As much as there was some cool stuff back in the 60s, such as with the music scene, I do not want to see 60 years of progress erased. 

Profound changes seem on the nearby horizon. Powerful countries like Russia and China appear to be imploding under the weight of their own corruption, but if we are not careful, the USA might follow their lead.

​While all this is going down, the furry community needs to stick together more than ever. We will inevitably find ourselves targets of the hate as part of the culture wars that the Republicans are waging to distract Americans from the fact that the rich are robbing the middle class into extinction.

To help support the furry community, I have started a new group called Furries for Freedom. At the moment, it is only a Facebook group, but I will be starting a website soon and spreading to other social media. Our goal is to support the furry community, educate them on their rights, report on news related to our freedoms and rights, and to in general be there for those who need friends.

Together, we can make it through this.

Bear Hugs,
​Papabear

毛兽播主罗恩 2024 年尾演唱会：与观众一起《咬滚》 一起成为家人

知名Twitch實況主羅恩Roan於12/14在台北NUZONE展演空間進行「重返水晶洞演唱會」與「一起咬滾2」線下台聚活動，吸引約150位粉絲到場參與。活動由Roan以原唱曲《你是我的狗，我要你乖乖坐下》進行開場，並陸續演唱許多歌曲共計12首。

演唱會現場有大型的羅恩立牌。拍攝/藍風 演唱會一開始，由羅恩拿著紀念毛巾出場並演唱《你是我的狗，我要你乖乖坐下》。拍攝/藍風

演唱會中間不僅有安插數個小劇場進行互動，羅恩也在曲目《對你著迷》橋段，到台下與頂級皇家鮭魚贊助者進行互動。

演唱會中途有毛毛竹本嵐與LOBO同框進行訪問的小劇場。拍攝/藍風 羅恩在演唱中到台下進行互動橋段。拍攝/藍風；後製、貼圖授權/羅恩 本次演唱會的頂級皇家鮭魚贊助者們獲得羅恩的原味鮭魚抱枕。拍攝/藍風；後製、貼圖授權/羅恩

演唱會的最後，羅恩以原創歌曲《來自異鄉的旅人阿》跟當下才公開的曲目《宇宙中的你和我》，在台下觀眾揮舞的粉紅與藍配色的燈光棒下感性演出。羅恩在受訪時表示，《來自異鄉的旅人阿》這首是寫給自己的歌，也是一首想送給大家的歌，認為「想家」像一顆種子會越長越大，不論是在外地旅遊或是工作追求夢想時遇到挫折，都會讓這個情緒變得更加的深厚。而《宇宙中的你和我》這首則是經歷過思鄉這個低潮後所得出的答案，羅恩說:「我們彼此早就成為了彼此的家人，我們一起生活的地方，也早就成為了我們的家。」

羅恩與樂團二足步行一同演唱曲目《宇宙中的你和我》。拍攝/藍風 活動現場有販售紀念毛巾、貼紙與T-Shirt，羊咩在受訪時表示將規劃通販。拍攝/藍風；後製、貼圖授權/羅恩

演唱會結束後羅恩則進行「一起咬滾2」台聚活動，除了備有餐點讓參加者品嘗外，也邀請到二足步行樂團帶來數首歌曲演出，以及觀眾上台演唱與抽獎活動環節等，讓整場活動有個完美落幕。

本次二足步行樂團演出的曲目以獸無限2024的歌單之外，再加入一首《踊り子》為本次活動的演出。拍攝/藍風 參加者烏咪上台演唱歌曲《藍眼睛》。拍攝/藍風

活動主辦人羊咩在受訪時表示，這次重返水晶洞活動籌備了半年，感謝所有朋友的幫忙與大家支持，能完成活動讓他有非常深刻的感動與感受，也希望節目能讓參加者有一樣的感動，讓大家一起成為家人。至於是否會有下一場活動，也表示今年活動剛結束因此尚未開始規劃下一場，但承諾在體力與財力都允許的狀況下，會努力舉辦下一場活動。

Where did this come from? Well, Canada, actually. We just got lucky and came across it! Northern Tails is a new puppet series from the Yukon that’s coming soon to YouTube. The makers describe it as “… a wildlife ‘mocumentary’ web series that is serious (and seriously silly) about nature. With a cast of spirited puppets, engaging storylines and snackable science, each 12-minute episode explores how animals in the boreal forest interact with each other, their environment, humans and the wider world. It’s original ‘edutainment’ that makes us see how we can all be better neighbours.” Did you know that the boreal forest is larger in square miles than the Amazon? We didn’t either…! Find out more at their web site, or head on over to their YouTube Channel.

image c. 2024 Little Brown Bird Entertainment

MOOBARKFLUFF! Click here to send us a comment or message about the show!

Bearly, Taebyn, Rayne, TickTock and Cheetaro gather for another raucous Episode of BFFT! We chat about Furry news, play some Muppet MadLibs, do a couple of lateral thinking puzzles, and Taebyn tries to get through a very complicow story suggested by Ziggy. So tune in because you won’t want to miss any exciting moments here on BFFT!  Moobarkfluff everyfur!

This podcast contains adult language and adult topics. It is rated M for Mature. Listener discretion is advised.

Support the show

Thanks to all our listeners and to our staff: Bearly Normal, Rayne Raccoon, Taebyn, Cheetaro, TickTock, and Ziggy the Meme Weasel.

You can send us a message on Telegram at BFFT Chat, or via email at: bearlyfurcasting@gmail.com

Bearly Furcasting S5E14 - Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other

The staff here at Gaming Furever work all year long playing tons of games, and unsurprisingly, not all of them are filled with fluffy creatures and upright-walking animal people! Who'd have thought! We asked each of our staff members for their personal choices, without genre restriction, as it relates to the same categories as The Furry Game Awards 2024 we gave out this month, with an additional category for their "Extra" pick, without regards to what year the game was released, but they really found themselves playing a lot more of this year. We hope you enjoy taking a look through each of our own favorites for the year. We've got a wonderful group of writers here at GF, and can't wait to see what next year holds in the world of gaming and here at Gaming Furever! If you're interested in joining us on staff, we're still looking for more awesome people to join us in this journey.

Here are our Gaming Furever Staff Choice Award 2024 Winners:

圣兽祭：来自重庆的首届毛兽盛会 - 墨榆专访

​Dear Furiends,

To all of those who will be spending their holidays and New Year with friends and family, you are blessed, and I wish you a wonderful Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yule or whatever occasion you enjoy.

But this message is for all of those who are lonely, sick, depressed, or broke this year. Papabear understands. This is a rough year for many, including me. I lost my sister and a good friend this year; I lost my dog, Ernie, last year. And it's hard to celebrate New Year's knowing that an insane, senile, narcissistic dictator will sit in the White House AGAIN in 2025. Anger and hostility and rabid nationalism are on the rise in America (encouraged and enflamed by the Orange Cancer), and it will affect the furry community in a bad way, guaranteed (which is why it pisses this bear off when furries attack their own fandom; we have enough trouble with the normies and don't need you to add to it).

These are troubling times.

Frankly, if you are succumbing to despair, I feel for you. To be honest, Christmas brings this bear little joy anymore. I sent out dozens of Christmas cards this year (as I do every year), and do you know how many I got? Five. And one of those was from my insurance guy. My sister has succumbed to alcoholism and has become a TERF, a hater, like so many in this country, and she has cut me out of her life and won't even talk to me. I also lost my dear friend, Dineegla Moose, just as he was getting ready to attend MFF, and earlier this year, we all lost Mark Merlino, a key founder of this fandom if not the man singly most responsible for its existence.

I have decorated, and cooked, and spent a buttload of money on gifts as I do every Christmas, but there is little joy in it for me, I confess, and certainly no return on my efforts except for one gift under the tree from my hubby (the last person in my life who is really in my life), and I already know what it is ... so ... no surprises (but that's okay, my love). I'm feeling a lot of empathy for Ebenezer Scrooge, honestly. I miss the joy of my childhood Christmases so much that my heart aches, a past filled with family and cheesy Christmas decorations and cat and dog companions; a holiday of claymation TV shows and saccharine holiday specials; a time when I wasn't worried about inflation and my withering income's inability to meet expenses and global warming.

If you're like me, you probably sometimes fantasize about giving Christmas the middle finger right up Santa's butthole.

But here's the thing, my dear troubled readers.

The world needs you not to give up.

Because if we all give in to the dark monster of despair, we will never recover from this downward spiral we are currently in.

This is why I still do what I do. It is why I continue this column; it is why I work on my Facebook groups for Greymuzzles and Silvermuzzles; it is why I run the Good Furry Awards; it is why I get up each morning and take care of my 76-year-old husbear and all his needs. That's what Santa does. He doesn't do his worldwide labors for plaudits and rewards. He does it because the world needs a little joy and wonder.

So, I am asking all of you: Be like Santa. I know it's hard, but we need to step up when no one else will and keep the light on and the flames glowing and the noms baking in the oven.

Because if we don't do it, who will?

I'm not asking you to spend money and wrap a bunch of gifts. I'm asking you to be a good friend to others, whether these are family members or coworkers or classmates or dear pets. Give people hugs. Be polite to others. Give a parking spot in a crowded lot to someone else. Give someone a compliment on their appearance or something they have done. Tell a joke to lighten the mood. Share your cookies. Every little thing counts.

Recently, I watched the movie Red One. If you haven't seen it, the center of the story is that Santa's chief ELF worker, Callum Drift (played by the endearing Dwayne Johnson) feels like retiring after about five centuries of service because all the humans around him seem petty and selfish and without Christmas spirit. Santa is then kidnapped by the Christmas Witch, Grýla (a figure from Icelandic folklore, in case you wondered), who believes, like Krampus, that the world would be a better place if all the nasty humans were punished instead of being given joy as Santa believes. Long story short, she is defeated (not a spoiler; it's a Christmas movie), and Callum regains his spirit of Christmas.

A key to the defeat of the witch is Santa commanding his reindeer with the single word: KAVALAME!

What the heck does kavalame mean? This is not really explained in the movie, but the word is a very clever device by the writers. Interestingly, it is not from Norse mythology (much of Christmas lore has northern European roots) but from Greek. Kavala was an important city in ancient Greece, and St. Nicholas was of Greek descent. More on point, though, is kavalame's connection to the Sanskrit word kavalam, meaning "only" and key to the phrase baba nam kavalam, meaning "only the name of the beloved," or more poignantly, "love is all there is." 

Or, as the Beatles sang, "All you need is love."

Love defeats the nasties out there like Grýla and Krampus.

For Christmas, dear readers, that is my gift to you: Love. I am entrusting it to you because it is a precious gift. It is also a magical gift because you can give it to others over and over and, like Willie Wonka's everlasting gobstopper, it never runs out.

Because in the end, despite the crass commercialism of modern Christmas, the hordes of Christmas shoppers clogging the roads and malls, the political turmoil, the social unrest spread by the Convicted Felon Doofus "President," the wars and pollution and hate that seems all around us, there is one thing they can never steal from you, and that is the love in your heart.

I love you furs. And I love this fandom. And as long as I have breath in my lungs and blood in my veins, I will be here for you if you need me.

Yours in Bear Spirit,

Papabear

Another one of those interesting mangas with a very interesting, very long name: A Cat From Our World and the Forgotten Witch, written and illustrated by Hiro Kashiwaba. “In her youth, Jeanne was a powerful witch who vanquished the evil Demon King and saved the world—but over time, the people she rescued have forgotten her. Now she is a lonely old woman living in a secluded forest…until she accidentally summons a cat from Earth to her home! The former city kitty is now gigantic and must acclimate to this new world. Can a cat from another world soothe the loneliness of the forgotten witch?” Several issues are available now (in English) from Seven Seas Entertainment.

image c. 2024 Seven Seas Entertainment

Special Bump celebrating our milestone of hitting 4,000 subscribers, featuring all 15 members of the group. Milestone reached on NOVEMBER 22ND, 2024 First featured in Episode 129, “Roads Ahead / Pt. 1” https://youtu.be/uqNJB-ELOv8 Editing: @BanditTheRaccoon Fursona Artwork: Weka http://www.Twitter.com/DrawsWeka See more at: http://www.TheRaccoonsDen.com FACEBOOK: http://www.Facebook.com/TheRaccoonsDen TWITTER: http://www.Twitter.com/TheRaccoonsDen FURAFFINITY: http://www.FurAffinity.net/user/TheRaccoonsDen INSTAGRAM: http://www.Instagram.com/TheRaccoonsDen #TheRaccoonsDen #4kSubscribers #FurryFandom

Welcome to The Furry Game Awards 2024, presented by Gaming Furever! Every year, we'll come together as a staff and decide on our most beloved, most played, and most exceptional games from the past year of new gaming experiences. 2024 was filled to the brim with so many games featuring anthropomorphic characters and animals. It was hard to choose just one winner for all of these categories, and the separation between the nominees and ultimately the winner was miniscule. All of the games on these lists are highly recommended by our staff, and we can't wait to continue enjoying them! So, without further ado, here are our Furry Game Awards Winners for the year 2024!

So sorry, but we just had to steal that phrase from the publisher — couldn’t top it! “Meet the Bins family, a trio of raccoons in the risky business of dumpster diving for all their needs. With Dusty’s brains, ReRe’s muscle, and Scraps’s gadgets (please don’t tell him he’s almost definitely an opossum), the Binses are determined to leave no garbage bin unturned in their pursuit of the tastiest, most delicious trash they can find. When the family discovers a new upscale grocery store that’s throwing away their perfectly good food at the end of each day, the Binses hatch a heist so daring it’ll have them rolling in garbage all winter long. But a critter-despising CEO, Jeff Beans, and the high-tech defense system he’s installed means liberating that trash is going to take all the skills the Racc Pack have … and maybe some help from a cat burglar with a mysterious past.” Published by Simon & Schuster, The Racc Pack graphic novel is by Stephanie Cooke (My Little Pony: Camp Bighoof), with art by Whitney Gardner.

image c. 2024 Simon & Schuster

MFF 2024盛况空前：人潮破纪录，后勤压力难挡热情

The Duck Detective is back! When spookiness strikes a luxury campsite, the one and only Duck Detective is summoned to quack the case. Inspect evidence, make de-duck-tions, and solve this no-murder mystery! Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping is a new stand-alone game in the acclaimed Duck Detective series from Happy Broccoli. Get ready to interview suspects, inspect evidence, and deduce the truth.

This campsite might have ghosts, but the real thing haunting Eugene McQuacklin is his failed marriage and bread addiction. Can he escape the shadows of his past?

Features:

• A 2-3 hour long cozy mystery game!

• A stand-alone sequel to the acclaimed ‘Duck Detective: The Secret Salami!‘

• Interview suspects, fill in the blanks and crack the case!

• Fully voice-acted cast of suspiciously secretive characters!

• Dive into a murky pond of delinquency and dredge up the truth!

• Throw bread to the fine beak of lady justice!

Welcome to Issue 22:  Haunted Happiness

We have to snatch up the moments of happiness we can find, even when our lives are burning down around us.  Even if you’re a haunted house, maybe you can still make room inside yourself to host something better — something warm and fuzzy with a beating heart — before you go up in flames.  So, here are a few bright points of light, a few warmly beating hearts to cheer you on these endlessly strange days.

* * *

A Colony of Vampires by Beth Dawkins

The Wolf, the Fox, and the Ring by Mocha Cookie Crumble

The Way the Light Tangles by Emmie Christie

Heron Went a’ Courting by Margot Spronk

The Pest in Golden Gate Park by Katlina Sommerberg

Where Life Resides by Patricia Miller

* * *

As always, if you want to support Zooscape, check out our Patreon.  Also, you can pick up e-book or paperback volumes of our first 13 issues bundled into four anthologies, complete with an illustration for every story.  The fifth volume will come out soon!

IMPORTANT UPDATE:  Due to a plethora of wonderful submissions, we have already closed this year’s reading period, and all submissions have been sent responses.  We plan to open next for the month of February, 2026.