Feed aggregator
Colson sneeks us some…
An idea regarding half the posts in this Subreddit.
I'm sure most of you will agree that there are many posts in this subreddit that normally look as such, "New to the fandom..." or "Just became a furry!" Most of the time, these people are asking for advice or want information about the whole "Furry thing". Well, I have a proposal and idea for the mods here, as well as any subscribers: A "tour guide" program, where we have a list of people willing to help out people new to the fandom/culture get oriented and educated. It would work best if we covered all of the possible instant messaging services, so all the newcomers could get adequate attention. The tour guides would of course be volunteers, willing to sacrifice their own time in order to help a fellow redditor and furry (or potential furry). At the very least, the program will have people forging new relationships, which is never a bad thing! What do you guys/gals think?
submitted by Shookso[link] [23 comments]
‘Heat 9? interview: RayFKM
Non-American furries needed
Just finished my undergrad degree and I can dedicate more time to my line of geographical meta-furry articles for adjective|species. You can see my other work here.
My focus shifted pretty quickly to writing about furries from non-American locations because statistically they're very underrepresented in mainstream online and offline activity. [You could probably push the argument that more 'furry' activity happens in the US than everywhere else in the world combined.]
That said... I'M ON THE LOOKOUT FOR SOME NEW TEST SUBJECTS! In actuality, all I'll be doing is sending out a short series of interview questions that you can answer in as much or as little detail as you like. The ideal is obviously to get as much input as possible. Eventually I'll sum up the responses and any fascinating traits that others might find interesting. And, of course, the idea is to make it interesting to all readers.
I've finished Japan, Brazil, and New Zealand, and the success of those three is the reason I've decided to keep going (along with the huge success of 'Furry Cons Around the World'). Next on my list is Australia, and I have my sights on Russia afterwards. I'm positive that Europe will be very easy to cover.
The harder places to find interviews for will be India, Africa, and eastern Asia (China possibly, but other places like Indonesia, Korea, and other largely populated Asian territories). I'm somewhat confident that I can get some input from Israel as well ;)
If anyone reading this comes from a non-American country, message me if you're willing to help with my project. If you're from somewhere I've covered already don't be afraid to contact since I'll be revising things in the future as well.
edit: As an aside, volunteer translators are always very appreciated as well :)
double edit: Didn't expect this much interest from such a variety of places :D Give me a bit to reformat my questions and organize my thoughts. Questionnaires should be out tonight and you can take all the time you need to reply. It'll take me a bit to write up all the articles, anyways.
edit#3: 8 hours later and I sent a ton of messages to furs from 7 different countries, many of which were completely new to me. Very excited! Keep it up! If I missed you somehow, I apologize; message me and I'll send right away :3
submitted by goa5000[link] [54 comments]
How do I become a furry?
**EDIT: After reading these comments, I have never laughed as hard as I just did.
But in all seriousness, I guess I can happily class myself as a furry. I just needed to be sure on how to join this fandom.
NOW LOOK AT THIS PICTURE OF ME BEING A COMPLETE IDIOT!**
Hello.
I have been interested in this fandom for over a year now, but I still don't know what to do to become a furry.
I have been told by various Furries that I just need to class myself as a furry and that's it. Thing is, I am part of a few other ransoms, and with those you have to do something to be part of the fandom (e.g watch that fandoms show, read that fandoms comic etc)
For some reason it dosent feel right to just say "I am a furry" and suddenly become part of the fandom.
Is there a exact way to become part of this fandom? Or are all my furry friends correct about just classing myself as a fur?
Thanks.
submitted by Winter_S[link] [28 comments]
Of Rabbits and Rayguns
I’ve been a semi-professional writer for many years now. I published my first short
story in about 1999, and since then have written and published about twenty-
two or twenty-three vaguely book-length thingies (I tend to write a much higher
percentage of novellas than most authors, frequently sold to the public as shorter
than standard books) plus I’ve lost count of how many shorts. While I mostly write
furry and furry SF, I also do horror, non-furry SF, essays, fantasy and even good old
conventional literary fiction. So I know the publishing industry a little, or at least I
think I do.
Over the past year, I’ve achieved my first real landmark success in the David
Birkenhead books, in which a young slavebunny is manumitted and finds success
in a future navy despite all the social roadblocks that lie in his way. Each book in
the series is titled after the rank that David achieves during the course of the story,
from Ship’s Boy to Admiral. Currently my publisher and I are ecstatically selling
well over a thousand copies a week. So far so good and yay for me, right? Maybe.
As I said, I’ve been dealing with the publishing industry—and through it, in theory
at least, the wants and needs of book-buyers—for some time. Over and over again
the “big guys” have rejected my stuff even though in my own opinion many of
my previous works have been better than the Birkenheads. More often than not
I got a rejection letter saying something like “Good work—you’re writing at the
professional level. But we don’t publish talking animal stories.” Then they’d add
nitpicky comments about my personal style that usually were in direct contradiction
to the nitpicks I received the time before. It was obvious that the “talking animals”
were the real problem, especially for my serious furry SF stuff, even though the
science involved wasn’t just clearly justified in the work in question but was
often the root of the theme and the driver of the plot. Without the talking animals,
which in my case were usually rabbits, the book was nothing. And because my
own best ideas most often are equally rooted in furry imagery, well… It was clear
that something would have to give. I could either compromise my art to meet the
unspoken “no furries allowed” rule at the big publishing houses—which their other
comments made clear was what they really wanted—or I could be true to my muse
and accept that I’d never do business with the mainstream book industry.
So I set out to beat the big publishers at their own game and sell furry fiction despite
everything the closed-minded bastards could do to stop me. At this point I had
written three multi-book series that I truly believed were of professional quality
and could sell well if given the chance. (One of these three was the Birkenheads.)
I sent one each to three small publishers (two of them furry-fandom based) and
commenced hostilities against the mainstream. As of today, I can almost claim
victory. The Birkenheads, as mentioned above, are currently selling at a rate well in
excess of a thousand a week and, as I type this, all seven volumes are in the Amazon
Kindle Science Fiction Top 100. Sure enough the other two series are now selling well too, though not at the same blistering rate. I can claim complete vindication and declare victory.
Almost.
There’s still one major thing wrong, which I didn’t anticipate and perhaps should’ve.
While most of the reviews of the Birkenhead books are embarrassingly positive, a
very significant minority of readers apparently are driven to the point of rending
their clothing and gnashing their teeth when, about five pages or so into Ship’s
Boy, they discover (having failed to read the book’s “blurb”, which would’ve
warned them) that they’ve been reading a story told from the viewpoint of an
uplifted rabbit (capital-R Rabbit, in the nomenclature of the series). Something
about this is apparently hideously repulsive to them at the core identity level, to
the point that in their reviews they do things like claim my parents must’ve been
alcoholics. (No, I didn’t make that one up.) Others state that this is proof that I know
nothing of science—apparently ray guns and FTL travel are far more “scientific”
than genetic engineering and species uplift. Some go so far as to call the work
well-written, but say it’s “impossible” for them to get into the character. One even
suggested it’d be a good book if the protagonist had been an alien instead.
It’s easier to relate to a complete alien than a Rabbit?
Don’t get me wrong here. At this point I can gaze serenely upon such reviews and
laugh all the way to the bank. I’m being well compensated for acting as a public
target, and by far the majority of the comments are supportive and positive. I’m not
after sympathy here. Rather, I’m seeking to understand something.
Why exactly is it that some readers react so strongly, even violently, to the idea of a
serious story being told from the viewpoint of a Rabbit?
Usually in these columns I try to offer some sort of insight—possible answers to the
questions I raise. This time, however, I find myself pretty much at a loss. All long-
time furs recall an era when our fandom was seen as something sick and repulsive,
and indeed this period may well not yet be over. For when I read the public Amazon
reviews on Ship’s Boy and to a lesser extent the later volumes of the series, I see
the public’s reaction to furry in microcosm. Mostly these reviews reflect open-
minded support and people who like to have fun, yes. And bless them for it! But I
also see a large minority who for reasons I literally cannot imagine instantly become
totally unhinged at the idea of seeing the world through anthropomorphic eyes. If
you read their comments, it’s like they felt the need to ritually purify themselves
by expressing immoderate outrage and indignation after exposure to such an
unclean influence. Theirs is an attitude that cannot be reasoned with—it goes far
deeper than that. The subject fascinates me; I think there’s real knowledge to be
gained about basic human nature if a way can be found to research the matter
systematically.
And I hope this research someday is indeed actually done. Because only now, after
declaring war on the mainstream publishers and then beating them in terms of sales
do I realize that the real battle is only beginning. The one the publishers knew about
all along, and were rejecting me over. And why shouldn’t they? After all, it’s not their
fight. Why risk having their products plastered with negative reviews that resonate
with John Q. Public despite their inherent irrationality?
The real fight, I’ve learned from all this, is the one that will someday allow everyone
everywhere to understand that it’s okay to experience the universe through
whatever set of eyes they choose. Everything else is merely a subset of this larger
battle, and it’ll be more a matter of freeing people from themselves than anything
else. Combat is only just beginning in earnest, and I’m not a young man anymore.
I probably won’t live to see the end of it. But by golly I mean to get my licks in
regardless!
B-Sides: Episode 2 - Fuzzy Notes: B-Sides is where Potoroo flips the disk and plays three additional tracks by artists...
Daily Show: December 14, 2012 - It's Friday, and it's cold, for some of you. Being near the winter season, you've probably considered getting your winter gear out, and maybe found some old ice skates lying around somewhere. To go with the cold,
It’s Friday, and it’s cold, for some of you. Being near the winter season, you’ve probably considered getting your winter gear out, and maybe found some old ice skates lying around somewhere. To go with the cold, we’d love to hear about what you do for skating. Does your town have a community arena or ice rink? Let us know.
Hosts: Levi, Spenser, Wolfin
Picture By: Emanuele Vezzaro
Yarn tail.
You guys were very helpful last time, I thought I would ask another question! I'm going to start making a yarn tail soon, as a sort of, starting off thing, and I was wondering... what is your favorite type of yarn to use for this? I heard "Caron", If I'm correct, breaks very easily, and that I should stay away from 100% cotton? Is this correct? I'm nervous about making it too. Is it a lot harder than I think it is? I know how long it will take, but the other steps? Like the sewing? Any help would be grand. :3 Thanks.
submitted by fascinocat[link] [10 comments]
Sci Fi Furry Art?
I don't watch the show, but apparently, the latest episode title of Two and a Half Men was called "Give Santa a Tail-Hole".
According to Wikipedia: "Title quotation from: Kate, realizing a mistake she made on the santa outfit for her boss's labradoodle."
Much less interesting than what I thought it was. xD I definitely did a double take and quickly looked it up to see what it was really about when I saw it, though. :P
submitted by cloppyhooves[link] [1 comment]
Commission of me and my Fox. Art by Tiitha!
![[link]](http://i.imgur.com/qVeTd.jpg){kind=link}
Did a bit of a redraw/critique, Ended up giving away a finished version to whoever wanted it.
Sexy version: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9461818/
Original version: http://i.imgur.com/6B8mo.png
submitted by I_RAPE_FURSUITERS
[link] [3 comments]