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I had the good fortune to meet Clare Bell at Further Confusion. I'd read "Ratha's Creature" a long time ago and so I knew her by reputation only, but she proved to be a delightful person and a very savvy author. We did a panel on making worlds furry and had a great time doing it. And she wanted to read one of my books! *swoon* So it seemed only fair that I return the favor.

"Clan Ground" is the second in the "Named" series about a tribe of intelligent jungle cats (fully feline, not anthropomorphic in any way other than speech and thought). Ratha, having brought fire back to her tribe and, by her mastery of it, assumed leadership of the tribe, is now faced with the problem of how to integrate this new power into the life of her clan. Certain clan-members are designated Fire-Keepers, set to tend the fire and guard the perimeter of the clan ground. Others are herders, keeping the tribe's domesticated food supply in line. This division seems to be working pretty well until an outsider comes into the tribe, seeking shelter. The clan takes him in, and soon he is working with the Fire-Keepers, seeming to have a good feel for how to work with fire.

Meanwhile, Thakur, one of the herders Ratha is close to has taken to exploring, and has befriended a small tree-climber, which seems to be a lemur-type critter. He brings it back to the clan and discovers that its hands are very useful for tending fire. The idea of letting a tree-creature near the fire is uncomfortable for many, so he trains it in secret.

Things heat up--ha ha--as the new clan member begins to be more aggressive. The division between the Fire-Keepers and the herders becomes more pronounced. And Ratha needs to take the next step, from simply leading her clan to becoming a true leader.

The book is told alternately between Ratha's viewpoint and Thakur's, a narrative style I've become fond of recently. It serves in this case to highlight the changes the clan is going through, from the incorporation of fire to the acceptance of this outsider to the introduction of the tree-creatures. You get a very good sense from the story of a clan in turmoil, set loose from many of their traditions, and the struggle many of the cats go through in trying to deal with it. When you have no learning to guide you, you have to make your own path, and that is what Ratha turns out to be good at. (Though it wouldn't be as exciting a novel if she didn't make a few mistakes along the way.)

Bell builds personal stories into these philosophical ones as well: Ratha's uncertainty about her leadership, Thakur's search for companionship, the difficulty the clan has in maintaining the line between the Named and the outsiders, who have no intelligent thought. The main characters are all well-defined, and even the side characters are rendered well. I found myself quite engaged in the story, and even a couple weeks after finishing, I can remember the uncertain young Fire-Keeper Bira, the headstrong Fessran, the lonely and quick-witted Thakur.

The thing I found most admirable about the book, though, is the way Bell avoids the trap of absolute rights and wrongs. The outsider, Orange-Eyes, is neither good nor evil. Ratha herself makes mistakes. The book allows the characters to grow and learn, and the difference in the end is who can make the best decisions for the whole clan. That makes the whole thing feel more real, and like the best furry stories, it's a relevant, human story, even though the protagonists are jungle cats.

It was some fifteen years between reading the first and second books of the "Named" series. It won't be that long between the second and third, I can promise that.

This week on KnotCast, its live at FWA! Savrin, Fuzz, and The Flain group around a mic at FWA and answer questions from listeners and the crowd. Savrin is horrible, Flain drinks 'cream soda' and Fuzz is fuzzy. Excitement! Music this week is the oontz you can hear through the walls. Episode 89 - Live from FWA 2010

April Fools everyone! Please enjoy the real episode.©2010 Tanuke Media Analogues - 011 - Apr 1, 2010 (real version)

In this episode, we talk to Waggs, administrator of famous TF gallery site transfur.com. Analogues - 011 - Apr 1, 2010

K-Tech gets our Skype on, with a call-in from B-Hop to award a baller name to the winner of our contest! We talk about when you think you're done before you want to be--in a writing sense. Unsheathed #34 - Return of Skype! No, it's good. Also word count and writing more or less than you think you should.

Welcome all to our first episode!

Click below to listen!

Click below to listen:

episodes/UnFurled_-_Episode_1.mp3

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This episode we hope to entertain you all with some more news, furry peeves, and our first ever reader mail! We hope you all enjoy.

Feel free to comment either on this post or send email to us@unfurled.net and we will be back soon.

Episode 1 – Epicsode - Welcome all to our first episode! Click below to listen! This episode we hope to entertain you all with some more news, furry peeves, and our first ever reader mail! We hope you all enjoy. Feel free to comment either on this post or send email to [...]

artwork © 2009 Cassini Inuebonyhttp://swichwitch.deviantart.com AnimaTFd - Lugia TF by SwichWitch

B-Hop, the basketball-playing bunny, talks about his Furry Basketball Association, gives your hosts and tech-savvy wolf baller names, and lets us play a game! Unsheathed #33 - B-Hop gives us baller names and some perspective on characters and world-building.

Here we go! Out first pilot.

Click below to listen:

UnFurled_-_Episode_0.mp3

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In this episode we had 3 sample segments:

News

Dragon Tales

Con Crud

Let us know what you think and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE email us and give us hints, advice, listener mail, hate mail (please), and so on. Hope to hear from ya’ll soon! YAY

us@unfurled.net

You can also subscribe to us on iTunes as soon as they approve us!

Lord Vox

Episode 0 – The Pilot - Here we go! Out first pilot. In this episode we had 3 sample segments: News Dragon Tales Con Crud Let us know what you think and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE email us and give us hints, advice, listener mail, hate mail (please), and so on. Hope to hear [...]

Balam the Aztec jaguar, who had been a proud prince, now finds himself a heretic hunted by the priests. He makes his escape into the night with a lowly coyote, running for his life in this tale of dark fantasy which mixes a historical setting with Mayan mysticism.

"The Crossroads" by Eric Hinkle

Read by Peter Katt

Sound effects from the FreeSound Project

gust of wind by Tony B kksm moucho-I by galeku nord analog howling wind storm by medialint Rain30s by acclivity StickCracks by CGEffex Violent Storm by zimm wingflap fast 2 by philberts

Music cues by Infinity Squared

AD 019 - The Crossroads - Balam the Aztec jaguar, who had been a proud prince, now finds himself a heretic hunted by the priests. He makes his escape into the night with a lowly coyote, running for his life in this tale of dark fantasy which mixes a historical setting with...

This week on KnotCast, its spring break! We have breakups, cheating, and fox abuse! Lots of fox abuse. :( So much fox abuse. This weeks music is "Legacy of a Boy" from Sub Level 03 Use our coupon code "Knot" at AdamEve.com to get a great deal and help the podcast out. Episode 88 - Spring Breakup

We go through more questions, including one personal one, read a few more character introductions, and make more 80s references. Next week: B-Hop joins us! Unsheathed #32 - Music, motivation, "oops" moments, and more character introductions!

Fursuiters playing with Luciano (in the light brown costume). Photo by Lucas.

This morning, Brazilian fandom members received breaking news from Fauna Urbana (written by Zutharr) about a TV show to be broadcast on April 17th.

In January, a famous Brazilian news channel (Fantástico) did a short feature on furries. Two months later, a popular TV show called Caldeirão do Huck decided to use a furry theme in the their first prank of the year. This TV show is broadcast every Saturday on Globo (which also shows Fantástico).

There is a segment of the program called “Lata Velha” (“Beater [cars]“) in which they pull a prank on a car’s owner — sometimes using the car owner’s family as accomplices — confounding him until the big revelation: the appearance of the presenter Luciano Huck with the message that he will fix their car completely after an outlandish challenge is accomplished, such as finding homes for thirty abandoned dogs.

For the year’s first “Lata Velha”, the production team decided to use fursuits and contacted Zutharr and his friends, who helped them understand how furry fandom works, how to act in fursuit and, of course, how to perform with Huck during the prank.

The team also used this time to learn more about the furry subculture. However, unlike Fantástico, only fursuiters were interviewed, neglecting the other areas of the fandom.

Some in the community are concerned with how the prank Caldeirão do Huck intends to perform will reflect on the furry fandom’s karma. Globo is the fourth-largest TV network in the world, and Caldeirão do Huck is a primetime TV show watched by millions of Brazilians. Others see this as a great opportunity to spread the Furry concept, even if it is mostly about fursuiters.

Zutharr recorded a video during the making of the episode, in which several fursuiters explain their concept of the fandom.

Furs in attendance: Zutharr – Black Wolf; Guil Wolf – Blue wolf; Kouta – B&W Wolf; Zanaffer – Dragon head; Lupi – Brown fox; Ravyn – White fox; Ronan – Kigurumi Tiger; Red Panda – Grey Wolf; Lucas – Kigurumi dinosaur.

Article by Tanuki Gokuhi

This week on KnotCast, we get our nerd on more than usual! We hear tales of couples shared nerdiness, have someone we know write in under a pseudonym and get some answers to a hard situation, and likely hear the end of the tales of Botien Luckless and his disappearing ex. It's a Good End... or is it? All this and more on a very nerdy episode of KnotCast! Use our coupon code "Knot" at AdamEve.com to save 50% and more on your next purchase! This weeks music is "Desertion" by Zircon http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01990/ Episode 87 - Nerd Love

Episode 10 of Analogues, the TF Chat PodcastTheme song, "I Should Really Be a Bird" ©Kurrel the RavenAll other content ©2010 Tanuke Media Analogues - 010 - Mar 11, 2010

We read character introductions from several of our faithful and creative listeners, and chat about discovering a story as we write it. Nobody is called nasty names. Unsheathed #31 - Introducing...

This week on KnotCast, theres gratuitous amounts of YAFF YAFF. We talk about the search for love, the findings of mates, and what to do and not do in the searching. Also, YAFF YAFF. :V Don't take a shot every time you hear it or you'll die. This weeks music break is The Poetry of Reality by Symphony of Science http://symphonyofscience.com/ Use our coupon code "Knot" at checkout at AdamEve.com to save 50% on one item and more! Episode 86 - Spring is in the Air

Furry Stand in 2009 (photo: Reyres)

Zutharr ST (as know as Ceruno Wolf) is relinquishing his “Furry Stand” contract rights at Anime Friends to the community.

Anime Friends is an annual anime convention held in São Paulo, Brazil during July which attracted 120,000 attendees in 2009

Since 2007, Zutharr has been responsible for the Furry booth at Anime Friends by contract with its organizer, Yamato. Now he has decided to pass the booth along to any parties interested in continuing his work.

In Brazil, furry conventions are not yet common, and furs keep in touch via anime conventions. The Stand serves as a meeting point for the furries in attendance, and — more importantly — as an means to display furry philosophy and lifestyle to the public.

History

The Furry Stand has been the target of criticism, causing much discussion and dissent among furs who feel it features non-representative works or covers distasteful topics. Some have called it an “misrepresentation of the word ‘furry’.”

Members of Fauna Urbana have been there since the beginning to watch and observe. In 2007, most furs in attendance felt the booth gave a bad impression of furry fandom.

But Tanuki Gokuhi, who interviewed guests visiting the booth (including members of the police) as a member of the Anime Friends press team, said:

“The criticisms are unfounded – the Stand made mistakes as anyone would make, and those who repudiate the Stand just gave importance to what the Anime Friends’ trolls said; it is a battle of egos.”

Zutharr demonstrates his Guilmon fursuit at the 2007 Furry Stand (photo: Tanuki Gokuhi)

In later years, Zutharr lent the room to KoutaOni, who was banned from deviantART in 2008 for selling traced works of XianJaguar and other artists, raising further controversy.

Future

Now that Zutharr has relinquished the contract, it is open to the first person to claim it from Yamato. Fauna Urbana just hopes whoever does so is mindful of the responsibility they owe to the fandom in maintaining this public venue in São Paulo.

Revised by GreenReaper

Back in our regular studio, we answer questions about comics and laugh at obscure comics and talk about classic books. Plus: a challenge for our listeners! Unsheathed #30 - Questions and comics!