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Worlds of Watercolor
Kendra Minadeo is a freelance illustrator based out of Southern California, and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. As one can see on her web site, her specialty is watercolor paintings — with more than a splash of cuteness thrown in. Her Etsy store features many of her paintings in print form and on buttons. What’s more, she’s even been working on a series of art how-to videos for YouTube.
image c. 2016 by Kendra Minadeo
S5 Episode 13 – First Impressions, Much? - Roo and Tugs are joined by Marci McAdam via the internet as they discuss the world of badges. What do badges mean to many? What kind of impressions do they leave on others? What should be on a badge? What shouldn
NOW LISTEN!
Show Notes
Special Thanks
Marci McAdam-Charland, our guest! Buy art from her at furries.frithcat.com
The Winnipeg, MB furries and Dronon, for the ident!
Syd
Kuthra and Max
Anonymouse
Enoji Kengura
Anonymous, who lent us part of the featured image cover for this episode. Check out the Marci Badges tumblr blog for more!
Music
Opening Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Century Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller– Cloud Fields (Radio Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Space News Music: Fredrik Miller – Orbit. USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Get Psyched Music: Fredrik Miller – Universe, USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Some music was provided by Kevin MacLeod at Incompetech.com. We used the following pieces: Spy Glass, Quirky Dog . Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
Closing Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Headnodic Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller – Cloud Fields (Chill Out Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Next episode: Are long distance relationships easy? Are they "real" compared to in-person relationships? What tips and tricks do you have for those in a long distance relationship? Send your comments by April 22, 2016. S5 Episode 13 – First Impressions, Much? - Roo and Tugs are joined by Marci McAdam via the internet as they discuss the world of badges. What do badges mean to many? What kind of impressions do they leave on others? What should be on a badge? What shouldn
Episode 311 - Beautiful Disaster
Some Furry Groups Have Created an Unpleasant Culture of Sexual Pressure
I am a long time reader of your website but this is a first for writing. I hope I can get my issue across clear!
I have been an active member of the furry fandom for a huge chunk of my life, starting when I was 10, the fandom being constantly apart of my life since. Mostly my interactions with the fandom have been strictly online and I was fine with that because previously I have been in school and it wasn't a priority.
I have since graduated from school and managed to connect with a group of local furs in my area. I am quite young at 19 compared to the average age of furs who participate (youngest being 19 , average 25, oldest 42). At first I really enjoyed my new friends and they even went as far as to take me to my first convention. But this is where things just start to fall apart.
My friends are hardly interested in me anymore, and the only interactions I get include nothing but sexual advancements, or relationship propositions. I feel extremely left out, the majority (90%) of our locals are homosexual or bi and prefer men. As I am getting to know them more and more it seems to me that this whole fandom to them is based around sex and how many other furry men they can have relations with. Now their personal lives wouldn't be an issue to me but they consistently make it a public matter. In our group chat they constantly spam hardcore gay furporn. We've had one other who felt uncomfortable with the never ending hypersexuality of our fellow group members , but even this fur (having been friends and with the group YEARS before me) got kicked out. But not until after being called a bigot/prude/asshole.
Being bi myself I don't have any problem with homosexuality (albeit the porn isn't my thing) but they have literally said that they can do what they please no matter what anyone else says because they are a minority- which is funny as i myself would be the biggest minority within the group being the only woman who has a preference to women. So this isn't even the case! They just have a male/male sexual fur hierarchy and it's BIZARRE! Not to mention many of these men are sexist as well, having said remarks straight to my face. But no one will say a thing unless it is directed towards the male gender.
I really want to just cry thinking about this, as this group is really the only "friend"s I have, and the whole "leaders" doing this are the people who also organize all our local meets. So it's not like I can find other furries in this sad small town. Several of my "friends" even went so far as to ditch me at my first convention because they'd rather (quite literally) go and participate in an orgy with each other while I am sent to the con floor to try and figure out what to do for a few hours.
I just feel super alone,isolated and left out because of the fact that I don't fit in with them, I first thought it was because I'm a girl but even so, the women who are welcomed are only welcomed if they're as hypersexual and obsessed with penises as the men are. I'm stuck with my life , I really really REALLY love furry... But the older I get and the more I participate in the fandom the more sex based it really truly seems. I'm stuck papa bear, on one hand I do never want to leave the fandom or even distance myself, but I also don't want to be in a fandom where sex seems like the only thing anyone is interested in. I'm really losing faith as a furry.. It used to be so fun but the majority I come in contact with are completely and utterly ruining it for me. Help!
Love,
A sad and confused kitten
* * *
Dear Sad and Confused,
I hear you. As much as Papabear defends the sexier side of the furry fandom, lately I’ve become increasingly disturbed by it to the point where I think we’ve become two fandoms: one that simply enjoys the fun and fantasy of anthro characters, and the other that is sex-obsessed.
Before I go any further (as I’ve had this done to me before), go ahead and look at my FA favorites and you will see a lot of furporn. Yes, I enjoy X-rated furry stuff. I am also all for making sex fun and indulging in sexual fantasy play, as it makes life more interesting and enjoyable. The difference is, I am mature about it, I don’t shove it in people’s faces, and I don’t make sexual advances on anything that moves. This is called “being an adult about sex,” and there are many “adults” out there, such as in your group, who are not at all adult about it.
Sexual addiction and immaturity is also why I have complaints from many furry artists that they can’t make money doing commissions unless they draw porn. It is, frankly, a sad state of affairs.
There is something going on, too, where furries are hypersensitized to sex to the point where everything becomes about sex in a very disturbing and humorless way. Example. I belong to a Google furry group (I don’t participate in it much because). Anyway, yesterday I decided to post something in jest. Here it is:
I notice many young furries seem to be bored. If anyone here is really bored and would like something to do, you are invited to my house where I will keep you busy with yard work and home improvement projects :-3 You can stay in the guest room. I promise, you will never be bored again LOL [see, the joke here is that I want a free gardener and housekeeper and I’m being cheap—at least, that’s what I thought until I read the below…. Oh, and by the way, it’s quite common in wealthier homes for housekeeping and gardening staff to live on the premises, so the joke here was also that I was some kind of wealthy tycoon, but it went waaaay over their heads.]
POSTERS REACTED:
That sound creepy and very weird saying
No going to a strangers home.
"You will never be bored again LOL"
That's threatening.
It sound more like pedophili to me
Me:
Good grief, how do you get pedophile out of that? Sheesh.
Cause no one really asks for young furries to come to their house and do chores.
i agree
This is getting a little... rapy...
Don't be a pedo...
Well even if it a joke that was sound to strange it have kid that only have 10 fez thing before you write something. Also it the way you write it that was creepy.
I REACTED:
Judging by the reaction to this post, you guys are reading waaaay more into this than there ever was or was intended. This was a joke. Wow. And even if it wasn't, it was never meant to be sexual in nature (I never once mention sex or suggest anything sexual), so interesting you all took it that way. Kind of shows you are the ones with sex on the brain, not me. Good God Almighty. Is it because I'm older that you assume I want to have sex with younger furs? I assure you, I have much more of a need for someone to do my yard work and fix up the house. Perhaps this is why furries have the reputation they do. Very interesting, indeed.
Back to the letter: Obviously, I joked with the wrong audience. They are too young, uninformed, and preoccupied with sex. My bad. I actually posted this conversation on the Greymuzzle Facebook page to get some input. Most agreed that the cubs were reading stuff into the original post that just wasn’t there, but the fellow greys made some keen observations, too: 1) there are furries with Aspergers who have a hard time understanding the humor behind a post like this and take things too literally; even those who don’t have Aspergers may have trouble with nuance because reading text is very different from telling a joke in person—you don’t get the body language or voice inflections that cue you that it is a joke; 2) there ARE actual sexual predators out there who have been known to try to lure kids in with offers of work or room and board and such, which is very disturbing and definitely not where I was going with this, but we live in an iffy world; plus such dangers as sexual predators are hyped and exaggerated by the media, making people very scared and causing them to be more paranoid than they should be. But, remember cubs, a little common sense goes a long way: don't be going to someone's house if you don't know them and have any reason to suspect their motives.
Anyway, all that aside, I will tell you, boldly and frankly, Kitten, you are right. There is a large part of the fandom that is hypersexed, obsessed to the point of stupidity, and unpleasant. Unfortunately, the group near you has created a culture of expectation where sex is the main topic. Sex and sexual innuendo should NEVER be forced upon people; this crime in lack of social graces is compounded by those who ostracize people like you as uncool or uptight if you don’t like it. Actually, they are the ones being buttmunches, not you. And I’m sorry you’ve experienced this.
The good news is this: not all furries, by any means, are like that. Many, in fact, actively shun the X-rated side of furry. In your case, it looks like you will have to do a little searching to find such people, maybe even start your own local furry group and invite people in with the understanding that you’re not about that scene. There are so many fun things you can do otherwise, such as going to movies, bowling, picnics…. I’ve done a lot of these both in Michigan and with the San Diego Furries (by the way, I want to say that San Diego furries are way cool). Another case: I have a friend who recently moved from L.A. to Phoenix for the very intense reason that the L.A. furries were driving him nuts with their sex talk. He reports that Phoenix is much cooler (ironically, given the weather—get it? Or am I being too subtle? No, this isn’t code for “I want to sex you up”).
What we see here is that microcultures develop in the fandom. A seed is planted (ouch, that could be misinterpreted, too, I suppose, but I'm not talking about semen) by alpha males or females in a group, and this seed can either be one where sex is the dominant feature, or it can be one that is much less intense, more friendly, and more accepting. I’ve seen both occur in the fandom. It is a terrible shame when the groups that can’t keep it in their pants drive away perfectly nice people like yourself, but please don’t give up on the fandom, and don’t give up on being furry (I’m like you in that I don’t relate to a lot that goes on in furry culture [a lot of this, admittedly, has to do with my age], yet I do have lots of furry individual friends). Be furry it because you enjoy it, and stick with it despite the creepy people (apparently, I’m one LOL) who populate it. Don’t worry, with a little effort, you will find friends :-3
Innocent and Furiendly Asexual Hugs,
Papabear
P.S. Note to all my readers. If I am talking about sex, I will explain very clearly in my column "this is about sex." Such columns will also appear in the Sexuality ans Sex category of this website. This bear is not shy about the topic and I don't hide behind obfuscating language to talk about sex. If I don't mention sex, it is because I'm not talking about sex. I truly hope that only a few of you out there need this explanation and most will see this postscript as stupidly unnecessary and annoying. Thank you.
Neener? Neener Neener!
From the web page of The Neenerbot Shop: “Jeannine Schafer is an SF-area based illustrator. As a child she was torn between being a zookeeper and an artist, but for reasons she can’t quite recall she eventually abandoned her dreams of opening the world’s first underwater zoo to pursue art. She continued to study and draw the animals she loved and discovered her focus as an artist in this passion. Today she strives to create stylish and fun illustrations that will also help raise awareness and interest in the animals she loves.” To that end Ms. Schafer creates and sells numerous “funny animal” prints, and some of her works are also available on T-shirts and even pillows.
image c. 2016 by Jeannine Schafer
FC-231 Slow Motion Car Crash - Well wow, where do we even start? The four weeks we've been off have probably been the most eventful four weeks of our lives. Two different conventions, lots of traveling, the malicious FurCast syndication incident, ARP's su
Well wow, where do we even start? The four weeks we’ve been off have probably been the most eventful four weeks of our lives. Two different conventions, lots of traveling, the malicious FurCast syndication incident, ARP’s survey results and tons of news. In this extended episode with an interview, we do our best to cover it all. We missed you all so much. See you next week!
YouTube version is uncut, containing both the pre and post-show. Forgot to stop recording. Woops. Oh well, it’s a special episode anyway. Enjoy.
Watch Video The Incident“The Incident.” Yeah, I guess that’s what we’ll call it. The meat of the story is discussed on the show and in our PRESS RELEASE.
Media links:
- Denver CBS: Expletives Abundant After Mountain Radio Station Signal Apparently Hacked
- Michigan Association of Broadcasters Barix Box Advisory
- TheLipTV: Radio Stations Hacked and Broadcast Furry Sex Podcast
- Distorted View: Radio stations across the country being hacked to broadcast audio from a furry podcast
- KHOU: FCC investigating cause of Livingston radio station hack
- Flayrah: Hacked repeater brings furry podcast FurCast to FM radio
- BBC News: Explicit ‘furry’ podcast airs on US radio after ‘hack’
- Ars Technica: Nation-wide radio station hack airs hours of vulgar “furry sex” ramblings
- … and many, many more.
Full discussion of the incident takes place in the show. Let’s hope this is over with.
Link Roundup:- U87ai comparison video with barking
- What killed Rainfurrest?
- Deleted Zootopia scene involves Nick and Judy meeting parents
- Adjective Species tweet shows furries and religion
- Cracked.com’s “6 Things furry porn artists have learned on the job”
- Liana Kerzner’s “Why I love furries” on Escapist Magazine
- South East / Asian Furry Convention List
- Hotblood Comic Kickstarter
- MFF tweets infographic of their history
- FWA Ghosting Issue Busted by Revit
Dr. Courtney “Nuka” Plante (he’s a kitty!) from the Anthropomorphic Research Project joins us on FurCast once again to discuss the project. After compiling several years of results we discuss some of the findings, psychology research ethics, and future plans of the project.
More info about Nuka and ARP:
- YouTube: TFF Furry Psychology Presentation by Nuka
- Anthropomorphic Research Project Homepage
- Anthropomorphic Research Project on Wikifur
- Essential Pittsburgh (NPR syndicate) interviews Fursonas director
- Zoophilia / zoosexuality survey results
- Dolphinarium slammed over video showing keeper ‘performing sex act on dolphin’
- Don’t Worry, Ted Cruz Won’t Ban Dildos If He’s President
- The Verge Review of Animals: the coywolf
- Florida Man To Cops: Masturbating Makes Me Feel Like ‘Destroying Stuff’
- Man with knife hijacks bus, forces driver to take him to Tim Hortins
- Christian Author Mack Major Says Female Masturbation Is ‘Direct Path To Satan’
FC-231 Slow Motion Car Crash - Well wow, where do we even start? The four weeks we've been off have probably been the most eventful four weeks of our lives. Two different conventions, lots of traveling, the malicious FurCast syndication incident, ARP's su
Well wow, where do we even start? The four weeks we’ve been off have probably been the most eventful four weeks of our lives. Two different conventions, lots of traveling, the malicious FurCast syndication incident, ARP’s survey results and tons of news. In this extended episode with an interview, we do our best to cover it all. We missed you all so much. See you next week!
YouTube version is uncut, containing both the pre and post-show. Forgot to stop recording. Woops. Oh well, it’s a special episode anyway. Enjoy.
Watch Video The Incident“The Incident.” Yeah, I guess that’s what we’ll call it. The meat of the story is discussed on the show and in our PRESS RELEASE.
Media links:
- Denver CBS: Expletives Abundant After Mountain Radio Station Signal Apparently Hacked
- Michigan Association of Broadcasters Barix Box Advisory
- TheLipTV: Radio Stations Hacked and Broadcast Furry Sex Podcast
- Distorted View: Radio stations across the country being hacked to broadcast audio from a furry podcast
- KHOU: FCC investigating cause of Livingston radio station hack
- Flayrah: Hacked repeater brings furry podcast FurCast to FM radio
- BBC News: Explicit ‘furry’ podcast airs on US radio after ‘hack’
- Ars Technica: Nation-wide radio station hack airs hours of vulgar “furry sex” ramblings
- … and many, many more.
Full discussion of the incident takes place in the show. Let’s hope this is over with.
Link Roundup:- U87ai comparison video with barking
- What killed Rainfurrest?
- Deleted Zootopia scene involves Nick and Judy meeting parents
- Adjective Species tweet shows furries and religion
- Cracked.com’s “6 Things furry porn artists have learned on the job”
- Liana Kerzner’s “Why I love furries” on Escapist Magazine
- South East / Asian Furry Convention List
- Hotblood Comic Kickstarter
- MFF tweets infographic of their history
- FWA Ghosting Issue Busted by Revit
Dr. Courtney “Nuka” Plante (he’s a kitty!) from the Anthropomorphic Research Project joins us on FurCast once again to discuss the project. After compiling several years of results we discuss some of the findings, psychology research ethics, and future plans of the project.
More info about Nuka and ARP:
- YouTube: TFF Furry Psychology Presentation by Nuka
- Anthropomorphic Research Project Homepage
- Anthropomorphic Research Project on Wikifur
- Essential Pittsburgh (NPR syndicate) interviews Fursonas director
- Zoophilia / zoosexuality survey results
- Dolphinarium slammed over video showing keeper ‘performing sex act on dolphin’
- Don’t Worry, Ted Cruz Won’t Ban Dildos If He’s President
- The Verge Review of Animals: the coywolf
- Florida Man To Cops: Masturbating Makes Me Feel Like ‘Destroying Stuff’
- Man with knife hijacks bus, forces driver to take him to Tim Hortins
- Christian Author Mack Major Says Female Masturbation Is ‘Direct Path To Satan’
[Live] Slow Motion Car Crash - Well wow, where do we even start? The four weeks we've been off have probably been the most eventful four weeks of our lives. Two different conventions, lots of traveling, the malicious FurCast syndication incident, ARP's su
Well wow, where do we even start? The four weeks we’ve been off have probably been the most eventful four weeks of our lives. Two different conventions, lots of traveling, the malicious FurCast syndication incident, ARP’s survey results and tons of news. In this extended episode with an interview, we do our best to cover it all. We missed you all so much. See you next week!
YouTube version is uncut, containing both the pre and post-show. Forgot to stop recording. Woops. Oh well, it’s a special episode anyway. Enjoy.
Watch Video The Incident“The Incident.” Yeah, I guess that’s what we’ll call it. The meat of the story is discussed on the show and in our PRESS RELEASE.
Media links:
- Denver CBS: Expletives Abundant After Mountain Radio Station Signal Apparently Hacked
- Michigan Association of Broadcasters Barix Box Advisory
- TheLipTV: Radio Stations Hacked and Broadcast Furry Sex Podcast
- Distorted View: Radio stations across the country being hacked to broadcast audio from a furry podcast
- KHOU: FCC investigating cause of Livingston radio station hack
- Flayrah: Hacked repeater brings furry podcast FurCast to FM radio
- BBC News: Explicit ‘furry’ podcast airs on US radio after ‘hack’
- Ars Technica: Nation-wide radio station hack airs hours of vulgar “furry sex” ramblings
- … and many, many more.
Full discussion of the incident takes place in the show. Let’s hope this is over with.
Link Roundup:- U87ai comparison video with barking
- What killed Rainfurrest?
- Deleted Zootopia scene involves Nick and Judy meeting parents
- Adjective Species tweet shows furries and religion
- Cracked.com’s “6 Things furry porn artists have learned on the job”
- Liana Kerzner’s “Why I love furries” on Escapist Magazine
- South East / Asian Furry Convention List
- Hotblood Comic Kickstarter
- MFF tweets infographic of their history
- FWA Ghosting Issue Busted by Revit
Dr. Courtney “Nuka” Plante (he’s a kitty!) from the Anthropomorphic Research Project joins us on FurCast once again to discuss the project. After compiling several years of results we discuss some of the findings, psychology research ethics, and future plans of the project.
More info about Nuka and ARP:
- YouTube: TFF Furry Psychology Presentation by Nuka
- Anthropomorphic Research Project Homepage
- Anthropomorphic Research Project on Wikifur
- Essential Pittsburgh (NPR syndicate) interviews Fursonas director
- Zoophilia / zoosexuality survey results
- Dolphinarium slammed over video showing keeper ‘performing sex act on dolphin’
- Don’t Worry, Ted Cruz Won’t Ban Dildos If He’s President
- The Verge Review of Animals: the coywolf
- Florida Man To Cops: Masturbating Makes Me Feel Like ‘Destroying Stuff’
- Man with knife hijacks bus, forces driver to take him to Tim Hortins
- Christian Author Mack Major Says Female Masturbation Is ‘Direct Path To Satan’
The Phantom of the Con - Frequent guest Path Hyena joins the Wagz crew to talk about the problem of ghosting at cons and what conventions--and attendees--can do to keep it from becoming a problem. You don't want to miss this one!
Frequent guest Path Hyena joins the Wagz crew to talk about the problem of ghosting at cons and what conventions–and attendees–can do to keep it from becoming a problem. You don’t want to miss this one!
Metadata and Credits The Phantom of the Con
Runtime: 34:44m
Cast: Wolfin, Levi, Path, Pami
Editor: Levi
Format: 128kbps ABR split-stereo MP3 Copyright: © 2016 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0. Podcast thumbnail by gabriel77 under the RGBStock license.
The Phantom of the Con - Frequent guest Path Hyena joins the Wagz crew to talk about the problem of ghosting at cons and what conventions--and attendees--can do to keep it from becoming a problem. You don't want to miss this one!
Frequent guest Path Hyena joins the Wagz crew to talk about the problem of ghosting at cons and what conventions–and attendees–can do to keep it from becoming a problem. You don’t want to miss this one!
Metadata and Credits The Phantom of the Con
Runtime: 34:44m
Cast: Wolfin, Levi, Path, Pami
Editor: Levi
Format: 128kbps ABR split-stereo MP3 Copyright: © 2016 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0. Podcast thumbnail by gabriel77 under the RGBStock license.
He’s An Alien, But He’s Different
Wrench is a new full-color comic series in development, created and written by JB Potter and illustrated by Jake Slingland. “The Iludi race have developed their planet Groc down to the very last inch to make one giant city. When daredevil mechanic Mala damages his antennae, he develops something rare on his world: A conscience.” You can keep up with the creative team’s progress over on the official Wreck Tumblr page.
image c. 2016 by Jake Slingland
South East & East Asian Furry Conventions
Visualization of South East & East Asian Furry Conventions by Ralphie Raccoon.
(This visualization was updated on 16 April 2016 with thanks to our furry friends who provided missing information.)
click for full-sized version Member Spotlight: Sorin Kat
1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?
My most recent published pieces as a short story in FANG. Exploring themes of betrayal and especially betrayal of friends or loved ones, the action piece followed an agent for a covert intelligence agency that gets tricked into romance and betrayed by the secret object of his affections. I was really thrilled to explore some of the aspects of betrayal in love. While in a limited scope because of the length limits and requirements of the piece, I was most excited about digging in the surface of the concept of love by trickery and if it really can ever be a one-sided exercise.
2. What’s your writing process like? Are you a “pantser,” an outliner, or something in between?
I am definitely more of a pantser when I write. While I like to have an idea in my head when it comes to the direction the story will go, I often enjoy the organic joy of discovering the twists and turns with my characters. I feel this adds a sense of life and energy to the story that the characters are taking the reader on as well.
3. What’s your favorite kind of story to write?
I enjoy writing urban paranormal/fantasy, romance and science fiction. Often i find the most compelling stories include a mix of these genres. As for the types of stories, I like stories with a dark side, betrayal, loss and elements of hopelessness go a long way to craft a story that the characters can overcome… or fall to, depending on the overall mood of the tale.
4. Which character from your work do you most identify with, and why?
While there is not a specific character in my work that I relate to whole cloth, I tend to relate more to the characters that express a strong sense of self and often find themselves the underdog of my stories. I find that characters that start the story strong have the furthest to fall and the most compelling build back up again which I enjoy.
5. Which authors or books have most influenced your work?
I take influence from a lot of authors both furry and non. In the mainstream, Orson Scott Card, Jim Butcher, David Eddings, Ursula K. Le Guin, Alan Dean Foster and Anne McCaffrey are my tops! Within the fandom I often find inspiration in the writings of Kyell Gold, Kevin Frane and Ryan Campbell.
6. What’s the last book you read that you really loved?
A book by Alan Dean Foster called Quozl about a lapine-like race of aliens that come to earth on a generation ship to colonize it only to find that humans are already there! The story is compelling, following a few generations of the colonists and looking into their unique culture shaped by their ultra-violent past. A very interesting read!
7. Besides writing, how do you like to spend your free time?
Truth be told, I’m a geek. Most of my free time is taken up with tabletop board games and RPGs, Live Action Role Playing (and the crafting and costume work that goes with it), computer games, movies and socializing with friends!
8. Advice for other writers?
So cliche, but write! In the end it doesn’t matter what, but write often and keep everything you write, even if you hide it in a shoe box and pull it out to marvel at your improvement, just do it! Computer, pen and paper, anything, just write!
9. Where can readers find your work?
I post stories on SoFurry under Sorinkat, or you can check out some of my published works in the RainFurrest charity anthologies, FANG 7 and a few scattered convention books.
10. What’s your favorite thing about the furry fandom?
I love the general sense of acceptance that the fandom has. It’s so refreshing to be part of a group of people that are willing to let people be who they are and are generally friendly about it!
Check out Sorin Kat’s member bio here!
Art Is A Gateway
Found these folks at WonderCon too: The Brothers Uber describe themselves as “… an independent, creative publishing company specializing in children’s books. Focusing on art as a gateway to another realm, we pride ourselves on finding the best illustrators and working with them to bring the best books to life.” To that end they have already published several books which you can find at their web site. Of immediate note to furry fans are two: The Dragon and the Princess (written by Erik Peterson and illustrated by Mina Sanwald) is a counting book that also tells the story of a magical friendship between, yes, a dragon and a princess. Then there’s Critters Fantastique, a coloring book by Dusty Catlett featuring a variety of legendary creatures and monsters.
image c. 2016 by Dusty Catlett
Fake Furry News 5 of 6 PLAYLIST
Forest Gods, by Ryan Campbell – book review by Fred Patten.
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Forest Gods, by Ryan Campbell. Illustrated by Zhivago.
St. Paul, MN, Sofawolf Press, September 2015, trade paperback $19.95 (343 [+ 2] pages), Kindle $7.99.
This is the direct sequel to Campbell’s September 2013 God of Clay, and the middle novel in his The Fire Bearers trilogy. As with all too many trilogies of this sort, The Fire Bearers is a single novel in three volumes more than a series of three novels. If you have not started it yet, get and read God of Clay first, then immediately read Forest Gods. Be aware that it ends with a cliffhanger, and that it may be another two years until Book Three is published.
In a fantasy prehistoric Africa, the great Saharan savanna is drying up. Animals and human tribes migrate south and further south again to the forest-jungle as the new desert inexorably spreads after them. But the forest itself will not let them enter. The trees and vines come alive and kill any humans who venture among them. This is apparently because the forest gods – Kwaee, king of the gods who looks like an anthropomorphized leopard; Asubonten, the giant crocodile goddess of the rivers; Atetea, the little ant god; and many others – have turned against them. Most of the forest gods blame the humans for turning to Ogya, the powerful god of fire and destruction, and becoming his worshippers. But Kwaee, sulking on his forest throne, isn’t doing anything about it. Kwaee doesn’t even believe in the Fire Bringers (humans).
Doto, Kwaee’s son who also looks like an anthro leopard, worries that his father is abdicating his responsibility by ignoring the desert’s spread. When Doto begs Kwaee to Do Something, Kwaee angrily orders Doto to capture a Fire Bringer if they’re real.
The forest gods’ story is intermixed with that of two young human brothers whose tribe has slowly been pushed from the shrinking savanna to the edges of Africa’s forest-jungle. Clay and Laughing Dog, the second and third sons of their tribal ruler, hold different beliefs: Clay worships the tribe’s traditional animal gods, while Laughing Dog is an atheist. Clay is captured by Doto and dragged into the forest-jungle to be presented to Kwaee, who will almost certainly kill him.
Over the course of God of Clay, Clay convinces Doto that the humans still worship the animal gods; they have never heard of Ogya or the Fire Bearers. Doto, feeling responsible for having kidnapped Clay, worries about protecting him from Kwaee. The two youths gradually become homosexual lovers. Meanwhile, Laughing Dog is exiled from his tribe for his iconoclasm; and alone, he is easy prey for Ogya.
God of Clay was the winner of the Furry Writers’ Guild’s first Cóyotl Award, for the Best Anthropomorphic Novel of 2013.
Forest Gods begins several weeks or months later, in the tribal village. Clay is assumed by all to be dead. Laughing Dog, now secretly possessed by Ogya, has returned to renounce his disbelief in the gods, and been readmitted to the tribe. But Ogya engineers the elderly tribal king’s death. His successor, Clay’s and Laughing Dog’s older brother Great Ram, becomes the new king. He swiftly falls under Laughing Dog’s (Ogya’s) influence, to the unease of old Cloud, the tribal healer and one of the old king’s advisors.
Meanwhile, Clay and Doto have left the forest-jungle and ventured into the now-thin savanna, in search of Lord Sarmu, the god of the savanna. This puts off their confrontation with Kwaee, but Doto is dismayed to discover that, without the spirit of the forest to draw upon, he has become even weaker than Clay.
Forest Gods is told in alternating chapters. One is centered upon Cloud as she watches, dismayed, as Laughing Dog destroys her former influence in the village and urges the tribe to burn the forest back.
[Cloud goes to the King’s tent to tend his pregnant wife.]
“‘Good morning, Grenadier, Broken Stump,’ she [Cloud] said, doing her best to sound pleasant and unworried. ‘Do you know if the King is about?’
‘He’s not here right now,’ Broken Stump said, holding up a hand. He was a short man, though still taller than her, his frame thin and angular. Though he had not yet seen thirty rains, his hair was already greying, but he was renowned for his wiry strength. He could throw a spear so fast and so far that it might have been an arrow and his body the bow.
“Doto, Clay, and Adanko, god of hares”. Art by Zhivago.
‘Only Hibiscus,’ Grenadier added.
‘That’s fine. It’s her that I want to see.’ Cloud made to enter the tent, but the two men stepped together, blocking her way. They stood stiff-backed, gripping their spears more tightly. What did they expect, that she would lunge at them like a lion?
Grenadier cleared his throat. ‘Sorry, Cloud, but you’re not to enter the King’s tent. And you’re not to see Hibiscus.’
She stared up at him. He stood head and shoulders above Broken Stump, but unlike the other man, was thick-fleshed and rounded in a way that befit his typically soft, gentle demeanor. ‘What do you mean?’ she asked, puzzled. ‘I’m an elder of the people. I’m an advisor to the King, and the healer besides. You boys have no place to stop me.’
He rubbed at the back of his neck with a mitt that was more paw than hand. ‘Sorry, Cloud. Prince Laughing Dog says to stand guard and not let anyone in.’
So. It was Prince Laughing Dog now. She pressed her lips together.” (p. 85)
The other is centered upon Clay and Doto as they encounter unexpected dangers that take them far from their goal.
“‘Frogs!’ he [Doto] called. Clay could understand him, but the words were not the language of his people. If he considered any of them, they turned strange and meaningless in his mind. ‘I am Doto the mighty, god of the forest, god of Clay. I visit the land of Sarmu on urgent matters. Tell me, frogs, where is your savannah god? Where might I find Brother Sarmu?’
He waited. There was silence from the stream; the frogs had ceased their croaking with the sunrise. After a time with no reply, he called again. ‘Do you hear and understand me, frogs? Where is Sarmu? It is a god who addresses you. You must answer!’
Again, silence. The wind rustled in the rushes. Clay sat up in the grass, about to suggest that perhaps the frogs had all left, or were sleeping deep in the mud during the day. But then a low, mournful answer creaked from the stream. ‘Looooooost.’
It was joined by another voice, croaking in agreement. ‘Looooost.’” (p. 39)
The two stories are separate until about page 200, when Clay comes home to his village to urge his tribe to continue worshipping the forest gods; and Doto reenters the forest to urge Kwaee to stop the forest from attacking the humans. But Forest Gods still has 150 pages to go. What Clay and Doto do – and become – sets up the final volume to come.
Forest Gods – well, both Books of The Fire Bearers – are tremendously imaginative, with intelligent characters in a constantly suspenseful plot. And wait until you find out what Ogya, unmasked, materializes as! This is excellent fantasy. Both books have covers by Zhivago, who has ten interior illustrations here.
Let’s See Those Teeth!
Cody Vrosh is a self-taught fantasy illustrator with at least two particular obsessions: Coffee… and teeth. Animals and fantasy creatures who grin. Wide. A lot. Hmm, with all that coffee, how do they manage to keep those teeth so white? Who knows! “His depictions of dark and whimsical companionships attempt to express the aspects of one’s personality that we typically hide from the world. With an emphasis on experimentation, his fine lines and chaotic ink patterns have graced such diverse surfaces as hand-cut burned wood and coffee-stained paper.” Cody’s web site has many examples of his watercolor works, both humanoid and anthropomorphic, as well as his various book titles.
image c. 2015 by Cody Vrosh
FA 014 Safer Sex Practices and STIs - On this episode we discuss safer sex practices and the most common STIs that you might encounter
Hello Everyone!
This week we talk about Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). This is a long episode-- over three hours-- that is full of as much information that we could cram in.
We go over the ways to mitigate against STIs by using safer sex practices like condoms, and then take a look into the most commonly transmitted STIs. We discuss the transmission routes, the symptoms, the treatments, and the ways you can mitigate specifically against each one. We discuss studies and reports and offer a lot of resources that you can find in our Show Notes for this episode-- it is highly recommended that you give them a look. You can also use this to skip to sections that interest you or perhaps you are curious about.
Unfortunately we are not able to cover every piece of information available in this episode, but we do recommend using this as a resource for having a discussion with your doctor about your sexual health. We also hope that this can serve as a resource to help correct some of the misinformation that is sometimes shared in Public Education Sexual Education classes.
We also have a listener question about how to find a mate, especially if it has been some time since you were last in a relationship.
For more information, including a list of topics by timestamp, see our Show Notes for this episode.
Thanks and, as always, be well!
FA 014 Safer Sex Practices and STIs - On this episode we discuss safer sex practices and the most common STIs that you might encounterOver Time, by Kyell Gold – book review by Fred Patten.
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Over Time, by Kyell Gold. Illustrated by Rukis and Kenket.
St. Paul, MN, Sofawolf Press, January 2016, hardcover $39.95 (432 pages), trade paperback $19.95 ([5] + 376 [+ 2] pages), Kindle $9.99.
Over Time is a romance novel intended for an adult audience only and contains some explicit sexual scenes of a primarily Male/Male nature. It is not for sale to persons under the age of 18. (publisher’s advisory)
Over Time is the final volume in this series; Out of Position Book 5. It’s hard to write a meaningful review of this Book 5 alone without covering all the background. If you’re familiar with the first four novels – Out of Position (January 2009), Isolation Play (January 2011), Divisions (January 2013), and Uncovered (July 2014) – you’ve probably already gotten this Book 5. If you’re not, you’ll do better to read all five in the proper order. They’re all five worth it.
They’re also all very homoerotic, with explicit gay m/m sex scenes. They are about two young men (who happen to be a tiger and a red fox) falling in love and going through considerable lovemaking with all the erect penises and the sticky bodily fluids, as they go through life. Kyell Gold is a prize-winning, top-quality author, and these five novels are so well-written that you will be caught up in the lives of Devlin Miski (the tiger) and Wiley “Lee” Farrel (the fox), even if you don’t care for the gay sex scenes. Or even if you don’t care for football – there are also many scenes of explicit extended football action.
The five novels are narrated in the first person by Dev and Lee, in mostly alternating chapters. In the first book, Out of Position, Dev and Lee are adolescent seniors at Forester University. Dev is a cornerback on the university’s football team, and Lee is a gay activist. Dev has a one-night stand with what seems to be a sexy vixen who turns out to be Lee in drag. Dev realizes that his sexual orientation is gay and that he is in love with the male Lee, while Lee realizes that his practical joke on a football jock has led him to a real romance. After carrying on their romance in secrecy, the novel ends with Dev publicly “coming out of the closet”; the first football player to do so. (Out of Position was published several years before the first admittedly gay football player in real life.)
In the sequels, Dev and Lee deal with the results of their openly gay relationship on their families and Dev’s football teammates, and on their graduation and life after college. Dev wants to become a football pro and is picked by the Chevali Firebirds. Lee tries to become a football talent scout to stay with him, but the best team that will hire him is the Yerba Whalers, several hundred miles from Dev’s new team. Lee’s father accepts that he is gay, but his mother is violently opposed to his open homosexuality and joins Families United, a religious hate group, leading to Lee’s parents getting divorced. Lee learns that his mother’s hate group has just driven another gay adolescent to suicide, and he is torn between resuming his gay activism and continuing to support Dev and Dev’s new team. The parents of the boy who committed suicide sue Families United, and Lee and Dev learn that Dev’s brother Greg is on the FU legal team.
Sofawolf Press’ blurb for Over Time starts:
“Football season is over, and in the wake of a tumultuous year, Lee and Dev decide to take this quiet time to think about their relationship. But as their friends and family draw the couple into their own issues, the offseason becomes anything but quiet.”
One of Dev’s and Lee’s friends among Dev’s teammates, Fisher Kingston (another tiger), begins acting strangely after a football injury.
“We do call Fisher that afternoon, but Gena [his wife] answers and says he’s asleep. ‘At three in the afternoon?’ I hear Dev say into the phone, and then, ‘Uh-huh,’ and then he hands me the phone.
‘Gena. She wants to talk to you.’ He scratches his ear when I take the phone, looking puzzled, and then gets up from the couch. He hovers a little ways away while I lean against the couch arm.
‘Lee?’
The strain in Gena’s voice comes through loud and clear, and my ears go down over the phone, which has the unintentional consequence of making it harder for Dev to overhear. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘He hit Bradley [their teenage son],’ she says. ‘Not hard, and they’ve roughhoused before, but … it was different.’
‘Oh, boy.’
‘He said that he had a headache when he got home, […]” (p. 29)
Dev and Lee must deal with Fisher’s deteriorating mental condition. At the same time, Dev’s relationship with his brother becomes openly hostile after Greg publicly endorses Families United’s anti-gay position. Running through this is Dev’s and Lee’s relationship with each other. The m/m sex is fantastic, but how long-term is it? Is it just a casual romance – after three years – or can they count on it to continue lasting? Specifically, should they buy a house together?
To repeat what I said about the other books, “there is almost no fantasy, save for the characters being anthropomorphized animals. This is a realistic novel about two young homosexual lovers beginning life after college.” The wraparound cover is by Rukis & Kenket. Readers of the previous four novels will not be disappointed in this finale.
The difference in pagination is due to the hardcover containing a bonus short story, “Rest Stop”, that is not in the trade paperback or Kindle editions.
