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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen, by Paul Magrs.
London, BBC Books, January 2002, paperback £5.99 (249 pages).

Doctor Who is massively popular, but his adventures do not seem to offer much for furry fandom. But they do overlap in “The 100th Novel in the Record-Breaking BBC Worldwide Doctor Who Series”, to quote the back-cover blurb. Mad Dogs and Englishmen features the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann, 1996-2005) and his Companions at the time, Fitz Kreiner and Anji Kapoor. The novel is also a parody of J. R. R. Tolkien’s writing of The Lord of the Rings.

The first chapter is about Professor Reginald Tyler, a reclusive British university don who spends his life from 1917 to his death in 1974 writing and rewriting his magnum opus The True History of Planets, “an epic of dwarves and swords and wizardry. And definitely no poodles. Or at least there weren’t when the Doctor read it.” (blurb) When Prof. Tyler dies, his widow takes his towering manuscript to a publisher.

“She was the one who had hoiked out the dusty manuscript of the ongoing book and promptly sold it for a bomb.

One that set off reverberations everywhere.

Up and down the length of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries on Earth, and other worlds besides.

Notably the dogworld.” (p. 3)

Chapter Two begins, “In another hotel, one hundred years later and off-world, a conference was underway.

The hotel was built into a small, rather tatty-looking asteroid and it was, for one weekend, playing host to an academic conference and a motley collection of academics, all of them concerned with Terran Science Fiction of the Twentieth Century.” (p. 9)

One of the attendees is Professor Alid Jag, a tiny but loud literary critic from a people that “were tantamount to aphids” (p. 10). He believes that, “You have to learn to despise what you analyse” (p. 11) to be a proper critic. Prof. Jag is pontificating in the hotel’s foyer when the TARDIS materializes on top of him, crushing him. The Doctor has arrived to hear Prof. Jag’s paper, and is nonplussed to learn that he is responsible for the crypto-aphid’s death. He and his Companions, Fitz and Anji, are taken in charge by the hotel’s manager – “The manager was a boar, standing erect on his two hind legs and wearing a smart uniform adorned with all manner of medals. His humped back stood almost as tall as the TARDIS itself and his rancid breath came steaming out through a snout that quivered and dripped in annoyance.” (p. 16) – while waiting for the police to arrive.

Chapter Three reveals what really happens to Prof. Tyler when everyone thinks that he died. He was abducted into an alternate timeline by a bright blue anthropomorphic French poodle.

It turns out that Prof. Jag was more sinister than he seemed. He was trying to murder an expert on Reginald Tyler. When the expert is murdered, after all – after Prof. Jag’s death – the Doctor, Fitz, and Anji are blamed for it. Meanwhile, the Doctor has discovered that The True History of Planets is no longer about dwarves and swords and wizardry.

“‘Poodles,’ said the Doctor.

‘That’s them.’

Anji raised both eyebrows.

‘With hands!’ Fitz laughed. ‘In the book, they live on this planet where they’ve clambered their way to the top of the evolutionary ladder with their perfectly manicured five-fingered hands and by making full use of their opposable thumbs. They have a very luxurious world with a corrupt monarchy and the book’s all about their various skirmishes and how one of them manages to depose the queen of the dogworld and set himself upon the throne…’” (p. 34)

Well, obviously there’s nothing for it but to be off to the dog dimension. With Flossie, the asteroid hotel’s disgraced cook:

“‘I fell from grace during the greatest of my challenges and honours. Oh my, but I did. Oh yes. That was a terrible story. It was a banquet for the Child Emperor of Karim. They’re a kind of… well, there’s no nice way of putting it. Lobster people. It was all some kind of peace treaty thing going on. Well, no one told me they were like lobster people. And you can guess what I’d spent all night preparing for their main course…’” (p. 50)

On the dogs’ space station:

“Look at those pictures!’ the Doctor called out.

Each one showed a dog staring straight out at the onlooker, baring its fangs. They were beribboned and titivated. Some of them were wearing elaborate bonnets.

Fitz burst out laughing and the Doctor shushed him.

‘These,’ he said sternly, ‘are probably the great and good of this civilization.’

‘It’s like an Intergalactic Crufts,’ Anji said. ‘Or like some mad version of Planet of the Apes. .. with, um, poodles instead of monkeys…’” (p. 63)

The humans are present at the beginning of the dogs’ civil war:

“‘Grrr,’ said the guards. It was their ceremonial greeting.

‘Grrr,’ said the archivists dutifully. Having been here for so long, they were unused to such formalities. The lack of ritual arse-sniffing was a definite snub. Fritter and Char were evidently inferiors, and not to be sniffed. Char felt this like a slap in the face.” (p. 65)

The Doctor, Fitz, and Anji, who have all their clothes confiscated while on the dogs’ space station, re-dress and escape into time-travel: Fitz and Flossie to Las Vegas in 1960; Anji and Fritter (disguised as an ordinary dog) to Hollywood in 1978; and the Doctor and Char to 1942 Bournemouth where they must prevent Prof. Tyler from being influenced into throwing out his manuscript about dwarves, swords, and wizardly and writing about a world of poodles instead. Fitz and Flossie encounter an entertainer singing the Beatles’ songs before they’ve written them; Anji and Fritter encounter an obvious pastiche of Ray Harryhausen; and the Doctor and Char find Prof. Tyler at his literary club, the Scribblings, arguing with his friend Cleavis who tries to persuade him to finish his book and publish it. (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.)

“Six Imperial poodles, armed and dyed red, had emerged from the copter. They gave the ceremonial greeting as one.

‘Grrr.’” (p. 181)

The poodles of the monarchy are dyed bright scarlet. The rebel poodles are dyed bright orange, green, purple, and other colors. There is a battle between stop-motion monsters and CGI monsters. There are the Mob, dozens of Nöel Cowards, and MIAOW. And more.

The TV program doesn’t have the special-effects budget for stuff like this. This paperback does. Mad Dogs and Englishmen is over a decade old, but it’s still available through Amazon.uk. Have fun.

The cover is only credited to Blacksheep Design Ltd., a London art agency. What appears as bright yellow lettering in its illustration is in gold foil on the book (which unfortunately doesn’t photograph well).

–Fred Patten

• Learn more about the book at Dr Who Guide
• Buy at The TARDIS Library
• A look at Blacksheep Design

submitted by RamblinRedRose
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I've just found out that I got removed by someone on steam. Sucks cause they were nice to talk to, but couldn't handle me being offline for a whole day (the horror).

... But I'm starting to get really into writing Haiku's, so it's alright~

Anyway, what's up /r/furry ?

submitted by Drezrek_
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submitted by sirblastalot
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submitted by HuskySilver
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submitted by EosFoxx
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A bit of a foreword: I’m actually hesitant when it comes to posting music here because not only does this seems to be more of an art oriented fandom, but music isn’t something that’s furry related. In other words, you can’t tell by listening to a song that it’s related to furry. Unfortunately, my art skills are mediocre at best (I’m working on it) and all I have under my belt is music. So with that being said...

I’ve got some music to hesitantly share. Something I’m pretty proud of (or else I wouldn’t be struggling to share) since it puts dance and orchestral music in one track, and would love to hear some feedback. So for those who like orchestral music, this could possibly satisfy you… or not. :p

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/18524754/ It's 3:14 long (heh, π)

Feel free to leave any criticisms. As a little something extra, feel free to comment any words that come to mind when you hear this. (This'll be interesting! :) ) Thank you all so much!

submitted by hyphens-suck
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Hey /r/furry, before i get started i just needed to get something off of my chest. When i was in high school (about 2-3 years ago) I was kind of a horrible person and used to bully furries. Irony is, sort of a closet furry but didnt want anyone else to know so i rolled with the crowd and joined in on the bullying. Since then i've changed my ways and in fact made amends with one of the people i used to bully. I just wanted to give an open apology to the community. I know its in the past but i feel like i needed to get that out in the open.

 

Anywho, on a more lighthearted subject let me introduce my self! My name is Mojo Wojo (or just Mojo for short). I'm a 21 year old male Gray wolf from the East Coast, USA (NoVA represent!). Some hobbies include working on cars, camping, hitting up the rifle range, airsofting and playing video games. Im a fairly carefree and happy-go-lucky dude who's always looking for new people to talk to. I dont really have a legit fursona avatar since im pretty new to the whole scene, but i plan on commissioning someone or doing it myself if i have to (my artistic ability is that of a 6 year old).

 

If you got this far, i commend you on your perseverance through my rambling. I hope to get connected within the furry community and if anyone wants to talk or guide me through the "furryness", feel free to pm me!

submitted by Tehbrainz
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First the art of My Little Pony the TV series — now, the art of My Little Pony the comic books. Thanks to IDW, of course. They’ve released My Little Pony: Art is Magic, a nearly 150-page trade paperback of works from the various My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic book series. “Read along as fan-favorite artists Amy Mebberson, Sara Richard, Tony Fleecs, Andy Price, Brenda Hickey, and Agnes Garbowska showcase a selection of their most cherished pieces, provide insight into their process, and share the identities of their favorite ponies!” Each artist has also created a special unique pin-up piece just for this collection. Take a look over at Barnes & Noble to find out more.

image c. 2015 IDW Publishing

 

submitted by Random_Wolfe
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submitted by TheVloginator
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submitted by DamienGuarinot
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Hello i'm new to Reddit, and new to being an active fur. I'm thinking about trying to create my own fursona, and I was wondering what type of art supplies is recommended... Paint? Maybe?

submitted by ShiningLanturn
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submitted by StubbornClaws
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submitted by Cressela
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submitted by An_Intelligent_Freak
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submitted by FoskyBleu
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Companion thread to the nominations thread for our best of 2015 awards. Please keep discussion here, and nominations over in the other thread!

Feel free to ask questions!

submitted by CeresSergal
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Hey everyone! For the next week /r/furry is going to be running a best-of contest to celebrate the most memorable parts of 2015. There are five categories below, and we'd like to invite you all to suggest posts and comments that you think are the best in their category.

This thread will be in contest mode and voting will end on Christmas Eve. After the winning submissions are announced, the five winners will receive a month of Reddit Gold, donated by the Reddit admins. Winners will be decided by the number of votes the submitting comment gets. Please refrain from discussing the contest in this thread: Head over to the discussion thread to chat about it!

To nominate a submission, just reply to the appropriate comment below with a link and a short description! See my comments for slightly more detailed notes on each category.

Categories

• Best Art Post - Any Artist
• Best Art Post - OC
• Best Text/Discussion Post
• Best Worst Furry Pun
• Best Contributor

submitted by CeresSergal
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Trying to do a little good here. My girlfriend ( http://www.furaffinity.net/user/wolfpsalm ) is running tight on rent money, and has been doing tons of excellent/affordable commissions and YCH's lately. I'm really just trying to get her as much traffic as possible ASAP. This is my first reddit post, so I apologize if this is frowned upon. (Admittedly rushing around trying to promote her as many places as possible)

I would appreciate it immensely if you awesome redditors could give her a hand and help keep a roof over her head!

submitted by ChewyTheWolf
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