I added two book reviews from Jeff Eddy of Sofawolf Press. Check them out. Also, if you're an RPG fan, you really have no excuse not to pick up a copy of World Tree. I'm not an RPG fan, but the book has consumed most of my weekend. We had an interview with the creators not too long ago.

The Montreal Mirror has a feature story about furry fandom in their recent edition. It's a 'fan reaction' to the Vanity Fair article from three different Montreal furry fans.

This story is near and dear to my heart, as I am a fan of big cats:

In my wanderings I have discovered that Rosamond, California, is the home to the Exotic Feline Breeding Compound's Feline Conservation Center (or the 'EFBC/FCC Cat House'). This non-profit organization, which is dedicated to protecting and preserving endangered feline species, has struck deals with the folks at Igive so that when you purchase from any of the participants at the virtual "mall" such as PETsMART.com or Amazon, the Cat House gets a percentage of the purchase at no additional cost to the customer! Now that's just a great deal: You get what you want, and get the added warm fuzzy feeling of knowing you were helping out a great cause.

If you're a fan of Anne McCaffrey's "Pern" series you'll be pleased to know that her latest Pern saga, Skies of Pern, has been released by Ballantine Books. If you have cable and get the Sci-Fi network you may have seen some of the commercials airing for it.

From Scott Malcomson on alt.fan.furry: "ZonieCon will launch a new program in October, awarding an engraved plaque on an annual basis to a notable person within the fandom for Conspicuous Integrity. Bearing Mike's name and Zonie's likeness, it will serve in some way to help keep alive his memory and his spirit, while also serving to recognize those worthies in the fandom who manage to achieve the difficult task of earning their spurs without selling their ideals."

I've finished mailing out the Anthrocon Art Show info packets with reservation forms to everyone on my mailing list, and will shortly finish sending them to those who asked for Art Show info when they pre-registered for Anthrocon. If you're an artist and wish to receive one, please send me your full (legal) name and postal address. The Anthrocon web page will be updated with Art Show info in a week or so, but I still prefer to send the reservation forms by postal mail, as this allows more time to sort out any address difficulties before mailing the paperwork you'll need at the con, as well as your payment check afterwards.

The Wonderland books with their talking griffins, unicorns, lions and other furry creatures are some of the more readily recognized works in the anthropomorphic fantasy genre, taking a place among other classics of its type such as Wind in the Willows, Watership Down and others.

A rare collection of photographs, books, papers and other personal items that belonged to the real Alice In Wonderland, Alice Pleasance Liddell Hargreaves (1852-1934), is to be auctioned by Sotheby's in London on June 6.

A description of the items to be auctioned that includes a copy of Alice's Adventure's Under Ground that the author personally inscribed to Alice can be found here along with a general history of the relationship between Liddell and Lewis Carroll.

If you were wondering about Haul Trek, the comic strip created by Paul Gibbs and Bill Redlern, you're about to be plesantly surprized. Haul Trek's back, but as Freighter Tails and without the Star Trek influence. The rework was due in part of the strip being a derivative work off of Viacom/Paramount's Star Trek, and that any derivative work has alot of legal issues attached to it.

David Cooksey posted the Further Confusion final report on a.f.f.: "Well its time for our final wrapup report, a tradition we were determined to encourage by publicizing as much of our figures as possible.

"First and again, thank you to all of the staffers, panelists, artists,
writers, publishers, dealers, and attendees who made it another success."

The Northwest Science Fiction Convention (NorWesCon) is this weekend, April 12-15, and the Tai-Pan Literary & Arts Project is hosting their annual room party once again.

This party will mark the thirteenth anniversary of the founding of the Tai-Pan Project, which produces a science fiction zine set in a shared anthropomorphic universe. In recent years the Tai-Pan party has been virtually the only furry event happening at this convention, but we're too stubborn to stop doing it. Look for posters at all the normal bulletin locations to find the room number. The party usually starts at about 3:00 on Saturday afternoon. There'll be food, sketch books, a lot of conversation, and probably some Cheapass games to join in. We'll have back issues available.

So if you're in the Seattle area this weekend, drop in and say hello.

From the comic strip site that brings you Satin & Silk, Campus Safari and numerous other titles, one of the titles is increasing its frequency this week to begin updating three times a week.

Some of you may recall our earlier mention of the Norwegian wolf hunt. CNN has a follow-up story. Nine wolves were culled, and a tenth looks to have eluded the hunters.

Contrary to an earlier rumor posted to several mailing lists, Furnation is not being shut down for good, but does have some downtime in its future. Here's the official word, as posted by Nexxus to alt.fan.furry:

From CNN.com: "While U.S. and Chinese government officials square off over an incident involving a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese jet fighter, a joint U.S.-Chinese research team is faulting China's efforts to save the giant panda from possible extinction." Read the full story.

A recent article in the Chicago Tribune discusses online comic strips (yes, we're a bit slow on the uptake; the article ran Feb. 22). Among those mentioned are Kevin and Kell and Newshounds.