Furstarter is a brand new blog created by Corbeau Fundhound. It describes itself as “A weekly look at furry and fur-friendly crowdfunded projects”. Here’s his announcement: “Howdy howdy – I’m working on a blog focused on upcoming furry and fur-friendly kickstarter projects. Just now beginning week 2, so no promises on longevity of this, but I’ve been working on other blog projects for several years now without totally blowing my deliverables. I’m still tweaking the look and feel of the place, it should be a little more visitor-friendly once some of the art commissions I’ve got in place come through, but since by definition the information is time-sensitive I wanted to get content up and running!” Check it out at http://www.furstarter.com.
Furry Fandom
Here There Be Unicorns
Unicornatopia is a collection of artists, craft-makers, and enthusiasts dedicated to the lore of the unicorn — from Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn to My Little Pony and beyond. To that end they maintain a unicorn-themed web site, and also travel in groups to various fannish conventions to sell not only artwork but custom-made wearable unicorn horns and other crafts. Their web site is unicornatopia.com, and it includes numerous links to other unicorn-themed sites as well as various artists associated with the group.
image c. 2012 Unicornatopia
The Ursa Major Awards Anthology
As Furry Fandom’s Ursa Major Awards enter their 10th year, Fred Patten (a long-time member of the Awards’ parent organization, the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association) has collected and edited some of the best winners and nominees from the Awards’ “Short Fiction” category into a new book, the Ursa Major Awards Anthology. It’s coming at the end of June from Fur Planet Productions. Featuring short stories by Brock Hoagland, Michael H. Payne, M.C.A. Hogarth, Chas P.A. Melville, Kristin Fontaine, Kyell Gold, Jim Hayden, Samuel C. Conway, Paul Di Filippo, and Naomi Kritzer, as well as original illustrations, the anthology also features a new wrap-around cover by Blotch. Sample copies of the anthology were available at Anthrocon — and sold briskly. You can find out more at Fur Planet Productions’ pre-order page.
image c. 2012 Fur Planet Productions
Pandering. Do it.
Look, we know that we very recently did a report on Chew: Secret Agent Poyo from Image Comics. Well even more recently they lobbed a curve-ball right at us, and we thought we’d better respond. So first off, what is Chew? Here’s the description from Wikipedia: “Chew is an Eisner Award-winning American comic book series written by John Layman with art by Rob Guillory and published by Image Comics. It is a story about an FDA Agent who solves crimes by getting psychic impressions by eating things, including people.” Got that? Okay. Well now comes the announcement for issue #28 of the regular Chew series. Check out the cover below, and check out this description from Image: “‘Space Cakes’,Part Three. Remember last story arc when Tony Chu got kidnapped? This issue he gets kidnapped again! How lame is that? Meanwhile, we shamelessly pander to comics’ coveted ‘furry’ demographic.” Got that? Okay. We don’t know anything more about it, but we figure if they’re going to pander to us, we’ll pander right back at them. So there!
image c. 2012 Image Comics
Furries on Stage in Southern California
Jeff Goode is the creator of American Dragon: Jake Long for the Disney Channel. Previous to that he was well-known as a playwright, responsible for such works as The Eight: Reindeer Monologues. He has also been a Guest of Honor at several furry fandom conventions. Combine all those facts and you might just have an explanation for his latest work for the stage, Fursona Non Grata. Here’s what the press release says: “A young woman raised furry brings her mundane fiancé home for the holidays to meet her family for the first time. Fur-larity ensues. Screenwriter and playwright Jeff Goode, the creator of Disney’s American Dragon: Jake Long and the author of The Eight: Reindeer Monologues is developing a new stage play for SkyPilot Theatre Company in Los Angeles, inspired in part by his misadventures as a GoH at Califur, Rocket City Furmeet and Oklacon. The original comedy Fursona Non Grata will have its first public reading on: Sunday, June 17 @ 3:00 p.m. at the Sherry Theater, 11052 Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA. Admission is Free! Featuring Katie Apicella, Jude Evans, Brett Fleisher, Kelly Goodman, Joanna Kalafatis, Christian Levatino, Bart Petty, Rosina Pinchot, and Julia Sanford. There will be a post-reading talk-back with the author. This will be a chance for actors, audience and the furry fandom to give the author direct feedback on this new work-in-progress which is set to premiere in 2013 as part of SkyPilot’s main stage season.” Fursona Non Grata also has its own Facebook page where you can learn more about the new production.
image c. 2012 Sky Pilot Theater
Ursa Major Winners for 2011
Hey there, we’re back among the living. Your ever-lovin’ ed-otter has been down with a very, very nasty sinus infection for no less than two weeks, and is only just now getting back to his feet. So it’s time to play some major catch-up with In-Fur-Nation, yes?
The winners of the Ursa Major Awards were recently announced at a Saturday afternoon ceremony at CaliFur in Irvine, California. The June 2nd show was emcee’d by CaliFur’s own Gary Whalen. Greenreaper was on hand to accept Flayrah’s award for Best Anthropomorphic Magazine. The full list of winners for 2011 looks like this:
Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson)
Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Series or Short Work: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Produced by Studio DHX)
Best Anthropomorphic Novel: Isolation Play, by Kyell Gold
Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction: “How to Get Through the Day”, by Kyell Gold
Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work: Nordguard, Book One, by Tess Garman & Teagan Gavet
Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story: Furthia High, by QuetzaDrake
Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip: Housepets!, by Rick Griffin
Best Anthropomorphic Magazine: Flayrah
Best Anthropomorphic Website: Equestria Daily
Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration: Blotch, for the cover of Nordguard, Book One
Best Anthropomorphic Game: Pokemon: Black and White
In addition, the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association (ALAA), which administers the Ursa Major Awards, announced a new “ALAA’s Choice” award for a nominee which the committee felt deserved special mention for its merit. This year that award went to the graphic story Red Lantern by Rukis and Alectorfencer.
The Ursa Major Awards are the “People’s Choice Awards” for anthropomorphic fandom, nominated and awarded every year by votes from regular fans like you. Want to get involved? Make suggestions? Visit www.ursamajorawards.org to find out more. And start thinking about what to nominate for 2012!
image c. 2012 ALAA
Ratha’s Creature… in Pictures?
Clare Bell is a science fiction and fantasy author best known for some very furry-themed books. What’s more, she’s actually been to several furry conventions — as a fan! She’s mostly known for a series called The Books of the Named, and the first book in the series is called Ratha’s Creature (check it out here on Amazon). In this book we meet Ratha, who is a young member of the Named: A species of prehistoric cat that are self-aware and possessing of culture, laws, and even primitive agriculture (they keep livestock). Ratha brings shock and dismay to her society when she learns to tame a strange ‘creature’ that glows, and flows, and burns… most anything dry in fact. The rest of the series follows the adventures of Ratha, her friends, and her adversaries as events develop after Ratha’s discovery of this “creature”… and how she learns it can be useful. You can find out more about the series on the Clare Bell fan site. The reason we’re telling you all this now is that Clare Bell and Sheila Ruth (from Imaginator Press) are exploring the possibility of creating a Ratha’s Creature graphic novel — and they’d like the fans’ opinion of the idea, to see how popular it might be. Visit Clare Bell’s FurAffinity page and check out the survey in her journal. She’ll fill you in on the rest.
image c. 2012 Clare Bell
The 2011 Ursa Major Nominees!
The Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association (ALAA) announced the 2011 nominees for the Ursa Major Awards on March 15th, the day that voting for the final awards opened. Voting will be open until May 4th, then the winners will be announced at a ceremony at CaliFur.8 in Irvine on Saturday, June 2nd. What, you haven’t heard of the Ursa Major Awards? Shame on you! Here’s what they say on their web site: “More formally known as the Annual Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Award, the Ursa Major Award is presented annually for excellence in the furry arts. It is intended as Anthropomorphic (a.k.a. Furry) Fandom’s equivalent of the Hugo Award ® presented by the World Science Fiction Society, mystery fandom’s Anthony Award, horror fandom’s Bram Stoker Award, and so forth. Anyone may nominate and vote for candidates for the Awards. These Awards are decided by the fans, not by a committee.” Last year more than 1,200 fur fans world wide took part in the final voting for the 2010 Ursa Major Awards. (To put that in perspective, that’s nearly one-quarter of the entire voting body of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — you know, the Oscar people?) Again from the Ursa Majors web site: “There are five nominees in each of eleven categories, except where there was a tie for fifth place. To be eligible, a work must have been released during the calendar year 2011; must include a non-human being given human attributes (anthropomorphic), which can be mental and/or physical; and must receive more than one nomination.”
Without further ah-doo, here are the Ursa Major nominees for 2011.
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture:
Bitter Lake (Directed by Shay)
Kung Fu Panda 2 (Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson)
Puss in Boots (Directed by Chris Miller)
Rango (Directed by Gore Verbinski)
Rio (Directed by Carlos Saldanha)
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Series or Short Work:
Mongrels (Directed by Adam Millar, Jon Brown, Daniel Peak)
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Directed by James Wootton)
The Regular Show (Directed by Benton Conor, Calvin Wong, Kat Morris, Sean Szeles, J. G. Quintel, Minty Lewis, and others)
Simon’s Cat (Directed by Simon Tofield)
ThunderCats (Directed by Michael Jelenic, Todd Casey, Tab Murphy, and others)
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Novel (40,000 words or more):
Black Dogs, Part 2, by Ursula Vernon
Death Drop, by Sean Allen
Isolation Play, by Kyell Gold
Red Sails in the Fallout, by Paul Kidd
Smiley and the Hero, by Ryan Campbell
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction (less than 40,000 words):
“A Safety Weasel Christmas”, by Gene Breshears
“Argo”, by Rick Griffin
“Fetching Asteroids”, by Mary E. Lowd
“How to Get Through the Day”, by Kyell Gold
“Let’s Play Musical Chairs”, by K. M. Hirosaki
“Shreddy and the Zomb-Dogs”, by Mary E. Lowd
“Where the Heart Is”, by Mary E. Lowd and Daniel Lowd
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work (Story collections, comic collections, graphic novels, non-fiction works, and convention program books):
Dragon’s Hoard #1, by various (published by Rabbit Valley)
Fur-Piled #5, by Leo Magna
In the Doghouse of Justice, by Kyell Gold
Nordguard, Book One, by Tess Garman & Teagan Gavet
Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe, Omnibus 1, by various (published by the Tai-Pan Literary & Arts Project)
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story (comic books and serialized on-line stories):
Endtown, by Aaron Neathery
Fur-Piled, by Leo Magna
Furthia High, by QuetzaDrake
Lackadaisy, by Tracy J. Butler
Red Lantern, by Rukis and Alector Fencor
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip:
Ballerina Mafia, by Immelmann
Doc Rat, by Jenner
Faux Pas, by Robert & Margaret Carspecken
Housepets!, by Rick Griffin
Sandra and Woo, by Powree and Oliver Knörzer
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Magazine (both in-print and on-line):
Alasso
Anthro
Flayrah
South Fur Lands
Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Web Site (galleries, story archives, directories, blogs, and personal sites):
Equestria Daily
Fur Affinity
Furry Writers’ Guild
Inkbunny
WikiFur
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration:
Blotch, cover of Isolation Play
Blotch, cover of Nordguard, Book One
Jason Chan, cover of Red Sails in the Fallout
Sara Palmer, cover of Weasel Presents
Rosenthal, FBA 2012 season opener painting
C. D. Woodbury, cover of Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe #48
And finally in the category of Best Anthropomorphic Game:
O-kamiden (Developed by Mobile & Game Studio, Inc.)
Pokemon: Black and White (Developed by Game Freak)
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (Developed by CyberConnect2)
Sonic Generations (Developed by Dimps and Sonic Team)
Star Fox 64 3D (Developed by Nintendo EAD and Q-Games)
Congratulations to each and every one of the nominees! At the Ursa Majors web site you’ll discover helpful links to find out much more about each of the nominees, as well as information on how to sign up for the voting. Remember, everyone is free to cast their vote — and you should! The more folks who participate in these awards, not only the more they will represent the broad spectrum of Furry Fandom, but the more that folks who chose what kind of stuff gets made (and released!) will start to pay attention.
Ursa Major Awards Nominations are Open!
Here’s a press release from Fred Patten of the Ursa Major Awards’ organizing group, the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association: “Nominations are now open for the 2011 Ursa Major Awards, intended to recognize the best works published in the field of anthropomorphics last year. Nominations will close on February 29; voting starts March 15 and closes May 4 (to allow last-minute online voting from Morphicon). Furry fans may nominate up to five works in each category. The 2011 Awards will be announced and presented in a ceremony at CaliFur VIII in Irvine, California, June 1 – 3, 2012. Award categories include Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture, Dramatic Short Work or Series, Novel, Short Fiction, Other Literary Work, Graphic Story, Comic Strip, Magazine, Website, Published Illustration, and Game. If you cannot think of five worthwhile nominees in each category, see the 2011 Recommended Anthropomorphics List on the Ursa Major Awards website for suggestions.” Remember, something doesn’t have to be on the Recommended List to be nominated. It just has to have furry characters featured in it prominently, and have been released during the 2011 calender year. So get started! [And we’ll see you next after Further Confusion!]
image c. 2012 Heather Bruton
