And so in a flash, the shortest month of the year has been and gone. Welcome to March, and the theoretical end of winter (or summer if you’re like me in the south!).
I know we were hoping to have the Coyotl Awards open for nominations at this stage, but there have been a couple of behind the scenes snags preventing this. We are hoping to have this resolved as soon as possible – nominations will be running until April, so there is still no shortage of time to have this resolved.
Part of the reason for this has been the recent resignation of Maddison Scott-Clary from running the Coyotls. Maddie has been magnificent in keeping the Coyotls running over the last few years, but she has announced her intention to step down after completing her commitments to finish off the 2022 awards. The 2023 awards are primarily being handled by the FWG officers, but we will be opening up for a volunteer to take on Maddie’s role as the Coyotl Chair. To put yourself forward as a candidate, simply message myself (J.F.R. Coates) on telegram or discord.
Maddie has done a fantastic job with the Coyotls for a few years now. We look forward to having her successor in place to start the preparations for next year’s awards.
Everyone at the guild is hoping for the best for one of our members. Kirisis (K.C. Alpinus) has been hospitalised in Sweden while attending Nordic Fuzzcon. Her husband, Ocean has been providing updates on Twitter. We’re all hoping the best for Kirisis. I am sure any well-wishes would be gratefully received by Ocean in this difficult time.
I also wish to remind you that we are open for guest blogs across the year. Topics can relate to anything around the furry writing community or furry writing as a whole. Submissions to the blog can be made at this link:
If you are a Furry Writers Guild member and have an upcoming release you would like shared on the blog, please feel free to let us know!
As soon as we have the nominations open for the Coyotl Awards, we’ll be sure to update this blog and share it on our socials. Keep an eye out for that announcement!
Until then, keep safe and happy writing. J.F.R. Coates
For those who don’t know you, can you introduce yourself and your work? Hello! My name is Cedric G! Bacon, or occasionally Batced but primarily by the former. I am a writer and editor, former publisher of Thurston Howl Publications, and you might’ve seen my work in things like Furry Trash, Foxers and Fur-iefs, Lost in Time, Leave the Lights On, ROAR 11, and Thrill of the Hunt. I’m something of a bat-of-all trades, writing where an idea takes me, but I’m probably best known for horror and erotica, sometimes merging both.
Do you see a difference between diversity of authors and diversity of characters? Or are they intrinsically linked? Are there any common failings you see amongst furry fiction? I think usually when you’re writing about diversity it helps to have knowledge of the subject so that your character would ring true instead of seeming like a trope or a just a stock character plucked from your brain’s casting call. I remember reading the book Trigger Warning by William W. and J.A. Johnstone (never mind the fact that William Johnstone, famous for his western novels, had been dead for almost twenty years when that book came out and so his relative uses the older man’s name on “new” work) which was replete with condemnations of the higher education and even diversity classes, which are shown to be ridiculous and coddling and rewarding for the most minimal of efforts, including a scene where the “protagonist” is made to feel shame for being a war veteran. I think the author—whom I suspect is someone in their 60s—just regurgitated whatever it is they’re spoonfed through far-right media and believed that that’s what diversity and especially the need for diverse conversation, is really like, and after reading I was just left uncomfortable that there are people who would rather retain the status quo as it is instead of trying to make changes to broaden diverse opportunities where there might not be any.
As welcoming as furry fiction is, I do think there is this absence that keeps diversity from being much wider than it is. There are some truly well meaning individuals but it’s almost like not enough gets spotlighted or put out and it is a shame really. Part of that also falls on those who could have a voice and a platform but do not use it, or perhaps have used it and are burnt out by it. That I can understand due to how hard it can be trying to make the conversation happen and you’re met by many walls and find you can’t quite cross the bridge you’d like to make inroads. Little by little it will get better I feel as more will come to the fandom and wish to write stories that do showcase more voices that you would not typically find, but it does take time. Which I also do think is on our side.
Do you believe progress has been made in the last few years? Slowly and surely it has, but not nearly enough. When we ran Difursity Volume 2 through THP, our turnout was not as plentiful as we would’ve liked. However, I think we do have many essayists and non-fiction writers coming into the fold who have many things to say and ideas, so where Difursity Volume 2 did not have as much widespread reach as its predecessor, it did get a lot of ideas going for some that “Hey, I can express myself and my thoughts on this topic without fear of being shut down for being ‘uppity’.” I would love to see some more of that happen, and I would gladly do my part as well to get the engines roaring on more diverse volumes and work in the furry fiction community.
Does the degree of anonymity of a fursona being your public face help or hinder your goals as an author in the furry community? I think engagement and talking with others and making connections helps in the furry community, as a lot of interactions do tend to be behind screens and keyboards so that face begins merging with the real person behind the fursona, so that even if your fursona is a winged canine-dragon creature and that’s not who you are offline away from the furry community, it doesn’t really make anyone who is already a fan or coming to know you think different about you. Your goals, I think, are what you want of them, and for me in the furry community, my goals were at the start to get back into writing after a long spell away, make connections with my peers, share some ideas with said peers, and learn new things along the way…maybe about the craft I’ve devoted a chunk of my life to or even about myself and my own worldviews. But as for if that degree of anonymity has helped or hindered those goals? I think they have helped, but it had to take a lot on my part to let any masks or walls come down and trust the other parties I conversed with, same as I imagine it would be for them when talking to me. It would only hinder if I was not able to do that and trust my peers and open up when needing help or advice, or actually developing friendships with a few I’ve been grateful enough to meet in person.
What do you think is the most important thing for a writer to do when considering diversity? Patience. Absolutely the most important thing to keep in mind. If a writer is thinking about diversity, think first about what means and don’t make any assumptions and just do the first thing that you think you may know about diversity. Look around, talk to folk who have more experience or have some insight about their own struggles for diverse conversations.
There is this whole thing about “woke” but it’s a corruption of what it actually meant to be woke, in that it means keeping one’s eyes open at all times to the situation be it to the injustices racial, social, or political (and that’s a clue that anyone who is using the term to slag something that they don’t like with the most bad faith argument, you know that is someone to definitely side-eye). But when I say that it does matter to stay woke, it means exactly what it was supposed to mean, especially when thinking about diversity and ask yourself as that writer about why is there so much anger among marginalized communities and voices, and especially to stay woke and read the room to know that even though the answer may be complicated to discover, you as the writer will have an understanding about diversity and that need for more diverse voices instead of ones that regurgitate points that do not challenge anything or make efforts to make changes.
What book featuring diverse characters and/or written by a diverse author would you most recommend to people? Not a book though it was based upon a book, so I’m going to cheat a little here, but I do think many should check out the 2020 HBO series Lovecraft Country, inspired by the book of the same name by Matt Ruff. By title alone would probably be put off by it due to the legacy which surrounds author H.P. Lovecraft and his very loud statements on race both in his letters and in his fiction, but that is actually something that is worked to the show’s advantage, as the main protagonist is a young black man who too has to grapple with being a fan of Lovecraft while knowing full well Lovecraft might not have enjoyed having him as a fan.
Executive produced by a woman of color in Misha Green, and with one of the producers being Jordan Peele, it already ticks of the box of diversity in a big way, but goes a step further with its cast, with Jurnee Smollett (whom I rather enjoyed as the real star of Birds of Prey when shy played Dinah Lance/Black Canary) alongside Jonathan Majors, Michael K. Williams, Jamie Chung, it furthers having diverse voices and roles with its focus on a young black man (played by Majors) and his family’s life in 1950s America, which is stark and uncompromising in its vocal disdain for people of color (loudly at that time, muted but still unfortunately in existence now) and right off the jump in the first episode, you have a scene involving a chase out of town by a lynch mob and threats of being lynched by racist policemen when the protagonists don’t leave a sundown town by the required time.
Rather than be a straight adaptation of the novel, the series makes many, many changes by giving more roles for women and dropping some plotlines that were wayward in the novel and making things streamlined and tight. But one of the things that I did find to be a triumph was using the 1921 Tulsa race massacre as a major plot point, but the intriguing parts are the character development in this one episode that focuses on family, homosexuality, abuse, and how sometimes the roots of generational evil isn’t found in some dusty old tome like the Necronomicon, that it can be found within us as the individual unless we break the cycle. The show is violent, brilliantly choreographed, uncompromising in its language and historical framing (another episode takes place during the funeral for Emmett Till, and while we in the modern age can’t quite comprehend the real horror and drama of what happened to him, much like the Tulsa massacre using it in fiction I hope inspires the curious to look further and read and remember and equally never forget, hoping it doesn’t happen to someone else), sexuality and identity, all packed within ten episodes that, four years later, I still think was the greatest TV show on the subject of diversity I’ve ever watched.
And finally, where can we find your works? I’m in the process of getting them uploaded to furaffinity and SoFurry, so just stay tuned for that eventual update. In the meantime, if you have these in your bookshelves, find me in: Ironclaw: Book of Legends (“The Black City”) Furry Trash (“One Night Last Summer”) Slashers (“Komakino”) Thrill of the Hunt (“Silhouettes”) Foxers and Fur-iefs (“Getchoo”) Lost in Time (“Spear and Fang”) Leave the Lights On (“Wormwood”, “Old Garfield’s Debt”, “The Shambler in the Dark”) The Electric Sewer (“The Jack”) Species: Wildcats (“Wanderlust”) Howloween (“Venus in White”) Howloween 2 (“Upon Thy Grave”) Swept Under the Fur Rug (“Ikezu”) Furmiliar Spaces (“El Scorcho”, prequel to “Getchoo” in Foxers and Fur-iefs) The Furry Cookbook (“The Flower of Carnage”) ROAR 11 (“Poyekhali!”) Furries Hate Nazis (“The Battler”) 12 Days of Yiffmas (“Yule Carol”) Paw-ly Love (“Catch a Wave”)
February may be the shortest month of the year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fit plenty in! We’ve already received plenty of submissions for the guild’s upcoming anthology Blood and Water, but for those of you still working on your stories,. there’s still just under two months left to get your submissions in!
The furry awards season is well and truly underway, with all three awards now open at various stages.
We will also be opening up the blog for guest writers over the course of the year. We have one lined up for Black History Month with a couple more hopefully to come. Do you think you have something to contribute to the blog? Topics can relate to anything around the furry writing community or furry writing as a whole. Submissions to the blog can be made at this link:
I had to check that I had the year right, but we are here in 2024! From everyone here at the guild, I hope you had a pleasant Christmas period and new year, however you choose to celebrate or not.
The start of a new year is always an exciting one, filled with plans and expectations for the twelve months to come. It’s no different for us at the FWG! We also have several plans which we are hoping to set in motion that will allow the guild to better serve the furry writing community.
The first of these is one that we have already announced – we are finally bringing out a third anthology! Tales from the Guild in 2014 with Music To Your Ears, and was followed up with World Tour in 2018. Six years later, and we’re back with Blood and Water! We are now open for submissions and will be until the end of March. See the entry below in the market updates for more information.
Secondly, we plan on opening up the blog to more guest authors. This can include author spotlights, essays, and other content. The spotlight with Joaquin Baldwin was received well last year, as were the spotlights we ran for Furry Book Month in 2022. We will be opening up for submissions for general blogs – aiming for at least one guest blog per month – as well as topical ones during months/days of focus, such as Black History Month, Pride Month, and International Women’s Day. This list is not exhaustive, so if you think your blog idea fits with any topical day, week, or month, send it in to us and we can make judgements on whether it is appropriate to feature. Note: the blog itself does not need to be strictly related to the topical focus – so long as the author is a part of the relevant group.
Submissions to the blog may be made through the following form:
We hope to share more updates and news with you as the year progresses – and that will of course include the Coyotl Awards! Start getting your list of eligible works together, as it should not be long before we have the Reading List ready to go. Authors may submit their own works to the Reading List for the consideration of the FWG Members who will then nominate works to the shortlist.
Didn’t have anything ready for the Coyotls this year? Perhaps you can find a home for a short story to become eligible for next year!
As always, guild members, if you have something coming out soon, send it our way so we can include it every month!
I am really excited to see what 2024 can bring. I hope that your writing plans come to fruition. All of us at the FWG are interested to see what you can come up with!
It’s finally time for another Tales From The Guild! It’s been many years since our World Tour, so we’d like to officially announce the third anthology edited by the Furry Writers Guild – Blood and Water! This anthology will be published by Fenris Publishing.
Previously, we have had Music To Your Years, themed around music, and World Tour, themed around travel.
Blood and Water will be themed around family – those bound by blood and the family we choose and find. Give us your best families – those that are perfect and wholesome or those dysfunctional and chaotic! Families can be defined by blood and shared relationships, or they can be the close friends we develop through hardship. However your family works, we want to see it! We are looking forward to seeing what stories you can create that fits in with this theme!
The editors for this anthology are all guild staff: J.F.R. Coates, K.C. Shaw, Resolute, and Scribbles Cheetah.
What are we seeking:
Short stories up to 6000 words in length. (Anything more than this, query with the editors).
Stories must be furry/anthropomorphic in some capacity.
Stories must be themed around ‘family’ in some capacity – though interpretation of this theme is open.
Stories should not be explicit in adult content. The anthology is aiming for PG13/M content. Let the editors know if you’re not sure how your story will fit.
Stories can be of any genre, so long as they fit with the overall theme.
We do not want any stories that portray topics like racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, etc in a positive light.
Previously unpublished stories are significantly preferred, but reprints may be considered if the story is right.
Authors do not need to be a FWG member to submit.
Other important details:
Stories should be sent by email to furwritersguild@gmail.com – with the subject line Blood And Water – [Story Title] in a .doc or .docx format. Please include your name on the first page only.
Multiple submissions are allowed – up to three per author. A maximum of one story per author will be selected. Please no simultaneous submissions.
Payment is 1c/word.
Submissions open 1st January 2024.
Submissions close 31st March 2024.
All stories should receive a response by 30th April 2024.
Expected release will be at Megaplex or MFF 2024.
Publication for this anthology consumes the First Worldwide English rights for your story. Exclusive Digital and Print rights for a period of twelve (12) months following the first date of publication are required, and non-exclusive worldwide rights to digital and print publication of the Work in perpetuity.
We can’t wait to see what you come up with! Happy writing!
And here we are, at the end of the year! December is here, and NaNoWriMo is behind us. I hope everyone participating was able to hit their targets – even if it wasn’t the 50,000 words. Any word written is one more than you had before!
There isn’t much news for the guild at the moment, though I certainly hope to start bring out a few of the updates and changes we have planned in 2024. Feedback will soon be requested over initiatives such as Oxfurred Comma, the book bundles, and the possibility of opening up to guest blogs.
I look back on the last few years as being president of the FWG and I am certainly satisfied with the progress made, but there is still a long way to go before the work is done! I hope next year will take another few big steps forward.
Did you work on some short stories during NaNoWriMo that need a home? Check out the open anthology market calls:
Quietly now – it’s NaNoWriMo, and many writers are hard at work on completing the annual 50k words in a month challenge! Best of luck to those of you who are taking part – either with the official goal, or with your own targets. Just remember, any amount of writing is more than you had before!
Of course, with NaNoWriMo here, that means Furry Book Month has come to an end. I hope readers and writers alike were able to find some new books – especially through the book bundles the guild ran. We will be in contact with the contributing authors soon to pass on their royalties.
We will also soon start to open discussions about the possibility of restarting Oxfurred Comma next year, to determine what the members of our community would like to see, and if the event is feasible going forward. Either way, it is likely that some change of format will be required to ensure that we don’t have a repeat of this year’s attempt.
For those trying NaNoWriMo a different way and trying out some short stories instead of novels, there are some open markets that may provide some inspiration:
And if you’re looking for some inspiration in the form of recently released or upcoming books, then we have you covered as well! Who knows – maybe your current project will be listed here soon.
For those of you who bought books during Furry Book Month, your journey may not be over yet! If you have enjoyed reading what the furry writing community has to offer, please let people know! Either through reviews, recommendations, or contacting the authors directly.
Until next month, happy reading and writing! J.F.R. Coates
Not all furry works are created by those within the community. Sometimes, those out-of-fandom creators can find their way towards our wonderful community, and sometimes they like what they see so much that they decide to stick around! That is very much the case with today’s author spotlight – Joaquín Baldwin.
Joaquín was kind enough to answer a few questions about his writing process and works. I hope you find them insightful and interesting!
For those who aren’t familiar with you, did you want to introduce yourself and your novel? You might know me better for posting dank Zootopia memes, or for my work at Disney or in animated shorts, but I’ve been working on my own novels for quite a while now and trying to make this my main, big project for the next several years. Wolf of Withervale is the first book of the Noss Saga, an ambitious epic told in six parts (all six books are fully written, don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging). It’s an intrinsically queer story, the kind of tale I wanted to read growing up (although this is an adult novel, not YA, but that wouldn’t have stopped young me). It deals with a magical mask, with themes of transformation, of the nature of consciousness, of gender and identity. It’s a very sex- and size-positive series, but it also has all that you’d expect from an epic tale of massive scope.
What is your writing process like? Do you outline and plot, or are you a pantser? I’m in the middle. I outline key events I want to get to (including the ending), so I know what I’m telling is something that will go somewhere important, and then I write linearly from start to finish trying to reach those moments. In my outlines I don’t know much about the characters I’ll encounter, except a few, so I’m always surprised at who shows up and what their personalities are, and sometimes the assholes end up taking primary roles and screw up my plans, making me have to reshuffle certain things in my outlines. I enjoy those surprises, but I also need structure. Key moments to me can be a philosophical debate, a romantic thing, a time of self-discovery, a big battle, a death, an arrival at a key piece of information that will unravel the next stage in the adventure. It varies a lot, but it’s those chapters I just can’t wait to write, so once I get to them they pour out truly fast.
The first few days of writing a novel can be the most exciting and daunting part of the writing process. How easily did the first idea for The Noss Saga spawn into a functioning story? Where did that initial spark of an idea come from? There are many ideas put together into one here. There is one core idea that came to me at 4 am on October 3rd 2020, that core piece tied all my other ideas together into something I could use for worldbuilding at a scale I had not considered before. I didn’t sleep much after that 4am dreamlike moment, and just kept planning around this new idea, then told myself I’d start writing on November 1st to coincide with NaNoWriMo (that’d give me enough time to mull it over, plan a bit, while also forcing me to actually start and not put it off forever). I don’t know where the idea came from. I’m a light sleeper, I wake up all the time at night and semi-hallucinate as I try to fall back asleep. It just came, unprompted. What was that core idea? I can’t tell you because it’d be a massive spoiler, but it has to do with the way the magic of Noss works.
What was the most enjoyable part of creating this series? The epiphanies. Like that 4am one mentioned above, I had many others where things just clicked together, where a big story problem was solved (often between 2am and 4am, unfortunately), and it feels so great to have that happen. Often it also happens while writing, during those moments of pure flow where something clicks in place and it makes it look like I had planned setups and payoffs for ages just to get to this point, but it just happens in the spur of the moment and it brightens my day.
What was the most challenging aspect? Giving up on having a life. I started this at the start of the pandemic, which at that time made it easy since there was no going out anywhere anyway. But it’s been consuming every moment of free time I have. I watch only a handful of movies a year, one or two TV shows at most, zero videogames, been going out on fewer photo roadtrips (what kept me sane before this all started), etc. I’m doing too much in too short a time, and it’s taking its toll.
Which authors or specific books have most influenced your work? The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. As obvious as this may be, I have to include this here. I read it when I was 15 years old, and I immediately fell in love with the world as much as with the characters.
The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. King’s series adds a grittier tone to fantasy that I truly enjoyed. The tone through a lot of the Noss Saga borrows from it. Even the very first line in my prologue echoes the first line of The Gunslinger!
The Broken Earth Series by N.K. Jemisin. Orogeny, the magic system in this series, greatly inspired me to create my own magic system based on strict rules leaning more toward sci-fi than traditional fantasy. Incredible series that tackles themes of racism and climate change.
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany. I don’t recall enjoying this thick book, but I’m still thinking about it. It’s weird, it’s visceral, chaotic, and I can’t even explain what it’s about. It’s a love it or hate it book, or perhaps both.
The Aleph and Other Stories by Jorge Luis Borges. Reading Borges is knowing you’ll never write as well as Borges. These short stories are much larger than the scant pages they inhabit, and their imagery is elusive in their clarity. It’s poetry in prose. Read them in the original Spanish if possible.
Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. This series tackles sociological issues in a compelling way, and evolving through time. It’s the best kind of sci-fi, already starting big but then getting so big that you could never had seen it coming.
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. A different kind of post-apocalyptic story. In the Noss Saga I explore similar themes of discovery about what was left behind by an ancient world, and how future generations reinterpret old norms and technology.
The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan. Sagan in general taught me to be a skeptic, to think with clarity and reason, but also to be a dreamer. Despite there being a “magic” of sorts in my fantasy world, it is tightly grounded in scientific concepts.
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter. The prevalent themes of consciousness and self-awareness in my saga are tightly linked to me reading this intimidating book. It is, to this date, my favorite non-fiction book of all time. It tries to explain consciousness from as close to a scientific way as can be approached, while playing mindtricks on the reader in increasingly more complex self-referential ways.
Imajica by Clive Barker. Barker’s writings never hold back. He simply digs into his guts and pulls out the imagery that is needed, the emotions that are most raw. This book is huge in scope, and how it deals with sex and gender was refreshing, honest, uninhibited.
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman. Another series that ties magic to tightly grounded scientific concepts, while still allowing itself to remain whimsical when needed. The animal and anthropomorphic aspects of the series remain a strong influence in what I crafted with Noss.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman. The kindness of Gaiman is what strikes me most about his writing. His observations, his knowledge, his way of crafting myths of myths always come from a place of empathy and understanding. Sometimes when I’m stuck editing my own work, I try to read it in Gaiman’s soothing and mellifluous voice, then I find where the pacing is off.
The Kingkiller Chronicle Series by Patrick Rothfuss. Rothfuss’ voice is lyrical, flowing effortlessly. His worldbuilding is entrancing, and his magic system solid and engaging. Being a debut author himself, it became a big inspiration for me to keep on pushing with my own work.
City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende. A more lighthearted kind of fantasy written for young adults. As in Noss, this one deals with hidden worlds and the beauty of nature.
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. Another poetic voice that hit me deeply. Beautiful imagery, iconic, mythical, made of so many snippets of other stories and voices but tying them together perfectly. My favorite fiction book in the last decade.
Xenogenesis Series by Octavia E. Butler. Sci-fi that cleverly deals with sex and sexuality, as well as how the hierarchical mindset of humans ultimately become self-destructive.
Contact by Carl Sagan. The movie was cool, but it’s an abbreviated thought. The book is vast, reaching to an idea so big and mind-blowing that was not possible to put into the film version. Although Book 1 in my series starts relatively small in scope, by the sixth book things do expand to unexpected places.
A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir by Donald Worster. There is a character in Book 1 clearly inspired by Muir in his demeanor, philosophy, and even voice. This is a great introduction to Muir’s life and his life-long struggle to preserve wilderness.
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson The man knows how to craft magic systems and write action sequences.
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman Unbounded curiosity. I often try to recreate that sense of wonder and discovery in Noss, and how joyful and exciting things small and things big can be.
What is the last book you read that you really love? The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. Pure poetry, visually mesmerizing.
What character of yours do you most identify with? And why? It’s gonna be pretty obvious that Lago, the protagonist, is the closest. Gay, loves big bears and big guys, loves adventure, the stars, is kinda nerdy. But he’s not me. I put a lot of myself into all the characters I write, even the villains. Particularly with the villains I think that’s important, since it’s a way for me to make them more real and not just caricatures.
Besides writing, how do you like to spend your free time? *cries at the mention of “free time”*
I used to have a life…
My biggest hobby is nature photography, but I haven’t had a chance to do it that often lately. It’s the perfect excuse to explore the world and see remote places you normally wouldn’t get to. My husband and I like to roadtrip and just wing it as we go, mostly skipping the touristy crap and getting lost on smaller roads, finding the good stuff.
You were embraced by the furry community after Zootopia. How much do you credit this community for shaping this book, and for wanting to see it through to the end? A huge amount! As I said on the Acknowledgments page of the book, “In particular, thank you to my fervent furry following, who taught me to be courageous enough to be myself, to write a story that speaks my truth. You inspire me.” I’ve always enjoyed anthro art but wasn’t involved with the community till Zootopia, and that changed my path entirely. There’d be no Noss without the fandom.
Do you have any advice to give other writers? Set a starting date between now and, say, 3 months from now. No more. Then start writing that day. You’re never ready to get started until you get started, so you have to take that first step. From there, it’s just a matter of consistency (I won’t say “write X amount every day” because I know people have different ways of working, and my own is for me alone, you have to find what works for you).
What types of stories would you like to see other people write more of? I’d like to see more stories that feel consequential. An event, an opus, a grand orchestrated epic that has a purpose and it’s not just a way to sell books or to wing it from side story to side story. To me, themes of discovery, of the beauty of the natural world, of diverse ways of thought, those are the things that fascinate me. Sexuality and sex written in a natural, nuanced and revelatory way can be amazing.
It’s still early days, but what is next after The Noss Saga? Are there more stories waiting to be told? It’s a huge world! I have ideas for stories that take place during certain events of the six-book series, and also ideas for a sci-fi story set in the same world but thousands of years in the future. There’s also the possibility of a tabletop RPG game, card game, and other things of that sort, but I promised myself I would not jump onto those things until after Book 6 is out, otherwise they’d become distractions. I want this project to last till I’m gone and after. I have too many illustrations to do, too many characters to design, too many more maps to add details to.
And also find me on Bluesky, at https://bsky.app/profile/joabaldwin.com, where I post stuff about what I’m working on. And you can also find me on that other website but who wants to go there any more? Screw that other website.
Illustration by Ilse Gort (aka Caraid).
Please do check out Joaquín’s new book – and I hope some of the answers he has provided has helped discover something a little new about your writing process – or given you some great new books to read from his fantastic recommendations.
I am hopeful to bring back more of these author spotlights in the future – either from similar Q&As or guest blogs, or any number of possible avenues!
Until next time. Enjoy the remainder of Furry Book Month and share those great furry stories. J.F.R. Coates
It’s that time of year! Furry Book Month is here, where we celebrate the wonderful skill and talent on show within the furry writing community. We have a few things planned that we hope will uplift furry writing and give new readers the chance to explore the wonderful worlds our writers have to share.
We encourage every writer – and reader – of furry fiction to share your experiences on social media with the #FurryBookMonth hashtag so we can get some visibility on the best of our community. Is there a book you read recently that you loved? A new release or an old favourite? Share it with everyone! Are you an author with something new and exciting, or a promotional sale? Share that too!
For this month, let’s get the conversations happening around furry fiction.
To help get things started, we have two book bundles this year for you to enjoy. Like last year, we have a general bundle with 9 books by our members, but this year we have also added an 18+ bundle with titles of a spicier persuasion. They are both available on Gumroad at a pay-what-you-want (minimum purchases US$10 and US$7 respectively), with all proceeds being split evenly with each contributing author and the FWG.
Tales of Feathers and Flame – John Bailey The Fifth – Saylor Ferguson A New Life – B. Kozer Horizon: Salvaged Heroes – Joel Kreissman Throwback – Frances Pauli Aces High – J. Daniel Phillips The Dragon’s Paladin – Justin Lee Gryphon Insurrection Boxset 1 – K. Vale Nagle Lost Inside the Blue Line – Herr Wozzeck
Bringing Down Upworld – Kandrel Harmony – Flash Kitterson Edax Sapiens – Kadon L. Peterson Gods For The Machines – Morpheuskibbe Royal Red – K.C. Shaw CCS – Tagenar
We hope you’ll check out these great bundles for a fantastic price. They will be available for the duration of Furry Book Month!
Oxurred Comma
Oxfurred Comma was created to fill the gap left behind by in-person conventions when the pandemic started to create lockdowns. When those conventions started to return, the consensus was to continue Oxfurred Comma – both to provide an outlet for those who felt unsafe returning to the physical conventions, but also to give furry writers a space of their own.
The last two years have definitely seen that interest remain in running this online convention. That interest appears to have dwindled for 2023.
The last opportunity to organise the Oxfurred Comma panels has now been and gone, and there simply have not been enough panel submissions to create any meaningful schedule.
As such, Oxfurred Comma will not take place this year.
I will discuss what has changed and what we can learn from this with the FWG staff, and we will then open things up to the membership base as a whole to determine whether we will make another attempt in 2024, or if we will consider the needs and desires for the convention to have faded.
Please not that, as it was always a part of the convention, the flash fiction contest will also not take place this year.
Thank you to those of you who did submit an entry to the flash fiction contest or a panel. With conversations to come over the next few months, we will share our plans for what role Oxfurred Comma may play in the future.
But Furry Book Month isn’t about dwelling on bad news! We have plenty of exciting things to come over the next month, and that includes anthology calls! There are a couple of new ones that have opened recently, so have a look through the list and see what options there may be for you.
We hope you’ll join us in sharing the best of what furry writing has to offer. Share your thoughts about your favourite books – leave plenty of reviews and start up conversations about what furry writing means to you! We hope you’ll enjoy the book bundles.
We come to September, the final month before Furry Book Month and Oxfurred Comma! Preparations are going on in earnest behind the scenes, but there are still things you can all do as well! We are open for submissions for the furry book bundles and the flash fiction contest! We are also opening our call for panellists to present at Oxfurred Comma. More information on all of this below.
Oxfurred Comma Panels Panel ideas can now be submitted! We have the option to run panels live or pre-recorded, and can be run around any manner of writing topics! Please submit your panel ideas for approval to this form: https://forms.gle/5nYCQgUQTTpS3oCv8
Oxfurred Comma will run October 21/22, so if there are any time or date preferences for running live panels, please let us know in the form. Looking forward to seeing your great ideas!
Flash Fiction Contest The flash fiction contest is unthemed again, so your 500 word furry stories can be about anything you can imagine! Entries can be sent in with the following link: https://forms.gle/GnSdDTrneyjWsDye8
You do not need to be a FWG member to submit an entry. All entries should be kept to a PG-13 rating. Just one entry per person.
Novel Bundle We are open for submission for two novel bundles – one adult rated and one PG-13. This one is open for FWG members only, and priority is given to those authors who were not included in last year’s bundle, and we will not consider novels that were included last year.
As with last year, the bundles will be made available on Gumroad for a pay-what-you-want (minimum price of $10), with proceeds split evenly between all contributing authors and the FWG. Please get in your entries for this before Sunday 24th, as we want the bundle to go live on October 1st.
Social Media To update on our post last month, the FWG is now set up on both Mastodon and Bluesky. We haven’t yet started the long process of ensuring we are following all of our members, but you can join us on the two platforms with the links below.
From all of us at the guild, we are looking forward to Furry Book Month in October. We hope you’ll join us for a great month of celebrating furry fiction.
Furry Writers’ Guild 