Kyell Gold's Blog, page 18

14 For 14

So I figured out this weekend that RainFurrest was my fourteenth convention of 2014. I’m not going to try to list them all again, but basically that was a lot. MIGHT be one more on my calendar but we will see… Home now and today will be lots of edits for Sofawolf’s submission deadlines for Heat and Hot Dish.

RainFurrest was terrific as always–full recap coming after I knock a few things off my plate here, like the above-mentioned submission and a couple hundred e-mails…but if you want a more complete recap of that and Furry Migration (or if you don’t want to be that guy who says “I didn’t know that book was coming out!”), subscribe to my once-a-month newsletter!

RainFurrest Schedule

If you’re going to RainFurrest–and if not, why not?–here is the approximate schedule of where you can find me there. Well, it’s more when you can find me; check the RainFurrest schedule for room locations.

Thursday

6 pm – Opening Ceremonies.

9 pm – RainFurrest Anthology book launch. I have a story in it!

10 pm – Writing Competition: Day One. If you’re planning on competing in the writing competition this year, this is where to start!

Friday

12 noon – So You Want To Write A Novel. We talk about what goes into writing a novel.

1 pm – Writing Competition: Day Two. Time permitting, I may be around for questions and so on. Or I might just tell you to come find me in the dealer’s room.

5 pm – GOH Dinner. Nom!

8 pm – The Squick Factor: Dealing with Taboo Topics. I did one of these panels at AnthroCon and it went very well. What are the things we’re afraid to write about, and why? Can those topics be handled sensitively?

10 pm – Unsheathed! Come back to the con where our live shows started. Special guest Fuzzwolf and I talk about cyberpunk and whatever else comes to mind.

Saturday

11 am – Guest of Honor Reading and Q&A. I will read from an upcoming not-yet-published work and answer your questions about things!

3 pm – Writing Competition: Turn in. Pencils down!

4 pm – Writing Historical Fiction. I have been doing a lot of historical fiction research with the Dangerous Spirits series and “Camouflage.” My co-panelists and I will talk about our research and take questions.

9 pm – Book Launch: Dude, Where’s My Fox? Yay! The official launch, Saturday night, MAY include a reading from the book if everyone present is adult. There will be snacks and a short speech and I’ll be around to talk about the new book and stuff.

Sunday

5 pm – Closing Ceremonies.

As usual, I will be in the dealer’s room when not at panels, probably between the FurPlanet and Sofawolf tables signing books. Bring books, buy books, or just come to say hi!

 

Football And Societal Awareness

Because this is slightly too long for Twitter: Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth on Sunday Night Football talked about the Ray Rice incident briefly and quoted the Steelers owner as saying something like, “If anything positive comes out of this, it will be a greater societal awareness of domestic violence issues.” They then went on to agree, saying that the NFL has to raise awareness of domestic violence issues and has to “be a leader” in that field.

They have it completely backwards. It is society that has raised awareness of domestic violence problems within the NFL office ranks. The NFL wasn’t going to do a thing about it until the public outcry became too loud for them to ignore. Really, the only place the NFL needs to raise awareness of domestic violence issues is within the NFL*.

(*)Collinsworth also said the NFL would have to be a leader within the major sports. Here he appears to be more on the mark; the NFL is the only one of the four major leagues with a specific policy on domestic violence. So hopefully MLB, the NBA, and the NHL are watching closely.

New Book: Dude, Where’s My Fox?

My fourth book of 2014 (I can almost guarantee there will be fewer in 2015) is titled “Dude, Where’s My Fox?” It’s one of the Cupcake line of books from FurPlanet, coming out 9/26/14 at RainFurrest, and you can pre-order it now! It’s got a cover and five lovely illustrations by the talented BlackTeagan.

So what’s it about? Well, it’s about Lonnie, a wolf who’s just graduated from a posh Northeastern college. Along with graduation, he got an extra-cold dose of reality when his boyfriend of three years dumped him. So he’s moved down to Port City where his high school friend Derek (a part-time personal trainer at a local gym) is introducing him to the wonderful gay neighborhood of Cottage Hill (location of my stories “Weed,” “Miracle on 34th Sheath,” and “Regretrospective“).

At a particularly good party, Lonnie hooks up with a fox and then passes out after the sex. Waking with no clue to his fox’s identity except for a distinctive-smelling smear in his fur, Lonnie decides that the key to being able to move forward with his life is to find out who this fox is. Derek’s friend Jeremy proves eager enough to help, narrowing down the list of probable foxes to three, but when it comes to getting a sample to compare scents, Lonnie’s going to be on his own…

There’s lots of sex, lots of banter, some ScentBook, and brand-new characters to love and hate. Readers familiar with McMinaver’s parties and The Morning After will recognize some familiar muzzles (if you’re not, reading the above-linked stories will be a good primer).

Here’s a preview (slightly redacted for language):

Ten minutes of breathing with my head against the wall cleared my thinking a little bit more, and then I felt ready to go meet up with Derek. As I descended the wide marble staircase, I scanned the room. A six-four muscled wolf wasn’t hard to spot, and after about fifteen seconds I found Derek talking to a black rat in a red-fringed black lace vest and glittering red sequined pants. They stood a couple feet away from the extravagant island flower sculpture, which had already lost noticeable chunks. I passed a deer chewing on a hibiscus he’d clearly taken from the sculpture, and tapped Derek on the arm.

“Hey, bro!” He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and squeezed, nearly pulling me off balance. “Hey, Jeremy, this is my buddy Lonnie I was telling you about.”

The rat wasn’t the most extravagantly dressed person I’d seen that night, but he was probably the flamiest one I’d talked to. “Pleasure to meet you.” Jeremy’s voice matched his outfit, high and fancy. “What have you been getting up to?”

Derek’s nostrils flared. “He just got laid upstairs. Wanna see?”

Blood rushed to my ears as they flattened against my head. I stared at the floor, sure that everyone in the room had heard and turned in my direction. The echo of you cheated on Steven rang through my head and my tongue felt two sizes too big for my muzzle. “I, uh.”

I was panicking because Derek was actually fumbling for his phone. He laughed and punched my shoulder, dropping the phone back into his pocket. “Just kidding. Wait, you didn’t? I thought you said you wanted to get–oh, did you top?”

I couldn’t help looking at Jeremy, who was looking back expectantly. His eyebrows had been painted white, so I could see just how high they were raised. He had a lei around his neck and hibiscus petals scattered between his ears, one of which drifted down to the floor as he tilted his head at me. “Don’t worry, sweetie,” he said in a singsong voice. “Someone’s got to be on bottom, someone’s gotta be on top. Did you have a good time? That’s the point.”

“Let’s start over,” I said, sticking out a paw. “Hi. I’m Lonnie. Usually I don’t discuss my sexual pro…procliva…” I took a breath and forced my tongue to work. “Pro-cliv-it-ies with people I haven’t met.”

He laughed and shook my paw. “He can still use big words at one-thirty in the morning at a party. Oh, I like this boy. Where did you find him, Derek?”

“He went to Ford. Sorry—William J. Ford High, same as me. Only he went off to some northeastern college.” He gave me a thumbs up. “Just got back to the city couple months ago.”

“I graduated in December,” I clarified, because people usually asked that, but that wasn’t what was on the black rat’s mind.

“High school.” Jeremy turned back to me and smiled even wider, showing his front teeth. “Oh, is he the one…?”

“No,” Derek and I said at the same time.

“Pity.” The black rat looked me up and down, and his pink tail—which was decorated with a red ribbon—waved back and forth. “I’d get kicked off the football team for doing him.”

I said, “Well, I’m kinda worn out for tonight,” because it seemed politer than, “super-flamey rats aren’t really my thing.”

“Darling,” Jeremy said. “That wasn’t an invitation. It was just appreciation.”

“Don’t be flattered,” Derek said. “He’s ‘appreciated’ most of the guys here.”

“But not all.” Jeremy held up a finger, the claw painted red to match the trim on his vest. “An important distinction. So Lonnie, tell, tell. Who was the lucky fellow whose open…arms welcomed you to our fair neighborhood?”

He looked across at me, and Derek looked down. “Um,” I said. “He was a fox, about six feet tall.”

Derek’s broad smile wavered, and his eyebrows lowered along with his ears. “A fox.”

He didn’t say anything else, so I said, “He had on a…a blue shirt.”

They both waited. Derek nudged me. “Yeah? And?”

“And what?” I asked.

“Did this vulpine vision have a name?” Jeremy smiled. “Or do you have a different set of social rules for indulging in sexual proclivities than you do for discussing them?”

My ears flicked back. Derek patted me on the shoulder. “Lonnie thinks too much. I bet he’s already feeling all tail-down about having sex at a party.”

“I just don’t want to talk about it.” I uncurled my tail and tried to sound indignant.

—

For an extended version of this scene with language intact and more talk about sex, check out the preview excerpt on my FA page (registration and age confirmation required): http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14563...

Furry Migration Wrap Up

Minnesota’s inaugural furry con, Furry Migration, wrapped up last Sunday. They were kind enough to invite me as a Guest of Honor and I was delighted to attend. I spent many years in Minnesota and Sofawolf Press is there, so I usually end up back there once a year anyway.

The con itself ran very smoothly. It felt like me to the inaugural Furry Fiesta, and it was comparably sized (and as at Fiesta, I encountered a lot of people who were attending their first furry con). Fiesta has grown into a terrific con that I try to attend every year, so that is a high compliment. All the FM staff did a great job, and when there was a problem (the first “Meet the GOHs” panel did not have any attendees, for example), they evaluated it and tried to fix it (we scheduled another one for Saturday evening). Their Guest of Honor liaison kept us fed and made sure we were happy throughout the weekend, the dealer room seemed to run well, and the dances looked fun when I poked my head into them. I enjoyed the panels as well: I did a panel on “Why is the Fandom So Gay?” and on “History of Furry Fandom,” both with some very knowledgeable and talented co-panelists. I also managed to talk for an hour plus on how project management applies to writing novels.

The local alt paper, City Pages, sent a reporter who interviewed Kellic (the Chair), the guests of honor (me, Jeff Eddy, and Foxfeather), and Ken Fletcher, who could legitimately claim to have helped co-found the furry fandom if he so wished. The interview is up now in video format and from what I heard (and what I recall from my part of it), seems to have presented a pretty good face to the fandom.

One of the coolest things about the con is that it was run with the help of the Geek Partnership Society. That group helps a number of different organizations run conventions, from Minnesota’s largest SF con, Convergence, to their largest anime con, Anime Detour. Both of those conventions contributed staff and material to Furry Migration, and I saw several people at the convention who said they weren’t furries, but knew some of the staff or had heard about the con and wanted to help it succeed. That was especially heartening to see after we’d gone through the history of the furry fandom and the acrimonious relationships with a couple prominent SF cons over the years, as well as the strained relationship with anime fandom some 5-7 years ago. We seem to have moved on from that and realized that we’re all just a certain kind of geek, and some of us like cat girls, and some of us like to identify with animals, and some of us like to read SF books and comics. Some of you guys know that I’ve been trying to build bridges between furry and SF for a couple years now, so of course I liked to see that.

Furry Migration will be back next year. If you’re a furry in the upper Midwest/central Canada, it’s worth your time to attend. If I can make it work with the rest of my travel, I’ll be putting that one on my schedule as well.

How to Keep Watching Football?

So yeah, you might have heard about this little problem the NFL had over the last year, where one of its high-profile players hit his fiancée in an elevator and knocked her unconscious, followed by the player’s team tweeting that the fiancée apologized for her role in being beaten, followed by (five months later) the NFL giving him a two-game suspension, followed by public outcry, followed by the NFL slapping together a new domestic violence policy with a minimum six-game suspension (not retroactive, of course), followed by release of the actual video of the incident, followed by the NFL and team suspending the player “indefinitely” and the NFL claiming they never saw that video, followed by several sources saying, “Uh, yeah you did” (not to mention that the player in question was reportedly completely fully honest about what happened in the elevator in an interview with the commissioner) … and that’s not to mention another high-profile NFL player being indicted on charges of negligent harm to a child for hitting his four-year-old son so hard with a switch that he drew blood and raised welts.

Someone wrote to me and asked “how do I keep watching football?” I thought it was a good question, and one I’ve struggled with for years.

Let me start off by saying that if you have decided that you no longer want to give football any of your money or attention, I have no problem with that. I’m not here to talk you into it. I hope you can still enjoy the Out of Position series without thinking of the NFL, but hey, I totally understand if you don’t want anything to do with football.

I’m still going to watch, and I’m going to explain it by starting with something that actually probably weakens my case. This domestic violence incident is probably the worst the NFL has handled an incident in my recollection, but the NFL has a history of misbehavior, including but not limited to their cover-up of concussion data and evidence, their handling of PEDs and other drug use, and their lip service to player safety while pushing for more games and refusing to mandate actual improvements to safety in the game.

So this is nothing new: the NFL is run by terrible people who care more about making money than about the welfare of the people playing the game or their loved ones. They will promote breast cancer awareness and yet allow a woman to apologize for being knocked unconscious.

Here’s the thing, though. Their changes on concussion policy, their changes on domestic violence: those all came after public outcry. When enough people start yelling and telling them it’s time for change, they do react (another example: when the above incident brought people’s attention to another player who has already been convicted of a domestic assault–throwing his girlfriend onto a bed full of loaded guns and yelling at her that he’s going to kill her–the player was held out of last Sunday’s game, even though the conviction happened months ago). Nobody watching football seems to care about PEDs in the game the way they do in baseball, so the league has been slow to adopt testing for them. So my price for watching football is going to be keeping an eye on the reporting and the things happening in the league, and raising awareness so that the NFL feels the pressure to do the right thing. If they can’t police themselves, the public will have to police them.

(They’re not alone, by the way–you think the NBA didn’t know that several of their owners were virulent racists? You think they would ever have done anything about it if tapes and e-mails hadn’t been made public.)

So that’s my answer. You can borrow it if you like, or find your own. You could focus on the many football players who do great things for charitable causes. Whatever you do, I’m glad you’re thinking about it. The silver lining, if any, to these incidents is that we become more aware of the problems, more sensitive to it, less likely to let similar problems pass in the future. Hopefully that holds true of the NFL, too.

 

Furry Migration Additions!

I leave today for Furry Migration and can’t wait! Previously I’d posted my schedule, and I have two additions to it, both on Saturday:

9:30 am: Sponsor’s Brunch – Shoshone Room

8:00 pm: History of Furry – Shoshone Room

Looking forward to seeing all y’all there! *wag*

Get Yer Signed Sofawolf Books!

Hey all!

I will be at Furry Migration this weekend and will be making a side trip to Sofawolf HQ, so if you order any of my books from them by end of day Saturday (www.sofawolf.com and make sure you have the adult products VISIBLE), I will be happy to sign them before Sofawolf ships them! If you would like a personalization, I can do that too, just leave the name you would like it made out to in the Notes field of the order.

Furry Migration Schedule

Here are the places you can find me at Furry Migration next weekend. When I’m not at a panel I will likely be chilling at the Sofawolf table where I will sign books (you can also bring books you already own!).

Friday 12:30pm     Main Stage     Opening Ceremonies     Time to launch this years Migration, get introduced to this years guests of honor, and last minute announcements.

Friday 02:00pm     Main Stage     GoH Meet & Greet     Meet and greet the Guests of Honor.

Friday 05:00pm     Pawnee     Before Page One – Creating a Character     Perhaps you’ve got a great world already written… let’s populate it with characters! … Let’s make sure they are unique enough, right?

Friday 08:00pm     Shoshone     Gay Furry     Why is the percentage of queers in Furry so high?  Are Furries more open and honest with themselves? Or does the fandom draw queer people in? Are some straight people scared away? To what extent should the furry fandom care about public perception? Some?  Not at all?

Saturday 03:30pm     Pawnee     Before Page One – World Building Your Story     You may have a great idea for some characters for a new comic or novel, but what good are they without a world to exist in? Save yourself some of the headache of continuity by planning some things ahead.

Sunday 11:00am     Shoshone     Project Management Made Me A Better Novelist     Writing WAS my hobby until a few years ago, but a lot of my work in the tech industry as a project manager really did influence how I go about both writing itself and managing the business of writing.

Sunday 12:30pm     Main Stage     Closing ceremonies     Time to wrap it up, hear all about contest winners, and announcements for next years Migration!

Waterways in Portuguese!

Thanks to the tireless Freakwolf, a Brazilian Portuguese version of “Waterways” is now available for sale. Many thanks also to Jrrhack, who reviewed the translation for us.

If you have Brazilian friends (or Portuguese friends) who might like the book, now they can read it in their native language!

(This is the first translated version of one of my books, which is pretty exciting!)