+--------------+ XXXXXX--------------XXXXX---------------------------- ! Number: 02 ! XX XX X XX ! Apr 90 ! XX XX X XX XX XX X XX X XXXXX XXXX XXXXX ! ---- ! XXXXX XX X XXX X XXXXX XX X XX XX X XX ! Produced by ! XX XX X XX XX X XX X XX XXXXXX XXXX ! The Wyvern's ! XX XX XX XX XX X XX XX XX XX X ! Den Pub BBS ! XX XXX X XX XXXXX XXX X XXX XXXXX XXXXX ! ! X +--------------+ -----------------------------XXX--------------------- _T_h_e__E_l_e_c_t_r_o_n_i_c__F_u_r_r_y__F_a_n_z_i_n_e Echo Conferencing * New Fan Publications Other Stuff ====================================================================== Well, here it is, the second issue you've all been waiting for with fetid, er, baited breath. You may have noticed that this issue is about two weeks or so late in getting out. I apologize for the delay, but there's been a lot of odd things going on in my life recently (and this trend is likely to continue for a while). Another unwanted side effect--besides delaying this project--of these changes has been the (hopefully) temporary disconnection of my own BBS, the Wyvern's Den Pub. Besides our two letters of comment, there's been few words from downloaders of FURBYT01.TXT, despite the 20 or so accesses it had on GEnie alone--I have no idea how many people (if any) may have downloaded it from the Scratching Post, Stormgate Aerie, or Something Different BBS's, not to mention QuantumLink. If the first issue appeared to be a "one-man show," it was out of necessity, not choice. _F_u_r_B_y_t_e_s is open to articles, reviews, and even short fiction, poems and filksongs, not just updates to the reference lists (and even those aren't things I can accurately maintain without help). If you're reading this, I'd like to hear from you. And, if you have anything we can use, _p_l_e_a_s_e send it along. LLeetttteerrss aanndd SSuucchh A furry electronic fanzine, huh? Good idea! I like it. Though I'll admit I was a bit concerned when I tried to read it from the screen and found all of those control characters. When I printed it out, though, it came out fine. I'm sorry to hear that Deathstar seems to be defunct. I don't know of any "disdain" of West coast fen for same; I think it was more that the ones without PC-Pursuit didn't want to run up their phone bills with cross country calls any more than they had to, while those with it gave up after waiting VERY long times to log on since the board was, after all, very popular. I hope they'll be able to get back up again. I DO think that the East coast contingent may be more spread out than the West coast one--when the Furry Echo based off of FurBytes ^The Electronic Furry Fanzine] #2 - April 1990 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- StormGate Aerie was picked up by The Lighthouse Project back east for a couple of months, only one fan posted from that station. I know of at least one fan who is, alas, quite firmly convinced that there is a feud between the East and West coast, but I hope this does not actually become the case! A few ConFurence notes: For some time I had been somewhat concerned about the relative lack of black fans. I knew a few, of course, but at most conventions always had the uneasy feeling that any blacks apt to be interested in the first place were liable to assume from the sea of white faces out there that this was some sort of white social club. Last ConFurence, at one point it suddenly struck me that most of the other people who happened to be in the area in front of the program rooms were black, including a number of folks I hadn't met before the convention. I also know a sizable number of gay and bisexual furry fen. I couldn't say about any other minorities, being as I wasn't really looking all that close, but it would appear that here, at last, was one branch of fandom not cursed by the appearance of homogeneity. We must be doing something right! I also think I had more fun at ConFurence than I have had at many a bigger convention. We had drawing style artists, sculptors, costumers (including Ben Camacho), computer types, FRPers, and so on. (Saturday night, Nicolai ran an _O_t_h_e_r__S_u_n_s game up in the convention suite, whilst folks outside played Lazer Tag on the roof.) I _d_o think we can use a few more filksingers. I don't _m_i_n_d doing a short impromptu concert, but would have liked to get enough people together to get a sing going. Oh well, nothing's perfect! Part of the convention program book was devoted to short pieces by various people about the meaning of furrydom. Here's a copy of the one I wrote: How to explain furry fandom? To whom, fans or non-fans? The latter usually don't require differentiation--all fandom is quite strange enough already. To the former, then, I'd say simply that it's a perfectly natural outgrowth of sf fandom in general, which has always emphasized creativity and innovation for the fun of it. Like to write and sing songs? Try filksinging. Like to make costumes? Bring them to the convention and wear them around. Like to write? Publish your own fanzine, join an APA, write on computerized bulletin board systems or so on. Like creating artwork? Publish THAT in a fanzine, or just carry about a sketchbook at the local convention. Just like to talk? The conclave in the corner discussing the implications of anything from the newest discoveries in astrophysics to how many beercans you have to pile to reach the moon is a convention cliche. Now every one of these also has a convention "serious" side to it; selling filkbooks, entering masquerades, selling fanzines, entering the art show, lecturing on panels and can even be a basis for a "real world" career--songwriting or singing, stage or movie costuming or clothing FurBytes ^The Electronic Furry Fanzine] #2 - April 1990 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- design, writing for professional publication, professional art design and lecturing, but all of these are in a sense secondary effects of the primary cause that fen like to do these things. Furfen are fans (see above) who not only deal with two cultures on an almost daily basis (usually referred to as fandom and mundania), but enjoy inventing new angles of observation of the world, be it through the eyes of alien non-human sentients or through those of animals made sentient or even human/animal hybrids. That is, a sort of sophontological version of the "what if" that forms the core of science fiction and most modern fantasy. This fits into all of the above modes quite handily--singing furry filksongs, costuming ("how do you construct a ball gown for someone with thick fur, wings and a tail?"), writing fiction or poetry, artwork, and discussion, especially of the pick a character and converse as if you were that being variety. Thus, furry fandom is not a "fringe" group as per the various societies based on specific creative expressions (a tv series, book or movie), but a deep-rooted part of fandom itself. Y'want more information on INTERCEPTED? Well, here's what I use for advertising copy: INTERCEPTED is a lot like a role playing game with no dice, no character sheets, and very few rules. It's been nicknamed "the Multiversal Party Line"; the place where characters from fact and fantasy meet, interact, and occasionally pound on each other for the amusement of all. Members may use as many aliases as they wish, be they their own invention, or names from history or fiction. Invite Captain Kidd, Captain Bligh, Captain Kirk, and Captain Horatio Hornblower to dinner! Go adventuring with Indiana Jones! BE Indiana Jones... To join in on the fun, send $1.10 to INTERCEPTED, 12536 Short Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90066 for a copy and description of current plotlines. Or call Stormgate Aerie BBS, 1-213-822- 6929 (8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit) to download a free copy of THE ELECTRIC INTERCEPTED and associated files. Actually the cost of the hard copy zine is $.65 plus postage, but it usually weighs between one and two ounces, which is $1.10 total inside the US. Well, this is getting to be a rather big LOC, so I'll stop at this point and see if it'll fit into one message... Peace, Kay Shapero --- I just received _F_u_r_B_y_t_e_s #1. Yes, I am the author of "Furry FurBytes ^The Electronic Furry Fanzine] #2 - April 1990 4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Fandom Observed." Hopefully legions of readers will leap to their feet to disagree with it in your second issue, as I find it a bit embarrassing that I, a non-furry, am still cited as an authority by default. Anyway, I received your 'zine from the Lighthouse Project. I have my own echo conference now, for my fantasy role-playing game. It's part of a group of echos collectively called Vervan's Game Net. But, I'm trying to spread it around to places where VNet doesn't go. So we are offering a deal, carry LIPAX and we'll use some of a PC Pursuit account to carry something for you. That's how the new furry echo TOONS-N-MORPHS came to be. Noel Tominack is moderator. We plan to send it to Rowrbrazzle and also to the Furside, which is run by some of the YARF! people. It also goes to the Tampa board "Doctor's Walk-In" (net address 377/8). Dr Pepper : Hmm. This brings up the question, how do you format an editor's : response in an online magazine? Instead of colons down the left : side, I would use vertical bars ("|"), except that if you have a : Commodore 64/128 machine you don't have that character. : "The Fur Side" is actually run by Jo & Charlie Kellner of : Serendipity Enterprises. They do the laser printing for Fur- : Version and FurNography, but as far as I know aren't associated : with YARF!. This also, of course, brings up the subject of.... EEcchhoo CCoonnffeerreenncceess "Echo Conferences" are an offshoot of a homebrew WAN (wide area network) message system developed by Tom Jennings in his 1985 bulletin board program, FIDO. Fido boards had one special message base called NETMAIL, which was just like a normal private mail section except that you could sent netmail to any user of any other Fido BBS as long as you knew the other Fido system's node number. In 1986, Jeff Rush wrote a kludge program called ECHOMAIL. Echomail let you specify other message bases on your Fido board in combination with other systems' node addresses, and simply moved all the new messages in those areas into the "outgoing mail" area as if they were netmail messages. When these messages were received, Echomail would take them and move them out of the Netmail section into the message base they were intended for. The net effect (if you'll pardon the expression) was that the same message base could be shared by any number of bulletin board systems. If you posted a message on the Comics Echo base on a board in Atlanta, within a few days it would appear on all the other boards with Comics Echo bases. In 1989, the first Furry Echo conferences appeared, in somewhat mindnumbing proportions: there was the FURRY general conference, the FURRY TECH conference, and the ANTHROPOMORPHIC WRITERS, ANTHROPOMORPHIC ARTISTS conferences, the CENSORSHIP conference, and the OTHER SUNS, OMAHA, ALBEDO RPG, and ghod-knows-what-else FurBytes ^The Electronic Furry Fanzine] #2 - April 1990 5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- conferences. To the best of my knowledge, these never went any further than three boards in California, although they made a brief trip across country to a Washington, DC, area board called "The Lighthouse Project" before the echo moderator yanked the connection. Moderator, you ask? Good question. Every echo has its own moderator and home system; for instance, the Science Fiction Writers' echo homes on the Terraboard in Minneapolis, with David Dyer-Bennet as the moderator. The furry echoes all originated at Stormgate Aerie, with Nicolai Shapero as moderator. But wait, there's more. When you have an echo that goes to hundreds and hundreds of systems, there's bound to be a little politics involved. All these messages have to be transferred by physical phone calls, with corresponding physical phone bills, and this is where fully half the problems come in (who's paying for what and why). The other half comes from finger-pointing: person X is being abrasive, person Y isn't keeping up with his maintenance, person Z is being "excessively annoying" (a phrase from the original International FidoNet Association rules whose meaning changes depending on who you ask). When you have a set of echoes that only go to three systems, you'd think there wouldn't be much of a chance for problems like that. Ha! The original form of the "furry net" dissolved, for all practical purposes, towards the end of 1989 when the Rowrbrazzle BBS (then called "Thoughts & Images" after the now-defunct publishing company) switched from QuickBBS to TBBS software and did not relink with Stormgate Aerie. Who was at fault for the breakdown? As usual, it depends on who you ask. Currently, Aerie's "new" set of furry echoes goes to several boards in California, including the Fur Side and the Tiger's Den. Rowrbrazzle may be starting to echo its own conferences independently of the Aerie's "CyberFurNet" (even the legitimacy of that name is disputed by some). But wait! We're still not finished! Meanwhile--as Dr Pepper's LOC indicated--a new furry conference, "Toons-N-Morphs," was being formed with Noel Tominack as moderator on the Lighthouse Project BBS. TnM has active participation from Lighthouse, Doctors' Walk-In (Tampa), Tiger's Den, Garden Grove Tech and "Otter's Annex" (a BBS I have no information on) and enjoys a great deal more use than any of the "original" furry echoes ever did. Considering that Tominack was banned from those original furry echoes, the success of TnM is somewhat ironic. There is currently no notation in _F_u_r_B_y_t_e_s' BBS list for echoes; a BBS whose only 'furry' activity is carrying a furry echo or two will not be listed, such as the Lighthouse Project--all the furry messages on it will show up elsewhere. When the echo situation "stablizes" to the point where I can make a concrete diagram of who is carrying what, the BBS's that are listed may have designations indicating whose particular echo or set of echoes they subscribe to. Tigers' Den is currently carrying both CFNet and TnM, perhaps the best compromise that can be hoped for. FurBytes ^The Electronic Furry Fanzine] #2 - April 1990 6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FFaannzziinnee NNeewwss A new furry fanzine, of sorts, has been started in Florida called "Mythagoras." The address and a information has been added to the PUBLICATIONS list in _F_u_r_B_y_t_e_s. Writers in furry fandom are occasionally given the feeling of being "second class" citizens behind the artists, and _M_y_t_h_a_g_o_r_a_s is (at least partially) an attempt to give them equal billing with the artists. Issue #1 features two stories, an article or two, a review and at least one "none of the above." And, yes, it has some nice artwork, too, including a beautiful cover by Maggie de Alarcon (despite the fact her name is capitalized incorrectly in the table of contents--hey, YARF! did it wrong, too). _F_u_r_V_e_r_s_i_o_n #20 is, according to co-editor Patrick Swift, going to be shipped within the next two weeks. The first issue of "FV Update" has been mailed. FVU is intended to be mailed in months when FV is not published. Interestingly enough, on page 2, FVU proposes a "furry fact finding mission" to "compile a 'complete' list of furry fan publications and furry computer bulletin board systems," and gives an example listing showing _F_u_r_V_e_r_s_i_o_n with separate line items for nature of publication, last issue, schedule, price, back issue availability, address, editor/publisher and "make check or money order to:". Well, gosh, glad somebody came up with that idea, aren't you? FurBytes ^The Electronic Furry Fanzine] #2 - April 1990 7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TThhee FFuurrrryy FFaannzziinneess FURVERSION Quarterly Editor/Publisher: Karl Maurer (Faux Paw Productions) Content: Comics, Art and Fiction, all ratings from "G" to "X" Most Recent Issue: #19, 62 pp. Recent Contributors: Last issue included art by Ted Sheppard, Mike Higgs, Bryce Nakagawa, Brian O'Connell, Shon Howell; comics by Chuck Melville, Eric Elliot, Bill Fitts; fiction by David White, Watts Martin Ordering Info: Subscriptions, $20. Each issue cost is subtracted from your balance; each issue normally runs $5. Single copy price: $6. Back issues of #17-#19 are available for $6 each. FurVersion 621 Boulevard Way Oakland, CA 94610-1642 Checks/Money Orders to: Karl Maurer or FurVersion --- YARF!, the Journal of Applied Anthropomorphics Eight per year (every 6 weeks) Editor/Publisher: Jeffrey Ferris Content: Comics, Art and Fiction, rated "G" to "R" Most Recent Issue: #2, 44 pp. Recent Contributors: Lance Rund, Bill Fitts, Maggie DeAlarcon, Kris Kreutzman, Monika Livingston, Fred Patten, Eric Elliot, Peter Glaskowsky, Shon Howell, Ruben Avila, Ken Sample, Brian O'Connell Ordering Info: $3.00 per issue, $24.00 for 8 mailed 1st class YARF! P.O. Box 1200 Cupertino, CA 95015-1200 Checks/money orders to: Jeff Ferris. --- FURNOGRAPHY Quarterly Editors/Publishers: Robert & Brenda Daverin Content: Art and Fiction, "R" to "X" rating Most Recent Issue: #1 Recent Contributors: Brian O'Connell, Mitchell Biero, Scott Alston Ordering Info: $4 for issue #1, age statement required with contributions or purchase FurBytes ^The Electronic Furry Fanzine] #2 - April 1990 8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FurNography Robert & Brenda Daverin P.O. Box 2464 Redwood City, CA 94064 Checks/Money Orders to: Robert Daverin or Brenda Daverin --- FURTHERANCE Quarterly Editor/Publisher: Rune (Images Rune) Content: fiction, articles, art Most Recent Issue: #1, 40 pp. (#2 may be out) Recent Contributors: Scott Alston, Kevin Carroll, Shon Howell, Ed Zolna, Chuck Melville, Rune Ordering Info: $2.50 cover price, no subscription info FURtherance 200 Dupont Street Philadelphia, PA 19127-1208 --- MYTHAGORAS Quarterly Editor/Publisher: Bill Biersdorf & Watts Martin Content: furry, technological, and environmental fiction, articles and artwork Most Recent Issue: #1, 24 pp. Recent Contributors: Juan Alfonso, Maggie de Alarcon, Watts Martin, Jo Davidsmeyer Ordering Info: $3.00 + $1 s/h, no subscriptions Mythagoras c/o Concept Alliance P.O. Box 272987 Tampa, FL 33688-2987 Checks/Money Orders to: Concept Alliance --- HUZZAH! Eight times a year Editor/Publisher: Dwight Dutton Content: Fanzine for Thoughts & Images/Miscellania Unlimited publications ("Erma Felna, EDF", "Space Wolf", "Rufus the Red", etc.) Most Recent Issue: #4 Recent Contributors: Dan Flahive, Paul Kidd, Steve Gallacci, Mark J. Paul, Steven B. Fellows, Lisa Iennaco, Roy Pounds, Chris Grant FurBytes ^The Electronic Furry Fanzine] #2 - April 1990 9 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ordering Info: $4.00/issue w/color centerfold $1.50/issue w/o centerfold Postage included in price HUZZAH! 6700 Warner Avenue #5-G Huntington Beach, CA 92647-5130 --- THE CENTAUR'S GATHERUM NEWSLETTER Monthly Editor/Publisher: Ed Pegg Jr. Content: Writing and art about Centaurs (equine, vulpine, and otherwise). "G-PG" ratings with "occasional forays into R." Ordering Info: $5.00/yr or regular correspondence/contributions The Centaur's Gatherum Newsletter POB 10216 Colorado Springs, CO 80932 --- OTHER PUBLICATIONS Intercepted, "The Multiversal Party Line" $1.10 for hard copy (also downloadable from Stormgate Aerie) Free-Form Role-Playing Game 12536 Short Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90066 The Bestiary (small-press comic), Scott & Shirley Alston, 5137 Catherine St., Philadelphia, PA 19143 Fuzzy Nips (small-press comic by Bill Fitts/Mark Merlino), 13412 Gilbert St., Garden Grove, CA 92644 (Wildcat Press) If you have the addresses of any other furry/funny-animal fanzines or fan press comics, please let us know. FurBytes ^The Electronic Furry Fanzine] #2 - April 1990 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BBuulllleettiinn BBooaarrdd SSyysstteemmss This list includes BBS's that have either a general "furry conference" (marked by {f}) and/or furry-oriented storyboards {s}. A storyboard in this definition is a free-form role-playing game where participants take the roles of different characters (furry or otherwise) and interact with other characters, like a conventional RPG but without referees. Send any updates, additions, or deletions to me via one of the methods at the end of this issue. Stormgate Aerie, Los Angeles, CA {fs}...............213 822-6729:9600H Sys: Opus. Op: Nicolai Shapero. Something Different, Washington, DC {f}.............301 753-9528:2400 Sys: rOverBoard. Op: Geronimo & Beach Babe. The Electric Holt, Philadelphia, PA {f}.............315 387-4326:2400 Sys: WWIV Mac. Op: John DeWeese, Seth Grenald. Kyim's Scratching Post, Oakland, CA {fs}............415 452-0350:2400 Sys: FoReM ST. Op: Karl Maurer. The Fur Side, Foster City, CA {fs}..................415 571-1486:2400 Sys: Opus. Op: Jo & Charlie Kellner. Tiger's Den, Garden Grove, CA {fs}..................714 530-2554:2400 Sys: Opus. Op: Andre Johnson. aLTER rEALITY, Sarasota, FL {fs}....................813 351-2530:1200 Sys: PBBS. Op: Franklin Veaux. Remote Control, Sarasota, FL {f}....................813 378-2218:1200 Sys: Dragonfire. Op: Tyler Robinson. Doctor's Walk-In, Tampa, FL {f}.....................813 884-0939:2400 Sys: TAG. Op: Jay Schnedl, Bartholomew Fox. Courts of Chaos, Sarasota, FL {s}...................813 924-9124:2400 Sys: CNET 128. Op: Rocky Kinsey. The Wyvern's Den Pub, Sarasota, FL {fs}.............****** DOWN ****** Sys: PBBS. Op: Watts Martin. Rowrbrazzle, Huntington Beach, CA {fs}..............916 842-1263:9600H Sys: TBBS. Op: Dwight Dutton. Also 842-9799:2400 ----- FFuurrrryy FFaann DDiirreeccttoorryy After issue #1, NOBODY indicated they'd like to be added to this fan directory list! If there are no additions between now and issue #3, this section will be dropped. I can't add your name and address unless you give it to me directly. FL 34231 Sarasota: Watts Martin, 1820 S Lake Shore Dr FL 34243-2197 Sarasota: Chip P Unicorn, 5700 N Tamiami Tr #250 FL 34243-2197 Sarasota: Turtle, 5700 N Tamiami Tr #242 FL 33688-2987 Tampa: Bartholomew Fox, PO Box 272987 TX 76201 Denton: Ledru Corlett, 101C Heritage Ln FurBytes ^The Electronic Furry Fanzine] #2 - April 1990 11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DDiissttrriibbuuttiioonn This file may be uploaded freely provided none of the contents are modified in any way. Hard copies of FurBytes may be distributed freely, provided that no fees other than printing costs are collected. Printouts of any issue of FurBytes may be obtained by sending a SASE to the address below. Entire Contents copyright (c) 1990 Osprey Press. Unless otherwise noted, all articles copyrighted by their respective authors. Send comments, articles, suggestions, and/or flames to: Watts Martin 1820 S. Lake Shore Drive Sarasota, FL 34231 GGEEnniiee FFiiddooNNeett WATTS MARTIN at Hotline (1:137/14) BBBBSS EE--MMaaiill DONTHEN at Kyim's Scratching Post, Tiger's Den, Wyvern's Den Pub (FurBytes HQ) WATTS MARTIN at Stormgate Aerie, Rowrbrazzle