Today's the day, vainglorious bastards.

Hundreds of copies of Heathen City Vol. 2 "Paved With Bad Intentions" are on their way to Pittsburgh for release at Anthrocon via treacherous and circuitous routes. The brave boys of FurPlanet charge through the wilderness of the Mexican/Canadian Neutral Zone toward the Pit of Burghs or whatever.

Since the Powers That Be insist on once again holding this convention thousands of miles away from my slippers, I can't attend. Hark, ye: the silver-bell tinkling sound of a writer's breaking heart!

You can help, though. That is, if you're going to Anthrocon and are a proud Heathen Citizen.

First of all, battle your way through the unwashed throngs to claim your copy. Then seek medical attention. Once your injuries are healed and your strength restored, do please share whatever observations or photographs you may have recorded - those of us who can't attend are simply DYING to hear from y'all.

Obviously you can reply to this here mail, or you can tag a Tweet with #heathencity, or you can blog about it and you can be damn sure my army of Heathen City Cyber Samurai will track it down and bring it to my attention.

Did you get the HC logo tattooed on your right butt-cheek in a bid to get an even bigger discount from FurPlanet? Were you successful? Did you get Fel to sign your old, stained and sticky copy of HC #1? Do you have a phtograph of yourself looking wistfully past the enormous lines, sighing as you regard Krahnos' handsome visage from afar, or thrill to the sound of Vahnfox's voice?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Nay.

DEMAND.

Be off with you, now!

- Alex F. Vance

Folks,

Krahnos, Vahn, Blue_Panther and I got together with Fuzzwolf from Knotcast
over Skype to record an open-heart roundtable about the production of
Heathen City #2. Artistic insights, puerile joking, and some serious
philosophizing ensued for an hour and a half. Check it out here:

http://www.foxstuffers.com/News_fil.....d2b7e2-84.html

Or on iTunes, search for "Knotcast"!

Regrettably, Charha, ZooshWolf and Fel couldn't join us. If this episode
turns out to be popular enough, who knows - we might do a followup in a few
months that brings the whole gang together.

Do let us know what y'all thought, yeah?

- Alex F. Vance

Some of you may have noticed I've gone on a rather vicious social networking safari as part of my long-term plan to penetrate your tinfoil hats and control your minds. It has been brought to my attention that my guerrilla tactics are unbecoming a gentlemen.

So fine, have at me, you scoundrels.

Stalk me back. See how I like it.

Pry into my every private moment, scan my every intimate thought and hold it against me. It's only fair.

General
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thealexvance (THE Alex Vance)
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Alex_Vance (on Twitter every character counts, but I deserve an underscore, dammit!
LiveJournal: http://osfer.livejournal.com (no shit!)
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/alexfuckingvance (I wonder how long until I get banned for that username)
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexvance (total pro)

Furry
VCL: http://us.vclart.net/vcl/Artists/Osfer (I forgot I had this)
FurAffinity: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/osfer
Yiffstar: http://www.yiffstar.com/index.php?action=authorsearch&authorsearch=Osfer
MyFursona: http://www.myfursona.com/user/Osfer (does anyone use this?)
Furry4Life: http://furry4life.ning.com/profile/AlexVance

Heathen City
Facebook fan page for HC: http://www.facebook.com/thealexvanc.....ty/61315365158
TVTropes entry for HC: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.p.....in.HeathenCity
HC on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathen_City

Privacy is for pansies!

Peace.

It's time. By Gosh, by Golly, it's finally time. A year in the making. A gaggle of artistic titans. ZooshWolf, Krahnos, Vahnfox, Blue_Panther illustrate four scintillating stories, with Fel and Charha's impeccable skills rounding out the art team. And a gorgeous cover by Kaji.

The hotly-anticipated second volume of the Ursa Major Award-winning graphic novel is coming this summer. Anthrocon. July 2. Available for pre-order NOW.

Forget about what happens after Malloy so casually juggled grenades on the good ship Corinthia. The question you should be asking is: what happened before?

Four stories, illustrated by an international team of superb artists, expose at the roots of the Maranatha mystery by exploring pivotal moments in the lives of the people involved.

Owen's first foray into the world's oldest profession, Tony Caulfield's formative years, Malloy's escapades mere hours before that fateful phone-call - and a stranger whose part in all this has yet to be discovered.

These stories push the boundaries on all sides, with romance and comedy stacked against terror and madness, tracing the perilous course between heroism and naiveté, innocence and villainy, and all the while there glimmers the dread of something wicked slouching toward the horizon...

But there's always time for a bit of fun on the side. After all, you only live once.

Coming July 2. Get it at Anthrocon or pre-order and save $5 - buy #1 and #2 together and save $10!

http://furplanet.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=402

More info: https://www.baddogbooks.com/heathencity

- Alex Vance

Since it's likely that any posts in the near future will revolve around Heathen City and promotion thereof in anticipation of the (hopefully) very near-future release, here's something unrelated, that I've been wanting to put down for a while, and recently found an opportunity to when a friend contacted me for my perspectives on marriage for an advanced class she was scheduled to teach. Also, I love run-on sentences and WILL NOT APOLOGIZE

The separation of church and state, in my view, is a good thing, but in many civilizations religion was the first true civil order, offering synchronization among citizens and social services far beyond the scope of whatever ruling body officially held power.
Hospitals, orphanages, and other essential civil services were provided first by the church and later adopted by the state, as governing bodies became equipped to (and interested in) expanding their portfolio of services to their entire citizenry. The same applies for legal functions previously executed by the church, such as inheritance, birthright and in some cases adoption.
Governments have adopted these legal functions from the church in the same way that photography adopted portraiture from the art of painting, leaving behind the true core of any religion: exploring and acting upon each person's individual relationship with the Above. (To complete the painting metaphor, the removal of portraiture as a significant practice in painting left the pictorial arts with their true core: personal expression of the artist, exploring the personal experience of reality rather than merely producing a facsimile).

Marriage is one of these functions too, and in my view, it belongs with the state. The legally and justly elected establishment of a nation, constructed to represent the thoughts and priorities of its citizens, should be the arbiter of the definition of marriage.
The highest obligation of the law is to be fair, the most significant portion of which is to be consistent. The practice of legal precedent is the best example: a decision, once made, informs all future decisions on an identical decision.

In the issue of gay marriage, if gays are considered equals to straights and their relationships likewise, then 'marriage' is one of their rights -- as it is a civil institution governed by the law of the state.

However, for many people, the Church remains an important factor in their lives and to them, the institutions' ecclesiastic origins mean more than their current state-run incarnations. I am actually not at all offended when a Christian tells me they support legally-equal civil unions among gays, but that, to them, marriage is a sacrament under Christ, and that they don't like that word to be used.
I disagree with them, of course, but I can't at all fault them for their desire, and find it wholly reasonable in the context of their faith.

But as I am unaffiliated with any formal religion, while I'm on this Earth I am a citizen of my nation first. If there is to be a special term for a marriage under Christ that's separate from a marriage under the Law, I have no problem with that at all -- but it cannot be 'marriage'. That belongs to the state, which is to say, to every citizen of the nation. The practice predates Judeo-Christian religion, and the modern incarnation of the Church has no more claim over it than the extinct faiths of pre-Roman Europeans.

They are of course more than welcome to invent a new word for their view of marriage - and I actually don't mean that as any form of mockery. Though I do of course invite whimsical suggestions as to which word would be appropriate :)

Couple weeks ago a bunch of the authors who worked on Sofawolf's upcoming anthology X (www.kyellgold.com/x) recorded a roundtable podcast to promote the book and to generally have a good time. And now it's been released on  knotcast!

Since then, Fuzzwolf has spent considerable time and effort engineering together the various sources, recorded across thousands of miles and far too many time-zones. It was a little after 3AM for me by the time we started, I had a leetle beet of bewze in me already.

It was a splendid experience to hobnob with some of the other authors, although not all could, alas, be in attendance. We had a great time, we made very little effort to stay on topic, but it was damn good fun.

Quite possibly the largest number of writers on a single furry podcast. Somebody call the Guinness people!

First to get free booze. Then to talk about the potential record.

You can check out the episode here:

http://www.foxstuffers.com/News.html

Or look up Knotcast on iTunes and grab the ep titled "Knotcast Presents X".

Peace out!

http://ursamajorawards.org/UMA_2008.htm

The hell, people. We effing won!

A big thank you to those of you who voted, a bigger thank you for those of you who voted for, y'know, me, and significant kudos to the artists and laborers who made Heathen City #1 possible.

 kamui, cover artist
 ayato, interior artist
 distasty, primary colorist
 krahnos, colorist
 fel, colorist
 charha, colorist
 bluepanther, contributing artist
 zaroi, financier and publicist
 furplanet, printers and distributors

I will be doing a wee bit of celebrating tonight, methinks :)

- Alex

Slightly related to Heathen City, this.

By invitation from Kyell Gold from Sofawolf Press I contributed a story to their upcoming anthology, titled simply X. Isn't that just a fabulous title? It's a series of erotic stories all focusing around one of the Ten Commandments. The book is due for release at Anthrocon '09 and will feature ten stories, by my own bad self and others including Kyell, K. M. Hirosaki, Fuzzwolf, Renee Carter Hall, Whyte Yoté, with interior art by Blotch and Heather Bruton, who also contributed the cover: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2189975/. Ain't that gorgeous?

I sniped what I consider the most fascinating commandment, though it's often overlooked: "I am the Lord thy God."

That one's always given me goosebumps, because while the others are advice or admonishments, this one is a bold, ballsy statement. "Here's how it is, and with that being the case, here's some other advice..."

"I am the Lord thy God" is set in Dorset in the late eighties or early nineties, it isn't exactly clear, and while there aren't any explicit references to Heathen City, it certainly does take place in the same universe and has a clear place in its continuity. Since the story is meant to stand alone there's no overt tie-ins to the graphic novel you all know and love, but the casually familiar reader should spot one of the protagonists' secret identity from page 1 (who, I wonder, might have found himself in an English priory in his teenaged years?) and the eagle-eyed one might spot a few more familiar faces mentioned, obliquely and in passing.

I'm very excited about this one. More info as it becomes available!

Ladies and gentlemen,

I'm surprisingly proud to announce that Heathen City has been nominated for the Ursa Major Awards, in the category Best Comic Book. While the Ursa Majors aren't in the same league as the Huga or Nebula in sci-fi or the Eisners and Angoulêmes for comics -- it's still pretty fucking cool.

Not to put too fine a point on it (and foregoing my usual and legendary modesty):

We fucking want it.

The artists worked their butts off, as did the FurPlanet printmonkeys who toiled tirelessly to produce enough to satisfy the punters way back at AC '08. And I helped too, y'know.

So here's what we need from you guys.

1. Check out the list of nominees (we're on there, look): http://www.ursamajorawards.org/Voting.htm

2. Get an enrollment key using the If you have not yet enrolled field here: http://www.ursamajorawards.org/nominations/

3. Ignore the e-mail they send you. It currently contains links for Nominations, which are already closed.

4. Copy and paste the contents of this page into a new e-mail: http://www.ursamajorawards.org/Ballot2008.txt

5. Make sure you fill in the items at the top:
1. The registration key that was e-mailed to you
2. Your name or pseudonym
3. Your country of origin

6. Vote. You can cast up to three votes in each of the categories, with 1 being the highest vote, 2 being the second and 3 the third. Under Best Comic book, you'll find our pleasant little homespun.

7. Your fingers will at this point itch to give Heathen City a 1. While you should of course be honest in your voting, this instinct is probably one you'll want to go with.

8. Oh, you can vote in the other categories as well. Kevin Frane, Kyell Gold, K. M. Hirosaki and Blotch are getting my votes, FYI.

9. Make sure the subject is UMA 2008 official ballot, and send the whole shebang to UMA2008-ballot@ursamajorawards.org.

10. Profit.

Go on now, brave souls. You could make us very happy by casting a vote -- and happy creative people are productive creative people. You want HC #2, don't you? We'll work harder, faster and more exciting if you all chip in to get us a pretty, shiny award!

- Alex F. Vance McShillington

Happy Holidays is the more politically correct way to well-wish your fellows, I'm sure, but seriously, fuck that.

Two out of three Abrahamic faiths acknowledge this season, and two out of three ain't bad. Merry Christmas, and happy Hannukkah. And there's Pancha Ganapati for the Hindus, which, really, is pretty close. Buddhists got nothing special going on, to my knowledge, but with all this peace and love they must be feeling the mettā more than usual. And the Muslims who have the comparatively good fortune to be living in a Judeo-Christian nation get time off work, so that ain't all bad. You boys keep petitioning to make Eid a national holiday and return the favor -- and do share some of those lovely noms y'all make, yeah?

It's a time to reflect on the past and prepare for new beginnings. The sillyness of Saturnalia became the majesty of Sol Invictus in the Roman world, though it fortunately carried on the tradition of gift-giving which we still enjoy today. This trend of brotherhood and let's-all-get-along continued, with Christians playfully adjusting the supposed date of Baby Jee's birth to December 25 to coincide with the Roman feasts, and the Norse King Håkon declaring the 25th to be the official day of the Yule celebration a millennium later.

This intermarriage of different traditions around a common theme is represented most curiously by Santa, who was originally a rarely-mentioned side-note to the Catholic holiday season, though the dude, in his original form of St. Nicholas, was much more significant to the colonists from my country, who celebrate Sinterklaas very seriously on December 5. With the Dutch and to a lesser degree German children getting presents early in the month and the English and French kids getting theirs at the end, there was naturally constant rivalry in the many mixed-blood townships, and again, we see traditions mingling for the betterment of festivities.

De Sint, as the Ducth called him, shrugged off the mitre and the bishop's robes he'd worn since his days on the Turkish island of Myra. He said good-bye to his white dapple horse Amerigo, as he embraced his new role in America -- but then a curious thing happened.

From the depths of ancient lore, Germanic Pagan imagery billowed forth and infused the holy man with a power and vigor and magic the stately old Sint had never possessed. Santa became the modern reincarnation of Odin, with his furs and boots and belt and frosty hide-out. Sadly for Amerigo, there was no place for a horse at this new jolly fat man's side, otherwise he would have seriously considered sprouting four extra legs and becoming the new Sleipnir. Alas.

Nor was there room for the rest of Odin's bestiary, his crows and wolves had to stay behind, though he would gradually be given reindeer by the various poets and storytellers who enlivened this melting pot of a man. An anonymous contributor to the Sentinel of Troy in 1823 (Clement Clark Moore, but don't tell anyone, it's secret) gave them names, and in no time flat everyone knew that Santa Had Always Had Eight Reindeer And These Had Always Been Their Names, Pinky Swear.

We complain about commercialism these days, and really, we're justified in doing so. Where Washington Irving first portrayed Santa Clause as a pipe-smoking Dutch sailor (best not to ask) before he became an Odin impersonator, the image we all have burned into our retinas of the jolly ol' droog in red clothes with white trim all comes from political cartoonist Thomas Nast, but that was just one of many colorful interpretations until the Coca-Cola Company pumped so much of the red-and-white imagery into the world in the '30s that no challenger could remain. Hell, remember that Hindu thing, Pancha Ganapati, I mentioned earlier? Also popularized by Coca-Cola in the '70s.

This world.

I tell you.

But let's not scoff at the gaudy lights and the tacky plastic decorations. It's a new millennium, and this is our reality. No longer is the German town of Lauscha the principle exporter of glass baubles, no longer do we recognize that the lights in the tree are a safety-aware recreation of the burning Yule log, and that's all fine.

The method isn't what we should focus on, it's the message. And guys, fucking hell, it's an awesome one, and I really do mean that. Peace and love ain't just for hippies, y'know.

So think of something nice, do something kind, call someone you haven't heard from in forever. Think about the grudges you hold and see if you can't forgive some of them. Think about the shit you've gotten away with over the last year, and consider maybe apologizing for some of them, even unasked. Seriously, this is an important opportunity, since you can do sappy stuff like that at Christmas and not be called a pussy like you usually would.

Peace and love to all you guys and girls. Feliz navidad, prettige feestdagen, joyeux noel, frohe Weinachte, and merry fucking Christmas, bitches.

- Alex F. Vance

Time to do some math, mmmkay?

Anthrocon 2008 attendance: 3390
Eurofurence 2008 attendance: 600

EF has 17.7% of the attendance of Anthrocon.

We good? All right.

Because FurPlanet had brought exactly enough stock to meet demand at
AC, we figured we'd need, proportionately, a little more at EF. HC's
release, while hyped for months, was not officially announced until
quite close to the release date, and we assumed word of mouth would
have raised anticipation a bit more by the time EF came around last
week.

So rather than bringing 17.7% of the stock at AC, our intrepid unpaid
inter Zaroi brought with him a stock of books roughly equivalent to
33% of the stock at AC. Should be enough, right?

Heathen City: Maranatha, Volume 1 "Always on the Run" sold out in TWO
HOURS.

The con management was good enough to provide Zaroi with a dedicated
security guard to prevent theft while he worked furiously to fulfill
orders.

What's the deal, guys? Are Europeans crazy, or do they simply have
better taste than most American furries?

Discuss!

- Alex Fucking Vance

Heathen City sold out at Anthrocon, though fortunately FurPlanet's stock lasted until Sunday. The poor guys worked their tails off to get that many copies printed in time for the con, and now they've returned home, they've got at least as many pre-orders to fill. Let alone the shipments to the UK and, possibly, Germany... Let's wish 'em well, huh?

Heathen City, the baddest-assed graphic novel that sets out to redefine the meaning of the word 'furry comic' for all fucking eternity, debuts on June 26 -- and it's available for preorder now.

Check out https://www.heathencity.com for more info, or if you're already convinced, head straight on over to http://heathencity.furplanet.com to place your order.

Coolest thing? Pre-orders get a discount. From $24.95 down to a sweet $19.95, and your copy will ship right after Anthrocon!

So, I'm plugging Heathen City left and right. A new comic, badass to the balls, written by yours truly, illustrated by  ayato and colored by  distasty, coming at you in 2008.

Hold on t your hats, people.

Quick summary:

I've been working hard on FANG and Bad Dog Book these last months. FANG Volume 1 an 2 are now being printed through FurNation, as well as through the original Bad Dog Bookstore for $19.99. I'm really, really happy that we were able to bring the price down again.
FANG 3 and 4 are slated for an Anthrocon release. Ben Goodridge, current editor of FANG, will be at the con. I sorely wish I could go with him, but alas. Still, my sights are set on FC '08.

FANG 5 is now accepting submissions. The theme is 'games', the submission instructions can be found at https://www.baddogbooks.com.

Oh, and a bit of fun! I started the BDB Podcast, featuring a bit of news and promotional claptrap for BDB and FANG, but most importantly full-length readings, beginning with Ben Goodridge's story The Walking Mountain, read for you in my rich, sexy voice. Visit baddogbooks.com for a link to the episode, the podcast's RSS feed, and the podcast's iTunes link.

Peace out!