When I first became a contributor to "Rowrbrazzle" back in the early 1990s, I began to communicate with a number of its current members and 'waiting listers'. One of them was a very talented anthroartist by the name of Michael-Scot McMurry of Scottsdale, Arizona.

McMurry (or 'McMoo', as his friends often called him) was probably best known for his character 'Zonie' the coyote - who was regularly featured in "Rowrbrazzle", as well as in "ZU" (an anthropomorphic anthology comic book from MU Press).

I, myself, drew various images of 'Zonie' for his amusement (including the water-logged version you can see in my gallery, under the title "Zonie: Icon Take It..." excerpt). But I'd first appealed to him by drawing my bobcat 'fursona', giving one of his female characters a gentle peck on the cheek. Said character was a lynx fem called 'Alyyx', who 'McMoo' drew every now and then.

The friendship that grew between us through communication (first, via 'snail-mail', and then through E-mailings) helped us learn a lot about each other, and what interests we'd both shared...

For example, we'd found out that we'd both liked word puzzles (e.g. anagrams, palindromes, etc.). It only seemed appropriate for 'McMoo', since he had a rather enigmatic name. Take note: Michael-Scot McMurry contains all five vowels (and 'Y'), each one only appearing ONCE!

We also both had a penchant for the taste of chili. 'McMoo' usually had 'Zonie' consuming chili in many of the strips and pin-ups he'd drawn of him. In fact, his E-mail address began with 'chilicoyote'.

Unfortunately, McMurry learned in 2000 that he had a form of stomach cancer. Many of his friends (including yours truly) came to his aid by drawing different versions of 'Zonie' for a special one-shot comic book called "In The Zone" - the proceeds of which were to pay for an operation. Inevitably, he succumbed to the cancer on April 4, 2001. so, "ITZ" became a memorial comic book in remembrance of this truly gifted talent, who left us way too soon...

This drawing of 'Alyyx' (originally colored with pencils, but with the inner tube digitally 'touched up' today) was done back in 1992, around the time 'McMoo' became my good friend. I'd used a photo of a female model from a travel brochure as my reference, and drew the lynx fem in the best way possible. I hope many of you like it as much today as McMurry did back then...