Media inspirations, influences, and resources
Creativity never happens in a vaccuum. The postfurry community is endlessly creative, but it would never had existed without the other things that inspire and influence its creators. From avant-garde sci-fi to silly cartoon nostalgia, we always love to hear about and share books, music and shows with a Postfurry sense of the fantastic, visionary, and humane.
None of these items are "required reading;" likely no one has experienced all of the media here, and it may not all appeal to everyone. But each of these entries had, or could have, something to contribute to the creativity of one or more postfurries, in terms of their asthetics, philosophies, tropes, or themes.
These lists are meant to be ever-expanding, and added to by anyone. If it inspired you, and you're in the postfurry community, it belongs here. You can put a short blurb on this page (280 characters is a good guideline), or create a whole article to write a full-length review.
Books - fiction
- Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone - A 20th century tech mogul is catapulted into a weird future, and finds out whether or not her prized business skills are a good fit there. Full review by Indi on Goodreads
Books - non-fiction
- TechGnosis by Erik Davis - A rambling, hypertextual guide to the hidden spirituality behind and within technology
- Xenofeminism: A Politics for Alienation by Laboria Cuboniks - This manifesto written by the pseudonymous feminist collective shares a number concepts with Postfurry. This text is a bit dense and other content here will hopefully be able to explain some of the concepts.
- A Manifesto for Cyborgs by Donna Haraway - The precursor to the Xenofeminism Manifesto. One of the first pieces discussing posthuman feminism.
- Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard - The true inspiration for the The Matrix. Explaining that our reality is already a simulation of the real.
- Post-Scarcity Anarchism by Murray Bookchin - Post Scarcity is a concept that shows up often in Postfurry works. This text from 1986 talks about the politics behind it.
- Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber - Explains how we have not always had money to exchange for goods.
Comics (print or web)
- The Invisibles by Grant Morrison, Phil Jiminez, Jill Thompson, et al. - Freedom fighters for reality itself, in a drug-fueled aventure through different times and universes. Dated and problematic at points by a 2020s perspective, but still hugely influential for early Postfurry.
Games - computer/console
- Outer Wilds - Explore a tiny solar system that's in turns adorable, beautiful, and terrifying, as you seek to understand the time-looped supernova that keeps destroying it.
Games - tabletop
- Mage: the Ascension - Magick is the ability to express your own paradigm of reality, regardless of the consensus of everyone else. Will you reinforce the status quo, seek power only for yourself, or work toward the self-actualization of all reality?
Film
- Paprika, directed by Satoshi Kon - In a future of devices that share dreams and therapists who explore them for their patients, who can help when dream and reality start to merge into each other?
Music
- All the work of Seeming, especially SOL: A Self-Banishment Ritual - Sounds that's both intricate and driving, lyrics that are deeply emotional and urgently raw, Seeming's music dances between waiting for the apocalypse, and learning to fight against despair.
Television
- Steven Universe, created by Rebecca Sugar - Deeply empathetic, brightly colored, and unafraid to fight for what's right, this show is a truly inspirational work that deals beautifully with gender, queerness, and even trauma.
Visual art
- The art of Egypt Urnash Polymorphic anthropomorphic forms full of bright color, strange angles, and op-art, but still possessed of a wonderful sense of play and joy.
Web
- Pluralistic by Cory Doctorow - Often runs across postfurry adjacent topics and is an author who shows up in the fiction section.
